Of course, Du Wei would not take the four thousand rebels who had been recruited and slowly head to the territory with his own army. After all, this matter is somewhat disgraceful—of course, Du Wei does not expect this matter to be hidden from anyone, especially the regent of the imperial capital. Du Wei believes that Prince Chen knows all about his actions , but, if I want to gain a foothold in the northwest, the land of tigers and wolves, I must grasp all the capital to gain a foothold. The pan army of 4,000 people, whether it is too much or too little, is also within the tolerance of Prince Chen: His Highness demoted and dispersed the entire Luo Lin family. He saw that a large number of "sinners" of the Luo Lin family could not be used. He couldn't let Du Wei, a dignified duke, go to the Northwest empty-handed, right
I believe Prince Chen still has the capacity to do extraordinary things at extraordinary times.
But after all, this is not something that can be put on the table. These 4,000 people were stopped by Du Wei by means of bribery. If these 4,000 people were taken all the way to the northwest, it would be a little bit of a shame for the regent. This kind of thing, everyone tacitly agrees.
Robert Cavaliers led two hundred imperial guards, and led four thousand panning troops to march rapidly. Instead of going to the mainland, they only took small roads, and went to the territory first. Don't worry about the supplies along the way. There are official documents from Du Wei, and local defenses along the way. The government will provide food.
As for Du Wei, he still has to move forward slowly. Before arriving at the territory, Du Wei is going to make a general survey of the situation in the entire Northwest. It is one thing to hear about many things, but to experience and see with one's own eyes, that is It's another matter.
Mulan City, the capital of Nulin Province, cannot be regarded as a big city if it is placed in the prosperous central or southern part of the mainland. With a population of more than 100,000, it can only be regarded as a second-rate city at most. A bustling place second to none.
This is the last big city that can pass through the commercial road in the northwest region. The caravans coming from the south and those returning from the northwest will meet here. All kinds of rare goods are trafficked from the southeast of the mainland, as well as crossing the desert. Cattle breeders or fur traders trafficked from the northwest grasslands will also stop here.
The carriage had just approached the outskirts of Mulan City, and Du Wei had already opened the window, looking at the scenery outside the window to his heart's content.
In the northwest, due to geographical reasons, there is a wind season for one or two months every year. Although the Kilimaro Mountains are a natural barrier that blocks most of the strong winds, the annual wind season will still change from In the desert on the other side of the mountain, there was a lot of sand and dust.
Strong wind and strong sand, this is a characteristic of the northwest, so the buildings here are not too tall. There are absolutely no such buildings as the mansions in the imperial capital, or towers that are more than ten meters high.
The tallest building in Mulan City is the city wall of Mulan City. The 12-meter-high city wall fully conforms to the military system of the empire.
And because of the common low-rise buildings, this city with a population of only over 100,000 people occupies a large area.
Because Knight Robert had already led the 4,000 Pan troops in light clothing, and the one responsible for leading the cavalry to open the way was replaced by the leader of the 500 Imperial Forest Army who was responsible for escorting Du Wei to the northwest this time, although he was only a small officer of the 500 cavalry. , but the identity of the Royal Forest Army is naturally different.
In the south of Mulan City is the largest market here. It was originally a town outside the city, but it has evolved into the largest trading place for business groups traveling from south to north. When Du Wei's motorcade passed by here, he immediately felt Here comes the raucous atmosphere.
When passing by on the mainland, Du Weiyuan overlooked the market not far away, crowded with people, rubbing shoulders, those Northwestern aliens with flat noses and curly hair wearing cow-like leather clothes, and businessmen from all over the empire, riding horses, driving The herds, and the shops with all kinds of fur goods... are noisy and noisy.
But Du Wei aimed his eyes at the pockets of these businessmen.
"My lord, this is the largest trading place in the Northwest. Although the population of Mulan City is small, the annual business tax revenue is extremely considerable. The land in the Northwest is barren and not good at producing food. Especially this Mulan City, as the province of Nulin The capital of the capital, the annual commercial tax revenue can be five times higher than the agricultural tax!"
