Punishing Corruption
In the study at the rear of Minyou Hall.
Ning Lingyi's fingertips slid across the book just presented by the Ministry of Revenue, which listed various expenses and the meager surplus, like invisible ropes, getting tighter and tighter.
Although the correspondence with Tuoba Hong gave him the advantage in terms of words, the real battle would ultimately come down to the actual use of money, food, and troops.
The successive wars have drained our foundation, and now we have to prepare for another war. Where will the money come from?
"Your Majesty," Su Qingfan's voice rang out from outside the door, "Yang Shouye of Mingzhou has requested an audience. He has something important to report."
Ning Lingyi raised her head from her chaotic thoughts: "Yang Shouye?"
She remembered this person.
When the Northern Expedition first started and times were tough, this wealthy businessman from Mingzhou almost spent all his family wealth to help. After she became regent, she granted him the title of a third-rank imperial merchant and asked him to assist Su Qingfan in purchasing military supplies as a reward for his loyalty.
He suddenly asked to see...
"Xuan."
The palace door opened and Su Qingfan led someone in.
Yang Shouye was dressed in brand new official uniform, but it was hard to hide the shrewd air of a businessman. His face was solemn as he quickly stepped forward and bowed deeply. "Your Majesty, I, Yang Shouye, pay my respects to you."
"No need to be so polite, Mr. Yang," Ning Lingyi gave him a little support. "Qingfan said you have something important to tell me, but you can talk about it."
Yang Shouye took a deep breath, but didn't stand. Instead, he lowered his head even lower, his voice filled with obvious nervousness. "Your Majesty, I have been entrusted with your highness's trust and have been appointed to the throne. Recently, I've heard that the border is in turmoil, and the court is working tirelessly to raise military funds. I've been unable to sleep at night, pondering over this matter. I've come up with a hypothesis, but I'm unsure whether it's right or wrong, and I'm terrified. I've come to report this to Your Majesty!"
"But it's okay to talk about it."
He raised his head slightly and said, "I suspect that the power of Beishuo has already infiltrated most of our Southern Dynasty! This is by no means alarmist, but rather a bold conjecture based on recent observations of several strange things in the business world and the current situation!"
Ning Lingyi's eyes narrowed, and she leaned forward slightly: "Oh? What do you mean? Tell me in detail."
"I come from a merchant family and have been involved in money and commerce all my life. I have some basic knowledge of the trade routes between the north and the south." Yang Shouye spoke faster and expressed his guess.
"In the past year or two, I've noticed that several extremely wealthy families have suddenly emerged in the north and even in the Central Plains. If it were just one or two families who suddenly became wealthy, it could be attributed to luck. However, I've secretly noticed that there are seven or eight families, both large and small, who have amassed such immense wealth in such a short period of time, despite having no clear origins!"
He raised his head, his eyes gleaming with the keenness of a businessman. "My Yang family has accumulated wealth for generations, painstakingly managed, yet to this day, our assets are still less than a million. Yet, these people seem to have discovered the Midas touch, with assets easily exceeding a million taels! This is definitely beyond the reach of ordinary businessmen! Even more suspicious is that they're buying large quantities of ironware, saltpeter, medicinal herbs, and food... These are all military supplies!"
Ning Lingyi tapped the table lightly with her fingers, already understanding the key point: "You mean..."
"Your Majesty, see!" Yang Shouye's voice was heavy. "In the battle against the Western Qiang, our dynasty joined forces with Beishuo and plundered all their accumulation over a century. The gold and silver treasures Beishuo received must have been an astronomical figure. Gold and silver alone cannot be directly transformed into swords, food, or clothing in Mobei. If I were Tuoba Hong..."
He continued, "We will definitely send all of these dead things to the Southern Dynasty to support agents, or directly send people disguised as merchants to take advantage of our dynasty's abundant resources and exchange the gold and silver in their hands for actual military supplies and stockpile them!"
"This is a two-birds-with-one-stone strategy. It can not only deplete the Southern Dynasty's national strength, but also prepare reserves for their future southward advance! When their cavalry crushes the mountains and rivers, all this gold and silver will be his, just a matter of exchanging hands for the right!"
