As soon as Zhu Youjian's words came out, not only Mao Wenlong was stunned, but Wang Zaijin, Yuan Keli, and Yang Hao were also stunned.
Six hundred thousand taels a year, paid directly from internal funds to Mao Wenlong, without even a penny of ministry expenses... This is so unruly! Dongjiang Town is not the Jinyi Guards and Royal Horse Prison, nor is it the pro-army in front of the tent, it is the border army under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War. As usual, military pay should be distributed to the Liaodong Economic and Strategy Department from the household department, and then distributed downwards from the Economic and Strategic Department. It is necessary to peel off the skin layer by layer. The salary is 600,000 taels, but it is already very good to get 300,000 to 400,000 taels. Where can I get 600,000 yuan directly from the inner treasury? Does this still allow the Cabinet, the Ministry of Household Affairs, the Ministry of War, and the Liaodong Economic and Strategy Department to take action?
This is not okay!
Wang Zaijin and Yuan Keli quickly winked at Mao Wenlong - they couldn't agree! If you agree, you will become an enemy of the Manchu officials! He will die...
Yang Hao squinted his eyes and had no reaction. He is now being discriminated against by the civil servants and military officials in the court, who think that in order to survive, he became a "retainer" of the Long Live Lord and gave up the dignity of a courtier.
But how do these bastards know how difficult life is in Jinyiwei Prison? Yang Hao is not one of those Donglin Party bosses. He can gain popularity even if he is imprisoned, and there are many party members outside to support him. If those hawks and dogs of Jinyiwei had not gotten the words of people like Wei Zhongxian, they would not have dared to pick up the boss's wool... He, Yang Hao, was the real sinner. After his family's wealth was exhausted, he was living in prison like a year. !
Even if he is working as a dog for Long Live Lord now, he cannot go back to prison!
Mao Wenlong also saw the looks in Wang Zaijin and Yuan Keli's eyes, and he understood what was going on. But the problem is that Dongjiang Town is too poor. Even with the maritime toll collection business, Dongjiang's life is still tight. Because Dongjiang is different from Liaoxi, the Dongjiang army has to fight the Tatars for real!
Dongjiang not only gets beaten all the time, but he also takes the initiative to fight!
This is because the Dongjiang Army and the Tatars simply cannot coexist... The Dongjiang Army eats the oil and water from the Ming Dynasty-North Korea trade, and the main products of the Ming Dynasty-North Korea trade conflict with the production of Donglu and are competitors. ! If Dongjiang eats more oil and water, Donglu will have to eat less oil and water.
In addition, as long as Dongjiang Town is there, Donglu will not be able to conquer North Korea. Although North Korea is not rich, it is still a piece of meat. Dongjiang also wants to take a bite!
Last year Huang Taiji sent troops to attack North Korea. He obviously won the victory, but because Dongjiang kept harassing him from behind, he could only retreat with hatred and did not gain much benefit.
Of course, Huang Taiji could also take advantage of North Korea - simply station a large number of troops in North Korea to prevent the Dongjiang Army from harassing it from the sea.
But how many troops are needed to defend North Korea? Ten thousand? Twenty thousand? If Huang Taiji really does this, Dongjiang's value will skyrocket...
Therefore, the existence of Dongjiang Town makes Donglu very uncomfortable!
But Dongjiang Town itself is living a very difficult life due to frequent conflicts with Donglu... Fighting requires death, and even more money!
And Mao Wenlong has been able to barely maintain it.
Fortunately, Dongjiang Town could continue to absorb the Liaodong Han people who were bullied by the Donglu and could not survive, so they could get low-cost fighters, so they fought hard.
"Long live my Lord, I..." Mao Wenlong had already stood up, and then knelt down to Zhu Youjian with a plop, "I thank God for the 30,000 men in the Dongjiang Army who dare to fight!"
When Wang Zaijin and Yuan Keli heard this, their hearts almost dropped... It's not that they want to be greedy, it's the rules of the officialdom!
Zhu Youjian is the emperor, and the ministers have nothing to do with him for the time being. But Mao Wenlong was just a general in the frontier army. He was outraged by the public and didn't let the bullets drown him?
"Get up, get up..." Zhu Youjian was already smiling from ear to ear... He hired 30,000 soldiers for 600,000 taels of silver! A soldier only costs 20 taels, which is so cheap!
And Mao Wenlong's soldiers are really fighting the Tatars!
Seeing that Mao Wenlong had stood up, Zhu Youjian laughed and said: "I have 30,000 sets of armor and equipment collected from the Nanhai Zijing Army, including 2,000 bird guns, all of which were made by Wei Ni at a huge price. Take away all the guns for you!"
