Qin Official

On the second day after taking office, Fengchang Lu Jia launched the first shot of his painstakingly planned "Dingli" plan, using the strengths of Confucianism to justify Heifu's seemingly nondescript regency system.

As the economic department that received the most attention from Heifu, Xiao He, the internal affairs minister, was also very busy.

The victory in the south was expected by Xiao He, but he never thought that he, who had never had any military exploits, would be designated by Hei Fu as "the number one civil servant in the Northern Expedition". Not only would he be promoted to the rank of commander of the carriage, but he would also be honored as one of the nine ministers. One is the history of treating millet.

Many years ago, Xiao He was ranked first in political achievements by the Sishui County Supervisor and Censor. He wanted to recommend him to become an official in the court, but Xiao He refused.

But this time, Xiao He hurried on his way as soon as he received the appointment. After arriving in Xianyang, he reported to Hei Fu that he was "sincere and frightened."

Hei Fu comforted him and said:

"Yu and Wang Ben are separated by Jianghan and Nanyang for more than a year. The north is strong and the south is weak. However, Xiao He suppressed Jiangling and often sent troops to fill the vacancies. There were hundreds of thousands of people on the front line, and they relied on Jianghan with their baggage and food. You turned to Cao Jingzhou to provide There is no shortage of food, this is a great achievement.”

Lu Jia's lobbying of Bashu for Heifu could be described as a turning point in the strategy of the Civil War.

Chen Ping and Xu Shu occupied two corners for Heifu, laying the groundwork for a pincer attack on the bandits from the Six Nations.

But none of their achievements can match Xiao He. Heifu knew very well that without Xiao He's proper coordination, which allowed Nanjun to have a good harvest during the war, and continuously mobilized the southerners to join the war, even if he could withstand Wang Ben's several waves of offensive, he would never be able to take control of Xianyang so quickly. .

Now that the center of political power has shifted to Guanzhong, it is natural to transfer Xiao He here to continue to use his talents.

Xiao He was appointed as the governor of Su Neishi, in charge of the country's land rent and the income and expenditure of various money and materials. He was also called the "planning prime minister". Under him were Taicang, Jitian and other five ministers, who were responsible for the planning of counties and counties across the country. and “live within your means,” that is, the state budget.

As soon as Xiao Hefu took office, he was given a show of authority, but it was not his subordinates who showed authority to him, but the red deficit and the precarious national finances...

The bad debts were presented to each other by the various prime ministers. The more Xiao He looked at them, the tighter his thick eyebrows became.

What Hu Hai and Zhao Gao left to Heifu was a mess of dilapidated neighborhoods, depressed cities, and shrinking economy.

In the past year and a half of the civil war, both sides mobilized hundreds of thousands of people and killed countless people. It drained the economy of Nan County and made Guanzhong miserable.

In order to "suppress the rebellion," Hu Hai repeatedly imposed additional tax payments and failed to fulfill his promise of rent reduction, causing widespread complaints. A large number of laborers went to Nanyang and Sanchuan, which delayed spring plowing. In addition, Guandong and Bashu rebelled, and grain could no longer be concentrated in Aocang as before, so Guanzhong bore all the consumption.

No matter how rich the fields beside the canal of Zheng were, they could not withstand such food. After one year, there was not much left in the grain reserves that were still abundant during the time of Qin Shihuang.

In addition, the bandits from the Six Nations destroyed Xihe and created hundreds of thousands of refugees out of thin air. Xiao He looked at the rewards and food that the army was demanding, and then looked at the dwindling warehouses.

"Wu Zhonghou, you really stuffed a hot potato into my hand..."

There is no other way at the moment. No matter how talented Lao Xiao is, he can't produce rice. Fortunately, there is still the autumn harvest in August to save his life. Shu County, which has not been affected by the war, has enough food to rely on.

But they are by no means as numerous as expected. The plank road has been burned, and food transportation in Sichuan is even more troublesome. As for Guanzhong...

