At the end of October, news came back from Pegasus in Hehe County that the 100 million taels of silver originally promised by the Xueyuan Fan people had been delivered to Hehe County.
Now Hehe County is sending 5,000 troops, under the personal supervision of the captain, and they are being sent to Xichuan County overnight.
After arriving in Xichuan County, a part of the imperial army stationed there will be sent to Baling along the Yangtze River waterway with the help of the navy.
When Lu Yuan received the news, he couldn't help but attach great importance to it.
In the past few months, he first recruited five forbidden armies and one hundred thousand soldiers. Only the initial expenditure had already spent three to four million taels of silver.
Later, troops were sent to attack Hanzhong. Although the battle was rapid and did not take much time, more than two million taels of military expenses were spent. There were also rewards for victory and more than one million taels of silver.
Now he ordered Hanzhong to form two new imperial troops and local county soldiers, which amounted to another 70,000 people, and also cost more than two million taels of silver.
Adding up these bits and pieces, the court spent nearly ten million taels of silver in this month alone.
Of course, the main reason why the expenditure is so large is because the army was suddenly expanded to 170,000 standing troops, resettlement allowances were paid, various supplies and weapons were purchased, and households were purchased, so the expenditure seemed a bit large.
Once these armaments are fully purchased, you will only need to pay some daily military pay, and your monthly expenses will be much smaller.
But even so, such a large amount of money cost almost one-ninth of the national treasury.
Nowadays, Chu State's treasury savings have shrunk from the original 86 million taels of silver to more than 77 million taels of silver, which is a shrinkage visible to the naked eye.
And the above shrinkage will continue to increase as the troops continue to expand and the war further expands.
At present, more than 77 million taels of silver may seem like a lot, but in fact, it cannot last for more than a few years.
If you want to maintain the current expansion trend, you must find new sources of income.
The 100 million taels of silver sent by the Tibetan people is related to the military expenditure of Chu State in the next few years.
Whether Lu Yuan can continue to expand his army and launch a southern expedition to wipe out Lingnan depends entirely on this money.
Therefore, after receiving the news, he immediately ordered Han Hu, the newly canonized God of Protector of the Country, to personally lead three thousand forbidden troops and board a navy ship to rush to respond.
After giving this order, Lu Yuan felt relieved.
There was an innate master who was watching personally. Even if You Xiaoxiao wanted to get the 100 million taels of silver, he would never succeed.
Now I only need to wait for half a month, and then the money will be sent to Baling. It will be safely stored in the treasury by then, so I don't have to worry too much.
But speaking of the Tibetan people, news came back from the Zhou Kingdom in the north.
This autumn the Tibetans invaded again, and all the ministries jointly sent 500,000 troops to plunder He and Long counties.
However, the result was still the same as in previous years. He Basheng, the general of Zhou State's North Pillar State, commanded well and the cities were heavily guarded. The Tibetan people could not take any advantage at all.
Even out of desperation, He Basheng found an opportunity to set up an ambush, fell into the trap, and broke it.
In the end, more than 100,000 Tibetans were beheaded, and tens of thousands more were captured. Once again, more than half of the invading Tibetans were lost, and they could not help but flee in confusion.
Because there was heavy snow in the north and the roads were impassable, the Zhou people did not continue to pursue them after they won.
However, not much supplies were looted, and the losses were so heavy. This winter was another difficult day for the Tibetan people.
It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of people will freeze to death and starve to death as before, and will become weak from blood loss again.
According to this estimate, the Tibetan tribe in the snowy plains will decline and perish sooner or later.
However, Lu Yuan only looked at it and didn't take it too seriously.
Perhaps in the past, he had some interest in uniting the Tibetan people and attacking the Zhou Kingdom.
After all, if we can capture He and Long counties, we will be able to take advantage of the geographical advantages and be condescending, directly threatening Guannei County, the core of the Zhou people.
But now the catastrophe of heaven and earth is approaching, and the four poles will be shrouded in natural disasters, and the land of Yongzhou occupied by the Zhou Kingdom will also not be spared.
Even if the Chu State conquered He and Long counties, they would only be able to hold them for more than a hundred years at most.
When natural disasters come, most of Yongzhou will give up.
In this case, instead of expending energy now, it would take more than ten or twenty years to fight with Zhou Guo and then win a piece of territory that cannot be defended for a long time.
It is better to concentrate on and do your best to conquer Yangzhou.