Ning Lingyi only felt a chill rising from her spine and instantly running through her limbs and bones.
I see!
What a Tuoba Hong! What a way to cut off the firewood from under the cauldron!
She had only considered the open military offensive, but almost overlooked the economic battle that was taking place in secret.
He turned the plundered wealth into an invisible sharp blade, cutting off Nan Chao's flesh and blood bit by bit, sucking her blood!
"Yang Qing, you have performed a great service today!"
Ning Lingyi's voice was calm. "Are you sure about which families they are?"
Yang Shouye looked embarrassed and shook his head. "Your Majesty, I can only vaguely identify a few parties based on the flow of funds. Most of them are merchants from Jin. But I have no concrete evidence, and the network behind them is so complex that it is beyond my power to investigate."
Ning Lingyi pondered for a moment, a sharp light flashed in her eyes: "Su Qingfan."
"I am here."
"Send General Pan Hao. Have him come to see me immediately and investigate this matter secretly with Yang Qing! Remember, this must be done in secrecy, and we must not alert the enemy."
"yes!"
*
After receiving the order, Pan Hao discussed with Yang Shouye and quietly launched an investigation. With the help of the military scouts and Yang Shouye's sense of the business world, the clues soon became clear.
More than a month later, a secret report was presented to Ning Lingyi.
As Yang Shouye expected, there were eight wealthy merchants, mainly from Shanxi, who maintained long-term and secret trade relations with Beishuo.
The ironware, grain, fodder, medicinal materials, cloth, etc. that flowed to Beishuo through their hands every year were worth millions of taels of silver!
What is even more alarming is that these caravans are often responsible for transmitting intelligence. The deployment of troops in the Southern Dynasty and even some minor movements in the court may be leaked through this secret channel.
Ning Lingyi looked at the items of supplies listed in the secret report. These numbers seemed to have turned into swords and guns in the hands of the Beishuo cavalry, pointing at her territory and people.
She wanted to kill these eight people immediately! Eat them alive!
But she held herself back.
Killing is certainly satisfying.
But if these eight families were killed, Tuoba Hong could still support another eight families, and it would immediately alert Beishuo and make it more secretive.
She needs a more stable and ruthless approach.
After thinking for a long time, Ning Lingyi suppressed her murderous intent and made a decision.
On the one hand, she secretly ordered Pan Hao to select elite naval officers and soldiers, disguise them as fierce bandits roaming the sea, and "rob" several important merchant fleets of the eight major trading companies in a targeted manner.
The operation was clean and efficient, intercepting a large amount of supplies that were about to be shipped to the north, temporarily blocking this huge gap, which was equivalent to directly seizing a batch of military supplies from Beishuo.
On the other hand, she chose four companies with shallower roots.
Late one night, Pan Hao personally led a group of people, like a divine soldier descending from the sky, and secretly "invited" the leaders of the four families to leave.
When the four wealthy businessmen had their hoods removed and found themselves kneeling in the solemn palace, and sitting on the throne was the regent princess whom they had secretly assisted and wanted to fight against, their faces turned pale and they trembled like sieves.
There was no need for excessive torture. Faced with irrefutable evidence, they kowtowed profusely and confessed everything about their connection with Beishuo.
Ning Lingyi sat high above them, watching them coldly as they confessed and begged for mercy with tears streaming down their faces.
"Killing you will not benefit the country, but your property, your connections with Beishuo, and your lives will be useful for the time being."
She gave them a choice: hand over most of their property, make meritorious contributions while serving their sentence, cooperate with the court to maintain the appearance of trade with Beishuo, and pass on carefully selected false intelligence.
Otherwise, the entire family will be executed immediately and their property will be confiscated.
Faced with the decision between life and death, the four of them had almost no hesitation.
When the four men tremblingly reported the amount they were willing to hand over, even Su Qingfan and Pan Hao beside them gasped.
The four families together had a total of more than three million taels of silver!
Ning Lingyi listened, was silent at first, and then she laughed softly.
"Three million taels...Okay, very good."
She repeated the figure, her eyes sweeping across the hall. "Prime Minister Wang, the Ministry of Revenue, and I have racked our brains over hundreds of thousands of taels of silver for military expenses, worrying until our hair turned white. Little did we know that the money was actually waiting right here."
