In the first month of the fifth year of the Apocalypse, the imperial court officially set up a separate political envoy department in Liaodong, and the envoy department was sentenced to prison according to the inspection department, and all commanded the envoy department.

With the establishment of three divisions in Liaodong alone, it also means that Liaodong has become an independent province.

However, the Cheng Xuan Political Envoy Department is only superficially subordinate to the six central ministries, and in fact, the taxes in Liaodong are collected separately by the Xuan Political Envoy Department and are no longer handed over to the Ministry of Households.

At the same time, the imperial court was no longer responsible for the salary, grain, grass, and ordnance of the 90,000 Liaodong border troops, and the military salaries of Liaodong Town were all issued by the Liaodong Propaganda Political Envoy Department.

The Liaodong Economic Strategy was revoked, and Li Xianzhong, the Duke of Liao, served as the commander of the Liaodong Capital.

Yan Mingtai, the governor of Jiliao, was reappointed as the governor of Liaodong!

As soon as this news came out, there was an uproar.

In this way, in fact, the only thing that the central government can manage is a criminal prosecution department, which can only manage the criminal prisons in Liaodong.

In fact, the military and political power in Liaodong has fallen into the hands of Li Xianzhong, the Duke of Liao.

Liaodong is equivalent to becoming a feudal town of the Ming Dynasty.

is even more independent than Yunnan, after all, although the three divisions of Yunnan are secretly controlled by the Mu family, the prince of Qianguo, but on the surface, they are all in the hands of the imperial court.

Of course, the effect is also obvious, the imperial court finally got rid of the "big burden" of Liaodong, and the finances were much more relaxed.

The happiest is naturally the Hubu Shangshu Tianji, who not only loses nearly 3 million taels of grain expenditure every year, but also gets 600,000 taels worth of copper ore from Liaodong.

If every border town could be like Liaodong, then the treasury of the Ming Dynasty would soon be full of silver.

Although many imperial historians have written a book, this move is for the ancestral system, and it is likely to cause the "Rebellion of the Domain" in the future.

However, from the Emperor of the Apocalypse Zhu Youxiao to the cabinet and the celebrant of the same department, they all acquiesced to this result.

Of the six, only the Ministry of Rites is opposed, and the other five are in favor.

Very simply, the military expenses of Liaodong Town can be divided among other ministries, which is beneficial to all ministries.

As for the harm, it is also in the future, at least this will help Daming solve the current crisis.

After all, in the eyes of most people, Liao Guogong's move was not a wise move.

Daming used the power of the whole country to support Liaodong, but it was still so difficult?

The Duke of Liao raised Liao in a corner of eastern Liao, which was inevitably a bit too big.

I am afraid that Li Xianzhong is using his private industry to fill the hole in Liaodong.

This is equivalent to him filling in the hole for Daming.

Even if Li Xianzhong's family has a great cause, I am afraid it will be difficult to support the 100,000 army in Liaodong for a long time.

If it expropriates the people of Liaodong, it will lose the support of the people sooner or later, and it will be difficult to succeed in the end.

In the end, he could only reduce the strength of Liaodong on his own, and he would not pose much threat to Daming no matter what!

And Zhu Youxiao, who has silver, also began to work hard and was ready to do a big job.

The elite of the nine sides is the most important, and soon Zhu Youxiao ordered to make up for the arrears of the border army last year, so that the military morale of the towns can be stabilized.

As for Jingying, Zhu Youxiao also put forward requirements for Zhang Weixian and Zhu Chunchen.

The actual strength of the three battalions of the Beijing Division was expanded to 90,000, and only then would he pay his full salary.

In the end, the two had to happily give their orders.

After all, if it is expanded to 90,000, they can still eat 50,000 empty salaries.

However, if we continue to pay only half of the salary, it is equivalent to only eating the empty salary of 15,000 people.

However, the finances of the Ming Dynasty are still not optimistic, and although the drought in the Central Plains has been alleviated last year, the floods are raging.

The bursting of the Yellow River has turned the once rich Xuzhou region into a flooded country, and the city of Xuzhou is still flooded.

In addition to Xuzhou, the Jiangnan region is also prone to floods, and millions of taels of silver need to be invested to control the river and repair the embankment.

Shaanxi is still suffering from a major drought, and several small-scale peasant uprisings have broken out in Shaanxi due to successive droughts.

But if it continues like this, it is likely to cause great disaster.

Fortunately, the White Lotus rebellion in the Central Plains has now been brought under control.

The rebellious people in Henan have been basically wiped out, and only a small number of thieves have fled into the mountains, but Wang Xifan of Yanzhou still has tens of thousands of troops.

