Xi'an Fucheng, Pingxi Army Jiedushi Division.
Wu Sangui, who had just celebrated the New Year, was settling accounts in the back house of the Jiedushi Envoy. He was worried - his Jiedushi Envoy had suffered a loss again!
This vassal can't be withdrawn either.
This account cannot be settled no matter how hard it is calculated.
Last year, Wu Sangui took the lead in practicing strict economy, reducing the expenses of the Jiedushi Yamen. He also worked hard to run industry and commerce, and even sold more than 2,000 Hequ horses to Huguang, but in the end he still suffered a loss!
There is no way, no matter how hard Wu Sangui tries, he can't hold up the 330 "little bottomless pits" below!
Although the thousand-household system implemented by Wu Sangui in Pingxi Fan consolidated his power, it was definitely a black hole financially. There are at least 330,000 households and more than 2 million people under the 330 Thousand Households. The actual cultivated land occupied per capita is between eight and ten acres, so nearly 2,000 acres belong to these 330 Thousand Households. There was not much land and household registration left for Wu Sangui, the military envoy.
And after occupying so much land and population, none of the 330 thousand households reported a profit last year. They all suffered losses, and they all asked Wu Sangui for subsidies!
What’s even more despicable is that there are frictions among these 330 households all year round!
These thousands of households are now divided into two factions, one is the Ganshan faction and the other is the Guanning faction. They are constantly fighting openly and secretly - fighting for land, fighting for population, fighting for trade routes, fighting endlessly... and Wu Sangui has both They didn't dare to offend the Ganshan Sect, which had a large number of people, and they couldn't treat their own Guan Ning Sect badly, so they became a rat in the bellows and had no choice but to spend money to avoid disasters.
But how much money does he have in his pocket? Why is there enough money? The money raised from the last issuance of feudal bonds was used by him to supplement daily expenses and pay interest. Now he has spent more than half of it, but the withdrawal of the feudal clan is far away.
What depressed him the most was that Zhu Cixi also wanted the Pingxi Fan to send troops to attack the Yerqiang Khanate - to bring the land of Anxi, which had belonged to China since ancient times, back into the indirect jurisdiction of the central court.
Although the Junggar tribe will cooperate with Pingxi Fan's actions, it may also assume the main task of sending troops. But Wu Sangui could not show weakness in front of Batur Hutaiji. He must fully demonstrate the power of Pingxi Fan... This meant a huge expense.
And the Yeerqiang Khanate doesn't have much money, because this Khanate has a rather speechless tradition - it likes to loot its own cities!
Although the Yeerqiang Khanate uses Tianfang religion as its state religion, its core is still Mongolian. The methods of governance were very rough, and the system implemented was not much different from that in the Genghis Khan era. The backbone of the Khanate was still the Mongol-style nomadic tribes. They did not directly rule the city, but handed it over to the local nobles who had surrendered to manage it. The Khanate only collected money. If the money received is not enough to cover the expenses of the Khan's civil war, then start looting... rob your own city, and rob others!
In addition, the Khanate's ruling group did not establish centralization of power within the ruling group, but followed the Mongolian-style Kuritai Conference - they did not choose carefully, but often started fighting after choosing.
Of course, fighting costs money, and the Mongolian tribes don’t have money, so they just loot...
In addition to the internal fighting among the Mongolian tribes, the sectarian struggle between the Baishan and Black Mountain factions later appeared, which was also mixed with the internal fighting in Mongolia.
And the weak countries have strong neighbors, Junggar to the north, Heshuote to the south, and Kazakhstan to the west. None of them are good, and they are all stronger than the Yerqiang Khanate! Therefore, they invade whenever they have the opportunity, and they are all prairie-style. They burn, kill, and loot when they come in!
So the people of Yeerqiang Kingdom really have nothing to say. The Mongolian master above wants to rob and kill him, and the Mongolian and Kazakh neighbors next door also want to rob and kill him!
If you just rob and kill like this, of course your wealth is exhausted and your people are poor, and your population is very sparse. It is a weak country.
Wu Sangui's Pingxi Army is about to enter, and the middle and lower classes of the Yeerqiang Khanate are welcoming them with singing and dancing!
But what about Wu Sangui’s own finances? What else would Zhu Cixi want to trade Anxi for Xi'an - this is another loss-making deal!