After doing a quick calculation on the abacus, Xiao He sighed.

He knew that Heifu had made a promise to the people of Guanzhong to halve the land rent, and the Xihe area was exempted from rent. Seeing that it was impossible to increase revenue, the only thing left was to reduce expenditure, and...

Xiao He gritted his teeth and said: "Tear down the east wall and mend the west wall!"

…

On the third day of August, Xiao He personally went to the Shaofu to visit Zhang Cang.

"When He was young, he also wanted to go to Lanling to study with Xun Qing, but his father passed away and he could not make the trip. He often regretted it. Later he served as a minor official in Surabaya. He often heard the decrees of Xianyang and those who handed over the plan praised Zhang Jun for his erudition. It is widely known that his math skills are unparalleled in the world."

Zhang Cang, who was slightly younger than him in Xiao Hechao, bowed and said: "He is now promoted by Marquis Wu Zhong and appointed as the governor of Su Neishi. He has just entered Xianyang and has no clue about everything. I hope Mr. Zhang will give you some advice."

Because he was asking for help, and knowing that Zhang Cang had a close personal relationship with Hei Fu, Xiao He kept his attitude low.

Fortunately, Zhang Cang was a practical person and did not dare to make excuses. He had also heard about Xiao He's name as a "official" for a long time. The two of them sat down and talked about arithmetic first without mentioning anything else.

What Zhang Cang didn't expect was that Xiao He actually read through the first volume of "Nine Chapters on Arithmetic" that he had written previously, which was the part of practical mathematics such as Fangtian, Corn, Shafen, Shaoguang, Shang Gong, and Uniform Loss...

"Wu Zhonghou liked this book so much that even during the fierce battle with Wang Ben, he had it printed in Jiangling. He often ordered his subordinates to read it thoroughly. Those who could not count the square fields and millet were not allowed to be literary officials."

Xiao He said with a smile: "He is lucky enough to learn all the calculation techniques in it. It's a pity that the second volume of Pythagorean, surplus and insufficient, etc. is too profound. He is busy with official duties and it is difficult to master the calculations. But just relying on the first volume is enough to rule several counties. That’s it.”

Obviously, Xiao He had scratched Zhang Cang's itch. Although it was their first meeting, after a few words, the two of them felt like they had met each other late, and they quickly reached a consensus:

"During the time of the First Emperor, there were already many shields in the old Qin Dynasty, but especially the shielding of wealth and goods!"

Zhang Cang once served as an official in Zhisu Neishi and knew very well how the world's finances operated.

The system initiated by the First Emperor has indeed brought countless benefits to the world: he concentrated such a large population under one political power, destroyed customs and defenses, used the same texts on cars and tracks, unified coins, weights and measures, and created a large national market , the economic scale has reached an unprecedented height.

Unlike Confucian scholars who only know how to criticize, Zhang Cang did not hesitate to praise the good aspects of Qin Zheng.

But his words changed: "But what's increasing at the same time is the government's expenses."

The Qin Dynasty was a big government. It abolished feudalism and established prefectures and counties. It personally participated in the economy in various fields, such as collecting salt, iron, wine, and sugar for official operations. It also set up a large number of Qin officials in the local areas to take care of every little thing to extend its tentacles. Go to the grassroots level.

However, these huge officials made the bureaucracy expand several times compared with before unification. The annual salary alone was enough to become a huge burden. The reason why Qin collected more than half of the rent was not only to use it for wars almost every year, but also to Used to support a large number of officials.

"indeed so."

Xiao He, who had received a salary for more than ten years, nodded. He had a document in his hand, which was the internal history of the millet government. He counted the fiscal expenditures of each county, which were used for official salaries, public expenses, and city construction. He converted the grain into half a tael, and from From the 26th to the 36th year of Qin Shihuang, the amount of money increased from 400 million to 1.2 billion.

"Three times? That's nothing."