Although Zuo Liangyu led Yulin to recover Yuncheng and Juye County, which were occupied by the rebels, the rebels were still entrenched in the area of Anshan Lake between Yuncheng and Dongpingzhou.

This is Shuibo Liangshan in "Water Margin".

Although the water area in the late Ming Dynasty was not as large as in the Song Dynasty, the terrain was still quite complex.

Zuo Liangyu sent troops into it several times, but he failed to find the lair of the thieves, but lost a lot of soldiers and horses.

He soon realized that this group of thieves was not easy to deal with, and simply stationed in Yuncheng to confront Wang Xifan for a long time.

Zuo Liangyu knew very well that this extermination of the White Lotus Sect was a good opportunity for him to further get ahead.

Sun Ge repeatedly reminded himself that the Yulin Battalion was the army of the Son of Heaven, and he represented the Son of Heaven this time, and he must not lose.

He almost didn't make much effort to face the White Lotus Sect's rebels who were directly subordinate to Henan, and almost the cavalry charged and scattered on the opposite side.

But the thieves in Yanzhou Mansion are completely different.

Although the cultists on their periphery were equally vulnerable, it was clear that they had an elite old battalion.

The thieves of these old battalions are not only skilled in riding, but also have heavy cloth armor and Lu Mi guns.

Their own Yulin battalion can't take advantage of them at all.

However, the official army has always been easy to fight bandits, and when they encounter something really difficult, they will recruit peace.

Although this Wang Xifan calls himself the king of Hejian, he is not the emperor after all, and the court can still recruit peace.

Zuo Liangyu is still very good at drilling, he did not rashly write to Zhu Youxiao to ask for recruitment, but told Sun Chengzong, who had the grace to support him, about the situation.

Now Sun Chengzong's status is not ordinary, at the beginning of the Apocalypse, Emperor Zhu Youxiao asked Xiong Tingbi, the secretary of the military department, to be reappointed as the secretary of the criminal department.

directly appointed Sun Chengzong as the secretary of the military department, and promoted him to the position of deputy assistant of the cabinet, and the soldiers and horses of the Ming Dynasty were in the hands of this old Sun Ge.

Sun Chengzong quickly heard Zuo Liangyu's voice, and he was afraid that he was not sure how to deal with this group of White Lotus Sect members.

The Yulin battalion had a total of 30,000 people, and this time Zuo Liangyu took 20,000 of them, including all the cavalry.

He did not ask for more troops, but gave up the opportunity to completely exterminate the thieves and bandits, and directly suggested recruiting An, which shows the seriousness of the problem.

However, it is not so easy to recruit Anke, and at present, His Majesty has high hopes for Yulin Camp, so he still decided to probe Zhu Youxiao's tone first.

Sun Chengzong got Zhu Youxiao's token, and he could enter the palace freely at any time, so he didn't have to look at Wei Zhongxian's face when he met His Majesty.

As soon as he entered the palace today, he felt that the atmosphere in the palace was a little abnormal, and everyone was beaming.

After inquiring, I found out that it was Concubine Rong who was happy.

Originally, it was a happy thing that a harem concubine was pregnant with a dragon heir.

However, Sun Chengzong was a little unhappy, because this Concubine Rong Ren was presented to His Majesty by Wei Zhongxian, and it is said that she is Wei Zhongxian's niece and granddaughter.

His Majesty finally became a little estranged from Wei Gelding, if this Concubine Ren Rong gave birth to a prince, I am afraid that Wei Zhongxian would continue to be favored.

After entering the Qianqing Palace, Sun Chengzong congratulated Concubine Rong on her happiness as soon as possible.

Zhu Youxiao has now ascended the throne for five years, and although he is still young, his body has a condition.

This time, he was naturally very happy to have a concubine pregnant again.

Sun Chengzong thought to himself that His Majesty was in a good mood today, and it seemed that he had really chosen the right time.

However, as soon as he wanted to talk about the Zhao'an White Lotus Sect, he saw Wei Zhongxian hurriedly walking in.

Wei Zhongxian glanced at Sun Chengzong.

However, Zhu Youxiao said: "Elder Sun Ge is not in the way, but it doesn't hurt to say it!" ”

Wei Zhongxian said: "Your Majesty Qiqi has a bad matter, Hazia, the wife of the Duke of Liao, was attacked by thieves when she was playing near Shichahai with her two sons. ”

"The thieves once kidnapped the two sons of the Duke of Liao, but fortunately, the spies of the East Factory and the guards of the Duke of Liao appeared in time, and finally saved the two sons safely."

