After dealing with Zhang Hua, the Minister of Punishment, all the officials understood His Majesty's disposition.
So we started to prepare for discussions in this direction.
Zhao Jun took the lead and asked: "Liu Jin, how many troops do we have now?"
Liu Jin, the Minister of War, immediately stepped forward and replied: "Your Majesty, after the integration, the military force that the imperial court can directly control is about 400,000.
Among them, the Yunzhou Army brought by His Majesty from Yunzhou County totaled 190,000 officers and deputies, and the Tianwu Army's officers and auxiliaries on the imperial side totaled 150,000. Pengri County suffered heavy losses due to its defense of Bianjing. Ten thousand people are left.
The Divine Guards and Dragon Guards who came back with the Tianwu Army totaled 50,000 people.
A total of more than 400,000 yuan.
Among them, the Tianwu Army and the Divine Guards and the Dragon Guards lost nearly 10,000 people in the battle with the Xiongnu. However, during this period, they have been recruited and trained from the refugees. I believe it will not take long to form combat effectiveness. For the two armies It has little impact on the overall combat effectiveness. "
"400000?"
Zhao Jun touched his chin and thought for a while before nodding. It was almost as expected. During this period, the food supply of these armies was uniformly supplied by the Ministry of War, so the Ministry of War had the most complete information. This data was not available. What's the problem.
He immediately asked: "If the imperial court sends troops to the south now, how many troops can it use?"
Liu Jin frowned and thought for a moment before replying:
"Your Majesty, if we want to send troops to the south, then we must first retain enough strength to defend the north. There are many cities in the background, plus border defenses. Now that the Huns have suffered many losses on the grassland, they are unable to go south, so there is no need to deploy heavy troops.
But no matter how streamlined it is, border defense plus city defense plus Bianjing defense must leave at least 200,000 people, and Bianjing must retain at least 50,000 people.
In other words, if troops are sent to the south, the imperial court can deploy up to 200,000 troops at this moment.
It's just that Your Majesty, as the saying goes, the three armies have not moved, but the food and grass go first.
The amount of food and grass needed by 200,000 soldiers and horses is an astronomical figure. It is not just a matter of food and grass, the loss on the road, the preparation and loss of weapons, but also the military pay, rewards, pensions, etc., as well as the manpower and material resources to transport food.
Two hundred thousand soldiers and horses, the imperial court must prepare at least 500,000 civilians to continuously transport grain. If the consumption of this grain and grass is calculated based on two months, it will be at least 20 million dan, and the imperial court must also spend at least 2 million taels of silver as soldiers. military pay and rewards. This does not include the post-mortem pension, the reward of wine and meat, and the livestock that need to be requisitioned. "
"hiss!"
Everyone present instantly took a breath of air.
It’s not that I don’t know, it’s just that I was shocked.
The cost of mobilizing 200,000 troops was so much. No wonder the court suffered heavy losses every time it went to war.
The Song Dynasty's annual income was only 200 million guan, 60 million dan of grain and grass, plus 90 million bunches of fodder.
Every time an army of more than 100,000 is used for an expedition, at least one-third of the national treasury's annual revenue will be consumed.
Every year, the imperial court only spends money on raising the army. The fixed consumption per year is 20 million stones of grain and 50 million bundles of fodder.
Among them, the silver taels cost as much as 10 million taels.
The fixed place reached one-third, plus the daily consumption of the court.
In other words, the strength of the Song Dynasty could only support 200,000 people for one expedition a year.
No matter how much, unless the imperial court has the balance from past dynasties, there will be a fiscal deficit.
Hearing this huge number, Zhao Jun was stunned.
He only realized it at this time. Fortunately, he had removed the poison from his body and had a steady supply of food and grass. Coupled with the great increase in the productivity of the Yunzhou Army, whether it was taxes or the prices of weapons, armor and equipment, everything was Press it very low.
Otherwise, it would be a fantasy for one Yunzhou County to support nearly 300,000 troops.
Zhao Jun completely used the gold and silver provided by the entire Japanese Kingdom, most of the gold and silver grain provided by Shendu, mainly grain, plus war horses, cattle and mutton food provided by the grassland, as well as various cheap industrial products and a large number of cheap industrial products provided by Yunzhou County. With taxes, we were able to raise an army of 300,000 people, and they were able to attack again and again, and there was still a surplus.
Fortunately, since the rise of Yunzhou County, it has not lost a single battle, otherwise it would be impossible to develop to this level.
Zhao Jun rubbed his head with a headache and asked: "How much grain is there in the treasury now? How much silver is there, and how much fodder is there?
