Chapter 74: Minister Defends the Frontier for a Marquis (Part 4)

"… Was it the advisor who said that again?" Han Gang asked.

"No… wrong!" Wang Hou was really drunk, and he said things he shouldn't have. With his drunken eyes, he said dizzily, "The lord said that Chancellor Wang's Green Sprout Loan was… to fill the national treasury and raise military funds, and had nothing to do with saving the people from hardship. Otherwise, why would it be so urgent? The Balanced Transport Law had just caused a huge uproar, and the six road transport commissioners in charge of the Balanced Transport, Xue Xiang, received so many impeachment papers that they could stack up to his height. But after just two months, the Green Sprout Loan was pushed out again? Yuku, do you know what the Green Sprout Loan is?"

Of course, Han Gang knew what the Green Sprout Loan was, as this policy originated from the Shaanxi Road. It was first introduced by the former Shaanxi Transport Commissioner, Li Can. In the year, the hardest time for farmers was when the green sprouts just started to grow, and the old crops were exhausted. Many farmers would borrow high-interest loans from wealthy households at this time, eventually going bankrupt due to the rolling interest.

Li Can, aware of this, lent grain or money from the Ever-Normal Granary to farmers in the spring, to be repaid with interest in the autumn. Of course, this interest was much lower than the usual private loans. When Wang Anshi was in office, he also implemented a similar loan system, and it was said that the people benefited greatly, benefiting both the public and private sectors. However, now that Wang Anshi was promoting the Green Sprout Loan, the purpose was to accumulate wealth, and the essence of saving the people was secondary.

Han Gang laughed. In politics, the purpose was not important; the result was the key. "I've heard that the interest on the Green Sprout Loan is only two percent. The 'summer loan' is borrowed before the end of January and repaid at harvest time, and the 'autumn loan' is borrowed before the end of May and repaid at harvest time. Both loans have an interest rate of two percent. Converted to an annual interest rate, it's only four percent. Even if the purpose is not for the people's livelihood, the implementation still benefits both the public and private sectors…"

If he could have borrowed money at two percent interest back then, his family wouldn't have had to sell their land. Unfortunately, the only option for Han Gang's parents was Li Lazi's high-interest loans. Li Lazi had used high-interest loans to exploit a third of the village's land, and many families had fathers who died without paying off their debts, leaving their sons to continue paying. Han Qianliu would rather sell the land than borrow, fearing it would burden his descendants. And in every village, there were people like Li Lazi. They were the wealthy families in the countryside, and if the Green Sprout Law were implemented, it would cut off their source of income and take away their business.

"But…" Han Gang's tone turned cold, "it won't be welcomed by the powerful gentry and noble families."

Where one side benefits, the other must suffer. If the government reduced the annual interest rate on loans to forty percent, the poor would be happy, and the government would receive a substantial income. However, the wealthy families and powerful clans who had accumulated wealth through high-interest loans would certainly be resentful. In this era, investment opportunities were limited. Besides land, many officials, imperial relatives, wealthy merchants, and rich people relied on high-interest loans to make money. An annual interest rate of five percent was considered fair, six or seven percent was the starting point, and a rate where the interest equaled the principal, known as 'doubling interest,' was the most common.

Han Gang had learned about class theory in middle school, and although the course was boring, it became a profound truth when applied to society. Once the warm, patriotic, and people-loving facade was stripped away, one could clearly see the cannibalistic nature behind many statements and actions. Individuals might betray class interests, but the class itself would never betray its own interests.

Wang Anshi wanted to fill the national treasury, taking food from the tiger's mouth, which would offend the ruling class of officials, wealthy families, and powerful clans. It would be a miracle if they didn't all oppose him. Of course, based on the prevailing风气 of 'gentlemen do not speak of profit,' no one would openly shout for their own interests, but they would always find seemingly righteous reasons.

"The lord said the same thing," Wang Hou shook his head vigorously, trying to sober up. "But as long as the emperor sees the treasury full, there won't be any problems for at least a few years. Now, Chancellor Wang is promoting the Green Sprout Loan nationwide, first in Hebei, Hedong, and Shaanxi. Qin Prefecture is on the border with many barbarians and is at war with the Western Xia, so there's no movement, but the prefectures and states in the Guandong region have already prepared the capital, waiting for next spring."

"But at least it will take until after the summer and autumn harvests next year for the treasury to be replenished," Han Gang said solemnly. If the Green Sprout Loan's income was the only source, Wang Shao's actions would be delayed for at least half a year. The longer it took, the more disadvantageous it would be for Wang Shao. Without visible results, Wang Anshi wouldn't wait indefinitely.

"Yuku, you don't know. Since Li Shizhong took office, he has used the lack of funds as an excuse. The lord wanted to build the Weiyuan Fort (now Weiyuan County) and open a market there, but he pushed it off, saying there wasn't enough money. If the lord insisted on building the fort, he wouldn't refuse, but he would deduct part of the funds from the supplies for the northern forts. Yuku, can the lord touch that money?"

"No," Han Gang sighed and shook his head. If Wang Shao touched that money, he wouldn't be able to stay in the Qin-Feng Road. Li Shizhong controlled the finances of Qin Prefecture. Even if Wang Shao was favored by the emperor and the chancellor, Li Shizhong was his direct superior and had many ways to suppress him. "So we have to wait for the interest from the Green Sprout Loan to come in. Then Li Jinglei won't have any excuses… No, at that time, we won't even need to go through Li Jinglei. We can directly order the Shaanxi Transport Commissioner to transfer the money to the advisor. After all, Chancellor Wang is already heavily indebted, and he won't care about Li Shizhong's resentment."

