Chapter 608 Trouble

Governance and stewardship have a lot in common. For example, if there is a big event at home, the food and clothing expenses of the family will definitely become relatively tight, and it will be resumed after the work is over, and the whole family will share the profits if they make money.

In addition to the political stability, the Jingjiu dynasty's growing strength in the past forty years is also inseparable from the forty years of blood-sucking from the barbarian territories.

Don't think that the slave trade is just a waste of slave caravans and ordinary people will not benefit, but it is not the case. The exorbitant profits from the slave business were also levied extremely high taxes by the old Jing Dynasty, even two to three times the general commercial tax. These taxes and fees are not directly distributed to officials as benefits, but are used to offset agricultural taxes in some areas and to build some public facilities, such as canals or wells, dams, and so on.

Because the base is the largest, the dividends distributed to ordinary people will not be so obvious. On the contrary, those high-ranking and red-walled people can enjoy more generously.

Now that the war in the south has begun, Zuo Yuliang led the headquarters of the Central Army to move forward to station in Wuhu Lake, which moved the battle forward a bit, and the first string to be moved was "logistics".

To put it bluntly, logistics is money and food. These are managed by the Ministry of Households and exist in the treasury and official warehouses in various places.

There were serious frauds and favoritism in the official warehouses before, and the rectification movement was brought about by Xuan Qingwei's "West Cleansing Action". The civil official group was forced to draw lots to clean up a large number of low-level officials. It has not been too long now, so The remaining prestige of the rectification movement is still not enough to make the official warehouse ugly again, so the official warehouse responded quickly during the war and not many people lost the chain.

The collected food, spirit stones, and military pay can all be provided at present. Ordnance and consumables are relatively difficult, but there are still a lot of stocks at ordinary times, and the output of some of the consumed stocks and some of the overtime work can barely keep up. At present, the household department has urgently coordinated hundreds of blacksmith shops, preparing to expand the production of ordnance to cope with the huge consumption in the future.

But compared to materials such as ordnance and pan-spirit stones, food is the most difficult to solve. Because food is not like ore that you can dig, but it needs a fixed time to grow out of the ground slowly. And as long as it is a person, it is needed, not just for the army. Therefore, food is also the most stocked, but it is also the largest and fastest consumed.

Yang Yansi's prediction was actually very accurate. Over the years, he had a thorough understanding of the inventory system established by the Ministry of Household Affairs. Although he didn't know the exact figures, judging by the current situation in the south, there was probably no problem.

Since the end of August, the southern frontier army has gathered more than 500,000 troops. People eating horses and chewing horses, as well as the super-long supply line, are consuming the standing grain stocks in Tanshi and Haixia. It is conservatively estimated that the grain stocks in these two places will last at most. It will run out by the end of November.

Then it is necessary to consume the grain stored in the official warehouses in various places. In fact, the Ministry of Households is already making preparations for this. The official warehouses in various places are transporting an endless stream of grain to Tanshi and Haixia in advance for storage. At the same time, the official warehouse system of the entire household department is changing frequently, in order to be able to meet the needs of the frontline most efficiently in the coming days. .

At the end of October, a batch of new grains will be produced across the country and put into storage, and this is a very important node, because starting from this batch of grains, the Jingjiu Dynasty will officially enter a state of full austerity, especially grains, Instead of sending the small amount of collected grain to public and private grain shops according to the previous share, the wartime rules will be used to distribute grain to various cities in the form of rationing.

At the very beginning, ordinary people will not feel anything, because even the rationing will not be tightened to the limit all at once, but will be tightened slowly by one or two minutes, and it will last for several months before it really becomes a reality. The point at which each household calculates the number of purchases per person. Of course, if the battle situation ahead is going well, it is also possible that the strategy of food control will not be carried forward to this point.

The hardest hit are private grain merchants everywhere. Once the food crunch starts, they will cut off their business from the root, and even now they can't hold the grain in their hands. The household department will forcefully purchase the grain in their hands at the average market price, so that they don't lose money. Still want to make money? Go in your dreams.

But the largest grain merchant is the "tea" among the five imperial merchants.

The main revenue range of "tea" is tea and grain. They own half of the tea in the Jingjiu Dynasty, and 30% of the private grain merchants are their people. Now that the food strategy has been tightened, "tea" has undoubtedly been hit the hardest. Indirectly, it "hurts" the small group of people behind the "tea". You should not sit still, there must be struggles or obstacles.

And these problems were directly pressed on Bai Changqing, the Minister of the Ministry of household affairs.

Since the resurgence of the war in the south, and the counterattack prepared by the civil servants was directly pressed to death by Xuan Qingwei and lost the right to speak, the entire civil servant group was inevitably dragged down by the general trend and went downhill.

The arrogance of the army is so arrogant, and now there are signs of turning over and stepping on the heads of civil officials. Other places may not feel deeply, but the household department has been in direct contact with the military department, and the feeling is particularly clear.

In the past, everyone who came to the Ministry of War to report military supplies was cautious for fear of being put on small shoes, but now a small banner officer is sent to send the note, and his attitude is tough, as much as he wants. thing? Is your household department working for dry meals? Can't solve it?

And I really didn't dare to procrastinate too much, the front line was tight, if the key points were lost after losing the battle because of the material problem, then the responsibility would definitely be the first to hit the household department, and he, Bai Changqing, would definitely be the first to lose his head.

In wartime, everything must give way to the military affairs on the front line!

This has accumulated countless worries and troubles for Bai Changqing, the Minister of the Household Department. The pressure has never been greater since he took office.

All the other chores are okay, at worst, you have to grind it a few more times, and urge you a few more times, at worst, let the servants scare and frighten, so they push things forward. But it is really difficult to deal with the food tightening strategy we are facing now!

There has been rumors for a long time, but it has not officially started yet. Moreover, similar strategies were introduced in previous wars with the barbarians. The difference is that the degree of tightening the strategy is different each time, which is affected by the battle situation. If the front is played well, the inside will not be too tight, and if it is not played well, it will be so tight that only one breath is left.

But now, before the tightening has officially begun, all kinds of "greetings" and "goodwill" have come to Bai Changqing. Even Ye Lansheng, the left minister, gave him some hints in a very cryptic manner, but Bai Changqing pretended to be confused and confused them.

But how long can we hang out? There is always a decision to be made, right? How should I choose when things come to an end?