And how many weapons does the Military War Bureau have in storage? "
Mr. Cui Wencui, the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, who had been pretending to be transparent, knew that he could no longer hide, so he had to say with a bitter face: "Your Majesty, a large amount of gold, silver and grain were originally seized from the Huns. In addition, during the disaster relief incident, There is still some money in the national treasury of the officials whose homes were confiscated.
However, due to your enthronement ceremony, the funeral of the late emperor and the late prince, plus the expenses incurred in resuming production in the north and providing relief to the people, as well as the salaries of officials this year, etc., the treasury is now empty.
There was less than 100,000 taels of silver and less than 10,000 shi of grain left, and there was no fodder at all.
Not only that, the Ministry of Accounts now still owes you the 2 million taels you paid for your enthronement.
In addition, the north has just been hit by a major disaster. You told me a few days ago that you want to reduce taxes for a year, so I have been worrying about how to pay officials' salaries next month.
In addition, the military battle bureau has run out of inventory because of the previous defense of the city, and now it is empty enough to run away mice. "
As soon as Cui Shangshu said these words, Zhao Jun was stunned.
Feeling that the Song Dynasty, which he had just ascended to the throne, was in a mess. Not only did the state treasury run out of money, it also owed 2 million, and the money he owed was his own money!
What a waste!
Seeing Zhao Jun's appearance, Cui Shangshu immediately struck while the iron was hot:
"Your Majesty, now that the national treasury is so empty, do you think you said a few days ago that we should give up on tax reductions?
Otherwise, it will be really difficult to maintain the court next year. "
Speaking of this matter, the focus of the court now is no longer the issue of whether to send troops to the south.
It's a matter of the northern court not being able to survive without any more income.
Zhao Jun thought for a while, and with the current situation of the Song Dynasty, it was really impossible to rely on the north alone to survive.
It seems that Yunzhou County must be gradually integrated into the larger system of the Song Dynasty. At least now, without the support of Yunzhou County, the imperial court's finances will really collapse next year.
Zhao Jun immediately said:
“The north has just regained its vitality, and one-year tax relief cannot be avoided, otherwise the people will simply not be able to afford it and must be given time to recover.
In this way, Yunzhou County was included in the normal taxation system of the imperial court starting from February.
The tax collection time will be consistent with the court.
In addition, I will ask Yunzhou County to transfer 20 million taels of silver and 200 million shi of grain from the treasury and grain depot this year to be transported to Bianjing to fill the official warehouse.
Bianjing began to recruit people to build official warehouses to store the grain shipped from today.
In addition, from today onwards, the Bingzhan Bureau and the Tiangongyuan of Yunzhou County will jointly supply the weapons and equipment to the imperial court. This year, the supply of iron ingots for the Bingzhan Bureau will be purchased and delivered by the Yunzhou County Yamen.
Starting next year, a certain quota will be set for arms procurement every year, and the funds allocated to the Tiangong Institute and the Military Warfare Bureau will be divided by the contributions made by both parties in the previous year.
The more you work, the more you get, the less you work, the less you get. "
Zhao Jun immediately filled the gap in the imperial court with one sentence. All the missing children were transferred from Yunzhou County. At the same time, the tax revenue of Yunzhou County was also transferred to the imperial system.
The Tiangong Institute and the Military War Bureau were jointly designated as arms supply agencies for the Song Dynasty, and annual allocations were linked to performance.
Introduce a competition mechanism.
But it is worth noting that Zhao Jun directly said that the tax revenue from Yunzhou County should be returned to the imperial court, but he did not intend to reveal the source of the tax revenue now, nor did he intend to let the current imperial court officials know.
In other words, the tax collection work within the Yunzhou County Yamen has nothing to do with the imperial court.
The court could only collect taxes from him, but the court had no right to ask where Yunzhou County's taxes were collected and how much they collected in total.
Regarding this point, Zhao Jun felt that the current court was not worthy of complete trust, and he wanted to continue to hold it in his own hands first.
He will also decide how much tax Yunzhou County will pay to the court every year.
But even so, the numbers coming out of Zhao Jun's mouth shocked all the officials.
Yunzhou County was actually able to come up with 20 million taels of silver and 200 million shi of grain!
What a huge number is this?
Does your Majesty actually have so many reserves in Yunzhou County?
They don't think that this is all the reserves of Yunzhou County. Since His Majesty can easily mobilize so many resources, Yunzhou County itself should have sufficient reserves.
When they heard that the tax revenue from Yunzhou County would also go to the imperial court starting next year, officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs suddenly became excited.
They can't wait to see how much tax revenue Yunzhou County earns in a year.
At least according to the current trend, the tax revenue of Yunzhou County is definitely not a small amount. It is definitely a big blood bottle for the court that is currently short of everything!
…
(End of chapter)
