Xuanmen Xiaoguo Shi is divination again

Chapter 851 "Why not eat minced meat"

"Master Bai, do you want to say that the Lu family has been secretly providing money for the western merchants' royal family to accumulate grain and garrison troops recently?!"

Yuan Lingwei's heart trembled when she heard it. Although she was not smart enough, she could still hear Bai Jingzhen's almost explicit overtones. Immediately, she slammed the table and stood up: "Is this true?!"

"Whether it's true or not, as long as you send two of your confidants down to investigate carefully, Your Highness, you'll know." Bai Jingzhen frowned and said lightly, then grabbed the teacup on the table and poured himself a new cup of tea.

"Furthermore, Your Highness, you haven't completely broken face with Lu Shi. In the past few months, do you still not know whether there have been any large-scale accounts in and out of Lu Shi's treasury?"

"This thing, my palace is naturally..." Yuan Lingwei frowned, and subconsciously wanted to say something, but she didn't wait for the words to blurt out, so she changed the subject first, "Wait a minute."

"That is to say, the nearly 200 million taels of silver that Lu Jinghong allocated in the past two months was not at all for the [-] private soldiers he kept outside Beijing?!"

"Perhaps the rations of the private soldiers are also counted in it," the young man lowered his eyes, his eyes dark and unclear, "but 200 million taels is definitely not something a mob of 2 people can afford."

"Your Highness, you were born in a Tian family, and you probably never handled soldiers before."

"We have a total of more than 60 forbidden soldiers in the imperial city. The annual food and various military equipment can only cost 200 million taels - these are elite soldiers who are completely out of production (do not need to farm) How can those half-baked things in the hands of the Lu family spend [-] million taels in just three to five months?"

"Two million taels is almost enough to support Fuli's 200 troops for a quarter."

"This, the difference is so big?" Yuan Lingwei stared in astonishment, and was so shocked that she couldn't speak for a while.

She had only heard that it was the most expensive to raise an army, but she hadn't considered in detail how much it would cost to feed the more than 40 soldiers and horses in Fuli.

Now hearing what Bai Jingzhen said, her mind was really in a daze uncontrollably.

For one thing, if 200 million taels is enough to support the more than 40 soldiers and horses for a quarter, wouldn't it cost 800 million taels that year!
But her one-year tax revenue is only 800 million taels—could it be that the treasury's account book has been in deficit every year?

Two things... Then where did the Lu family get the courage to do such a thing that is tantamount to betraying the Lord and treason!

"That's right, the difference is that big." Bai Jingzhen nodded, and when it came to accumulating food and raising soldiers, he wished he could immediately make a list for Yuan Lingwei on the spot, "And, Your Highness, the quarter of 200 million taels that I mentioned is still Under the condition that both the local |fang| army and the border guards have land to plant, and most of the food and salary can be reduced or exempted."

"If the entire army is out of production, the cost of the first quarter will be more than 200 million taels, and at least 400 million taels will have to be spent. Even if there is farmland to grow, it will cost a tax of the national treasury this year!"

"If it weren't for the first emperor's accession to the throne, the army could handle the remaining agricultural products by itself. Many military officers took their soldiers to do some scattered business with nearby villages and towns in their spare time. Fuli's treasury has long been seen. It's over."

"Then... can't the surplus agricultural products produced by the former army be used for free trade?" Yuan Lingwei's scalp was numb. She never knew that there are so many twists and turns in raising soldiers and horses. Around!
And...and if the soldiers are allowed to freely buy and sell agricultural products, isn't the emperor afraid that everyone will abandon the army?

"I heard from my father when I was young." The young man was silent for a moment, and then said in a deep voice, "In the past, all the surplus agricultural products were handed over to the special personnel sent by the local government to deal with them, and the money obtained was returned to the army. "

"But most of the military camps are far away from the market, waiting for the so-called special personnel to come out from the prefectures/governments to rush to the camp. The seasonal fresh vegetables that cannot be released have already rotted, and there are not many left."

"Furthermore, when the money from the sale of agricultural products comes back, it has to be exploited by officials from various places along the way, and finally distributed to the soldiers. There may only be three or two copper coins left, which are useless at all."

"So the court allocates funds every year, the local government cries for poverty every year, and the soldiers in the camp suffer from hunger and cold every year... Forget it, let's not mention this." Bai Jingzhen waved his hand.

A far-sighted person like the late emperor may not have been aware of the dangers of letting go of military trade, but compared with letting soldiers suffer from cold and starvation, and unable to hold their swords and guns steadily, the benefits of letting go of this trade far outweigh the disadvantages.

What's more, what kind of fertile land can the army get?
It's just some ordinary fields that are half-thin and not thick, and it's a pity to discard them, and there are not many things left.

——The most important thing is to let the soldiers have more confidence and save some expenses for the court.

In addition, there are clear military regulations in the army... As far as he knows, the soldiers in many places are more willing to use those agricultural products to barter with the surrounding people in exchange for some soldiers. Small objects that are useful and consumed quickly.

"That's how it is."

Exploitation, crying for poverty, starvation and cold... Yuan Lingwei lost her voice. When she was young and just learning to read, she laughed at the phrase "Why don't you eat minced meat" in the history books? He became the person who really asked the phrase "why not eat minced meat".

This made her feel ashamed for no reason.

"Your Highness, the matter of the previous dynasty is far from as simple as you imagined." Bai Jingzhen saw the woman's ignorant and self-blame look, and couldn't help slowing down his tone a little.

He lowered his head and sighed sadly, still following the path he had set when he came, slowly drawing Yuan Lingwei's thoughts.

"It's like the Lu family's incident." The young man raised his finger and tapped the armrest of the seat, and tapped the wooden surface with his fingertips, "His Royal Highness, think about it."

"Now Xuan Ninghou and others have already established a line with the monarch of the Western Shang Dynasty and sent him nearly 200 million taels of silver to Damo. If you are the monarch of the Western Shang Dynasty, at this juncture, you will see your allies being killed by others. With the evidence of the crime, you are about to be ransacked... what will you do?"

"If I change my palace... I will probably harass the border between the two countries in various ways and put pressure on Fuli." Yuan Lingwei rubbed his chin in thought, "After all, the situation of Fuli's former dynasty is not clear, and many parties Separate regimes, and no faction in the DPRK can achieve dominance.”

"This means that even if I am the princess regent, it is impossible to sentence him to the death penalty based on just one or two words."

"If you want to convict the Lu family, it will take at least three to five months. During this period, if people from the Western Merchants come to attack our border from time to time, I really can't devote all my energy to dealing with Lu Jinghong."

"For the sake of the stability of the current situation...it is very likely that this matter will not be resolved in the end."

"That's right." Bai Jingzhen nodded, "But what His Highness said is just the best outcome for this matter."

"The worst outcome is that the Lu family is forced by you, so he simply took the [-] private soldiers and most of them to leave the state treasury, together with the civil and military officials he had recruited over the years, defected to the Western Merchants, and opened the country by the way. , to welcome the army of Western merchants into Beijing."

"Don't forget, there are members of the Lu family in the household department and the northwest frontier army." The young man propped his elbows while speaking.

"Furthermore, the left and right western merchants can't eat the whole of Fuli, and Lu Jinghong only has the honor on the top of the mountain in his eyes. They two factions can join forces to destroy your Yuan clan's country first—"

"Sit back and divide the spoils."

　In fact, what Xiaobai said is about eight points true and two points false, and part of it is to fool Yuan Lingwei into making wrong judgments and decisions.

　　If you can guess where he is bluffing without reading the next chapter, then you probably won't feel tired reading tricks in the future.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)