"What kind of idiot is giving the emperor random ideas! Doesn't he know what Liao's salary means to the Ming Dynasty! Bastard...bastard!..."
Sun Chengzong was furious and slapped the table with his palm. He was so angry that his beard almost stood up. When everyone saw it, they all shrank their necks in fear.
Shi Dayong was also so shocked that he couldn't say a word. In addition to shock and disbelief, he felt even more painful.
Liao Pay Liao Pay, as the name suggests, is the military expenditure allocated specifically for the Liao Dynasty. This Liao Pay is undoubtedly the driving force to support the Ming Army outside the Pass. If the Liao Pay is cut off, it is suspected that the backbone of the Ming Army outside the Pass is broken.
In the past, most of the Liao pay was spent on Zu Dashou and his Liaodong Army. Now that Zu Dashou is dead, his Liaodong Army has also disappeared. If Shi Dayong can take advantage of the east wind of Jinzhou's victory to succeed Zu Dashou and become the Ming Dynasty outside the pass.
As a heavy pillar, this Liao salary will most likely fall into his hands.[
It is self-evident what millions of taels of silver mean to Shi Dayong, to the Songshan Army, and to his grand ambitions.
With money, he can do things freely; without money, he will be unable to move forward.
War is fought over finance.
If you have money, you have everything.
Now, this thunderbolt came. Although it did not cut off the Liao's salary, it was just a distribution, but it was also a heavy blow to Shi Dayong and the Ming army outside the Pass.
Who knows whether the next time the imperial court will completely cut off the Liao's salary and abandon the territory outside the pass, causing him to look at the pass and sigh, saying that he crossed the pass in vain.
Lu Shanji was also shocked, but he remained calm. He was not as excited as Sun Chengzong. He calmly asked Zhou Shangmin: "How much Liao salary has been allocated by the imperial court? Where is it used?"
"Two million taels will be used to quell thieves in Henan." Zhou Shangmin whispered.
"Two million taels?!"
After hearing this number, Lu Shanji gave a wry smile and said to Sun Chengzong angrily: "Sir, the imperial court is going to abandon us!"
Hearing this, Shi Dayong was startled: The consequences are so serious? How much money does Liao pay have?
He asked Lu Shanji for advice: "Master Lu, I wonder how much this Liao salary is?"
Lu Shanji did not hide anything from him, he told the truth, "Eight million taels."
"Eight million taels?!"
When he heard that the Liao salary was as huge as 8 million taels, Shi Dayong felt relieved and said disapprovingly: "If two million taels are allocated to quell the thieves, there will still be 6 million taels left. It's not like the court wants to abandon it."
Let's go."
After hearing this, Lu Shanji smiled sadly, shook his head and said: "General Shi Shen didn't know something. The imperial court requisitioned eight million taels of silver in the name of Liao's salary, but the actual amount given to us was only about seven million taels.
And this seven million has to be discounted. To tell you the truth, five million of the Liao salary that actually comes into our hands is too much. Now it has gone down to two million taels. You say, with these three
One million taels of silver, what can we use to fight against the Donglu? There is no need to spend money anywhere inside and outside the pass. The military salary alone costs two million taels a year, let alone building cities and fortresses. How can such a small amount of money be enough?
?!"
"How could this happen?" Shi Dayong was really confused now. Even if Chao Zhong moved his hands up and down and took away one million taels, there would still be a real seven million taels. How could it turn into Lu Shanji's mouth?
There are less than five million taels left. Where did the two million taels go?
"How could this happen?" Lu Ming glanced at Shi Dayong and said calmly: "The reason is very simple. The imperial court has no money." [
"No money?" Shi Dayong was even more confused. Didn't Liao pay 8 million taels? Why was there no money?
Seeing that Shi Dayong didn't understand, Lu Ming sneered secretly, with a calm face, and said: "Do you think the imperial court really collected eight million taels of silver?"
"What do you mean by Mr. Xiaolu?" Shi Dayong was confused by the uncle and nephew of the Lu family. Jiang Wanli and Cao Bianjiao were also speechless, with puzzled faces. What the uncle and nephew said was too profound.
It's incomprehensible.
Lu Ming moved his lips, wanting to explain something to the warrior Shi Dayong, but he thought it would be too long to explain, so he shook his head and said: "Forget it, let's not talk about this anymore, let's think of ways to make up for it.