Zhu Youxiao said: "These thieves came suddenly, can they find out their identities? ”

To be honest, Zhu Youxiao's first reaction was that Li Xianzhong found someone to do the attack himself.

But after all, in front of Sun Chengzong, he couldn't say it so bluntly.

Now the relationship between the imperial court and Li Xianzhong is so tense. Naturally, his family members in Beijing are strictly guarded, although they can't be imprisoned openly, but it is impossible for them to return to Liaodong.

Especially his wife, Hazia, and his two sons-in-law.

Wei Zhongxian said: "After the strict torture of Dongchang, these people claimed to have come to the Liao State Gazette for revenge under the guidance of their motherless mother. ”

"White Lotus Sect?" Zhu Youxiao said with some doubts.

Wei Zhongxian said: "Your Majesty Shengming, these people are the subordinates of the White Lotus Sect Wang Xifan of Yanzhou, saying that they want to avenge the White Lotus Sect's thief Xu Hongru, who was Ling Chi at the beginning!" ”

"Their target is not only the family of the Duke of Liao, but also His Majesty and the Queen Mother, and the slaves and maids have already found out several hidden remnants of the White Lotus Sect in the palace."

Zhu Youxiao's muscles burst out, and he asked angrily: "Elder Sun Ge, what's going on with Zuo Liangyu, hasn't the White Lotus Sect in Yanzhou been completely wiped out?" ”

Sun Chengzong knew that Zhao An was completely out of action now.

He said: "Your Majesty, the Yulin Battalion has defeated the main force of the Yanzhou White Lotus Sect, and now all the county towns occupied by the rebels have been recovered. ”

"It's just that these thieves are now broken into pieces and hidden in Shuibo Liang Mountain, and it is difficult for Zuo Liangyu to completely exterminate them for a while."

Zhu Youxiao's face softened slightly, and said, "A few years ago, it was the Duke of Liao who did not completely eliminate this group of White Lotus Sect remnants, which led to their resurgence now. ”

"Old Sun Ge, as the secretary of the military department, you should mobilize soldiers and horses from several surrounding provinces to assist Zuo Liangyu in encircling and suppressing these thieves, remember to eliminate the evil!"

Then he said to Wei Zhongxian: "Now that the remnants of the White Lotus Sect are very rampant, it is necessary for Duke Wei to send additional people to protect the Duke of Liao. In addition, tell the Duchess that she has nothing to do recently and has been going out less! ”

Wei Zhongxian and Sun Chengzong were ordered to retire separately.

On the dock of Tianjin Wei, Shi Junjie, deputy commander of the Intelligence Department, said: "Commander Qi Mao, the two sons have been safely on board. ”

There were too many spies in the Dongchang inside and outside the Liaoguo Mansion in Beijing and the eyeliner of the imperial court, so Mao Yuanyi had to arrange this attack in order to take this opportunity to replace Li Xianzhong's two sons-in-law with the stand-in-ones prepared in advance.

At present, Li Xianzhong already has 4 children, but Li Weiruo, the eldest daughter born to Hazia, and Li Yaozu, the third son born to Hai Lanzhu, have been transferred to Liaodong before.

The intelligence department's disguise technique is not yet home, and Hazia is an interracial beauty, so it is difficult to find her stand-in.

Therefore, he had to leave the Duchess in Beijing as a hostage.

In view of the current situation, Liaodong and the imperial court may turn against each other at any time, so some of the assets and treatment of the Intelligence Department in Beijing have to be transferred to Liaodong.

Mao Yuanyi said: "Deputy Envoy Shi, the heaven and earth of the Jingshi will be handed over to you, and you must protect the Duchess of the Kingdom." What news is there in the palace, especially in the palace, report to Liaodong as soon as possible! ”

"Has the batch of cement and Lu Mi Gong that Yanzhou needs been sent?"

Shi Junjie said: "The commander is reassured, and the humble duty is understood. That batch of supplies went through the canal, in the name of the Nanjing garrison, and had already reached the hands of the righteous army! ”

"In addition, we have 200,000 acres of grange in Yanzhou, whether it is silver or grain, it can be supplied to Wang Xifan's righteous army nearby, and there will be no problems."

Today's Mao Yuanyi, in addition to being the commander of the Intelligence Department, was also appointed by Li Xianzhong as the envoy of Liaodong, so he naturally wanted to return to Liaodong as soon as possible.

Liaodong finally no longer has to be controlled too much by the imperial court, and Li Xianzhong can also let go of some things.

He made Fan Wencheng, who was born in Xiucai, a veritable political envoy of Liaodong.

