Number of romantic figures

Chapter 297 The Four Sons of North China (First update!)

"Clattering" a sound of horseshoes swept from a distance, four riders walked side by side, and yellow dust filled the sky behind them.

Feng Ziying rode his horse into a light stirrup to hide, then sprang up quickly again, lightly took the rein, and Wu Zhi under his crotch made a beautiful curve to overtake, surpassing the jujube horse that had been running in front, and grabbed the lead. Rushing through the archway ahead.

The two yellow-maned horses who ran last had already slowed down in the second half, and at the end they simply gave up chasing and hung far behind.

The knight on the jujube horse who rushed across the archway followed Feng Ziying's slowed horse's head rather dissatisfied, "Ziying, come again, I don't believe that your level looks mediocre, how come you can always win at the end?" Catch up?"

"Brother Wenqiang, if you can do it, you can do it, if you can't do it, you can't do it. This equestrian skill cannot be faked. This horse is also picked by you first. You can't blame me. If you want to learn from Junyu and Ruogu, they will know that you can't win the race. Just run away."

Feng Ziying took the reins and slowed down, letting Yang Sichang walk side by side.

To say that Yang Sichang's equestrian skills are not bad, but to compare with himself, Feng Ziying is confident that he can make the opponent a few horses.

When I was seven or eight years old, I started riding horses with my college classmates. At that time, my mother couldn't resist my curiosity even if she didn't allow it. Later, even my father agreed to learn to ride horses.

Over the past few years, Feng Ziying's equestrian skills have improved rapidly from small horses to big horses. Of course, if you say how superb it is, it will definitely not work, but among a group of Jinshi who can only be regarded as able to ride horses, Feng Ziying's equestrian skills are definitely outstanding up.

Yang Sichang's equestrian skills are considered good, but he is definitely far behind Feng Ziying. After running wildly for a while, he was a little bit overwhelmed.

"Ziying, where did you practice your horse riding skills? Datong?" The relationship between Yang Sichang and Feng Ziying quickly grew closer after the palace test.

Without him, Qiao Yingjia could be regarded as the leader of Feng Ziying, and Yang Sichang's father Yang He and Qiao Yingjia joined forces to attack Zhejiang salt affairs the year before last and won a big victory. The two should actually be regarded as a camp. In this case, Yang Sichang and Feng Ziying moved closer That is a matter of course.

"Besides Datong, where else could it be? In those years, I practiced with my father in the army every day. When I had nothing to do, I started riding a pony, then gradually rode a strong horse, and then practiced riding. After a few years, it was not satisfactory. .”

Feng Ziying clamped down on the horse's belly and sped up a little. Yang Sichang quickly followed, "The military affairs here seem to be very tough. How is your father doing in Yulin?"

"My father also said in the letter that the army has not been paid for many years, the army rations are insufficient, and the morale of the army is unstable. It can only be maintained. Once the Tatars commit crimes in the south, it may be difficult to support them." Feng Ziying's words are also true.

However, Feng Tang has been operating in the frontier for many years, so he naturally has some heretic methods to deal with it. It will be a big trouble to replace someone who is inexperienced.

"Ziying, the issue of wealth has always been the biggest problem of the imperial court at the moment. Zheng Jizhi, as an official of the household department, is helpless and unable to share the worries of the king. Why does he still stay in the vegetarian restaurant? Why do you turn a blind eye to this matter?" Yang Sichang couldn't help but said when he thought of this: "I asked my father, but my father said that this matter cannot be explained clearly in a few words, and it is not the fault of a certain person..."

"Brother Wenqiang, what your father said is true. I am afraid that the imperial court's finances have become like this, and it is not the responsibility of a certain household official. Master Qiao and the others have already gathered together to attack, I'm afraid this is a problem of the entire imperial court, a problem accumulated over a long period of time."

Feng Ziying also knows this problem, even if she is someone who has experienced it, it is a lie to say that this problem can be solved in one go.

The current situation and social environment and the structure of various social classes determine it. If external variables are not introduced, it will be an unsolvable problem.

Either it is completely broken, or it is necessary to look for a breakthrough opportunity from the outside, but the former is currently not feasible, and the latter must also be fully and adequately prepared, ideologically prepared, prepared for public opinion, organized, and prepared for a specific environment and time period .

"The Ministry of Households believes that the number of frontier troops is too large and the military funds are too large, which has dragged down the court's finances. It requires the abolition of the frontier army, the post office and even the Cao army. This is the only way to alleviate the current financial shortage. It will take years to slowly recover."

When Yang Sichang said this, he couldn't help shaking his head. If this method could be effective, he might have thought of it long ago.

"Abolishing the frontier army means weakening the border defense. Where should it be abolished? Liaodong, or Xuanda, or Yulin, Ningxia?" Feng Ziying also sneered, "Or the Jiangnan Guard? Facing the enemy, the strength of the Jiangnan Guard Station may not be of much significance if it is weakened, right?"

"What about Ziying's opinion?" Hou Xun had already rushed up with Lian Guoshi.

