On 18 March, Li Beiwen, the secretary of the household department of the capital city of the Ming Dynasty, sat in the second hall and was talking to Li Beiwen. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Wu Fu is the leader of Qingliu and is known as the head of the "Jiangbei Party". He was originally a Jinshi in the forty-first year of Wanli, and during the Apocalypse, he was cut from his post and removed from office because of his fierce opposition to the eunuch party. However, during the Chongzhen period, he was reused because he had rebelled against the eunuch party, and successively served as governors of various places.

After Zhang Pu, the leader of the Restoration Society, promoted Zhou Yanru to the first assistant of the cabinet by bribery, Zhou Yanru vigorously used the Donglin Party, and for a time "the people were in the dynasty". Taking advantage of this wave, Wu Fu also went to the cabinet to pay respects to the prime minister and was ranked as the second assistant of the cabinet.

Wu Fugui was the second assistant of the cabinet, and he personally took He Shishou and Chen Shandao to Li Zhiwen's house, so naturally he had important things to say.

After taking a sip of tea, Wu Fu asked Li Yi lightly: "Kwai Ru is good at financial management, now that Ning Jin has more than 100,000 troops, spending tens of thousands of dollars a day, how much silver is there in the Tai Warehouse?" ”

Li Zhi asked: "Taicang has always been poor and not rich. Now Jinzhou has gathered 170,000 troops, and the military salary alone costs 390,000 taels a month. Combined with the cost of transporting grain for thousands of miles, the total monthly expenditure was 770,000 silver. The Tai Warehouse originally had a balance of more than 2 million yuan, but it had been exhausted in the past three months, and only 370,000 taels remained, which was only enough to support half a month. ”

The army is outside, and the amount of military salaries, grain and grass consumed is huge.

It has become a common practice in the Ming Dynasty to pay military salaries, and if soldiers and horses do not go out to fight, they often only pay a few percent of their military salaries. Therefore, as long as the world is peaceful, the imperial court can save a lot of military salaries. However, once the soldiers and horses go out to fight, the military salary must be paid in full, otherwise the officers and men on the front line are very likely to make trouble and bomb the battalion.

Therefore, 170,000 soldiers and horses were assembled in Jinzhou, and the expenses of the imperial court increased greatly.

Another costly item is grain transportation. After the outbreak of the Songjin War, the imperial court requisitioned a large number of people to transport grain. These people are all people who can't afford to pay the labor money, and they don't need money to work. However, there are 1,000 miles from the capital to Jinzhou, and the road to transport grain and grass is very long. Some of the food is shipped from farther afield. When the people who transported grain on the road ate and drank, they needed to consume a lot of grain and grass. For every stone of grain that the people transported to Jinzhou, they had to consume about two stones of grain on the way.

In this way, the amount of grain and grass needed to support the army of more than 100,000 is even more massive.

The annual income of the Tai warehouse is only more than 5 million taels, and the average income in a month is only more than 400,000 taels, which is not enough to support the expenses of the Jinzhou front. Not to mention the various expenses of the imperial court, far more than supporting the Jinzhou War.

Therefore, to support the Jinzhou War, the imperial court can be regarded as doing its best.

Wu Fu said: "Li Thief and Hong Chengchou have made a request to fight a protracted war with the Tartars. The Son of Heaven has approved their recital..."

At the beginning of March, Hong Chengchou's recital arrived at the imperial court. Hong Chengchou said that the whole country of Tartars is coming, and our army is waiting for work, and it is not easy to engage in battle. Hong Chengchou proposed to stick to the city of Jinzhou and drag the Tartars down.

Not only Hong Chengchou thinks so, but Li Zhi also thinks so. This strategy was actually conceived by Li Zhi. Li Zhi also sent a piece of music to the table of the Son of Heaven, saying that he would bring down the Tartars.

The Son of Heaven heard the advice of the two important ministers, and approved the recital of Li Zhi and Hong Chengchou, so that the generals would put the weight above and stick to the camp.

