On March 18, Li Daiwen, the Minister of Household Affairs in the capital city of the Ming Dynasty, was sitting in the second hall, and was talking to Li Daiwen.
Wu Di was the leader of Qingliu and was known as the head of the "Jiangbei Party". He was originally a Jinshi in the 41st year of Wanli. During the Tianqi period, he was demoted from his position because of his fierce opposition to the eunuch party. However, in the Chongzhen period, he was punished because he once resisted the eunuch party.
He was reused and served as governor of various places.
After Zhang Pu, the leader of Fushe, promoted Zhou Yanru as the chief minister of the cabinet through bribery, Zhou Yanru mobilized Donglin Party members on a large scale, and for a time "all the people were in power". Taking advantage of this trend, Wu Di also became the prime minister, ranking first in the cabinet.
Secondary Assistant to the Cabinet.
Wu Yangui, as the second assistant to the cabinet, personally took He Shishou and Chen Shandao to Li Daiwen's house. Naturally, he had something important to say.
After taking a sip of tea, Wu Di asked Li Daiwen calmly: "Kui Ru is good at managing money. Now that Ningjin has hundreds of thousands of troops gathered and spends tens of thousands every day, how much silver is left in the warehouse?"
Li Daiqian asked: "Taicang has always been in a tight situation and is not rich. Now there are 170,000 troops in Jinzhou, and the military salary alone costs 390,000 taels a month. Including the expense of transporting grain for thousands of miles, the total monthly cost is 7
Expenses of 170,000 taels of silver. The warehouse originally had a balance of more than 2 million taels, but it has been completely spent in these three months, leaving only 370,000 taels left, which is only enough to support half a month."
The army is out there and consumes huge amounts of military pay and food.
It has become a common practice for the Ming Dynasty to default on military pay. If the soldiers and horses do not go out to fight, they often only pay a few percent of the military pay. Therefore, as long as the world is peaceful, the court can save a lot of military pay. But once the soldiers and horses go out to fight, the military pay must be fully paid.
, otherwise the officers and soldiers on the front line are very likely to blow up the camp.
Therefore, 170,000 soldiers and horses gathered in Jinzhou, and the court's expenditure increased greatly.
Another item that consumes a lot of money is grain transportation. After the Songjin War broke out, the imperial court recruited a large number of civilian laborers to transport grain. These civilian laborers were all civilian laborers who could not afford to pay for labor. They worked for free. But it was a thousand miles from the capital to Jinzhou, and transportation was
The journey of grain and grass is very long. Some grain is transported from farther places. To transport grain on the road, the people need to consume a lot of grain and grass to eat and drink. For every one stone of grain transported by the people to Jinzhou, about two stone of grain are consumed on the road.
Calculated in this way, the amount of food and grass needed to support an army of hundreds of thousands is even greater.
Taicang's annual income is only more than 5 million taels, and the average monthly income is only more than 400,000 taels, which is not enough to support the expenses of the Jinzhou front line. Not to mention the myriad expenses of the imperial court, which go far beyond supporting the Jinzhou War.
One item.
Therefore, the imperial court tried its best to support the Jinzhou War.
Wu Di said: "Li Thief and Hong Chengchou came to the court to request a decree, saying that they would fight a protracted war with the Tatars. The emperor approved their memorial."
At the beginning of March, Hong Chengchou's memorial arrived at the imperial court. Hong Chengchou said that the Tatars were attacking as a whole, and our army was waiting for work and could not easily engage in battle. Hong Chengchou proposed to stand at the gate of Jinzhou City and drag down the Tatars.
Not only Hong Chengchou thought so, but Li Zhi also thought so. This strategy was actually thought up by Li Zhi. Li Zhi also sent a memorial to the emperor's desk, saying that he would bring down the Tatars.
The emperor heard the advice of the two important ministers and approved the memorials of Li Zhi and Hong Chengchou, asking the generals to be cautious and stick to the camp.
After these two memorials were disclosed, all the officials discussed it one after another, and none of them were happy.
Wu Di put down his tea cup and said calmly: "If all the wars in the world are dragged out like this, and there is a competition to see which one has no money to support it, then it would be too easy to be a soldier and get paid. It would be too easy to perform meritorious service for a general?"
"
Wu Di said: "Today I heard Kui Ru's calculation and realized that the bank has bottomed out. But the emperor doesn't know that there is no more money in the warehouse. Hong Chengchou and Li Thief can't avoid the battle. They are really going to bring down the imperial court!"
Li Daiwen pondered for a moment and said: "Although there is no silver in the Taiku, Taipu Temple still has two million Ma Zheng silver, which can be borrowed for use."
After hearing Li Daiwen's words, Wu Di's face darkened and he was very unhappy.
Wu Di knocked on the table but said nothing.
He Shishou, the Minister of Rites, said in a deep voice: "Kui Ru, what you said just now is fine for you to know and for me to know, but you must not let the emperor know that there is still money in Taipu Temple."
He Shishou looked at Wu Di and said: "Kui Ru, in order to support Ning Jin's war in the past few months, the imperial court has stopped all expenditures. Xuanda's military salary has not been paid for three months. Henan's money to control the Yellow River has not been paid.
, and all of them will not be paid. Kuiru, don’t you think that various incomes have decreased a lot in the past few months?”
The "various inputs" mentioned by He Shishou refer to the money given by officials from various places to pay homage to important officials in the court.
Originally, the money spent by the court would not be fully used after it was distributed to various places. A considerable part would be taken out by the user units to pay tribute to various gods. The officials below could get the money from the court by giving it to private individuals.
With the support of important officials, you will get promoted and make a fortune in the future.
After the war between Ning and Jin, almost all the money in the warehouse was used in western Liaoning. At this time of the war, every penny of money was actually used for practical purposes. The generals did not dare to embezzle money at this time, and they paid the military pay to the soldiers in real terms. In this way
Come, no one will spare money to honor various officials.
As a result, the income of the high officials in the DPRK was greatly reduced. Therefore, when the officials heard that Li Zhi was going to fight a protracted war in Liaodong, they felt that they would be poor for a few more months, and they were all very unhappy.
Wu Di snorted coldly and said: "Thief Li is taking the money of the world to build his own military exploits!" He pointed at Chen Shandao, the minister of Taipu Temple, and said: "Kui Ru, don't worry, the emperor doesn't know that Taipu
Pushi has such a sum of money. As long as you don't tell it, and Taipusi doesn't tell it, the emperor will only know that there is no money in the warehouse, and he will definitely force Li Thief and Hong Chengchou to go out of the city for a decisive battle."
Chen Shandao smiled and said: "Don't worry, Minister. The money from Taipus Temple has been used to buy horses for various towns. The emperor has never asked. Chen Shandao will never say that Taipus Temple has money! How does the emperor know?"
Li Daiwen pondered for a moment, but felt that this matter was a bit dangerous. The emperor did not know the money in Taipu Temple, and he, as the Minister of Household Affairs, should know. If he lied to the emperor and said that he had nowhere to raise money, the emperor would know the truth one day.
, will you let yourself go?
If Li Zhi and Hong Chengchou were forced to send troops hastily and the battle of Jinzhou was defeated, would he, the Minister of Household Affairs, have to bear the world's infamy?
Li Daiwen was silent and silent.
Chen Shandao stood up, leaned into Li Daiwen's ear and whispered: "Shang Shu, you and I are both gentry, even if the Tatars have entered the country, we can just change our clothes and work in the north, and we can still be officials.
.But if Thief Li is allowed to win again and again, he will kill all the gentry in the world and leave us dead without a burial place!"
Li Daiwen trembled when he heard this, knowing that he had been convinced.
