The film and television world begins with the battle for the throne in Kowloon

Chapter 1064: Political Discussion in the Imperial Study (Part )
Li Yan said at the beginning that today's topic does not involve personnel rights and the military, and the underlying implication is that it does not involve family issues.

In this case, the ministers thought it would be better to listen first, so they stood up and bowed their hands to ask for instructions: "We still ask the emperor to teach us."

"Master Xiao just said that there are only two ways to solve this problem: increase revenue and reduce expenditure."

As the situation developed to this point, Li Yan had completely grasped the initiative. He said in a relaxed manner: "Now the expenditure of my Tang Dynasty has exceeded the income by 20 million guan. What is this called? It is called a deficit. The larger the deficit, the more dangerous the country is."

“This situation must be resolved.”

"Master Changsun, given the current situation of the Tang Dynasty, how far can we go in terms of increasing revenue and reducing expenditure at the same time?"

Zhang Sun Wuji was immediately embarrassed, and said with a stiff upper lip: "Your Majesty, from the fifth to the tenth year of Zhenguan, it was because the emperor had finished fighting the Turks, rested himself, and restored the people's strength, that he gradually returned to normal, but later..."

"Although the Tang Dynasty did not use large-scale military force against foreign countries, it did take over Goguryeo, Silla, Baekje and other places. These places not only did not have any tax revenue, but the court had to invest a lot of financial resources every year to relocate the people and develop people's livelihood."

"Then we sent troops to the south and took over several small countries in Indochina, which indeed cost us a lot of money and grain. Now, we are thankful that we have been able to achieve a balance between income and expenditure and do not need to allocate funds from the court."

'snort'

Hearing this, Li Yan's expression froze again, and he snorted in his heart. The Southeast Peninsula is the granary of Asia. It is close to the South China Sea. The Himalayas in the north block the cold weather from the north from moving south. The warm current of the Indian Ocean flows continuously, and there is plenty of rain, making it spring-like all year round.

The grain produced in this place alone every year can feed the entire Tang Dynasty.

But now, according to Zhangsun Wuji, it was barely a balance between income and expenditure. The trick was obvious. He persuaded Li Shimin to take this place in order to reduce the burden on the people of the Tang Dynasty and increase the country's available financial resources.

But it is not to find a purse for those wealthy families.

When he thought about a piece of fat meat comparable to Jiangnan falling into the hands of the nobles, Li Yan's heart was filled with rage, and his eyes were very gloomy.
However, this is a big issue and it is not appropriate to discuss it now, so as not to affect my future plans.

Thinking of this, Li Yan loosened his fists in his sleeves, took a deep breath, suppressed the injustice in his heart, and continued to listen.

"In the past few years, the Tang Dynasty has fought against Tubo, Tuyuhun, Gaochang and other countries, and recovered the snowy plateau and the vast Western Regions. These places have harsh environments, vast land and sparse population. There is no benefit at all, and they need blood transfusions from the court to maintain them."

"So the emperor and the court established a system of enfeoffment, throwing them all to the royal family, noble families, and meritorious officials and relatives."

"However, those places have just started construction and development, and the princes have not actually taken office, so they still rely on the court's army to guard them. The annual expenditure is very huge, and it is really impossible to reduce it?"

After Changsun Wuji finished speaking, the others all agreed, "Yes, Your Majesty, that is true. We have already kept our annual expenditures to a minimum and we really cannot reduce them any further. These places were newly conquered and the court has invested a huge amount of manpower and material resources."

"It's a bit tasteless, but it's a pity to throw it away. The court is now in a dilemma, right?"

Li Yan frowned and said decisively, "No way, Lord Changsun, if I am not mistaken, the attack on Goguryeo was a tacit agreement between the court and the Turks. One side wanted men and property, and the other side wanted land and women."

"The war was also fought by the Turks. It didn't cost the Tang Dynasty much."

"Back then, Yang Guang sacrificed the entire Sui Dynasty in order to conquer this place. But my Tang Dynasty recovered the three places without bloodshed. If you still complain about this, then Yang Guang's coffin will not be able to hold it down."

"As for the small countries in Indochina, it has been five or six years since they fought back."

"As far as I know, the weather here is like spring all year round, and the climate is pleasant. It is more suitable for growing grain than Bashu. There are three harvests a year, and we can provide 50 to 60 million dan of grain every year, which is more than double the total tax grain of the Tang Dynasty. Why is this grain not collected?"

"If the current tax grain of the Tang Dynasty could be doubled, the national treasury income could also increase by hundreds of millions of guan. If it were replaced with goods from the south and transported to the north for sale, the profit would be three to four times higher, which would directly make up for the national treasury's deficit for a year."

"As for the Snowy Plateau, it's not completely useless. There are all kinds of minerals there, especially copper mines used for making coins, which are everywhere. There are countless ways to make money, but you are just thinking about getting some head taxes from the people."

"To take food from the people for such a small amount of money is like begging with a golden bowl. It is really narrow-minded."

"what?"

