Three Kingdoms

In recent days, there have been some rumors in Jiangdong.

The center of the rumor did not point to any particular person, but most people knew exactly who the rumor was aimed at.

The better rumors are not exaggerated and are relatively realistic. They just say that there are many good doctors in the Hundred Medical Center who can treat many diseases, such as typhoid fever, plague, etc.

There are also exaggerated rumors, such as that there are hundreds of doctors in the Hundred Medical Clinic, each of whom has a unique skill, and can make the dead alive with flesh and bones...

It's too exaggerated, and most people won't believe it, but they will more or less agree with the relatively simple rumor, that is, Chang'an Baiyi Medical Center is indeed capable of treating some diseases, such as a certain person's disease.

Governor Zhou Yu’s illness is no longer a secret, but the problem is that even in later generations, not everyone can enjoy the services of specialized doctors, let alone in the Han Dynasty?

Most people have personal experience of the pain of life, but giving up life because of these pains is also something that most people cannot accept.

Sun Quan was very embarrassed now. He didn't even dare to go to Zhou Yu again.

Because Sun Quan didn't know how to face Zhou Yu.

Pretending not to know about these rumors not only insults Zhou Yu's IQ, but also lowers Sun Quan's own personality. Although Sun Quan may not have much personality in the eyes of many people, Sun Quan himself cannot say that he does not need the so-called personality!

But if he said that he knew about this rumor, then he didn't send Zhou Yu to the Hundred Medical Center, which would be a bit cold-blooded and cruel, not like a master, etc. After all, they are just ordinary officials. Zhou Yu can be said to be one of the pillars of Jiangdong. Just sit back and watch, pretending that he doesn't know what to do and hears nothing. This is somewhat unjustifiable. How will Jiangdong recruit talents in the future?

While saying that we should give talents good treatment, at the same time we make them die from overwork?

Oh, Jiangdong’s treatment is to let talents die?

This is neither easy to say nor easy to hear.

what to do?

Sun Quan was very distressed.

At this moment, in the high hall, Sun Quan was wearing a crimson robe and sitting in the middle, with two people sitting next to him.

Zhang Zhao, Zhang Hong.

These days, Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong seemed very low-key and did not make any comments about Sun Quan or Zhou Yu. On the one hand, Er Zhang is relatively low-key, not the kind of person who talks casually to show off. On the other hand, it is to avoid the limelight temporarily. After all, as the head of Jiangdong, he was too financially disadvantaged and lost face. Somewhat ugly.

But this money matter is inevitable after all.

Jiangdong's expedition some time ago incurred another huge expense.

Unlike later generations who would just turn on the printing press if they couldn't do it, if a big man wants to be rich now, he must come up with physical currency metals, gold, silver, copper, etc. Even if it is mixed with inferior copper, he still needs some copper...

There are also copper mines in Jiangdong, but after all, the output is limited, or it is impossible to expand the output in a short period of time, so it will be a bit tricky when a large amount of money is urgently needed.

This time he summoned two Zhangs to come, and Sun Quan said that the main topic was money. Of course, there may be some other matters that I would like Erzhang to recommend, but I don’t know.

Jiangdong's deficit is not small.

Delaying cat food, uh, eating mao food in Yin is not a patent of Jiangdong, nor is it a characteristic of Sun Quan, but something that most regimes will do. Those who come out to fool around will eventually have to pay back. Even in later generations, even a beautiful country that can make money in finance will still be unable to avoid the subprime mortgage crisis.

There are three main factors inducing the subprime mortgage crisis in the beautiful country. Unfortunately, Jiangdong's current financial system is not perfect, but it is also available.

In order to promote economic development, Jiang Dongyin ate a lot of food and consumed like crazy. Although there is no Adam Smith in Jiangdong, Jiangdong spares no effort in the consumption of luxury goods. Therefore, Jiangdong invisibly meets the consumption characteristics of "a highly secularized life characterized by urban hedonism". In other words, under Jiangdong's high consumption, the money is not actually invested in the real industry, nor can it promote Basic production.

At the same time, the distribution of cakes in Jiangdong is also seriously unbalanced. As the main body of Jiangdong's economy, although the powerful local gentry in Jiangdong have more money in their hands than before, the overall income of the people of Jiangdong is actually falling instead of rising.

