Add Bookmark | Recommend this book | Back to the book page | My bookshelf | Mobile Reading

Free Web Novel,Novel online - All in oicq.net -> Historic -> Taiping blood

Volume 1: Fierce Battle in Changsha Chapter 198: Lijin¡¯s Strategy

Previous page        Return to Catalog        Next page

    The reason why the Qing Dynasty suffered a complete defeat since the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom launched its army, and even lost Nanjing in the end, was that in addition to the decay of the Eight Banners Green Camp soldiers, the biggest problem was the issue of money and food.  The financial system of the Qing Dynasty was a rather backward system: the annual fiscal revenue was fixed, about 40 million taels of silver, mainly derived from landowners' money and grain; the annual expenditures were also fixed, nearly 40 million taels, mainly used for  Official salary and military pay.  Its basic characteristic is to live within one's means, and the biggest disadvantage arising from this is the lack of flexibility.  Everything is fixed. Politicians have no money to start new businesses. However, once natural disasters occur, such as floods, droughts, locusts, wars, and plagues, the government's income will drop sharply and expenses will increase sharply.  cause a financial crisis.

    When this system was first implemented, it seemed to have a good effect. The careful management of the Ming Dynasty during the Kangxi and Yongzheng dynasties made the deposits of the Ministry of Households reach a peak of 70 million taels. However, after Emperor Qianlong's great success, Emperor Qianlong spent a lot of money, and Emperor Jiaqing  By that time, there was not much money left in savings.  The Sichuan-Chu White Lotus Rebellion, Zhang Geer's Rebellion, the Opium War, and the Yellow River bursting its banks many times put the Qing government's finances in dire straits.  As soon as Emperor Xianfeng came to power, he wanted to clear up his family fortune. Zhuo Bingtian, a bachelor who managed the affairs of the Ministry of Household Affairs, reported to him that the national silver inventory was only 8 million taels, and "the incoming money has decreased but not increased, and the outgoing money has not increased."  "Increased rather than reduced", unable to make ends meet, the number is huge.  

    War is a money-eating monster, and its consumption is astonishingly large. In order to suppress the uprising armies everywhere, the Qing government spent money like water.  However, the lack of financial resources of the Qing government did not seem to affect Emperor Xianfeng's determination to suppress the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.  He paid from the bank treasury of the Ministry of Household Affairs, reconciled it from the seal reserves of various places, and distributed it from the "private money" of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.  Unlike previous and subsequent emperors, Emperor Xianfeng used royal private property without any hesitation or distress.  Guiliang, the Minister of War, reported that there were three golden bells in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, weighing more than 2,000 kilograms.  It's worth hundreds of thousands of taels of silver. Please sell it and melt it down to replenish military expenses.  He immediately ordered the Ministry of Internal Affairs to find out and sent his sixth brother Yi Xin to personally supervise the melting.  As a result, these three world-class crafts, which were crafted by palace craftsmen during the Qianlong period and engraved with the Qianlong Emperor's imperial inscriptions, weighed 800 kilograms, 700 kilograms, and 580 kilograms respectively, were melted into gold bars and gold nuggets, totaling 27,000  More than a thousand taels.  £MThe Ministry of Household Affairs requested that the excess copper utensils in the palace gardens be distributed for the purpose of casting copper coins.  He also ordered the Ministry of Internal Affairs to investigate. As a result, 228 pieces of copper vases, copper furnaces, copper turtles and cranes, which are definitely high-level cultural relics today, were stored in the Old Summer Palace and other places, and were turned into 8,747 kilograms of copper materials.

    With regard to Emperor Xianfeng¡¯s multiple edicts issued from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the ministers in charge of the Ministry of Internal Affairs were in a state of mind where they had to resolutely implement them even if they did not understand them.  By May 1853.  That is to say, after the Taiping Army of the West Palace began their Eastern Expedition, the Ministry of Internal Affairs finally showed the red light to Emperor Xianfeng. There was only 41,000 taels of silver in reserve, and it could no longer pay for any expenses other than the royal family.