Let's use this hole." After saying that, he looked towards Sun Chengzong and secretly thought about how to make up for the gap of two million taels.
Sun Chengzong still had an angry look on his face, and his face was livid and ugly.
Seeing that Lu Ming refused to explain in detail, Shi Dayong was not willing to force others, so he could only hold back his doubts. Unexpectedly, Lu Shanji had a different attitude from his nephew, and kindly told him: "Liao's salary levy comes from the people."
, to put it bluntly, they are levied from the hands of ordinary people. Where do they get so much silver? Therefore, when levying salaries, most of them are paid in kind. Therefore, from the beginning, there is no actual sufficient silver in this Liao salary. Adding layers of
Due to deductions and losses, only four to five million taels of silver were actually handed over to the treasury. The rest was consumed in the process of deportation to Beijing. Therefore, although there are seven to eight million taels on the books, in reality
But there are only four to five million taels."
"I see."
After listening to Lu Shanji's explanation, Shi Dayong nodded with some understanding, and then lost his voice again: "According to this, the imperial court allocated two million taels this time, and the remaining Liao salary is less than three million.
Two?"
"I don't even have a tael of silver." Sun Chengzong suddenly snorted coldly.
"Ah?!" Shi Dayong, Jiang Wanli, and Cao Bianjiao changed their expressions at the same time: They have no more than a tael of silver! Then where do their military salaries come from? Does the imperial court want them to fight the Donglu on an empty stomach?
Lu Shanji sighed and said: "We have no more than one tael of silver. When we built Dalinghe City and various forts, the Governor allocated two million taels. Zhang Bing prepared a large army to help and took away the money."
Eight hundred thousand taels. As a result, there are only two million taels left in Liao's salary. It was originally used for payment, but now the court has allocated it all to Henan Pingthief. The Jinglue Yamen has no more than one tael of silver left.
.Sigh, I really don’t know what the imperial court is thinking. Aren’t they afraid of triggering a mutiny in the army?”
Lu Ming said with some shame: "Bi Ziyan's brother died in a mutiny in the army. It's good for him, but he doesn't know how to advise the emperor. Is it possible that he wants Lord Jinlue to make the same mistake as his brother Bi Zisu? Humph,
Even if things really come to this point, I will drag him to death with Bi!"
Bi Zisu was in charge of the governor of Guan Ning and was a man of strong character. The soldiers were indignant because of the lack of pay in the army. When he saw the soldiers were in chaos, he scolded the soldiers. As a result, he was tied up by the soldiers. Although the matter was resolved, Bi Zisu committed suicide in anger.
Bi Ziyan is the Secretary of the Ministry of Household Affairs. His brother died in the army due to pay, and the soldiers mutinied. Now he did not dissuade the emperor from allocating Liao pay, as if he wanted to put the closed officials in danger. You know, the Liao soldiers
Fierce, those who are paid are officers and soldiers, and those who are paid are bandit soldiers. If this is due to the allocation of Liao pay, and the soldiers' pay provokes a mutiny, he will not be able to escape the blame. Therefore, it is no wonder that Lu Ming said such harsh words.
Sun Chengzong sighed dejectedly, raised his right hand slightly to signal Lu Ming to stop talking, and then waved his hand to Zhou Shangmin in frustration. Upon seeing this, the latter hurriedly and carefully retreated.
After Zhou Shangmin went down, Sun Chengzong said to Lu Shanji and Lu Ming's uncle and nephew: "The matter has come to this point, so there is no need to blame anyone. If you want to blame me, you can only blame me for not asking Zu Dashou to repair the fort, so that
Now we have reached the point where we have no pennies.”
The uncle and nephew of the Lu family said hurriedly: "Master (teacher) must not say that. When it comes to responsibility, lower officials (students) and others are also responsible..."
"okay."
Sun Chengzong interrupted them, thought for a while, and said to his uncles and nephews from the Lu family: "Go and contact some of the wealthy and wealthy people in Ningyuan who have closed down, and see if you can borrow some money from them in the name of the Yamen.
Let’s get through this hurdle right now.”
"Don't worry, sir (teacher), I know how to do it." The uncle and nephew of the Lu family nodded and agreed.
Sun Chengzong said "hmm", hesitated for a while, suddenly looked at Shi Dayong, and asked him meaningfully: "I wonder how General Shi Shen looks at Governor Qiu?"