Xiaoyao Xiaojunhou

Chapter 749
"Strengthening military discipline is important, but before strengthening military discipline, there are still some necessary conditions. When the conditions are met and everything falls into place, we can truly make our officers and men stronger. Not only surpassing the Yan State, but maybe even as good as the Liang State! Zhu Xiuyuan smiled.

"More than the Yan State, and on par with the Liang State! Haha, good, what a great one, surpassing the Yan State, and on par with the Liang State!"

Chen Huang was excited, laughed loudly, and started to slap the case.

"Then what are the necessary conditions that the Marquis mentioned?" Han Qingshan asked.

"Simple, food, salary, and armor and equipment!"

Zhu Xiuyuan raised two fingers.

After he said these words, the entire hall fell into deathly silence again.

Chen Huang, who was excited and slapped the case, suddenly froze there. He even slightly shook twice...

Food, wages and equipment require a lot of money.

There are so many people in the army across the country. Calculating how much money it will cost... it is better to kill Emperor Chen with one sword.

But Zhu Xiuyuan didn't seem to notice this.

I just heard him say: "As far as I know, the food and pay of the Yan army is more than twice that of my general Chen. As for the soldiers of Liang Guo, it is several times higher than my general Chen!"

"At least, the food and salary of our Chen officers must reach the level of the Yan army!"

"Then there are armors and weapons, etc. For an elite division, at least the entire army must wear black iron armor, and the weapons used must also be made of fine iron. There must be no ambiguity!"

"As the saying goes, if you want to do your job well, you must first sharpen your tools. This is the truth. Before strengthening military discipline, you must first ensure food, pay and ordnance. Only in this way can you create an iron-blooded army!"

"In this way, surpassing the Yan State and being on par with the Liang State will be just around the corner!"

Zhu Xiuyuan finished speaking!

Then the only source of sound in the entire hall disappeared.

"Shen Leihou, we all understand what you said, but...but the imperial court's taxation is limited. After giving priority to protecting your Shenlei Army and the Changning Imperial Army, I'm afraid...the imperial court can't do anything!" said a general. .

"That's right, according to what Lord Hou said, the food and salaries have reached the level of the Yan army, and the elite troops also need black iron armor and weapons made of fine iron... These are all difficult to achieve!" said another general.

After everyone talked for a while, Emperor Chen suddenly waved his hand, and the heated discussion among the ministers stopped.

"I wish you the best, your good strategy is indeed the way to strengthen the army, but... all my dear friends also know that I, Da Chen, have suffered from natural disasters and military disasters in the past two years, and a lot of money and food have been spent on disaster relief in various places!"

Chen Huang's tone was quite calm.

Because the person who dared to propose food, wages and armaments was Zhu Xiuyuan.

If it had been anyone else, Chen Huang would have been ashamed.

"And pay tribute to Liang Guo..." As soon as he said this, Chen Huang gritted his teeth.

"One more thing, I wish Aiqing returns. Your Majesty has just issued an edict to grant amnesty to the world and reduce taxes..." Concubine You added.

Zhu Xiuyuan twitched the corner of his mouth, thinking it was me?
"In short, although Aiqing's method of strengthening the army is good, but... it is not suitable for me, Da Chen!"

Chen Huang shook his head repeatedly, then looked at King Zhongshan and asked, "What do you think, Uncle Zhongshan?"

"Your Majesty, old minister..."

King Zhongshan struggled and seemed to want to stand up, but it was impossible.

"I have been in the camp for half my life, and have been fighting for half my life. I am even more aware of the various shortcomings in our army!"

King Zhongshan gave up and got up, but his voice was loud.

"The old minister believes that if we want to strengthen the army and surpass the Yan State, then General Han's strategy of strengthening military discipline, as well as Shen Leihou's proposal of food, wages and armaments must be adopted!"

"In addition, the veteran would like to add one more thing: get rid of the ills in the army!"