    The young Emperor Xianfeng seemed to know for the first time that even the rich and splendid royal family sometimes ran out of money.  Digging everywhere.  After all efforts were made, Emperor Xianfeng was in power from 1850 to July 1853.  A total of nearly 30 million taels of silver were obtained to supply the front line.  In exchange, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom made Nanjing its capital.  By this time, Emperor Xianfeng was at the end of his rope, with only 290,000 taels of silver in the household department, and even the salaries of the officials and soldiers in the capital could not be paid.  At this point, Emperor Xianfeng no longer had any tricks.

    The most intuitive impact is on Qishan¡¯s Jiangbei Camp, when Qishan¡¯s troops initially moved south.  The supply of money and food was relatively stable, but then it became less and less. As a result, the eight generals of Luyingqiu had to think about making money for Fang, so how could they still think about suppressing them?  Although there are only more than 4,000 long-haired thieves in Guazhou across the way.  Qishan could only stand still. He knew that if he sent troops forcefully under the current morale and conditions, there would be no other possibility except a huge defeat.

    The root of the problem still lies in money and food. Emperor Xianfeng had no choice but to be at the mercy of his ministers due to lack of finances.  In order to save the emergency, the ministers' suggestions were all extremely vicious, and Emperor Xianfeng could only follow them one by one.

    The first thing these ministers thought of was to reduce expenditure. The officers and soldiers were reduced in salary and pay. Starting from 1853, based on the proposal of the Ministry of Household Affairs, Emperor Xianfeng successively issued decrees to deduct 20% of the salary of civil servants and military officers and soldiers in and outside the capital.  deductions.  Because salaries have been reduced, they are often in arrears, especially on the front lines outside the capital.  Later, large sums of money, banknotes, and treasure notes were distributed with the salary, which was even more unworthy of the name.  The reduction in official salary and salary will never make them willing to live in poverty.  As a result, they intensified their efforts to harass the people.  The already corrupted officialdom was even worse.  Soldiers of the Qing army who had long been in arrears with their pay had many times revolted over pay, and many of them even engaged in banditry, robbing homes and houses.

    "Then the ministers thought of making a large donation. Selling one's official position and making a donation was a traditional method used by the Qing Dynasty to deal with insufficient funds. It had almost never stopped since the Kangxi Dynasty started.  Emperor Xianfeng's father, Emperor Daoguang, hated this method and looked displeased every time he summoned donation officials. There have been cases where donation officials were dismissed from office because they responded to rude remarks.  In private, he confessed his feelings to an official with a background in the imperial examination: "I'm always worried about donating classes. TheyThe basic purpose is to seek profit, and his heart can be understood.  The subjects may not all be unworthy. After all, the etiquette, justice, integrity and shame are still there, and they can be changed at a glance.  "

    Although Emperor Daoguang was not satisfied with this, he still had to do it for financial needs.  Emperor Xianfeng did not have the same moral scruples as his father.  He needs money and can't manage so much.  In order to attract wealthy gentry and big businessmen to invest in official positions, he held a large-scale auction based on the opinions of his courtiers.  In 1851, he reduced the 1846 donation by 10% and collected donations at a 10% discount.  By the end of the next year, the accounts collected by the household department amounted to three million taels of silver.  In 1853, another 10% was reduced and donations were collected at a 20% discount. In that year, the household department received 670,000 taels, but the household department received very little.  The decrease in donated silver received by the Ministry of Household Affairs was not due to a reduction in the total number of donations collected at that time. This was mainly due to the fact that most of the donated silver was intercepted by local officials. The destination of this money was simply that the local officials used it for the money and grain owed to the court. It seems that this was also the case.  No wonder those local officials have no rice to cook.