She was laughing at this absurd reality, at her previous difficulties, and even more at the greed and stupidity of those parasites.
She glanced at the four people kneeling in front of her, and then thought about the other four families.
Just wait and see, I will deal with them later.
Immediately afterwards, Ning Lingyi issued the second order.
She issued a decree to all military towns and checkpoints on the border: From now on, any caravan or ship that is found smuggling supplies to Beishuo, regardless of who they belong to, half of the seized supplies will be confiscated, and the other half will be given on the spot as a reward to the officers and soldiers who seized them!
As soon as this order was issued, there was an uproar on the border, and then the public was excited.
The border guards who had turned a blind eye to smuggling and might even have secretly accepted benefits were instantly transformed into the most discerning hunting dogs.
Because now, catching smuggling is like giving yourself a reward!
Driven by interests, the enthusiasm is sky-high.
For a time, the trade route from the coast of the East China Sea to the northwest pass to Beishuo was almost completely blocked, and it was difficult to smuggle even a needle through.
Those merchants who were not controlled immediately suffered heavy losses, and the difficulty and cost of Beishuo obtaining supplies soared sharply.
*
A few days later, Ning Lingyi summoned Su Qingfan alone in the imperial study.
The drizzle is tapping on the eaves outside the window, and the candles in the room are bright.
Ning Lingyi gently placed the history book in her hand on the desk and looked up at Su Qingfan. "Qingfan, I was recently looking through the annals of the previous dynasty and came across an old story. In the past, the northern border was in danger. In order to cope with the war, the previous dynasty levied an additional salary of over 5 million taels of silver and dispatched 110,000 troops within a year."
Her tone was calm, but with a hint of coldness: "But do you know what the result is?"
"Even after allocating this huge sum of money, the army suffered a crushing defeat. Having personally led troops, I realized that of the over five million taels of silver that came from the Ministry of Revenue, passed through the Ministry of War, various government offices, and layers of generals, I'm afraid less than two million taels actually reached the hands of the soldiers on the front lines and were actually used."
Su Qingfan stood solemnly, his expression echoing the sentiments. "Your Majesty, I understand. I felt the same way when I met with the Ministry of Revenue. Every account was clear and every official fulfilled their duties diligently, yet when the time came to spend money, the treasury simply couldn't provide enough."
She sneered, "It's as if all that precious silver has evaporated into thin air in this clear and bright time."
"That's why," Ning Lingyi sneered in her heart. She naturally knew what was going on.
"That's why I'm setting up a Military Affairs Office and putting you in charge. The previous dynasty's downfall stems from this corruption. With layers of exploitation, it's as high as 80%! They once dared to take 80%, but here, even 10% is not acceptable!"
She stared at Su Qingfan and said word by word, "Therefore, from now on, every penny of money allocated to the Military Affairs Office must be spent wisely. No one else will be allowed to embezzle it."
"If you take even a tael of silver from me, I'll kill him!"
Su Qingfan bowed deeply: "Your Majesty, I understand."
After saying this, Ning Lingyi didn't expect that there were still people who dared to embezzle money in defiance of the law. She was so angry that she laughed. This was just right. She needed a few heads to establish her authority and to sacrifice to her.
Before the decisive battle began, Ning Lingyi's knife chopped off a head, telling everyone in the most direct way that whoever touches her money will die.
*
When the news reached the royal court of Mobei, Tuoba Hong was inspecting the newly trained cavalry.
Upon hearing that the trade route was cut off, his hand holding the horsewhip paused slightly, and then there was not much anger on his face, but instead a hint of expected calm smile.
He waved his hand, signaling the reporting messenger to retreat, and turned his gaze back to the cavalry galloping and training in the distance.
"Ning Lingyi, you finally figured it out." He murmured to himself, "Unfortunately, my preparations took time. The supplies I've already gathered are enough to sustain Beishuo for a while."
"Alright," he said, his eyes gradually igniting with fighting spirit. "This way, it's a clean solution. The battle in the dark is over, so let's fight openly."
"Next, let's all rely on our abilities and see who's really going on the battlefield."
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