But this is not the issue that worries Situ Tai the most. The biggest problem facing Situ Tai is food and financial issues. Yanyun, like other places in the Eastern Continent, has a bad harvest, and the food reserves in various places have been exhausted. If merchants from various places had not conducted large-scale smuggling transactions with the Japanese at sea, the problem would have been much more serious.
Under Leng Qian's suggestion, Situ Tai could only turn a blind eye to the blatant smuggling of grain by merchants in Yanyun and even Donghai. At some point, he had to import large quantities of grain through these merchants to make up for his loss. Insufficient military rations and food reserves.
Fortunately, the Japanese have been having good weather in recent years, with good harvests year after year. Officials and private people in Japan have stored a large amount of grain. Now that the Japanese have captured Kamchatka Island and Treasure Island, the rapid expansion of their military power also makes them in urgent need of imports. A large amount of various strategic materials such as iron, copper, coal, wood, tung oil, raw lacquer, and horses.
After the Japanese invaded the Ryukyu Islands, Kamchatka Island and Treasure Island, they raided their own navy. Situ Tai had ordered a sea ban within the area under his control and strictly prohibited material transactions with the Japanese along the coast, but this did not achieve the desired effect. First, under the control of Situ Yuan, the trading volume between Quanzhou and the Japanese increased sharply, quickly replacing Dengzhou, Jinling, and Yuhang as the busiest port for trade with the Japanese. Milanese and Nanyang countries also participated in the transactions with the Japanese. Later, the Nanyang Alliance even became the largest buyer of human beings sold as slaves by the Japanese in the areas occupied by Doton and Tanghe. A large number of civilians were transported by the Japanese in large ships to the countries of the Nanyang Alliance for dumping, which made the slave traders of the Nanyang Alliance Be happy and smile.
This behavior also aroused great repercussions in the Tanghe Empire. This also forced Situ Tai, who was suffering from food shortages and wanted to open the sea ban, to continue to maintain the sea ban. He had to secretly greatly relax the control of the sea ban. , through grain smuggling, a large amount of strategic materials were transported into the Japanese lands. At the same time, the Japanese grains also poured in, which greatly alleviated the food shortage problem in their occupied areas. Food from the southern coastal areas of Central China also began to be re-exported into Japan through the Nanyang Alliance. Although prices have increased a lot in the territory, it has objectively reduced the pressure of food shortages.
The food problem has indeed been effectively alleviated in coastal areas, but it still exists in the interior, especially in areas where water transportation is difficult to reach and transportation conditions are poor. The price for the relief of food pressure is the decline of Japanese military strength, especially maritime military strength. Further strengthening and his own finances were close to bankruptcy, and the successive waves of protests by businessmen in the East China Sea and Jiangnan controlled areas also made him dare not easily increase taxes. The outflow of a large amount of industrial and commercial funds and businesses also made Situ Taishang think clearly. So much so that no one cared about Yunzhong Mansion, which was abandoned after the Pu people imitated the evil deeds of the Kaman people in Black Mountain and Longquan. Even Situ Tai himself deliberately avoided this problem. His existing finances were simply not enough to solve the problem of Yunzhong Mansion. The government is in this mess now.
loan? Loan from whom? The businessmen of Donghai and Jiangnan seemed to have colluded. Not only did they frantically transfer funds and personnel, but they also unanimously declined his loan request. This was clearly a provocation, but before he ascended the throne, he did not dare to do it again. The reason is to hinder his plan to ascend the throne. Borrow money from Yan Yun and the land aristocrats of the East China Sea who have always supported him? These land nobles are willing, but this is not a small number, and they are also powerless. There are probably only Situ Biao and Li Wufeng outside. But now that Situ Biao is fully expanding his power, he is afraid that he will not agree to borrow money from him. And Li Wufeng is pointing his fingers in the east and west. I heard that it is even more so in India. Although he has a lot of money in his pocket, will he lend it to himself
Sometimes Situ Tai also thought about looking for some excuse to attack those big businessmen who were unwilling to cooperate with him. He did not believe that they would not be able to get the money. It aroused hostility and resistance from the industrial and commercial circles in various places, and the gains outweighed the losses. Therefore, after several considerations, Situ Tai never dared to take this step.
