Horse on the World

Chapter 250 Bonds
Silver, where can I get a large amount of silver?Sitting in the study, Li Qing rubbed his forehead, feeling that his head was about to explode. The resettled civilians needed money, the soldiers needed military time, officials needed salaries, casting weapons, transportation, everything needed a lot of money, Even war horses consume a lot of money every day. They are not ordinary poor horses, they can spend a little fodder, but they actually need to eat food every day.

The door slammed lightly, and someone came in. Li Qing didn't need to look back, he knew it was Qingfeng who came, and there were only two people who could walk into his study without announcing, one was Tang Hu, the other was It's a breeze.

A pair of soft hands rested on his shoulders and gently kneaded them. Li Qing silently leaned on the back of the chair, enjoying the gentleness of the breeze, but his face was still frowning.

"General, are you still worried about money?" Qingfeng asked softly.

"Yeah, if you are not in charge, you don't know how expensive rice is. Now, I really understand this. If we don't think of a way, our Dingzhou will soon be unable to solve the problem." Li Qingdao.

"There is really no other way but to ask Mrs. Li to borrow some money for emergency." Li Qing said.

"General, Mrs. Li is far away from our Dingzhou, and our Dingzhou urgently needs money, is there time?" Qingfeng replied.

"It's better to have hope than nothing!" Li Qingdao, "I really can't think of anything wrong."

"Or, increase the war tax in the two states of Dingfu. I think the people of the two states can understand it. As long as the barbarians can be eliminated, the people will support it no matter how difficult it is."

"No!" Li Qing rebuffed straight away, "Dingzhou has been going through the flames of war for the past two years. The life of the common people is already hard enough. They have paid enough for Dingzhou. How can we exploit their last bit of life money."

"Then..." Qingfeng hesitated for a moment, and said: "General, we Dingfu two states, there are quite a few gentry from aristocratic families, these families are all wealthy, and they are not very clean, our Statistics and Investigation Department has grasped these Evidence, we can use this as a basis to ransack the homes of these wealthy families, and we must be able to raise part of the funds to solve the immediate crisis."

Cough cough, Li Qing coughed violently, turned his head, stared at Qingfeng, and said, "Qingfeng, what kind of idea is this? It's absolutely impossible."

"Why not?" Qingfeng stared at Li Qing, and said: "Which one of these families is not rich, and the stains on them do exist, it's not that I corrupted them, took them down, and killed two birds with one stone. Just like us It's the same as dealing with the Fang family back then."

Li Qing sighed, "Qingfeng, this time is also the other time. At that time, we could not effectively control Dingzhou if we did not take down the Xia family, but now, it is different. We have established a firm foothold in Dingfu and Fuzhou. What we do has to rely on the support of these gentry from aristocratic families. Doesn’t one of these gentry from aristocratic families have an intertwined relationship in Dachu, and they pull one to mobilize the whole body. Think about it, our current business department is run by some kind of people , How did the money earned every day come from? Killing them can indeed raise a large amount of money in a short period of time, but what about in the future? It is absolutely impossible to kill chickens and get eggs. What's more, Da Chu's wealthy family The rich are clean, even our Li family is not clean."

"When the water is clear, there will be no fish, and if people observe it, there will be no disciples!" Li Qing stared at Qingfeng and said every word.

"Yes, General, I was wrong. However, General, our Statistics and Investigation Department got some rumors, which may have a considerable blow to our finances, which will make things worse. At present, I am verifying the authenticity of these news!"

"What news?" Li Qing was startled, now he is very sensitive to anything involving money.

"Some forces in Dachu seem to want to attack us in Dingzhou. They are going to cut off our business network and crack down on our private salt business."

"What did you say?" Li Qing stood up abruptly. The income from private salt now accounts for about [-]% to [-]% of the military expenditures of the two prefectures of Dingfu. As far as the current situation is concerned, it is not necessary to make matters worse.

"Is the news accurate?" Li Qing asked in a deep voice.

"Although the final verification has not yet been done, it is almost inseparable. General, we need to make preparations early!" Qingfeng said worriedly.

Li Qing walked around the room frantically for a few times, and said with a sneer: "It seems that some people don't want us to defeat the barbarian so quickly, and even do such a thing that takes everything out of the pot and disregards the interests of the whole Dachu. You can report this matter Did you call Lu Yiming?"

Qingfeng shook his head, "There is no final verification yet, so I didn't inform Lu Yiming, but I already informed Cui Yicheng and asked him to reduce the shipment and try to minimize the loss after the incident."

"Since we want to attack our private salt, they must have to do tricks on strategic materials such as food." Li Qing is very upset. This year's World War I, Dingyuan and other three counties basically have no harvest, and food and other materials will be even more tense, even now , The price of grain on the market has begun to rise. Although the state is still suppressing it forcibly, if the grain cannot be purchased, the state will not be able to suppress it.After all, Dingzhou is not a large producer, and needs to purchase a large amount of grain from outside every year.

