"Why don't I go to Yan Lai Tower to listen to music today? I thought I still have an old acquaintance of Mr. Zhang in the office, so I stopped by to have a look."
Chen Kan came to the main seat and sat down carelessly.
Then he looked at Zhang Guan and asked, "Master Zhang, don't you welcome me?"
Zhang Guan was stunned for a moment, then he said with a smile: "What are you talking about, Mr. Hou? How can I not welcome Mr. Hou to come and make this small government office shine?"
After receiving a nod from Chen Kan, Zhang Guan immediately realized Chen Kan's intention today.
He hurriedly sat down and said with a smile: "Speaking of which, I and Mr. An are worrying about the enrollment of the Army Academy. The Marquis has come at the right time. You have led soldiers and have a deeper understanding of military affairs than I do. Please invite the Marquis. Give me and Mr. An some advice."
As soon as he said this, Chen Kan glanced at Zhang Guan appreciatively.
Zhang Guan can become a third-grade official. After all, he is not too stupid. He knows why he is here.
Although An Feng did not speak, he did not object to Zhang Guan's proposal.
The main reason is that he knows Chen Kan's character too well and knows that objections are useless.
Chen Kan always has various means to achieve his goals, so silence is golden.
Chen Kan looked at An Feng's expression, and then smiled and said: "I don't know how far Master Zhang and Master An have reached in their discussion. Let me tell you. Although I am not a military master, I am the so-called Three Stooges. Compared with Zhuge Liang, one more person means more worries."
As soon as Chen Kan finished speaking, Zhang Guan's eyes flashed with such a look.
Yes, Chen Kan came to see Zhang Guan today because of matters related to the military academy.
The Naval Academy was in Nanjing, and Zhu Neng was in charge. The distance was too far, and he couldn't do anything about it. To get a quota of 100 people, he still paid the price of Ping'an Nan's policy.
But the Army Academy is in Beijing. Chen Kan would be a fool if he still couldn't seize this opportunity to cultivate talents for himself.
While Qiu Fu hasn't come to Beijing yet, it would be wise to put more people in there!
Even if all the soldiers of the three thousand battalion cannot be put in, it will be no problem to get three to five hundred people.
After graduation, these people will be assigned to various armies to become grassroots officials.
By then, the benefits that Chen Kan would receive as their old boss would be self-evident.
Chen Kan had no ambitions, and he never thought about rebelling against Zhu Di.
But no one can have too much of something like a backhand.
Chen Kan clearly stated his intention, and Zhang Guan was not surprised.
For anyone who leads the military, the opening of the Army Academy is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
It's a pity that he is a civil servant, otherwise he would have wanted to stuff a few people in there.
Even if the person who is inserted into him will become farther and farther away from him in the future, it only depends on these four words of support.
Could it be that after something happens to me, those people can really stand by and watch?
It is only human nature for Chen Kan to think that those who are near the water and the towers should get the moon first.
Otherwise, if Chen Kan was too upright and upright, he would doubt whether Chen Kan was a human being after all.
After all, the last person with high moral integrity was named Sima Yi.
After pondering for a moment, Zhang Guan said slowly: "What I and Mr. An mean is that since the Army Academy has the word Army Academy, it is best to recruit students from the army in the north.
After all, there is a naval academy in the south. If the army academy tilts towards the south, I am afraid that the northern army will cause trouble.
The other thing is the number of students. The opinion of the Ministry of War is to train them in batches. The first batch is 3,000 people, and the total number of students is 9,000. The main ones are..."
"Wait, isn't this right?"
The more Chen Kan listened, the more he felt something was wrong, and couldn't help but interrupt Zhang Guan's words.
Zhang Guan was stunned for a moment, then asked cautiously: "Well, Lord Marquis, what's wrong?"
Chen Kan stared at Zhang Guan, frowned and asked: "I remember that the first batch of students to be admitted to the Naval Academy was 6,000. Why did it become 3,000 by the Army Academy, a full reduction of more than half?"
It's no wonder that Chen Kan is obsessed with the number of people. If the Army Academy only recruits 3,000 people in the first batch, then he has to put in a shitty number of people.
It would be a blessing if the originally scheduled quota for the Three Thousand Battalion was not taken away.
When Zhang Guan heard this, his face suddenly showed confusion.
Then he turned to look at An Feng, hoping he could give a reasonable explanation.
Chen Kan also looked at An Feng. If Zhang Guan didn't know anything about it, An Feng should be able to give a reasonable reason because he came from the Ministry of War.
He saw the two people's eyes staring at him.
An Feng looked away uncomfortably, then picked up the teacup on the table and took a sip.
After taking a sip of tea, An Feng's expression turned bitter.
Then he shook his head and said: "There is nothing we can do, the court has no money!"
"No money?"
Chen Kan subconsciously raised his voice and looked at An Feng with suspicion in his eyes.
An Feng nodded and said: "Recruiting students into the academy is too expensive. The Nanjing Naval Academy has only been open for a year, and the court has already invested 200,000 yuan, which does not include the money used by the students for food and accommodation.
What's more, one year has passed and the Naval Academy will admit its second batch of students. By then, the Naval Academy's expenses will be even higher.
And Ming Dynasty needs money everywhere now, so it can only temporarily reduce the expenditure of the Army Academy to keep the number of people around 3,000, which is the number of people calculated by the Ministry of Household Affairs. If it is more, there will be no money. "
After listening to An Feng's explanation, Chen Kan had to admit that An Feng's reasons were very strong.
