As the night deepened, Jun Xun's attendant Cai'er came in and said that the old lady wanted to leave the lady to sleep here at night.

As a son-in-law, Lin Jian couldn't stay overnight at the Gu family. I don't know how late I have to talk, Jun Xun is pregnant, and she can't stay up late, so she stays overnight at her mother's house, and she can also accompany her mother more.

After Cai'er left, the conversation here had to continue, Zhao Qinmin leaned over and asked Lin Lian: "How much silver does Huaidong need a year now to barely be enough?" ”

Lin Jian glanced at Zhao Qinmin, most of the food and salary of the Huaidong Military Division were self-raised, so how many soldiers the Huaidong Military Division had was still a mystery to outsiders.

Lin Jian did not take the initiative to reveal the details of the Huaidong Military Division to Gu Wuchen and the others before.

Lin Jian thought to himself, could it be that Gu Wuchen asked such a question?

"If the Huaidong Military Division only raises soldiers, thirty thousand taels of silver in one Chinese New Year's Eve is almost enough; In addition, it will cost 100,000 taels of silver to build a warship," Lin Jian said, "I could barely cope with it last year, but this year I will be stretched." The silver obtained from salt and silver to preserve grain was used to repair and defend the seawall. I copied the Ma family last year, and this year's shortage is relatively large, even if there is no such meeting, I will come to Jiangning to compete......"

Gu Wuchen, Lin Tingli, and Zhao Qinmin all laughed. Gu Wuchen said: "You copied Ma's house, and now it has become a public case." The king of Chu didn't dare to stay in Xuzhou City, so he asked the vassal to change his residence in Haozhou, and sent someone to Jiangning every other day, and Yue Lengqiu was a little scared......"

"If you don't copy Ma's house, you can't do it. In order to prepare for the Huaisi war, I expanded my troops in Chongzhou by more than 20,000 troops, more than 12,000 elites, and pulled them to Huaisi to fight for half a year, and only the walled city built two places. Huai'an Mansion only pays six buckets of rice and three silver coins per soldier per month, where is there enough for war consumption? Lin Jian said, "The king of Chu and the Ma family want me to spit out the silver, and let the county secretary make up for the war consumption of the Huaidong army in Huaisi." ”

Last year, when the Huaisi war was in full swing, the Ma family in Huai'an touched the mold, and Lin Lian and Liang Wenzhan of Shanyang Zhixian County were convicted of the Ma family's crime of trafficking in illicit salt, and their house was raided.

The accounts of the family were not concealed, and the fields and mansions were all returned to the public, so that the Huai'an Mansion and the two Huai Salt and Iron Divisions made a large fortune, and the gold and silver inventory of the Ma family, Lin Jian also waved a large pen to directly supplement the military resources of the Huaidong Army. raided the house plus a previous extortion, and got a total of nearly 700,000 taels of silver.

This silver supported the Huaidong Army to fight in the Huaisi area for half a year, and even if there was a surplus, it was very limited.

Ma Fu's wife is the lord of Shanyang County, the daughter of the King of Chu, and she naturally has a grudge against Lin Lian. The Chu Wangfu has never bullied people like this, so he naturally complained everywhere, even if he couldn't bring down Lin Bin, he wanted to take back the confiscated family wealth from Lin Bin. 700,000 taels of silver, all in black and white, with detailed accounts.

Whether it is Zhang Xie or Yue Lengqiu, they all regard Lin Jian as a political enemy, and it is precisely because they have written detailed accounts in black and white that they will not support the Ma family in this matter.

First, the evidence of the Ma family's trafficking in illicit salt is conclusive.

The second is that the Huai'an Prefecture and the Iron and Salt Division have benefited a lot from this case, and the two counties of Huai'an and Shanyin alone have copied more than 100,000 mu of public land from the Ma family, which can provide more than 100,000 stone of public land rental income for Huai'an and Shanyin counties every year. These benefits, Huai'an Mansion has already eaten into the stomach, how can it be spit out?

In addition, during the Huaisi War, the Huaidong Army consumed 700,000 taels of silver in military resources, which is not excessive.

If you want Lin Jian to spit out this silver, you have to ask the county secretary to subsidize this silver to Huaidong. Didn't that kill Wang Tian? The county secretary gave more to Huaidong, and there will be less for Changhuai's army, and of course Yue Lengqiu will not pick up a stone and shoot himself in the foot.

"I copied the Ma family last year, and Huaidong's expenses were flattened," Gu Wuchen asked, "How big is the shortage this year?" ”

"About 150,000 taels!" Lin Jian said.

