After solving the problem of the Hu people who moved inward, the next thing is to discuss whether to send troops to destroy the dynasty.

Ministers look at the problem from different angles and in different positions, so there are serious differences. The ministers have their own opinions,-for-tat!

The civil official group headed by Cui Hao and Wang Meng believes that after various measures taken by the imperial court, the development situation of the empire is very good, and all aspects need to invest funds, and a war should not break out at this time, and all money and food should be spent on the war.

The military generals group headed by Li Nong and Wei Zheng felt that the civil strife in the dynasty was a good time to destroy the dynasty. This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity is not to be missed.

At this time, Cui Hao's heart was ruthless, so he glared at the big Sima Li Nong and said, "Li Nong, you don't want to rap here!" Do you think that fighting a war is just a purely military competition? No, this is a contest between the national power of the two sides! And if you want to annex a huge dynasty, do you know how much my Great Wei has to pay? This is simply tantamount to a decades-long war fought by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty against the Xiongnu! ”

"This ......" Li Nong was stunned for a moment, and then said, "Lord Lingjun, your words are a bit alarmist, right?" The Great Han Dynasty at the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty may be able to be compared with our Great Wei, but how can the country be on par with the Huns who were invincible at that time? ”

"At the peak of the Xiongnu, the tribes of Ding Ling, Hun Yu, Qu She, Qi Kun, and Xin Li in the north and northwest successively submitted to the Xiongnu. Even Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, led an army of 320,000 to conquer, and was besieged by more than 400,000 cavalry of the Xiongnu Mao Dunshan in Baideng (now northeast of Datong, Shanxi) for seven days and nights! ”

"Liu Bang bribed the Huns to escape! Later, the Han Dynasty adopted Liu Jing's suggestion and implemented a policy of peace and proximity to the Xiongnu, marrying the daughter of the Han clan to Shan Yu, and giving a certain amount of property and opening the customs market to allow the people of the two sides to trade. Later texts, Emperor Jing also followed the policy of harmony and proximity to recuperate. However, the Xiongnu were still not satisfied, and sent troops to invade the border from time to time! ”

"After nearly 70 years of recuperation and recuperation, the Han Dynasty greatly enhanced its economy and national strength before it switched from strategic defense to strategic offensive against the Xiongnu! How could Dai Guo speak the same day as the Huns at that time? ”

I didn't expect Li Nong to be so clear about the old affairs between the Han and the Xiongnu, which was beyond Cui Hao's expectations.

However, Cui Hao would not be defeated like this, but said loudly: "Since you know this past, you shouldn't persuade Your Majesty to easily go out to destroy the generation!" During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the Han Dynasty fought three major battles against the Xiongnu, the Battle of Henan (also known as the Battle of Monan), the Battle of Hexi, and the Battle of Mobei. The intensive large-scale conquest of the Han army lasted for fifteen years, during which the cumulative number of troops mobilized reached more than one million, and several times penetrated into the hinterland of the Xiongnu to fight the enemy! But in the end, the Han Dynasty never managed to wipe out the Xiongnu, didn't it? ”

"This is not whether the Xianbei people are strong or not the Huns at that time, but the vast land of Mobei, a horse and a flat river, is really a barren land, what is the use of the imperial court? Moreover, most of the Xianbei people are cavalry, coming and going like the wind, how easy is it for our Wei army to find the enemy's main force to fight a decisive battle? And there are big battles at every turn, and the army line is so long, I don't know how many people have to be sent and how much money and food are consumed! ”

In fact, Ran Min agrees with Cui Hao's opinion.

Ran Min was born as a military general, and he also wanted to destroy the dynasty and then dominate the world, but Ran Min was the emperor, from the perspective of the king of a country, now there is a big war with the country, and it is really not a wise move to send troops to destroy the dynasty.

To fight a war, it is necessary to send troops and horses, to send people, and to invest a lot of manpower, material and financial resources. Especially fighting on the steppe, the battle line was too long, and it was impossible for Wei to send too many troops.

You must know that war is never a simple military competition, Xiao He is heavier than Han Xin in Liu Bang's heart, and Li Shanchang is heavier than Xu Da in Zhu Yuanzhang's heart.

If Han Xin and Xu Da are fists, then Xiao He and Li Shanchang are the hearts that supply blood, and their ability to make money and things is the fundamental determining factor.

In the early days of the Han Dynasty, the territory was only about 2 million square kilometers, and the poor Han regime for more than half a century, most of the time in the face of the invasion of the surrounding four provinces, was reluctant to retreat.

After Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty ascended the throne, he changed the image of the Han Dynasty as moderate to the outside world, and successively sent troops on a large scale to conquer Minyue, Xiongnu, Nanyue, Korea, Dawan, and Southwest Yi.

Even it was invincible, and more than 30 border counties such as Wuyuan, Wuwei, Dan'er, Wenshan, and Lelang were added in the southeast and northwest of the country, so that the territory of the Han Dynasty soared to about 10 million square kilometers.

At first, although the financial resources accumulated by the previous emperors were realized, after a few years of war, the treasury soon ran out.

In particular, the contest with the strong enemy Xiongnu lasted for 15 years before and after the intensive large-scale conquest, during which the cumulative number of troops mobilized reached more than 1 million, and several times went deep into the hinterland of the Xiongnu to fight the enemy, and the test of the country's financial strength was huge.

Such large-scale mobilization of military supplies, the transshipment of long supply lines, and decades of continuous warfare are obviously not something that the agricultural economy can afford.

Therefore, later generations can't help but wonder, also met an emperor who loves to toss, why didn't the Western Han Dynasty collapse in the hands of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty like Qin Shi Huang brought down the Qing Dynasty and Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty collapsed the Sui Dynasty?

