Chapter 195

Duvi, of course, will not take the 4000 rebels with him to the territory. After all, it was somewhat disgraceful. Of course, Du Wei did not expect to hide it from anyone, especially the Regent of the imperial capital. Du Wei believes that his actions are well known by Prince Chen. However, if he wants to gain a foothold in the northwest, he has to seize all the capital to gain a foothold. The four thousand rebel troops, more or less, are also within the tolerance of Prince Chen: His Highness has demoted the whole Rowling family. He sees that a large number of "sinners" of the Rowling family can't be used. Can't duvidan be a duke and go to the northwest empty handed?

I believe Prince Chen still has this capacity.

After all, this is not something that can be put on the table. Dewey used bribery to stop these 4000 people. If he took these 4000 people all the way to the northwest, he would not give the Regent face. It's just as well for everyone to make it known.

Knight Robert, with two hundred royal guards and four thousand rebels, marched quickly. Instead of taking the main road, he turned to the path and went to the territory first. Don't worry about the supplies along the way. With Duwei's official documents, the local garrison government along the way will provide food.

Du Wei, however, has to move forward slowly. Before arriving at the territory, Du Wei is ready to make a general survey of the situation in the northwest. It's one thing to hear a lot of things, but it's another thing to experience and see them with your own eyes.

Mulan, the capital of nurin Province, is not a big city if it is located in the prosperous central or southern part of the mainland. More than 100000 people. Second rate at best. But in the northwest, it is the most prosperous place in nurin province.

This is the last big city on the business road in Northwest China. Caravans from the south, caravans from the northwest, will meet here. All kinds of exotic goods from the southeast of the mainland, as well as cattle and sheep or fur merchants from the northwest grassland across the desert, will also stay here.

Just as the carriage approached the outskirts of Mulan, Dewey had opened the window. Enjoy looking at the scenery outside the window.

In Northwest China, due to geographical reasons, there is a wind season of one or two months every year. Although the kilimarro mountains are a natural barrier, blocking most of the strong winds, a large amount of dust will still be rolled in from the desert on the other side of the mountain every year.

The wind is strong and the sand is strong. This is the characteristic of Northwest China. So the buildings here will not be too high, such as the grand mansion of the imperial capital, or the tall tower which is often more than ten meters high, there is absolutely no land.

The whole Mulan City, the tallest building. It's the wall of Mulan city. The 12 meter high city wall is completely in line with the military system of the Empire.

Because of the common low buildings, this city with a population of more than 100000 covers a large area.

Because Knight Robert has sneaked with 4000 rebel light suits. The one who was responsible for leading the cavalry in front of the road was replaced by the leader of the 500 royal guards who was responsible for escorting Du Wei to the northwest this time. Although he was only a small officer of the 500 cavalry, the identity of the Royal Guards was naturally different.

In the south of Mulan City, it is the largest market here. Originally it was a town outside the city, it has evolved into the largest trading place for business groups from south to north. When Dewey's team passed by, they immediately felt the noisy atmosphere here.

When passing by on the road. Du Wei looked out at the fair not far away. There were many people in the market. There were many foreigners with flat noses, curled hair, dressed in cattle and sheep skins, businessmen from all over the Empire, horsemen, herdsmen, and shops with all kinds of leather goods. It's noisy.

But Dewey aimed his eyes at the merchants' money bags.

"My Lord. This is the largest trading place in Northwest China, although Mulan city has a small population. However, the annual business tax revenue is extremely objective. The land in Northwest China is poor and is not good at grain production. In particular, Mulan City, as the capital of nurin Province, has five times more business tax revenue than agricultural tax every year. "

It was a pretty young man sitting next to Dewey in the carriage who said this. His name is Philip. He is one of the top 80 disciples recommended by blue ocean scholars to Dewey. He was 28 years old, but he was born beautiful and looked like a teenager. His surname "Philip" should be an old aristocratic surname in Roland. This surname was once a famous family in the mainland before the establishment of the Roland empire a thousand years ago. However, it declined in the war of the reunification of the mainland. Today, the once prominent Philip family no longer exists.

Philip was born into a civilian family in the south of the imperial city. Among the 80 disciples recommended by the blue ocean scholars, he immediately got Du Wei's attention after a few short contacts. He is studious, steady, rigorous and quick witted. He is a very potential staff candidate.

What makes Dewey feel more valuable is that when he was young, Philip once came to the Northwest with a business group. When he was young, Philip used to study the local conditions and customs in mainland China, and he was very fascinated. With the encouragement of blue ocean scholars, the disciples of blue ocean were very disgusted with empty talk and keen on practical work. When he was young, Philip committed himself to join a business group, served as an accounting apprentice, and walked a large circle in the northwest.

Originally, Dewey did not expect that the situation in the northwest had been eroded to such a degree, but when he came out of the city of sin that day, he felt a kind of inexplicable absurdity about the so-called temporary regulations twenty years ago!