The person who said this was a handsome young man sitting next to Du Wei in the carriage. His name was Philip. , but he was born with a handsome appearance and looked like a young man. His surname "Philip" should be an ancient aristocratic surname on the Roland Continent. It was a well-known family in the world, but it declined during the Continental Unification War. Today, the once prominent Philip family has long since ceased to exist.
This Philip was born as a commoner, and he was a child of a commoner family in the south of the imperial capital. Among the eighty disciples recommended by Blue Ocean Scholars, after a few brief encounters, this man immediately gained Du Wei's attention. He was eager to learn, stable, and rigorous. And there is no lack of quick wit, he is a very potential staff candidate.
What makes Du Wei even more valuable is that Philip once came to the Northwest with a business group when he was young. When Philip was young, he was fascinated by studying the customs and customs of various parts of the mainland. With the encouragement of the Blue Ocean scholar, The disciples of the Lan Hai sect are extremely disgusted with empty talk and are keen on doing things. And this Philip, when he was young, committed himself to joining a business group, served as an apprentice in bookkeeping, and traveled a lot in the northwest.
Originally, Du Wei did not expect that the situation in the Northwest had deteriorated to such an extent, but when he came out of Sin City one day, he felt an inexplicable absurdity about the so-called temporary regulations twenty years ago!
The war has been over for twenty years, and the wartime theater regulations have not been abolished? Let the J team in one region control the financial rights of the entire region? It even replaced the material distribution power of the empire's central government, and can also interfere with the administrative power of local governments at will
This is simply ridiculous.
Wouldn't this make him an out-and-out warlord? No wonder the empire has never interfered with the situation in the northwest, in fact, it is powerless to interfere at all! The old emperor Augustine VI's fatuousness and great success made him "win" the Northwest War, and he did not take any effective measures to deal with the problems after the Northwest War. Instead, he focused his energy on allowing him to continue to show off his might Nanyang!
And the Northwest Legion has almost become the emperor of the Northwest region! Such a military group controlled the Northwest Region, and was self-sufficient in terms of financial revenue. It was less and less constrained by the central government of the empire, and it was even extremely xenophobic!
Not to mention anything else, but what the old Earl Raymond told Du Wei last time, there were two lords in the Northwest region who were driven out by the Northwest Legion, and one of them lost his life... What arrogance this is!
With all the military and political power in our hands, who is the Northwest Army afraid of
After learning about these things, Du Wei immediately found Philip, a disciple of the Lanhai sect who was familiar with the Northwest. Along the way, Philip stayed in Du Wei's carriage and introduced what he knew about the situation in the Northwest to Du Wei. The more I hear the back, the more frightened I am! I can't help but regret that I didn't have a good talk with this Philip earlier.
The governor of Nulin Province is located in Mulan City. The current governor is Bohan, a baron, and a northerner. This guy also has a little background. He once served as the chief financial officer of a province in the south. When I was in the imperial capital, I used to work in the Finance Department. I have no doubt that this guy is a bit capable, and the imperial central government put him in the northwest, which also shows that the imperial central control of the Northwest Army in the northwest has been strengthened. Somewhat alarmed. This Baron Bohan was sent to restore the authority of the central government first. He has done a good job in the past few years, but the northwest is not the south after all. It was a bit worse, so when he faced the Northwest Army, his back could not be hardened, and the Northwest Army stubbornly stood up to the so-called wartime order twenty years ago. According to that order, the Northwest Army It has the power to interfere with local finances in the entire Northwest. Every year, a piece of local finance revenue must be set aside and not handed over to the Imperial Finance Office, but directly handed over to the Northwest Army as military supplies in the theater. Financially self-sufficient is only one of them. One, and the other frustrating situation is: According to the temporary regulations, in the theater, the commander of the Northwest Army has the power to temporarily appoint some officers to act as the commander of the theater according to the needs of the war, and has the power to control the local government, that is, The so-called "military government". As a result, even the governments of some places were emptied by the Northwest Army. "
Du Wei frowned: "So, in the northwest region, no one can restrain the Northwest Army and the warlords?"
