Poor Family Chapter 658

  Chapter 658 Insufficient military expenditure

No one could have imagined the final result. The ring challenge ended in a tie, which surprised everyone. Although the fifth flying stone hit Gao Chong's left shoulder, the flying stone was not a flying knife. Although Gao Chong lost half a point first, but in the end Successfully used the gun to force Miss Hu and won the winning point. It stands to reason that Gao Chong should be sentenced to victory.

   But as the discussion among the soldiers deepened, many soldiers realized something suspicious, that is, Gao Chong's victory was won by Hu Sanniang who gave up resistance. Why did Hu Sanniang give up resistance? Could there be a secret trick that they didn't discover?

Gao Chong was extremely dissatisfied with this result. He went directly to the main tent of the Chinese army and protested loudly to several generals: "If you lose, you lose. Will I not admit it? A tie is ridiculous. It was obviously used by Miss Hu. The flying knife shot me first, if she didn't shoot me, but shot the horse's leg instead, would I still be able to sit on the horse? She was merciful because she was afraid of hurting my horse, how could I fight this without knowing what to do? Face, this is an insult to me!"

  Li Yanqing smiled and said: "The reason why the two leaders were judged is not because of your face, but because the army cannot make the decision that Sanniang will win."

   "Why?" Gao Chong was stunned.

  Beside Han Shizhong said: "Because Miss Hu is not a general in the army, she can't get the leader, so she can only tie for the leader. You have to read the written decision. It doesn't mean a tie, but a tie for the leader."

  Although Gao Chong is proud and arrogant, he is not arrogant. Seeing that several of his superiors have reached a consensus, he bows and salutes.

   "Just what?" Li Yanqing smiled and said, "General Gao might as well speak out what's on his mind, we will try our best to consider General Gao's feelings."

  Gao Chong sighed and said: "The humble officer was stabbed first in the leg, and few people saw it. The humble officer doesn't want the soldiers to misunderstand Miss Hu. If they lose, they will lose. The humble officer can afford it."

  Han Shizhong smiled and said: "Since General Gao can afford it, then I will talk to the generals at the bottom later and tell the truth."

   "Thank you Commander Han, I will leave my humble post!"

  Gao Chong saluted, turned around and left, Li Yanqing saw that Gao Chong was walking with a slight limp, so he asked, "General Gao, the injury on your leg is okay!"

  Gao Chong shook his head, "A little flesh injury, it will be fine in two days."

He saluted and then turned around and left. After Gao Chong stepped back, Cao Xing smiled and said, "I'll just say it! Gao Chong refuses to accept this co-leader. He is so proud! If he loses, he will compete next time." When I come back, I will never accept humility from others."

In fact, this was the result of Hu Qing'er's resolute refusal to accept the leader. Li Yanqing had no choice but to think of a way to tie for the first place, but Gao Chong refused to accept it. Yanqing explained the truth and did not object to the plan of being the leader, which made Li Yanqing slightly relieved.

  Li Yanqing said to Mo Jun, who joined the army, the recorder at the side: "The imperial court accepts it for the time being, and the army will make Sanniang a partial general first, and then formally recruit 500 female soldiers. The female barracks will be arranged by sir."

Mo Jun smiled and said: "I am going to set up the female barracks next to the intelligence camp, divide the military barracks into single battalions, separate them with barracks, and set up female soldiers' sentries. I am already preparing military uniforms. I wonder if there are any special requirements for the command? "

  Li Yanqing thought for a while and said, "Let me think about the military uniforms for female soldiers. Anyway, they don't need to go to the front line, and they don't need too heavy armor."

  At this moment, Mo Jun hesitated for a moment, but said nothing more.

Li Yanqing's idea of ​​setting up a female barracks was supported by Han Shizhong and Cao Xing. They all knew that women played an irreplaceable role in the care of wounded soldiers. Resolutely opposed to camping prostitutes, and not opposed to military doctors nursing female soldiers. In addition, Hu Sanniang performed extremely well today, Liu Qi finally accepted the plan to set up a female military camp.

  Another commander, Wang Gui, basically supported whatever Li Yanqing said, without any resistance. All four commanders agreed with this plan, and the establishment of a female barracks was a matter of course.

