Chapter 210 Drawing fire from the bottom of the cauldron
In fact, Gao Pragmatic has always had some doubts about Zhu Yijun's insistence on beating Li Chengliang, because in the original history, Zhu Yijun may be regarded as Li Chengliang's biggest backer, until Li Chengliang made several relatively big mistakes in a row twenty years ago in Wanli.
What used to be a series of victories turned into a series of defeats, and the General Affairs Department was filled with memorials to impeach Li Chengliang. Zhu Yijun then asked Li Chengliang to step down from the post of Chief Military Officer of Liaodong, but still allowed him to "return to Beijing as Ning Yuanbo."
This shows that in the original history, Zhu Yijun maintained great tolerance towards Li Chengliang, so Gao Pragmatic never thought clearly why Zhu Yijun in this plane was so insistent on beating Li Chengliang.
The most reasonable speculation is probably that the biggest variable is the emergence of high pragmatism.
Due to the existence of Gao Pragmatic, Gao Gong did not step down. Therefore, not only the reforms made by Zhang Juzheng in history, but also Gao Gong, the initiator of the Longwan Reform, also did things that Zhang Juzheng did not insist on doing, such as opening up the sea, Gao Gong
The arch also continued to be implemented and gradually strengthened.
This made the Ming Dynasty's finances obviously much stronger than in the original history, and it had more spare power to strengthen the army except Li Chengliang's troops in Liaodong.
In other words, the Li Jiajun in the original history may be the most reliable army in Zhu Yijun's mind, so Li Chengliang's status must not be easily shaken, but now the Ming Dynasty is different. Although the Li Jiajun in Liaodong is still not weak, Jizhen and Xuanfu
, Datong, Shanxi and other towns are not weak either!
At the same time, due to the bonus of the national policy of "West Huai East System" in history, Li Chengliang's performance - especially the number of kills - can be said to be the best among the nine sides of the Ming Dynasty, and even Qi Jiguang had no choice but to be inferior.
But in this dimension, the highly pragmatic Monan War is clearly the first choice. The Monan War is just one battle, whether it is from the impact on the overall situation of the country or the number of kills, Li Chengliang's ten years of suppressing Liao
His achievements have all been compared, so it is very likely that his status in Zhu Yijun's mind is far from the height it was in the original history.
Since the importance is not so prominent, then his own problems will also surface.
This may be the fundamental reason why Zhu Yijun not only dared to but also insisted on beating Li Chengliang in this dimension.
The point that Gao Wuzhi is currently struggling with is that he is not sure which step Zhu Yijun wants to take regarding Li Chengliang's problem. Is he simply going to beat him up to make Li Chengliang behave and be honest, or is he going to fundamentally prevent the Li Family Army in Liaodong from getting bigger?
The problem is completely solved.
If it’s the former, it’s easier to handle. As the emperor’s number one favorite, Gao Pragmatic is also a civil servant with the two major BUFF bonuses of “Six No. 1 Scholars” and “Annan and Dingbei”, so he has full prestige.
If he has the ability to suppress Li Chengliang in Liaodong, he is not afraid that Li Chengliang can break out of his Wuzhishan.
But if it is the second type, the trouble will be bigger. Because to completely solve the problem of the Li family's army being too big to lose, it is equivalent to negating the armed servant system to a certain extent. This impact is not just in Liaodong, it can be said that the whole country will be affected.
As a result, generals across the country may be in danger.
To put it bluntly, how many generals do not rely on servants now? Qi Jiguang does not have servants, but since the Zhejiang Army under his command has long been called the Qi Family Army, how different is it from the servants? It is nothing more than Qi Jiguang himself.
There is no money to support these Zhejiang troops, so the expenses of the Zhejiang troops are basically paid by the imperial court. In name, they are still "recruiting troops" for the imperial court.
But in fact, if Qi Jiguang is suddenly replaced now, it is hard to say whether others can command this army. Fortunately, historical experience is there. After Qi Jiguang himself passed away, the imperial court was able to command it.
Move this army.
Of course, this is also Qi Jiguang's wish, because one of his main purposes in training is that no matter which general is replaced, the combat effectiveness of this unit should not be significantly reduced. This is what distinguishes Qi Jiajun from other servants at this time.
An important point for the army.
However, it doesn't make much sense for just one Qi Jiajun to do this, and it doesn't make much sense for Qi Jiguang to agree to the abolition of the armed servant system - besides, with Qi Jiguang's smooth style as a man and an official, he probably wouldn't express it directly.
