Chapter 319 Liangzhou Governor
Chapter 319 Liangzhou Governor (Part )
Five days later, Xiao Xia led an army of 6,000 and arrived at Chenliu County, Liang County.
Chief Clerk Zhou Mo, Sima Liu Huan and Recorder Military Officer Zhao Guangcai led dozens of officials to the outside of the city to welcome the arrival of the new governor.
With Liu Wenjing's advance coordination, many things became very convenient. First of all, the military camps were ready and food supplies were in place.
Six thousand troops entered the military camp, and Xiao Xia was surrounded by people and came to the General's Mansion. Zhou Mo held a simple inauguration ceremony, and Xiao Xia officially took office as the General of Liangzhou.
The governor of Liangzhou was in charge of Xingyang County, Liang County and Dong County. This area was densely populated with government soldiers. There were nearly twenty generals' mansions, with a total of 20,000 government soldiers. Together with the 6,000 private soldiers brought by Xiao Xia, there were 26,000 people in total.
The Fubing system was a military system unique to the Sui and Tang dynasties. The imperial court granted soldiers land and exempted them from taxes. Soldiers worked as farmers in normal times and as soldiers in their spare time. They were trained in a centralized manner or went to Beijing to serve as guards.
The government soldiers usually did not receive any salary. The imperial court gave them land and exempted them from taxes, so of course it was impossible to give them any salary. Not only did they not receive any salary, but they also had to provide their own light weapons such as bows and arrows and swords. Moreover, their service time was very long. They joined the government soldiers at the age of seventeen or eighteen and could only retire when they were old. The land was given to their sons, who continued to serve as government soldiers.
In other words, if you wanted to take the imperial land, you had to perform lifelong military service as a price, 360 days a year, basically half farmer and half soldier.
The fubing system actually served in the army for the land. Once the land was annexed and the land as a foundation was gone, the fubing would no longer exist. Therefore, after the middle Tang Dynasty, the fubing system basically disappeared and was replaced by a recruitment system. The Jiedushi truly controlled the army from then on.
Although Emperor Yang Jian abolished the military system and did not allow powerful families to have private soldiers, there are exceptions to everything. He did not allow others to have private soldiers, but was very tolerant towards his son and allowed his son to have a small number of private soldiers.
The 6,000 people brought by Xiao Xia were the private army recruited by King of Han Yang Liang. The soldiers were mainly unemployed vagrants from various counties in Guanzhong.
The biggest difference between private armies and government soldiers is that private armies have salaries but no land, while government soldiers have land but no salaries. Secondly, government soldiers are fixed by the land. Wherever the land is, the soldiers are there. However, recruited soldiers follow their masters. Wherever the master goes, they will follow.
Although the recruited soldiers received salaries, the government soldiers were not envious. They had land, and the annual output from the land and tax exemptions meant their income was no less than that of the recruited soldiers.
Moreover, when the soldiers finish their military service, they will have nothing, but the land of the soldiers will still exist and can be passed on to their descendants. This is the most important thing.
After Xiao Xia took office as the general manager, the first problem he had to solve was the military salaries for the recruits. He couldn't afford it all by himself, so it had to be borne by the general manager's office. This was the condition he had agreed upon with the prince.
Secondly, the prince promised to give him Liangzhou’s taxes from last year to offset the property robbed by Yang Jun.
Xiao Xia's official residence was located directly north of the general manager's office. It was a courtyard with two entrances. The inner courtyard was his official residence, and the outer courtyard was the official residence of his staff.
The Sui Dynasty's General Administration Office had great power. It not only had military power, but also administrative and financial power within its jurisdiction. It was subject to the following main restrictions: First, it could not build anything at will. The construction of large cities or building complexes had to be submitted to the court for approval before it could be implemented.
The second is that the army cannot cross regions. The 20,000 soldiers can only operate within the three counties, or go to Beijing for guarding. All cross-regional operations are mobilized by the court.
The third is that there is no personnel power. County officials are appointed and dismissed by the court, and the General Administration Office has no right to interfere.
Fourthly, the financial power is limited. Not all tax revenues within the jurisdiction belong to the General Administration Office. The General Administration Office can only take a part of it, the part that the court allocates to the General Administration Office. The rest of the money and grain still belongs to the court.
At this time, Xiao Xia was sitting in the official room, listening to the report from the Chief Clerk Zhou Mo. Sitting next to him were Liu Wenjing and Pei Wen'an. Xiao Xia had already made a division of labor between the two of them. Liu Wenjing was in charge of government affairs and finance, while Pei Wen'an was in charge of military affairs.
Sitting on the other side were Liu Huan and Zhao Guangcai, both of them were a little nervous.
Zhou Mo is about forty years old and has been in office for nearly twenty years. He is a very cautious person and dares not break the rules at will.
"Reporting to the General Manager, the General Manager's Office has the power to supervise county officials, but not the power to appoint and dismiss them. If we find that an official has committed corruption and abuse of power, we can report it to the court. The court will send an imperial censor to investigate, and the Ministry of Personnel will remove them from office."