  Everyone discussed military affairs again, Han Shizhong and others left, and only Li Yanqing and Mo Jun were left in the camp. "What did you want to say just now?" Li Yanqing asked with a smile.

  Mo Jun sighed slightly: "Liu Fang said today that expenses are a little tight!"

  Li Yanqing was startled, and immediately turned around and said, "Hurry up and invite Liu Canjun!"

  Liu Fang served as Li Yanqing's secretary and joined the army, in charge of documents. In addition, Jing Zhaojun's small treasury was also in charge of him.

There are three main military expenditures for the Jingzhao Army. One is the planned military expenditure, which is the cost of the 15,000 troops recognized by the imperial court. This is borne by the imperial court. The taxes received from Shanxi Road were paid to Jing Zhaojun, and Hucao of Liucao managed the income and expenditure.

  The second piece of military expenditure is the military expenditure of the 5,000 local Xiang army. In fact, it is the same as the forbidden army. It is borne by the imperial court, allocated by the transfer envoy, and managed by Hu Cao, which is also considered as planned military expenditure.

  The third piece of military expenditure is quite special. Li Yanqing called it unplanned military expenditure. In other states and counties, it refers to the subsidy for township soldiers. In fact, it is a little food subsidy, and the burden is not heavy.

But Li Yanqing's place is different. Their village soldiers are 5,000 new troops. With the approval of the Privy Council, the emperor nodded and changed the intensive training of rural soldiers to long-term training of rural soldiers, which means they have to pay for their own military expenses. question.

The monthly military payment of five thousand town soldiers is as high as 50,000 guan. Although the armor, weapons, and large tents are assisted by the Privy Council, the food expenditure for three meals a day cannot be avoided. In this way, an additional increase is required every month. For them, the rigid expenditure of 10,000 guan and 60,000 guan per month is extremely heavy pressure.

Fortunately, the compensation they got for quelling the Black Party Xiang Rebellion was all given to Jing Zhaojun by the emperor as a reward, which enabled them to accumulate more than 200,000 yuan and barely supported them. For this reason, Li Yanqing specially set up a "new Treasury', the money is stored in the new treasury as the new army's expenditure.

   Now that Li Yanqing is planning to set up a women's barracks, it is naturally an expense that he will bear. The monthly expenditure of 500 female soldiers is at least 6,000 to 7,000 guan.

   Not long after, Liu Fang hurried over, bowed and saluted, "See fellow zhi!"

   "Liu Canjun, please sit down!"

  Li Yanqing asked Liu Fang to sit down and served tea with his own soldiers. Li Yanqing then talked about the establishment of the women's barracks. Liu Fang really showed embarrassment, and nodded after a while: "I'll think of a way!"

   "How much money is left in the new bank?" Li Yanqing asked.

"There are still about 80,000 guan. In a few days, the recruits' salaries and food expenses will be paid, and there will be 20,000 guan left. According to the usual practice, 20 guan will be given as a settling allowance for female soldiers. Five hundred people will be 10,000 guan. We only have 10,000 guns left."

   "What about Baoyanzhai?"

In the end, Li Yanqing got the secret support of Baoyanzhai. Li Daqi allocated all the profits of Baoyanzhai stores on Hedong and Shaanxi roads to Jing Zhaojun. Compared with the 70,000 yuan spent, Bao Yanzhai's income is still a little less.

   Liu Fang has already made it very clear that this month is barely enough to pay, and next month will not be able to solve the problem.

  Speaking of which, this is indeed Wang Fu's crime. Since Wang Fu forced the introduction of big money the year before last, in just two years, prices in various parts of the Song Dynasty have skyrocketed, copper coins have depreciated, and silver and gold have become more precious.

  Ten years ago, a family could support their family with a monthly income of 3,000 Wen, but now it takes at least 5,000 Wen to barely maintain food and clothing for the family.

As for the monthly salary of the soldiers of the new army, ten guan qian refers to small guan qian, which is equivalent to 7,700 renminbi, which is only slightly higher than the income of the lower classes. Strictly speaking, the military salary of ten guan per month is not high, but even this not high military salary made Li Yanqing feel restless.

   "How much sheepskin is left?" Li Yanqing asked after a moment of thought.

   "There are about 200,000 more!"