Agree.
According to Gao Pangshi's understanding of Qi Jiguang, his style of being a man and an official is very similar to his style of fighting: first make yourself invincible, and then consider defeating the enemy. In terms of being a man and an official, he first
Don't offend too many people, just do your own thing well, so as not to die before you start.
But if Qi Jiguang didn't dare to express his support, could it be that his pragmatic attitude was so stubborn that he dared to ignore the interests of the generals across the country?
Although civil servants are very capable, but for one person to single out the generals of the country, this kind of thing is pragmatic and insensitive. Besides, this is not his own style of doing things - this style is a bit like Gao Gong back then, who "promises his talents and talents."
Negative and arrogant."
Moreover, Gao Pragmatic is also worried about two things: First, if the armed servant system is to be abolished, what will happen to the hundreds of thousands of armed servants under his own command? [Note: This includes the Annan part and the Beijing and China North and South Ocean Fleets.
]
Second, if the armed servant system is abolished, what will happen to the large group of generals in Xuanda, Shanxi and other towns who are now vassalized around the Shi School? Although they are now obedient to the Shi School, if Gao Pragmatic insists on cutting off their status as "general gates"
"Based on this, I'm afraid not many of these people are still determined to hang out with him, right?
Therefore, what Gao pragmatic is most worried about now is that Zhu Yijun is young and energetic, and he is too courageous. If he wants to attack the entire Li family army without hesitation, it will be a big trouble. Once the generals inside and outside the court are aroused to be completely unstable, Gao pragmatic is worried that he may
Everyone will ride in.
Because there was such a big stone hanging in his heart, Gao Pragmatic seemed very silent on the way back to Liaoyang from Shenyang, with a gloomy look on his face all the way.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Arriving at the intersection of the Liao River and the Taizi River, where Cao Yun was defeated at Chang'an Fort three years ago, Huang Zhiting finally couldn't help but ask: "Gao
Lang planned to kill the two chiefs, Ye He, and the Holy Heart was delighted. This time, he was even promoted to Shao Sima... Why are you so unhappy instead?"
Gao Pangshi was originally thinking hard about how to master the "degree" of beating Li Chengliang. When Huang Zhiting asked Leng Buding, he couldn't help but startled, then shook his head and said with a smile: "Why do you say such refined words? Besides, I am so so-called
The young Sima is not a real official, he is just in name only and cannot be taken seriously."
Huang Zhiting said: "Whether it's a real job or a nominal job, after all, you have been promoted again. Isn't it a good thing?"
Gao Pingshi smiled bitterly, sighed, and said: "You don't know what the emperor means by adding this young Sima to me..."
"What..." Huang Zhiting paused and added: "Well, if it doesn't involve court secrets, you might as well talk about it. Although I can't help much, it's better for you to say it than to keep it in your heart.
"
Gao Pingshi smiled and said: "If you want to say it's confidential, it's indeed very confidential. It's just that this secret has nothing to do with you, so it's not something that can't be said."
Huang Zhiting didn't speak, just blinked, waiting for his next words.
Gao Pragmatic sighed again, then smiled bitterly and said: "The emperor has just taken over the power, and I'm worried that he is too courageous, underestimated the difficulty of the matter, and left me a matter that may cause big trouble. This matter...
...If one thing goes wrong, I might become the scapegoat."
Huang Zhiting's expression suddenly changed and she asked anxiously: "What is so difficult to handle? Can you push it away?"
Gao pragmatic shook his head: "There is no way to push it, and the matter itself is not a 'difficult' or 'easy' problem, but it is difficult to determine to what extent it should be done."
"What on earth is so difficult?" Huang Zhiting couldn't help but ask.
Gao pragmatically said: "The emperor feels that the Liaodong commander, Ning Yuanbo Li Chengliang, has too many little tricks behind his back, and he hopes that I will give him a beating."
Huang Zhiting was stunned for a moment, and then said in surprise: "The general of the Liaodong army is also a military general. It's not easy for you, a Futai master, to beat him? When you were in Guangxi, you were just patrolling, but no matter whether it was a Han general or a local general, who
Dare you disobey your orders?"