With Zhu Xiuyuan's words, King Zhongshan finally spoke out.

Chen Huang's expression changed several times after hearing this.

Finally, he let out a long sigh, sat back on the throne, wiped his face and asked, "My dear friends, is there no other way?"

"Your Majesty, I think this is the only way to strengthen the army!" King Zhongshan's voice was very loud.

"Your Majesty, I second the proposal!" The generals following King Zhongshan immediately seconded the proposal like followers.

They have no reason to disagree. Just the increase in food and salary would make them extremely happy...

"That being the case, do you have any strategies to increase revenue and reduce expenditure? After all, the Ministry of Revenue only has so much tax revenue..."

Chen Huang was decadent and slumped on the dragon chair.

He once again felt the difficulty of a powerful country!

He had experienced this kind of difficulty when he was young. That time, he gave up... and the result was that he had to pay tribute to Liang Guo every year!

Now that Emperor Chen asked this question, he actually felt quite helpless. At the same time, it also meant that he was throwing the difficult problem to his ministers.

Since you all think that we should increase food and pay and build better ordnance, but there is no money, what do you think we should do?
"Uh……"

Huang Chen threw the pot away, and all the ministers became dumb immediately.

Even the people in the Ministry of Revenue can't handle this kind of problem well, let alone military attachés like them.

Chen Huang went to the doctor indiscriminately due to an acute illness.

You shouldn't ask them this kind of question!
"Increase revenue and reduce expenditure, increase revenue and reduce expenditure..." Zhu Xiuyuan muttered secretly. Suddenly, he had a flash of inspiration and remembered Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty's method of increasing revenue——

Salt and Iron Specialty.

The reason why Zhu Xiuyuan thought of this was actually because he had been secretly thinking about the disposal of refined salt in the past few days since he returned to Beijing.

I have been thinking about salt all day long, and naturally I think of the Salt and Iron franchise.

In Zhu Xiuyuan's mind, he would definitely make refined salt available. After all, it was a huge deal.

He doesn't plan to take the high-end route either.

Instead, we will make refined salt into a low-priced product and seize all markets!

In fact, he can earn more through this method of small profits but quick turnover.

Of course, there is also the consideration of "benefiting the people". In Zhu Xiuyuan's perception, salt is a cheap commodity, nothing special.

Zhu Xiuyuan actually has a hard time accepting the current phenomenon of high-priced salt.

Moreover, in order to make this big deal, after Zhu Xiuyuan returned to Beijing, he made a special effort to learn about the current salt policy of Chen State and the situation of people eating salt.

Chen Guo's salt administration was actually quite chaotic.

The salt tax the court obtained from this was actually very small, and most of the revenue generated from salt was earned by salt merchants along the southeast coast.

Of course, this is an "innate drawback" that existed when Chen Guo founded the country.

With too many interests tied up, it was almost impossible to shake it, and all the courts just let it go.

As for the situation of people buying and eating salt, it is a history of blood and tears...

What most people eat is almost all coarse salt, which is of poor quality and high price. In some families, buying salt accounts for more than half of the price.

Anyway, it's miserable!

When Zhu Xiuyuan learned about these situations, he even made up his mind in his heart to make refined salt into a low-priced product to benefit the people and earn some pocket money from it...

Now it happens that the court is short of money, so he can cooperate with the court to buy salt together.

With the influence of the imperial court, his refined salt will surely quickly seize the market, and the profits will probably be astronomical.

In this way, it can be said to kill three birds with one stone!
It not only allowed him to make money, but also solved the problem of the court's lack of money. At the same time, it also allowed the people to eat high-quality and cheap refined salt!
perfect!

"Your Majesty, I may have a method that can solve all the current problems!"

After making up his mind, Zhu Xiuyuan immediately went out to worship him in a loud voice.

【Ask for a monthly ticket, ask for a recommendation ticket】

(End of this chapter)