"Your Majesty, I also know that the cost of pacifying the Western Region is indeed high, but the Western Region is too big, too far, too desolate, and has nothing. Everything has to be transferred from Hexi and Guanzhong. The military expenses allocated by the imperial court are simply not enough. I have no choice. , I had to suppress the transportation money, mules and horses money, and transportation food money of 20,000 thousand soldiers and did not pay them. If the court cannot make up for this money, I am afraid that my Hexi Army and Anxi Army will no longer have the strength to fight... ....”
The one who is pouring out his bitterness is Wu Sangui!
The acting king Zhu Cijiong is now out of trouble, while Wu Sangui has fallen into a bigger financial black hole - the Western Regions!
This is the Age of Discovery!
The Silk Road in the Western Regions has long been abolished, so there is no comparison between the Western Regions and the Han and Tang Dynasties. During the Han and Tang Dynasties, wealthy commercial city-states were dotted along the Silk Road in the Western Regions. At that time, the climate in the Western Regions was very humid and the oases were very large. The Silk Road passed through good places with abundant products and prosperous trade. Therefore, the armies of the Central Plains Dynasty could be supplied locally in the Western Regions without the need for the court to spend a lot of money to maintain them.
But things are different now. There are no prosperous trade routes in the Western Regions. There are not many city-states that were prosperous in the past. There are only a few oases suitable for farming left, such as Hami, Gaochang, and Luntai.
So after Wu Sangui's army entered, they found that there was nothing to loot at all. Everything had to be transported from Hexi and Guanzhong. This was really a waste of money!
In addition, the depression in the Western Regions also affected Hexi. Without trade, the Hexi Corridor is no longer a "corridor", but has become a dry and depressed agricultural area, and is often harassed by some poor Mongolian small tribes. It is a very troublesome place.
Therefore, Hexi did not have much spare power to support Anxi, and could only rely on supplies from Guanzhong to be transported thousands of miles to the battlefield in Anxi.
Wu Sangui was really desperate now. He had already prepared his resignation. If Emperor Zhu refused to pay, then he would rather not be the military governor and the guardian of the capital. And even if he wanted to do it, he couldn't do it!
The military service system implemented by the two losing vassals at his disposal is different from that of most of the Ming army (including the vassal army). The land military service system is still implemented. Earlier, Lao Wu had 330 thousand households, but now it has been reduced to 240, which theoretically means 240,000 military households. If all were mobilized, it would be an army of 240,000!
It looked scary, but it was impossible to mobilize them because Wu Sangui didn't have that much money to subsidize them. Without sufficient subsidies, most military households could not afford to buy equipment, nor could they provide rations, mules and horses, and they would not be able to serve at all.
Therefore, Wu Sangui could only adopt the method of feeding one household from eight households to maintain 30,000 Long March troops available at any time. This time, 24,000 Long March troops were deployed in Anxi.
The 24,000 Long March soldiers need to prepare their own luggage, food, mules and horses before going on the expedition. If the expedition takes longer than expected, Wu Sangui needs to provide the Long March soldiers' luggage money, food money, mules and horses money to the military family members to subsidize them. Their lives, and at the same time, a certain amount of military pay is issued to the soldiers.
If Wu Sangui did not issue money for clothing, food, and mules and horses, then these Long March soldiers would fall into poverty or even go bankrupt, and they would be unable to perform military service in the future!
"Dong Guo Liang, don't be anxious." Zhu Cixi also knew that he couldn't default on his debt, otherwise the Hexi Army and the Anxi Army would be gone. "How much money is needed, the imperial court will not lose a penny, and the battle in the Western Regions was fought very well, the imperial court We will also give rewards to the soldiers who participated in the war!"
He paused and then asked: "Mr. Liang Guo, how is the establishment of the Anxi army going? Can one hundred and twenty thousand households be mobilized to Anxi? The Northern Expedition army has also captured many prisoners. Can it be dispersed? To the one hundred and twenty thousand households who entered Anxi?"
Wu Sangui frowned: "That's one hundred and twenty thousand households, at least hundreds of thousands of households, hundreds of thousands of people going to Anxi... It's not easy said!
Not to mention moving to Kashgar, even if they move to Dunhuang, Hami, Gaochang, Luntai and other places, each household will have to spend at least dozens of taels of silver to resettle it. Even if it is ten million taels, it may not be enough. Sales!
