In the imperial study, Zhao Ji squinted his eyes and listened to Gao Yu's report, Jingzhao Army hoped to allocate the Jingchuan silver mine to the army as an asset to support the army, Zhao Ji was not angry, Gao Shen had reported to him before, Jingzhao Garrison followed the example of Yanshan Mansion and turned 5,000 township soldiers into Changxun Township soldiers, which was actually to become an increase in troops to supplement the lack of troops on the Songxia border.

Zhao Ji is not stupid, although he and the Western Xia reached a border disarmament agreement, but the Western Xia capital Xingqing Mansion is only a day's cavalry journey from the border, and can be killed to the border at any time, and the Great Song Dynasty capital is at least five days away from the border, and when the forbidden army arrives on Shaanxi Road, the daylily is cold, which Zhao Ji knows, so it is extremely critical to maintain a garrison in Jingzhao Mansion and Taiyuan Mansion, which is why Zhao Ji acquiesced to Jingzhao Mansion to increase 5,000 Changxun Township soldiers in an alternative way.

However, it is another matter to allocate the Jingchuan silver mine to Jing Zhaojun, which is more oily and watery than allowing Jing Zhaojun to mint money.

"Captain, how much does it cost to raise five thousand troops?" Zhao Ji asked casually.

"Back to Your Majesty, according to the standard of the forbidden army in front of the palace, you need 80,000 guan per month, if you follow the frontier forbidden army, it will be a little less, about 50,000 guan, plus food and miscellaneous expenses will also cost more than 10,000 guan, at least 60,000 yuan!"

Zhao Ji frowned, "Want so much?" ”

"Your Majesty, the annual military expenditure of the Great Song Dynasty is the biggest financial burden of the imperial court, Weichen didn't understand it before, and after entering the prime minister, he realized that it is not easy to be in charge of firewood and rice!"

"You bastard, do you mean I don't understand the difficulty of being a house?"

Gao Yu was so frightened that he hurriedly explained, "Your Majesty is far-sighted, and of course your vision is not as low as Weichen'......"

"Okay, I know very well what level you are, and I also understand your little bit of caution, so you don't need to explain so much in front of me!"

"Your Majesty is sharp-eyed, where can Weichen hide it from Your Majesty."

Zhao Ji smiled slightly, he knew that Gao Yu didn't learn and didn't know how to do it when he was young, but he was loyal to himself, and putting him into the Zhizheng Hall was also an eyeliner for himself.

"Since it costs 50,000 or 60,000 yuan a month, how did Li Yanqing solve the military spending problem in the past six months, did he rely on Baoyanzhai's money?"

Where does Gao Yu dare to say that he relies on Baoyanzhai, won't it become Li Yanqing's private army? That would offend the Son of Heaven.

"According to Weichen's understanding, the spoils of the past half a year have been relied on to exterminate the black party, didn't Your Majesty reward them?"

"So much loot?"

"Almost! There are more than 100,000 yuan, and 200,000 sheepskins, which can be worth two or three hundred thousand yuan according to the market price. ”

Zhao Ji picked up the teacup and took a sip of ginseng tea, pondered for a moment and said, "What about your opinion?" ”

Gao Yu is not a microphone, he is the head of the Privy Council, and he is also the minister of the Zhizheng Hall, in charge of the military affairs of the world, in the matter of silver mines, he has absolute authority, of course, only the right to suggest, the decision-making power is still in the hands of the Son of Heaven, the reason why this matter did not pass the Zhizheng Hall is also because the Jingchuan Silver Mine belongs to the military assets, and the Zhizheng Hall has no right to interfere.

Otherwise, even if Zhao Ji nodded and agreed, the Zhizheng Hall could reject it, and the Great Song Xiangguo had the right to refuse to implement the unreasonable decision of the Son of Heaven.

Gao Yu knew that the official family would ask his opinion, he muttered and said: "Western Xia surrendered to the Jin State, Wechen is very worried about the Song-Xia border, Wechen thinks it is necessary to increase troops to some extent, before Wechen mentioned this matter in the Zhizheng Hall, Cai Xianggong and Wang Xianggong were unanimously opposed, thinking that the increase in troops violated the disarmament agreement between Song and Xia, and it happened that the Privy Council received Li Yanqing's request, and Wechen thought that increasing the number of soldiers stationed in the countryside may be a better way to increase the troops. ”

Zhao Ji pondered for a moment and said, "What if the military expenses are allocated normally? ”

"I'm afraid that the imperial court won't be able to get through, and Western Xia will also protest."

Zhao Ji didn't say anything, he knew that going to the imperial court to allocate money and food means increasing the army, seven or eight hundred thousand yuan a year, and it is also a heavy burden on the increasingly financially constrained imperial court, before they discussed increasing the quota of new soldiers to Yanshan Mansion, which was strongly resisted by Cai Jing, and finally Wang Hao proposed to allow Guo Yaoshi to mint money This method solved the problem of military spending of 20,000 new troops.

Zhao Ji had already agreed to Gao Yu's proposal in his heart, but he still had two ideas in his heart that needed to be implemented, and after repeated consideration, Zhao Ji said slowly: "I agree to Li Yanqing's request in principle, and I can transfer the Jingchuan Silver Mine to the Jingzhao Army, but I have two requirements, first, the Jingzhao Army can recruit another 15,000 township soldiers, so that the number of Changxun Township soldiers will reach 20,000, does Taiwei understand what I mean?" ”

Gao Yu hurriedly said: "Your Majesty is wise, so that the total strength of Shaanxi Road will reach 60,000 people, and I am not afraid of a sudden attack in Western Xia." ”

"But Li Yanqing is a little too young, let him be in charge of the Jingzhao 40,000 army alone, I am a little worried and uneasy!"

