Before dinner, a series of rituals such as visiting the mistress, serving tea and giving gifts to the mistress went smoothly. At least on the surface, the etiquette was thorough and the whole atmosphere was harmonious. Seeing this, Wu Shigong was a little relieved.

But when it was time for dinner, Aunt Qiu was acting evil again. She demanded that according to the rules of a large family, only the head of the house and the mistress could eat at the main table, and all the concubines had to stand aside and wait until the head of the house came.

After dinner with the mistress, they went back to the house to have dinner. Of course, Aunt Qiu didn't do everything right. For Wu Shigong's children, she still flexibly opened another table next to the main table for them to sit at.

Eat at the same time on that table.

At this time, Wu Shigong was holding back his anger. He knew that the rules that Aunt Qiu said were indeed true, and Wu Shigong was not a person who tried to challenge the ethical rules of the Ming Dynasty, but his heart was still filled with panic. When Wu Shigong was a teenager,

The discrimination he suffered in Gongshunhou's house was so profound that Wu Shigong was disgusted with this behavior from the bottom of his heart.

But Wu Shigong couldn't say no. There were no rules, no rules, and the same was true in the inner house. If Wu Shigong immediately refuted the arrangement of Aunt Qiu, it would mean that he would not give his wife Xue Yufei any face at all. Moreover, Wu Shigong's behavior will also be

It sent a wrong signal. His concubines, especially Li Xin, would probably rely on Wu Shigong's favor to challenge Xue Yufei's position as the head wife.

Not to mention how much help Xue Yufei's background can bring to Wu Shigong's career, nor the care given to Wu Shigong by the Yangwuhou family, not to mention Wu Shigong's guilt for Xue Chenglin's child's lack of fatherly love since childhood. It is just Wu Shigong's love for Xue Yufei.

, he couldn't do anything to shake Xue Yufei's position.

Therefore, Wu Shigong acquiesced to Aunt Qiu's arrangement unhappily. However, the meal was awkward. Wu Shigong's concubines lined up behind Wu Shigong and Xue Yufei. They were dressed in Tsing Yi (i.e. slaves).

Wearing clothes), watching Wu Shigong and Xue Yufei eating.

Xue Yufei had a small appetite and finished her meal quickly. Zhuyun, Meiyun and Xiuzhu on the side quickly picked up the mouthwash tea and hot towels that the maids had prepared and put aside, and were about to come forward to serve them.

.

But at this time, Aunt Qiu stopped their movements again. She said to Li Xinyifu who was standing at the front of the row: "Aunt Li, it's your turn to serve now."

Li Xin's eyes suddenly turned red. She looked at Wu Shigong's livid face. After waiting for a while, she found that Wu Shigong didn't respond. She immediately felt a sore nose. She shed a string of tears, took the towel and walked to the table.

Feeling Li Xin's approach, Wu Shigong couldn't bear it anymore. He put half a bowl of rice in his hand on the table, threw his chopsticks on the table, and wanted to walk away.

Seeing Wu Shigong's expression change, Xue Yufei also panicked, and her eyes turned red. She grabbed Wu Shigong's trouser legs tightly with her little hands under the table, preventing Wu Shigong from leaving.

Wu Shigong looked at Xue Yufei's pitiful face, and then at Li Xin's aggrieved face asking for help. It was as if the strength in his body immediately disappeared. He sighed, picked up his rice bowl, stopped eating, and took a big gulp.

Putting rice into his mouth.

This reception feast was really frustrating! After dinner, Wu Shigong came to the study and deeply reflected on his past behavior: "It seems that it doesn't matter if you pick more wild flowers outside, but you have to be careful when you recruit women."

!”

Deng Qifan and Xue Yongli had been waiting in the study for a long time. When they saw Wu Shigong's arrival, they immediately stood up and saluted. Wu Shigong also returned the greeting and exchanged a few words. After driving all the serving maids out, the three of them began to discuss secretly.

After finishing his polite words, Wu Shigong went straight to the point and briefly described the military reform plan he envisioned in Dengzhou. Then he asked: "What do Mr. Deng and Uncle Yongli think of this plan?"

Of course Xue Yongli has no opinion. Any method to expand the strength of the army will be beneficial to Xue Yongli, the second-in-command of the Runing Army.

Deng Qifan pointed out something embarrassing: "Sir, with such an expansion and a high salary like Runingjun, the students are afraid that they will not have enough money!"

Wu Shigong raised his eyebrows and asked strangely: "Didn't I tell Mr. Deng just now that this time I brought back nearly 200,000 taels of silver from Denglai, including 40,000 taels of silver alone?

If you add two extra liang to your family’s savings, how can it not be enough?”

So Deng Qifan began to introduce the current financial situation of the Runing Army to Wu Shigong in detail. Now Wu Shigong's stall is too big. The first is farming. Wu Shigong's idea at that time was very good, and he also harvested a certain amount of food through organizing drought relief.