"You should immediately inform Lu Yiming about this matter and discuss it with him. In any case, you must free up a sum of money first and snap up a batch of food. In addition, let Lao Lu send someone out to mediate. In states that have a good relationship with us Buy as much grain as possible." Li Qing ordered.

After a pause, he continued: "Inform An Guogong and Mrs. Li about this matter. Now, we need their support."

"Yes!" Qingfeng said: "I will do these things right away, but, general, a large amount of money is needed to do these things, and others will not give us food on credit, so what about the money? Just borrow, We can't borrow it for a while!"

"Borrow?" Li Qing's eyes lit up, "Yes, we can borrow it, but who can we borrow it from? Yes, Hu Zi, Hu Zi!"

Outside the door, Tang Hu entered in response, "Marshal!"

"Send someone immediately to join the army, Master Lu, please come!" Li Qing ordered repeatedly.

"General, do you have a solution?" Seeing Li Qing's eyes brighten, Qingfeng couldn't help being happy, Li Qing excitedly said: "Yes, I have a solution."

Soon, Shang Haibo and Lu Yiming came hand in hand, it seemed that the two had fought a lot along the way, their faces were not very good-looking, and they were blowing their beards and staring at each other.

"I have a way to get the money." Li Qing watched the two of them word by word.

Shang Haibo and Lu Yiming looked at each other, seeing Li Qing not saying a word, it took so long for the commander to come up with a solution?But can this white silver come out from the cracks in the stone?

"Master Lu, how many rich families do you think we have in Dingfu and Fuzhou?" Li Qing asked.

"Many, especially in Fuzhou. Although it has been swept away by the mountain wind, there are still many rich families." Lu Yiming said honestly.

"Do ordinary people have any spare money?" Li Qing asked again.

Lu Yiming was startled, "Marshal, you don't want to increase taxes, do you? You promised it at the beginning, but making a promise now is not good for your reputation!"

"I don't raise taxes!" Li Qing said firmly.

"Then how can you get the money out?" Lu Yiming was a little confused.

"We found the debt!" Li Qing said.

"Debt?" The two asked in surprise, "What is this?"

Li Qing said with a smile: "It is to borrow money in the name of the government. We pay the interest, and I give two cents, no, three cents of the interest."

Shang Lu and the two jumped up at the same time, "How can this be done? Marshal, isn't this living without money? Even if the common people and those rich people lend us money, how will we pay it back? What's more, they may not give us money. Lend us money?"

Li Qing said with a smile: "Why don't you borrow it? I will issue bonds with the finances of Dingfu and the two states as a guarantee. The three-cent interest rate is almost a usury. Is it possible that they can have a son if they hide the money at home? I will be able to give birth to a son, not to mention that our war with the barbarians has been won for sure. Those wealthy families will not fail to see this. If they win this battle, they will have everything. You might as well spread the word to them , the homes of those nobles on the grassland are full of gold and silver, as long as we win the battle and snatch these things back, are we afraid that we will not be able to pay back their money?"

Shang Haibo tilted his head and thought for a while, "That's true."

"As for the common people, Lao Lu, you might as well go to understand the righteousness and tell them that every time you buy a debt of one or two taels of silver from the government, it is equivalent to giving the army an extra spear. How can you go down and think for yourself? Ordinary people spend all the dead money they hide at home."

Lu Yiming said with a frowning face: "Marshal, it's easy to cheat money, but how can we pay back the money after we arrive? After paying the taxes of Dingfu and Fuzhou, what will we do next year and the year after? Handsome, you have broken the trust of the people!"

Li Qing smiled and said: "Old Lu, why don't you understand? After winning this battle, will the finances of our Dingfu and Dingfu states be better soon, and we will have money to return to the people when it gets better? At the same time, interest is paid to them, which also allows the common people to earn money. If the common people have money in their pockets, they naturally need to use it. Where it is used is not in our local area. As long as they use it, we can collect more money. Too many taxes, so repeated, isn’t the finances getting better every day? Hahaha, this is called stimulating consumption. Whoever has money in their pockets doesn’t use it to buy some jewelry for their wives and make some new clothes for their children. What’s more, if it doesn’t work next year, we can still repay the old debt and borrow new debt! So, we are not cheating money, but invigorating the economy!”

Lu Yiming was dumbfounded, he really didn't understand Li Qing's theory.Shang Haibo was also in doubt, but for him, as long as he could get money, he could maintain a strong army. As for paying back the money, that was of course Lu Yiming's business, and he immediately agreed.

(End of this chapter)