Three Kingdoms: I am not Liu Bian

Chapter 106 This is no longer an ordinary violation of the rules, we must strike hard!
After bathing and changing clothes, and having his shoulders, neck, waist and abdomen massaged by the palace maids, Liu Bian, feeling refreshed, lazily went to the side hall to eat.

Today's lunch is a five-cooked pot, which is a five-grid hot pot from the Later Han Dynasty. One pot is divided into five grids, which can cook five dishes at the same time, and is heated with charcoal fire.

In fact, hot pot has existed as early as the Western Han Dynasty. The cooking utensils were slightly different from those of today, but both the cooking methods and the way of eating were similar to the hot pot of later generations. People also prepared their own dipping sauces and ate the soup with vegetables and meat.

However, Liu Bian did not eat alone today, but specially summoned the Minister of Agriculture Cao Song and Jia Xu, and each of them had a five-cooked pot to eat.

Although Liu Hong and Empress He asked him not to work too hard, even after the preliminary investigation of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the situation in the court was not optimistic and he had to work hard.

The Xianbei and Wuhuan in the north have been somewhat restless recently, and the Qiang and Hu in the west seem to be brewing a storm. Yizhou and Yangzhou seem to be somewhat restrained from dealing with the Yellow Turbans in their respective states.

He was not sure about other things, but the Qiang and Hu in the northwest would definitely fight a war in the next one or two years, and military expenditures of tens of billions or even hundreds of billions would be inevitable. Therefore, he had to determine the current reserve situation of the national treasury and the Prince's Palace treasury.

When talking about this matter, Cao Song and Jia Xu could not help but curse in front of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

Well, it is definitely not a greeting to Queen He, but a greeting to the female ancestors of the three rebellious brothers Zhang Jue.

Not to mention that the court needs to allocate money to deal with the damage caused by the Yellow Turban Army in various places. In order to prevent rebellion from happening again, the refugees in various places also need to be properly resettled, which requires another amount of money.

Just talking about the rewards for the soldiers now, the soldiers are happy, but the two of them who are in charge of the purse strings are sad.

The army fought for half a year, and with the addition of more than 200,000 civilians to ensure logistics, the food and grass consumed, including the transportation losses, exceeded 2 million dan. This item alone cost 260 million coins!
This was because there was abundant food in Yuzhou, Jizhou and other places, so the army could be supplied locally. Unlike when Duan Xing conquered the Qiang and Hu people, "with 5,000 cavalry, 10,000 infantry, and 3,000 chariots, three winters and two summers were enough to break through the Ding state, and the cost was 5.4 billion coins without worrying about it." An army of about 20,000 people would need to spend 5.4 billion coins in Liangzhou for three years.

In comparison, the grain transportation in the Central Plains and Hebei is much easier, and the loss is far less, which is still acceptable.

Taking into account the loss of weapons, armor, war horses, pack horses, winter clothes, and the expenses of temporary conscription of civilians to build forts and dig trenches in various places, the total military expenditure exceeded 300 million coins!

Then came the rewards and expenses. There were currently 40,000 good family men left in the six counties and three rivers. Compared with the original 60,000, more than 8,000 were killed in battle, more than 1,000 were seriously injured or disabled, and the remaining 10,000 were promoted to the Northern Army and separated from the structure of this large army.

According to the prince's reward to the daughters of good families, he would have to spend 132,000 pieces of silk.

The Northern Army, Yulin Cavalry, and Huben Imperial Guards underwent a second expansion before returning to the capital. The total number of the Northern Army was expanded to 10,000, the Yulin Cavalry was expanded to 4,000, and the Huben Imperial Guards reached 3,000. The guards of the Prince's Palace were not expanded and still maintained a total of 3,000 people.

Suddenly, the number of professional soldiers directly controlled by the prince was expanded to 20,000, but the huge financial pressure it brought was also not small.

In addition, more than 400 Northern Army soldiers were killed in battle, 600 Yulin Cavalry soldiers were killed in battle, and only a few of the Huben Guards and the Prince's Palace Guards, who were the prince's close guards, were killed. There were 200 seriously injured and disabled soldiers from the above armies, who will not be dismissed for the time being and will be temporarily appointed as instructors in the army.

After calculating the expenses for rewards, it was found that 93,600 pieces of silk were needed.

