Tiantang Splendid

Chapter 4810 Grain Tax Withholding
Fang Jun does not monopolize power, but he has certain authority to ensure that he will not be constrained too much when doing things. The "forces" under his command need the outstanding ability of Fang Jun as a leader to lead them towards prosperity and glory. The two sides complement each other and make progress together.

But it is undeniable that the "force" headed by Fang Jun has gradually begun to show its strength, not only affecting the court politics, but also exerting a strong influence on the empire's long-term strategy. When the Anxi Army that controls the Silk Road and the navy that controls maritime trade are firmly in the hands of Fang Jun, then the empire's commerce will have to depend on Fang Jun. If Fang Jun wants to reform commercial taxes, he can reform commercial taxes. If he wants to shift the focus of commerce from land to sea, no one will object.

Because the objection is futile.

The empire was strong because of "power", but at a certain point, "power" became the empire's chronic disease and a stumbling block to the monarchy...

The king and his ministers were speechless for a while.

After a while, Liu Li reluctantly said, "Then I will find an opportunity to talk to the Duke of Yue. The Duke of Yue has always been loyal to the country and selfless. He will definitely understand the difficulties of the current situation and is willing to give up his own interests to help the country overcome the difficulties."

Li Chengqian frowned. These words sounded uncomfortable, a bit like... moral kidnapping?
It is true that the Anxi Army is a big consumer of grain, but there are many powerful forces in the army, such as Cheng Yaojin's Zuo Wuwei, Xue Wanche's You Wuwei, Qibi Heli's Zuo Lingjunwei, Zheng Rentai's You Lingjunwei... I'm afraid Fang Jun will not accept it if he only criticizes the Anxi Army.

That guy has a stubborn temper. If he doesn't obey, he will make trouble and will definitely make Liu Li lose face.

But after thinking it over carefully, he did not object, but nodded slowly: "After all, Erlang has been wronged. Be careful with your words and don't provoke him."

Liu Li said: "I understand. No matter what, this is to ask the Duke of Yue to contribute to the empire. It is normal for him not to agree. Who wants to damage his power? If he agrees, it will be a noble and upright person. I respect him, so how can I be sarcastic?"

Li Chengqian heard the subtext of his words, "If you agree to cut the army, you are a loyal minister, otherwise you have ulterior motives," and frowned and sighed.

In his opinion, this was the fact, but even if it was the fact, he could not speak frankly in front of such a powerful minister. How could he, as an emperor, have even one-tenth of the domineering power of Emperor Taizong?

"Then do it as soon as possible. Every day of delay will waste money and food. The empire can't afford it."

"Here."

*****
"Tens of thousands of Anxi soldiers climbed the ice and slept in the snow to defend their country and guard the border. They left their homes and said goodbye to their wives and children. Many of them died on horseback and were buried in the Western Regions. In your eyes, these people are actually wasting money and food? Minister of the Central Secretariat, do you know what you are talking about?"

After court dismissed the next day, Liu Li waited for Fang Jun outside the Wude Hall and personally invited him to the Secretariat. After sending the clerk away, he personally poured tea for Fang Jun and chatted with him for a while. Seeing that the atmosphere was still harmonious, he mentioned the issue of disbanding the Anxi Army at an appropriate time. As expected, Fang Jun immediately turned hostile.

Liu Li was also dissatisfied. He would have tolerated it if Fang Jun had lost his temper, but this guy was arbitrarily accusing him of crimes. Once this news got out, how would the army view him, a Minister of the Central Secretariat who had no sympathy and treated the merits of the soldiers on the frontier as nothing?
"Don't be so unreasonable, is that what I mean?"

"That's not what you mean?"

"What I mean is that we can appropriately reduce the number of troops. Quality is more important than quantity."

"I'm sorry, but the Anxi Army is composed of elite soldiers who defend the country, guard the borders, protect the people and keep them safe. Each of them has military merits. If I tell them that the Minister of the Central Secretariat thinks some of them are redundant, what do you think will happen?"

Liu Li was shocked and angry: "Don't keep talking nonsense!"

Without any other reason, every officer of the Anxi Army who came back to Beijing to report on his work would run to the gate of the Secretariat and spit. He, the Minister of the Secretariat, would immediately submit a letter of resignation to His Majesty. Otherwise, if the Anxi Army mutinied, His Majesty would have to use his head to appease the public anger...

The officials and clerks of the Secretariat outside were very nervous, listening to the noise in the duty room with their ears perked up. It was not that they wanted to find out any secrets, but they were afraid that the two people would get angry and hurt Fang Er. Given the poor fighting skills of these two people, if they could not stop them in time, their own Secretary-General would easily be beaten to death...

"I don't agree with you. Goodbye!"

Fang Jun got up and left.

Liu Li was stunned for a moment, and immediately realized that this guy was taking advantage of the situation to deliberately provoke him, and then left and put the proposal of reducing the number of troops aside...

"Hey, hey, hey, I haven't finished talking yet, why are you in such a hurry to leave? You are such an impatient person, why don't you discuss this matter properly? As an important official of the court, you are still as unruly as always. How disgraceful!"

He walked forward and hugged Fang Jun's arm tightly, pulled him back and pressed him down on the seat, then poured him a cup of tea with his own hands.

Then he looked helpless and said sincerely: "I know you must think that I am taking the opportunity to reduce your power and settle personal grudges, but you really underestimated me. Although I dare not call myself a gentleman, I will never use the national teacher as a means to attack my opponent. I am not afraid of offending you. I have always criticized you for many things, but I deeply agree with one thing you said, that is, 'national interests are above everything else'. What a profound statement!"