Zhang Cang also asked someone to collect the Shaofu's expenses over the years: "He smiled and said, from the initial 200 million yuan to 1.8 billion yuan, it has increased nine times!"

The Shaofu appointed by Zhang Cang was in charge of the private treasury for the emperor. In addition to land rent, which theoretically accounted for the bulk of the world's wealth, the rest included oral and municipal taxes, taxes on mountains, seas, and lakes, government-run salt, iron, etc. , wine, sugar, silk, gold, tin, and lacquer, all went to the Shaofu, which was used to support the huge palace institutions under the name of Qin Shihuang, including all the food, clothing, daily life, and hunting.

In other words, government expenditures account for two-thirds of the entire fiscal plate. What does this mean?

"Inflation. In the past ten years, the royal family's expenses have expanded rapidly."

For more than a hundred years after Shang Yang's reform, the proportion of the Qin royal family's consumption was actually very small: Qin's law abolished support for the huge princes, and those who had no merit were not allowed to belong to the country. However, during the reigns of Qin Xiaogong, Qin Hui Wang, and Qin Wu Wang, the palace concubines Very few, the number of people serving them was only a thousand.

However, by the time of King Zhao of Qin, as Qin had acquired the capital of the imperial industry, the palaces and gardens were quietly expanding in order to demonstrate the style of a great country. It was at that time that the palaces and gardens such as Ganquan and Zhangtai were completed. When King Zhuang Xiang arrived, the king had been in Handan all year round and returned as king. He brought not only Lu Buwei but also the extravagant customs of the East. The Qin royal family was completely separated from simplicity.

When the First Emperor unified the world, this trend reached its extreme. The First Emperor accepted all the concubines of the six countries, and even thought that the Xianyang Palace was small. Every time Qin defeated the princes, he wrote about the palaces and palaces, and wrote "Xianyang is on the north bank of Xianyang, and it is adjacent to the Wei River in the south." From the east of Yongmen to Jing and Wei, the palaces and houses are connected to the Zhou Pavilion. The princes, beauties, bells and drums obtained were used to recharge it. As the emperor became emperor, the first emperor's arrogance and extravagance also flourished. In addition to the palace complex near Xianyang, he also built three hundred miles of inner palaces and temples connected by roads, with not enough curtains, bells, drums, and beauties.

At one time, there were dozens of palaces in Guanzhong. Yichun Garden, which previously amazed Yuan Yong and other Nanjun country bumpkins, was just the tip of the iceberg. The largest Epang Palace covered an area of ​​more than thirty miles. There are thousands of famous concubines and women in each palace, either from the six countries or newly selected from the people, and the number of palace servants and maids who support them has also reached hundreds of thousands!

With this huge population, the masters are well clothed and well fed, and the slaves at least live like middle-class people. How much clothing and silk do they need every year? Not to mention the people's financial resources consumed in building the palace, brick by brick, all the people's fat and oil.

Although among these many concubines, Emperor Qin Shihuang actually slept with very few. In the end, most of them were martyred by Hu Hai, leaving only many temple maids still in various palaces.

Although there were many palaces, Emperor Qin Shi Huang never stayed there even for a single night.

But for the emperor, they are necessary, which represents his vanity, his wealth, and his power!

And his face!

Unlike the Ming Dynasty of later generations, the royal family of the Qin Dynasty did not have to support many descendants, but only one person. However, the ambition of this person alone was enough to make everyone in the world fall to the ground.

In order to make His Majesty the First Emperor's face look bright, and to make the barbarians and despicable people admire him and praise him, isn't it natural that the lives of the common people in Guizhou should be stripped away?

"Is it really necessary?" Zhang Cang shook his head. This was a doubt he had long ago, and now it is finally solved.

"If it's for the dignity of the whole country, that's okay."

"If it's just one person's vanity, no!"

Part of the personal vanity of the First Emperor, in addition to the beautiful palaces, there are also many wonders and buildings, which are flashy and unrealistic, like reliefs carved on the face of the First Emperor, and the twelve golden figures are like gold foil stuck on them.

