"Master Xiao, you know the situation in our household department. Now the treasury is extremely short of money and cannot make ends meet. The taxes and money of the counties below have not been collected, and only less than 1% of the arrears have been recovered. Now
I don’t have any money either.” Chen Wenqi spread his hands and expressed that he was helpless.
In order to show that he was not lying, he called in several officials in charge of food and salary, brought out thick account books, and asked Mr. Xiao to review them.
"Mr. Xiao, what difficulties do I not know about you? But you have to understand the difficulties of the emperor and brothers, right? Now, including me, the salaries of all the officials in the court have not been paid for a year, and people come to talk to me every day.
The lawsuit has made me miserable..." Chen Wenqi is actually telling the truth.
"So I think Mr. Xiao, you'd better get over it. I'll owe you the military pay first. When you return in triumph, I'll give you both the military pay and the silver reward!" This is just a pie that you can't eat at all.
"The main thing is that those who owe money will not come back, otherwise this little money is nothing. If you have a way to owe money, Mr. Xiao, I will give you as much as you want!" Chen Wenqi has defeated Xiao Chen's army.
If the prince doesn't even come back, why don't you ask Xiao Chen to get it?
"Okay, that's it! Give me the IOU later and I'll try to ask for it. Haha, if you can't get food from Mr. Chen, then go to someone else's house to ask for it!" Unexpectedly, Xiao Chen didn't say anything.
He hesitated and agreed.
Chen Wenqi was caught off guard. Mr. Xiao, do you really mean what you said?
"Let's not talk about military pay. Where is the food and grass?" Xiao Chen lazily talked nonsense to him.
"As for grain and grass, we don't have much inventory at the moment. With so many troops stationed in Fengyang City, and how much grain the people in the city need every day, Mr. Xiao, do you know? Fortunately, the grain and rice from Jiangnan are now ripe and are being shipped one after another. When Xiao
Sir, I will send people to you one after another after you leave."
It means that it is impossible for you to bring enough food and grass. I can only guarantee your basic supply, or send three days of food at a time, or two days, or even one day at a time...
In other words, if you make the slightest move, your food will be cut off immediately!
Food and grass are the lifeblood of an army, and a lack of food is life-threatening.
"What if the war is tense and your rear cuts off my food and grass for some reason?" Xiao Chen said coldly.
"Don't worry, Mr. Xiao, I will send capable personnel to deliver food. Anyone who dares to miss a meal from you will be punished for violating military discipline!" Chen Wenqi slapped his chest loudly, but in fact it was almost like farting.
.
When the time comes, you can just kill a scapegoat. How can you, Xiao Chen, ask whether the Minister of Household Affairs is guilty?
"We don't have money, we don't have food and grass, but we have young and strong people, right? I have seen all the three thousand soldiers. They are all old, weak, sick and disabled. Let alone taking them to fight, whether they can go anywhere is a problem. I will tell you
Say it!" Xiao Chen's face turned pale with anger.
"Alas..." Chen Wenqi sighed, saying that there was no such thing as being young and strong at the moment.
How many recruiting offices do we have in Fengyang City now? But there are not many people recruited, and they are all used to supplement the casualties in various places.
You can't conscript soldiers, right?
But since the emperor has given you such great power, you can set up a recruitment office to recruit as many soldiers as you can.
This is almost like fart. You, Chen Wenqi, are the Minister of Household Affairs. Why can't you recruit soldiers? Why don't you have any idea?
Nowadays, joining the army is a life-threatening job. Who is willing to pay for it if you give me such a small amount of money? Moreover, it is such a small amount of money and it is still in arrears. I heard that the settlement allowance is only one tael of money...
Damn it if you can recruit people!
But as long as you say this... No, you still need a document from the Ministry of Household Affairs, and I will recruit troops myself!
Chen Wenqi was relieved and immediately signed a document to Xiao Chen.
Don't say I didn't help you, I've tried my best, so why don't you tell the emperor about me?
Of course, there is no point in suing. This is what the emperor and his elders wanted.
In fact, Xiao Chen had already anticipated this before he came. The reason why he came again was to have the power to recruit troops and collect debts.
Chen Wenqi had to take the initiative to propose it himself, so he had actually achieved his goal.
He just pretended to be angry, cursing and mumbling to himself when he left the household department...
Then he went to the Ministry of War to find Lu Jing. Lu Jing became angry when he saw him, but he had the king's order flag, so it was not enough if he didn't see him.
"I see you look unhappy, Master Lu. Who are you trying to control your anger with?" Xiao Chen asked with a playful smile on his face, knowingly.
"Hmph! You kid, please return my war horse as soon as possible, otherwise when King Fengyang comes back, you kid won't be able to eat and carry it around!" Lu Jing said angrily.
"It's fine if you don't mention this, sir. When I mention it, I get extremely angry. You actually went to the emperor to complain to me. Is that so outrageous? The emperor sent Marquis Pingyang with hundreds of royal guards to ask for it from me.
Two thousand horses are about to leave!" Xiao Chen was even angrier than him.
Two days ago, he forcibly snatched away 5,000 war horses, but the abominable Lu Jing turned around and went to find Li Wanjiang. Li Wanjiang was greatly surprised when he heard this. Did this guy really use my chicken feathers as arrows?
Why don’t you want five thousand horses at once? How shameless are you?
But he had already promised Xiao Chen that he could use military supplies as he pleased, and he didn't want to renege on his promise, so he sent Zhu Xiaochuan to find his son to get it back.
Zhu Xiaochuan said, Your Majesty, you still don’t know who that boy Xiao Chen is?
I heard that he is going crazy now. He is torturing Fengyang City with your royal flag, your Shangfang sword and your marshal's seal, and he will bite anyone he catches!
The dead pig is not afraid of boiling water scalding him now.
Don't tell me that I'm going, I'm afraid the emperor will go there in person and he will have something to say.
Li Wanjiang also regretted his impulse. He would have known better not to give him the royal flag.
But you can’t give him all the 5,000 war horses. You can go and get as much as you want back...
This must be Zhu Xiaochuan, and Xiao Chen has to give him some face. If it were Gong Shouli, Xiao Chen would have beaten him directly!
For your sake, Lord Marquis, I can hand over two thousand war horses, but you must give me another thousand strong green mules. Otherwise, how can I carry supplies?
"You, you, you, how dare you say this to me! I got it in exchange for a thousand mules. You have a total of three thousand soldiers, and you need a thousand mules to transport supplies?" So Lu Jing heard Xiao Chen say this
He said he was even more angry.
"The Ministry of Household Affairs didn't even give me a tael of silver. I had no choice but to sell these mules for military pay. I didn't have any food or grass. I was so anxious that I had to kill them to use as military rations!" Xiao Chen said loudly.
Lu Jing stopped talking because he also had something to worry about.
Then what are you doing here?
What else can I do with you? I need weapons and equipment.
How much does it cost?
First come ten thousand pairs of armor, ten thousand spears, eight thousand wind-splitting knives, five thousand hooks and sickles...
What hook and sickle gun?
Damn it, you don’t even know this? It’s the kind with a sickle-like curved blade on it, similar to a spurge.
No Ang?
If not, forget it, I can find someone to build this myself...