After unifying Yangzhou, they will send troops northward to seize Zhongzhou, which is destined to be the core of the future.
The land of Liang Kingdom was the territory that Lu Yuan was interested in.
As for the rest, they are all useless.
"However, the two counties of Henan and Nanyang in the Zhou Kingdom also belonged to Zhongzhou in ancient times. If there is a chance, we may take advantage of these two places."
Thoughts flashed through Lu Yuan's mind, but he did not continue to think deeply.
As a hegemonic country, Zhou State naturally knew about the great catastrophe of heaven and earth for a long time.
In this way, of course, he attaches great importance to Zhongzhou, the only land in his country.
Just seeing how the Zhou Kingdom is in such a difficult situation now, but still has 400,000 troops stationed in Henan and Nanyang counties, you can see that the other party attaches great importance to it.
For the Chu State to seize these two pieces of territory, the difficulty is far greater than that of seizing Hanzhong County, which is surrounded by mountains and forests, has inconvenient transportation, and is located in the south of the mountains.
Losing Hanzhong, for the Zhou Kingdom, just lost a piece of territory in the south that was not very convenient to rule, like losing a foot.
Although the pain in the body has lost a source of income, it is not unacceptable.
But if the two counties of Henan and Nanyang are lost, it will not be a severed leg, but a direct beheading, which is related to the foundation of life.
If the Chu State really dares to pursue its plans there, do you believe that the Zhou Dynasty will directly abandon He and Long counties, and even give up Shuofang County in the north, then shrink all its forces and return to Guannei County, and then use all its resources to fight with the Chu State?
The two counties of Guandong in the Zhou Kingdom have become a forbidden area. Anyone who touches the surrounding area will blow up this hornet's nest.
They didn't see Liang Guo, so they just hung around. Although there were a lot of troops stationed there, they just took advantage of it and didn't go deep.
Lu Yuan would not take advantage of this little advantage at this critical moment.
Therefore, he just thought about it and didn't pay much attention to it.
It's just the four counties of Hexi, Longxi, Henan, and Nanyang in the Zhou Kingdom. Although Lu Yuan has given up the plan to capture them, it is not without profit from these four counties.
For example, in He and Long counties, after Huang Xuan sorts out the military affairs of Hanzhong next year and initially stabilizes this territory, he may be able to send a force to Helong to cooperate with the Tibetan people to attack the Zhou Kingdom.
By doing this, Lu Yuan did not want to seize territory and continue to expand to the northwest.
The main reason is that he covets the population of Zhou Guohe and Long counties.
Although the two counties of Zhou Guohe and Long suffered heavy population losses due to military disasters and snow disasters in recent years, a large number of refugees fled every year.
Among them, Hanzhong County received 300,000 to 400,000 refugees from He and Long, which shows the heavy losses.
But even so, the remaining populations in He and Long counties are still more than two million.
With so many household registrations, if we can take the opportunity to rob some and return them to Chu State, it will undoubtedly greatly enrich the local household registrations in Chu State.
These people are all descendants of the Three Emperors. Their culture, beliefs, and customs are similar to those of the people of Chu State, so there is no obstacle to their assimilation.
After the Zhou people who were plundered from Hanzhong moved back to Dongting and Xichuan counties, it took only three to five years for the Chu State to completely digest them and completely become Chu people.
At this time, the Chu State can fully absorb and utilize these people from Helong County without spending much effort.
Lu Yuan doesn't need more. If he can kidnap 500,000 people, Xichuan County can be further developed and completely become the granary of the west.
Even when it comes to robbing people, he actually doesn't have to do it himself.
Directly reach a trade consensus with the Tibetan people, let the Tibetan people rob people, and Chu State can just trade with them in grain.
In this way, without spending a single soldier and only spending some surplus grain in Chu State, a large number of people can be obtained for nothing.
Waiting for the transaction to stabilize and deepen, maybe then there will be no problem in buying their own population directly from the Tibetan people using grain.
After all, hundreds of thousands of people in the Tibetan tribe starve to death or freeze to death every year, and it is impossible to feed them even if they stay in the tribe.
Rather than letting them freeze and starve to death in vain, it is better to send them to Chu State, which can not only exchange precious food for the tribe, but also allow them to survive.
Lu Yuan believed that the Tibetan people would be happy to do this to get the best of both worlds.
And there is another benefit to food trade for such a population.
