Two days later, Emperor Changxing and Qian Liang, the Minister of Household Affairs, breathed a sigh of relief.
This morning, a convoy carrying the Starfall Army flag and fully armed escort entered Star Century City without a sound.
The car contained gold and silver treasures obtained by the Starfall Legion and Zhennanguan when they raided Nanfeng.
Looking at the long motorcade and the deep tracks on the ground, the emperor and his ministers were overjoyed after receiving the news.
The Starfall Legion is still reliable.
Other legions' wars are usually a waste of people and money, but Xingluo can mostly drive the enemy away from the country, and even gain a lot like now.
Should we not let them go to other places?
"A warlike person will perish; a warlike person will perish."
The monarch and his ministers quickly recited the motto passed down by their ancestors and drove all these dangerous thoughts out of their minds.
With the money in hand, food and grass were quickly collected to quell the chaos, and soon the treasury, which had just a little stock, was completely moved.
well.
Qian Liang let out a long sigh, and the brows that he had finally relaxed wrinkled again.
After thinking about it, he raised his head and looked towards the south with a deep expression.
According to the rules, the legions and soldiers participating in the battle can keep part of the spoils captured after winning the battle as rewards, and the rest must be turned over to the state treasury.
Although there are rules for how much to keep, the income from war profits is opaque and the sky is high and the emperor is far away. It is almost the leading general of each corps who has the final say on how much to keep...
If they were happy and secretly kept most of the loot, no one would say anything.
What Xingluo and Zhennanguan destroyed was the richest country in the south, and the harvest would not end there. It would be better to send an imperial envoy to check...
Just thinking,
call out!
Qian Liang's eyes suddenly flashed with silver light.
I don't know if the light was reflected when the men were carrying some silverware.
He suddenly shuddered.
It seemed that he saw Princess Yiguang's crested staff spinning towards his head.
Snapped!
Qian Liang secretly slapped himself, and the thoughts in his mind disappeared in an instant.
Civil unrest is usually caused by natural or man-made disasters, which are the responsibility of local officials. There is no reason to hate the border guards.
After thinking about it with several colleagues for a while, Qian Liang gritted his teeth and wrote a letter about raising taxes and entered the palace.
"Let it go first."
In the imperial study, Emperor Changxing was reading the excerpts sent back by the team from the south.
Hearing that the brochure in Qian Liang's hand was about raising taxes, he lost interest.
The land is vast and abundant, but the national treasury has been empty in recent years.
In addition to the frequent natural disasters and the continuous drain on the state treasury, it is also due to the repeated failure to collect enough taxes.
It is difficult to collect taxes.
Before the Long case, Qian Liang lowered his eyes silently, knowing that it was another trip in vain.
Almost all of Yunchui's land, circulating caravans, and merchants are in the hands of high-ranking families and local gentry.
These people hold high positions of power and either pay no taxes or only need to pay very little taxes.
In the past, whenever the Ministry of Household Affairs talked about raising taxes, these people, whether they usually dealt with it or not, almost unanimously expressed their opposition.
Therefore, every year the Ministry of Household Affairs submits proposals to raise taxes, but they often end in vain due to too much opposition.
Qian Liang was in trouble, and Emperor Changxing had a headache.
He also knew that an empty treasury was unsustainable. No matter what he wanted to do, an empty treasury always held him back, and there was nothing he could do.
"Where is the Tiger Chou Pass?" Emperor Changxing didn't want to think too much and returned his attention to the folds to the south.
"Your Majesty, wait a moment." Changlu first signaled to Qian Liang, who was following him, to be safe and calm.
I quickly found a large-scale Yunchui map, then spread it out to find the locations of Zhennanguan Pass and Huchou Pass.
After examining the edge of the map for a while, Emperor Changxing was at a loss: "This Huchou Pass is not far from Zhennang Pass."
The two checkpoints, which are thirty miles apart, are the same small dot on the Yunchui map.
In the excerpts from the south, both Yuan Xingwen from Zhennanguan and Yinbao from the Supervisory Army mentioned the same thing.