This question can be asked in another way: What is the biggest difference between Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and Emperor Qin Shi Huang and Emperor Yang of Sui?

In terms of military and political ability, it may be difficult to distinguish between the upper and lower, but in terms of financial ability, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty is definitely superior.

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty did not put all the burden of war on the peasants, and his strategy of making money can be summarized into three magic weapons: the collection of industrial and commercial taxes, the official management of salt and iron, and the recovery of the right to mint coins.

At that time, the Western Han Dynasty was a typical poor country and rich people, and under the policy of recuperation and recuperation of several generations of emperors, merchants were the most important vested interest group.

"Historical Records: The Biography of Goods and Colonies" describes the scene of commercial prosperity at that time: "Hanxing, the sea is one, the switch beam, the ban of the mountains and Ze, is to the rich merchants and magnates around the world, and the things traded are all passable, and they can get what they want."

Chang'an, the capital of the Han Dynasty, is located in "the land of Guanzhong, one-third of the world, and the people are only three, but the wealth is measured, and even six of them", Guanzhong occupies sixty percent of the wealth with one-third of the land and thirty percent of the population.

"The family of thousands of daughters is more than the king of a capital, and the huge thousands are happy with the king." Because there are too many wealthy businessmen, only those who have a hundred cars and a thousand boats can be called big businessmen.

As a result, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, whose finances were strained due to the war, sacrificed his first magic weapon: the collection of industrial and commercial taxes.

In 129 B.C., Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty ordered the "initial calculation of merchant cars" and levied a "vehicle and vessel tax" on merchants, stipulating: "Merchants and people should count two carts, and one calculation for ships above five zhang", a car should pay 240 yuan, and a boat of more than five zhang should pay 120 yuan.

Cars and boats are indispensable means of transportation, and this tax decree of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty can be said to be aimed at the dead end of commercial activities.

In 119 B.C., Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty ordered the "Initial Calculation of Money", which was an asset tax, which was a tax on the cash accumulated by merchants, stipulating that the property of merchants should be counted every two taels (2,000 yuan was taxed at 120 yuan, and the tax rate was 6%), and the property of handicraftsmen was counted every four taels (4,000 yuan was taxed at 120 yuan, and the tax rate was 3%).

Later, in order to crack down on those who concealed their assets and did not report them, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty issued the "Confession Order", requiring merchants to declare their assets and encouraging those who reported false declarations.

If found, the fraudster will have all his money confiscated and fined for one year, while the whistleblower will receive half of the confiscated money.

In addition to this, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty also ordered a tax on horses, cattle, and sheep, which was the first time in Chinese history that a slaughter tax was levied.

Since ancient times, salt and iron have been the most important livelihood industries, and the ban on the mountains and rivers in the Western Han Dynasty did not implement the official operation of salt and iron.

Therefore, among the many industries at that time, salt and iron merchants were the richest, and they accumulated more than 10,000 yuan, and they were all rich enough to rival the country. If the salt and iron government is implemented, the wealth of these salt and iron merchants should be all the income of the state.

In 117 B.C., Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty finally wanted to eat this piece of fat, and he sacrificed the second magic weapon: salt and iron to be returned to the official camp.

Under the planning of the financial master Sang Hongyang, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty ordered the establishment of the Salt and Iron Cheng, and appointed the famous salt merchants and iron merchants at that time as the first salt and iron officials, so that the production and sales of salt and iron were firmly controlled by the government, and all the profits of salt and iron were owned by the state.

At that time, in addition to salt and iron, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty also implemented a liquor monopoly system, and the liquor profits were also monopolized by the government.

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was quite proud of the official camp of these three people's livelihood supplies, and he once happily said that "the people do not benefit the world and the world uses it", and I have not increased the tax, and the country's use is already very sufficient.

In the early years of the Han Dynasty, due to the economic decline, the imperial court adopted a laissez-faire attitude towards coinage, and the princes and counties minted coins on their own. With the introduction of industrial and commercial taxes by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and the implementation of salt and iron official management, the impact of indiscriminate minting of coins in various places on the finances and economy has become greater and greater.

As a result, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sacrificed his third magic weapon: to take back the right to mint coins.

In 115 B.C., Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty ordered the prohibition of the county and the people to mint money, designated Shanglin Sanguan as the only minting agency, and used its bell officials, skills, and copper distinguishing officials to be responsible for the drum casting, engraving and raw materials in the coinage process, and used the new coins minted as the only currency of the country, abolished all coins minted in the past, and ordered the death penalty for those who stole money.

After recovering the right to mint coins, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty finally won the battle for wealth with the merchants and local princes, relieved his financial worries, and launched a series of large-scale and fruitful military operations.

It is worth mentioning that the new coin minted by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was originally a three-baht coin, and after three reforms, the final determination was the famous five-baht coin, which was in circulation until the Sui Dynasty 700 years later.

In fact, for the ministers, it doesn't matter much whether the dynasty is destroyed or not.

Since ancient times, the land of China, except for part of the territory of the Jin Kingdom in the south, is now all of the Wei State. As long as the Jin Kingdom is destroyed, Ran Min will truly dominate the world, and its territory is even much larger than that of the Han Dynasty and the Jin Dynasty!

Ran Min thought about it, but decided not to send troops to destroy the dynasty, and only accepted those Hu people who moved inward.

On the one hand, the cost of destroying the dynasty is larger, but more importantly, it is to destroy the dynasty, how to settle these more than one million Hu people?

This is a very tricky question, so Ran Min simply ignored it.