Lu Xiaolou stood up, cupped his hands and said, "Shocking!"
When he said these four words, everyone present was a little confused and didn't know why.
"Talk to everyone carefully."
Lu Xiaolou then said: "According to the order of the general, my subordinates confiscated the property of the five surnames together with the Protectorate. People have been sent to seize the houses and shops of the five surnames. They have been working day and night for the past few days, and they have confiscated the Tang family and the family."
The Zhao family just finished counting the wealth of these two families last night." Having said this, he took the account book that had been prepared long ago and opened it: "The account book contains detailed records of the gold, silver and silk that were confiscated. I am here to report to you.
Let’s talk about it roughly.”
All the generals are busy with their own affairs these days. Although they have heard a little bit about Lu Xiaolou being responsible for the search, they don't know the specific situation.
"Let's talk about the Tang family first." Lu Xiaolou said: "Let's not talk about the extravagance of the Tang family's mansion. We found a basement in the Tang family. The upper beam was not straight and the lower beam was crooked. Before that, we had already visited Wang Xingchao's house.
The Tang family discovered the basement of their residence. The Tang family stored 57,400 taels of gold in the basement, and the amount of silver now piled up is 1,640,000 taels!"
As soon as these words came out, there was a commotion in the hall.
"Good fellow, the Tang family regards the basement as the national treasury." Someone exclaimed in shock: "How big of a basement is that? Can it store so much gold and silver?"
Lu Xiaolou smiled and said: "You can go and visit later. It's actually polite to say it's a basement. It should be called an underground palace. There are piles of boxes containing gold and silver in the underground palace. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed it.
How could a famous Liaodong general be so greedy for ink?" Looking at the account book in his hand, he said: "If you convert gold into silver, the amount of silver in this underground palace alone is as high as two million taels. In addition, there are antique calligraphy and paintings and various
The antique treasures, converted into silver taels, are at least nearly two million taels. The Tang family also has many shops in Liaodong. Not counting the land under the Tang family's name, the Tang family's assets confiscated in Liaoyang City alone can reach up to 500 taels.
Wan Liang."
Yuwen Chengchao, who came from a noble family, was also horrified at this time and said: "A general has assets of five million taels. This is simply shocking."
"In addition, the Tang family has its own granary." Lu Xiaolou said: "We learned from the interrogation that the Tang family has farmland in various counties in Liaodong, and a lot of grain is stored in the farmland. We learned from the Tang family's granary in Liaoyang City
Sixty thousand shi of grain were confiscated, but this is only part of the Tang family's grain inventory."
Someone frowned and said, "The Tang family has stored so much food. How can the Tang family eat it all?"
"You don't understand." Lu Xiaolou said with a smile: "I'm also very surprised. The Tang family only stores a large amount of gold and silver treasures. So much grain is placed in the granary. Aren't they afraid of it rotting? And the Tang family has it in their name.
The farmland is as large as ten thousand hectares, and a large amount of grain is harvested every year. After careful interrogation, I found out that the Tang family secretly sells grain every year and turns it into cash. A lot of the silver in the underground palace comes from selling grain." Looking around.
Everyone asked: "Do you know where the Tang family's food is sold?"
Everyone looked at each other, and Yuwen Chengchao couldn't help but ask: "Could it be sold to the northern grasslands?"
"Lieutenant Yuwen hit the nail on the head." Lu Xiaolou said: "You are right. Part of the grain was sold to Beifang Cao through the grain merchants in Fucheng Trading Ground.
It turns out that the northern tribes secretly purchase a large amount of grain from the northeast every year. When the tribes encounter food disasters, grain merchants in Fucheng will double the price of grain and make huge profits from it. In addition to the northern tribes, there are also Bohai and Bohai.
A large amount of grain is also purchased from the Northeast every year, and the suppliers are the generals of the Liaodong Army who have the power and grain."
Everyone here was stunned.
Xuanyuan Chong, who had been silent, clenched his fists and said: "Northeast China suffered from natural disasters in the past few years. The government did not provide much food to help the victims, and how many people starved to death. Unexpectedly, these beasts sold the food!"
"Captain Lu, what's going on with the Zhao family?" Yuwen Chengchao asked, "How much wealth was stolen from the Zhao family?"
"Although the Zhao family is not as good as the Tang family, according to statistics, all the family wealth is equivalent to more than 3 million taels of silver." Lu Xiaolou said: "The Wang family, the Tang family and the Zhao family have confiscated nearly 1,500 taels of wealth.
A huge amount of ten thousand taels of silver. Among the remaining five surnames are the Tan family and the Jia family. The Tan family in Jiashan has donated its assets and is not included in our statistics. The Jia family is still counting, although it has not been completed.
At present, it seems that it should be close to two million taels. In addition, there are many corrupt officials under the five surnames, and the wealth of these people must be incomparable.
The five surnames are huge, but if they are counted one by one, the total amount must be extremely huge. The Duhufu has sent the Department of Household Clearing to help with the statistics. According to their estimates, the assets confiscated in the end should be in the range of 3,000 yuan.
More than ten thousand taels of silver."