Xiao Xia waved his hand and said, "I have the title of Chief Censor. I not only have the power of supervision, but also the power of inspection. I have the power to suspend and investigate officials who are corrupt and have caused great public outrage, and then directly request the Ministry of Personnel to remove them from office without going through the Censorate."
Zhou Mo laughed and said, "It turns out that the chief steward also has the title of Censor-in-Chief. That makes things much easier. The previous chief steward Hou Mochen did not have the title of Censor, so he had to file a request for supervision with the Censorate every time. It was very passive. With the power of supervision, the control over the local areas will be stronger."
Xiao Xia nodded. "Besides supervising officials, what other administrative powers does the General Manager have?" "There is also an assessment of the county's administration every six months. The governor not only reports to the court, but also to the General Manager's Office. It is a dual management. Secondly, if a disaster occurs, the General Manager's Office has the right to order the opening of warehouses for disaster relief. There are also local public security, mineral management, supervision of spring ploughing and autumn harvest, inventory counting, river dredging, bandit suppression, supervision of local imperial examinations, etc. These are all the powers of the General Manager's Office."
"Are there any difficulties at the moment?" Xiao Xia asked again.
"Reporting to the General Manager, the biggest problem at present is that the General Manager's Office is too involved, which weakens the power of the provincial governors and makes the local provincial governors dissatisfied. In addition, there are conflicts of interest."
“Where are the conflicts of interest?”
"There are conflicts of interest in all aspects. I can give a few examples. For example, farmers need to do labor for one month every year. The local government requires farmers to dredge the river, but the General Administration Office requires farmers to repair the city and military camps. This was the case last year. The General Administration Office and the Governor's Office had different opinions and finally parted on bad terms.
For another example, the city gates of each county were under the responsibility of the General Administration Office, which was equivalent to the necks of each county being strangled by the General Administration Office, and the local government would definitely be dissatisfied.
There are also farmers who break the law. If the farmer is a soldier, the General Administration will definitely intervene. Last year, a farmer in Puyang County, Dongjun, fought with his neighbor for water and beat the neighbor seriously. The farmer then ran back to the military headquarters to hide.
The county government came to the military camp to ask for the person, but he was not given. The county government also came, which was of no use. Finally, the case was brought to the chief steward Hou Mochen, who ordered the soldier to be severely beaten with fifty sticks and demoted from team leader to fire captain. The case was settled, but it had always dissatisfied the local government.
There are also conflicts over mineral interests, disputes over water between military and civilian fields, etc. In fact, it is the same in other places. To be honest, this is an institutional problem. Giving the General Administration Office administrative power will definitely lead to conflicts with local governments. "
Xiao Xia smiled and said, "We'll sort out these issues later! Regarding government affairs, I will delegate power to Mr. Liu, an aide. Mr. Zhou will discuss more with Mr. Liu in the future. Next, I want to know about the property of the General Administration Office. Sima Liu, come and tell me about it!"
Liu Huan bowed and said, "Reporting to the General Manager, the current tax is 30% to 70%, 70% goes to the court and 30% goes to the local government. However, the annual financial expenditure of the General Manager's Office is provided by the court, which falls into the 70% category."
"Wait a minute!"
Xiao Xia interrupted him and asked, "In other words, the local fiscal revenue has nothing to do with the General Administration Office?"
"That's right! It's precisely because the local government's finances cannot be controlled that there have always been many conflicts between the General Administration and the local government."
Xiao Xia pondered for a moment and asked, "Who is responsible for the transportation of taxes?"
"The General Administration Office is responsible for this. The General Administration Office also serves as the Transport Commissioner. All taxes must be transported to the transport warehouse, and then the Transport Commissioner compiles a report to the court. The court distributes the taxes and revenues, giving part to local governments, leaving part to the General Administration Office, and the rest to the court!"
Xiao Xia laughed and said, "Wouldn't this block the local government's financial resources?"
Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. Zhou Mo reminded in a low voice, "Reporting to the General Manager, once the court issues an order to allocate troops, the General Manager's Office must execute it to the letter, otherwise it would be against the court."
Xiao Xia smiled and said, "Normally it's fine, but if there's a war, that's another process."
Xiao Xia continued to ask Liu Huan: "Has last year's taxes been delivered to the court?"
"Not yet. The court has been urging us to do this. We need the signature of the chief steward, so we have to wait until the chief steward takes office before we can arrange the transfer."
Xiao Xia nodded, "We are very busy right now, and there are many places where we need ships. We will talk about transporting taxes to Beijing next month!"
Liu Huan quickly agreed, "I understand!"
Xiao Xia continued, "We talked about sources of income, but what about property? How much money and grain does the General Administration Office have at present, and how much assets does it have? And how much money and grain does the transfer warehouse have? I want a detailed list!"
(End of this chapter)