Moreover, due to the continuous wars in the Western Regions (the Yeerqiang Khanate itself was fighting every day without stopping), the people had long been destitute, the cities were dilapidated, and the oases were deserted. When I led my troops there, I often traveled two to three hundred miles. There is not a village or a town in sight! For a place like this, I'm afraid it won't receive any taxes from the Western Regions within ten years.
If we want to take root in the Western Regions, even if we restore the situation of the Han and Tang Dynasties, we will have to spend millions of taels of silver every year to build cities and water conservancy, organize roads and gates, appease local wealthy families, and build academies and Buddhist temples. This is basically What a bottomless pit!
In addition, Chen's Hexi is also a barren land! Due to drought and poor harvests year after year, we really have no power to support Anxi..."
"Can Hexi and the Western Regions be self-sufficient in food?" Zhu Cixiang didn't ask about money at all, because money was not a problem!
In his view, the root of the Ming Dynasty problem is who pays and who contributes? Let the rich contribute money and the powerful contribute, and the problem will be solved.
As for who has the money, it is obvious, that is, the four rivers, two lakes, Fujian and Guangdong plus Sichuan Tianfu. If you can get 100 million (silver plus food) for these territories, Ming Dynasty will be the Celestial Empire. If you take out 50 million, Ming Dynasty will be a peaceful and prosperous age. If you are only willing to pay 10 million, it will be a blessing!
However, transportation capacity in this era is poor. For places where food cannot be self-sufficient and transportation is inconvenient, there is really nothing to do.
"The situation in the Western Regions is still unclear. Hexi can barely be self-sufficient," Wu Sangui said with a sad face. "But sometimes it is necessary to replenish some from Guanzhong, but other things are difficult to supply. Most of them have to be imported from the Central Plains. Because of the long distance, the prices are not high. Cheap. Therefore, most military households are poor. In the past, they could still get some income from exporting horses. But now that the imperial court has a horse breeding land in Monan, the horse selling business is not expected to last long. By then, each military household will If I can’t make ends meet, I’m afraid I won’t be able to afford military service anymore.”
"Dong Guo Liang, you don't have to worry," Zhu Cixi said with a smile, "I have already planned to implement a recruitment system in Hexi and Anxi, and at the same time retain military households to train militiamen in regiments, so there is no need to stay away from home."
"Recruiting troops?" Wu Sangui asked quickly, "I wonder how many standing troops your Majesty plans to maintain in Hexi and Anxi?"
"Hexi and the Western Regions are vast, and without 30,000 standing troops, they are not enough!" Zhu Cixi had already discussed the armaments in Hexi and the Western Regions with the people in the Generalissimo's Mansion. "And these 30,000 standing troops must be mainly composed of musketeers and cavalry. , at least half must be musketeers."
The musketeers were black lances and mule soldiers. They showed their prowess in the Battle of the Qing Dynasty and greatly weakened the Qing army's cavalry advantage.
"So many musketeers..." Wu Sangui was startled by Emperor Zhu's magnanimity, "Your Majesty, the military expenditures in Hexi and Anxi are probably 1.5 million per year!"
Zhu Cixiang nodded: "Anxi will add another one million for resettlement and construction. Add this 1.5 million to 2.5 million!
In addition, I have agreed with you that Anxi Festival will allow you to inherit the Wu family hereditary! Anxi offered 20,000 soldiers to recruit, plus the cost of resettlement and construction, the court gave two million taels a year! "
"Your Majesty," Wu Sangui was stunned again and again, "Anxi and Hexi only spend 2.5 million taels a year...and Shuofang, Anbei, Peiping, Daning and other festival towns also have to spend money. , is the imperial court really that rich?"
Zhu Cixiang smiled and said: "Anbei, Peiping, and Daning don't spend as much money as you do. More than five million a year is enough..." He turned to look at Zhu Yujian, "Prince Tang, how much does Shuofang cost?" ?”
"Three hundred thousand is enough!" Zhu Yujian said, "Shuofang is managed well by King Dai. If I work harder, I should be able to equalize within four or five years."
Zhu Cixiang nodded and said with a smile: "Well, the King of Tang is indeed a wise king! But you still have to spend what should be spent! Nowadays, all the wealth in the world is in the southeast. As long as the southeast is managed well, it can supply the military supplies of the north... ..I have already made up my mind to move south in March and go to Nanjing to make money!"
