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

 "Crash!" A sound of horse hooves swept across from a distance, four horses riding side by side, and yellow dust filled the sky behind them.

Feng Ziying rode the horse to hide in the stirrup, then quickly sprang up again, gently reined the horse, and Wu Zui made another beautiful curve to overtake, surpassing the Zaoliu horse that had been running in front, and took the lead. Rush past the archway ahead.

The last ones were two horses with yellow manes. They had slowed down in the second half, and in the end they simply gave up chasing and hung far behind.

The knight on the Zaoliu horse who rushed through the archway was quite dissatisfied and caught up with Feng Ziying's slowed down horse. "Ziying, if you do it again, I won't believe that your level seems average. How can you always be at the end?" Catch up?"

"Brother Wen Ruo, if you can do it, you can do it. If you can't, you can't do it. You can't fake this equestrian skill. You picked this horse first, so you can't blame me. It's good to learn from Brother Junyu and Ruogu. People will know that they can't win the race. Simply Just run away casually.”

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

Yang Sichang's equestrian skills are pretty good, but when compared with his own, Feng Ziying is confident that he can beat the opponent by several lengths.

 I started riding horses with my classmates when I was seven or eight years old. At that time, no matter how much my mother disapproved, she could not resist my curiosity. Later, even my father agreed that I should learn to ride horses.

Over the past few years, Feng Ziying's equestrian skills have improved rapidly from pony to big horse. 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 riding horses, Feng Ziying's equestrian skills are definitely outstanding. .

Yang Sichang's equestrian skills are pretty good, but he is definitely far behind Feng Ziying. He couldn't resist the rush of horses.

“Ziying, where did you practice your horse riding skills? Datong?” The relationship between Yang Sichang and Feng Ziying quickly got closer after the imperial examination.

Without him, Qiao Yingjia is considered the leader of Feng Ziying, and Yang Sichang's father, Yang He, and Qiao Yingjia joined forces to attack the Zhejiang Salt Affairs and won a great victory. The two of them should actually be considered to be in the same camp. In this case, Yang Sichang and Feng Ziying moved closer. It's just a matter of course.

"Where else could it be but Datong? During those years, I followed my father in the army every day to train. When I had nothing to do, I would start by riding a pony, then gradually ride a strong horse, and then practice riding skills. After a few years, it was not satisfactory. .”

Feng Ziying pinched the horse's belly and speeded up a little. Yang Sichang quickly followed, "The military affairs here seem to be very demanding. How is your situation in Yulin now?"

"My father also said in his letter that military pay has been lacking for many years, the military rations are insufficient, and the morale of the military is unstable. They can only survive with difficulty. Once the Tatars invade south, I am afraid it will be difficult to support." Feng Ziying's words are also true.

However, Feng Tang has been operating in the border areas for many years, so he naturally has some unscrupulous methods to deal with it. If it were replaced by someone who lacked experience, he would be in big trouble.

"Ziying, this wealth issue has always been the biggest problem for the imperial court at the moment. As an official of the Ministry of Household Affairs, Zheng Jizhi is helpless and can't help you to worry about it. Why does he still stay in his place? The imperial censors of the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the household department gave Why did you turn a blind eye to the 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 any one person..."

"Brother Wen Ruo, what your father said is true. The imperial finances have become like this. I am afraid that it is not an overnight achievement, nor is it the responsibility of a certain household official. If it is true that he has done anything evil in it, I am afraid that your father and Master Qiao and the others have already gathered together to attack, I am afraid that this is a problem for the entire imperial court, a problem that has been accumulated for a long time."

Feng Ziying also knows this problem. Even if she is someone who has experienced it, it would be a lie to say that she can solve this problem in one fell swoop.

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

Either completely break it, or you need to look for breakthrough opportunities from the outside, but the former is not feasible at the moment, and the latter also requires sufficient preparations, ideological preparations, public opinion preparations, organizational preparations, and preparations for specific environmental periods. .

"The Ministry of Revenue believes that the number of border troops is too large and consumes too much military resources, which has brought down the imperial government's finances. It requires the abolition of the border troops, Yi Chuan and even the Cao Army. This is the only way to alleviate the current financial constraints. Even so, it is not possible. It will take many years to slowly recover.”

Yang Sichang couldn't help but shake his head when he said this. If this method could be effective, he would have thought of it long ago.

