Three days later, in front of the Qi Mansion.
Liu Mingzhi held his little cotton-padded jacket while riding on the horse and nodded to Qi Run and his wife!
"Father-in-law, mother-in-law, take care of yourself!"
The two elders nodded reluctantly: "Be careful on the road!"
The Qi Ya sisters in the carriage also said goodbye to their parents through the curtain. Although they wanted to stay at home permanently, their husband and younger brother were busy with official business and could not delay it for too long!
The three women were sitting in the carriage. Young Master Liu, Qi Liang, and Liu Chengzhi were on horseback. They said goodbye to Qi Run and his wife with a wave of their whips and headed towards the capital.
No one had any objections to Liu Chengzhi, a little kid riding a horse, and even Qi Yun strongly agreed with her husband's decision.
Over-indulging children is not necessarily a bad thing. Trying to ride a horse at this age is one of the must-have lessons for every child in the family.
Ritual, music, riding and archery are the six arts of a gentleman. In Dalong's view, children of several years old who cannot ride a horse are the most failed education.
The young Liu Chengzhi began to slowly adapt to the bumps on the horse, and gradually mastered the rhythm and started galloping with the whip.
Liu Yaoyao, a little cotton-padded jacket wrapped in a thick little fox fur, nestled in her father's arms and clapped her hands excitedly: "Daddy, hurry up, chase!"
In the carriage, the Qi Ya sisters were also chatting with Wen Ren Yunshu. They knew that Wen Ren Yunshu was feeling a little sad because of the old man's affairs, so they tried every means to make him happy!
The group of people completely eliminated Liu Chengzhi's riding speed and rode slowly towards the capital!
...........
Li Zheng patted the memorial in his hand on the dragon case and glanced majestically at the civil and military officials below.
"The Huyan tribe established a royal court and respected Huyan Yunyao as Khan! The grassland is about to melt the ice and snow, and it will only take a month for the troops to be strong. According to the spies' report, the Huyan royal court has already made plans to mobilize troops against the Spies royal court. , I don’t want to see the unification of the grassland, dear friends, do you have any good ideas?”
The civil and military officials looked at each other and no one stood up to speak because they could not guess the emperor's intention for the time being.
They still don't know whether the emperor means to regain the Hetao and Heshuo areas before the unification of the grasslands, or to secretly prevent the unification of the grasslands!
For a moment, all the civil and military officials couldn't help but miss the troublemaker, Young Master Liu.
Don't worry about Young Master Liu's character. He is indeed favored. As long as he doesn't rebel and deceive the emperor, the emperor won't mind what he says!
"Military Department!"
The emperor directly named Song Yu, but he could not help but remain still and walked out holding the imperial hut: "I'm here!"
"Has there been any information on the Ministry of War's plan to regain the land in Hetao and Heshuo?"
Song Yu took out a memorial from his arms and held it up: "Reporting to Your Majesty, I have finished the preparation. Please take a look at it!"
The general manager hurriedly presented the memorial to Li Zheng.
Li Zheng frowned as he read the memorial in his hand: "The April expedition is too slow. We must recover Heshuo and Shuo before the grassland is unified. Now the covenant I signed with the Huyan tribe has not yet expired, which obviously prevents the Huyan tribe from having any plans." Losing face, we set out on March 15th to conquer Heshuo and Shuo!"
Song Yu's face became troubled: "Your Majesty, if we go on March 15th, it will be extremely unfavorable for the transportation of food and grass and the departure of the army. The snow last winter was too heavy, and the ice and snow have not yet melted in many places in the North. The consumption on the road may double. ah!"
"Your Majesty, I second the proposal!"
Jiang Yuanming, the Minister of Household Affairs, came out holding the Chao Hut.
"Your Majesty, what Mr. Song said cannot be ignored. There are at least 200,000 cavalry stationed in Heshuo and Hetao occupied by the Spieth Royal Court. The other tribes can support at any time. To regain Heshuo and Hetao, thirty troops will be needed. Ten thousand, no less than one trip north, the supply of food and grass is the biggest problem!"
Li Zheng frowned and looked at Song Yu and Jiang Yuanming: "Is there too much silver in the treasury?"
"More than 9.3 million taels!"
"How can it be so little? Last year's tariffs were 12 million taels, plus salt, iron and other taxes, it was 36 million taels. Now there are still 9 million taels left. How did you become the Minister of Household Affairs? ?”
"Your Majesty, although the tax revenue is much higher, the expenditure is even greater. The treasury expenditure caused by General An's expedition to the West is a big hole. The big hole created during Master Liu's Western Expedition has just been filled with a snow disaster caused by a rare heavy snowfall in ten years. The expenditure is more than 7 million taels. The Six Guards of Northern Xinjiang now have not 300,000 garrison troops, but 730,000 garrison troops. Including the military salaries and silver of various state governments, the expenditure is tens of millions taels!"