That is, through food, the Chu State can indirectly influence and control the Tibetan people in the Xueyuan, and through this trade, the Tibetan people continue to lose blood and become weak.
The cold disaster is getting colder every day, and the wind and snow every year will be heavier than the previous year.
Even if the Tibetan people send more people out every year and get more food in exchange, the tribe's population will still inevitably decrease.
When they are weak enough, Lu Yuan might be able to directly recruit a large number of Tibetan tribes by calling them in the name of Lingnu, and make them directly become citizens of the Chu Kingdom for his own use.
"This matter has great potential. It may be regarded as a long-term national policy towards Zhou and the Tibetan people, and it can be continued to be watched."
Lu Yuan thought about this in his mind, and immediately communicated with Huang Xuan through his spiritual mind, and then asked the clone to handle the matter.
As the general manager of the three western counties, Huang Xuan was responsible for the affairs of the Zhou Kingdom and the Tibetan people according to the division of responsibilities. It was appropriate to leave this matter to him.
After all, he is his own avatar, so he can communicate at any time if there is anything, and there will be no delays or misunderstandings.
Leave it to others, people's hearts are separated from each other, Lu Yuan is still worried!
It has to be said that in addition to being able to practice quickly in Taiping Dao Shu, the Yellow Turban Hercules magical power can be said to be the one he is most satisfied with.
Not only did he solve the problem of his own shortage of manpower, but he was also able to send messages across thousands of miles. He was sympathetic, loyal and reliable. I couldn't find anyone more useful than this person.
…
Just about to send troops to Helong, take the opportunity to plunder the population, and start trade with the Tibetan people.
Not a few days later, I rushed to Hanzhong County urgently to prepare for the arrival of civil servants from all levels of the county and county offices.
After the yamen at all levels sorted out the government affairs, the household registration albums and wealth balance of Hanzhong County were quickly sent back to Baling via a fast boat on the Han River.
"So, Hanzhong County now has 326,000 households and more than 1,615,000 people.
According to the current taxation of Da Chu, we can provide 6.1 million taels of tax money every year, and various expenses in the county require about 1.1 million taels of silver.
Can the remaining five million taels of silver be sent to the court? "
Lu Yuan flipped through the household registration books, then looked up at the official sent by the Hanzhong County Prefecture below and asked.
"His Majesty, it is true."
The official below was a young man. Facing the King of Chu alone at this time, he couldn't help but feel a little nervous, but he still managed to calm down and said: "However, Hanzhong County has just suffered a military attack. The losses in various prefectures and counties are not small. There have been some casualties and escapes among the local people." , so the specific household registration should be less than what is listed in the register.
Fortunately, there are many aristocratic families in Hanzhong County who have more or less concealed their household registrations.
Therefore, the Sheriff is planning to start the household census after next spring.
The refugees who fled due to the war at that time should also have returned.
If the hidden households are identified again, the population of Hanzhong County may be tens of thousands more, and the finances and taxes will also be higher. "
Compared with the nascent Chu State, there were established hegemons like Zhou, Ning, and Liang, and there were many aristocratic families in the country. These high-ranking families were married to each other, entangled with each other, and weaved a web of interests.
In this network, although the imperial power is powerful, it is far from being able to decide everything.
Even the imperial power itself is part of this network of relationship rights.
Therefore, under the constraints, it is inevitable that a large number of vested interest groups will appear in various countries and localities, that is, aristocratic families, wealthy families and powerful people.
These upper-class figures hide their population and do not pay taxes. They are like parasites in the dynasty. They only know how to suck blood but not pay.
Therefore, hegemons like Zhou and Ning clearly have profound foundations and great potential. But in the end, the strength they were able to display was far from worthy of their size.
The Chu State only had a population of eight million, but its military strength was comparable to that of the Ning State, which had twice the population.
Is this because the people of Chu State are inherently stronger than the people of Ning State, and the territory of Chu State is richer than that of Ning State?
of course not.
More than ten years ago, many Chu and Ning people still shared the name Yue!
But from the same source, the Chu State was able to raise an army comparable to that of the Ning State with half the population, and it had twice the potential.
Where does this doubled potential come from?
In other words, where did Ning Guo's remaining half of his potential go?
Naturally, he was eaten by aristocratic families, local officials, and powerful country squires.
After eating these layers, half of Ningguo will be gone.
Zhou Guo has not yet experienced the old tree sprouting like Ning Guo, and it is listed on the market through a backdoor!
