Flowers in full bloom

Chapter 501 Double Standards

"This is actually helping the court to reduce the burden of farming. After all, there are so many fields in Mobei, and there are not many people there, so they definitely can't finish farming.

There are so many soldiers in the barracks, and there is no need to fight now, so there are many vacancies. Retirement is not possible, after all, the border is so long and needs to be patrolled.

Then they won't retire, and the soldiers who are supposed to patrol will still go on patrol on time, and those who stay in the barracks can be divided into batches, some for training, some for farming, and they can take turns. This way, the soldiers won't waste manpower when defending, and it will kill two birds with one stone. "Hua Lei added.

"What good will that do us?" Pei Jingyang stroked his chin and thought, "Your Majesty is very smart, whether it is cutting the military pay by 10% or 20%, or the tax silver to be paid from the military farms.

We will definitely not be allowed to take advantage. If the soldiers work themselves to death every day, only to have their work done in vain, they will not be happy about it.”

"The benefit of doing this, for the imperial court, is that it solves the problem of too much wasteland in Mobei that no one can cultivate, and it also saves the trouble of transporting rice over long distances.

For you and the army, you are now the commander of Mobei. If you put forward this suggestion, on the one hand, it shows your loyalty to the court. On the other hand, it puts the hidden initiative in your hands and turns the passive situation into the active one.

Moreover, I have also read in books that there are many military households in Mobei, but the land they can be allocated is very small, but the taxes they have to pay are much more than ordinary people.

If you can secure the right to farm and support the troops, you can also lighten the burden on the military households in disguise. This way, the soldiers will have better cohesion, right?

Otherwise, there are two possibilities: first, the court will delay or reduce military pay; second, it will reduce the number of soldiers, and then the same patrol mission will be performed with fewer patrol soldiers. This will be disadvantageous to both the barracks and you.

Of course, by then, the army will have to decide how much land to cultivate, how to pay taxes on the output from the cultivation, whether to hand over a small portion, or not to pay at all and use the tax to offset military pay.

You may need to discuss this with your grandfather and find a balance based on the actual situation."

Hua Lei said these words not to encourage Hou Fu and Pei Jingyang to rebel. Military farming and raising soldiers were very common in peacetime.

As the largest supplier of supplies for the Mobei military camp, Hua Lei clearly felt that since the great victory of Mobei, the supplies needed were nearly a quarter more than before because of the new recruits for replenishment and patrol.

However, except for the rewards given by Emperor Shengwu at the beginning of the great victory in Mobei, there were several times in the following years when military pay was delayed.

There are of course many reasons for this, but Pei Jingyang, as the commander of the Mobei army, would find it difficult to serve as the commander if there were any problems with military pay and the army's morale became unstable.

If something happens to Pei Jingyang, the probability of something happening to the Marquis' Mansion may not be 100%, but it is at least 99.99%.

Although Old Marquis Pei, Pei Jingyang, and Rong Jin all felt that the Marquisate was now of the second rank and did not want to move up any further, lest it attract attention.

But, in fact, no matter how low-key you are, the Zhenbei Marquis Mansion is already a place where the wind will come to your head. Moreover, if the people above don't like you, even if you are humble, they will still come up and step on you.

In recent years, not to mention that Pei Jingyang and Pei Jingyuan have firmly grasped the military power in Mobei and are firmly in charge, Pei Jingxuan, who works in the Ministry of Revenue, has been successfully promoted to the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue after his three-year term expired.

Pei Jingyan, who returned before the New Year, has already been appointed as the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of War. Pei Jingping, who has not yet returned to the capital, has already been a Tongpan a few years ago, and it is very likely that he will be promoted in a year or two.

And Rong Jin is now working in the Hanlin Academy, an important office that is considered to be the "Emperor's private office", so he has a bright future.

Although Pei Rongyu's performance in the martial arts exam was mediocre, with the help of his family, he is now working in the military department. After getting married in the second half of the year, he will most likely go to Mobei.

At that time, I will work with Pei Jingyang and his brother. Although I will probably have to start from the bottom, there are still prospects. It just takes a longer period of time.

In addition, Ruyi's husband, Tang Yuancheng, is now serving as the prefect of Wuling Prefecture, and the husbands of Agate and Zhenzhu are also doing very well in several military positions in the capital.

Except for Pei Jingan who was not in good health, almost all the people in the Marquis' Mansion made a brilliant appearance. Compared with the Crouching Tigers and Hidden Dragons in Dingxi Marquis' Mansion, the current Zhenbei Marquis' Mansion is not much behind.

So Hualei proposed this suggestion. Moreover, as far as the current situation is concerned, it is indeed helping the court to share the burden.

"Lei'er, you haven't told anyone about this, right? Let's go to Jin'er's grandfather now." Pei Jingyang said to Hua Lei while tidying up the maps on the table.

Hua Lei shook her head. She had thought about this matter ever since she heard that the imperial court was going to build the prefecture in Mobei. She also sorted it out based on the examples she had seen in history books.

But she hadn't told Rong Jin in advance, because she was too busy preparing for the wedding. And today, Pei Jingyang happened to be looking for her, so Hua Lei brought it up directly.

"Father, I think it will take at least two years, and at most five or six years, for the court to build a provincial capital. If you don't propose to cultivate the land, your soldiers will probably be drafted to help build the provincial capital.

If you build a state capital, you won't be able to provide your soldiers with additional salary subsidies in addition to the existing military pay. Isn't this unfriendly to you and your soldiers?" Hua Lei said again.

Pei Jingyang paused for a moment and said thoughtfully, "Then...Lei'er, do you have any ideas?"

“I think that if building a state capital requires transferring troops from your barracks, and farming also requires transferring troops from your barracks, then comparing the two, farming is more cost-effective.

Once you get the land, it is yours forever and you can use it repeatedly, and the harvest is an additional subsidy.

But when building a state capital, even if there is a subsidy when helping to build it, it is a one-time subsidy. Once it is completed, it is completed. It is not like farmland, which can be reused repeatedly, and farmland has durability. "

"Sister Hua is right. Indeed, comparing the two, military farming is better than helping to build the provincial capital. However, this also depends on the emperor's opinion. Does he agree?" Rong Jin said on the side.

Pei Jingyang nodded and said, "Well, your ideas are good. Let's go to my father first and discuss it."

As he spoke, he locked the drawer, took out a bunch of keys from another corner and threw them to Rong Jin.