Li Yan fired one shell after another, making the ministers dizzy and unable to digest it for a while.

Xiao Yu's face changed even more, and he stood up suddenly and asked, "Your Majesty said that the Central and Southern regions provide 50 to 60 million shi of grain per year. Is that true?"

"If Lord Xiao doesn't believe it, you can send someone to investigate."

Li Yan said with an unchanged expression: "The south has spring all year round, which is completely different from the north. The people there only need to work for three or four months a year, and their families will not lack food for the whole year. Fifty or sixty million shi of grain is just a piece of cake."

"We can collect it at will." "If you are willing to spend money to buy it, even if you buy another 30 million shi, it is also easy, but it takes only 70% to 80% of the grain to be transported over a thousand miles. It is far away from the Central Plains, and the journey is long. It is separated from Guanzhong by mountains, so transportation is even more difficult."

"Even so, adding 20 to 30 million shi of grain to the national treasury is not a big problem."

Xiao Yu was stunned, and his face suddenly became gloomy. Then, he thought of something and turned around suddenly to look at Changsun Wuji.

Faced with the lightning-like questioning look in Xiao Yu's eyes, Changsun Wuji lowered his head guiltily.

Obviously, he already knew the truth.

The land in Indochina is so fertile, and the warm environment and high-yield crops are completely comparable to the south of the Yangtze River. Most of the soldiers in the army are from aristocratic families. After they found that this was different from the north, the huge economic benefits made them choose to conceal it.

After all, this place is too far away from the Central Plains and the place is not big.

Since the vast areas of Liaodong Peninsula, Snowy Plateau, and Western Regions are all barren, the southern enclave mixed in them can naturally be quietly hidden. As for the benefits of this, they will naturally be divided up by the nobles who know the inside story.

The war is fought by the country and the money and grain are paid by the national treasury.

In the end, these benefits fell into the hands of the nobles, and they were kept secret from the court officials. Xiao Yu panted violently for a long time, and finally sat back in his seat angrily, so angry that he couldn't speak for a long time. He knew that this matter could not be hidden from the emperor.

The fact that the nobles were able to unite and snatch this piece of fat meat from the emperor's mouth shows how terrifying the benefits were.

He finally understood why Li Shimin took action against the aristocratic families, and why the aristocratic families dared to attack the imperial power. It was because the interests in Indochina were too great.

Since even the emperor couldn't handle it, Xiao Yu was helpless.

Afterwards, Cen Benwen, Ma Zhou and Liu Bo also had changing looks in their eyes, and finally they all sighed helplessly.

The Tang Dynasty fought so many wars and expanded so much territory, but the treasury was always poor. It turned out that it was not that there were no benefits, but that these benefits were intercepted by the power of the aristocratic families, while the cost of maintaining the vast territory was left to the court.

When they thought of this, all the ministers felt a little angry.

Li Yan saw that the atmosphere was a little heavy, and said, "In fact, there are some things that don't need to be hidden. I summoned you today to understand these things in depth. Since the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the king and Ma have shared the world."

"The imperial court and the noble families jointly rule the world. This is also the truth. There is nothing that cannot be said."

"But this world does not belong to the imperial court alone. The noble families also have responsibilities for the rise and fall of the world. They cannot just enjoy the benefits without taking on the responsibilities."

"Of course, we shouldn't treat the nobles as a scourge when we mention them, as if they are an obstacle to the great rule of the world. On the contrary, I think that the nobles are also part of the court, and they may not want peace in the world."

"Today, I want to put aside the aristocratic families and discuss with you whether we can do something other than the aristocratic family issue that will benefit the court and the people of the world."

What Li Shimin couldn't do, Li Yan certainly couldn't do now. The interests of the Indochina Peninsula are too great, he can't move for the time being, and he doesn't want to move, because his "power" is in the north, and the south is really out of reach.

But this did not stop him from revealing the truth and giving the aristocratic families a warning.

Then let the nobles make some compromises for these interests and gain some benefits for themselves. If I really don't mention it, it will make the nobles suspicious. Suspecting that I am hiding something, I must be holding back some big tricks like Li Shimin?
But I did the opposite, expressed my anger appropriately, and talked the matter out.

Through normal exchanges and asking for some benefits, the nobles will also be reassured. This is not the way the emperor deals with his subjects.

However, it is a way of distributing benefits equally among the aristocratic families.

The nobles paid the price, and the court would never mention the matter of Indochina again. This was an unspoken understanding among everyone.

After learning about these inside stories, Xiao Yu asked somewhat disinterestedly: "Your Majesty, no matter what we do, we cannot avoid the nobles. If we target the nobles, we will inevitably face backlash. If we leave this core issue aside, what else can we do?"

“Yes, there is still a lot we can do.”

Seeing that everyone agreed with Xiao Yu, Li Yan said decisively: "It's just that we are used to blaming all problems on the nobles, and naturally regard solving the nobles as a prerequisite for solving all problems."

“So I gave up looking for other ways.”

(End of this chapter)