Fu Shanhe

Chapter 103 Yangzhou Earns Money and Yangzhou Flowers

“Don’t worry, Mr. Lan. I won’t be so foolish as to snatch something that everyone is eyeing.

Yangzhou Prefecture is a treasure land. In addition to land, there are many valuable things.

For example: minerals, fishery resources, and commerce.

The military funds allocated by the imperial court are insufficient, and the local government is unable to provide financial support, so we can only find a solution ourselves.

It was completely reasonable to take a few ownerless mines, stuff prisoners of war and other criminals into the mines, and raise part of the military expenses.

Fisheries are even simpler. The officials in inland lakes do not compete with the people for profits, and the vast ocean is a no-man's land.

In order to make up for the shortage of military rations, we organized people to go fishing at sea. Who could say anything against that?
In fact, we are already making money from trade.

The public security management fee currently collected in Yangzhou City is one of the means.

The imperial court’s post stations were not open to the public, but merchants and travelers also needed to rest.

The inn and restaurant business will never go out of style.

The current cost of acquiring land is negligible, and there will be no thugs coming to blackmail you later, so there will be no shortage of partners for such a business.

In addition, port shipping is also a good business.

Small merchants suffered from financial problems and were unable to maintain their own fleets, and they were also threatened by banditry.

If there is a fleet with reasonable prices and can guarantee safe transportation, I think there will be no shortage of business.

......"

He listed more than a dozen money-making plans in one breath, leaving Lan Linjie stunned.

Each one is precisely on the edge.

If someone targets you, any one of these could become evidence of a crime, but it's also plausible.

In Dayu, a city that emphasizes rule by man, Lan Linjie couldn't figure out for a while whether this was a violation of the Dayu Law.

“Sir, if you want to develop these industries, you need a lot of investment.

Besides, the imperial court strictly prohibits officials from engaging in business. Even though you are raising military funds, it would be difficult to explain yourself if you were caught.”

Lan Linjie reminded gently.

With his knowledge, he really couldn't judge how much risk there would be in following Li Mu's plan.

The only thing that is certain is that the money required in the early stages of investment is by no means a small number.

Raising funds for the army is a public matter, and according to official rules, one cannot use one's own money.

"Nonsense, when did I ever say I wanted to do business?

These transactions are naturally done by businessmen and have nothing to do with me.

The only connection was that they were grateful for the court's kindness and voluntarily donated money to help the court train a new army in Yangzhou.

Salt merchants could serve the imperial court, and naturally other merchants could do the same.

After all, the army was trained to protect their safety.

I will discuss the specific issues with local officials.

Or they guarantee to pay the full share of the subsidy as required by the court.

Or just provide enough convenience so that we can find ways to make money ourselves!"

Li Mu reprimanded with a serious face.

These things can be done secretly, but they must never be said openly.

Since he could get money privately and train up the army, Emperor Tianyuan would not care whether the source of the money was legal or not.

It was almost an open secret in the court that all the nine frontier military families were engaged in smuggling business, yet no one had exposed it.

It's not that everyone is unaware of the harm of doing so, but the court is financially strapped and unable to guarantee the daily military pay for officers and soldiers.

The front-line generals were prevented from finding solutions on their own, and mutinies occurred every now and then.

I guess I would kill myself before the enemy attacks.

What's more, he had an extra layer of skin. The money was donated by the merchants voluntarily, not earned by him from business.

Whoever dared to bring up this issue would be the emperor the first to become uneasy.

Salt merchants paid a tribute of three million taels every year. Anyone who dared to deny the legitimacy of the merchants' tribute would be touching the emperor's purse.

If the court's finances improve, perhaps someone will try to make changes, but that is a matter for the future.

At least in the short term, you won’t be able to see it.

The bureaucratic system of Dayu is a giant money-eating beast that can consume all the money, no matter how much it is.

Compared to simply collecting salary, Li Mu prefers to be self-reliant.

Only by achieving financial self-sufficiency can we gain greater autonomy in command.

The civil officials are superior to the military officials, and they are essentially local civil officials who control the logistics of the army.

