Chapter 222 Chapter 195 Corruption

Of course, Du Wei would not take the four thousand rebels who had been recruited and slowly headed to the territory with his convoy.After all, this matter was somewhat disgraceful—of course, Du Wei did not expect this matter to be hidden from anyone, especially the regent of the imperial capital.Du Wei believed that Prince Chen was aware of his actions, but if he wanted to gain a foothold in the Northwest, a land of tigers and wolves, he had to grasp all the capital to gain a foothold.The 4,000-strong rebel army, whether it is too much or too little, is within the tolerance of Prince Chen: This His Highness demoted and dispersed the entire Luo Lin family, and looked at the large number of Luo Lin. The "sinner" of the Lin family can't be used, so Du Wei can't let Du Wei go to the northwest empty-handed like a duke, 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 you take these 4,000 people all the way to the northwest, it would be too disrespectful to the regent.This kind of thing, everyone tacitly agrees. Robert Cavaliers led two hundred imperial guards and led four thousand rebels to march rapidly, instead of taking the main road, they turned to the small road and headed to the territory first.Don't worry about supplies along the way. With Du Wei's official documents, the local garrison governments along the way 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 inspection of the situation in the entire northwest.It's one thing to hear about many things, but it's another thing to experience and see with your own eyes. ... 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 second-rate at best.But in the northwest, it is already the most prosperous place in Nulin Province.

This is the last big city that can pass through on the commercial road in the northwest region.Caravans coming from the south and caravans returning from the northwest will meet here.All kinds of rare goods trafficked from the southeast of the mainland, as well as cattle and sheep or fur traders trafficked from the northwest grassland across the desert, 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 are the characteristics of Northwest China.Therefore, the buildings here are not too tall. There are absolutely no buildings like the mansions in the imperial capital, or towers that are more than ten meters high. In the entire Mulan City, the tallest building is the city wall of Mulan City.The twelve-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 sneaked with 4,000 rebels in light clothing, and the person 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 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 the noisy atmosphere here. When passing by on the main road, Du Wei overlooked the market not far away. There were crowds of people, shoulder to shoulder, those Northwestern aliens with flat noses and curly hair wearing cow and sheep leather clothes, and businessmen from all over the empire, riding horses, and driving herds. Yes, there are also those shops with all kinds of fur goods... There is a lot of noise and noise.

But Du Wei aimed his eyes at the pockets of these businessmen. "My lord, this is the largest trading place in the Northwest. Although Mulan City has a small population, the annual business tax revenue is extremely objective. The land in the Northwest is barren and not good at producing grain. Especially this Mulan City, as the Nulin Province The capital of the capital, the annual commercial tax revenue is five times higher than the agricultural tax!" It was a handsome young man sitting next to Du Wei in the carriage who said this.This man's name is Philip, and he is the best among the eighty disciples recommended by the blue ocean scholar to Du Wei.Twenty-eight years old, but with a handsome appearance, he looks like a teenager.His surname "Philip" should be an ancient aristocratic surname on the Roland continent. This surname was once a famous family on the mainland before the establishment of the Roland Empire a thousand years ago, but it declined during the mainland unification war. Today, the once prominent Philip family no longer exists.

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 the Blue Ocean Scholar, after a few brief encounters, this man immediately gained Du Wei's attention.Studious, stable, rigorous, and not lacking in quick wit.It is a very potential staff candidate. What makes Du Wei even more valuable is that this 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 Lan Hai scholars, the disciples of Lan Hai's sect were extremely disgusted with empty talk and 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 large circle 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 that 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 military in one region control the financial power of the entire region?It even replaced the material distribution right of the empire's central government.Can you also arbitrarily interfere with the administrative power of the local government?

