In order to build the Grand Canal as soon as possible, Yu Wenkai and other three people did not want to delay for a moment, and rushed to write a good chapter overnight after going back. ”

Yang Yong nodded, naturally knowing what Yu Wenkai was going to play, and said with a smile: "Aiqing, please speak." ”

"Your Majesty, my Great Sui is vast, the north and south are too far apart, it takes several months for a place to spread to the capital, and it takes a year for the army to move from north to south, the emperor is often worried about it, and now my Great Sui is rich and strong, and the minister implores to dig a grand canal connecting the north and south traffic, so that the information and logistics of the north and south are smooth, and the army is mobilized rapidly, which is not only beneficial to the country, but also to the people."

In the long run, although the construction of the Grand Canal has huge benefits to the court, it is impossible to get the approval of all the officials. The Grand Canal has been discussed for more than ten years, and the pros and cons of it have long been clearly seen, and the opponents are not unable to see the benefits of building the Grand Canal, but they are worried that the project will be too big and cause too heavy a burden on the people.

Yang Yong coughed lightly a few times, and the court was quiet again, and the left servant Su Wei stood up and asked Yuwenkai: "Yuwen Shilang, I don't know how much food is needed to build the Grand Canal connecting the north and south, and how long will it take?" ”

"Well, if it is a levy and conscription, it only needs about fifteen million guan, but these are worth it, if there is a big river that communicates the north and the south, just the grain, cloth and other things that are transported in and out of the capital every year, the freight saved is at least worth millions of guan." Yu Wenkai was prepared.

Fifteen million is not much. Less than a year's income of the imperial court, Renshou Palace, Luoyang Palace spent almost 20 million guan on the construction of the land, those ministers who opposed the construction of the canal were silent, if you can use 15 million guan to build a grand canal connecting the north and south.

Su Wei did not relax: "If you don't levy forced labor, what if you pay the wages according to the standard of building Renshou Palace?" ”

When Inshou Palace was built, the treasury was abundant, and the current emperor himself presided over it, so that the people felt that the work was profitable. The wages are extremely high, ordinary people can get more than eight wages a year, and because of the drought in the capital in Luoyang Palace, the wages of ordinary people are only about four or five times a year.

"This ......" If the Grand Canal also adopts this approach, it will require more than 100 million yuan, Yu Wenkai couldn't help but look at the emperor, and when he saw the emperor nodded, he said stubbornly: "Go back to Lord Su, you need about 100 million yuan." Thirty million stone of grain. ”

As soon as the number of Yu Wenkai was exported, the hundred officials were in an uproar, what is the concept of 100 million guan and 3,000 stone grain, these years, the tax revenue of the court has increased year by year, because of the rapid development of the textile industry, the court has canceled the method of paying taxes with cloth and silk. Last year, that is, the first year of the Great Cause, the tax of the imperial court reached a new high, totaling more than 26 million copper coins, more than 7 million stones of rice, and more than 21 million stones of wheat and millet, which was almost four times more than four times that of the early years of the emperor's reign.

Nevertheless. Due to the development of the economy, especially the textile mills contributed a large amount of tax revenue, out of the 26 million guan of the imperial court, the total tax revenue of the weaving mills alone reached more than 7 million guan, plus the sale of related cloth, the court extracted more than 10 million guan of land tax from the textile industry, and its value has exceeded the tax paid in the farmland several times, and the burden on the peasants does not need to feel heavy.

Hearing this number, Su Wei nodded with satisfaction, in general. In addition to paying the taxes stipulated by the government on time every year, it was also indispensable for ordinary people to serve as many as 60 or 70 days a year, and even the army had to serve 45 days a year.

Conscription was even more terrible for ordinary people than normal taxation. During the period of conscription for the government. Not only did they not get paid, but they even had to bring their own food. If you have to serve in a foreign country, the cost of travel and food alone may limit a peasant household to a bankrupt situation.

