The troops and horses have not moved, but the food and grass have gone first. Now the troops and horses have been hoarded outside Gusu City, and the project of consolidating logistics has begun in full swing.
At the same time, news also spread back to the Kyoto Imperial Palace.
In the imperial study, Emperor Liang and the ministers of the six ministries all gathered together to discuss matters in the southern border.
Emperor Liang looked at the memorial in front of him with a deep look in his eyes, and directly threw the problem in front of him to the six ministers.
"Since King Qin personally visited the southern border and fought a victorious battle, the two sides have never fought any battles until now."
"The King of Qin wrote very clearly in the memorial that the city of Gusu is impregnable. If we attack it by force, we will definitely face unacceptable casualties."
"A protracted war of attrition is inevitable."
"According to preliminary estimates, the series of logistical support measures formulated by King Qin will require at least 50,000 taels of silver."
"Although Daliang and Beidi have finally ushered in peace, years of war have made our Daliang treasury unable to make ends meet."
"We have just survived the severe winter and it is the beginning of spring. All expenditures have been arranged very tightly. Now we suddenly have to spend an additional fifty thousand taels of silver. It is undoubtedly a huge test for the national treasury."
"I wonder if you, my dear friends, do you have any advice?"
The imperial study room fell into silence. Nowadays, the most difficult thing for Daliang is the word "money".
The southern region is powerful and the northern region is in full swing, but except for these two places, the rest of the region can only be described as "all things are withered".
The entire treasury has less than 500,000 taels left.
It seems like a lot, but to maintain the operation of the entire beam, it is almost on the verge of collapse.
At this time, every penny counts.
The sudden expenditure of 50,000 taels of silver means that many yamen have to tighten their belts. If this causes a series of new problems, who can bear this responsibility?
Seeing that all the ministers were silent, Emperor Liang couldn't help but feel cold.
Don’t these guys usually have some ideas? At the critical moment, everything fell silent.
In the end, Emperor Liang could only focus on Qin Tianhu.
"Lieutenant Qin, I wonder what you think?"
Qin Tianhu knows the situation in the Southern Territory best. After all, since Qin Feng rushed to the Southern Territory, he has sent Qin Tianhu several letters to report the situation.
Qin Tianhu thought for a moment and stepped forward.
"Your Majesty, measures to consolidate logistics are of great significance, both for operations in the southern border and for consolidating grain reserves in the future."
“If the year is good, this kind of plan can be directly funded without hesitation.”
"But now, the national treasury is empty and we have to wait until the autumn harvest before we can get over it. The sudden expenditure of fifty thousand taels of silver is indeed extremely troublesome for the national treasury."
“If the amount of funding can be reduced, we can consider it.”
After all, Qin Tianhu and Qin Feng are father and son, and they are highly unified in their political opinions.
Logically speaking, it makes no difference whether Qin Tianhu's opinion is asked or not on this matter.
But Qin Tianhu's mention of "lowering the quota" was somewhat beyond Emperor Liang's expectations.
He suddenly became interested and asked: "How to lower it?"
"I already know everything about King Qin's plan. Just to open up wasteland for farming and distribute subsidies to the soldiers who farmed the land, we will need at least 20,000 taels of silver."
"To build twenty-seven strongholds, we still need twenty thousand."
"This forty thousand taels of silver is a hard expenditure and cannot be reduced."
"When the strongholds are established, the field soldiers move their families and their families into them, and water conservancy projects need to be built. Otherwise, these strongholds will be like dead cities and will not last long."
"With water, the stronghold can survive."
"The fifty thousand taels of silver logistics plan proposed by King Qin is not groundless. It is extremely difficult to save even a penny."
Qin Tianhu smiled mysteriously. It would be extremely difficult to reduce the funding.
But Qin Feng had already written to inform him in advance, and Qin Tianhu was confident about the financial problems.
"Your Majesty, the North is willing to invest in these twenty-seven strongholds."
As soon as these words came out, Emperor Liang immediately became interested.
"Investment? How to say?"
Qin Tianhu didn't beat around the bush and just told Qin Feng's plan.
"According to Feng'er's plan, these twenty-seven strongholds are not only the first line of defense against threats from the south in the future."
"It will become an important grain storage area in Daliang."
"Each stronghold represents a granary."
"If Your Majesty is willing to transfer five of these strongholds to the Northern Territory, and the Northern Territory is willing to provide 30,000 taels of silver, and the national treasury only needs to allocate 20,000 taels, the entire plan can be implemented smoothly."
As expected by Qin Tianhu, Emperor Liang's face turned ugly when he told Qin Feng's plan.
The location of these twenty-seven strongholds is extremely sensitive, not only related to the strategic deployment of Daliang, but also related to future food security.
These two points may determine the future direction of Daliang.
Before Emperor Liang could speak, Chen Zheng had already taken the lead in questioning.
"Twenty-seven strongholds, the first allocation is 50,000 taels of silver, and the northern border is 30,000 taels. Buying five of them seems to be a good deal."
"But in fact, it is an intrusion into the door and door, which seriously threatens Daliang's national security."
"This kind of business must not be done!"
"The King of Qin guards the northern border and protects the security of Daliang. This loyalty is admired by all civil and military officials in the dynasty, but it is another matter in the hinterland of the Central Plains."
"One code is the same and must not be confused."
Chen Zheng said everything that was in Emperor Liang's heart. Emperor Liang looked at Qin Tianhu calmly, waiting for Qin Tianhu's next words.
And Qin Tianhu had already expected that this plan would definitely trigger a backlash.
He still explained slowly.
"Master Chen's worries are not unreasonable. If the control of these five strongholds is all controlled by the Northern Territory, if something goes wrong in the future, it will definitely cause huge turmoil."
"But Feng'er is only interested in food and will never interfere in military affairs."
Emperor Liang's eyes softened slightly, and he immediately asked: "Is it because King Qin is so interested in these strongholds because of lack of food?"
Qin Tianhu didn't hide anything and answered truthfully: "It's not a shortage of food, but it's true that we are not rich in terms of food."
"If you want to develop Northern Territory and Sangzhou, you must have a sufficient population, but the more people there are, the more food will be consumed."
"In the past, the northern territory was sparsely populated and self-sufficient in food, so there was no problem at all."
"But now, the food is only enough to eat. In the future, there will definitely be a food crisis, so we can only prepare for a rainy day."
"These five strongholds are the beginning of the alliance between the Northern Territory and the Central Plains, and it is a win-win situation."
"The Central Plains provides food to the Northern Territory, while the Northern Territory relies on commercial hubs to sell goods to the Central Plains."
