Chapter 137: Deep in the Quagmire
This involves a deeper issue.
So, as a monarch, is it better to be generous or stingy?
This should be a quality of a monarch, and it can influence so many things.
For example, when a monarch just rose to power, if he was generous to the generals who followed him, he would naturally be supported by those who came down and even the nobles. At this time, it actually had no effect on the people and the common people.
On the contrary, if the monarch is too stingy and petty, he will naturally not be followed by others.
Liu Zheng believed that the White Cliff Army must have been generous in its initial development stage, even generous in the way that the Jianghu people were generous, eating meat with big mouthfuls and drinking wine with big bowls. Even these White Cliff heroes who came from the grass roots had a stronger mass base, which made the White Cliff Army famous and began to build the first horse farm of the Longyan Dynasty.
However……
Generosity is not an invincible weapon. If your generosity does not bring you praise, this quality will begin to damage your interests and reputation.
If you act generously and ethically without being noticed , you cannot escape the reputation of being the opposite of generous. So if one wishes to have a reputation for generosity, one must inevitably have some element of extravagance!
For example, the "Bai Ya Palace" where Liu Zheng is now!
It looks even more magnificent than the prefectural governor's mansion. Let's not talk about whether this is legal or not, and let's not talk about whether this is too disrespectful to the prefectural governor's mansion. The Baiya Army built such a palace to give brothers and sisters a "place to settle down", but what do the people think?
Let’s talk about the contributions made by the Baiya Army to Baiya Prefecture.
Yes.
The business of the Baiya Army brought prosperity to the state. They even funded road construction, school building, bridge construction, and various people-benefiting projects... In the early stages, this really won a lot of support from the people and was supported by the common people.
But what?
When the people start to get used to your generosity, when the gang of people under your command get used to your generosity.
Slowly, the generosity will begin to escalate.
In the end, in order to continue his reputation for generosity, the monarch will only exhaust his own financial resources, which can easily lead to an extreme... If he wants to continue his reputation for generosity, he will inevitably increase the burden on the people, impose heavy taxes, and do whatever it takes to get money!
This must exist.
The Baiya Army is not Yinzhou.
The only places where they could create profits, besides the horse farm, were the various taxes they took from the prefectural governor’s office…
So, once this happens, you can imagine how people feel.
You are extravagant yourself, so you come to exploit us?
At this point, they won't care whether you have done anything to benefit the people or not. They will only see the appearance! This luxurious palace, the high-ranking White Cliff Army, and the group of brocade-clad gentlemen!
In this way.
When the Baiya Army lost the respect of the people, this generosity became a bad reputation!
Quite the opposite is true.
If Liu Zheng was the leader of the Baiya Army, he wouldn't care about being labeled as stingy. He would let others see the thrifty side of the army. Even if the income was abundant, he would be very frugal, even very stingy. In this way, the people would actually feel more secure. Because of thrift, there is enough military force to deal with the war, and achievements are made without adding burden to the people. This is true generosity!
There are many such examples in human history.
In the Middle Ages, Pope Julio ascended to the papacy thanks to his reputation for generosity, but he later abandoned his reputation for generosity in order to wage war. King Louis XII of France also did not increase taxes for the sake of war, but relied on his long-term savings and "stinginess" to provide for his additional expenses.
The Baiya Army is indeed very rich...
However, at a time when the world is about to fall into chaos, they still do not practice frugality and do not give the people enough sense of security!
Then, at this time, generosity really becomes a vice!
"Brother Liu, what are you thinking about? Come on, come on, the brothers know your reputation and have prepared a banquet for you. Drink, drink!"
Du Biao suddenly came over laughing.
Yang Ke also invited Liu Zheng with a smile.
Liu Zheng could only follow the host's wishes and followed the two people to a huge banquet hall. As expected, just as Liu Zheng thought, the magnificence of this hall was probably similar to the imperial palaces shown on TV in later generations.
Luxurious, extravagant, golden pillars, various palace lanterns, screens, decorations...
Before Liu Zheng walked in, there was already a group of dancers dancing inside, with the sound of stringed instruments.
A feeling of prosperity and joy, of living a life of drunkenness and dreams comes to you.
Liu Zheng was quite uncomfortable with this and looked unhappy.
Yang Ke smiled and said, "Brothers, we have been through life and death together to get to where we are today. Are you not used to it? People in the martial arts world are disrespectful of etiquette. Please forgive me."
Du Biao laughed and said, "Brother Liu is also a straightforward person, why do you have so many things to say? Come and sit down!"