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, so 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, just what old Raymond told Du Wei last time, there were two lords in the Northwest who were kicked out by the Northwest Legion, and one of them lost his life... How arrogant is this? ! 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 Lan Hai 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 Du Wei heard the back, the more frightened he became!I can't help but regret that I didn't have a good talk with this Philip earlier. "The Governor's Mansion of Nulin Province is located in Mulan City. The current Governor-General 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. His political achievements have been promoted. When he was in the imperial capital, he once worked in the Finance Department. I have no doubt that this guy is a bit capable, and the fact that the central government of the empire put him in the northwest also shows that the central government of the empire has a strong relationship with the Northwest Army in the northwest. The control has aroused certain vigilance. This Baron Bohan was sent to restore the authority of the central government. He has done a good job in the past few years. But the northwest is not the south after all. Not bad, but the military is a bit worse. So when facing the Northwest Army, his back has been unable to stiffen. And the Northwest Army stubbornly resisted the so-called wartime regulations twenty years ago, According to that ordinance, the Northwest Army has the right to interfere with local finances throughout the 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 for the theater. Financial self-sufficiency is only one of them, and another helpless situation is: According to the temporary regulations, in the theater, the Northwest Army's command has the power to temporarily appoint some officers to act as the commander of the theater according to the needs of the war. Restrain local governments! That is the so-called 'military government'. In this way, even some local governments have been emptied by the Northwest Army." Du Wei frowned: "So, in the northwest region, no one can control the Northwest Army and the warlords?" "There are still." Philip thought for a while, and his wording was 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: "I When I came to the northwest a few years ago, I felt that the situation in the northwest region had become extremely rotten. At that time, I even... well, I privately felt that if the central government of the empire didn't do something, it would probably be 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. This is a terrible thing, but in the past few years, what makes me curious is that the situation in the Northwest is actually It has calmed down, it has to be said that it is due to the Governor of Nulin Province, Baron Bohan." "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 Lord Bohan that I recorded. If you study it carefully, you will find it very interesting." Although the Northwest Army dominates 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 legion of nearly 200,000 people, the food needed is not something that the Northwest region itself can satisfy. Therefore, every year, military rations must be purchased from the south of the empire... Food has become an important means for the central government of the empire 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... only Limited to farm 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 was in short supply. At that time, the Northwest was poorer than it is now, and most of the annual fiscal revenue was 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! This is a very critical issue." With that said, Philip opened his booklet, 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 Finance Agency, oh, these data are all obtained from the official The data released every year is copied down, although the figures in official newspapers have always been watery, but they also have a certain reference value." "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 tax in Nulin Province began to decrease. It dropped to 2.2 million in the first year, and 1.8 million in the second year. And in the third year , 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 troops to death." 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 Very clever, as an excellent administrative official, he is much better at this than those military guys. Those guys in the military were blinded by him at the beginning and didn't take it to heart, but they waited until the decree came into effect , the production of grain in the Northwest region has decreased a lot! And food is the biggest trump card to restrain the Northwest Army. , the stronger it is! This is a means of weakening, although it is somewhat...but very effective." "Of course, if we blindly reduce food production and neglect farming, the Northwest Army will be weakened, but civilian life 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 Northwest Region belongs to Governor Bohan in terms of command, but in Regarding the supply of materials...according to the wartime regulations, they are distributed by the Northwest Army. Therefore, the equipment of the local garrison in the entire northwest region is very backward, and supplies are often delayed. The combat effectiveness of the local garrison is low, and Baron Bohan has nothing to do about it .Although he has money in his hand, 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, I will report him on the charge of interfering in military affairs. However, I have reason to suspect that Governor Bohan has also done some tricks secretly. At least I know that the local garrison in Mulan City is well equipped, and the daily training is very good. Very formal." "Generally speaking, the current situation in the Northwest is that Governor Bohan alone supports the overall situation and confronts 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 in a confrontation for several years. At present, generally speaking, the Northwest Army has the upper hand. However, the biggest trump card in the hands of the Northwest Army 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, and it is an extremely absurd thing that a wartime order twenty years ago is still in use today. " "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. It has to be said that this is an act of showing off force. Let me see Come on, the empire wants to eradicate the curse of the Northwest. 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 didn't 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 in front of him. This young aristocrat still had the immature features 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 just say this 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 this 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 somewhat 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, wouldn't he be swallowed up by those warlords to the point where there's nothing 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 Big Ear City, Du Wei revealed this temperament in his words during the past few days.It can be said that Philip has been completely convinced by 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. With such a decisive young man coming to the northwest, will he be able to bring stability to the northwest... or will 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."