"There are still some." Philip thought for a while, and his words were very careful. After all, with his current status, he was just a commoner, and he didn't dare to be too sharp when talking about these big shots in power: " When I came to the Northwest a few years ago, I felt that the situation in the Northwest had become rotten to the extreme. At that time, I even... Well, I privately felt that if the central government of the Empire didn't do something, the Northwest would be destroyed in less than five years. It will become a country within a country. Here, the administrative documents of the empire are far less authoritative than the military orders of the Northwest Army. It has calmed down, it has to be said that it is the Governor of Nulin Province, Baron Bohan's credit."
"Oh?" Du Wei paid close attention and asked, "Tell me about this Baron Bohan."
"To be fair, my lord, I really admire him." Philip, a handsome young man, made no secret of his admiration on his face: "I even think that this Baron Bohan is the most outstanding man in the empire in the past twenty years. What a talent! When he came to the northwest, the situation here was far worse than it is now!"
As he said that, Philip suddenly took out a thin booklet from a leather pouch he carried with him, smiled, and said: "When the teacher asked us to follow you, my lord, I was already at home. Some views and understandings of the situation in the northwest are written on it, and many of them are the decrees of Mr. Bohan that I recorded. If you study it carefully, you will find it very interesting."
Although the Northwest Army is far away from the northwest, they still have one of their biggest weaknesses.
food!
The Northwest is not a grain-producing area, and the grain production here is very low. Every year, the two provinces in the Northwest have to rely on buying grain from other provinces on the mainland to meet local needs, and to feed a nearly 200,000 legion , the food needed is not something that the Northwest region itself can satisfy.
Therefore, each year's military rations have to be purchased from the south of the empire... Grain has become an important means for the empire's central government to restrain the Northwest Army.
And Baron Bohan also grasped this point!
There was a big weakness in the provisional regulations back then, which was caught by the keen Baron Bohan, that is, according to the regulations, the Northwest Army can intercept the financial revenue of the Northwest local government to supplement military funds, but... it is limited to agriculture income!
"This order has a strong sense of the times. In the era when the order was produced, there were constant rebellions by alien races in the northwest. Where was there any business tax here? Not many merchants were willing to risk their lives to do business in the northwest, even though the cattle, sheep and horses of the alien races in the northwest were all It's tight stuff. At that time, the Northwest was poorer than it is now, and most of the annual fiscal revenue came from agricultural taxes, and the wartime regulations were derived on this basis, that is to say... After the regulations were promulgated, local The Northwest Army cannot intervene in other new tax revenues obtained by the government, and this is a very critical issue.”
As he said that, Philip turned his booklet over, turned to one of the pages, and said with a smile: "My lord, please look, this is my statistics, according to the official income statistics of the Imperial Treasury, oh, these statistics are all obtained from the official The data published every year is transcribed, although it is watery, but I also have a certain reference."
"Before Baron Bohan took office, the annual financial revenue of Nulin Province was 3.8 million gold coins, of which the agricultural tax accounted for 2.4 million gold coins. This is a very large proportion, but look at the back Yes, after Baron Bohan took office, in the following three years, the agricultural sleep of Nulin Province began to decrease. It dropped to 2.2 million in the first year, 1.8 million in the second year, and 1.8 million in the second year. In three years, it suddenly dropped to 1.2 million! Only half of the original! What does this represent?"
Du Wei's eyes flickered: "Baron Bohan wants to "starve" these Northwest Army."
Philip smiled: "My lord, the word "starved to death" is very accurate. In fact, after Baron Bohan took office, the food production in the entire Nulin Province began to decrease! He passed a series of administrative orders...these orders are very clever , as an excellent administrative official, he is much better at this aspect than those guys from the j side. Those guys from the j side were blinded by him at the beginning and didn't take it to heart. The grain production in the region has been reduced a lot, and grain is the biggest weapon to restrain the Northwest Army. The Northwest Army has to rely on foreign purchases of grain every year to survive! With the decrease in grain production, the Northwest Army has been fighting against the Central Committee since then. The stronger it is, this is a means of weakening, although somewhat...but very effective."
"Of course, if we blindly reduce food production and neglect farming, the Northwest Army will be weakened, but the life of civilians in the Northwest will become more and more difficult. In this regard, Baron Bohan has done a good job. He vigorously developed business, The annual commercial tax revenue has been rising steadily, and now the financial revenue of Nulin Province is higher than that before Baron Bohan took office."