But...he remembered that the money to build the Army Academy and the Naval Academy, as well as the subsequent expenditures, were not all paid for by Zhu Di's inner treasury?
What happened to the Sekitoku Department?
Perhaps seeing through Chen Kan's doubts, An Feng suddenly sighed and said, "Master Hou, you still don't know. After Mr. Fang was released from prison, the first thing he did was to merge His Majesty's inner treasury into the national treasury."
"What?"
Chen Kan jumped up in surprise and exclaimed: "Your Majesty agrees?"
An Feng nodded and said: "Your Majesty agreed, because if your Majesty does not agree, the deficit in the treasury will not be made up. The Ming Dynasty has spent too much money in recent years.
Building bridges and roads, constructing docks, building Beijing, the Royal Academy, and the Ordnance Supervision and Treasure Bureau Bank are all without burning money.
The total expenditure of the five years of Yongle has exceeded the thirty-five years of Lord Hong Wu's reign. This is also a helpless move by His Majesty. "
"This, this, this!"
Chen Kan suddenly didn't know what to say.
Because he is now a little unsure whether the merger of the inner treasury into the national treasury was Zhu Di's conspiracy or his own initiative.
If it was done spontaneously, it would prove that Fang Xiaoru won this battle between imperial power and ministerial power.
But Chen Kan always felt that something was wrong.
Zhu Di was even willing to merge the inner treasury into the national treasury. Is this because of his conscience?
Compared with Zhu Di's conscience to discover this answer, Chen Kan is more inclined to think that this is Zhu Di's conspiracy.
If it is Zhu Di's conspiracy, once the flowers are boiled in flames and the oil is boiling, will Fang Xiaoru'an have a way to survive?
For a moment, Chen Kan was in a state of confusion.
"Master Hou, is there any problem with this?"
An Feng looked at Chen Kan's absent-minded look and couldn't help but feel a little confused. Logically speaking, it was a good thing that His Majesty took the initiative to merge the inner treasury with the national treasury.
Although the money in the royal treasury was not enough to make up for the shortfall in the treasury, it also greatly eased the financial pressure on the Ming Dynasty.
Why is this prince's brain circuit always different from other people's?
As soon as An Feng spoke, Chen Kan came back to his senses instantly.
"No, it's nothing!"
Chen Kan shook his head, but a huge storm was already brewing in his heart.
He never believed that Zhu Di would be so kind and willing to spit out the money he put in his pocket.
Unless he has a bigger plan.
No, I must write a letter to Fang Xiaoru as a reminder immediately.
It's best to take office as soon as possible before Zhu Di gets angry.
Otherwise, if the storm blows up, Fang Xiaoru will definitely become the target of public criticism.
"Huh~"
Chen Kan took a long breath, then looked at An Feng and Zhang Guan, and said calmly: "Three thousand people are just three thousand people, but the quota for this first batch is two hundred for the three thousand battalion under my command." indivual."
"two hundred?"
As soon as they heard this number, Zhang Guan and An Feng's faces darkened instantly.
Zhang Guan shook his head and said: "Master Hou, you are making things difficult for me. The Ming Dynasty had 800,000 military households and 800,000 soldiers. This does not include regiment training and rural bravery.
If you have 5,000 men under your command and you have to occupy 200 places, how will I explain to the other generals?
What's more, the 3,000 battalion under your command at the Naval Academy has already gone to 100 people. If 200 people come from the Army Academy, the 5,000 people under your command alone will occupy the 300 places, which is a bit excessive. "
An Feng also shook his head and refused: "Two hundred people are absolutely impossible. Even if you kill me today, Lord Marquis, I won't be able to free up two hundred places. If there are twenty people, I can fight for you. But there are two hundred people, so I’m sorry that I can’t do anything.”
Chen Kan looked at the two of them coldly and said suspiciously: "Is there really nothing I can do?"
"Impossible, absolutely impossible!"
The two refused in unison, so Chen Kan decisively changed the conditions: "The Naval Academy will give me another hundred places, and the Army Academy will give me another hundred places. This should be enough, right?"
Zhang Guan and An Feng looked at each other, then shook their heads in unison.
An Feng smiled bitterly and said: "Master Hou, it's not that I don't want to sell you a favor. You also know that I am the one who takes the lead. The real person in charge of the Army Academy is the Duke of Qi. Even if I agree, the Qi State You won’t be able to pass the test.”
Regarding Chen Kan's unreasonable demands, An Feng could only resort to scapegoating.
He couldn't offend Chen Kan, but Chen Kan couldn't offend Qiu Fu either.
As the only general in the Ming Dynasty who was as famous as Zhu Neng, Qiu Fu was famous for being selfless.
Seeing An Feng move out of Qiu Fu, Chen Kan could only look at Zhang Guandao: "Give me a try."
Zhang Guan rubbed his brows and responded: "There are five people from the Army Academy and fifteen people from the Naval Academy. This is the maximum authority I can get. If the Marquis is not satisfied, there is nothing I can do."
Hearing the numbers reported by Zhang Guan, Chen Kan was immediately dissatisfied and said, "Are you treating me as a beggar?"
Zhang Guan said with a mournful face: "Master Hou, you are the governor of Shuntian Prefecture."