The black gang couldn't get enough money to compensate, so they had to use sheepskins to pay off the debt, and successively took out 300,000 old sheepskins to Jing Zhaojun, of which 100,000 had been rewarded to the soldiers of the whole army, and there were 200,000 left in the treasury. open.

   "What is the market price of sheepskin now?"

Mo Jun and Liu Fang looked at each other, Liu Fang smiled wryly and said: "If it's winter, sheepskins are really easy to sell. A good old sheepskin can be sold for three pennies. Now that it's hot, it's probably only two pennies at most. And there is no market, so they can only be sold to fur traders, and they also want to make money, so it would be good if they are willing to give you consistent money.”

   "It's just money!"

  Li Yanqing was also a bit reluctant. Such a good old sheepskin only sold for a penny, which was too bad. He thought for a while and asked, "How did the Yanshan government solve the shortage of military expenditure?"

Like them, Guo Yaoshi of Yanshan Mansion turned the rural soldiers into long-term trainees and trained them into recruits, and there were more people than them, with a total of 20,000 people, and the monthly military expenditure was at least 200,000 guan. This is a great test for Pharmacist Guo. Two months ago, Li Yanqing specially sent Liu Fang to Yanshan Mansion to learn experience. Liu Fang hadn't had time to report to Li Yanqing.

"Reporting to my colleagues, Yanshan Mansion is mainly based on three fronts. One is to implement military settlements to solve the food problem of recruits. The second is to implement military business. The Yanshan Army has opened three commercial firms to do business with the nomadic peoples in the north. I heard that the profits Extremely high, Tongzhi may never have thought of a third solution.”

   "What way?" Li Yanqing asked anxiously.

   "Mine and cast money!"

  Li Yanqing was stunned for a moment, he hesitated and asked: "Could it be that they have been approved by the court?"

  Liu Fang nodded, "Guo Yaoshi did get the emperor's special approval, allowing him to open mines and make money. These three methods solved the military expenditure problem of the Yanshan New Army."

Li Yanqing walked a few steps with his hands behind his back, and said to the two of them: "We can also take the road of trade. We can do business with Xixia, sell tea, porcelain, salt, and Baoyanzhai rouge to Xixia people. If we do well, everyone There should be a profit of 20,000 guan per month, and there is no problem with the military colony. The military colony includes raising pigs and sheep by itself, and the food money for the new army can be saved. As for making money, I guess the imperial court will not approve us, but we can Mine and mint silver."

   "But where is the mine?"

   "I will go to the emperor today and ask the Jingchuan silver mine to be assigned to us."

Generally speaking, the imperial court also allows private mining, but the crude copper, crude silver and other products minted must be sold to the imperial court. , although it is not allowed to mint money, but it can be used to imitate official silver, especially the Jingchuan silver mine is owned by the military, so it is reasonable to transfer it to them.

  Of course, the premise is the approval of the emperor. Li Yanqing thinks that he can ask Gao Qiu to persuade Zhao Ji. Since Zhao Ji acquiesced in training recruits for border defense, Zhao Ji should also be lenient in using mining to raise military expenses.

  At this time, Mo Jun reminded: "This matter bypasses Liang Shicheng, and I'm afraid it will cause problems."

Mentioning Liang Shicheng, Li Yanqing felt dizzy for a while. He is still Liang Shicheng's person in name, and he really can't bypass Liang Shicheng. Liang Shicheng may not be willing to help you accomplish things, but if you bypass him, he will definitely let you If you can't do anything, Mo Jun is right to remind you.

   Helpless, Li Yanqing had no choice but to say: "Okay! I will write a letter to my father, asking him to visit Liang Shicheng again."

   "The normal application to the Privy Council still needs to be done." Mo Jun reminded him again.

   "I know!" Li Yanqing nodded, then asked Liu Fang, "What about Liu Canjun's opinion?"

   Liu Fang pondered for a moment and said: "Whether it's doing business or mining, we need a start-up capital. In addition, our military expenditure for the new army will not be able to support the next month. We must have military reserves for several months."

Li Yanqing already had a plan in mind, and he immediately made a decision: "Give 200,000 sheepskins to Bao Yanzhai as collateral, borrow 300,000 yuan from Bao Yanzhai as the capital of doing business, and a few months." turnover."

  (end of this chapter)

Chapter end