Of course, the reward was nominally silk, but this was done to make it easier for the soldiers to carry the rewards home. However, the actual form of the reward was left to the soldiers to choose freely.

Soldiers could receive a portion of the silk and the rest in exchange for five-zhu coins, or they could receive all of the rewards in silk or five-zhu coins. However, preliminary statistics of the army's rewards showed that the number was about 225,000 pieces of silk, which was an expenditure of nearly 340 million coins!
Up to this point, the military expenditure has reached 640 million coins, not to mention the subsequent rewards for generals at all levels, as well as the Northern Army, Yulin Cavalry, Huben Guards and Prince's Palace Guards.

After doing the math, Jia Xu was still in good shape. The Prince's treasury still had tens of billions of money because it had "received" funds from the emperor, the empress dowager, the emperor's wet nurse, Madam Cheng, and the Ten Attendants.

Cao Song was practically breathless, complaining, "Your Highness, the treasury only had 3.4 billion coins left before Your Highness left for the expedition. At the end of the year, we spent 2 billion coins on official salaries, and then we spent another 2 billion coins on military expenses and rewards. Now, there's only a mere 760 million coins left. It's so empty that you can even run horses through it!"

"The moth bandits have caused so much damage to the area that I'm afraid the imperial court will have to reduce taxes again in the next two years. I'm afraid that one day we won't even be able to pay the salaries of the imperial officials!"

Cao Song's eyes were slightly red as he looked at the prince and said, "Your Highness, I...I am suffering!"

For a moment, Cao Song really wanted to beg for his remains from the Crown Prince so that he could return home.

It’s better not to be one of the Nine Ministers!
But on second thought, the prince had just promoted his son Cao Gong to be the governor of Qingzhou, making him a high-ranking official in the court, and also appointed him as the General of the Central Army to Suppress Bandits. It seemed that the Cao family of Qiao County was about to revive the great cause of their ancestors.

Even if he cannot help his son move to a higher level now, he definitely cannot hold him back!
However, Cao Song was not really complaining just for the sake of complaining. He had heard that Guo Tu had taken a lot of blood and flesh from the wealthy families in Yuzhou and Jizhou, and had slaughtered a group of wealthy families who intended to rebel in Xindu City, leaving a river of blood, and had confiscated countless properties.

Hey, according to his deduction, just the confiscated property of the wealthy families in Xindu City, even if the fields and grains were not sold by the prince, the mansions, gold, jade, jewelry, cash and other items alone would be worth about 3 billion yuan.

If all the money goes into the national treasury, his work pressure will be greatly reduced.

Liu Bian glanced at Cao Song sideways, the corners of his mouth slightly raised, revealing a barely perceptible smile. How could he not understand the meaning of the words of the Minister of Agriculture? However, he really didn't mind putting all the money into the national treasury.

Perhaps it was the promise he made to Cao Cao in the past that changed Cao Song's character. He was as clean as water while in office, no longer took bribes, and devoted all his efforts to doing his job as Minister of Agriculture well.

"Okay, Grand Minister of Agriculture, please don't complain to me. I know your hard work. I can give you all the money that Guo Gongze confiscated, but I need the Grand Minister of Agriculture to do a favor for me." Liu Bian waved his hand, and the 3 billion in funds were all allocated to Cao Song. This made Jia Xu's eyes widen, and he thought to himself, should he also complain?
"Your Highness, please give me your orders!" After receiving the prince's promise, Cao Song immediately turned from sadness to joy. A smile spread across his face, his eyes narrowed into slits, and he spoke almost flatteringly.

"I want you to impeach someone for treason!"

As the word "rebellion" fell in the hall, you could hear a pin drop in the hall.

Cao Song's smile froze instantly, his expression solemn, no longer the fawning look he had just shown. He stood up, bowed to the Crown Prince, and said, "Your Highness, some things require a certain degree of flexibility. You must not only seek short-term gains."

In fact, everyone knew that the wealthy families in Xindu City had no intention of rebelling. Their biggest crime was that they not only embezzled hundreds of thousands of stones of grain and grass, but also offended Lu Zhi, the prince's tutor, and did not immediately offer the embezzled grain and grass after the prince arrived.

In short, it can be summed up in four words - out of touch with the times!
As for armor, although the Han Dynasty strictly prohibited the private possession of armor, the wealthy might still be a little wary of it, but how many noble families did not have a few sets of armor?
This method of making money can be used, but it cannot be used frequently, otherwise it will inevitably arouse dissatisfaction among many wealthy families and even trigger rebellion.

