All in all, everyone here understands that war, at any given time, is a matter of burning money and consuming food. In a large-scale war, so many soldiers, men, mules and horses gather in one place, and the amount of food and other materials consumed every day is very staggering, and it may cost many times more to transport these materials. And as soon as the supply is interrupted, the entire war machine will also come to an abrupt end.

Therefore, both warring sides must do whatever it takes to ensure the supply of food, grass and supplies, no matter how heavy the cost. If a quick solution is not achieved, both sides of the war will be exhausted by this attrition until one of them is completely defeated. Obviously, now the little emperor is not willing to be the losing side, not only to defeat Meng Yuan, but also to drag them into a protracted war, dragging them to death and consuming them.

However, Lu Xiufu and others also understand the family background of the current imperial court, and it has only been two years since the Xing Dynasty moved back to Jiangnan, and it is also a fact that the financial income has increased significantly compared to when they were in Qiongzhou. However, with the increase of population and territory, the number of officials and troops has also expanded several times, and the expenditure has inevitably increased significantly, and in order to stabilize people's hearts, taxes have been reduced or exempted in many areas, and excessive taxes have been cleared, so that life is also tight, and it is necessary to borrow from His Majesty from time to time.

In order to cope with the battle to recover the two Huai, the imperial court has used all the surplus from last year to increase military spending. And with the unfolding of the war to advance into the Central Plains, the outcome has not yet been decided, the financial expenditure of the imperial court has doubled, and the advance of the year's financial income has been equivalent to eating grain, and I don't know how to spend the second half of the year? In addition to food, there are also rewards and meritorious services, compensation for casualties, recruitment of new soldiers, weapon production, and so on.

"Chen Shangshu, how much surplus grain is there in the current official warehouse?" Lu Xiufu knew that raising tens of millions of stone of grain, with the remaining funds of the imperial court, could not be paid anyway, so he could only hope that there were still reserves in the official warehouse and could cope with one or two, so he turned to Chen Zeweng first and asked.

"On land, it is customary to store enough grain in the storehouse to meet two years' needs for famine and war. However, it was only two years since our dynasty moved back to Jiangnan, and His Majesty reduced the taxes, so the grain tax was greatly reduced, and the whole court allocated funds to buy from the people, so it was not possible to make the warehouse full; Second, since last year, our dynasty has used troops against Sichuan, Shu and Yunnan, and the military rations have been allocated by the Huguang Division, and most of the grain taxes have been left in the localities. Now the imperial court's grain tax is all paid by Jiangdong, and only a few state capitals with large output can make a surplus. Chen Zeweng groaned slightly.

"These are the true things that know, and they only say how much food can be allocated!" The common people know that there is food at home and they don't panic, and Lu Xiufu naturally knows that only when the official warehouse is full can people feel at ease. But the foundation of the imperial court is too thin, and the limited income is not only used to recruit troops and horses, but also to improve the people's livelihood, so it is naturally difficult to take care of it, so it can only be done in a hurry, but it is no wonder that the officials below are not effective.

"Lu Xiang, in addition to the bottom line reserved for paying the salaries of officials and relieving the famine, there are about three million stones stored in the official warehouses in various places!" Chen Zeweng replied.

"The surplus grain in the warehouse is less than half of what is needed?" Liu Huang frowned when he heard this, and then asked, "Chen Shangshu, do the people have surplus grain in their hands?" ”

"Governor Liu, in the past two years, the wind and rain have been smooth, the autumn grain and summer grain have been bumper one after another, the imperial court has light taxes and thin taxes, and the people have a large amount of surplus grain in their hands, so that the price of grain has fallen. Chang Pingsi asked the imperial court several times to allocate funds for storage, but the amount allocated was too small to affect the price of grain! Chen Zeweng said with a wry smile.

"It's a pity!" Liu Huang sighed. It is a granary set up by the government to regulate grain prices and store grain for shortages to supply the government and the people. The main thing is to use the law of value to adjust the grain supply and give full play to the role of stabilizing the market value of grain. When the market grain price is low, it is appropriate to raise the grain price and make a large number of purchases. When the price of grain in the market is high, the price should be appropriately lowered and sold. This measure not only prevents "grain cheapness hurting peasants" but also prevents "grain and expensive grain from hurting the people." It's a pity that the court has no money to buy, and the people have no way to sell grain.

"Governor Liu, don't you plan to make peace and raise food from the people?" Seeing that Liu Huang shook his head and sighed again, and said that it was a pity, Chen Zeweng was vigilant and asked out loud.

"In your words, the prime minister is old, but he doesn't want to be cut off his head, who dares to disobey the iron law formulated by His Majesty!" Liu Huang glared at him and said in a deep voice. In the name of Heguang, the imperial court paid money to buy materials and surplus grain from the people at a reasonable price, but in practice, it was often symbolic to give some money, or even not to give money, which was no different from robbery, so it was criticized by people and made the people extremely dissatisfied. Therefore, after the opening of the government, Zhao Yu ordered that the price of materials should not be suppressed in the name of Heguang, and those who violated it were punished with capital punishment, which also became a red line that officials could not touch.

