Poor Family Chapter 662

  Chapter 662 Unexpected

In the imperial study room, Zhao Ji squinted his eyes and listened to Gao Qiu's report. Jing Zhaojun hoped to transfer the Jingchuan Silver Mine to the army as military assets. Zhao Ji was not furious. Gao Shen had reported to him before. The garrison followed the example of Yanshan Mansion and converted 5,000 rural soldiers into long-trained rural soldiers. In fact, it became an increase in troops to supplement the shortage of troops on the Song and Xia borders.

Zhao Ji is not stupid. Although he has reached a border disarmament agreement with Xixia, the capital of Xixia, Xingqing Mansion, is only a day's journey away from the border, and he can kill the border at any time, while the capital of the Great Song Dynasty is at least five days away from the border. On Shaanxi Road, the day lily is cold, Zhao Ji knows this well, so it is very important to maintain the garrison in Jingzhao Mansion and Taiyuan Mansion. s reason.

  However, assigning the Jingchuan Silver Mine to Jing Zhaojun is another matter, which is more lucrative than allowing Jing Zhaojun to make money.

   "Taiwei, how much does it cost to raise five thousand troops?" Zhao Ji asked casually.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, according to the standard of the Forbidden Army in front of the palace, the monthly salary alone needs 80,000 guan. If it is based on the frontier forbidden army, it is slightly less, about 50,000 guan. Including food and miscellaneous expenses, it will cost more than 10,000 guan. At least It needs 60,000 coins!"

  Zhao Ji frowned, "You want so much?"

   "Your Majesty, the annual military expenditure of the Great Song Dynasty is the biggest financial burden of the imperial court. I didn't understand it before. Only after becoming a prime minister did I realize that it is not easy to be in charge of the family!"

   "You bastard, do you mean that I don't understand the difficulty of being in charge?"

  Gao Qiu was so frightened that he quickly explained, "Your Majesty has a far-sighted view, and his vision is certainly not as low as that of a humble minister."

   "Okay, I know exactly what level you are, and I also understand how careful you are, so you don't need to explain so much in front of me!"

   "Your Majesty has piercing eyes, how can a humble minister hide it from His Majesty."

  Zhao Ji smiled slightly. He knew that Gao Qiu was ignorant when he was young, but he was loyal to him. Putting him in the Zhizheng Hall was also an eyeliner for him.

   "Since it costs 50,000 to 60,000 yuan a month, how did Li Yanqing solve the military expenditure problem in the past six months? Did he rely on Bao Yanzhai's money?"

  How dare Gao Qiu say that relying on Bao Yanzhai, wouldn't he become Li Yanqing's private army? That would offend Emperor Nilin.

   "According to what I know, the spoils of the past six months were obtained by exterminating the gangsters. Didn't His Majesty reward them?"

   "There are so many loot?"

"Almost! There are more than 100,000 coins, and 200,000 pieces of sheepskin. According to the market price, it can be worth 200,000 to 300,000 coins. It should have been maintained by this money before, but now it is a bit unsustainable, so I asked the court for help. "

  Zhao Ji picked up the teacup and took a sip of the ginseng tea, thought for a moment and said, "Then what's your opinion?"

Gao Qiu is not a microphone. He is the head of the Privy Council and the Prime Minister of the Zhizheng Hall. He is in charge of the military affairs of the world. He has absolute authority in silver mine affairs. Of course, he only has the right to make suggestions. The decision-making power is still in the hands of the emperor. The reason why the matter did not go through Zhizhengtang was also because the Jingchuan Silver Mine was owned by the military, and Zhizhengtang had no right to intervene.

   Otherwise, even if Zhao Ji nodded and agreed, Zhizhengtang could reject it, but Song Xiangguo had the right to refuse to implement the unreasonable decision of the emperor.

Gao Qiu knew that the officials would ask his own opinion, so he pondered for a moment and said: "Xixia surrendered to the Kingdom of Jin, and I am very worried about the border between Song and Xia. I think it is necessary to increase the number of troops to some extent. When Tang mentioned this matter, Cai Xianggong and Wang Xianggong both objected unanimously, believing that the increase in troops violated the disarmament agreement between Song and Xia. It happened that the Privy Council received Li Yanqing's request. Weichen thought that it might be a comparison to increase the number of permanent troops stationed in the countryside. Good surge workaround."

  Zhao Ji pondered for a moment and said: "What if the military expenses are allocated normally?"

   "I'm afraid that the imperial court will not get through, and Xixia will protest."

Zhao Ji didn't say a word. He knew that going to the imperial court to allocate money and food would mean increasing troops. The annual expenditure of 700,000 to 800,000 yuan was also a heavy burden on the increasingly financially strapped imperial court. They discussed increasing the quota of recruits for the Yanshan Mansion before, but they were met with disapproval. Cai Jing strongly resisted, and finally Wang Fu proposed to allow Guo Yaoshi to mint money, which solved the military expenditure problem of the 20,000 new troops.

Zhao Ji has already agreed to Gao Qiu's proposal in his heart, but he still has two ideas in his mind that need to be implemented. After repeated consideration, Zhao Ji slowly said: "I agree with Li Yanqing's request in principle, and can transfer the Jingchuan Silver Mine to Jingzhao Army, but I have two requests, first, the Jingzhao Army can recruit another 15,000 township soldiers, bringing the number of Changxun township soldiers to 20,000, does the Taiwei understand what I mean?"