    Then the ministers suggested minting large amounts of money, issuing silver notes, and making treasure banknotes. At that time, China's currency was a dual system of silver and copper coins.  Silver is measured by weight according to its color, and money is cast by the Qing government.  In order to obtain greater wealth with less cost, Emperor Xianfeng approved the ministers' proposal to mint large amounts of money.  Starting from April 1853, the Ministry of Household Affairs began to mint ten copper coins, that is, one coin was worth ten coins.  In addition to the imperial household department, 13 provinces were successively allowed to start minting large amounts of money.  In order to make direct profits, not all mining and smelting of copper or the import of foreign copper are done everywhere.  Instead, they often melted down the coin that was originally worth a penny and recast it into big money.  Even so, the cost of casting copper coins was still too high, and copper resources at that time were very limited.

    Also in April 1853, Emperor Xianfeng approved the issuance of silver notes, namely "official notes of the Ministry of Household Affairs", with denominations ranging from one tael, three taels, five taels, ten taels, and fifty taels.  In addition to the Ministry of Household Affairs, the official bank account supervised by the Ministry of Household Affairs also issued an astonishing number of Beijing currency notes, with denominations as high as 10,000 yuan!  This nearly costless banknote.  The profits are astonishing.  For example, if you make a piece of treasure money, the cost of making it is only one penny and six cents. If you make a million yuan, you can make a profit of one million, and if you make tens of millions, you can make a profit of tens of millions.  In addition to the Ministry of Household Affairs, 16 provinces and autonomous regions outside Beijing also opened official bank and currency bureaus.  Issue "bureau tickets".

    From the perspective of world financial history, from the perspective of precious metal currency based on weight.  It has developed into precious metals or metal currencies based on quantity (such as gold yuan, silver yuan, copper coins, etc.).  The further development to paper money is a historical necessity.  Judging from the economic scale and total volume of commodity exchange in the Qing Dynasty, the emergence of paper money was not a bad thing.  In fact, various bills issued by private banks also make up for this shortcoming.  However, the issuance of banknotes must be guided by sound financial theory and must have careful design, including a considerable amount of deposit and strictly controlled issuance amount.  It is a decisive principle familiar to people who use paper money today.

    However, whether it was Emperor Xianfeng or the officials who asked to issue banknotes and banknotes, they had no knowledge of modern finance.  There was no idea of ??transforming the backward monetary system of the Qing Dynasty.  Just to meet financial expenses that they are unable to bear, they abuse their administrative power to issue large amounts of money, banknotes, and treasure notes that they are not prepared to cash in at all.  Needless to say, the consequences of such an unlimited short-selling of unguaranteed banknotes will inevitably be hyperinflation, which is no different from directly plundering the people.

    The consequences of the excessive issuance of currency were immediately apparent. Qi Shan and other veterans were not unaware of it, but Emperor Xianfeng pretended not to see it, and Qi Shan wisely chose not to see it.  However, after the financial crisis of the Qing Dynasty broke out in May 1853, the generals at the front could no longer receive any real money allocated by the Ministry of Household Affairs. At most, it was just a piece of official document stating pay rates from other provinces.  However, the provinces are simply incapable of completing such indiscriminate and endless instructions and can only shirk the situation.  Over time, this kind of imperial order for allocating wages became a piece of paper with no effect. The generals should not expect to get money by relying on it.

    Under this situation, it seems that raising military salaries is no longer the obligation of the court, but has unknowingly become the responsibility of the local officials in the war zone.  In the reality that the treasury was empty, Emperor Xianfeng only allowed the generals at the front to fight, and was unwilling and unable to control the supply at the front.

    Therefore, since the imperial court is not responsible for military expenditures, how local governments raise wages has naturally become something that the imperial court cannot and cannot control.  As a result, in war zone provinces, raising wages has become the top priority among all government affairs for local officials.  Except for a few provinces such as Hunan and Hubei, which use methods to organize their own finances to increase fiscal revenue, many provinces use various methods to increase donations and taxes, including grain subsidies and grain donations in Sichuan; Jiangsu, Anhui and other provinces  Mu donation; Shatian donation in Guangdong; Caoliang discount in Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, and Henan.  The actual collection is often several times the quota, and the overcollected money becomes the source of "sufficiency" for officials at all levels.  While the national treasury was thin, many officials' pockets were full, and the war brought them new opportunities to make a fortune.  However, the technology and scale of agricultural production limit its output.  No matter how much agricultural tax is increased, the amount is limited after all.  Excessive plundering made the common people unable to afford the losses and had to take desperate measures. They had no choice but to follow the Taiping Army in uprising, which further intensified the momentum of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