At the time of Dong Zhuo, because Jiangdong was a peripheral area of ​​the Han Dynasty's overall economy, Dong Zhuo could not find a replacement for the next one under Dong Zhuo's drumming and spreading of waste money. After all, most Vietnamese people in South Vietnam barter, and there is not much of a money usage system that cannot accommodate so much waste money.

If Fei Qian had not come up with any money to conquer the West, then most of these waste money would have returned to the Central Plains after a period of time. After all, bad money still has the effect of driving out good money. But if you want bad coins to drive out good coins, you must let bad coins and good coins have the same purchasing power. But obviously, after the circulation of Zhengxi money and Huqi money, not only Chang'an, but also many places will not accept bad coins of five baht. When it comes to money, how can these bad coins have the ability to expel them?

It costs money to remelt it, and it also costs money to counterfeit Zhengxi Qian and Huqi Qian. What's more, Zhengxi Qian and Huqi Qian are a headache for counterfeiters in terms of style and weight. In an era without precision chemicals, , unable to clearly know the coin proportions, just a simple scale can make coin counterfeiters turn gray with worry.

Therefore, under such circumstances, the powerful Jiangdong nobles would of course try their best to pass on the damaged parts, and the direction of passing on would naturally be upward and downward. Embezzle Jiangdong's assets upwards, transfer the money that originally belonged to Jiangdong from public to private, and then pass the losses on to the people at the same time...

Just like the beautiful country advocating the myth that housing prices will never fall, it tries its best to put the hot sticks in its hands into the hands of the people. The gentry in Jiangdong also took advantage of various opportunities to pass on losses. This led to the fact that despite the apparent industrial development, increase in goods, and increase in total trade volume in Jiangdong in recent years, in fact the income of the people at the bottom has actually dropped sharply. .

Of course, Er Zhang was ignorant about these economic accounts and may have some sporadic insights, but he was unable to form an effective understanding, let alone compete with Changan's financial strategy.

Sun Quan was even more confused when he couldn't figure out the two pictures.

So Sun Quan summoned two Zhang to discuss the problem, which could only focus on deficit.

As for why deficits occur, how to avoid the next deficit, and how to learn from experience...

Sun Quan didn't understand at all. He just wanted to know how to make up for the deficit now, how to plug the holes, what necessary expenses were there, what expenses could be diverted, etc.

In addition, military expenditures also need to be discussed.

But what Sun Quan didn't expect was that both of his suggestions were rejected.

Sun Quan initially expressed whether he could consider raising taxes...

Immediately he encountered strong opposition from Er Zhang.

Whether from the perspective of benevolent government or people's livelihood, Er Zhang's reasons are impeccable. Sun Quan reluctantly made his second suggestion, which was to reduce the treatment of Jiangdong's official officials and reduce their salaries. Er Zhang retorted again.

The reason is also very clear. How much is the total salary of Jiangdong's civil servants? Using salary to make up for military expenditures is like a drop in the bucket, and it will also cause dissatisfaction among Jiangdong's civil servants, and they will be passive and slow down work, etc., which will cause more problems in time, which will cause harm and gain.

After two consecutive suggestions were rejected, Sun Quan was somewhat unhappy and almost wanted to turn his back and walk away. However, after all, Jiangdong's foundation is his own, and he cannot ask for overtime pay like a laborer, so he can only hold back and say indifferently: "In this case, I wonder what Mr. Zhang has with Dongfang to solve the urgent need for military expenditures?" 』

The two looked at each other and did not speak immediately.

Sun Quan sighed, closed his eyes, and held back his anger. "You two, most of Sun's property has been used for various expenses in Jiangdong... If you two say anything about using Sun's property to subsidize... then it would be better for Jiangdong to change hands directly!" 』

This is a bit serious, but it is also true.

In the past few years, Jiangdong's finances have indeed been poor, and many people have been gossiping about the Guanzhong Hussars using their own properties to supplement their finances and military affairs, etc., so Sun Quan had to learn from the Sun family. A large amount of money was allocated among the assets for various expenses in Jiangdong.

Even if Sun Quan himself doesn't think much of the money previously allocated, it is no less painful for other people in the Sun family. Moreover, this method cannot last long, otherwise Sun Quan will not even be able to protect his family's fundamentals. Can't even keep it up.