  Gao Qiu hurriedly said: "Your Majesty is wise, so the total strength of Shaanxi Road will reach 60,000, and we are not afraid of Xixia's sudden attack."

   "However, Li Yanqing is a little too young, let him take charge of the Jingzhao 40,000 army alone, I am a little worried!"

   Gao Qiu's heart skipped a beat, what do you mean? Are the officials planning to change generals? That's bad.

  Zhao Ji gave Gao Qiu a meaningful look. Does this **** think he doesn't understand his plan? It's nothing more than trying to turn Jing Zhaojun into his sphere of influence.

   "What I mean is, it's better to arrange another supervisor."

Gao Qiu breathed a sigh of relief. It turned out that he was not worried about Li Yanqing's ability, but he was worried about him. It is also a common practice to send a supervising army. If the strength exceeds 30,000, he must send a supervising army. Even if the officials forget it, as a privy envoy, Gao Qiu will When this matter was brought up, let alone the official's initiative at this time, Gao Qiu quickly said: "Your Majesty is wise!"

  Zhao Ji walked a few steps with his hands behind his back, and said lightly: "I remember that Jingzhao stayed behind and was King Kang!"

   "It's His Royal Highness Kang Wang!" Gao Qiu felt uneasy.

   "Let Kang Wang take the real job!"

  Gao Qiu sighed in his heart. As a result, the position of the prince was not stable again.

There are several silver mines on Shanxi Road, the largest of which is located in Shangzhou. The Jingchuan Silver Mine can only be regarded as a small mine. It can refine 5,000 catties of crude silver every month, and about 30,000 taels of silver ingots can be obtained by refining, which is equivalent to the market price. With 60,000 guan, Li Yanqing's idea for this silver mine was because the output of this silver mine was just enough for him to support the army, and this silver mine belonged to the military, so it was only natural that the silver mine be allocated to the Jingzhao army.

But Li Yanqing did not expect that his request would lead to troubles. Not only did the emperor approve his long-term training of up to 20,000 soldiers, but he also sent King Kang Zhao Gou to Jingzhao Mansion to take up a real job. That is, the highest military and political head of the entire Shaanxi Road.

On the third day after Zhao Gou took office, Li Yanqing accompanied Zhao Gou to the Jingchuan Silver Mine. The Jingchuan Silver Mine is located in Yunyang County, Yaozhou. Within a radius of 30 miles, looking down from the sky, it looks like a huge lotus flower. In the center of the lotus flower is Mengdian Town, which supports the logistics of the silver mine.

  Although there are only 300 miners in the silver mine, there are at least 1,000 people including the 300 miners and their families. Thousands of people have to rely on the town for food, drink and consumption, and Mengdian Town has prospered because of this silver mine.

   "Your Highness, it's getting late, and it's not convenient to go to the mine. Why don't you rest in the town for the night, and let's go to the mine tomorrow morning to have a look." Li Yanqing suggested with a smile.

  Although he got the real release, Zhao Gou was obviously not very happy. It was hard to see his smile these days. Zhao Gou nodded, "You can arrange it!"

  In fact, Ma Shan has already made arrangements. As a local snake, it is extremely necessary to attach himself to a prince, not to mention that this prince is still his boss, in charge of the entire military administration of Shaanxi Road.

  They lived in a shop called Jiaolin Inn, all irrelevant personnel were cleared out, only the shopkeeper and two assistants were in charge of serving Kang Wang and Tong Zhi and his party.

  Zhao Gou was in a bad mood, so he asked Li Yanqing to drink and talk in his room as soon as he moved in.

   "Your Highness seems to be in a bad mood these past two days?" Li Yanqing asked Zhao Gou, filling a glass of wine.

  Zhao Gou sighed and asked, "Why do you think my father sent me to Jingzhao Mansion?"

  Li Yanqing smiled and said: "I have also considered this issue. If it is for the purpose of seizing the heir, then His Royal Highness King Yun will not stay in the Daming Mansion. I personally think it should have nothing to do with seizing the heir!"

   "What's the reason for that?"

"It should be a move by the officials to use princes instead of eunuchs to supervise the army. In the past, princes were generally young and the officials could not rely on them, so they could only use eunuchs to supervise the army. As a result, some eunuchs deceived the top and bottom, causing public resentment. As the prince grows up, replacing eunuchs with princes may become a new attempt."

Zhao Gou shook his head, "When I was leaving, my father summoned me, and he told me that the heir to the imperial line must have both ability and political integrity, and must go to the local area to be considerate of the people's feelings, instead of staying in the deep palace all day to calculate conspiracy, I can feel In his tone, he is still very dissatisfied with the emperor brother."

Li Yanqing secretly sighed in his heart, Zhao Gou is still too young, the emperor sent him to Jingzhao is not a kind of temptation, the Song Dynasty has never sent a prince to a local government, he is afraid that the prince will support himself and cause the imperial power Splitting, how could Zhao Ji be an exception? Putting Kang Wang in Jingzhao is more of a test for him. If he can't stand the test and shows too much desire for imperial power, then the future will be sad.

  But now these words cannot be said to Zhao Gou, Li Yanqing pondered for a while and smiled: "Is your highness in a bad mood because of this?"

  Zhao Gou shook his head, "I'm in a bad mood because Xixia surrendered to the Kingdom of Jin, and I'm worried about the situation in Song Dynasty!"

  (end of this chapter)

Chapter end