Gao pragmatic shook his head and said: "Guangxi and Liaodong cannot be simply compared. Firstly, Guangxi is located in southern Xinjiang. The sky is high and the emperor is far away. My patrol officer represents the emperor. Naturally, the generals of Guangxi dare not disobey my orders. Secondly, Guangxi
The Han army and the wolf soldiers were mixed, and the exiled officials and chieftains each occupied one side, but no matter which side, they had to obey the representative of the imperial power, the patrol commander.
The situation in Liaodong is different. There are no chieftains and wolf soldiers here, only Han troops. The biggest difference between the Han army in Liaodong and the Han army in Guangxi is that the real main force of the Han army in Liaodong is not the guards, but the generals and servants... You know Liaodong
How many soldiers and horses are there, and what percentage of them are servants?"
Of course Huang Zhiting didn't know and could only shake her head.
Gao Pingshi said: "There are 183,427 registered soldiers and horses in Liaodong. Among them are the servants of generals at all levels, including the 3,263 Fubiao who belong to our Fuyuan.
There are fifty-seven thousand six hundred and thirteen people... In other words, even if there is not a single vacancy in Liaodong's troops, more than 30% are generals' servants."
Huang Zhiting was stunned at first, and then said in shock: "But as far as I know, there are a lot of vacancies in various military posts at the moment. Doesn't that mean that half of the soldiers in Liaodong may be servants?"
"Nine to ten." Gao pragmatic sighed: "And I also want to tell you that among these servants, there are more than 37,000 people who directly belong to Ningyuan Bo Li Chengliang. Plus he has been in charge of Liao for many years, many
Some of the generals and guerrilla subordinates who served overseas were actually his 'loaned' servants. According to verification by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Beijing, it is roughly estimated that the actual total number of Li Chengliang's servants should be at least 42,000."
Huang Zhiting said in shock: "The emperor is worried that Li Chengliang has different intentions, so he asked you to get rid of this person? Then... shouldn't he be forced to rebel?"
"That doesn't mean - oh, I mean Li Chengliang doesn't have such alien intentions." Gao Pragmatic waved his hand and said: "The emperor's suspicion of Li Chengliang is that this person is too selfish and lawless. In order to support these servants,
, not only exaggerated the battle reports, but also spent a lot of money on ordinary times. He also took advantage of the opportunity of newly expanding the Sixth Fort of Kuandian to control the real power of the horse market in Kuandian. In addition, he was born in Tieling, so he also had power in the Kaiyuan horse market.
A very strong force...
It can be said that Li Chengliang's profit share from the Liaodong horse market, especially the private market, is probably more than 30%. On the contrary, the court not only receives little money, but also throws tens of thousands of taels of silver into it every year.
It’s always at a loss.”
Huang Zhiting had just inspected Kaiyuan with Gao Yingshi, and had gained a little understanding of the Kaiyuan horse market. Hearing this, he was surprised and said: "I don't understand, how did he control such a large share of the Liaodong private market? And why did the imperial court lose money instead?
Money? I remember you once mentioned that the imperial court is currently in the horse market in Xuanda and other places. Although the official capital is limited, it can still earn more than 200,000 taels a year? "
Gao Pragmatic smiled and said: "The reason why the imperial court can make so much money in Xuan Dama City is because I will not evade taxes, but take the lead in paying taxes in full - I, Jinghua, occupy Xuanda Ma City, privately
The market share of the transaction is more than 60%, nearly 70%, so as long as I pay the tax in full, the court will make a sure profit."
Huang Zhiting was stunned for a moment, and suddenly said with some pain: "Doesn't that mean that Jinghua pays hundreds of thousands of taels in taxes every year at Xuanda and other places?"
Gao Pragmatic said disapprovingly: "Why, are you feeling distressed? Don't feel distressed. The imperial court's tax rate is very low. Jinghua Trading Company's annual revenue from various places in the north is more than one million taels. The taxes paid by Xuanda here are less than
Half of the gross profit, even if we talk about the net profit, is less than 10%. I don’t have to be like Li Chengliang and others to get this money."
Huang Zhiting rolled her eyes at him and said: "I don't understand your business experience. No one in other families thinks they make too much, they are all afraid of making less. Speaking of this Li Chengliang, do you think he will think like you?
?”
Gao pragmatic shook his head and said: "That's too far. There is no analogy between me and him. I have many ways to make money. Can his method of making money compare with mine? Obviously not. But he has more than 40,000 people under his command.
