The time to return to Shiquan was much earlier than Chen Wang expected. In late May, he received an order to return to Hanzhong Mansion.
In mid-May, the war in northern Sichuan was calmed down, and Hong Chengchou led the army back to Shaanxi.
The punishments imposed on the officers and generals from above were also withdrawn. Although the deducted salaries and benefits were not returned, they were basically reinstated.
The two battles of Mianzhou and Jiangyou were judged on merit, and the Ministry of War had already sent people to verify the results and prepare to reward them on merit.
Emperor Chongzhen issued an edict to praise Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting, encouraged the generals, and gave some indifferent rewards, but nothing more happened.
"Now in the basement, there are 2,120 taels of gold and 87,542 taels and four cents of silver."
In the official hall of Youqianhusuo City, Chen Wang was sitting at the head of the table, listening to Tang Shiping, who was standing at the bottom, reporting on the situation in the institute.
It was already late June, almost early July, when we returned to the mainland of Hanzhong Prefecture.
As soon as he arrived at Suocheng, Chen Wang summoned both Tang Shiping and Wang Yuankang to the official hall.
I have to lament that the money spent on military industry and city construction is really like running water. After defeating Zhang Yuan in the ninth year of Chongzhen, a large amount of gold and silver was seized from Zhang Yuan's hands. At that time, a total of 190,000 taels of silver were counted, which was nearly A balance of two hundred thousand taels.
But two years later, a total of more than 100,000 taels of silver were spent, averaging about 50,000 taels a year.
Most of the expenses were military pay. In nearly two years from the ninth year of Chongzhen to the eleventh year of Chongzhen, Chen Wang successively recruited a lot of soldiers. Now he has six infantry and one cavalry under his command, totaling 6,000 soldiers. Three hundred people.
However, the number of troops limited above is only 2,700, with one cavalry and two infantry being paid.
Therefore, Chen Wang used his own money to pay the remaining four infantry troops, about 3,600 people.
In the first year, due to the small number of recruits, the military pay was also low, only 20,000 taels. However, after the expansion of recruitment in the second year, the military pay expenditure has now reached more than 40,000 taels, and the total expenditure in the two years was 65,000 taels. Two more.
The remaining expenses of more than 40,000 taels of silver were used to build cities and build houses, purchase livestock, build water conservancy, make ordnance, replace armaments and other matters.
In total, it doesn't seem like much.
After all, building cities and houses, constructing water conservancy projects, and purchasing livestock are basically one-time transactions. After this part of the money is completed, there is basically no need to spend it again.
But the big head in the future is not these aspects. The real big head in the future will undoubtedly be the Ordnance Bureau, which is working hard.
"Currently, there are 412 weapons craftsmen and 273 armor craftsmen in the Ordnance Bureau, a total of 685 people."
In two months, those craftsmen have moved from Xi'an Siwei. Together with the newly trained craftsmen, Hanzhongwei's Arms Bureau is now close to breaking through the 700-person mark.
"According to the general's order, one thousand sea oath cannons will be made before October, so a hundred people in the weapons workshop have been assigned to focus on making cannons, and the rest are still learning how to make cannons from Mr. Bo."
"Hydraulic gun beds are being built in batches. By the end of this month, the total number of gun beds will reach 50. Due to some problems on the site, the reservoir needs to be expanded, so the total number can reach 100 by the end of next month."
Tang Shiping paused, thought for a while and said.
"Old guns are expensive to make. The style we have decided on now costs nearly seven taels of silver for just one shot. It is extremely expensive..."
Taking into account the price of iron, charcoal, craftsmen's wages, food, and other expenses, the cost of a qualified blunderbuss is even about three to five taels.
Generally, most qualified bird guns weigh about six pounds.
The weight of six kilograms doesn't seem like much. After all, it's all iron and only weighs six kilograms.
But this is not actually calculated like this. The iron required for the gunshot is refined iron. If forty pounds of rough iron is smelted, it will only become seven or eight pounds of refined iron, so the cost goes up.
The Sea Oath Gun, the first type of flintlock gun developed, was subject to problems with the reed, so the cost was much higher.
The steel used for the reed has extremely high requirements, and the materials used are expensive, even taking up most of the extra money.
In addition, because the Eversea gun has an extra butt, a strap, and a longer length, the requirements and processes have become more numerous. The cost of labor and wood is naturally not a small amount.
Tang Shiping really felt that it was a bit expensive. He used to be under Cao Wenzhao's account, but now he is the usual car camp in Beidi.