Of course the armor and weapons that Wei Zhongxian got for his army were good, but the lackeys below would not dare to make any plans on it even if they wanted to steal money!
But Zhu Youjian has seen better ones! And he also knew that giving these things to Mao Wenlong would definitely put them to the greatest use.
"Kowtow to thank Heaven..." Mao Wenlong gave it again with a plop, tears streaming down his face, this was when he met the Ming Lord! The soldiers of the Dongjiang Army can now all wear armor. Even cloth-faced armor can protect them from Donglu's bows and arrows.
As for the 2,000 bird guns...if they weren't those explosive gun guns, they would be of great use!
Although Donglu can build shield vehicles and anti-guns, the scale of the battles between the Dongjiang Army and Donglu is not large. There are rarely grand formations. Most of them are small-scale conflicts with less than a thousand people, and they are often encounters and surprise battles. , ambush battle.
If you can invest two or three hundred useful muskets at once, you might be able to win a few battles!
"No need to thank you, no need to thank you..." Zhu Youjian waved his hand, "The Dongjiang Army is the economic and political force of the Ming Dynasty. Of course I should give you money, food and equipment! As long as you fight well, I will still benefit. !”
Are there any benefits?
Mao Wenlong raised his head and looked at Zhu Youjian eagerly.
Zhu Youjian laughed and said: "Commander Mao, are you Commander-in-Chief Pingliao?"
"I am the commander-in-chief of Ping Liao." Mao Wenlong replied.
"Then your jurisdiction should not be Dongjiang, but the whole Liao..." Zhu Youjian said, "Wherever you can reach, that's your jurisdiction!"
This is to let the general soldiers of Pingliao replace the general soldiers of Liaodong!
Wang Zaijin and Yuan Keli both frowned. The young emperor has put Mao Wenlong on the fire!
Zhu Youjian added: "In addition, I hope you can open a mansion in Lushun... No matter how good Pidao is or Dongjiang is good, it cannot be compared with Lushun. Didn't Wu Zhiwang, the governor of Denglai, say so in the memorial two years ago? We need to dig a canal at Nanguan between Jinzhou and Lushun. I think it is feasible and we can try it again. I will give you another 100,000 taels of internal funds as labor expenses and give you a method of building a fortification with sandbags. That is to use sacks. Fill the soil and then pile it up in packages to form a city wall. The soil dug out from the canal can be filled into sacks and used to build forts. In this way, Nanguan not only has a river, but also can build walls, even when the sea water freezes in winter. , it is not without danger. If Lushun can be consolidated, the thousands of miles of sea territory in eastern Liaoning and western Liaoning will all be under the front of the Pingliao army!"
Once this plan to dig a canal in Lushun Nanguan is successful, Mao Wenlong will have a large area of land where he can farm with peace of mind - south of Lushun Nanguan, there will be at least 200 square kilometers of flat land that can be reclaimed, and 300,000 acres of land can be reclaimed.
In addition, the waters around Lushun are rich in fishery resources, and the catch can be used to supplement food shortages. Once developed, the economic value of Lushun will be no less than that of Liaoxi.
Even after the canal was frozen, it was still possible for Donglu to pass through the ice and break through the South Pass Wall. But when the canal was frozen, the autumn harvest had ended, the people in the fields had retreated into the castle, and the grain had been put into storage. The Donglu who broke through the Nanguan City Wall would not be able to grab anything, and their own logistics would also become very difficult.
With the 300,000 acres of farmland in Lushun, the Dongjiang Army's food supply will be greatly relaxed, and it will be able to support more young men.
Mao Wenlong also knew that the value of Lushun was greater than that of Pi Dao, so he immediately said loudly: "I must work hard for it!"
Zhu Youjian nodded with satisfaction, and then said to Yuan Keli: "In recent years, we have only focused on fighting against the Eastern invaders in western Liaoning, and the results are obvious to all. The so-called recovery of 400 miles of land is just a long strip. The actual occupation The land may not be as good as Lushun and Jinzhou. Moreover, the supply is really difficult, and it seems that it will be difficult to make progress. So I want to change the direction, using Lushun and Pidao as the foundation, Denglai as the backup, and come by sea. Go and turn all the coastal areas of Liaodong into battlefields! Therefore, the post of Governor of Liao will also be transferred from western Liaoning to Denglai. Yuan Qing cared for Denglai for a long time, and together with General Mao, he recaptured southern Liaoning. He was the last person to serve as Governor of Liao. The perfect candidate.”