In the early years of the emperor, in order to encourage the peasants to cultivate and reduce the burden on the peasants, Emperor Wen of Sui ordered the conscription of Yiding to be no more than 20 days a year, and the people basically did not go out of the county seat when they served the conscription.

It is no wonder that Yang Guang will lose Yang Jian's strong family in more than ten years, as soon as he takes office, he drove 2 million people to build the Tongji Canal, killing and injuring 450,000 people in half a year.

However, the construction of Daxing City is still inevitable to levy a large number of levies, many of them have been killed and wounded, after the court gradually relaxed, when the construction of Renshou Palace and Luoyang City, the emperor accepted the persuasion of the prince, basically did not use the levies, all by the government is responsible for food and wages, although greatly increased the court expenditure, but the quality of the project has been guaranteed, the people have also been benefited, it can be regarded as a great joy, these years, the levy has been reduced from 20 days per year to 10 days, and after the age of 50 the servant is exempted.

This policy made the people extremely grateful to the former emperor, and if the new emperor ascended the throne, he would probably lose the support of the people, and according to the traditional practice of the new emperor, I am afraid that the people should be guided to abandon agriculture and work, so that the cost of digging the canal may scare most people.

Sure enough, as soon as Yu Wenkai's words fell, Yang Shangxi, the head of the household, couldn't help but speak: "Your Majesty, this move will never work, building the Grand Canal is too laborious and costly, although it is beneficial to the country in the long run, but in the short term, it is tantamount to suicide and the eggs of the chicken, causing my Great Sui to be in danger, if the officials force the people to rebel, then ...... then ......"

Yang Shangxi was afraid that the emperor would be angry when he heard it, so he could only swallow it, Yang Shangxi was nearly seventy years old, and he had been holding the household department for decades, so he would naturally offend many people, or be looked down upon, when the emperor was ten years old, Yang Shangxi had a serious illness and almost died, and many people celebrated it at that time.

It's just that Sun Simiao cured him in Beijing at that time, and now he has lived for more than ten years, after the new emperor ascended the throne. Many people thought that Yang Shangxi would no longer be able to sit firmly in the position of the head of the household, but they did not expect that the new emperor still trusted him extremely and retained him.

"Lord Yang, my Great Sui's financial resources are far better than before, although the Grand Canal is an unprecedented feat, but it is not as serious as Lord Yang said, is it sensational?" Yu Wenkai frowned and said, he has never cared about the government. I thought that with the support of the emperor, everything would go well, but I didn't expect that as soon as I opened my mouth, there would be opposition from the DPRK and China.

"Yes, based on last year's taxes, the court can complete the construction of the Grand Canal within four years without eating or drinking, but don't forget, although the court pays high taxes and the expenses are also large, how much can the court have left after removing the expenses?" Yang Shangxi asked unhurriedly.

"Xia Guan heard that the court had a balance of 7 million yuan the year before last. Last year, presumably more, the household department earns tens of millions of yuan a year, as long as all parts of the country are tight, and 10 million yuan is allocated every year, with three years, you can connect the waterway from the capital to the south of the Yangtze River, ten years of work. It is completely possible to complete the entire Grand Canal. ”

Yang Shangxi shook his head: "Hmph, 10 million guan, this palace can tell you that last year's household surplus was only 1 million guan, 10 million guan a year, think lightly?" ”

"What? A million through, impossible. Yu Wenkai shouted, if the household department only has a surplus of one million per year, wouldn't it take a hundred years to build the Grand Canal, not only Yu Wenkai. Even the other courtiers also looked at Yang Shangxi with deep suspicion, Yang Shangxi has been a household secretary all his life, it won't be that he will start to embezzle when he is old, otherwise how could he suddenly change from seven million to one million.

Yang Shangxi disdains everyone's suspicions, and has been managing money for decades, Yang Shangxi doesn't know how many people he has offended, and every year there are colleagues who want to catch him and hurt his feet, but at the end of the year, he went to the palace to reconcile his innocence. Naturally, I am not afraid of suspicion from others.