How can Anxi compare with Xi'an? Although the territory is large, transportation is inconvenient, the land is barren, and the cost of development and farming is extremely high... Therefore, it costs money to attack the Yerqiang Khanate, and it will cost money to build farming in Anxi after it is conquered!
And the rates of return on these investments are very low!
What a loss!
When Wu Sangui was worried, the voices of Wu Sanfeng and Liu Sheng came from outside the door.
"Is the eldest uncle here?"
"Commander, an imperial edict has arrived."
Imperial decree?
Wu Sangui said in his heart: Are we going to withdraw the vassal state? Are you still receiving subsidies?
Years ago, he submitted a memorial requesting the withdrawal of the vassal state or the payment of subsidies...
Wu Sangui shouted: "Come in quickly!"
This imperial edict was not sent by people from the General Affairs Department, let alone read by eunuchs, but by people from the Pingxi Army Jinxi Academy, so Wu Sangui did not have to go to receive the edict.
Wu Sanfeng and Liu Sheng heard the call and entered the house together.
"What's going on?" Wu Sangui asked.
It was Liu Sheng who answered: "Commander, the emperor invites you to go to Nanjing... You will be going for a while, and you must stay in Nanjing for at least 3 months."
"3 months?" Wu Sangui was stunned, "What are you going to do?"
"Go...make up lessons!"
"What is a make-up lesson?" Wu Sangui was confused.
He has never had any extra lessons since he was a child!
Wu Sanfeng held Wu Xiang's letter in his hand - the letter was also sent from Pingxi Jinzouyuan and arrived with the imperial edict. Wu Sanfeng, who had already read the letter written by her father, knew what make-up lessons were.
"Uncle," Wu Sanfeng said, "Your Majesty's letter says that the Emperor invited a Western military strategist named Kong from Western France to teach you how to fight!"
"Huh?" Wu Sangui was simply stunned. He was an old war veteran. Why did he still need to take up combat lessons?
Wu Sanfeng half-smiled, "My lord also said that if you make up for Teacher Kong's lessons, your fighting skills will improve, and you might be able to defeat Azig and Duduo in the future. So you must go." .....Not only do you have to make up for this lesson, adults and the third child also have to make up for it."
Well, the father and son went to make up lessons together!
I don’t know how to calculate the tuition fees? Are there any discounts?
...
"Announcement of the King of Confucius's visit to Louis Bourbon of France!"
As the guards chanted, Prince Louis II de Bourbon of Condé, the special envoy of the Kingdom of France, walked into the Fengtian Hall of the Forbidden City in Nanjing under the guidance of Archduke Luo and Li Shaoyou.
The Ming Dynasty returned to Nanjing just the day before yesterday, and then took a day off. Early this morning, Emperor Zhu met with the special envoy of the Kingdom of France, Prince Condé, and the special envoy of the Ottoman Empire, Seimezi, in the Fengtian Palace.
The first person to enter the palace was Prince Kong Dai. He was a prince and had a relatively high status. Of course, he should be ranked in front of the Ottoman Empire's special envoy.
Today is the second day of March in the fifth year of Hongxing. Prince Kong Dai has stayed in Nanjing for more than twenty days. During this period, accompanied by Shi Ruien, he visited the Lecture Hall and the Xiaoling Guards Camp. He also listened to a few words in the Lecture Hall. A foreign instructor described the situation on the Chinese battlefield and the status of several important battles.
I have a very good understanding of the situation of the new army of the Ming Empire - this is an army that is very powerful on paper! Almost as powerful as the Ottoman Empire's army!
However, there are several obvious weaknesses that limit its performance. If it can be overcome, defeating the barbarians in the north will not be a problem.
Prince Kong Dai, who was planning to show off his talents in the east of the world, walked into the hall with his head held high, and then he felt full of hostility!
This is a quite spacious hall, the light is a bit dim, and it is full of bearded men wearing crimson silk robes. Everyone looks very angry and looks at Prince Kong Dai with cold eyes.
The prince suddenly became confused. What is going on? Why do these people have such expressions? Did I offend them? Could it be that when a state meeting is held here in China, all the ministers look like this?
Teacher Kong Daikong didn’t know at this time that these bearded Chinese men were his future students, and they would all attend his military cram school and listen to his explanation of combat examples from the Thirty Years War.
But everyone is now very disappointed. The legendary French military strategist turned out to be a "little foreign devil" with a deer-like head and rat eyes, a short stature, and looked nothing like a famous general...
