please make me king

Chapter 860
Sun Tzu said: "The method of using troops is to drive a thousand horses, to ride a thousand leather chariots, to carry one hundred thousand armour, and to feed food for thousands of miles."

The internal and external expenses, the use of guests, the materials of glue and paint, and the decoration of the car and armor cost thousands of gold a day, and then a hundred thousand teachers will be raised.

Since Zhang Shun occupied Henan Mansion, he expanded his army and prepared for war. He used troops and fought every day.

He personally led the rebel army to defeat Chen Qiyu, governor of five provinces, Lu Xiangsheng, governor of Yunyang, Hong Chengchou, governor of five provinces, Zhu Dadian, governor of water transport and governor of Fengyang, Fu Zonglong, governor of Henan, and Tang Hui, governor of Huguang.

However, behind his illustrious military exploits, there are food, grass, and rewards spent like running water.

In the past few years, there have been successive disasters in the north, with Shaanxi being the most severe.

Coincidentally, the main force participating in the conquest of the rebel army was the Qin army from Shaanxi.The rebel army won consecutive battles, but in fact they did not capture much.

What followed was a rapid expansion of the rebel army, recruiting soldiers, recruiting soldiers, making weapons and armor, rebuilding the civil service system, disaster relief and fighting locusts, and so on. All of them needed food and silver, and the expenses can be imagined Know.

After Zhang Shun listened to Hong Niangzi's reminder, An held back his temper and went to Ma Yingniang, Li Xiang and others to meet the wall, and finally settled down at Huang's and Da Zhu's.

Early the next morning, after Zhang Shun had a hasty breakfast, he hastily summoned Zhang Shenyan, Lu Weiqi, Song Xiance and others to inquire about the rebel army's food savings.

Obviously Hong Niangzi had handed over to them before giving birth.

Hearing this, Song Xiance immediately took the initiative to report: "The last grain purchase was handled by me. Although it is said to be a million shi, in fact, the total amount of wheat and rice purchased by the front and back is [-] shi. In addition to the original Luoyang reserve of [-] shi Wanshi, Li Baihu bought [-] to [-] shi, and the total is only [-] shi."

When Na Song Xiance finished his report, Zhang Shenyan continued: "The three defensive battles in Luoyang have consumed a total of [-] stones of grain and grass, and rewarded more than [-] taels of silver. .”

"When King Shun attacked from all directions and sent food from thousands of miles away, the food was spent like running water."

"Among them, Cao Bianjiao and Zhao Lizi's two camps did not have much food and grass in Sishui and other places, and they almost all relied on Luoyang to transport them. In addition, Han Lin presided over the reconstruction and repair of checkpoints and mobilized Ding Zhuang, which cost about [-] shi of grain and silver taels before and after. Eight thousand taels."

"Li Jiyu's Songshan camp is a bit better. He has a little savings in the camp, and only consumes eight hundred shi of grain and two or three hundred taels of silver."

"Li Xin in Ruzhou conquered east and west, and held on with the officers and soldiers for a long time. He actually spent three thousand shi of grain and two or two thousand shi of silver."

"My lord led the main force on his own, fought south and north, and received pensions and rewards. He spent a total of [-] shi of grain and more than [-] taels of silver."

"The three battalions of Cao Wenzhao, Chen Changbing, and Li You marched to the west, and they fought against the officers and soldiers. Under Yutong Pass, they also cast artillery, siege equipment, etc., consuming a total of [-] shi of grain, and the grain was converted into [-] shi of silver. , two six thousand three hundred taels of silver."

"It only costs one hundred thousand shi, how can I say so little?" Zhang Shun asked strangely.

"Prince Shun, let me know!" Lu Weiqi smiled wryly upon hearing the words, "The renovation of Luoyang City, the construction of the 'Ziwei Star Fort', the purchase of raw and wrought iron materials and iron ore, the casting of artillery, the forging of weapons, etc., also cost and doubled the amount of food. More than ten thousand stones."

"Replanting, disaster relief, locust extermination and other matters are even more bottomless pits. It costs [-] shi before and after to save grain."

"Officials' salaries in two prefectures and seventeen counties totaled [-] shi. Fifteen camps of soldiers and horses distributed a total of [-] shi for military pay, [-] taels of silver, and more than [-] shi for soybeans and black beans. , [-] bunches of grass."

"Besides, due to the lack of harvest last year, most of the people were unable to harvest. There were more than [-] shi for borrowing grain. There were also [-] shi for disaster relief."

After Zhang Shun heard the words, he did some mental calculations and found that he had already spent more than [-] shi.Almost half of the [-] shi of food accumulated by the rebel army was exhausted.

Although there are still [-] shi left, firstly, the front-line military rations must be accumulated, and secondly, warehouses in various places must also be stored.

Therefore, the actual usable grain is only [-] shi. It is indeed the issue of grain that should be considered.

However, Zhang Shun was not a vegetarian, so he couldn't help asking: "Why is there a lot of grain discounted? How can grain be discounted in places where money should be distributed?"

For example, military pay, salaries and some miscellaneous support should be in money, right?
"King Shun doesn't know something!" Zhang Shenyan continued, "This matter was discussed with Mr. Lu, Mr. Song and Mrs. Hong."

"Last year, Henan's harvest was in short supply, and the people had no food left. Originally, the rebels needed a lot of disaster relief."

"It just so happened that the rebel army had a lot of food and grass, so I came up with a way to 'discount in lieu of relief'."

"The specific method is to convert the support that originally needs to be distributed into silver at the price of one, two, three, one stone."

"So it can not only reduce the expenditure of the rebel army, but also stabilize the price of food, so as to prevent the people from living in poverty, bankruptcy, and unsustainable."

"Only those who really have neither land nor money to use, try to use 'work for relief'. If there is really no other way, they have to distribute rice as a last resort."

"Oh?" Zhang Shun was amused when he heard the words, "This is a good idea!"

It is rare for people in this era to know how to use economic means to improve people's livelihood!

"By the way, didn't I make an agreement with the grain merchants to send another [-] shi around March this year? Why is there no movement?" After being tempered by daily complicated affairs, Zhang Shun has no photographic memory, and his memory is also weak. Excellent.

Zhang Shenyan, Lu Weiqi, and Song Xiance met each other, and couldn't help but smiled wryly: "This is the evil result of us self-defeating!"

"How do you say that?" Zhang Shun asked strangely.

"King Shun didn't know that the harvest of autumn grain last year was not good, and our rebel army bought it and consumed hundreds of thousands of shi. The food shortage in the north is getting worse." Zhang Shenyan said.

"In particular, the price of food in the border areas is getting higher and higher. It is said that there is a famine in Tumote, Aoerdusi and other places, and the price of food has skyrocketed."

"Wang Qingzhi, the Puzhou Wang family and other merchants who promised to send us food, are now focused on smuggling to the frontier army, Mongolia, and Houjin, and they can't take care of themselves. How can they have the time to sell food to us?"

"This..." As soon as Zhang Shun heard what was going on, he realized that his "food war" had initially paid off.

There is less food and more money in the whole of the north, so why not the price of food soaring?
The grain-producing areas under his own rule are close to Huguang, Nanzhili and other major grain-producing places, and the rebel army has stabilized grain prices.

It is not bad that such a place is not a grain export area, how can it be possible to attract grain merchants to sell grain here?

"How many silver taels do we have now?" Zhang Shun thought for a while, and felt that he still had to rely on silver to solve the problem.

(End of this chapter)