Chapter 451: Dispatching Troops in May
The princes of the Central Plains had different thoughts. While Tian Ze was watching coldly, he was also busy with his own affairs.
The enemy's weakness is certainly welcome, but only by strengthening ourselves can we be truly invincible.
During the winter when the war was at a standstill, a massive cleansing operation broke out in Da Qi.
The fall of a large number of officials is undoubtedly a key step, but it is only the beginning.
Immediately afterwards, countless businessmen, wealthy families, and emerging local tyrants and clan forces were liquidated one by one.
Before this, Tian Ze was busy with war and development and had no time to take care of these potential problems. Now looking back, he was shocked to find that signs of corruption had quietly appeared under his rule.
No matter how good a policy is, it still needs people to implement it. No matter how frequently a room is cleaned, there will always be new dust accumulated.
Even if local tyrants have fallen, they will rise again if given the opportunity, because they know too well how to exploit human nature to get rich.
As peace was restored under the rule, a considerable wealth gap began to emerge among the refugees who were once equally impoverished.
Especially as the scale of merchants and workers continues to expand, the gap between the rich and the poor continues to widen.
The reason why agriculture was emphasized and commerce was suppressed during the feudal period was not because the benefits of commerce were not apparent, but because productivity was insufficient and allowing commerce to develop would do more harm than good.
The reason why Tian Ze was able to push forward all the way was because of his productivity. Without this premise, no matter how hard he tried, it would be in vain.
But even so, Tian Ze could only ensure that most people had enough food and clothing, and that there were basically no people starving to death.
Among these, factors such as the increase in the price of human life and the population size assessment of officials under his command account for a large part of the reasons.
Among the invisible characters, there are many who take advantage of others’ misfortune.
There are many cases where local clans form groups to oppress the people, deceive and collude with the government.
The practices of officials exploiting and manipulating the people at all levels, and businessmen manipulating prices and harming the people are also rampant and cannot be stopped despite repeated bans.
After all, in this era, information communication channels are extremely difficult. Tian Ze governs a vast territory and it is impossible for him to cover everything. Even the channels for information feedback are extremely poor.
Fortunately, Tian Ze introduced paper money early on and formulated and promoted more precise and scientific standards for weight, volume and other related issues, which invisibly resolved many problems.
At the very least, loopholes such as fire consumption and large and small buckets have been reduced. Although it is still impossible to completely prevent some people from taking advantage of loopholes, the situation has improved after all.
Moreover, following clues such as abnormal flow of banknotes can also facilitate the investigation and handling of problems.
"Alas, human greed is truly unstoppable!"
The cleanup work, which lasted for several months, finally came to a temporary end after the Qingming Festival.
Tian Ze looked at the summary submitted by Tian Feng and couldn't help but sigh.
He knew very well that what was discovered in this cleanup operation would certainly not be all, and it would be good if he could find 70% or 80% of them. Subsequent investigations must not stop.
Moreover, this is only a temporary solution. If we want to solve the problem fundamentally, more in-depth reforms are needed.
Things change with time. With the development of the governance, more and more new contradictions and new problems emerge. The seemingly perfect system needs to be refined, improved and even reshaped.
At this point, Chen Gong and others, who were already very busy, finally lived in the State Council.
After all, the issues investigated this time involve all aspects and the system is too large.
This matter cannot be solved by one person alone. Most of the senior officials of the twelve ministries will have to be deeply involved in it, and it will also take a considerable amount of time.
This would undoubtedly slow down the development under his rule, but Tian Ze still made this decision resolutely.
A thousand-mile dam is destroyed by an ant hole. If some problems are not solved now, they will take more time to solve in the future. For Yu Tianze, there are still many advantages to carrying out drastic reforms again now.
If we wait until the world is completely unified before taking action, the resistance will undoubtedly be much greater.
"Your Majesty, after all this trouble you've made, I'm afraid Gongtai will go on strike again." Cheng Yu sighed.
In this massive purge operation, the one who was most worried among all the officials under Tian Ze was not Chen Gong and Tian Feng, but him.
Because he knew Tian Ze's character very well, and he could not tolerate any sand in his eyes. Although he no longer insisted on black and white, he never relaxed his insistence on clean administration.
Once the action is taken, it will absolutely turn the world upside down, and a huge amount of manpower and material resources will inevitably be invested.
When it comes to domestic affairs, it is not enough to just identify the problems. If we do not properly resolve the problems and establish long-term mechanisms to resolve them, they will inevitably recur over time.
It is difficult to achieve the level of administration required by Tian Ze.
Chen Gong would certainly be sleepless because of this, and his original plan to send troops would probably be delayed, changed, or even shelved because of this.
This was what he least wanted to see.
He could understand Tian Ze and Chen Gong's decision very well, but their positions were different. In his heart, going south to unify the world was always the top priority.
"What's the matter? Did you get rejected again at the public platform?" Tian Ze looked at Cheng Yu, who looked a little depressed, and smiled faintly.
"We originally planned to send out troops in April, but now it is Qingming Festival and we haven't even gathered half of the required manpower and food supplies. Judging from the current progress, I'm afraid it will be difficult to send out troops in May." Cheng Yu said.
Tian Ze couldn't help but frown when he heard this.
It's rare to have both in this world!
Development and military are always difficult issues that are difficult to balance in this era.
"The opportunity for war is fleeting, and we cannot delay any longer. Tell the public official that the government affairs will be temporarily handed over to Zi Bu to lead, and make sure that the troops are dispatched before May without delay."
Yizhou is a crucial piece of the puzzle in Tian Ze's overall strategy, and Tian Ze will not allow any mistakes to happen no matter what.
"promise!"
Hearing Tian Ze's words, Cheng Yu immediately bowed respectfully in excitement.
That's what he wanted.
Even though Cheng Yu is the Minister of War, if he really wants to fight a big battle, he still has to look to Chen Gong, the Minister of Finance, for his opinion.
After all, the army cannot move without food and fodder, and even the bravest army cannot go to war on an empty stomach.
"By the way, how are your preparations for the attack on Yizhou? Can you ensure that everything will go well?" Tian Ze suddenly asked.
Before this, Cheng Yu had already communicated with him about the strategy of attacking Yizhou. He was deeply surprised but had to admit that Cheng Yu's strategy was indeed very feasible. However, there were still some risks, so Tian Ze was still a little worried.
"Your Majesty, rest assured. I will ensure that everything goes well." Cheng Yu issued the military order without hesitation.
Although Yizhou was blocked by natural barriers and was extremely difficult to attack, they had a huge advantage in this battle.
With poor information, poor technology, and poor combat power, coupled with the secret plans made in advance by Jia Xu and others, he really couldn't think of any possibility of losing this battle.
Unless Liu Bei’s army directly entered Chengdu right from the start.
(End of this chapter)