Each of the large cannons cost only five to six taels of silver, and each of the hundred gun guns only cost two taels of silver.
A chariot is equipped with a pair of flying cannons, and each cannon is equipped with five cannons. Including the chariot's fare, the total is only thirty taels of silver.
But now just one fire gun costs seven taels of silver, and four fire guns are about as expensive as a chariot. Seeing the money being spent like water, it would be false to say that I don't feel sad.
"The general requires extremely high specifications for armor production, so a pair of fine armor requires eleven taels of silver. After using water power, the labor has been reduced a lot, but for the time being it still requires ten taels of silver."
"The general requires that all the armor and weapons be made. It is expected to cost more than 12,000 taels of silver. This does not include the price of casting bronze cannons, nor does it include the price of making blunderbuss and other equipment."
Tang Shiping put away the documents in his hands and handed the question to Chen Wang.
Before he reported it, Wang Yuankang had already reported the affairs of the civil affairs department to Chen Wang.
Nowadays, water conservancy projects are being built aggressively in the two Qianhusu cities, and wells are being drilled one after another. Many of them are deep wells to cope with possible droughts.
One dam after another was built, and then the water flowed along the canals to various fields along the holes for water release.
Lanzhou waterwheels rose up one after another, transporting the Han River to remote fields.
Currently, the two thousand-household residences built in Shiquan and Xixiang are undergoing a large amount of infrastructure construction. Once these infrastructure constructions are completely completed, they will not be without the ability to resist the famine.
The source of this money has been passed down several times, and it is considered clean. Many of them were confiscated in the name of suppressing bandits and used for the development of the health center. Of course, many more were made from false accounts, but it was not for Embezzling money, but to avoid attracting attention.
In addition, various places are still digging deep holes, accumulating grain, and even building roads and bridges.
All of this is naturally Chen Wang's plan for the future, but the money required to do all this will undoubtedly be an astronomical figure in the end.
And not only the two Thousand Household Offices currently under the control of Chen Wangtong, but also the two Thousand Household Offices in Mioxian and Xing'an are also developing under the control of Guan Qilin and Du Wugang.
Naturally, monetary support is also indispensable. "
Chen Wang frowned slightly. There are still nearly 90,000 silver in the warehouse, but according to this calculation, I am afraid it can only be used until the beginning of next year.
The price of casting bronze cannons is much more expensive than casting iron cannons, and it is even more expensive among the big ones.
"How is the situation in Mianxian and Xing'an?"
Wang Yuankang is responsible for contacting Mian County and Xing'an.
The reason why Wang Yuankang can manage civil affairs is naturally because Wang Yuankang is already considered a close confidant.
From the time Wang Yuankang left Hanzhong Acropolis, there was actually no way to look back.
Not only Wang Yuankang now lives in Suo City, but the entire Wang family now lives in Youqianhu Suo City next to Shiquan.
"There are now more than 3,000 people in Mian County. There are still 2,000 non-staff soldiers and 800 regular soldiers."
When Chen Wang led his troops from Lueyang to Mian County, he collected about three thousand refugees along the way. These refugees were all placed in Mian County at that time.
Some of them entered the guardhouse as military households, while the other part stayed in Mian County as civilian households.
The so-called non-staff Dingkou refers to the refugees who did not join the guardhouse at the beginning.
"The situation of the Thousand Household Guards Station in Xing'an is slightly better than that of Mian County. Du Wugang gathered the refugees and opened up a wide range of farmland. Now there are more than 6,000 people in the station. Thousands of soldiers have been trained and 510 hectares of farmland have been acquired. Since last year, expenditures have been started He has already recovered."
Chen Wang had expected that the Xing'an Qianhu Clinic was better than the Mian County Qianhu Clinic.
The area around Xing'an was basically conquered by rogue bandits, resulting in a large population loss. In the name of Sun Chuanting, Du Wugang gathered a lot of land and refugees in a short period of time, so he was naturally able to develop.
However, the Thousand Household Office in Mian County has not yet been established, and its development is naturally not as good as that of Xing'an.
"The number of soldiers in the two Thousand Household Stations in Mianxian and Xing'an is enough to remain at around a thousand. There is no need to expand the number of soldiers."
Chen Wang knocked on the table and said.
"The current firing cannons in the army, as well as the almost obsolete Tiger Crouching Cannons and Fran cannons can be sent to Xing'an so that Du Wugang can strengthen the city defense."