They hope to move Zhennan Pass to the south of Huchou Pass, so that there will no longer be Huchou Pass in the south.
Emperor Changxing was naturally happy when his territory became larger. But moving a country's border was no small matter. It was equivalent to rebuilding a border. It was almost impossible without sufficient reasons.
"Xuan Xuanwu General Ren Ning enters the palace."
Ren Ning has been practicing dragon boat rowing at Zhenguogong Mansion these days.
When the messenger saw him, the whole team was still tossing in the lake, and everyone was wet.
The emperor's order could not be violated, so Ren Ning had no choice but to apologize to his teammates, quickly changed his clothes and entered the palace.
After seeing the ceremony, Ren Ning glanced suspiciously at the dark-faced Minister of the Ministry of Finance next to him. Just as he was about to speak, Emperor Changxing had already ordered Changlu to move the map in front of him.
"General Ren, in the morning Zhennanguan and the Xingluo Army sent people to escort the people's anointing Nanfeng had collected over the years and returned to Xingji City..."
The smiling old eunuch explained the situation.
Ren Ning was stunned.
He counted the time silently.
Escorting dead objects such as gold and silver treasures is much easier than escorting prisoners in prison cars, and the speed is much faster. It's time to return to Star City.
"Now General Yuan intends to move Zhennan Pass to Huchou Pass. According to his intention, he will station it at Huchou Pass in the future." Changlu asked with a smile: "General Ren is familiar with the situation in the south. I wonder whether General Yuan's proposal is right.
Is necessary?"
Ren Ning took a step forward without hesitation, cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, from what I can see, General Yuan's proposal is very necessary."
"Oh?" Emperor Changxing said noncommittally, "Tell me about it."
Ren Ning returned to the map. He explained the situation in Guangxin County, Zhennanguan and Huchou Pass in detail.
Just conclude at the end.
"Your Majesty, Huchou Pass is easy to defend but difficult to attack. It was originally the north gate of Nanfeng. As long as you pass this pass, the hinterland of Nanfeng is basically undefeable and will be under the impact of Yun Chui's troops at any time."
"Even if the Ruan family is reborn one day, as long as Yun Chui firmly controls Huchou Pass, Nanfeng can only surrender and surrender, and he can't do anything even if he wants to."
"Your Majesty, forgive me."
Speaking of this, Ren Ning looked a little embarrassed.
"The map in my father-in-law's hand shows the entire land covered with clouds. I was in such a hurry when I entered the palace that I didn't have time to bring the detailed map of Nanfeng."
"No problem!" Emperor Changxing waved his hand.
He also called Ren Ning on the spur of the moment, and the other party had been practicing dragon boat racing, so it was normal for him to be unprepared.
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Ren Ning breathed a sigh of relief.
He pointed to the edge of the map again: "Although it's not shown on the map, there is actually a Huchou River north of Huchou Pass."
"If Zhennanguan is moved south, this natural moat will also become an inland river with clouds hanging down."
"It can go directly east to the ocean. From then on, Guangxin County, which has high mountains and dense forests, can be easily connected to other places in Yunchui through the sea. It will contribute to the tranquility and stability of the southern counties."
"Really?" Emperor Changxing stroked his beard and became energetic after hearing this.
Yun Chui was too big, so he had no interest in opening up frontiers; but after guarding his homeland for a hundred years, he comforted the ancestors of the Chen family, and Emperor Changxing was still very interested.
Ren Ning had only recently returned to Star City, so he didn't understand the above thoughts.
He responded first and then pointed outside the map.
"Your Majesty, this place is the sea to the east of Nanfeng's capital. There is a small island in it, called Giant Turtle Island. In order to prevent Nanfeng from resurrecting, Wei Chen suggested that you consider directly garrisoning troops on this island and keep an eye on it at all times.
The hinterland and even the capital of Jinnanfeng..."
Ahem!
Emperor Changxing and the Minister of Hubu next to Ren Ning coughed several times at the same time, interrupting his words.
This little general may have a good idea.
Just to station troops far away from the country, what is the most important thing?
silver!
And with such a huge treasury, the most lacking thing is money!