"Of course, the Northwest Army is not without its own methods. At least in terms of military strength, they have been firmly suppressing Baron Bohan. The local garrison in the western region belongs to Governor Bohan in terms of command, but in terms of supplies In terms of supply... According to the wartime regulations, it is allocated by the Northwest Army. Therefore, the equipment of the local garrison in the entire western region is very backward, and supplies are often delayed. The combat effectiveness of the local garrison is low. Baron Bohan has nothing to do about this. Although He has money in his hand, but he can't spend his own money to replenish the army. Because it violates the imperial decree! The Northwest Army is very smart and has been keeping a close eye on Baron Bohan. If he dares to act rashly, he will Report him on the charge of interfering in military affairs. However, I have reason to suspect that Governor Bohan has also done something secretly, at least I know. The local garrison in Mulan City is well equipped and its daily training is very formal .”
"In general, the current situation in the Northwest is that Governor Bohan is in charge of the overall situation alone and is fighting against the Northwest Army. Governor Bohan is firmly suppressing the Northwest Army in terms of food, and the Northwest Army is firmly suppressing the Northwest Army in terms of military strength. Governor Bohan. The two sides have been confronting each other for several years. At present, generally speaking, the Northwest Army still has the upper hand, but the trump card of the Northwest Army’s biggest income is the wartime order twenty years ago.”
At the end, Philip couldn't help complaining: "My lord, this order is the Northwest Army's greatest reliance. A wartime order from 20 years ago is still in use today. I have to say that it is an extremely absurd thing. "
"But this policy, the central government of the empire has been unable to cancel it, right?" Du Wei sighed.
"That's right." Philip nodded, and he turned to another page: "Look, this is my record. The Northwest Army's annual spring drills are very strict. I have to say it's an act of showing off force. Let me see Come on, the empire wants to eradicate the curse of the Northwest, and Baron Bohan's policy of weakening it is difficult to accomplish this task, because even if it is weakened, the military power is still in the hands of others, and he can't do anything about it. Unless... "
Having said that, Philip dared not continue.
Du Wei did not shy away from it, and said lightly: "Unless the central government of the empire has the courage... to fight a civil war!"
Philip shook his body and looked at the young Duke. The appearance of this young aristocrat still had the immaturity of a young man, but the cold light in his eyes and the sneer at the corner of his mouth, how could there be any trace of childishness
"My lord, my lord..." Philip forced a smile, "You can't say such things casually."
"Hmph." Du Wei smiled and shook his head: "I can only talk about it. With the current national strength of the empire, can it support a civil war!"
Philip's eyes dimmed, and he knew very well that Du Wei was telling the truth!
In order to completely eradicate the chaos in the Northwest, there is no means of thunder, but only weakening and restraint, which can barely maintain a balance. If you want to eradicate it, you must be willing to pay a certain painful price!
It's just the price... Can the empire afford it now
Thinking of this, Philip couldn't help but glance at the Duke. Frankly speaking, when the teacher recommended people like himself to the Tulip Duke, Philip was still a little skeptical. After all, although the Duke is very famous, his age is really hard to convince. A boy under the age of fifteen, going to a place of tigers and wolves in the Northwest, won't be swallowed by those warlords so that there is no scum left
So what if he is a powerful magician! In this kind of thing, the strength of an individual cannot control everything!
But following the in-depth conversation with Du Wei these days, Philip felt more and more how extraordinary this Duke is. From the time when he quietly brought a complete infantry regiment of the ace army of the former imperial capital from the city of Big Ear, Du Wei revealed this kind of temperament in his words in the past few days. It can be said. Philip was completely convinced of the teacher's arrangement. This Lord Duke definitely has the qualifications worthy of his service!
However, the occasional coldness in Du Wei's eyes and words made Philip feel a little worried.
If such a decisive young man came to the northwest, would he bring stability to the northwest... or would it cause chaos? !
"Philip." With a smile on his face, Du Wei woke up the staff who were in deep thought: "Seeing that we are approaching the city gate, the Governor must have sent someone to welcome us. I really want to see the Your esteemed Mr Governor Bohan."