There was an awkward silence in the high hall.

Sun Quan took a few hard breaths, and then suppressed his anger again, which made his face somewhat red and purple. After a while, Sun Quan spoke slowly and got down to business again.

No matter what, the problem still needs to be solved.

Losing your temper will not solve any problem, nor will it increase your money.

"Now the Sun family has so much property..." Sun Quan showed his sincerity, "In the past few days, it was used for military expenses and funeral expenses, so there is really not much left... Now Jiangdong is in an extremely difficult situation, with various taxes and Use as you go, turnover is extremely difficult. Zhang Gong, Dongfang, knows that money and taxes in Jiangdong are not easy, but now I want to see if there is any way... or if there is anything that can be used to divert the money, I will give it to you first..."

Jiangdong is indeed riddled with holes at this moment.

At this time, Jiangdong did not have the aura of what would later be called Edinburgh.

From the Spring and Autumn Period until the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Jiangdong was a marginal area and was called a barbarian.

Most of the states in the Spring and Autumn Period defeated Chu. For example, Yanzi said that oranges grew out of Huainan and became oranges, Lu Shi Chunqiu said that they carved boats to seek swords, and Jing people waded on rivers, Han Feizi said that they contradicted themselves, and Warring States Ce said that they were superfluous. Only Qin, which belonged to Xirong, extended some loving hands to Chu.

Anyway, in the pre-Qin period, all three characteristics of the contempt chain were already present. The first was to look down on those who were different from oneself, such as the Song Dynasty; the second was to look down on those who were weaker than oneself, such as the Zheng Kingdom; of course, the most important thing was to look down on civilization. Those with a lower level than myself are like the Chu State located in Jiangdong.

By the Western Han Dynasty, these places had become China, so the chain of contempt extended further south. The Yunnan-Guizhou region filled the despised gap and contributed to Yelang's arrogance. Later, because Guanzhong was the capital of the Western Han Dynasty, the people of Guanzhong began to look down on Shandong people. In order to improve his own background, Yang Pu moved Hangu Pass dozens of miles east so that he could become a Guanzhong person.

Even if people from the Central Plains took refuge in the south of the Yangtze River, of course they had to show off their sense of superiority. Wu Niuchuanyue gave it to the people of Jiangdong without any ceremony. The indigenous people in the south were called Nanraccoon dogs by people from the Central Plains who crossed south. So the Jiangdong people also gave the Central Plains people who fled from all walks of life a title, Beiqin.

This started the process of people from Jiangdong despising the whole country...

But for the current big man, Jiangdong people really have nothing to be proud of. The population is not as good as that of the Central Plains, the technology is not as good as that of the Central Plains, and the economy is naturally not as good as that of the Central Plains. There are no decent local products, so you can't give away shells as some luxury goods. Coupled with Jiangdong's continuous use of money, the consumption was staggering. Last year's taxes were almost zero, which made both of them somewhat disgraceful.

Even if this fall's taxes are taken into account, the shortfall cannot be made up.

Many things that must be done by Jiangdong officials cannot be done now. What can still be managed is the salary of officials and the expenditure of military supplies. This only makes up for part of the early stage, and it is not yet clear where the subsequent military expenditures will come from.

As for the daily problems in Jiangdong, such as water conservancy and floods, roads and walls, construction in various places, and daily relief for the orphans, the elderly and the young, etc., they can be dealt with if they can. If they cannot be dealt with, they can only stare at it.

But the question is, does Jiangdong really have no money?

Obviously not.

The prices of luxury goods in the Western Regions have already skyrocketed, but they are still sold as they come, sold out as they come, and don't include lakes at all.

The war horse has been upgraded from hundreds of thousands to one million level, and it is also a hot seller.

The people on the streets were in rags and struggling, but the nobles could still ride horses worth millions through the city.

It’s not that Jiangdong doesn’t have money.

At this moment, Jiangdong is in urgent need of rectification, but the core power of the Sun family, which serves as the center, cannot control these local gentry children in Jiangdong.

The people in Jiangdong are very poor.

Today's Sun family is also very poor.

However, the children of the Jiangdong gentry have accumulated an incredible amount of wealth.

The polarization between rich and poor in Jiangdong has also continued to intensify during this process, and at the same time, this has further deepened the accumulation of private wealth.