Liu Bian chuckled, he knew Cao Song was thinking wrongly.

How could he not know the hidden dangers of this matter? So he did not accuse anyone of treason for hiding armor.

"The embroidered robe envoy has reported that Zhao Rao, the Prince of Ping, is highly respected throughout the land. His wealth is as great as that of the heavenly treasury, and his tomb surpasses that of the imperial mausoleum. His two sons have been granted titles, and his brothers are governors of counties."

Liu Bian sneered. Although he was laughing, his gloomy expression showed his anger. He said coldly, "Haha, how dare you, a mere servant of an official, do this?"

If only his two sons were granted titles and his brothers were appointed as governors of counties, Liu Bian would not have thought much of it. Even if someone was as greedy as Liu Hong's other wet nurse, Madam Cheng, he would only have confiscated most of the family property.

But a mere official maid actually overstepped her bounds in building a tomb that exceeded the specifications of an imperial mausoleum!
This is no longer an ordinary violation of the rules, we must take strong measures!
Cao Song fell silent again.

He lowered his head slightly, biting his lip, secretly regretting that he was careless and agreed too hastily.

The emperor's wet nurse Zhao Rao, the former female minister, and especially the one who helped the emperor to rule the country, are far from being comparable to Madam Cheng.

"Your Highness, this matter... I think you should think it over carefully."

Cao Song winked at the prince with a cunning look on his face. This matter is not easy to handle, and more money is needed!
The matter is not difficult to handle. Since the tomb prepared in advance for the afterlife exceeds the regulations and even exceeds the specifications for the emperor, it is not a problem to investigate and deal with it.

Even if he was not ultimately convicted of treason, or the emperor took their old friendship into consideration, at least his property would be confiscated and his entire family would be exiled.

The Crown Prince also understood the meaning and immediately said, "Confiscate Taira-kun's property, 70% for the Crown Prince's Palace and 30% for the National Treasury!"

Cao Song hesitated a little. Why was it only 30%?
The wealth of Mr. Taira is truly rich enough to rival a country, probably at least 5 billion!
Having wealth comparable to that of the royal treasury is not just a casual remark!
No wonder the prince was so generous in giving up the 3 billion coins that Guo Tu had confiscated. It turned out that he was plotting to get the 5 billion coins. Even if it was only 70%, the prince could still get 3.5 billion. This was another important reason why he felt that he had agreed too early.

Seeing that Cao Song seemed to want to argue with him for a while, Liu Bian immediately threw in another bargaining chip and said to Cao Song with a smile: "Lord Jugao, no matter how well the Minister of Agriculture does his job, the money belongs to the national treasury. What's the difference between it and the treasury of my Crown Prince's Palace?"

"I am deeply moved by Duke Jugao's recent hard work and would like to promote him to Marquis of Feiting. What do you think of Marquis of Pingle Township?"

When Cao Song heard this, his breathing suddenly stopped.

Marquis of Feiting was the title he inherited from his adoptive father Cao Teng, and he was just a marquis of a pavilion. However, Marquis of Pingle Township was not just a township marquis, but also a township marquis in the land under the jurisdiction of Luoyang, which was an extraordinary honor!

The prince's meaning was very simple. No matter how well the Minister of Agriculture did his job, it was just the difference between putting the money in the national treasury or the prince's treasury. It would be just a few hundred dollars a month for you to play with... cough, but the benefits of the title of Marquis of Pingle Township fell on Cao Song himself.

Cao Song's expression suddenly changed, and he said sternly, "Your Highness, if you have any orders, how dare I disobey!"

After saying this, Cao Song suddenly straightened up with a serious look on his face.

Cao Song was definitely not coveting the title of Marquis of Pingle. He just felt that as an important official of the court, he had the responsibility to expose such rebellious people for the country!
Even if that person was the emperor's wet nurse, he would not hesitate to offend the emperor!

(3435 words)
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PS: Sorry, I still can’t hold it anymore. This update is too late, but there is really no other way. I have been feeling uncomfortable all day.

During a business trip, I drank alcohol and ate spicy food with clients, and my gastroenteritis came back. I was not allowed to drink water or food and could only drink electrolyte drinks.

(End of this chapter)