Volume 3 Chapter 14: The Banquet is not a Short Coat
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?"
"To be honest with you, sir, whether I am really angry or not, after the emperor's anger today, I always feel a little... fearful." Han Shizhong pointed to his chest.
"Isn't it normal to be panicked?" Lu Haowen didn't care. "After all, it's the emperor's... If a good minister is really willing, I won't say much about fighting. A good minister is naturally a model of loyalty to the country, but he should also go back and work hard on military discipline, otherwise Yue Pengju will sooner or later surpass him... You just asked if Yue Pengju was favored by the emperor because of his poverty, I can also answer you, no! The emperor never cares about these trivial matters, he is because Yue Pengju's military discipline is outstanding! Do you know that after the rebellion in the southeast was suppressed, Yue Pengju escorted the southeast's financial resources to the capital again, and his discipline was extremely strict. At first, when Lu Shuxiang came from Yangzhou to report to the emperor, no one dared to believe it. But when the money arrived in Beijing, the accounts were clear and there was no loss of floating wealth, which shocked the court and made everyone know that this man has the demeanor of an ancient famous general."
Lu Xing then interjected: "In fact, Pengju is also very good at employing troops and judging people, but he is not yet well-known to the world. He fought under my command for more than a month that day and was deeply impressed."
Under the flower tree, Han Shizhong sighed, but lowered his head and said, "Prime Minister Lu, General Lu, thank you for your reminder. After I go back, I will naturally try my best to manage the people below and save the emperor's worries. But today is not just about this matter. I have a private matter here, which is related to Yue Pengju. I was originally going to deal with it privately, but this kind of thing happened today. Whether I bring it up or not, it seems that I am a petty and jealous person, which is really embarrassing. So, please help me with one or two... To be honest with you, I don’t know when Yue Pengju’s original wife followed the refugees to our army and married a captain. This was only discovered last month, but she has been married for a year. How deal with it?"
Lu Haowen and Lu Xing didn't understand at all at first. Instead, they were thirsty from talking for a long time and were enjoying their meal while pouring wine. But after a while, they were both stunned... Who has ever encountered such a thing?
Not to mention that Han Shizhong encountered such an embarrassing thing and was caught in a dilemma. On the other hand, the summer breeze was blowing, and as the saying goes, you can't pull away all the weeds with your hands, they will grow again with the summer breeze... In the huge Yanfu Palace, in a stone pavilion by a small lake that was full of weeds due to lack of manpower, Emperor Zhao, who was getting more and more angry, was still losing his temper and looking at people in a stern manner.
"You said that my Grand Marshal and Jiedushi were your former tenants?" Inside the stone pavilion, everyone stood with their hands behind their backs. The only person sitting, Zhao Jiu, stared at the man standing in front of the pavilion and sneered.
The man in front of the pavilion is the grandson of the famous prime minister Han Qi, the grandson of Emperor Shenzong, and also the cousin of Zhao Jiu in this body. He is none other than Han Shu, the head of the Meihua Han family after they returned to Beijing. He was summoned to the palace as soon as he arrived in Beijing today, but when he heard these words out of the blue, he was almost shaking like a sieve and didn't know how to respond.
"Your Majesty..." Yue Fei was helpless and could only beg for mercy . "I was born in a poor family. My father and son were tenants of the Han family. If it weren't for the promotion of the Han family, I might not have been able to support my family as a bowman. The Han family and my family do have a debt of gratitude. This is not false at all."
"I know it's not false." Zhao Jiu still sneered, but still stared at Han Shu . "But some things are true, but what's the point of telling everyone about them? From Yangzhou to Tokyo, you talked about it all the way, afraid that others don't know that my general was once a tenant of their family? The Zhao family's kingdom was handed over by the Chai family, and I haven't heard that Chai told everyone about this, right? What are you thinking? Your Han family is a noble family, the most famous family in the Song Dynasty, and your students and former officials are all over the world? Do you want to be Yuan Shao or Yuan Shu?"
After hearing the last words, Han Shu could no longer bear it and knelt down in front of his cousin in public, kowtowed till he could not.