Gao Yu's heart jumped, what do you mean? Could it be that the official family is planning to change generals? That's terrible.

Zhao Ji glanced at Gao Yu meaningfully, did this bastard think he didn't understand his intentions? It was nothing more than trying to turn the Jing Zhao Army into his sphere of influence.

"I mean, it's better to arrange another overseer."

Gao Yu suddenly breathed a sigh of relief, it turned out that he was not worried about Li Yanqing's ability, but he was not worried about him, it is also a common practice to send a prison army, and if the number of troops exceeds 30,000, it must be sent to the prison army, even if the official family forgets, as a privy envoy, Gao Yu will also raise this matter, not to mention that the official family took the initiative to propose it at this time, Gao Yu hurriedly said: "Your Majesty is wise!" ”

Zhao Ji took a few steps with his hand in his hand, and said lightly: "I remember that Jingzhao is the king of Kang!" ”

"It's His Royal Highness King Kang!" Gao Yu's heart was worried.

"Let King Kang take the job!"

Gao Yu sighed in his heart, and in this way, the prince's position was unstable again.

.........

There are several silver pits on Shaanxi Road, the largest of which is located in Shangzhou, Jingchuan silver mine can only be regarded as a small pit, can refine 5,000 catties of crude silver per month, refining can get about 30,000 taels of silver ingots, according to the market price equivalent to 60,000 yuan, Li Yanqing's idea of hitting this silver mine is because the output of this silver mine is just enough for him to raise the army, and this silver mine belongs to the military, and it is natural to assign it to Jingzhaojun.

But Li Yanqing didn't expect that his request caused trouble, not only did the Son of Heaven approve his long-term training of the number of township soldiers up to 20,000, but also sent King Kang Zhao Gou to Jingzhao Mansion to take up a substantive position, Jingzhao stayed behind, that is, the supreme head of the entire Shaanxi Road military and government.

On the third day of Zhao Gou's tenure, Li Yanqing accompanied Zhao Gou to the Jingchuan Silver Mine, which is located in Yunyang County, Yaozhou, and the entire silver mine is composed of more than 30 hills, which are distributed within a radius of 30 miles, looking down from high in the sky, like a huge lotus, and in the center of the lotus is Mengdian Town, the logistics center that supports the silver mine.

Although there are only 300 miners in the silver mine, there are at least 1,000 miners in the 300 miners plus their families, and thousands of people must rely on the town for food, drink and consumption, and Mengdian Town has prospered because of this silver mine.

"Your Highness, it's getting late, and it's not very convenient to go to the mine, so it's better to rest in the town for the night, and we'll go to the mine early tomorrow morning to have a look." Li Yanqing suggested with a smile.

Although he got the real release, Zhao Gou was obviously not too happy, it was difficult to see his smile these days, Zhao Gou nodded, "You can arrange it!" ”

In fact, Ma Shan has already arranged it, as the head of the land, it is extremely necessary to attach himself to a prince, not to mention that this prince is still his boss, in charge of the entire Shaanxi Road military administration.

They stayed in a shop called Jiaolin Inn, and all the irrelevant personnel were cleared out, only the shopkeeper and two men were responsible for serving King Kang and Tongzhi and his party.

Zhao Gou was in a bad mood, and as soon as he moved in, he asked Li Yanqing to come to his room to drink and talk.

"Your Highness doesn't seem to be in a good mood these two days?" Li Yanqing poured Zhao Gou a full glass of wine and asked.

Zhao Gou sighed and asked, "Why do you think my father actually sent me to Jingzhao Mansion?" ”

Li Yanqing smiled and said: "I have also considered this issue, if it is to seize the heir, then His Royal Highness King Yun will not stay in the Daimyo Mansion, I personally think it should have nothing to do with the heir!" ”

"What's the reason for that?"

"It should be a move that the official family wants to use the prince to replace the eunuch supervising the army, in the past, the prince was generally young, and the official family had nothing to rely on, so he could only use the eunuch to supervise the army, and as a result, some eunuchs deceived the upper and lower levels, resulting in boiling public resentment, and now as the prince grows up, replacing the eunuch with the prince's real seal may become a new attempt."

Zhao Gou shook his head, "When I was leaving, my father summoned me, and he told me that the heir to the imperial throne must have both ability and political integrity, and must go to the local area to be sympathetic to the people's feelings, instead of staying in the deep palace all day long to calculate and conspire, I can feel that his tone is still very dissatisfied with the imperial brother." ”

Li Yanqing sighed secretly in his heart, Zhao Gou is still too young, the Son of Heaven sent him to Jingzhao is not a temptation, the Great Song Dynasty has never sent the prince to the local government, I am afraid that the prince will support the army and stand on his own, causing the division of the imperial power, how can Zhao Ji be an exception, putting King Kang in Jingzhao is more of a test for him, if he can't stand the test and shows too much desire for imperial power, then the future may be sad.

But now these words can't be said to Zhao Gou, Li Yanqing sighed and smiled: "Your Highness is just in a bad mood for this?" ”

Zhao Gou shook his head, "I'm in a bad mood because Western Xia surrendered to the Jin Kingdom, and I'm worried about the situation in the Great Song Dynasty!" ”