It was dark and gloomy, and it had been raining all morning, and in the afternoon, although the rain had stopped, it was still cloudy, and there was not the slightest ray of sunshine. The weather was like this, and Emperor Yi Feng's mood was not very pleasant. Yi Feng announced another Northern Expedition at the court meeting yesterday, and ordered Li Jing to take command of the army, which immediately attracted a voice of opposition, even if Yi Feng finally announced his plan to fight with the Turkic army and the troops and horses of the feudal domains, but the ministers of the political hall still refused to loosen, which made Yi Feng feel extremely bad. Fortunately, the Privy Council supported him, and the senior generals of the Sanya and Zhuwei also supported him.

In the Kaiyuan Palace, Yi Feng sat opposite Yang Su, Su Wei, Xue Daoheng, Li Gang, Liu Wenjing, Wei Zheng, Fan Zigai, Xu Deyan, Wang Bao, Li Jing and other deacons.

The chamberlain poured wine for the emperor and the deacons one by one, and there were musicians from the workshop playing the elegant guqin next to them.

Yi Feng raised his glass, "Since the founding of the Great Sui Dynasty, it has been threatened by the Turks, and it was not until the seventh year of the opening of the emperor that the Great Sui successfully took the opportunity of the Turkic internal strife to take the initiative. In the nineteenth year of the Emperor's Northern Expedition, the imperial court was able to truly defeat the Turks. Now, after last year's battle of Dunhuang, the imperial court destroyed Tuyuhun, the army pointed directly at the Western Regions, the Turks are no longer able to resist the imperial court, at this time if the imperial court does not take advantage of the situation to surrender the Turks, I am afraid that ten years later, the Turks will make a comeback, at that time, how much effort does the imperial court have to spend to stabilize the northern frontier? ”

The monarchs and ministers drank this cup together, and the chamberlain stepped forward to pour wine for the monarchs and ministers one by one.

Yi Feng held the wine glass and looked at the fourteen ruling officials, "A few days ago, I proposed another northern expedition, and the left and right servants both mentioned that the imperial court is now in financial difficulties, and the army and civilians are tired. Unable to fight again. However, the Privy Council told me that the morale of the soldiers was now high. Fully support the Northern Expedition of the Imperial Court. I thought about it for a long time, and finally planned that the Northern Expedition would not gather a large army to fight this time. With the Turkic army of Guishun as the main force, supplemented by Tiele, Dangxiang and Gaochang, they jointly sent troops to pacify the grassland. In this way, the imperial court no longer needs to mobilize a large army, nor does it need to levy a large number of people, or even supply a large number of grain, grass and equipment. All the court needed was an edict, an experienced marshal, but yesterday's court meeting, the Privy Council had made a move. However, the courtiers led by the ministers of the political affairs hall still oppose this plan with all their might, I am a little confused, and I don't understand, today I specially convened all the ministers to discuss in private, can you sue me, why do you want to oppose it? ”

Li Gang said, "In the Western Han Dynasty in the past, there was the rule of Wenjing, and the world was prosperous. After Han Wu succeeded to the throne, the Xiongnu used soldiers, 44 years before and after, although the Xiongnu retreated to Mobei. The people of Kehan were halved, the people were not able to make a living, and the people were in dire straits. Pay for one's whistle. ”

"Although Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty is suspected of being reckless, he can use soldiers against the Huns. The indomitable spirit of resisting insults is worth learning from. If you commit a strong man, you will be punished even if you are far away. Every time I read this sentence, I am amazed. Although I have only been a country for 20 years, I have never succumbed to the barbarian Hu tribe, and Taiping was not begged, but called. Today, Datou did ask for surrender to show his surrender, but how sincere is this surrender? If we agree, Datou will not be grateful or gracious, but will only scold us in our hearts for being stupid, and you may or may not have heard of the deliberate behavior of the farmer and the snake, which is about a farmer who met a frozen snake on the road, and the farmer kindly picked up the snake and put it in his arms to help him warm him and save him from freezing to death. But the first thing the snake did when he woke up was not to be grateful, but to bite the farmer and poison him to death. The same story, as well as the story of the Zhongshan wolf, should not be unfamiliar to everyone. Between countries, there are only interests, especially nomadic tribes such as the Turks, and the Central Plains are irresolvable contradictions, once they are strong, they will inevitably invade us. Even when they were in trouble, the first solution they thought of was to go south and rob us. Now that there is an opportunity to solve the grassland problem once and for all, why don't we try it, why don't we dare to try? ”

"But why can His Majesty be sure that these Turks sent to the Northern Expedition today can be trusted? Even if they defeated Datou and Dulan, they would just replace them, and the division of His Majesty could really make these Turks submit from now on? If not, why bother with another northern expedition, why not settle these subjugated Turks in the Central Plains as Ping Domain? Xue Daoheng also spoke.