Liu Zheng smiled bitterly and said nothing.
He finally understood why the Baiya Army, which owned the world's number one horse farm, was still clinging to the refined salt business. Even though there were great risks, they still wanted to do it. Because they were so short of money!
You are too good at making money, but you are also too good at spending money, so you will be too short of money!
As the old saying goes, it is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but it is difficult to go from luxury to frugality. No matter how humble they were before, when this magnificent palace was built, it meant that they would never be able to return to their previous life of eating raw meat and drinking blood.
And this is exactly what Liu Zheng is most worried about.
The Baiya Army is now in a terminal state... and it's not just a disease!
The first problem is that the system is not strict, there is no distinction between levels, people call each other brothers, and there are too many bad habits in the underworld!
The second disease is the prevalence of extravagance, excessive taxation, alienation from the masses, and disunity!
The third disease is that the army just lost, but they did not summarize and continued to enjoy themselves. They treated the lives of the people as worthless. Otherwise, why did none of these "heroes" go to fight against the Huns? Only Yang Ke led an army of 70,000. There is only one reason, they knew that this battle would be lost, and they had no intention of fighting at all. They only went to serve as cannon fodder from the people!
And these "senior generals" are still drinking and having fun here!
What Liu Zheng saw in these people was no longer the shadow , but the appearance of the late Taiping Heavenly Kingdom...
He drank and thought.
The dilemma at Baiya seemed to be becoming increasingly difficult.
He regretted the trip to Baiya a little.
But now that I'm already here and have been assassinated, there's no reason to leave!
…
Silver State.
Silver Beach City.
Zheng Yueru has already rushed back.
Qingyang Shuo saw the handwritten letter from Liu Zheng and smiled faintly: "Young Master, you want to take advantage of this warhorse contract meeting to sell weapons. Aren't you a little impatient?"
Zheng Yueru was stunned: "Mr. Qingyang, isn't this the best opportunity?"
Qingyang Suo sighed and said calmly: "The Baiya Army, if the bandit spirit is not gone, it is not worth working with them!"
Jiang Xuan and Zheng Yueru looked at each other.
The Baiya Army is famous all over the world, and you actually say that they are not worthy of working together?
If it weren't for the fact that Qingyang Suo was indeed a great talent, they would have started cursing him long ago.
Qingyang Suo continued, "The Baiya Army is all show and no substance. If you want to take over Baiya, you are too weak to do it. The Baiya Army only has 20,000 soldiers left. How can the Taishou Mansion and Liangzhou Prefecture not take advantage of the situation and attack? By then, you will be in trouble for nothing. It's really not worth it!"
Zheng Yueru's face froze: "Sir, what should we do?"
Jiang Xuan also understood.
After this war, the Baiya Army will certainly become the target of public criticism. Even if they come up with some kind of war horse contract this time, it will probably not be able to stop others from coveting the Baiya Army.
Under such circumstances, if Liu Zheng intervened, he would be in a very embarrassing and even dangerous situation!
If he won, he would get nothing, and he would even offend Baiya Prefecture and Liangzhou Prefecture for no reason. Even now, even the Queen and Zheng Yuxing would have a rift. Most importantly, Liu Zheng did not have the strength to take on Baiya, who was comparable to Liangzhou Prefecture.
But what if you lose?
Then there would be really nothing to gain, and 30,000 soldiers would have to be invested.
Qingyang Shuo smiled faintly and said, "Although the young master is a little radical, he always has his own unique ideas."
"It's not that there's no chance of success. After all, you've done a great deed in defeating the Xiongnu. If you can get a prefecture, it'll be justified."
Zheng Yueru and Jiang Xuan looked at each other in delight.
The Zhoutong is the assistant of the Zhou official, from the sixth rank, and the same level as the Zhoupan. But if it is one rank higher, it will be the fifth rank, barely a prefect. This is based on the official position. According to the distinction between official positions and titles, Liu Dahao's current position is just a prefect, and there is still a distance from the fourth rank prefect. But Liu Dahao can already take charge of the affairs of the two states.
If Liu Zheng could become the prefect, it would be natural for him to take office in Baiya.
You know, the current Baiya prefect Zhang Chengjiang is only one level higher than the prefect.
In this era, it is not uncommon to jump a level to get promoted.
"Jiang Xuan!"
Qingyang Suo suddenly said.
Jiang Xuan was in high spirits: "I am here!"
"Whether the young master can walk out of Baiya alive depends on you this time."
"Take your team of special agents and rush to Baiya immediately to rescue the young master!"
"yes!"