Being restricted by others in terms of materials, military officers of the same level, or even one level higher, lack confidence when encountering civil officials.

If we can be self-sufficient, we are all part of the same system and no one is afraid of anyone!
“Since you have a comprehensive plan, I will spread the news and contact interested gentry and merchants.

However, there are too many industries to handle and we may not be able to handle them all at once. The students suggested that we start with the mineral veins.

While all parties are not reacting at this time, you can occupy the ownerless mines on the pretext of requisitioning a training ground.

The supplies allocated by the imperial court were insufficient, and several prisoner-of-war camps suffered from the shortage of supplies.

My Lord, you can borrow a group of strong men from the prisoners of war on the pretext that you need labor to build the camp."

Lan Linjie immediately gave advice.

He had no doubt about Li Mu's ability to operate.

If they can rescue people from dangerous places like the imperial guards, it would be no problem for them to deal with local officials.

The officialdom is a place of human relationships and social conventions. As long as money is not discussed directly, doing things that are convenient for others will be convenient for yourself.

“You are right, we really can’t move forward blindly.

Before taking any action, we must first recruit soldiers so that we can ask for money.

First recruit 3,000 people to set up the military camp, and the remaining personnel can be fully staffed within a year.

As for the initial funding, I think the gentry in Yangzhou will donate part of it for my sake.

For the remaining amount, I will first borrow from Hanhe Bank, and repay it after the funds from the court are in place."

After hearing what Li Mu said, Lan Linjie was shocked.

In the Dayu Dynasty, where it was common to collect empty salaries, even the Beijing camp had serious shortages, and there were only a handful of fully staffed troops.

In fact, there is no exact number of soldiers in a battalion of the Dayu Dynasty.

The fewest had only three thousand men, the most could be over twenty or thirty thousand. Most of the time a battalion of soldiers was a guard, totaling more than five thousand six hundred men.

Li Mu's battalion was a standard garrison organization, and its internal structure was the same as that of a garrison.

"Your Excellency's initial expenses are not small. The 100,000 taels promised by the court for construction expenses may actually be less than half of what you get. It is simply a drop in the bucket.

It would be better to reduce the number of personnel. A local general with three to four thousand soldiers would be enough to deal with various emergencies.

You must not touch the high-interest loans from money houses, how dare you lend to…"

Lan Linjie was suddenly stuck in the middle of his words. As far as he could remember, there was no Hanhe Bank in Yangzhou City.

It is obviously abnormal that he suddenly appears now and does business in front of his own master.

It is possible that this money house has not yet been established, but because of the need for it, the Hanhe Money House came into being.

In essence, Li Mu paid the funds himself, using the name of money lending to avoid political risks.

This kind of thing is very rare in the officialdom of Dayu.

If you are suddenly transferred away, all your initial investment will be wasted.

Even if the generals behind are willing to admit their mistake, the probability of them being able to pay it back is very slim.

"Don't worry, just recruit people according to my plan, money and food won't be a problem!"

Li Mu said calmly.

He made a huge profit on this trip south.

Unlike before in Beijing, I only earned hard-earned money.

The situation this time was special, so there was no need to make arrangements with the Jinyiwei East Factory, and things were done ahead of schedule.

The management fees saved directly become profits.

Excess profits often mean excess risks.

He was originally worrying about how to launder this huge sum of money, but now the opportunity has come to him.

After the left hand was used to transfer money to the right hand, the money turned into debt and the debt turned into soldiers.

The same wealth, when carried in the form of gold and silver, will make you feel anxious every day.

He was worried about being spied on and also worried about being investigated by the imperial court.

After becoming an army, things are very different.

Even if there is a concern about being peeped at, it is someone else's concern.

In recent decades, no powerful general in Dayu has been taken down for corruption.

The emperor is not afraid of his generals being greedy for money and lustful, but he is afraid of his generals being indifferent to money and sex and only caring about a good reputation.

……

Capital.

After a series of struggles, the competition for cabinet membership finally came to an end.

Holding the final list of nominees, Pang Hengsheng left Wenyuan Pavilion with a terribly gloomy face.