This is also one of the reasons why Sun Quan has always been engaged in the Jiangdong gentry in history.

The property in Sun Quan's hands that belonged to the Sun family was actually pretty good at first. However, before the Northern Expedition to Guangling, the noble families in Jiangdong were not very supportive. Then Sun Quan insisted on going his own way, which of course meant that he had to bear most of the military expenditures, which amounted to millions. Tens of millions of dollars were spent, almost wiping out the Sun family's bottom line, but there wasn't much profit...

On the one hand, the sons of the gentry who handled the business were switching hands, and the middlemen made money from the price difference. Everyone was filled with money, and only the Sun family, who was the master, was paying compensation. On the other hand, when they were about to see the money back, Another incident broke out, and Sun Quan had to give up his last profit. It could be said that he was losing money from the beginning to the end, while the Jiangdong nobles all made a profit.

Zhang Zhao pondered for a moment, then bowed his hands and said, "My lord understands righteousness deeply, and I admire you greatly." I am stupid and unfit for use. My lord entrusted me with the power of financial management, but I did not try my best to support him. The lack of money in Jiangdong today is the fault of my ministers, and I really feel ashamed..."

Sun Quan frowned slightly, but still said: "Mr. Zhang, how can you say this is Gong Zhang's fault?" Don’t mention the matter of guilt anymore, let’s talk about how to deal with it! 』

Zhang Zhao handed over his hand in thanks, and then continued to speak: "My lord, your property has been in short supply for a long time." The ministers cannot do anything about this matter, they are already extremely frightened, how can they allow the lord to supplement military expenditures? 』

The words that came out of Zhang Zhao's mouth were both beautiful and majestic, which made Sun Quan feel happy, and then shocked. The good news is that Zhang Zhao is Zhang Zhao after all. With his support, the Sun family is half stable no matter what. The other surprising aspect is that military expenditure is still a problem. If other families are to come up with money, it will be the same. The Yusun family had to compromise in some aspects again.

There is no free pie in the world.

If you want money, you must give the Jiangdong nobles some authority...

Sun Quan's face turned purple again.

Zhang Hong, who was standing aside, glanced at Sun Quan and said in support, "My lord Mingjian, the current shortage of warehouses in the east of the Yangtze River was not a day's cold, and the march into Sichuan and Shu was not a day's work." Although Yidao has been conquered now, there is no progress at all, and in order to build a military stronghold at Yidao, tens of millions of expenses are needed... Previously, heavy rains in Wuling land caused disasters, and the rest of Jiangdong There are also many floods in the land. If they are not treated, the autumn harvest will inevitably be greatly affected. 』

Zhang Zhao nodded and said, "That's exactly it." Now the Lord's power lies between this and taking it. If everything in Jiangdong is in short supply of wealth, and using what is not enough means holding on to power, what is the use? According to Lao Cao's opinion, the Lord might as well match his powers with his responsibilities, and those who want to gain their power should match their responsibilities. In this way, on the one hand, the lord's property will not be too expensive and scarce, and on the other hand, the difference between this and taking it is all in the hands of the lord. This is my humble opinion, but I ask your lord to take a closer look. 』

These words went a little deeper, and Sun Quan couldn't help but be startled when he heard them.

What Zhang Zhao said actually makes some sense. After all, Jiangdong is not small, and unlike Guanzhong or other regions, it can be directly accessed by fast horses. In areas without waterways, there are large areas in Jiangdong that are mountainous and hilly, making it difficult to pass. Therefore, all of them are directly under the Sun family, which is actually not very realistic.

Especially since the Sun family just carried out a wave of major purges...

Now it is no longer the time when Sun Jian and Sun Ce were in power. They would treat headaches, feet, and eyebrows and beards. They could just deal with it and forget about it. When the Sun family was in power in the early days, no one thought so far-reaching. After all, they were not able to sit firmly at the time, but it is different now. Not only do they have to sit firmly, but they also need to consider more issues.

So, what should be done?

Are you exchanging power for money?

Or should we hold the power and think of other ways?

Sun Shiwan's face turned blue, white, and purple...

Why does he have to keep compromising? Why can't he kill him just once?

Why? !

He looked up at the sky.

Emperor Sun was very unwilling.