Yi Feng shook his head, "Of course, the Turks will not be a trustworthy gentleman, but interests can affect them. Let them go back and destroy Datou and Dulan, first of all, this will allow the Turks to attack each other, which will also weaken the strength of the Turks. At the same time, after the war, we divided the steppe tribes, let them restrain each other, and reached a relatively stable order, the Turks are no longer unified, the steppe no longer has a hegemon, and the scattered steppe tribes can no longer threaten the imperial court, which is a long-term benefit. Maybe it's not that simple, but don't we even dare to try? ”

Yang Su said, "The minister still thinks that now that the grassland has finally calmed down, it is not necessarily a good thing to let the Turkic troops go back at this time and stir up the beacon smoke again." The war is all together, and it is difficult for anyone to predict the direction in which it will develop. And if the imperial court now accepts the submission of Datou and Dulan, then at least ten years can ensure the stability of the grassland, the border is peaceful, with these ten years of effort, the imperial court will recuperate, it will inevitably be more prosperous, and then the strength will be stronger, and then there will be no need to worry about the Turks. And if there is smoke in the grassland again, in case of an accident, the imperial court may not be able to calm down now. Thinking that Sha Boluo was attached to the imperial court, after his death, Mo He Khan succeeded to the throne, under the banner of the imperial court, and won consecutive battles in a short period of time, if he hadn't died unexpectedly at the hands of the Persians, I was afraid that Mo He would have reunified the east and west long ago, and at that time maybe he would have turned his face with the imperial court again. ”

"The imperial court has been fighting for many years, using troops continuously, and the treasury is depleted, which is very dangerous. If there is a natural disaster or something, there is no money in the imperial treasury, and there is no food in the warehouse, how to deal with it? We can't fight anymore, and since Your Majesty has agreed not to use troops in Liaodong for the time being, why do you want to go on another northern expedition. Please let the world recuperate, as long as ten years, when the treasury is full, if your majesty wants to use troops again, whether it is the Northern Expedition or the Eastern Expedition, the ministers will not object. The right servant shot Su Wei and asked.

"Money, money, money, in the end, what you're worried about is the treasury." Yi Feng nodded, "Regarding this, I've actually been thinking about it all this time. I also know that since I ascended the throne, the imperial treasury has continued to spend, and the deficit of the Ministry of Civil Affairs has reached more than 30 million yuan. However, everyone should also see that although the imperial court continued to use troops, it was always victorious, and the imperial court's soldiers did not suffer many casualties, and the imperial court spent more money and food for the war. We recovered Liaoxi, recaptured Liaodong, and also took Tuyuhun, in addition to the Xi, Khitan, and Xia three departments were officially included in the imperial court rule, not to mention that this opened up thousands of miles of territory, and the new population alone exceeded 2 million, isn't it worth it? ”

"And the people did not have much disturbance because of the war in the imperial court, we conscripted them to transport grain and grass, build roads, manufacture equipment, etc., the imperial court was not free of charge, but paid a lot of wages, the people served the imperial court, but received a lot of wages, to subsidize the family. At the same time, the soldiers fought for the country, and the imperial court paid them rich salaries, as well as generous rewards, and those who died of disability also had proper insurance compensation and bereavement allowances, and no one was dissatisfied with this. It can even be said that from the imperial court to the soldiers to the common people, all people have received the dividends of the war. The imperial court paid a lot, but there were bank loans and the issuance of bonds, so that we did not need to forcibly levy taxes from the people, although there was some interest, but think about the thousands of miles of territory we got, millions of people, etc., tens of millions of guan is a loss? ”

Although Yi Feng constantly uses soldiers, he and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty use soldiers differently, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty uses soldiers, where is the military spending? The various conscriptions of Tongguò relied entirely on stealing money from the rich and ordinary people in the world to support the war, and the result was that the war was fought for several decades, and although the war was won, the people's livelihood of the country also collapsed, and the household was reduced by half. But Yi Feng was fighting the war in a completely different form, and this war was like a business, and the military expenses of the imperial court were not levied and assessed from the people, but through bank loans and war bonds to raise funds, and a large amount of money was raised to support the war. The soldiers received good salaries and generous rewards, and the people were not forced to work for the imperial court to transport grain and grass and make zuò equipment, but also had an equally good salary. Although in this way, the financial deficit of the imperial court is getting bigger and bigger, but because of the victory of the war, the imperial court has added countless lands, mountains, forests, minerals, population, livestock, and cities, which are all money. What's more, after the capture of Liaodong and Tuyuhun, the imperial court basically swept away all the upper echelons of the original natives, and the government and their property were basically filled into the treasury, which was also a lot of money. It can be said that in addition to the defeat of the war, the more such a battle is fought, the more the court will only earn, not only the court earns, but also the soldiers and the common people and those merchants, each of whom is enjoying the dividends of the war.

However, Yi Feng's prime ministers obviously couldn't accept Yi Feng's line of thinking, and they were full of fear that the imperial court was burdened with a financial deficit of tens of millions of yuan. Everyone is accustomed to living within their means, accustomed to saving and storing, and now they are suddenly eating grain, and they can't afford this way of consuming in advance.

"Well, take out the spoils captured in the Liaodong and Tuyuhun wars and put them up for auction, those gold, silver, jewelry, etc., houses, estates, mineral workshops, shops, cattle, sheep, livestock, carts and horses, all can be auctioned off, and the money and property will be handed over to the imperial treasury." Yi Feng's words made Fan Zigai, the governor of the government and the secretary of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, look a lot better.

"In addition, I have recently intended to make appropriate changes to the tax system of the imperial court, and here are some preliminary provisions that you may read, and then make some additions, and then promulgate them to the world. It is believed that after the implementation of the new tax system, it will certainly greatly improve the financial revenue problem of the imperial court. Yi Feng finally threw out a big move, reforming the tax system and fundamentally increasing the country's fiscal revenue. (To be continued......)