But after all, God is not as good as man, and no one expected that there has been a severe drought for three consecutive years.

Since the beginning of spring this year, it has been showing signs of severe drought throughout the year. Therefore, although the Runing Army purchased fields at low prices, many victims even brought their fields to join the Runing Army for free, making the current farmland of the Runing Army

The area was expanded to 170,000 to 80,000 acres. The number of new victims increased by 40,000 to 50,000.

However, the food relief for these new victims and the manpower and material resources invested in the wasteland that needed to be reclaimed for drought relief even caused the Runing Army to suffer a slight loss. If the Runing Army hadn't spent a lot of money, through Tang Liu's Cao Gang

If you buy food from Huguang, Runing Army may also encounter problems with its own food supply.

The military's expenses are still huge. The construction of a series of fortresses and stockades; the development, manufacturing and equipment of new ordnance; the purchase of horses; and the increase in military pay after the new mutinies turned veterans, Chongzhen's military expenditure in the past five years has skyrocketed by nearly 40%. If it were not for He

If Fei and the others make their own money in Nanyang, the military expenditure of the Runing Army will be even higher.

The income from salt products has also dropped by nearly 15% due to the large number of refugees fleeing. However, with the cheap salt products Wu Shigong obtained from the Denglai New Salt Farm, this decline in income will improve.

Although the iron ore and iron material workshops have been put into operation, these two workshops have taken up a lot of investment and money from Runing Army. In modern terms: it means spending a lot of money to build expensive fixed assets.

and possess a large amount of working capital.

Of course, as soon as the iron mines and iron factories are mass-produced, they will become two hens that can lay golden eggs. But all this will take time.

The only bright spot is the Sihai Trading Company. Due to the strong support of food stamps, the food stamps issued by the Sihai Trading Company have established a high reputation among the people. Therefore, many people are willing to store food stamps and buy goods at the merchant stores opened by the Sihai Trading Company.

.This has also greatly increased the income of Sihai Commercial Bank and opened a lot of semicolons. However, compared with the expenditure of Runing Army, the income of Sihai Commercial Bank cannot fill so many gaps.

So the key to the problem is that in fact, the Runing Army only needs to support itself for two years. After two years, the Runing Army can completely achieve self-sufficiency. But in order to be self-sufficient in the future, the current Runing Army must invest a lot of money.

Coupled with the expansion of the Runing Army proposed by Wu Shigong this time, the money is really not enough!

Deng Qifan also told Wu Shigong a question. There was another reason why he spent so much money this time. In the past, Wu Shigong would bring back a large amount of property every time he went on an expedition, so everyone in the Runing Army had a crush on Wu Shigong.

A kind of blind trust.

They believed that their master would definitely be able to make a fortune from the war this time, so the Runing Army was spending money lavishly. And due to confidentiality, only a few high-level core members like Deng Qifan knew the actual financial situation of the Runing Army.

When Deng Qifan and the others saw something was wrong with Runingjun's spending and wanted to put the brakes on, a lot of the money they had stored had already been wasted.

Now, if Wu Shigong wants to tighten money immediately, it is likely to cause doubts and panic. The most terrifying thing is to cause a series of chain reactions, causing the Runing Army to completely collapse. Therefore, Deng Qifan implores Wu Shigong to be cautious.

After hearing all this, Wu Shigong shook his head helplessly. He did not expect that the huge gains he made during several expeditions would lead to his army developing the bad habit of spending too much money.

But in any case, the expansion of the Runing Army cannot be changed this time, nor can the increase in the strength of the Runing Army be changed. But how to overcome the immediate financial difficulties? We still need to consider the long term. Anyway, with Wu Shigong leading from Dengzhou

With the cash returned, there should be no shortage of cash in Runing's army in a short period of time.

So Wu Shigong asked another question that concerned him: "What about the new iron ore that He Fei and the others grabbed?"

Deng Qifan immediately introduced the new iron mine again. However, it was similar to what Deng Qifan wrote to Wu Shigong in the long letter at that time. But at the end, Deng Qifan reported to Wu Shigong: "That mine supervisor Ye learned that your Excellency is coming back.

After hearing the news, he came to the camp every day to wait for the master to return. If the camp could not allow outsiders to enter, he might have slept outside the master's house. But now he lives in the city of Runing Prefecture and is sent to the camp every day.

People have come here several times.”

Wu Shigong smiled and said: "It is absolutely impossible to return this iron ore to him. But we can give him some benefits. The father-in-laws in the palace are not so energetic. I almost suffered a big loss this time.

.If it weren’t for Mr. Hou’s help, this end would be really unimaginable! I won’t say more. I have just come back. I will rest for a few days and send someone to send my post to the mine supervisor Ye and tell him.

I will personally visit him in a few days."

After hesitating for a while, Deng Qifan still said to Wu Shigong: "Sir, the students are still thinking of some ways to save money. I hope your decision will be made!"
Chapter completed!