Glancing at the old man who was still meticulously checking the intelligence sent from various places, Situ Tai sighed softly in his heart. Leng Qian was quite good at analyzing the situation and military affairs, but he was not very good at handling government affairs. He alone cannot support the entire political structure under his command, and what he lacks most is the talents who can handle the daily government affairs in the area under his control. Now he controls the thirteen most important counties in the eastern part of the empire, and his subordinates But there is no senior talent who can really shoulder this important task for him. In a large number of prefectures and counties, except for the positions that are too important and must be controlled by their own people, most of the officials remain intact and continue to exercise their powers. Power, how can such jurisdiction be truly effective? Talent, now I am thinking about this problem in my dreams. Where can I find talents who are both talented and loyal to serve me
"Your Highness, the gentry of Yunzhong Mansion have united with some squires from Yanyun County to petition His Highness, asking His Highness to send someone to take over Yunzhong as soon as possible, restore normal order in Yunzhong, and maintain the territorial integrity of the empire." Leng Qian frowned. After sorting out a large pile of letters, he submitted them to his lord.
"Hmph, if you want me to take back Yunzhong Mansion at this time, how can I feed these refugees and refugees? The people of Puer just slapped their ass and left, leaving a mess behind. They want me to take over, no way! Who is willing to take over, who Go! I'm not going anyway!" When he mentioned Yunzhong Situ Tai, he became furious. Not only did hundreds of thousands of refugees pour into surrounding places such as Peiping and Laizhou, but the escaped squires also shouted everywhere, putting pressure on themselves and demanding that they take over as soon as possible. , comfort victims and refugees, and restore normal production and living order. But now I don't have any extra strength. It is estimated that even the people of Poole can't hold on in the remote cloud. How can I fall into this quagmire casually
"Your Highness, these guys have jointly petitioned in the Imperial Capital. The media in the Imperial Capital have begun to pay attention to this matter. At this critical moment now, the guidance of public opinion is very important. Once under the instruction of people with ulterior motives, public opinion is likely to have negative consequences for us. It will cause a lot of damage to the reputation." Leng Qian was well aware of the difficulty here and reminded his lord with some worry.
"Then what do you think? Where do we have the extra money and food to help them? Once we take over, all the responsibilities will be shouldered by us. It's better to pretend not to know now and push them away when the time comes." Situ Tai also knows The matter was not simple, but he was short of money and there was really nothing he could do.
"Your Highness, either we can find a way to squeeze out some of the military rations and food reserves, or we can find other ways to block the media in the imperial capital." Leng Qian was also aware of his own financial situation, so he could only adopt alternative methods.
"Military rations and food reserves must not be moved. We have learned from the past. The Nakaman people's southern expedition army is now in trouble and Li Wufeng took the opportunity to attack it because the logistics and food cannot keep up. We must not repeat the same mistakes. The army is now our only pillar. This is No need to say more. But what do you mean by the other methods?" Situ Tai had actually guessed the other methods mentioned by the other party, but he hoped that the other party would say it out.
"What else can I do? I can only use some money to mobilize some connections to silence the major mainstream media. As long as it can be delayed for a month or two, His Highness can successfully take over the throne. Once everything is justified, it will be much easier to handle." Leng Qian smiled bitterly. This was the only method that could be used at the moment. As for whether there might be any troubles or mistakes in the process, he couldn't care less.
"Well, that's all. In this way, you can arrange for capable people to deal with it, and there must be no mistakes. There is no room for mistakes in this joint. Uh, besides, Mr. Leng, do you think we can do it in the imperial capital? The businessmen and financiers have to think of a way to get some loans, and they have to survive these two months."
Situ Tai knew that since he took control of the East China Sea and Jiangnan, he had greatly increased tax rates and fees, which had greatly shaken the confidence of the southeastern business class in him. However, he had no choice in the situation at that time. A large-scale military expansion required financial support, and he controlled Yanyun didn't have much foundation to begin with, so he could only reach out to the businessmen, knowing that he was killing the goose to obtain the eggs, but he had to do it. Now it is even more difficult to get loans from the pockets of the businessmen, so he can only hope to borrow money from them. With the good news that he might finally win the battle for the throne, he could make a fortune from the merchants in the imperial capital to meet their current urgent needs.
"Your Highness, this may not be easy. Which of the merchants in the imperial capital is not closely related to the upper-level officials of the empire? They are much more snobbish than the merchants in Jiangnan and Donghai. The current situation is unclear. If you want to get them from them with empty words, I don't have any confidence in getting the loan, unless His Highness can offer something more realistic as compensation, maybe there is still some hope." Leng Qian was a little embarrassed, this kind of empty-handed method is not impossible, but it requires With the strength behind them, if all the businessmen are optimistic about their lord, then there is no need to say more, but if they think this transaction is too risky, then they will never use their own money to waste it. It is expedient for now. The plan can only be exchanged for things that are controlled in the hands, and use huge profits to attract the gambling of businessmen. If they succeed, they will make a lot of money, and if they fail, they will suffer heavy losses.
"You mean •;•;•;•;•;•;?" Situ Tai's face became a little ugly, as if he had thought of something.