"Building the imperial mausoleum cost 2,137,400 taels of silver. Stones, salary, clothing, food, housing and transportation all cost no money!"
"Master Liu brought back a total of 300,000 war horses from the Western Expedition. The consumption of food and grass for making horseshoes and training the war horses is a bottomless pit. The consumption of 300,000 war horses is higher than the consumption of raising an army of 900,000. Western Region horses are good It’s good, but even if you eat well, you’ll consume more.”
"The remaining nine million taels of silver are the result of the old minister's repeated efforts to save money in various departments. If your majesty feels that the old minister is not a good steward, your majesty should find another expert!"
Li Zheng looked at Jiang Yuanming with a sneer on his face: "Jiang Aiqing, can't you think I blamed you wrongly? Don't be angry, don't be angry!"
"Your Majesty will be satisfied if you can understand the difficulties of the old minister. Many of the national policies formulated by Mr. Liu previously were to save money for the national treasury, but the expenses are higher than before. Money is used everywhere. Your Majesty plans to recruit three more I don’t know where the money-laden old minister with 100,000 new soldiers got them from!”
"Nowadays, it is a trivial matter to use food and fodder for the army. After all, the grain harvest has changed across the country and there is a lot of grain in stock in two seasons. But the soldiers have to pay their salaries. Selling grain can not be sold to others. This year's tax revenue will not be collected until June. , the old minister is also in trouble!"
Li Zheng fiddled with the ring on his thumb with an embarrassed expression.
"It is impossible to disarmament in order to move north in two years! After all, a unified grassland cannot be compared to a fragmented grassland. Not having enough troops is very detrimental to Dalong! The most important thing right now is to recover the Heshuo Loop area!"
Jiang Yuanming pondered for a while and nodded: "Your Majesty, if the Hetao and Heshuo areas can be quickly recovered, the training ground for 300,000 war horses can be moved. In this way, there is no need to spend food and grass from the treasury, which can save more than half of the expenses! But at the latest We also need to mobilize troops in April, and it is really inappropriate to mobilize troops on March 15th!"
"Your Majesty, I think it is okay to launch troops on March 15th!"
Li Zheng's eyes lit up and he looked at Wei Yong who was coming out of the queue: "What good plan does Wei Aiqing have?"
"Your Majesty, Mr. Song and Mr. Jiang are only worried about the expense of the national treasury that cannot support the army. Food and grass do not necessarily have to be supplied by the court, and merchants traveling between northern Xinjiang may not be able to take advantage of it!"
"Go on!"
"Your Majesty can issue an imperial edict to allow merchants to transport food instead. Not only can it be deceived, but it can also reduce the difficulties for the court!"
"Prime Minister Wei isn't going to let these businessmen transport grain and grass to the court for free, is he? It's not realistic given the character of those businessmen!"
Tong Sansi stood up and looked at Wei Yong, the left prime minister, inquiringly!
"Tong Xiang thinks this is inappropriate?"
"inappropriate!"
"Tong Xiang, without His Majesty's decree to open the border trade market to them and provide them with a trading place, they would have faced the risk of being robbed by the Turks if they wanted to do business! With the convenience of the border trade market, none of these merchants would have made a lot of money. , it’s not difficult to let them contribute to the imperial court!”
"Let's not talk about the distance, let's just talk about the situation of Lord Zhuhou, the Marquis of Guannei. Who in the whole capital doesn't know that the impoverished Lord Zhu is now as rich as the country. Isn't he able to earn all this money without Your Majesty?"
Tong Sansi looked at Wei Yong, the Prime Minister of the Left, indifferently.
"Since Prime Minister Wei hopes that these merchants will use horses to transport grain and grass to the army for free, will the big merchants such as the Gu family, the Feng family, the Zhao family, the Liu family, the Zeng family, and the Chen family also participate?"
Wei Yong's expression changed. These merchants were all closely related to him. Tong Sansi's words would kill him to the end!
Tong Sansi looked at the emperor respectfully: "Your Majesty, how much money you earn is someone else's business. Naturally, the imperial court will pay them corresponding compensation if they requisition them. Even if they can't afford it now, they will have to pay it back later. The merchants have earned money." After paying taxes, it is a consensual matter, and using morality to restrain them from working for the court for free is a bit morally kidnapped! And it will chill the businessmen, and the expedition is not a matter of ten and a half days!"
Li Zheng's initially agitated expression was slowly suppressed after listening to Tong Sansi's analysis.
Relying on morality to restrain merchants from delivering grain and grass for free is indeed not a good idea!
Ten days and a half month is excusable, but the businessmen will definitely complain if it is too long.
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