It was not that the Qingliu Party suffered a complete defeat. On the contrary, they once again won a great victory in the court election.

Half of the candidates are members of the Qingliu Party, the people he least wants to see.

If they are really allowed to take the position, the ideal of the Qingliu people will be realized, and then there will be no point in doing the real work.

At that time, we will not only have to fight against the eunuch party, but also fight within the Qingliu party.

"Your Majesty, the court promotion activity is over.

The most popular officials among all the officials were the Minister of Personnel Shi Yuanhu, the Minister of Rites Pei Xueqing, and the opposition Yin Zhiming and Zuo Hongjiang.

The above four persons are all talented and virtuous. It would be a blessing for Dayu if any one of them could enter the cabinet.

"I can't make up my mind for the moment, please judge for me, Your Majesty!"

Pang Hengsheng said expressionlessly.

“Oh, there are actually wise men in the opposition.

But I seem to remember that these two had served in the cabinet before, and were dismissed for forming a clique for personal gain."

After hearing what Emperor Tianyuan said, Pang Hengsheng agreed in his heart, but his status did not allow him to agree.

“Your Majesty, Mr. Yin and Mr. Zuo are the best at teaching students, so there are a few more students and former officials.

Of course, they must have talent, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to teach so many students.

Choosing them to join the cabinet is also what everyone wants.

However, Lord Shi and Lord Pei are also capable officials in the court and have made many achievements in government affairs. They are also the best choices."

Pang Hengsheng applied eye drops calmly.

It’s funny to think about it. He was the one who wanted to push the Qingliu Party into the cabinet at the beginning, but now he has become the biggest obstacle for the Qingliu Party to enter the cabinet.

There is no way, these two people are not in the court, but they can still win the court recommendation.

Letting such a master of political struggle join the cabinet is simply making things difficult for oneself.

When the two were kicked out of the cabinet, Pang also played a major role.

I never expected that these two guys would still be restless after returning home.

By recruiting disciples and giving lectures everywhere, he promoted the theory of benevolent government of light corvee, low taxes and exemption of commercial taxes, and won the support of a large number of gentry.

The problem is that these two guys are just talking nice words, but it is totally unfeasible.

The Dayu Dynasty was so poor that it could barely make ends meet, yet they were still implementing those benevolent policies, which meant they had no intention of living a normal life.

Everyone understands the truth, but when people are in a situation, the first thing they consider is their own interests.

Not to mention the gentry below, even many officials in the court believed that as long as the emperor implemented benevolent policies, there would be peace in the world.

This is what the sages’ books say, and this is the education they received since childhood.

The sages’ books do not explain how to solve the problem specifically, so naturally you don’t have to think about it.

Or maybe because of their own interests, they deliberately don't think about it.

It doesn’t matter whether the benevolent government is effective or not. The key is to replace people and defeat the eunuch party. Only then can they, the Qingliu party members, get more positions.

Although Lord Pang and Lord Xu in the court are also his own people, their fighting power is too weak.

When encountering problems, they actually think about solving them instead of simply putting the blame on the eunuch party.

To many radicals, this was a betrayal.

Since you don't want to fight, then push those who love to fight up.

It doesn’t matter whether this ridiculous idea can be realized, as long as the eunuch party is brought down.

By the time the houses of the eunuchs are raided, the financial problems of the imperial court will be solved immediately.

Once someone takes the lead, more people will follow blindly.

Don’t worry about it, just give it a try first, what if it succeeds!

"My dear minister, you are right. The court is not short of people of high moral character and prestige. What it lacks now is officials who can do practical work."

As he spoke, Emperor Tianyuan circled the names of Minister of Personnel Shi Yuanhu and Minister of Rites Pei Xueqing.

Seeing this scene, Pang Hengsheng knew he had passed the test.

The emperor obviously already had an idea about the candidates for the cabinet.

Yin Zhiming and Zuo Hongjiang jumped out at this time, purely asking for humiliation.

The higher their reputation, the less likely Emperor Tianyuan would allow them to join the cabinet.

(End of this chapter)