Twenty years have passed since the end of the war. Have the wartime theater regulations not been abolished? Let the army of a region control the financial power of the whole region? It even replaced the distribution right of the central empire. Can we interfere with the administrative power of local government at will?

This is ridiculous!

Isn't this a complete warlord? No wonder the Empire has never interfered in the situation in the northwest. In fact, it is powerless to interfere! After winning the northwest war, the old emperor Augustine VI didn't take any effective measures to solve the problem of the northwest war. Instead, he focused on Nanyang, which could make him continue to show off his power!

And the northwest army has almost become the local emperor of the northwest area! Such a military group controls the northwest. Fiscal revenue can be self-sufficient, bound by the imperial central government has become smaller and smaller, and even extremely exclusive!

Not to mention anything else, old Raymond told Dewey last time that there were two lords in the northwest region who were driven out by the northwest legion, and one of them lost his life... How arrogant this is?!

Who is the northwest army afraid of?!

After learning about these things, Dewey immediately found Philip, a disciple of lanhaimen, who is familiar with the northwest. Along the way, Philip stayed in Dewey's carriage and introduced to Dewey what he knew about the situation in the northwest. The more Du Wei heard behind, the more frightened he was! I can't help regretting that I didn't have a good talk with Philip earlier.

"The governor's office of nurin 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. Later, he was promoted by his achievements. When he was in the imperial capital, he worked in the finance department. I have no doubt that this guy has some ability. Moreover, the imperial Central Committee sent him to the northwest, which also showed that the control of the northwest army by the imperial Central Committee had aroused some vigilance. The Baron Bohan was sent to restore the authority of the Central Committee. He has done quite well in recent years. But the northwest is not the South after all. He is a good financial man. It's good to deal with government affairs, but it's worse in military affairs. Therefore, when facing the northwest army, his waist has not been hard. However, the northwest army insisted on the so-called wartime doctrine 20 years ago. According to that doctrine, the northwest army has the right to interfere in the local finance in the whole northwest. Every year, the local finance revenue should be set aside and not submitted to the imperial finance office. Instead, it was directly handed over to the northwest army to serve as military materials in the theater. Financial self-sufficiency is only one of them, but another situation that makes people helpless is that according to the temporary regulations, in the war zone, the commander-in-chief of the northwest army has the power to temporarily appoint some officers to be the officers of the war zone according to the needs of the war, and has the power to control the local government! This is the so-called "military government.". In this way, even the governments of some places have been elevated by the northwest army. "

Dewey frowned: "so, in the northwest. No one can control the warlords of the northwest army? "

"There are still." Philip thought for a moment. He was careful in his wording, after all, in his present position. He was just a civilian. When he talked about these powerful men, he didn't dare to be too sharp: "when I came to the northwest a few years ago, I felt that the situation in the northwest had been eroded to the extreme. At that time, I even... Well, I thought privately that if the central government of the Empire didn't do something, I'm afraid that in less than five years, the northwest would become the country of the country, Here, the authority of the imperial administrative documents is far less than that of the northwest military and local military orders. This is a very terrible thing, but in recent years, I am curious that the situation in the Northwest has actually leveled off. I have to say that it is thanks to Baron Bohan, the governor of nurin province. "

"Oh?" "Tell me about this Baron Bohan," Dewey asked, keeping an eye on him

"To be fair, my Lord, I really admire him." Philippe, a young man, did not hide his admiration: "I even think that Baron Bohan is the best talent of the Empire in the past 20 years! When he came to the northwest, the situation here was much worse than it is now! "

With that, Philip suddenly took out a thin pamphlet from a leather bag he had written with him, and said with a smile, "when the teacher asked us to follow you, I was already at home. I wrote down some of my views and understandings on the situation in the northwest over the years, and many of them were the decrees of Lord Bohan that I recorded. You'll find it very interesting if you study it carefully. "

Although the northwest army is located in the northwest, they still have one biggest weakness!

Food!

The northwest is not a grain producing area. The grain yield here is very low. Every year, the two provinces in the northwest rely on purchasing grain from other provinces on the mainland to meet their local needs. The food needed to feed an army of nearly 200000 people is not enough for the northwest region itself.

Therefore, the annual military provisions. They all had to buy food from the south of the Empire... Food became an important means for the central government of the Empire to restrain the northwest army.

Baron Bohan, too, has grasped this point!

There was a great weakness in the temporary regulations of that year, which was seized by the keen Baron Bohan. That is to say, the regulations stipulated that the northwest army could intercept the financial revenue of the local government in the northwest to supplement military funds, but... It was only limited to agricultural revenue!

