"Commander Xie reminds that as long as it is iron, you can create grenades, this method will definitely work..." Xiao Wenchang's eyes lit up and he said with a look of approval.

However, not long after, Xiao Wenchang once again showed a hesitant expression on his face, and he hesitated to Yang Xingguo.

"Commander, there is another problem..."

"Say, the arsenal is now the top priority for the development of my Liaodong Army. As long as it can be solved, I will definitely be the first to solve it for you..." Yang Xingguo blurted out without thinking.

"Funding...the arsenal is not enough..." Xiao Wenchang quickly answered.

"In just a few months, the arsenal has grown from ten people at the beginning to five hundred people now. Now, just paying these five hundred people a month will cost two thousand taels. If you add to the purchase of raw materials, five thousand taels of silver is indispensable..."

"The twenty thousand taels of silver you gave me at the beginning have been used up now..."

"Also, if we start smelting ourselves next month, blacksmiths and absent from work, we will need at least 500 people. At that time, the arsenal's monthly funding will exceed 8,000 taels, or even more..."

When Yang Xingguo mentioned the money, he frowned.

In the past, when there were not many soldiers in Liaodong, they could leave tens of thousands of taels of silver every month by seizing and buying and selling weapons.

At the most, the Liaodong Army even had more than two million taels of silver inventories.

However, as the Liaodong Army's strength continues to expand, more and more places need to use money.

Purchase weapons, soldiers' military pay, materials consumption, and disbursement of assistance. In addition, arsenals, field hospitals, local governments... all consumption in all aspects is added up, and at least 200,000 taels of silver is required every month."

Of course, this is not the consumption during war.

The battle started, and all kinds of bullets and shells were used up like running water.

You should know that these bullets and shells are all silver. After a medium-sized battle, photobullets and shells both require tens of thousands of taels of silver. If we count the losses of weapons and personnel, a big battle would be impossible without 100,000 taels of silver.

The only thing that made Yang Xingguo feel thankful was that because of his cooperation with the old Russians, the weapons and ammunition consumed by the Liaodong Army on the battlefield did not require the Liaodong Army to pay the money by itself.

The weapons and ammunition seized on the battlefield can also be exchanged for a lot of silver from the pass, which to a certain extent made up for the war losses of the Liaodong Army.

But even so, more than half of the two million taels of silver in the Liaodong Army was used up.

If Zhang Zhidong had not raised hundreds of thousands of taels of silver for himself, the Liaodong Army might have less than one million taels of silver in stock.

This amount of money sounds like a lot, but according to the current consumption rate of the Liaodong Army.

Without war or accidents, we can only hold on for less than half a year.

What's more, I am also planning to let the troops come for some time to practice. Including the loss of war, one million taels of silver may not last for even three months.

It can be said that the Liaodong Army, which had almost no income except for the battlefield seizure, has been trapped in an unprecedented economic crisis.

In this case, Xiao Wenchang proposed to increase his funds and increase his monthly expenditures, which is definitely a difficult problem.

However, after a brief hesitation, Yang Xingguo gritted his teeth and replied: "Ten thousand taels of silver, starting this month, the arsenal funding will increase to 10,000 taels of silver. No matter how poor our Liaodong Army is, we will not lose the arsenal..."

"The other is that Xiao Wenchang will dominate this ten thousand taels of silver. I suggest that in order to increase the strength of the arsenal, you can find a way to contact some merchants and buy some machinery and equipment. It is impossible for our arsenal to always rely on manual production of weapons, so we must find a way to form a production line."

"At that time, if the money is not enough, come to me again."

Although the Arsenal and his team made the Liaodong Army more grenades when they fought against the Japanese army.

However, Yang Xingguo was not happy at all.

As a leader with more than 100 years of historical memory in later generations, Yang Xingguo knew a truth very well.

As the degree of automation of the troops becomes higher and higher, the army will rely more and more on logistics.

To put it more directly, fighting war is logistics and money.

If a force does not have sufficient logistical support and no continuous economic support.

No matter how strong the combat effectiveness of the troops is, it is a flash in the pan and cannot last for too long.

Now, the Liaodong Army, which has been growing and growing by itself, is now at this stage.

If you cannot solve this problem, even if the Liaodong Army is in your own hands, it will become a flash in the pan in the historical process and it will not last forever.

Deputy Commander Zhou Zhongju was both the intelligence leader of Yang Xingguo and the logistics manager of the Liaodong Army.

Although Zhou Zhongju has gradually broken off from the army, every move of the army still cannot escape his eyes.

So, not long after Yang Xingguo returned to the headquarters, Zhou Zhongju learned about what happened in the arsenal and found the headquarters all the way.

"Commander, you must be worried about money. I'm here to solve the problem for you." As soon as I stood in front of Yang Xingguo, Zhou Zhongju said bluntly, without any delay.

After Yang Xingguo smiled bitterly, he replied with disbelief: "Second uncle, don't joke. Apart from selling weapons, do you have any other ways to earn money..."

Zhou Zhongju was not angry and answered directly: "Commander, don't forget, in addition to managing logistics and intelligence, I also supervised the local governments of the five counties..."

"Yesterday, I happened to receive the latest statistics sent by the county magistrates of five counties..."

"As a large number of refugees pour into our five counties in Liaozhong, the people in the five counties have exceeded 2.2 million, and they are still increasing..."

"According to five acres of fertile land per person, the five counties have reclaimed more than 10 million acres of fertile land."

"However, because time cannot catch up, there are only more than 60,540,000 mu of fertile land that have caught up with spring plowing..."

"Nothing is good outside the pass, but there is one thing that is, the land is fertile. Conservatively, there is more than 6.5 million mu of fertile land, and each mu of fertile land can produce one tuition of five tuitions."

"All more than 6 million mu of fertile land is added up, that is 10 million dan of grain..."

"Because it is the first year, the tax revenue is 30% higher than in the future. According to the tax policy we have formulated, we can collect five million dans of this ten million dan of grain."

"Ordinary soldiers have to eat four ducts of grain a year. We calculated the entire Liaodong army based on 40,000 people, which is 1.6 million ducts. Just in case, we left two million ducts of grain as military rations."

"The five counties leave another two million dan of food to ensure that more than one million refugees in the country can survive the next year, and we can still have one million dan of soldiers..."

"According to the current grain price, this million dan can be sold for 35 to 4 million taels of silver..."

"Based on time, we will have three months to get autumn harvest. As long as we have deposited the bank for another four months, we will have an income of 35 to 4 million taels of silver..." (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!