    ¡°Then the eyes of local officials in various provinces turned to the wealthy gentry and big businessmen.  Ways to deal with them??It is to persuade donations.  According to the original donation regulations, each province would hand over the donation amount to the Ministry of Household Affairs, and then transfer it to the Ministry of Personnel. Finally, with the approval of the emperor, a certificate indicating the official title obtained through the donation would be issued.  This method takes a lot of time, and often nothing happens for a long time after the money is handed over, and money has to be spent on management to urge the subordinates to do things.  In order to improve efficiency, Emperor Xianfeng responded to the request of local officials and ordered the Ministry of Civil Affairs to directly issue blank certificates, which were filled in by the local officials themselves, summarized and reported regularly, and wholesale of state officials generously treated them as commodities.  From then on, donating official positions and titles became a direct business involving paying money and issuing licenses at the same time.  This high efficiency temporarily stimulated the purchasing interest of "official and title consumers"; at the same time, local officials held blank certificates and no longer had to wait for the documents to be transferred from the household and official departments.  Donations are withheld.

    ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????:  Many gentry and merchants were afraid of the power of the government, so they had to donate again and again.  Use your white money to exchange for a few pieces of yellow paper with empty official titles.  After all the gentry and merchants were extorted, some officials turned their attention to the officials who had returned to their hometowns and made a fortune after serving as high officials outside.  These families who had been real officials originally looked down on the donation class and had no interest in empty titles. However, they had no choice but to hand over part of their family property due to repeated persuasion by local officials.

    Qishan discussed all the above methods with his generals and staff, and began to use methods such as persuading donations. Fortunately, there were many wealthy salt merchants in Yangzhou, so the money and grain obtained from persuading donations was quite acceptable, so the Jiangbei camp was maintained  There hasn't been any big trouble yet.  But Qishan also knows that this method is feasible if used once or twice. If he persuades too much, the rich will be squeezed dry.  Therefore, he was not very interested in Ronglu's suggestions such as organizing regiment training, training new troops, and buying foreign guns and cannons. What he was most interested in was how to raise money and food.

    Qishan's eyes lit up when Ronglu proposed the plan. This method seemed to be much more feasible than the unreliable methods mentioned above.  But what Qishan didn't know was.  In the original history, Lijin's first area of ??departure was his own Jiangbei camp. The founders were his subordinate Lei Yicheng, the chief envoy of Jiangsu Province, and his staff master Qian Jiang.

    1853.  Lei Yicheng, the Minister of Criminal Affairs, was ordered to assist in the military affairs of Yangzhou Jiangbei Camp.  The main task is to raise wages.  This is an extremely difficult and laborious task.  But one of his aides, Qian Jiang, a legendary figure at the time, came up with an idea to Lei Shi. He sent officers and soldiers to various water and land fortresses to set up checkpoints, and forcibly distributed donations according to the value of the goods passing through. This was actually a commodity.  Transit tax.  At that time, it was also called "Xingli"; in addition, merchants who opened stores to sell goods were forced to pay donations based on sales, which was actually a commercial tax, and it was also called "Zuoli" at that time.  The payer of the donation can also receive a ministry certificate indicating the merit of the donation, just like other donors.  It's just that there is no more voluntary color in it.