The Zhou State, which had been established for hundreds of years, had not suffered the pain of annihilation. The domestic corruption and the disasters caused by wealthy families were worse than those of the Ning State.
The Chu State had just been established, and Lu Yuan and his disciples were all from grassroots backgrounds and had little connection with those wealthy families.
Traveling lightly, you can naturally check household registrations and crack down on officialdom without any scruples, so that Chu State has maintained a generally intact taxation and cleanliness, and has not been possessed by so many blood-sucking insects.
Therefore, the Zhou Kingdom has a population of 20 million on the surface, but in fact Lu Yuan estimates that there should be several million more than the actual population. These people have been hidden by the wealthy families and will not appear at all. On the official household registration.
However, in Hanzhong County, this phenomenon of hiding the household registration should not be so serious.
After all, Lu Yuan led troops and walked through Hanzhong more than ten years ago.
After a military disaster and household registration relocation, the original tangle of Hanzhong County had been cleared up.
Even if it has recovered somewhat in the past few years, it is still not the same.
When the officials are in place and Huang Xuan's heavy troops are pressed into the area, everything will be clear and clear after one party conducts an investigation.
Lu Yuan came step by step from the local area and knew this very well, so after a few words of praise for the officials who entered the court and the governor of Hanzhong County, he asked them to leave.
But after the people left, he continued to look through the household registrations of various prefectures and counties in Hanzhong, and couldn't help but think deeply.
Later, after reviewing all the data and verifying the tax revenue of Hanzhong County in detail, Lu Yuan issued another edict.
An officer was ordered to prepare an edict and ask Huang Xuan, the general manager of the three western counties, to recruit three more forbidden troops in Hanzhong County and conduct training with the locals. After the training is completed, it will be convenient for the three old forbidden troops originally stationed in Hanzhong to return to Baling for repairs.
As for Hanzhong, it will be guarded by the five forbidden armies that are being newly trained there.
Knowing about the great catastrophe of heaven and earth, Lu Yuan had already planned to unify Yangzhou as soon as possible.
The best time for this unification is within ten years.
With Ning's current 800,000 troops, if Chu wants to conquer the other side, it will have to mobilize an army of 500,000 at least. This is already the most basic.
Therefore, it has become inevitable to expand the army as much as possible before the Eastern Expedition is approaching.
It's just that after years of recruitment, all the counties in Chu State have basically digested the number of qualified soldiers.
The remaining ones are basically crooked melons and cracked dates, and cannot be used for much purpose.
Hanzhong, which had just been conquered, had a large household registration, with more than 1.6 million people.
According to the ratio of three households to one soldier, it is enough to recruit 100,000 qualified soldiers and horses.
After recruiting three forbidden armies, including the previous ones, the Chu Kingdom's main force has been further expanded, and there will be a total of twenty-five forbidden armies, with a total of 500,000 troops.
In addition, there are county soldiers from seven local counties, totaling 200,000 people, and 50,000 naval forces.
When the army expansion is completed, Chu State will have 750,000 troops, which is almost the same as Ning State's 800,000 troops.
"Next year I will send troops again to wipe out Lingnan.
With the population of 5 million in the two counties and three counties of Lingnan, it is enough to easily recruit another 200,000 to 300,000 troops.
At that time, the whole country has one million soldiers, and it will be easy to raise an army of 500,000 for the Eastern Expedition.
It only takes three to five years to start the eastward expedition to Ningguo. "
Lu Yuan secretly calculated and thought in his mind, and he had a rough outline of his future strategic plan.
Then hundreds of officials were summoned to plan and control, and edicts were issued one after another. Not long after the war in Hanzhong ended, Chu State secretly prepared for a massive southern expedition.
But this time, there was no such thing as the huge grain trade with Zhou State to cover it up.
Therefore, even if the news is concealed as much as possible, some relevant flaws will inevitably be noticed by outsiders.
The surrounding forces couldn't help but be a little surprised and confused.
In the midst of this chaos, on the eighth day of November in the ninth year of Shenwu, Han Hu escorted the 100 million taels of silver from the Tibetan people back to Baling.
Lu Yuan had his people count the number and confirm that it was correct. After putting it into the treasury, he rewarded Han Hu and gave him some money and treasures.
On November 16, more than ten large ships came from Jiangdong, entered the waters of Chu State, and arrived at Baling.
Master Feishuang Dao finally arrived at Chu State with thousands of supporters.