Gu Wuchen glanced at Zhao Qinmin, Zhao Qinmin touched his chin and glanced back at Gu Wuchen, and seemed to be sure of the real number reported by Lin Bin.

Gu Wuchen thought for a while, and said to Lin Lian: "Huaidong is one of the foundations of Jiangdong today, presumably Ning Wangfu will not be too favoritistic." Tomorrow, when the deliberations are held, you might as well open up more, ask for 300,000 taels of silver, and give them a chance to bargain. As for Dongyang, if you can give less money in the end, it will be a good thing......"

Lin Ting nodded.

Unlike the Huaidong Army, there are many soldiers and horses, and the source of wages directly controlled by Lin Tie is only one county in Chongzhou, and the rest must be additionally allocated by the county department. Although the Dongyang Army raised its own money and food, Lin Tingli also controlled the civil and financial affairs of the entire eight counties of Dongyang Prefecture.

With one government and eight counties, it is easy to raise 8,000 elites.

Tomorrow morning, I will go to King Ning's Mansion to discuss the matter, and this discussion is related to an adjustment of the power of Jiangdong County, and we cannot be careless. Seeing that the night was dark, Lin Jian and Lin Tingli said goodbye and left.

Lin Tingli also had a private house in the city, and Lin Lian was surrounded by guards and went back to Jiyunju.

***************

After Lin Jian and Lin Tingli left, Gu Wuchen didn't go to rest immediately, and in the pavilion in the back garden, he was still sitting and talking with Zhao Qinmin.

"Lin Jian said that Huai'an has a shortage of 150,000 taels of silver every year to raise the army, do you think he is telling me the truth?" Gu Wuchen asked.

Zhao Qinmin said: "There is no need for Lin Zhizhi to hide from you! ”

Gu Wuchen shook his head and sighed slightly, and said, "Over the years, the person I have never been able to see through is this kid. ”

Zhao Qinmin knew that Gu Wuchen said this and regarded him as a cronie, so he was naturally happy in his heart, but he couldn't show this happiness on his face, and said: "I think the numbers that Lin Zhizhi said are still in line with the ......."

"What's the fit?" Gu Wuchen asked.

"In addition to the summer tax and autumn grain in Chongzhou County, which is being paid to the Huaidong Military Division to make up for the lack of military funds, there are two other sources of food and salary for the Huaidong Military Division that are clear," Zhao Qinmin said, "First, the imperial court allocates 20,000 soldiers to the Huaidong Military Division, which is almost 200,000 taels of silver every year." This part of the silver was controlled by the Huaidong military commander; Such a piece of bread should be given to more than half of the part of Sun Zhuang's office that belongs to Huaidong, and what can really be obtained by the forest system in the hands of the envoy will be 80,000 or 90,000 taels of silver. Fortunately, Lord Liu Tingzhou was impartial and did not deduct from it; The other is the subsidy of Haiyu and other counties to the Shengsi defense line, mainly grain, cloth, meat and vegetables, and can get about 40,000 or 50,000 taels of silver a year. The two sources of food and salary in Huaidong are basically semi-public, and presumably Yue Lengqiu and Zhang Xitong also know an approximate amount in their hearts. In addition, after the Lin Zhizhi envoy was stationed in Chongzhou, he reduced rents and taxes on a large scale, exempted miscellaneous donations and capitation assessments, but ruled the government with an iron fist, checked the acres of land, and reclassified the quality of grain fields, so that Chongzhou's summer tax and autumn grain were surged to 300,000 stones. These money and grain are returned to the forest system for their own use, but they must also be reported to the county department. This number is also true and credible, and if Lin Zhizhi really wants to falsify, he can just report the previous number, and there is no need to triple it at all. In the summer and autumn grain allocation, local expenditures should be deducted; At most, two-thirds of the ones that can be used to raise the army can be used. The amount of silver is only 120,000 taels. The sum of the above three items can roughly estimate the total amount of food and salary of the Huaidong Military Division, which is about 250,000 taels of silver. Lin Zhizhi said that Huaidong needs 400,000 taels of silver a year to raise an army, and now there is a shortage of 150,000 taels of silver, which is consistent with these three data. ”

"It's a fit to say so, but his accounts are too clear and too fittening, and it can't be believed anyway," Gu Wuchen said, "He occupies a lot of land in Chongzhou, but others don't have a ...... at all."

"It occupies a lot of land, and the forest management envoy may treat these as private property, and the public and private should be separated, and these fields and properties cannot be counted as military funds." Zhao Qinmin explained for Lin Jian vigorously, he knew that Gu Wuchen couldn't fully trust his son-in-law, and it was useless for him to say anything.