However, the largest share of fiscal expenditure was war.

"Starting from the 30th year, the First Emperor ordered that the taxes on the salt, iron, sugar and other industries of the Shaofu should also be used to supplement the history of millet management to increase the needs of the war."

The First Emperor's ambition was too great, and he conquered everything in the southeast and northwest within ten years. After paying a huge price, the empire's territory was indeed bounded by the East China Sea in the east, wading through quicksand in the west, Daxia in the north, and ending in the north in the south. But finances became increasingly difficult.

In the past wars with the Six Kingdoms, they occupied mature agricultural areas with rich populations and arable land. After copying the Qin model in these areas, they could immediately collect taxes to expand fiscal revenue.

However, South Vietnam, the Xiongnu, the Western Regions, and Haidong were all foreign lands. After conquest, the population and land available for taxation were too small to make up for war expenditures. At the same time, the transportation of grains for hundreds or even thousands of miles, hundreds of thousands of people waiting for food, and large-scale infrastructure construction at the border have become a financial black hole.

The consumption of each of these four great expeditions was equivalent to the fiscal revenue of the Qin Dynasty for one year, and the two battles of Lingnan were equivalent to two years...

In the end, the war will completely drag down the already unhealthy finances. Although the sugar industry, woolen textile industry, opening of the Western Region, etc. have increased the Shaofu's income slightly, this is just a drop in the bucket, or even just a salary to put out the fire!

Thirty-three years later, the empire's finances were unable to make ends meet, and had to rely on temporary measures to increase taxes and fees. Land rents had been maintained at half or even two-thirds of the red line for a long time. In addition, rents from the city, salt, iron, sugar, etc. The price of silk is also rising, and the quality of coins is getting worse and thinner.

These value-added taxes will eventually be passed on to the heads of Guizhou, making their lives increasingly difficult.

This is the truth behind the Qin Dynasty’s public and private income and expenditures that have skyrocketed over the past ten years.

This is also the truth why people all over the world feel that their burdens are getting heavier and their lives are getting harder and harder!

Royal expenses, redundant official salaries, and war expenses became the three big mountains that crushed the finances of the old Qin Dynasty and worsened the people's livelihood all over the world.

Speaking of this, Xiao He also expressed his intention: "How can I win the trust of Marquis Wu Zhong and let him be the prime minister? I believe that the current task is to prohibit cruelty, stop excessive wealth, strengthen local farmers, save redundant officials, and promote frugality. What we have to do Yes, just like Foolish Old Man, move these three mountains away one by one!"

"Zhang Cang knows what Mr. Xiao did today!"

Zhang Cang, who was both in the financial department, also had an affair with Xiao He, who was in love with him:

"Now that the emperor is absent, the royal expenses that account for a large part of the young manor are no longer useful. Instead of wasting money and food, it is better to open the garden, let the palace be used for other purposes, and liberate the many maids imprisoned in it... This house is so heavy It’s time to move away from the mountain that makes people in the world breathless.”

He patted his plump body: "So, Zhang Cang's first strike after taking office will be on the Shaofu himself. From now on, the Shaofu will no longer be the emperor's private treasury!"

"Then Marquis Wu Zhong..." Xiao He hesitated, anyone else would take these things as his own, right?

"Hahaha, Mr. Xiao, don't worry. Marquis Wu Zhong has never been a womanizer. After he entered Xianyang, he couldn't get any wealth and women had no luck, so he sealed it all and handed it over to the young master. He also said..."

Zhang Cang stood up and told Xiao He what Hei Fu said.

"Wu Zhonghou said that in the past, the Qin Dynasty worshiped one person in the world."

"Nowadays, Jiuzhou is in ruins and people's livelihood is in decline. It's time to use one person's greed and savings to contribute to the people of the world!"

…

ps: I coded it at the airport. There is only one chapter today. Please stay home from tomorrow and resume normal updates.