The two thousand-household settlements in Miuxian and Xing'an were auxiliary in the plan, and they were used as farming areas to replenish grain and grass.
Chen Wang had not thought about letting the two guard posts participate in the battle, as long as they could undertake certain defensive tasks, so more than a thousand regular troops were already available.
From the eleventh year of Chongzhen to the beginning of the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, Xing'an never encountered any major intrusion in history.
There is no need to set up any defenses on the Mian County side. Now that northern Sichuan has been determined, Li Zicheng broke into pieces and led a small number of elites to sneak into the deep mountains and valleys of Long'an Mansion.
Li Zicheng has made a comeback. To get to Hanzhong Prefecture, he still needs to cross Chengdu Prefecture and Baoning Prefecture. It will not be too late to add more troops then.
Now Hu Zhiyi still leads troops to guard Lueyang, and it is impossible for the rogue bandits to enter Hanzhong Mansion from Cheng and Jie.
In other words, in the past two years, as long as nothing happens, Hanzhong Mansion will be absolutely safe.
Sending the eliminated artillery pieces to Xing'an is just a preventive measure.
Now after two years of operation, Hanzhong Mansion can be said to be close to impregnable in a sense.
"Has the terrain of the various pass routes been surveyed?"
After Chen Wang was silent for a while, he slowly asked.
"It has been investigated. The location information is currently kept confidential. The workshop has already come up with a construction plan."
At the mouth of Chihe, the only road from Shiquan to Hanyin, a bastion large enough to accommodate two thousand people for defense is now being built. As long as the weapons are in place, the entire mouth of Chihe can be completely sealed.
Chen Wang's plan was to wait until October to lead his troops northward, and then the weapons and artillery produced by the Ordnance Bureau would be supplied to the Chihekou Bastion in limited quantities, directly blocking possible invasion from the east.
In Mian County, a group of bastions and fort networks centered on Dingjun Mountain are also being organized.
The defenses in these two places are under construction, but Chen Wang has more than just these two places in his plan.
Chen Wang also sent people to explore Ziwu Road and Baoxie Road to find places to build fortifications and bastions. Now the location has been selected, and materials have even been prepared secretly.
Once things change, the two roads leading into Hanzhong from Ziwu Road and Baoxie Road will be immediately blocked.
When Dingjun Mountain and Chihekou are closed again, the entire Hanzhong Basin will become an impregnable giant fortress.
Use Dingjun Mountain, Chihekou, Ziwu Road and Baoxie Road as gateways, use the mountains on all sides as blockades, and rely on the power of cannons and artillery to resist the enemy.
"Everything can be carried out according to the predetermined plan. There is no need to worry about money matters..."
The so-called things like making perfumes, soaps, brewing distilled liquor and selling them at high prices, and making colored glaze to make money are actually not feasible at all in many cases.
Without special knowledge, how many people know how to make things like perfume, soap, and glass?
Not to mention distilled liquor. Distilled liquor has been around for a long time and is not a rare item.
If you want to make money in this era, the easiest way is to use the power in your hands.
And in the current Hanzhong Mansion, the power he holds in his hands can be described as monstrous.
Instead of working hard to do things that may not necessarily work and are thankless, it is better to be simple and crude.
The most profitable thing in this era was sea trade, followed by salt mines.
Nowadays, in Hanzhong Mansion, sea trade is naturally out of reach, and now all trade on the southeast coast is basically monopolized by Zheng Zhilong, and he cannot get involved at all.
As for salt and mines, there are no official channels for salt, so they can only sell private salt, which Chen Wang is already doing.
The largest private salt store in Hanzhong Prefecture was sold by Chen Wang. In addition to the caravans entering Hanzhong Prefecture, Chen Wang also collected certain taxes privately.
These things are unspoken rules, and Chen Wang does not prohibit them. After all, if you have money, why not make it.
None of these long-distance merchant caravans had a large force behind them, otherwise they would have been eaten up and wiped clean, with no bones left.
Salt and sea trade are currently out of reach, so the only way to make money is through mining.
Although the mineral resources in Hanzhong Prefecture are less than those in some mineral-rich areas, if most of them can be collected, it will be enough to cover expenses and still have a surplus.
Chen Wang narrowed his eyes, and a cold light flashed in his eyes.
I heard that there seem to be many remaining bandits operating in Ziyang and Xing'an.
As we all know, mining itself is a dangerous thing, and it is normal to encounter bandits and robbery.
(End of chapter)
