The Jiangdu Provincial Governor's Office had prepared for a long time for summoning the provincial governors to discuss matters. All matters had been repeatedly discussed and revised by Yao Ran, Luo Guanlin, Wang Yue, Wang Changshi, and the first seven halls, and a complete set of very mature and detailed regulations had been prepared.
At Chang Suining's suggestion, Yao Ran spoke first.
Yao Ran first mentioned some changes in land policies and taxes and corvee labor, then strategies for attracting talents, settling refugees, and the conditions for distributing books to various states. Basic books will be uniformly distributed to the prefectural schools in each state, while more rare books will need to be linked to the progress of the school construction in each state.
When Shen Wenshuang heard about the changes in taxes and corvee labor, sweat began to appear on his forehead.
It is true that each Jiedushi has the right to distribute taxes and corvée labor in the areas under his jurisdiction. The income tax of each area can be used by the Jiedushi first for the needs of the areas under his jurisdiction. In recent years, because the authority of the emperor and the court is no longer as strong as before, many Jiedushi simply stop paying taxes to the court. Although they did not refuse to pay taxes outright, they always had many excuses to avoid the control and inquiries of the court.
This is also one of the reasons and manifestations for the increasing power of the Jiedushi.
This made the already empty treasury of the imperial court even more unsustainable, and the court gradually lost control over these local officials, thus falling into a vicious cycle.
In short, the Jiedushi now has more power to "act at their own discretion" than before in all matters under their jurisdiction -
But even so, Shen Wenshuang still felt that this was too cheap a deal...
Although it does not seem to be a complete overthrow of the old system, but only a basic change, it gives him the feeling that a straw rope has been stretched to the maximum extent within its elastic range. Even if a fly passes by and blows it, the rope will break immediately.
The land system and taxation policy are related to the foundation of a country...If they are impeached by those whose interests are affected, I am afraid they will not be able to escape the charge of "wanting to disrupt the foundation of the country."
That is to say, the world is in chaos now. If it were in the past...
Shen Wenshuang wiped his sweat quietly. If it were in the past, there wouldn't be a female envoy.
Then, he heard from Ms. Ran that the working regulations for women in Jiangdu should be extended to the entire Huainan Province.
When Shen Wenshuang heard this, he was already somewhat impressed, if for no other reason than that he felt these young people were really courageous and energetic. They could clearly foresee the resistance these new policies would encounter, yet they still dared to think and act.
But on second thought, the reason why they were able to make such a determination might be because Jiangdu, under the new policy, had indeed set a good example.
Shen Wenshuang could sense that as the scope of the matters mentioned by Ms. Ran became wider and wider, people's attitudes gradually began to show obvious differences.
Let's talk about the staunch supporters first. There are four most prominent people:
The first was Ding Su, the governor of Shenzhou. The reason why he supported the promotion of the new policy was very simple. His motto was: If you are going to do it, do it to the utmost.
Moreover, after the battle on the Han River, he had a little status in front of the envoy Chang Jie. Compared with these people, he had some foundation. If he didn't hold on, wouldn't it be a loss? The second was Yun Hui, the governor of Hezhou. He had a very open mind. He had witnessed the many changes brought about by the new policy and knew that this was a good knife, so he couldn't wait to accept it.
The third one was Shao Shantong, the governor of Guangzhou. He was not sure whether this was a good or bad sword. He only knew that Chang Jieshi could lead him to rebel. In a rebellion, what matters is not the unity of the upper and lower levels, and the fight to the point? The fourth one was Shen Wenshuang himself... He was guilty, and was sitting on a cushion given by others. Although he was not good enough, he knew how to read other people's means and expressions. At his age, it was better to be a puppet in the future.
The above four people are supporters.
The only one who remained neutral was the governor of Shuzhou. He was the first one to be secretly persuaded by Qian Shen to rebel. The reason was that he was really persuaded by Qian Shen and saw clearly that it was not appropriate to continue the stalemate with Chang Suining. However, he was not humble in the process of instigating the rebellion. In his opinion, he was the one who was persuaded, so he was able to retain some personal integrity.
His neutrality at this moment was nothing more than stroking his beard and uttering some ambiguous exclamations. He did not say anything in detail, and maintained a reserved and confidential attitude, which made it difficult for people to guess.
The remaining five people gradually couldn't pretend anymore. The expressions of obedience on their faces gradually became wavering and they seemed to be hesitant to speak.
Many people are reluctant to make too many changes, especially the beneficiaries of the old system.