Today's gathering was a small gathering of leading figures from Qingtan Academy and Chongzheng Academy, but there was no Xu Xie.

It should be said that these four should be representatives of northern scholars in the future. Although Yang Sichang was originally from Huguang, he had lived in the capital for a long time, and he was actually used to positioning himself as a northern scholar.

"My brother's point of view is very consistent, that is to increase revenue, cut expenditure is to sacrifice the basics, and increase revenue is the kingly way!" Feng Ziying has no taboo in front of these people.

Lian Guoshi and Yang Sichang are both characters who will soon enter the Imperial Academy, and he and Hou Xun will also follow the path of Shujishi if there is no accident, and the possibility of future cooperation will increase rapidly.

It is very important to convince them to accept their views, because their views largely represent northern scholars. Lian’s family, where Lian’s state affairs are located, is a prominent family in Henan, and Hou Xun’s father works in Taichang Temple, and is also a famous northern scholar. An important opposition to Kaihai is the northern scholars.

This is not an easy task, and it needs to be done step by step to let them understand the current overall situation, the pros and cons, and even the urgency.

"Abolishing the frontier army is absolutely impossible." Lian's views on state affairs are also very clear, "Nine frontier defenses are already quite dangerous. According to some information I have obtained from the Ministry of War, Liaodong Town is facing increasing pressure. Jianzhou The Jurchens are steadily advancing their steps to unify the Jurchens, and they are even linking up with the Mongolian left-wing tribes adjacent to western Liaoning. This is a very dangerous sign. Once they unify the Jurchen tribes, their strength will expand enough to overthrow the Great Zhou. At the point where Liaodong is ruled, and once they infiltrate the left wing of Mongolia, then our Xuandaji line will not only face the danger of Tatars breaking through, but may even be in danger of being invaded by the Jurchens who used the raid to enter the side wall .”

Neither Yang Sichang nor Hou Xun expected that Lian had such a deep understanding of state affairs and border affairs, especially the situation in Liaodong Town, and they both felt a little touched.

The disciples of Qingtan Academy really put a lot of effort into current affairs and government affairs, and Feng Ziying was fine with that. She was born in a military family in the frontier, and she didn't expect that Lian, as a scholar in Henan, knew about the Nine Frontier Defense.

This shows that Qingtan Academy is paying more attention to government affairs and government affairs in an all-round way. It is not a certain person who pays attention to government affairs and current affairs. No wonder they can win a big victory in this subject.

"Ziying, I'm afraid your open source will not be tax increases, right? Then those people in the south of the Yangtze River will really make a mess of the world." Hou Xun also pondered: "But apart from tax increases, it seems that The only thing left is to open the sea, but how much tax increase will the opening of the sea bring? This is impossible to calculate, and it will also bring a lot of confusion to Jiangnan and even Guangdong, and the court may have to think twice."

If it is a northern official who has served in the court for many years, he will object without hesitation when he talks about opening the sea, but young scholars like Hou Xun have not been eroded by the old habits in the court, so they are still relatively independent. He is only worried about Kaihai, but not blindly opposed to it.

The Great Zhou Dynasty followed the pre-Ming practice, and the tax increases generally only fall on Jiangnan and Huguang, which are the wealthiest places, and the [-]% increase is ten times higher than that of the northern provinces.

Moreover, the frequent floods and droughts in the north in the past ten years have caused the people in Beizhi, Shanxi, Shaanxi and other provinces to live in dire straits, and the situation in Henan and Shandong is not much better. Therefore, the annual food relief alone is an astronomical figure, and it is also a huge hole for the court. .

"Increasing taxes is not feasible." Yang Sichang shook his head slightly, "Jiangnan has been asking the imperial court to reduce taxes, and the response has been strong, thinking that they have borne more than [-]% of the entire Zhou Dynasty's taxes, which is extremely unfair. It can be regarded as a breath of relief, but the situation of refugees in Yunyang is becoming more and more serious, and the court is particularly worried. As for the northern provinces, it is even more impossible to count on..."

"Actually, it is not feasible to raise taxes, but if the court dares to make up its mind to clean up the official farmland and Zhuangtian farmland,..."

Before Feng Ziying finished speaking, the other three people shook their heads like rattles, that is, they are going to challenge the limit, and if they fail, the world will collapse. No one dares to perform such a heroic act at such a time. , you really want to be heroic, even the emperor is no exception.

Even if Yang Sichang, Lian Guoshi and Hou Xun had just passed the exam, they knew how deep the water was, and it could even be said that it directly involved their own and family interests.

"Then I'm afraid the only thing left to do is to open the sea." Feng Ziying smiled and said: "Actually, as Ruogu said just now, no one knows exactly how much taxation can be added to the imperial court by opening the sea, but having said that, even if you try If you don’t try, how will you know if you have increased your income and how much you can increase? Anyway, the situation is going from bad to worse, and the deficit hole is getting bigger and bigger. It all depends on the Ministry of Finance’s way of tearing down the east wall to make up for the west wall. If it becomes unmanageable, do we have to wait until then?"

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(End of this chapter)