"That's right, that's what the lord thinks… Chancellor Wang's promotion of the Balanced Transport Law and the Green Sprout Loan are all about accumulating wealth. The lord can't stand it, but for his lifelong wish, he can only…"

Wang Hou's voice suddenly stopped. Without drinking, his drunkenness faded, and he finally realized he had said too much. He nervously said to Han Gang, "Yuku, you can't tell anyone else about this."

Han Gang smiled lightly, his smile tinged with sarcasm. There was no way around it; at this time, people valued the reputation of treating money like dirt and were wary of openly pursuing profit. But privately discussing it a bit was no big deal.

"Chancellor Wang's promotion of the new laws for financial reasons has already caused a huge uproar in the court. The opposition will only grow louder. Chancellor Wang has carried the weight of the nation for thirty years before entering the court. It's unknown how long his reputation can last. But if he can subdue the Hehuang Tibetans within three to five years, even if Chancellor Wang falls, it won't affect the advisor."

Wang Hou nodded, "The title of Marquis is my father's lifelong wish. He doesn't want to get involved in the court's affairs; he only hopes to peacefully recover Hehuang."

"That's the hardest part. How many great generals can the emperor trust? Three people can make a tiger, and even with Zengzi's virtue, his mother was still confused. Can the emperor's trust in the advisor compare to the close relationship between Zengzi and his mother?"

Zengzi was a disciple of Confucius and was known for his virtue. Once, a man with the same name as him committed a murder. Friends and relatives, upon hearing this, rushed to Zengzi's mother, urging her to flee to avoid being implicated. After the first and second warnings, Zengzi's mother didn't believe it, but by the third time, she jumped out the window and ran away.

Wang Hou was confused by Han Gang's words. Drunk, his mind was slow, "Yuku, you said earlier that even if Chancellor Wang falls, it won't affect my father. Why are you now saying my father will be affected by three people making a tiger?"

"Still don't understand?" Han Gang said calmly, "What I'm actually talking about is time! The advisor must achieve results before Chancellor Wang loses patience and must recover Hehuang before Chancellor Wang loses the emperor's trust! If time is wasted, there won't be another opportunity like this."

Wang Hou suddenly understood, nodding repeatedly, "That's what you mean." But he immediately sighed, "It's easy to say, but hard to do! Unless we can get rid of Li Shizhong."

Regarding the problem of Li Shizhong, Wang Hou had mentioned it intentionally or unintentionally before. Han Gang had thought of many ways, but none of them seemed good, "Getting rid of one Li Shizhong will just bring another Zhang Shizhong. Unless the advisor can become the Prefect of Qin Prefecture, no current governor would strongly support the advisor, even if he has the hard work but no credit."

"Become the Prefect of Qin Prefecture? Where is the qualification for that?" Wang Hou smiled bitterly, "My father has only been a Jinshi for twelve years. He has only served as a clerk and a judicial officer, and then he resigned and traveled in Shaanxi after failing the imperial examination. His experience is too shallow. Not to mention Qin Prefecture, a key city, even a minor prefecture, he can't serve as. With this experience, he can barely be a county magistrate, and being a vice-prefect is a stretch. At most, he could be a military commander. Otherwise, why wouldn't the emperor directly appoint my father as the Prefect of Qin Prefecture, but only give him the position of advisor to the governor?"

"Commander?" A flash of inspiration crossed Han Gang's mind.

In the Song Dynasty, the administrative divisions at the prefecture level included prefectures, military commands, and supervisory offices. For example, Chang'an was the Jingzhao Prefecture, and north of Qin Prefecture was the Deshun Military Command. In Sichuan, there was the Fushun Supervisory Office due to the rich salt wells. Generally, prefectures that were former capitals or where the emperor had once resided were upgraded to prefectures, which were usually half a level higher than prefectures, equivalent to a vice-provincial city in modern times.

Military commands were strategic key areas with insufficient population and only one or two counties, not enough to be a prefecture, so they were called military commands, equivalent to county-level cities directly under the province in Han Gang's understanding. As for supervisory offices, they were large state-owned mining groups at the prefecture level.

"If a military command were established west of Qin Prefecture, would the advisor have a chance to become the commander?"

"Weiyuan? A tiny fort with only a few hundred households!"

"Not Weiyuan, but Guwei!" From Fugang City, going upstream along the Wei River for 180 li, one reaches Guwei (now Longxi County), named after the Wei Prefecture of the Tang Dynasty. Another 60 li away is Weiyuan.

"Guwei has been a fort for over twenty years, and the number of Han and barbarian households around the fort is no less than a thousand, enough to support the basic population of a military command!" Han Gang became more and more excited. The governor's office only controlled the military, not the finances. Once Wang Shao became the new commander of Guwei, Weiyuan would be under Guwei's jurisdiction, and Li Shizhong would have no way to control Wang Shao's funds.

At the same time, in the northwest border, upgrading a county to a military command or a fort to a military command was very common. Zhenrong Military Command (now Guyuan) in the north of Weizhou was upgraded from Gaoping Fort in the third year of Zhidao (997 AD), with a population of only a little over a thousand. Deshun Military Command in the northeast of Qin Prefecture was upgraded from Longgan City in the third year of Qingli (1043 AD). Establishing Guwei as a military command would only need the approval of the Council of State and the emperor's consent, with no further obstacles.

"Guwei… military command…" Wang Hou muttered, his eyes getting brighter. With a loud slap on the table, he jumped up and pulled Han Gang's arm, "Let's go see the lord!"