Having said that, everyone understands that the current market is rich in materials, and the war against the Yuan has not affected the lives of the people. But now the poor are the imperial court, and they really can't come up with the money to purchase, which can be said to be difficult for a good woman to cook without rice. The income of the imperial court mainly came from customs duties, commercial taxes and land taxes, as well as taxes on salt and liquor sold by the state.

But it is only March, and the merchant ships from overseas have just arrived, so there are naturally not many customs duties and commercial taxes; The field tax can only be paid after the summer grain harvest; As for the liquor tax, after the Qingming new liquor is launched, the only more stable and continuous tax source is the salt tax. In other words, it was not until at least after June that the local taxes were sent to the imperial court, and the financial difficulties could be slightly alleviated.

However, even if the summer tax is still not enough to pay for the current needs, it will still leave a big hole, and the autumn harvest will not be able to fill it, and it may take years for the imperial court to fill the shortfall, which is still on the basis that the war can end this year. What's more serious is that far water can't quench their thirst, and they need a lot of money right now.

"Lu Xiang, why don't you auction some public land to solve the urgent need?" Liu Huang suggested after a little slow.

At that time, the imperial court confiscated a huge amount of property from the Meng Yuan magnates and rebels against the Song Dynasty, and the ministers at that time hoped to distribute the land to the people to gain the support of the lower classes. However, the little emperor overrode public opinion, and in addition to redistributing part of the land, he also left a large amount of land as public land, recruiting displaced people and people who lack enemies to cultivate and collect rent. Most of the fields left behind are fertile land, accounting for about 30% of the total acres, and they are not worried about not being able to sell.

In terms of the land system, the Song Dynasty inherited the practice after the Chinese and Tang Dynasty tax laws, and there were no restrictions on the sale and possession of private land. This policy can be summed up in two sentences and eight words: no land system, no suppression of annexation. Among them, there is also a share belonging to the state, that is, the so-called official land, and the sources are mainly the fields of household extinction, the fields that have not been registered, the abandoned fields, and the sand fields or mud fields along the rivers and coasts. In addition, there are camps or tuntians on the border.

Of course, in addition to the lack of military spending, there were also quite a few drawbacks in the management and operation of public land at that time: First, the government was not effective in managing these public land, and the tenants who rented and cultivated the public land had to cheat, and often owed land rent, and the government could not collect all the rents it should have, and the loss of land rent was serious. Second, the government needs to pay a considerable amount of money to manage these public lands.

By selling off the public land and leaving the land privately managed, the government was able to reduce the burden of governance, not only to obtain a large amount of money, but also to no longer need to worry about the loss of state-owned assets, and the government only collected taxes. In order to encourage private individuals to buy public land, the government has also adopted a series of preferential policies, and the price of private leased land for more than 30 years will be reduced by 20%; Those who buy 1,000 yuan of public land are exempt from property tax for three years, more than 1,000 yuan for five years, and more than 5,000 yuan for ten years; If you buy a barah field, you will be exempted from the land rent for three years.

"Governor Liu, after His Majesty entered Jiangnan, he repeatedly ordered that he should not sell his official land, so I am afraid that it will be difficult to get His Majesty's royal permission for selling land." Zhuang Shilin smiled and shook his head.

"This dynasty has always had the practice of selling official land to raise military expenses, why does Your Majesty strictly prohibit it?" Liu Huang naturally knew about this, but he was still very puzzled.

"The lower official also asked Your Majesty about this." Zhuang Shilin still smiled.

"Your Majesty said that although this dynasty does not suppress land annexation, it also prohibits the official eunuchs and the powerful from annexing land, and the sale of public land is tantamount to conniving at the annexation of land by the powerful in disguise; Second, the rich buy public land, that is, the propertied people, but there are many tenants and cultivators who cannot afford to buy it, and they will lose the land they used to cultivate and become unemployed, which adds many factors of instability. In addition, there are powerful eunuchs who rely on their power and funds to occupy the rich public land, and then they can manipulate the price of land and make the public land sell cheaply. As for the medium or barren fields, no one wants to buy them, or because they are about to be sold, the people dare not rent them and are put on hold, and the court will not be able to collect the field rent, which will naturally cause the loss of taxes in the court. ”

In addition, the imperial court kept a large amount of public land and leased it to tenants, which not only reduced the number of displaced people, but also stabilized the people's morale. It can also enable the imperial court to obtain stable tax revenues, ensure the supply of rice for officials and food for the army, and thus ensure the stability of the country's rule. As for the difficulties that everyone is worried about in renting out public land, they are all excuses for lax discipline and lazy officials, not a reason for selling official land! ”

"Well, I think Your Majesty is right, selling the public land is a move to fish with all its might, although it can raise funds for emergency in the short term, but in the long run, the benefits outweigh the disadvantages!" Ying Jieyan agreed with His Majesty's opinion and did not agree to sell Gongtian Road.

"And my father, back then, the treacherous minister Jia Rudao implemented the public land law, which caused the anger of the heavens and the resentment of the people, and the country was not a country!" Liu Huang listened to the soft reminder and said strictly.

"Shengbo, although they are both about the law of the public field, but the two are very different, and the current affairs are very different from those back then!" Ying Jieyan stroked his beard and replied softly......