The first thing to do is to reform the tax system, and the poll tax will be abolished in the entire Liaodong and replaced it with "apportionment into mu".

In this way, the people can have as many babies as possible according to their own conditions, which is conducive to the rapid growth of the population and also solves the problem of hidden population.

Second, abolish all kinds of exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes.

The taxation of Liaodong only includes four categories: business tax, agricultural tax, deed tax, and customs duty.

The deed tax is relatively simple, whether it is a house deed, a land deed, or a land deed, as long as it involves the transaction of contract change, you need to pay a cost of 50 wen and a tax of 3% of the transaction amount.

However, there are additional provisions for land deeds, if the purchaser owns more than 1,000 acres of land in Liaodong, then the tax rate will rise to 100%; If it exceeds 10,000 acres, it will become 300%.

This avoids the need for landlords to continue to annex land on an existing basis.

The normal tax rate of agricultural tax is three out of ten, and in order to reduce the burden on the people, agricultural tax is in kind.

The policy of "one exemption and two halves" is implemented in the development of wasteland, that is, the development of wasteland is exempt from tax in the first year and the tax in the second two and a half years. After three years of paying taxes, the government will issue free land deeds to these fields.

In Liaodong, the "gentry pay grain as one" was implemented, and since Li Xianzhong, the Duke of Liaoguo, all people's fields have paid field tax.

Only soldiers who have sacrificed their lives for the country and who are disabled can enjoy certain exemptions.

Tariffs are tariffs charged by the city and the land gates.

It is divided into customs exit and entry.

The tax rate of Liaodong merchants and the East Ryukyu Company is one out of seven goods, and two out of ten goods for others.

Foreign merchant ships are taxed according to the rates they have contracted with them, either in kind or in gold or silver at market prices.

Business tax is levied on the basis of turnover.

Horse markets and the like are temporary transactions and are taxed at the same rate.

Others are taxed according to the industry.

The tax rate for people's livelihood is relatively low, such as general daily necessities, and the minimum price for food trading is 5%.

20% for liquor stores, jewelry and luxury goods

The profiteering industries of green buildings and pawnshops are 30%

Officials at all levels implement the system of annual salary + bonus.

The annual salary is 3 times that of the Ming Dynasty.

As for the bonus, it is paid according to the local tax revenue, and the more taxes, the more rewards.

Customs duties are not local taxes and are directly under the Liaodong Political Envoy Department.

At present, Liaodong's tariffs are still the bulk of revenues.

Regarding the conscription, in fact, Li Xianzhong really wanted to cancel it.

After all, there are now more than 100,000 Korean laborers in Liaodong, and they can be sent to do it.

However, in order to increase the enthusiasm of the North Korean laborers, Li Xianzhong has already announced that the North Korean laborers can get rid of the status of laborers and become the people of Liaodong as long as they work seriously in Liaodong for five years.

In addition, at present, Liaodong is in ruins, and the government does need a lot of free labor.

Therefore, the conscription will not be abolished for the time being.

However, the preferential policy of exempting the gentry from conscription in relation to military households was still retained.

After all, it is still necessary to give the gentry a sense of superiority, and they have already been asked to pay the land tax, and if they are sent to serve in the conscription, I am afraid that they will really have to resist.

However, he stipulated that the local government should distribute conscription according to their needs, considering that the people's enthusiasm for conscription work has never been high.

For the people who can complete the goal of conscription, the government will provide rations; For the people who exceed the target, the government gives a certain amount of money as a reward.

The next step is to resume the imperial examination and reopen the hospital examination and the county examination and the township examination.

Although the formal township examination of the imperial court should have been completed last year, Liaodong was only to select officials for himself.

It is not to send talents to the imperial court.

Therefore, in addition to the Four Books and Five Classics, the content of policy discussion was added to the final township examination.

If you have the qualification of showing talent in Liaodong, you can become an official in each county, and if you have obtained the qualification of lifting people, you can enter the provincial-level unit as an official.

Li Xianzhong must now reserve a part of the civilian officials, and most of the overseas routes in Korea, Ryukyu, and Taiwan are military generals who also serve as local governors, and it will definitely not work in the long run.

After this series of reforms, in April of the 5th year of the Apocalypse, the governor of Liaodong, Yamen, recounted the population of Liaodong.

At present, Liaodong has a total population of more than 3.58 million plus 120,000 North Korean laborers, an increase of hundreds of thousands at once.

At this time, the army stationed in Liaodong was 90,000, the Imperial Allied Army of the Korean Left Guard was 20,000, the Ming Army of Korea was 8,000, the Ryukyu garrison was 3,000, and the Taiwan garrison was 5,000.