Of course, there is also one of the biggest sources of military food and salary in Huaidong, which is salt and silver to protect grain.

The real number of salt and silver grain can be checked by Gu Wuchen and Zhao Qinmin from Qingzhou and Jinhai.

The high amount of money collected by the forest is mainly used for large-scale projects such as dredging the salt river and repairing the seawall. And these two projects are so huge that Gu Wuchen, Zhao Qinmin, Lin Tingli, and even Yue Lengqiu, Zhang Xi and others all believe that before the construction of the seawall is completed, Lin Jian will not be able to get much more silver from the salt and silver grain to raise the army.

This is also the main reason why Yue Lengqiu and Liu Tingzhou supported Huaidong to repair and defend the seawall in the later period, and they were afraid that Lin Lian would use the money to raise the army.

Zhao Qinmin did not mention the matter of salt and silver to protect grain.

"There should also be twenty or thirty thousand soldiers in Huaidong, and when he brought Jiangning this time, it was two thousand elite cavalry at once. I heard Yang Pu say that all those horses are neck-high, and it is difficult to see one in Jiangning City, they are all high-quality military horses, and it is difficult to find a hundred gold. I really doubt that 400,000 taels of silver a year can raise such an elite army of horses and water battalions? Gu Wuchen asked suspiciously.

The Huaidong Army's 28,000 soldiers' salaries, ordnance replenishment, and warship repair were calculated according to the standards of the Zhenjun Army, and they only needed 400,000 taels of silver per year.

Whether an army is elite or not has a lot to do with the leading generals, but it is also inseparable from the fundamental material support. Generally speaking, as long as the leading generals can be impartial and selfless and do not withhold food and wages, the morale of the troops they lead will be of good use, and their combat effectiveness will not be much worse.

The Huaidong Army is much more elite than the ordinary town army, and there should naturally be a stronger material support behind it than the ordinary town army.

Yue Lengqiu's daily supply to the Changhuai army was fifty percent higher than the standard of the ordinary town army, so the combat effectiveness of the Changhuai army was significantly stronger than that of the ordinary town army. But judging from past examples, the Changhuai Army was not enough to compete with the Huaidong Army.

Gu Wuchen also directly governed the Jiangning Water Camp and was familiar with this, so when Lin Lian said that Huaidong only needed 400,000 taels of silver for military funds every year, he suspected that Lin Lian had deliberately lied, and he felt uncomfortable as if he was blocking something.

In fact, Lin Jian did not conceal the report, and the Huaidong Military Division wanted to allocate 400,000 taels of silver from the outside every year to raise the army.

It's just that outsiders don't know how these materials operate and circulate in the Huaidong Military Division, and it is impossible to infer the true strength of the Huaidong Army from the cost of money.

The Jinhai-class warship, Lin Tie sold to the Saga clan and the Dongzhou Governor's Office, each of which counted 30,000 taels of silver, while the Huaidong Military Division was internally calculated at cost price, counting 10,000 taels of silver; That's three times the difference between inside and out.

Jingtie Mo knife, the ordnance supervisor sells it to the outside, a handle counts eight taels of silver, and the internal is calculated at cost price, less than a thousand dollars; The difference between inside and outside is more than eight times.

High-grade military horses, Huaidong purchased and sold from Danluo and Honshu Island, a horse is only ten or twenty taels of silver, slightly more expensive than ordinary mules and horses; And in Jiangdong County, where there is a shortage of fine war horses, a high-grade military horse costs seventy or eighty taels of silver.

The Huaidong Military Division has done everything possible to produce its own meat, poultry and eggs, and the scale of poultry raising on Xisha Island Beach alone has reached 300,000 or 400,000 birds. Although they also eat coarse grains every year, they are more fed with algae snails, almost reaching the level of one catty of coarse grains and one catty of eggs.

If the Huaidong Military Division had not established a perfect production system in Chongzhou, all supplies, ordnance, and warships would have been purchased from outside, and 800,000 taels of silver could not be sustained a year.

There are a large number of workshops in Chongzhou and Guanyintan, and Gu Wuchen also knows about it, but he doesn't know that the production efficiency of the Chongzhou and Guanyintan workshops controlled by the Huaidong Military Division has long exceeded that of the government-run workshops.

After Chongzhou adopted the double-furnace smelting method, the amount of refined iron produced by the same manpower and a blast furnace was slightly transformed, and the quality of refined iron was no worse than that of charcoal.

It is impossible to know the details of Huaidong's internal operations, and even if outsiders are proficient in calculations, it is impossible to estimate the true military potential of Huaidong.