"Yang Aiqing, you might as well report last year's income and expenditure in the court, so that everyone knows where the expenses of the household department have gone?"

Except for the emperor and the left and right servants, and the various ministers, the rest of the officials did not have the opportunity to know the specific expenses of the court. The emperor asked Yang Shangxi to explain. It is also to wash away Yang Shangxi's innocence.

"Obey." Yang Shangxi knew the emperor's intentions: "Back to the emperor and my colleagues, last year's court expenses were mainly five yuan. The first is the operation of the officials and the yamen at all levels, the second is the expenditure of the army, the third is the expenditure of the inner courtyard of the palace, the fourth is the expenditure of the funeral of the former emperor and the enthronement of the new emperor, and the fifth is the expenditure of other miscellaneous affairs. ”

In the early days of the Great Sui Dynasty, due to the financial constraints of the court, coupled with a large number of redundant officials and redundant personnel, there were many people in various places, ten sheep and nine herdsmen, although ten sheep and nine herds were exaggerated, but it was a fact that there were many officials. From the fourth grade, two hundred and fifty stones, and every fifty stones under it are different, to the six grades, which is a hundred stones. From the sixth grade, ninety stones, and the difference between each and the following is ten stones, and from the eighth grade, it is fifty stones. Those who do not judge the food seal and the official, and the nine products, will not be given. It is given in spring and autumn.

This treatment is very low compared to the previous dynasty with some thousands of stones, tens of thousands of stone officials, a county order, the minimum annual salary is only 60 stones, tens of thousands of officials, the annual Fenglu is only more than 15 million stones, so, the court is often in arrears, however, the officials do not all rely on the salary, they also have the post field in addition to the year, relying on the production of the post field, although the officials are not rich, but they will not be poor, can only say that the life is not bad.

More than ten years after the opening of the emperor, due to the merger of states and counties, a lot of redundant officials and redundant personnel have been reduced, coupled with the increase in court taxes, the officials' salaries have gradually become richer, their Lu rice has not increased, the increase is the salary, the previous court finance is insufficient, the salary of the officials is only one-tenth of the Lu rice, the annual court expenses are only tens of thousands, a 900 stone official, the salary is less than 10 a year, until now, the salary has risen year by year, last year, a year 60 Shi Lu Midi County Order, the salary basically reached 30 Guan, At the current price, you can buy about 200**10 stone rice. That is to say, the current Yulu of a county order is equivalent to a four-rank high-ranking official in the early years of the emperor.

In this way, the total salary of officials in the first year of the Great Cause was 11 million stones, and all the rice was less than in the early years of the emperor, because many redundant officials and redundant personnel were reduced, but the salary was greatly increased, and the total expenditure was more than 6 million. In addition to the operation of the yamen at all levels, the expenditure was 3 million guan and more than 4 million stones.

The second is the expenditure of the army, the Great Sui Tibetan soldiers in the people, except for the regular army of the 12 guards in the capital, the rest of the army is composed of government soldiers, in addition to the government soldiers are exempted from conscription and tax reduction, if they do not fight, they do not receive a salary, only the officers have a certain allowance. This part, the annual expenditure is 1 million guan, about 500,000 stone of Lumi, the total number of regular troops of the 12th guard is more than 60,000 people, the annual salary of the lowest-level soldier is 12 guan, plus 10 stone of Lumi, the total expenditure of money is 1 million guan, and the total expenditure of Lumi is about 900,000 stone.

Third: the expenditure on the inner courtyard of the imperial palace, because the emperor did not build a large amount last year. The expenses of the palace are not large, adding up to less than two million guan and hundreds of thousands of stones.

Fourth: Due to the death of the first emperor and the ascension of the new emperor to the throne, the two together cost a total of more than 8 million yuan, which is a huge cost. Most of them were used for the funeral of the former emperor, and the new emperor's enthronement ceremony only cost about two million yuan.

Fifth: The so-called miscellaneous expenses are all kinds of sudden expenses, such as various natural disasters in the local area, requesting relief from the court, or encountering foreign invasions, sudden increase in military expenditures, and happy events. The emperor's reward to his subjects.