"Abolition of the border troops means weakening the border defense. So where should they be abolished? Liaodong, Xuanda, Yulin, Ningxia?" Feng Ziying also sneered, "Or the Jiangnan Guards Station? Not to mention the troubles caused by the Japanese have made Jiangnan such as Facing a powerful enemy, the weakening of Jiangnan Guards Station’s strength may not mean much, right?”

 “What about Ziying’s opinion?” Hou Xun and Lian Guoshi were already riding up.

Today's gathering was a small gathering of the leading figures from Qingtan Academy and Chongzheng Academy, but Xu Xie was not there.

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

“My younger brother’s point of view is very consistent, that is, to increase revenue, to reduce expenditure is to sacrifice the basics, and to increase revenue is the king!” Feng Ziying had no taboo in front of these people.

Lian Guoshi and Yang Sichang are both about to enter the Hanlin Academy, and if nothing unexpected happens, he and Hou Xun will also follow the path of Shujishi, and the possibility of future cooperation will increase rapidly.

It is important to persuade them to agree with their own views, because their views largely represent northern scholars. The Lian family where Lian Guo Shi is 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 force to the opening of the sea was the northern scholars.

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

"It is absolutely impossible to abolish the border troops." Lian Guoshi's point of view is also very clear, "The nine-border defense is already quite dangerous. According to some information I obtained from the Staff Department of the Ministry of War, the pressure on Liaodong Town has been increasing. Jianzhou The Jurchens are steadily advancing their steps to unify the Jurchens, and 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 Dynasty. At the level of Liaodong rule, once they infiltrate their power into the Mongolian left wing, then our Xuan Daji line will not only face the danger of a Tatar breakthrough, but may even be in danger of being raided by Jurchens who use the passage to enter the border wall. .”

Neither Yang Sichang nor Hou Xun expected that Lian Guoshi would have such a deep understanding of border affairs, especially the situation in Liaodong Town, and they were both touched.

The disciples of Qingtan Academy have really worked **** current affairs. Feng Ziying is just one of them. She comes from a family of military honors in the border areas. Unexpectedly, as a scholar from Henan who practices state affairs, she also knows about the defense of the nine borders.

This shows that Qingtan Academy is all-roundly inclined to pay attention to government affairs. It is not that one person pays attention to government affairs. No wonder they can achieve great success in Jinke.

"Ziying, I'm afraid your source of income won't be an increase in taxes, right? Then those people in Jiangnan will really make the world collapse." Hou Xun also mused: "But apart from the increase in taxes, it seems that We can only open the sea, but how much increase in taxes will the sea open bring? This is impossible to estimate, and it will also bring a lot of confusion to Jiangnan and even Guangdong, and the court may have to think twice."

If it were another northern official who had served in the imperial court for many years, he would object without hesitation when it came to opening up the sea. However, young scholars like Hou Xun have not been eroded by the old habits of the imperial court, so they are still relatively independent. His judgment ability is only worried about Kaihai, but he is not blindly opposed to it.

The Zhou Dynasty followed the practice of the previous Ming Dynasty, and the tax increases generally only fell on Jiangnan and Huguang, which were rich areas. An increase of 10% was better than the northern provinces ten times.

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

"It is not feasible to increase taxes." Yang Sichang shook his head slightly, "Jiangnan has been asking the court to reduce taxes, and the response has been strong. They believe that they bear more than 80% of the entire Zhou Dynasty's taxes, which is extremely unfair. And in Huguang in recent years It can be considered a breath of relief, but the situation of refugees in Yunyang is becoming increasingly serious, and the court is particularly worried. As for the northern direct provinces, it is even less likely to be expected..."

“In fact, although it is not feasible to raise taxes, if the imperial court dares to make up its mind to completely clean up official and village lands,..."

Before Feng Ziying finished speaking, the other three people were shaking their heads like rattles. They were about to challenge the limit. Otherwise, the world would collapse. No one dared to do such a heroic act at this time. If they were not careful, , he really wants 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 way to open the sea is to open the sea." Feng Ziying smiled and said: "Actually, as Ruogu just said, no one knows how much tax the sea can increase to the court, but having said that, even if you try, If you don’t give it a try, how will you know whether there is an increase in income and how much it can increase? Anyway, the situation is getting worse and worse, and the hole in the deficit is getting bigger and bigger. It all relies on the Ministry of Household Affairs to tear down the east wall to make up for the west wall. One day, it will suddenly burst, then Do we have to wait until that time for it to become uncontrollable?"

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 (End of this chapter)