Everyone present couldn't help but take a breath of cold air.
During the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, the annual fiscal revenue was only about 20 million taels of silver. Now that the country is weak, it is far less than this amount.
Thirty million taels of silver was at least the income of the Finance Minister of the Tang Empire for two years.
These revenues will be used for various expenses of the empire, but the wealth accumulated by the Liaodong Army is quietly lying in the basement.
Everyone knew at this moment that although this was the wealth accumulated by the Liaodong Army for decades, it was already an extremely terrifying amount. Every tael of silver was stained with the blood and tears of the people in the Northeast.
And everyone also thought that if the money was really used in the construction of the Liaodong Army, I am afraid that the Liaodong Army would become an unrivaled and terrifying army.
If this was the case, let alone defeating this army, Long Rui's army would have been swallowed up by the Liaodong army long ago without leaving any skin.
Qin Xiao finally spoke at this time: "After this battle, Wang Xingchao's group of rebels were pacified, and a lot was gained. Everyone has also heard that the final amount of silver collected should be more than 30 million taels of silver. In addition, the amount paid
There is also a huge amount of grain and grass. This grain and grass can support our army for at least several years." He sighed: "But everyone also understands that whether it is money or grain and grass, the Liaodong Army squeezed it from the people. We cannot
Don’t give the people an explanation.”
The generals didn't know how Qin Xiao would deal with such a huge fortune.
It is of course impossible to pay it to the court. Even if it is a big expense to reward the soldiers under his command, it is just a drop in the bucket in the face of tens of millions of taels of silver.
Qin Xiao thought for a while and then said: "I have carefully considered it and decided to give the four northeastern counties a tax exemption for one year. All walks of life will not have to pay taxes, so that the people can take a breather. The taxes for the next year will only be
By paying 30% of the previous amount, in two years, the land equalization policy will be enough to be implemented in all four northeastern counties. At that time, we will carefully consider the amount of tax and collect it from the lowest."
As soon as he finished speaking, Xuanyuan Chong was the first to stand up, knelt down on the ground, and said gratefully: "The general is generous and kind, and I would like to thank the general on behalf of the people of the four northeastern counties!"
Although everyone here does not understand the tax policy, they all know that even when the imperial court was at its peak, there was no such exemption from taxes.
The imperial court may be merciful and exempt a few counties that suffered natural disasters from taxes, but such a direct exemption from taxes for the entire four northeastern counties has never happened since ancient times.
As everyone knows, this is precisely because the Liaodong Army confiscated their property and obtained an astronomical amount of money and food.
But even so, Qin Xiao was indeed very courageous in exempting the four northeastern counties from taxes for one year, and he really had the people in mind.
"Commander Xuanyuan, please come up quickly." Qin Xiao raised his hand and said: "Let's cut off the rebels together to let the people live a good life. There is no use shouting slogans, let's give the people some reality????
What is true is what you preach."
"The general's move will not only allow the people to live a good life, but Long Rui's army will also be truly supported by the people in the Northeast." Gu Baiyi said with a smile: "The general protects the safety of the people in the Northeast and exempts them from taxes. What is this?
They are all useful. After they get the news about the tax exemption, they will definitely do their best to use the general and Long Ruijun."
Huangfu Yunzhao remained silent, and finally said at this moment: "General Gu's words are reasonable and win people's hearts. This decree is more useful than anything else. The people have truly benefited. Even if the general and Long Ruijun want to leave the Northeast, they will not
They will let us leave."
"Hide wealth from the people!" Gu Baiyi said: "We treat the people like our own brothers and sisters, and let them treat us as their own. Long Ruijun's foundation in the Northeast is naturally very solid. If there are really difficult times in the future, they will also
Take the initiative to help.”
Dou Xiong said: "We Northeasterners are the most loyal and will repay kindness. The people will remember the general's kindness in their hearts. What General Gu said is true. When we really have difficulties in the future, the people of the four northeastern counties will also.
Great help.”
Qin Xiao smiled and said: "We have them in our hearts, and they also have us in their hearts." After a pause, he said: "Originally, we were planning to discuss this matter with everyone, but now it seems that everyone has no objection. In this case, we will
That’s settled.”
Everyone laughed and said: "The general is wise!"
"Captain Lu, you have to handle your matter as soon as possible and don't make any mistakes." Qin Xiao warned Lu Xiaolou before continuing: "There is one more important matter to discuss with everyone today." After a pause,
Then he continued: "Although the Bohai Sea Division was defeated, Yuan Gaijian's soldiers and horses gathered in Fuyu Prefecture are still there, and they are still a threat to Xuantu County. In addition, although we have captured Liaoyang, Xuantu County is still guarded by the remnants of Liaodong troops.
, although there are not many Liaodong soldiers and horses in Xuantu County, it is still troublesome. It is urgent to annihilate the remnants of the Liaodong Army in Xuantu County and recover Xuantu, so I will discuss with you today, who can lead an army to recover Xuantu?
"
As soon as he finished speaking, almost all the generals present stood up. Seeing that others were also so excited, the generals looked at each other and all laughed.