The Liaodong Naval Division had 8,000 men (including the former Korean Naval Division), and the Eastern Ryukyu Fleet had a total of 10,000 men.

Li Xianzhong had a total of 126,000 troops at his disposal and 18,000 naval divisions.

Fan Wencheng said: "In the fourth year of the Apocalypse, Liaodong's overall income was 7.58 million taels, the expenditure was 5.73 million taels, and the total treasury silver was 6.85 million taels. Taiwan alone has sent 1.3 million stone of grain to Liaodong, and now there are as many as 2.5 million stone of rice in stock. ”

"This grain reserve is enough to support a two-year expedition of 100,000 troops."

After hearing this, everyone was also full of confidence!

Li Sanshun said: "With the elite of my Liaozhen soldiers, it is not a problem to take the Beijing division at all, as long as the Liao Guogong gives an order, the last general will guarantee that the Beijing division can be conquered in less than a month, and at most three months can control the entire Hebei." ”

Hearing Li Sanshun say this, the heavy generals asked for battle, and Mao Wenlong even said: "The last general only needs 10,000 horses to take the Beijing Division!" ”

At this time, Yan Mingtai was a little worried.

Li Xianzhong said: "All the generals think that our strength is enough to fight with the imperial court, I don't know what Governor Yan thinks?" ”

In fact, Yan Ming was actually very worried that Li Xianzhong's mind would be hot, and he would directly raise troops to turn against him.

At this time, he had to pour a basin of cold water on everyone, and he said: "Qi Liao Guogong, my subordinates think that this is not the time for us to make a move. ”

"First of all, the Ming Dynasty is orthodox in the world, and the Son of Heaven has not lost his morality, so we can't find a good excuse to raise troops against the Ming. Once we become a thief, we will be desperately resisted by the people of the world, and it will be much more difficult for us to seize the world. ”

"Second, although the current situation in Liaodong is good, our reform has only just been implemented and is not stable. If the main force goes out of the pass and goes south, Liaodong will inevitably be unstable, and once the rear is unstable, I am afraid that it will affect the war ahead! ”

"Again. I am afraid that the generals have overlooked a problem, although the elite under your command is powerful, but now our army's guns and artillery need a large amount of ammunition supply, even the Lumi guns in the hands of soldiers need to be replaced after a long time. After all, my Liaodong is small and big, if we face a steady stream of Qinwang's troops from all over the Ming Dynasty, can our ammunition reserves last so long? ”

"If you lose the supply of ammunition, are you still sure that you will face the million-strong division of the Ming Dynasty?"

Therefore, I believe that it is not appropriate to act rashly at this time. We still need to stabilize the rear and build up strength. The main thing is to wait for a suitable opportunity to send troops, so that it is possible to succeed in one fell swoop! ”

Li Xianzhong said: "What Governor Yan said completely agrees! ”

"Although the interior of the Ming Dynasty is unbearable, it has not yet reached the state of complete decay. At this time, if we forcibly send troops as if it were a rebellion, not many people will respond to us, and even if we can temporarily take the capital division by force, it will be difficult to quickly control the situation in the whole country. ”

Li Sanshun sighed and said: "Everyone who said that the Duke of Liao and Governor Yan understand, but since the Tartars were wiped out, the brothers have not fought for a long time. Otherwise, he will disguise himself as a rogue, go to Yanzhou to support Wang Xifan, and then use the identity of a rogue, to enter the Beijing Division. Then the Duke of Liao waved his army south again and sent troops to the king, wouldn't that be justified? ”

After Li Sanshun finished speaking, everyone fell into deep thought.

Mao Wenlong first said: "Mr. Li's method is good, as long as the world is in chaos, we can fish in troubled waters!" ”

Even Yan Mingtai said: "This method is actually still feasible, but it can't be too obvious, after all, people in the world are not stupid!" ”

Li Xianzhong didn't expect that even Brother Yan, who had always been the most calm, was tempted.

But they can't be blamed, after all, they are not traversers, unlike Li Xianzhong, who can foresee the future.

Li Xianzhong said: "Commander Mao, in addition to the White Lotus Sect in Yanzhou, where else did the Intelligence Department instigate the uprising? ”

Mao Yuanyi said: "Shaanxi has been in drought for many years, and under the instigation of the Intelligence Department, there have been several small-scale uprisings. ”

Li Xianzhong nodded with satisfaction and said: "Everyone, please be a good soldier, once the world is in chaos, it will be the time for us to go out and seize the world!" ”

Everyone said: "The last general (lower official) takes the order!" ”

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