As the saying goes, while the rich have wine and meat, there are people freezing to death on the streets.
No matter how poor the country was, and how scattered the people were, they still needed a banquet from someone. Moreover, apart from the Zhao family which was in a very dire state, the rest of the people were not so poor that there were only four or five people left in the family, and their savings were looted, leaving them with only a large ancestral house.
Even if Emperor Zhao's family was as poor as they were now, they could at least produce enough for their own use and afford a meal.
Turning back to the present, after the palace discussion, which seemed to have a strong earthy flavor due to the presence of several generals, ended, everyone dispersed. Emperor Zhao went to the imperial banquet with Yue Fei and Wanqi Xie, and no one paid attention to the others in the palace except Qu Duan, who might need to go back to the capital to handle some formalities, and then rent a house, order takeout, feed horses, etc. The rest of the people also had their own places to go...
Han Shizhong took the initiative to grab Lu Hao and ask Prime Minister Lu to go to his house for a drink, and did not forget to call Lu Jing; Wang Yan took the initiative to follow Prime Minister Xu Jingheng to Xu's house; even Zhang Jun, the Grand Marshal, said a few heartfelt words to his godfather Wang Yuan, whom he had not seen for a long time, and then the two of them walked slowly to Prime Minister Wang Boyan Wang Shu's house.
After three rounds of drinks and the sun was setting, the generals, who had something on their minds, naturally started to ask questions in a very earthy way.
"Mr. Lu, has the country's finances really reached this point?"
In the prime minister's residence, under the shade of trees, with red flowers and green leaves, Han Shizhong, who was still wearing a jade belt, rarely showed a cautious attitude. "It's just that the two rivers and Jingdong are gone, and Guanzhong, Huaibei, and Jingxi are a little chaotic... Even so, it should be half of the past, that is, 50 or 60 million yuan a year, right? Why is it only 20 or 30 million?"
"How can such a thing be hidden from others?" Lu Haowen put away his chopsticks, speechless.
"How can you calculate it like that?" Lu Xing, who had just put down his wine glass, was speechless. "I'm going to say something that you, my good minister, may not like. If General Zhang was with Prime Minister Wang, he would never ask this question... He at least has some common sense about finances! The national economy is connected, just like a living person. If you suddenly cut off half of a person, how can you save the other half? If you break a leg, won't you bleed?"
Lu Xing was a veteran who had fought in the battlefield together, and his words were very direct, so Han Shizhong couldn't help feeling embarrassed.
"What Commandant Lu said makes sense." Lu Haowen was as good-tempered as ever, and he explained to the other party. "For example, most of the national finances come from commercial taxes. But doesn't commerce require north-south trade? In the past, silk from Jiangnan was sold to Hebei. Can it still be sold now? Will it take time to find a new sales channel? Moreover, business is most important for safe transportation. When war breaks out, it will have the greatest impact on people's hearts..."
Han Shizhong was thoughtful: "Indeed, the emperor has been on the throne for two years, and the southeast has only been peaceful for half a year..."
"That's right," Lv Haowen sighed in front of the rough man, but he also said it directly. "After Jing Kang, in the first year of Jian Yan, chaos broke out in various places in the southeast. Under the smoke of war, the Song Dynasty was in danger of being destroyed. At that time, did anyone dare to go out to sell bulk goods? Later, Li Gongxiang pacified the local area, but it only lasted for half a year. Last year, in the autumn of the second year of Jian Yan, the military chaos in Jiangning started again, and it has lasted until now. How can people be at peace and traffic be safe? And this year, it seems that it will be better for a while, but who dares to say that it will continue to be peaceful after the autumn?"
"It's the Jin people." Han Shizhong finally woke up.
"It's the Jin people." Lu Haowen sighed slowly. "The Jin people come every year, and when the Jin people come, the situation becomes worse. Not to mention the direct destruction of the land, even the rear is difficult to maintain peace... Aren't the several unrests in the southeast caused by the Jin people's offensive?"
Han Shizhong continued to ponder.
Lu Haowen also said bluntly: "Before the Jingkang period, the southeast had 20 million in taxes and levies. In the middle of the Jianyan period, it was only about 10 million. This was due to the turmoil. Logically speaking, as the situation stabilizes, these taxes and levies will slowly return to their former state. In fact, they can even increase further because of the migration of refugees to the south and the increase in population... But one premise is that the Jin people cannot attack and cannot cause any more chaos."
"So the central government would rather raise taxes than raise troops?" Lu Xing asked carefully. "Once taxes are raised, Jiangnan will inevitably become unstable and there will be chaos. But if taxes are not raised, we cannot stop the Jin army and it will also be unstable? But if we stop the Jin army, sooner or later we will be able to recover."
"General Lu's words hit the nail on the head." Lu Hao asked with a bitter smile. "Raising taxes is certainly not good, but the key lies in whether we can win on the front line after raising taxes... Let's not talk about winning, as long as we can prevent the Jin army from crossing the Huai River and maintain a stalemate like last time, with the general trend of people's minds being settled, the finances will gradually recover, and with the government's purity of mind, any tax increases will definitely be reduced; but if they can't be stopped, then not to mention the frontline, there will definitely be more chaos behind us... This is a gamble on victory or defeat."
Han Shizhong nodded slowly, but then shook his head slowly: "So, the emperor is still in a very difficult situation, and it is indeed a bit annoying to Zhang Jun and me... I heard that although Yue Fei is young, he is as poor as the emperor. Is it because of this that he caught the emperor's eye?"
"It can't be helped." Lu Haowen twirled his beard and sighed. "I just said that the emperor is pure and has few desires, and you said that the emperor is poor, but it's still not enough to match the emperor's current attitude... In fact, many former nobles have returned to Tokyo these days, and seeing the emperor's situation, some people simply say that the emperor is sleeping on straw and eating bitter food."
Han Shizhong was most concerned about this matter, so he asked carefully: "So, is the emperor really angry with me for the extravagant expenses in the army?"
"Not really." Lu Haowen came back to his senses and shook his head immediately. "Liang Chen is a general of the country, the best general in the world, how could he really be angry with you? The addition of special war taxes was also discussed by the central government after a long time, but it is true that the emperor is in a bad mood today because of the tax and military expenses... Besides, the emperor is determined to fight against the Jin, and even people like Qu Duan can be exempted just because he maintained the situation in northern Shaanxi, not to mention Liang Chen who has made great contributions to the country. How could he be really angry?"
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