He eats, and these more than 40,000 people do not do other things for a living, but only work as soldiers to eat food. If it were me in his place, I would have to be anxious."
"Then your..." Huang Zhiting said, suddenly she came to her senses, and said suddenly: "Oh, your servants don't cost you much. At least there is an enemy in Annan who helped you pay for 80,000 yuan.
The main task of the Liangyang Fleet is sea trade. Not only will it not lose money, but it should also make a lot of money... In this way, your many servants are the capital to make money."
Gao Pragmatic knew that Huang Zhiting hadn't finished yet. For example, in the mainland of Ming Dynasty, Qiding was usually affiliated with Jinghua Trading Company. He not only helped Jinghua to escort goods, but also did "escort" business for other merchants, not to mention some
How much profit can be made, at least roughly, without losing money;
As for Bu Ding, except for the family guards who were renamed as Fu Biao (Fu Biao was allocated by the imperial court, and the money was given according to the imperial standards. Although it was not enough, there were not many people who were pragmatic and needed subsidies).
The members of the mine protection team are themselves workers in factories and mines, and they are not fully independent armed servants. Jinghua only needs to pay them a small amount of money similar to a subsidy, and the cost is not large.
The only "loss-making" aspect is weapons and equipment, but Gao Pragmatism places more emphasis on firearms, and the firearms are produced by Jinghua itself, so the space for cost reduction is not small.
In this way, although Gao Pragmatic's servants were many and well-paid, it was actually much cheaper than Li Chengliang's army.
There is only one problem. Once Gao Pragmatic's servant suffers losses in a war, he will have to pay more money. After all, the imperial court's standards for reward silver are far lower than Jinghua's own standards. This is also an important factor for Gao Pragmatic to seek stability in war.
At this time, Huang Zhiting felt that she had gone too far, so she changed the topic back and asked: "When you mentioned the horse market and the private market just now, do you mean that there is something wrong with the origin of the shares occupied by Li Chengliang, and the amount is very large?
Did this make the emperor unhappy?"
Gao pragmatically said: "The emperor is unhappy in more than one aspect. Of course, this is definitely one of the more important aspects... Don't think that the emperor covets the money that Li Chengliang got. That would be too superficial. In fact, the emperor cares about it.
What’s more, Li Chengliang’s ability to raise troops on his own is too strong, and his strength in Liaodong is too concentrated, which will seriously affect the imperial court’s control over Liaodong. This is the main reason why the emperor asked me to beat Li Chengliang.”
Only then did Huang Zhiting suddenly realize something. She said a long "oh" and asked: "In other words, the emperor hopes to rely on Li Chengliang's military power to defend Liaodong's stability, but also does not want Li Chengliang and his troops to escape the control of the imperial court.
Especially when it comes to financial control?”
Gao pragmatic nodded and said: "It's more or less the same."
Huang Zhiting then asked: "Then what you mean now is that you must find a way to make Li Chengliang lose this source of wealth?"
Gao pragmatic laughed: "It's been three days since we last seen each other, so we should treat each other with admiration. The emperor was worried that Li Chengliang would not lose his tail, so I walked all the way from Shenyang to Chang'an Fort before I came up with this plan to draw money from the bottom of the cauldron. Unexpectedly, you said it to me, Zhiting."
, amazing, amazing.”
Huang Zhiting was overjoyed, but immediately rolled her eyes at him and pouted slightly: "I know you are trying to make me happy. If you hadn't analyzed so much for me before, how would I have expected this?"
Gao Pingshi smiled and said: "That's not what I said. After all, I just guided your thinking. After all, you guessed what I meant."
Huang Zhiting was happy, but she couldn't keep talking about this matter, so she asked: "Then how do you plan to make him lose this source of wealth?"
Gao pragmatic raised his eyebrows slightly and said: "Didn't I just inspect Kaiyuan Horse Market? The governor, after the inspection, naturally has to appease... There are some small traders in Kaiyuan Horse Market who have been oppressed by local powerful people, and the headquarters will naturally punish them.
Appease; there are some unfair places in the horse market and private market, and of course the headquarters must correct them, don't you think?"
Huang Zhiting pursed her lips and smiled: "Yes, yes, you say yes to Gao Futai, who in Liaodong dares to say no!"
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Thanks to book friends "system crash", "soviet2003", and "willwolf" for their monthly support, thank you!
PS: It’s time for another political drama involving plots and intrigues, and I’m actually a little geared up...