Fang Jun snorted and said unhappily, "It's no use saying nice things. I can't do the thing of dismissing those soldiers who have guarded the Western Regions with their blood and flesh without regrets. The comrades in the army help each other and stand together through life and death. How can I betray them? It's your business to raise food and fodder. If you find it difficult and can't do it, then step down and let others take over. Don't just sit there and do nothing. There are plenty of people to take over your job."

Liu Li knew Fang Jun's temper well, so he didn't force it on him. Instead, he explained the difficulties earnestly: "If this matter is really my incompetence, you don't need to tell me that I voluntarily resigned and gave way to others. But the fact is that the Western Region is too far away and the roads are too difficult to travel. It's okay in summer, but do you know that in winter, each transportation of food and fodder takes half a year or even longer? Such consumption is difficult for any country to afford!"

Fang Jun didn't care about this at all. He drank his tea and kept repeating the same thing: "If you can't do it, resign immediately and let me take the position of Zhongshu Ling. I will do it."

Liu Li couldn't help it again. He knew that this guy was deliberately trying to piss him off, but he still said angrily, "The data from the Ministry of Civil Affairs is here. It shows exactly how much food and fodder was collected each year, how much was transported to the Western Regions, and how much was lost on the way. You are also a military expert. How could you not know that when the loss is almost double, you can't sustain it at all."

Fang Jun took a sip of tea and asked, "Why don't you serve some snacks? I haven't eaten anything this morning, and now I'm drinking a lot of tea. My stomach is sour because I haven't eaten anything. This is not the way to entertain guests."

Liu Li slammed the table and shouted, "Are all the people dead? Didn't you hear that the Duke of Yue was going to get mad because he couldn't have any snacks? Go to the kitchen and see if there are any snacks and bring them over!"

The official clerk outside the door: "..."

Someone quickly ran to the kitchen to get some snacks and placed them on the coffee table.

Fang Jun took a bite of the jujube cake and said with a smile, "It makes people feel more comfortable if you talk like this. Don't be so sarcastic all day long. I just want to beat you up when I see you."

He took a sip of tea and swallowed the date cake, then continued, "You have said so much. If I insist on not doing it, and you spread the news afterwards, wouldn't I be considered a parasite of the country who doesn't care about the general situation and only cares about his own interests?"

"Hey, Duke Yue, please don't say that. I don't mean that at all!"

"Haha, whether it's intentional or not, isn't it just a matter of a thought?"

Liu Li was silent. He had originally intended to use "moral kidnapping" to force Fang Jun to submit. However, he was doing this entirely from the perspective of the country, without any selfish motives. In fact, whether the Anxi Army was 60,000 or 40,000 people had no effect on Fang Jun's power and status, but if 20,000 people could be reduced, the amount of food, fodder, bags, and military equipment saved would be an extremely large amount.

Fang Jun said: "First of all, the Anxi Army must not be reduced. This has nothing to do with my personal interests, but the Western Regions seem peaceful at present, but in fact they are full of crises. Although the Eastern and Western Turks have been destroyed, the remnants have migrated westward, but there are still many left in the Western Regions. These people will not stop for a moment, and we must guard against their resurgence."

Liu Li nodded. The Western Regions were the "private territory" of the Turks, who had enslaved them for hundreds of years. Naturally, they would now regard it as the cornerstone of their country's restoration and would strengthen their defenses.

Fang Jun added: "The Arab Empire is currently experiencing internal turmoil, with various forces fighting overtly and covertly for the position of Caliph, so it has no time to look east. However, once the domestic situation stabilizes, whoever takes the throne will certainly turn their attention to the Western Regions again and directly launch a war to resolve domestic conflicts. The Anxi Army is on alert and dare not relax at all."

Liu Li frowned and could only nod.

Previously, Fang Jun traveled thousands of miles to the Western Regions to defeat an army of 200,000 Arabs, beheaded countless of them, and pursued them for thousands of miles. However, the Arabs were a superpower that was comparable to the Tang Dynasty in terms of territory, population, etc., and had endless potential for war. It would not be difficult for them to recruit tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of troops to make a comeback.

"We must not ignore Tubo. Songtsen Gampo is ambitious and he sits on the plateau overlooking the Central Plains. He dares not invade Guanzhong, but he will not hesitate if there is a chance to invade Hexi or the Western Regions. Tubo will be the primary enemy of the Tang Dynasty for a long time to come. You, the Secretary of State, cannot deny this."

Liu Li couldn't refute any of the three reasons in a row. He sighed and said, "I know you are right. The situation faced by the Anxi Army is very serious, but it is also true that the Empire cannot support such a large Anxi Army. You only lead the troops to fight, but I have to rack my brains and raise funds for food and fodder. It's really stretched and stretched."

On the one hand, the situation was serious and they could not reduce the number of troops or destroy the Great Wall. On the other hand, it was difficult to support such a huge consumption of food and fodder... Liu Li was caught in a dilemma and was so annoyed that he almost pulled his beard out.

Fang Jun leaned forward slightly, looked at Liu Li, and said slowly: "Tuntian is the only solution. How about this? In the next two years, the amount of food and fodder transported to the Western Regions will be reduced by one third each year. After two years, it will be kept at the current one third as a normal state. The remaining difference will be solved by the Anxi Army's own farming. However, the court will relax the restrictions on immigration to the Western Regions and allow all farmers who voluntarily go to the Western Regions to settle down there. All taxes collected will be intercepted and properly distributed by the Anxi Protectorate."

Liu Li was horrified and said decisively: "How can this be possible? If such a policy is really implemented, wouldn't Anxi Protectorate be a country within a country? Absolutely not!"