    In October 1853, Lei Yicheng first set up an organization in Lixiahe to provide subsidies to the rice banks in the towns of Fairy Temple, Shaobo, Yiling, and Zhangwanggou near Yangzhou City. The initial standard was that every stone of rice  , donated fifty coins.  Lei Yicheng initially thought of giving it a try, but he never expected that within half a year, he would collect a total of 20,000 strings of money.  In April of the following year, he reported to Emperor Xianfeng that this method neither disturbed the people nor burdened the merchants. For several months, the merchants and the common people had nothing to do.  He also saw the long-term stability of this method. The memorial stated: "The water flows slowly and continuously, which is really beneficial to military needs." Therefore, Lei Yicheng declared that he would implement this method in the prefectures and counties of Lixiahe.  , on the one hand, he proposed that the governor of Jiangsu and the governor of Nanhe should "advise all the proposed donations according to the proposed regulations" in their respective areas to prevent blockage.

    After Emperor Xianfeng received this memorial, he ordered the governor of Jiangsu and the governor of Nanhe to discuss the matter carefully according to the local situation. If the matter was feasible, Lei's method could be adapted.  This was the first time Emperor Xianfeng expressed his stance on Lijin.

    In May 1854, after receiving the imperial edict, Lei Yicheng set up a branch in Taizhou and raised funds to support the army with great fanfare.  The scope of Lijin has expanded from rice to include all kinds of grains, poultry, livestock, oil, salt, tea, sugar, alkali, cotton, silk, cloth, clothing, wine, lacquer, paper, medicinal materials, pots and bowls and all kinds of groceries.  It can be said that there is no product that is not attractive.  In addition, banks and banks also take a commission based on their turnover.  The governor of Jiangsu and the governor of Nanhe also began to set up card draws in the second half of the year.  In early 1855, someone reported to Emperor Xianfeng that "there were too many donations from the north and south of the Yangtze River", which shows the rapid scale of its development.

    At the end of 1854, Shengbao, the imperial envoy and a bachelor of the demoted cabinet, discovered the special functions of Lijin. He publicized its various benefits and asked various places to imitate it: Can you please order the ministers of military commanders to work with the governors of neighboring provinces in this province?  , together with local officials and impartial gentry directors, imitated Lei Yicheng and the Taizhou Public Bureau's advisory regulations, and carefully prepared it.  Officials serve as supervisors and advisors, and businessmen serve as managers. Without the hands of subordinates, there is no risk of intrusion or leakage.  The provinces that employ troops can collect and release troops at the nearest location, and other provinces also temporarily store them in the vassal treasury to coordinate the needs of all military pay.

    Starting from this decision, the governors of each province under the rule of the Manchu Qing Dynasty could make decisions based on the conditions of their own provinces and make adjustments at their own discretion.  This decision of the imperial court decentralized the power of collecting lijin to the governors of various provinces, which had a great impact on the construction of Shengbao.?It is an amendment, but there are no clear provisions on the methods and standards of collection.  The Ministry of Revenue had no overall plan for this, and Emperor Xianfeng was even more confused.  All he was thinking about was getting money to meet the huge gap in military expenses. As for the source of the money, he didn't want to ask and couldn't figure it out.  As a result, various provinces began to imitate Lijin.

    It can be said that the widespread implementation of the Lijin system has transfused blood for the depleted provincial finances.  According to the financial system of the Qing Dynasty.  All fiscal revenue belongs to the imperial court. If provinces, prefectures, prefectures, and counties want to get some money, they can only spend money on projects such as "expense".  Since the summer of 1853, the imperial finances could no longer allocate military expenditures, and the provincial finances, which had no legitimate financial resources, had to bear the huge military expenditures of various military camps.  Now there is finally a legitimate collection channel, and no one is willing to hand this over to the imperial finance.  Lijin thus became a huge source of wealth that was not controlled by the imperial court and was controlled by the governors of various provinces.  It was also during this period that Lijin gradually broke away from the scope of "donation" and clarified the status of "tax".