"This doctrine has a strong epochal character, the era when it came into being. Where is there any business tax here? Not many businessmen are willing to risk their lives to do business in the northwest, although the cattle, sheep and horses of different nationalities in the northwest are in hot demand. At that time, the northwest was poorer than it is now. Most of the annual fiscal revenue was from agricultural taxes, and the wartime regulations were derived from this. That is to say... After the promulgation of the regulations, the northwest army can not intervene in the new taxes from other aspects received by the local government! This is a key issue. "

He said. Philip opened his pamphlet, turned to one of the pages, and said with a smile, "my Lord, please see, this is my statistics. According to the official statistics of the imperial finance department, oh, these data are copied from the official data published every year, although the official figures have always been watery. But there is also a certain reference. "

"Before Baron Bohan took office, the annual revenue of nurin province was 3.8 million gold coins, of which agricultural tax accounted for 2.4 million gold coins. This is a large proportion. But look at the latter. After Baron Bohan took office, in the next three years, the agricultural tax in nurin province began to decrease. In the first year, it dropped to 2.2 million, and in the second year, it was 1.8 million. And the third year. Suddenly it dropped to 1.2 million! Only half of the original! What does this represent... "

Du Wei's eyes flashed: "Baron Bohan wants to starve these northwest armies."

Philip laughed: "my Lord, the word" starve to death "is very accurate. In fact, after Baron Bohan took office, grain production in the whole province of nurin began to decrease! He passed a series of executive orders... These orders were very clever. As a good executive, he was much better than those in the military. Those in the military were hoodwinked by him at the beginning. I didn't take it to heart. As a result, by the time the decree came into effect, the grain production in Northwest China had been reduced a lot! And food. It's the biggest killer to restrict the northwest army. Every year, the northwest army relies on the purchase of grain to survive! With the decrease of grain production, the northwest army's dependence on the central government is becoming stronger! It's a means of weakening, some... But it's very effective. "

"Of course, if we blindly reduce grain production and neglect farming, the northwest army will certainly be weakened, but the civilian life in the northwest will become more and more difficult. In this respect, Baron Bohan has done a good job. He vigorously develops business, and the annual business tax revenue is rising. Now the financial revenue of nurin province is higher than that before Baron Bohan took office. "

"Of course, the northwest army is not without its own way, at least in terms of military strength, they have been firmly suppressing Baron Bohan. The local garrison in the northwest belongs to governor Bohan in terms of command, but in terms of material supply... According to the wartime regulations, it is distributed by the northwest army. Therefore, the equipment of the local garrison in the whole northwest region is very backward, and materials are often delayed. The fighting capacity of the local garrison was low, and Baron Bohan had nothing to do with it. Although he had money in his hand, he could not spend money to supplement the army, because it was against the imperial law! The northwest army is very clever in this respect, and has been staring at Baron Bohan firmly. If he dares to act rashly, he will report him for interfering in military affairs. However, I have reason to suspect that governor Bohan has done something in secret. At least I know that the local garrison in Mulan city is well equipped and the daily training is very regular. "

"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 pressing the northwest army on food, while the northwest army is pressing governor Bohan on military strength. The two sides have been at loggerheads 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 regulations twenty years ago. "

At the end of the day, Philip could not help complaining: "my Lord, this doctrine is the biggest reliance of the northwest army. A wartime doctrine twenty years ago has been used to this day. It's really ridiculous."

"But the central government of the Empire has never been able to abolish this doctrine, has it?" Dewey sighed.

"Not bad." Philip nodded and turned to another page: "you see, this is my record. The northwest army's spring drill is very strict every year. It's an act of showing off force. In my opinion, Baron Bohan's policy of weakening is very difficult for the Empire to eradicate the evils of the northwest, because even if it is further weakened, the military power is still in the hands of others. Unless... "

At this point, Philip did not dare to go on.

Duwei did not shy away 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. The young nobleman's face was still childish, but the cold light in his eyes and the sneer in the corner of his mouth were not so childish?

"Big, adult..." Philip forced a smile: "this can't be said casually."“ Hum Du Wei smiles and shakes his head: "I can only talk about it. Can the current national strength of the Empire support a civil war?" Philip's eyes darkened. He knew that Dewey was telling the truth! If we want to eradicate the chaos in the northwest completely, we can only maintain a balance by weakening and restraining without means of thunder. If you want to eradicate it, you must be willing to pay a painful price! It's just the price... Can the Empire afford it now? Philip couldn't help looking at the Duchess. Frankly speaking, when the teacher recommended himself to the tulip Duke, Philip was still a little skeptical. After all, although the Duke has a great reputation, his age is hardly convincing. A young man who is less than 15 years old can't be swallowed up by the warlords when he goes to the land of tigers and wolves in the northwest? Even if he is a powerful magician how! This kind of thing, the individual strong cannot control everything! But with the deep talk with Dewey these days, Philip felt more and more that the Duke was extraordinary. Since he quietly got a complete infantry regiment from big ear City, Du Wei's words have revealed this temperament in the past few days. It can be said that Philip has been completely convinced of the teacher's arrangement. The Duchess is definitely worthy of his own service! However, the chill in Dewey's eyes and words occasionally worried Philip. Such a determined young man, when he comes to the northwest, can he bring stability to the Northwest... Or is it a big chaos“ Philip With a smile on his face, Dewey woke up the thoughtful staff: "look, it's almost the gate. I think the governor must have sent someone to meet us. I really want to meet the governor of birham, whom you have so much in mind