Faced with the court's appointment of Chang Suining as the new Jiedushi, these people may have some dissatisfaction in their hearts, but they did not express it as obviously as Shenzhou and Huangzhou did before. On the contrary, after a little consideration, they chose to accept it temporarily. A large part of this consideration was that they did not want to take risks and did not want to rashly change the relatively stable status quo.
Change means trouble and challenges, but also represents risks and changes.
At the same time, perhaps because they have always been cooperative, they did not feel too guilty when facing Chang Suining. Even though they were afraid, it did not reach the level that could completely cover up their personal desires.
If Chang Suining had not just killed Cao Hongxuan and Sheng Baoming, they might even have walked away halfway.
Human hearts are multifaceted and can be easily dominated by desires. Among the five people, the governors of Qizhou, Luzhou and Chuzhou began to try to raise objections and doubts in a tactful way, but in the face of their doubts, Yao Ran and Wang Yue were able to respond fluently and refute them smoothly, leaving them speechless.
Those people fell silent, but their expressions still did not look very enthusiastic.
They continued to think in silence, and also watched and tested Chang Suining's attitude and bottom line.
But Chang Suining did not make a clear statement. He just glanced at the clepsydra and smiled, saying, "We've been talking for a long time. It's time for lunch."
The governors of the states who remained silent: “?”
Eating now? Was she going to just brush it off like that? Wang Changshi quickly had the chairs removed and low-legged food tables placed in the hall, five on each side. Each person sat at a table, and Chang Suining sat at the top of the hall.
After the officials washed their hands, they took their seats.
As the maids came in to serve the dishes, the officials soon noticed something was wrong.
They first discovered that the food in front of them was most in line with their own tastes. Then, looking around, they discovered that the food on each person's table was different.
At this time, Chang Suining's kind and smiling voice came from the head: "You all came from far away, and I'm afraid you won't be accustomed to the food in Jiangdu, so the chief secretary ordered the palace to prepare food that you all like in advance."
"Master Wang, you are really troubled." Yun Hui, who was sitting upright, raised his wine cup and smiled to Chang Suining: "Thank you, Envoy Chang, for your hospitality!"
Chang Suining picked up the wine cup filled with tea in front of him.
The others came to their senses and raised their wine cups one after another, smiling at the same time. However, only they themselves knew how genuine the smiles were.
It would be fine if these meals were simply based on the common flavors of the places they rule or are from...but it is not just that, many private preferences are involved.
The governor of Qizhou liked to eat eggs and smashed garlic, but because it would leave a bad smell in his mouth, he didn't eat it often. But at this moment, there was a plate of it in front of him.
Ban Run, the governor of Chuzhou, who attracted strange looks from all sides, felt even more complicated - so... he couldn't even hide the fact that he liked to eat bug burritos and stir-fried earthworms?!
The former governor of Chuzhou, Wei Jun, rebelled and was executed by Chang Kuo and his daughter. He only came to Chuzhou to take office at the end of the year before last... How come he was also investigated thoroughly?
How could this be just a table of tasty food? It was clearly telling them that everything about them was under the control of the person at the top.
This is really touching, yet also frustrating.
It's not like I haven't attended the Hongmen Banquet before, but this one was particularly memorable.
There were also people who didn't think that this was the Hongmen Banquet at all, such as Yun Hui and Shao Shantong and others who had just expressed their firm stance. When they decided to be loyal, the only thing left on the table was the pure care from the envoy.
As the saying goes, one man's meat may be another's poison. This is exactly the case.
After lunch, the expressions of the Luzhou governor and his companions softened slightly. When they continued to talk about business, they seemed to be more talkative, and there was a hint of humility in their whole bodies.
In the afternoon, Wang Changshi came forward to discuss military affairs in various states.
According to the quota, the military strength of each state in Huainan Road is between 13,000 and 15,000 people. However, chaos has been rampant in recent years, and before that, military affairs in various places were mostly slack. For example, Qizhou now has less than 8,000 available troops, and several other states also have varying degrees of shortages.
Chang Suining made it clear that they could gradually recruit enough soldiers, and they could recruit from the public and refugees, based mainly on personal wishes.
Speaking of this, the Qizhou governor, who had a garlicky mouth, looked embarrassed.
It's not that he wanted to refute again. In today's world, recruiting soldiers for self-protection is always a good thing. It is within the quota and it is not someone else's turn to criticize it. But... he is poor.
Why didn't he ever think of starting a rebellion with others? A rebellion also requires capital. His treasury is empty. How can he recruit soldiers and win people's hearts? It's hard to support these 7,000 people.
The governor of Qizhou finally bit the bullet and said in shame: "Your Excellency, I think you know that it is really difficult for the court to allocate local military pay... I am incompetent and really don't have extra money and food to recruit soldiers."