After these two pieces were revealed, all the officials discussed it, and they were not very happy.

Wu Fu put down the teacup and said lightly: "If the battles in the world are dragged on like this, and the competition can't be supported by no money, then it's too easy to be a soldier and get paid." As a general, it is too easy to make meritorious service? ”

Wu Fu said: "Listening to Kui Ru's calculations today, I realized that the silver treasury has bottomed out. But the Son of Heaven didn't know that there was no silver left in the Tai Warehouse. Hong Chengchou and Li Thief can't avoid the war, and they really want to drag the court down! ”

Li Zhiwen pondered for a moment and said, "Although there is no silver in the Tai Warehouse, there are still two million Ma Zheng silver in the Taifu Temple, which can be borrowed and used. ”

Hearing Li Zhi's words, Wu Fu's face sank and he was very unhappy.

Wu Fu knocked on the table and did not speak.

He Shishou, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, said in a deep voice: "Kwai Ru, you know what I said just now, you can only know it, but you must not let the Son of Heaven know that there is still silver in Taifu Temple. ”

He Shishou looked at Wu Fu and said, "Kwai Ru, in order to support Ning Jin's war in the past few months, the imperial court has stopped all expenses. Xuanda's military salary has not been paid for three months. All the silver used in Henan to control the Yellow River was not distributed. Don't you think that in the past few months, there has been a lot of shortage? ”

The "various inputs" mentioned by He Shishou refer to the silver of officials in various localities who are filial to important officials in the court.

Originally, the silver spent by the imperial court would not be used in full use after it was sent to various places. A considerable part of them will be drawn out by the using units to honor the gods of all walks of life. The officials below gave the silver of the imperial court to private individuals, so that they could get the support of important officials and be promoted to make a fortune in the future.

After the Ningjin War, almost all the silver in the Tai warehouse was used in western Liaoning. At this juncture of the war, every penny of silver was practical, and the generals did not dare to embezzle the silver at this time, and they all paid the soldiers in real terms. In this way, there will be no one to draw out the money to honor the officials.

As a result, the income of the senior officials of the DPRK and China has been greatly reduced. Therefore, when the hundred officials heard that Li Zhi was going to fight a protracted war in Liaodong, they felt that they would have to be poor for a few more months, and they were all very unhappy.

Wu Fu snorted coldly and said, "Li Thief is taking the money of the people of the world to set up his own military exploits!" He pointed to Chen Shandao, the secretary of the Taifu Temple, and said, "Kui Ru, don't worry, the Son of Heaven doesn't know that the Taifu Temple has such a sum of silver." As long as you don't say it, and the Taifu Temple doesn't say it, the Son of Heaven will only know that there is no silver in the Tai Warehouse, and he will definitely force Li Thief and Hong Chengchou to go out of the city for a decisive battle. ”

Chen Shandao said with a smile: "Shang Shu, rest assured, the silver of Taifu Temple has always been used to buy horses for various towns, and the Son of Heaven has never asked. Chen Shandao would never say that there is silver in Taifu Temple! How does the Son of Heaven know? ”

Li Zhiwen pondered for a moment, but felt that this matter was a little dangerous. The Son of Heaven didn't know the silver of the Taifu Temple, and he should know it as a household secretary. If he lied to the Son of Heaven and said that he had nowhere to raise money, would the Son of Heaven let himself go if he knew the truth in the future?

If Li Zhi and Hong Chengchou were forced to send troops in a hurry to defeat the Jinzhou War, then would they have to bear the world's infamy?

Li Zhiwen was silent and silent.

Chen Shandao stood up, leaned into Li Zhiwen's ear and whispered: "Shangshu, you and I are both gentry, that is, the Tartars have entered the customs, and I am just changing my clothes to the north, and I can still be an official." But if Li Thief is allowed to win again and again, he wants the lives of the gentry of the world, so that we will die without a place to be buried! ”

Li Zhiwen's body shook when he heard this, knowing that he had been convinced.