    If you look at it from today¡¯s perspective, Lijin should be classified as commercial tax.  its appearance.  It is a historical necessity.  Although in ancient Chinese history, commercial taxes often became the country's main tax, especially in the Song Dynasty, commercial taxes exceeded 11 million yuan and became one of the most important fiscal revenues.  But since the Ming Dynasty.  This situation has changed.  Zhu Yuanzhang was born in a peasant family, which is limited to his personal experience.  Don't understand the meaning of business.  The main national tax revenue is land tax, that is, agricultural tax. Commercial tax has been weakened. The Manchu and Qing Dynasties inherited the practices of the Ming Dynasty and gained little from commercial tax.  It can be said that the establishment of the Lijin system is of great significance. The Lijin system was still implemented from 1853 until the Republic of China.  It provided financial vitality for the future wars of more than a hundred years of warlord separatism in the Republic of China. Warlords in various provinces all used lijin to obtain money and food supplies, and they obtained armed forces. The armed force also guaranteed these warlords' rights to collect lijin from the people under their rule.  , so China¡¯s troubled times began after the fall of the Qing Dynasty.  It has been in existence for decades, and its root cause is the harm caused by this Lijin system.

    Ronglu was not unaware of the possible consequences of the Lijin system, but his eyes were red now, and he no longer had to worry about getting to the top. Anyway, even if he didn't come up with this strategy, he would be punished by Lei Yicheng in a few months.  Since they are all things created by Qianjiang and are bound to appear, why not use it for yourself to rise to power?

    Sure enough, when Ronglu finished speaking, Qi Shan sat up straight and said with great interest: "Zhonghua's strategy is extraordinary. Later, I asked Jiangsu Governor Lei Yicheng to help raise money and food in the camp.  Mr. Lei, come here, you and he will discuss it carefully and draw up a charter so that I can report it to the court."

    Ronglu's face showed joy, he stepped forward and knelt down and said: "Old Zhongtang has learned a lesson. Although I am young and have little knowledge, I am behind the generals. My father and uncle both died at the hands of long-haired thieves. I only want to stay in the camp to help with military affairs."  , I sincerely ask Lao Zhongtang to petition on your behalf!"

    Qi Shan laughed and stood up tremblingly. He personally helped Ronglu up and said, "General Huzi, your grandfather is an old general under my command, so he will naturally take care of you. The plan you proposed is very good.  I also want to keep you here, so I will write a letter to ask the emperor to release you and stay in my camp to help with military affairs. I also need a few caring people under me."

    Ronglu was overjoyed, and Chengen knelt down and said he wanted to stay. He also knew that once he returned to Beijing, he would become a thorn in Sushun's side. Ronglu would not return to Beijing, and Sushun's anger would probably be unleashed on him.  on myself.  After Ronglu also said good things for Chengen, Qishan immediately agreed, and Ronglu stayed with Zabutonak, a member of the Eight Banners of Mongolia who was close to him and Chengen's friend among the bodyguards.

    Then Lei Yicheng, the chief envoy of Jiangsu Province, arrived and talked with Ronglu for two hours. Ronglu directly moved over some mature regulations in the Lijin system. Lei Yicheng was so impressed that he immediately summoned his staff to discuss.  Finally, a lijin charter was negotiated and submitted to Qishan.  Because Rong Lu misappropriated the money-making strategy of Qian Jiang, Lei Yicheng's staff, Qianjiang, who had just invested in Lei Yicheng's command, was at a loss. That night, Qian Jiang left the camp with his half-finished draft of the money-making strategy.  Go elsewhere.

    After Qi Shan got the Lijin regulations, he was overjoyed after reading them carefully. He immediately submitted the report and held a banquet for Ronglu and others. During the banquet, he introduced the generals in the camp to Ronglu. Qi Shan regarded Ronglu as his descendant.  He was regarded as his confidant, and all the generals in the camp did not dare to look down on Ronglu and others.  So Ronglu relied on the strategy of donating lijin to solve the problem of raising money and food for the Jiangbei camp and stayed on, and began to lead the army on the road to war.  (To be continued.)

    ps: This chapter has a large number of words and refers to the textual research of many scholars. It is to better explain the current financial crisis in the Qing Dynasty and to better explain the necessity of giving advice. Please forgive me for the irritation.
Didn't finish reading? Add this book to your favoritesI'm a member and bookmarked this chapterCopy the address of this book and recommend it to your friends for pointsChapter error? Click here to report