Chang Suining nodded as if he had just thought of something. "Yes, on my way back to the city, I looked through the tax and expenditure accounts of Qizhou over the years, and there are indeed quite a lot of deficits."
Then he changed the subject and said with a smile: "But it doesn't matter——"
When the governor of Qizhou thought that she was willing to contribute money to recruit soldiers for Qizhou, she smiled and looked at the governor of Luzhou and said, "Why not borrow a little from Luzhou first as the money for recruiting soldiers? It won't be too late to return it when the treasury of Qizhou is full."
The hall suddenly became quiet, and countless eyes turned to the Luzhou governor.
The governor of Luzhou looked frozen.
The Qizhou governor looked a little puzzled. That was not right. The Luzhou governor had had several private talks with him in the past few days, saying that they should support each other. He had also complained to him that the Luzhou treasury was also in deficit... Why did the envoy ask him to borrow money from the Luzhou governor? And just "a little borrowing" could be used as money to recruit soldiers?
The governor of Luzhou turned pale and blue before forcing out a smile: "Yes, what the envoy said is absolutely right... We are both in Huainan Road, and we should support each other!"
As he said this, he smiled at the governor of Qizhou and promised to help him with all his strength.
The smile of the governor of Qizhou was a little complicated. He understood that the governor of Luzhou was pretending to be poor, but he was really poor! The governor of Luzhou was smiling, but a layer of cold sweat broke out on his back. The account he handed over was indeed in deficit. The reason was naturally very simple. The Jiedushi had the power to dispatch the finances of various states, and he had his own selfish motives.
But... his fake accounts were clearly very realistic, how did they get discovered? Little did he know that the accounts he handed in had been reviewed in the first seven halls, carefully checked and calculated by no less than a hundred people, and some of the officials under his jurisdiction had also given clues privately... With such a detailed investigation, it was destined to be impossible to be perfect.
But Chang Suining did not expose him. Instead, he made him lend money to Qizhou to recruit soldiers... This method is even more frightening than direct accountability.
From this we can see that this woman is definitely not someone who only knows how to kill. The scheming and cunning she reveals makes it hard not to be wary of her.
When the Luzhou governor was secretly frightened, the equally frightened Shouzhou governor suddenly spoke with a righteous look on his face, saying that he was also willing to help Qizhou recruit soldiers - yes, his accounts were also fake!
The governor of Qizhou, who suddenly became the target of competition for funding: "..."
Therefore, none of these people can be trusted! He even thought that he could form a party in private, so he just followed them to refute those new policies... But now he suddenly realized that they did not support the new policies because they could make money under the old system!
Only he was poor and stupid, and was almost used as a knife by these people.
The governor of Qizhou thanked him repeatedly on the surface, but he was madly holding a grudge in his heart.
Shen Wenshuang saw it all and sighed in his heart, thinking that the new governor was not only bold, but also had a good plan to kill two birds with one stone... By using the matter of recruiting soldiers, he not only warned and deterred those who made false accounts, but also alienated and divided those who tried to unite and compete with the new policy.
Looking at his subordinates who were "helping each other", Chang Suining smiled with relief: "With you all here, Huainan Road will surely be harmonious and prosperous."
The officials, with different moods, smiled and agreed.
Then, Chang Suining mentioned that in the future, each state would need to regularly dispatch 2,000 soldiers to Jiangdu every month to take turns and receive training with the Jiangdu army.
In her words, this is to help each state train strong soldiers and enhance the state's defensive combat capabilities.
This is not false, and it is indeed one aspect of his consideration, but everyone understands the other intention, which is clearly to strengthen military control over them.
But they couldn't find any reason to refuse, nor did they have the courage to refuse at the moment.
Yun Hui and Guangzhou Shao Shantong were still the first to agree and accept the order, but this time, Yun Hui couldn't even snatch Shao Shantong away. Shao Shantong was excited in his heart - after hearing what he heard now, he finally had some intention of rebellion!
After discussing the matter in depth for a while, a clerk brought tea. While everyone was having a short break, A Che came back hurriedly from outside, entered the hall, bowed, and brought good news.
The new ship built by the shipyard has been tested for more than half a month and has now returned to the shore safely. In two days, it will be able to go out to sea to explore the route for the Maritime Customs.
Ah Che, who has been busy with this matter recently, was very excited: "Manager Shen asked me to ask the girl whether we should give this ship a name!"
Chang Suining smiled and nodded, looking at everyone: "Do you have any good suggestions?" (End of this chapter)
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