This part of the cost is very large, such as last year Murong Sanzang united the Turks and Goguryeo invasion, the court has spent nearly 600,000 yuan in military spending, consumed nearly more than 1 million stones of grain, it is not over yet, it must continue to be spent, disaster relief cost about 1 million stone of food, last year, the great victory over the Turks, the emperor's reward to the people of the capital reached more than 100,000 yuan. Tens of thousands of stones.

In addition to these, there is also an example, that is, the Dongyi Mansion can receive 300,000 guan and 200,000 stone grain from the court every year as military expenses, so that a total of 4 million guan was spent on miscellaneous expenses last year. plus more than 3.5 million stone of grain.

Yang Shangxi spoke for more than an hour. After talking dryly, he gave a rough idea of the various expenses. However, such a rare opportunity, everyone did not get tired of listening to it. In this way, the total expenditure of the court last year was 25 million yuan, and the grain was 20 million stones, and the surplus of the court land was only 1 million yuan, but there was a lot of grain, which was 8 million stones. It's just that now the price of grain is cheap, and the extra grain can only continue to be stored.

Of course, if you subtract the money for the funeral of the former emperor and the new emperor's accession to the throne, the surplus of the court will increase greatly, reaching 9 million guan. In other words, if the court can keep this surplus for 12 years, and put all the surplus into it, the construction of the Grand Canal can be completed.

Of course this is impossible, the surplus of the Great Sui is so much, it is really compressed to the extreme, the annual investment in military spending is only more than two million, accounting for only one percent of the court's expenditure, the government military system is not a long-term strategy after all, once it is corrupted, what if it is changed to a conscription system? Thinking about the fact that the court in later generations could raise half of the income Yang Yong felt terrible, not to mention that the surroundings were not calm, and the war was together, and the military expenditure would rise instigatingly, not to mention that to implement the imperial examination, education was bound to be greatly invested, and a lot of money had to be removed.

After Yang Shangxi finished speaking, Yang Yongcai nodded and said: "Everyone understands, Yang Shangshu works hard for the country, and all the accounts are clear, but he is a rare good official, and I should give him a lot of praise for such a good official." ”

"Your Ministers understand." The ministers looked at each other for a while, I don't know what the emperor meant, the emperor has revealed the intention of building the Grand Canal several times, but today let Yang Shangxi come out like this, no wonder it is really necessary to squeeze out the money from various expenses to build the canal, the most squeezed is of course the officials' money, after all, from the early years of the emperor to the present, only the officials' expenses and the operation of the yamen have more than 8 million yuan, as long as you cut the waist can save 4 million yuan, plus there is no funeral and ceremonial expenses, it is still possible to make up 10 million guan every year.

It's just that from thrift to luxury, from luxury to frugality, if their salaries are cut in half, no one wants to.

"Your Majesty, Weichen has something to say." Lu Mulin stood up.

"Aiqing, please speak!"

"Your Majesty, the ministers have a way, that is, they can solve the labor of building the canal without spending too much money, and they can solve the labor of building the canal without conscription."

With a sound of "instigation", the eyes of the hundred officials focused on Lu Mulin's face, and Lu Mulin said unhurriedly: "It's very simple, in the battle of Mayi last year, I had more than 20,000 Turkic and Murong traitor captives in my hands, these people can't be released, killing and hurting Tianhe, why not use it to build rivers and roads?" ”

All the ministers were silent, although Lu Mulin's mouth was simple, but this move was tantamount to the use of alien slaves, since the Han Dynasty, Confucianism has a very bad habit, treating aliens far more than treating compatriots, each dynasty in order to build various projects, so as to levy a lot of people who were killed and wounded in servitude, but I have never heard of a dynasty that used the captive aliens as slaves, and when it came to the Tang Dynasty, it became even more intensified, and the defeated aliens moved inward, giving them the best place to graze, and finally caused the bitter fruit of their own demise.