In the pro-military captain's mansion, Huantian and others received the news from Zeng Yi from Xixia the next day. After seeing the news, the four men of Huantian were shocked and immediately rushed to the old prince's mansion with the information.
, as soon as the old prince saw the pale faces of the four people, he knew that something bad must have happened, otherwise the four super masters would never have such expressions.
"What's going on? If you can scare four of you top-notch masters like this, is the sky going to fall?"
"Your Majesty! Something bad is going on. The four kingdoms of Tubo and Xixia are plotting to send troops to the Central Plains!"
"Haha, what do I care about? The four countries have been in alliance for some time. I already know what they mean."
"Your Majesty! This time they are planning to take advantage of the chaos in the court to launch an early offensive!" As he said that, Shaotian handed the information sent back by Zeng Yi to the old prince.
As soon as the old prince saw the news, he sat up from his chair! "Hey! Is the source of the news accurate?"
"It's Mr. Ni, the news he personally sent back, there must be nothing wrong with it!"
After hearing this, the old prince was silent for a moment, "Immediately summon Guo Juxia, Zhuge Shenhou, and officials from the six departments!"
The incident happened so suddenly that no one was prepared. The imperial court knew that the alliance between the four countries was to deal with the Central Plains. However, according to the original inference of the imperial court, with the strength of the four countries, the preparations for launching such a large-scale attack would definitely take a long time.
, otherwise it would be impossible to launch a sustained war. Although the court is currently in some internal chaos, the officials are confident that it will return to normal before the preparations of the Four Kingdoms are completed. As long as the Central Plains dynasty is not in chaos and can withstand the offensive of the Four Kingdoms, the Central Plains is still very confident. However,
Now it is known that the four countries are going to launch an attack in advance, which is beyond the expectations of the court.
Soon Guo Juxia, Zhuge Shenhou, and the Six Ministers and Scholars all arrived. The bigwigs of the day all gathered at the old prince's mansion. When everyone saw each other, they were all guessing that something big had happened!
Seeing that everyone had come, the old prince nodded to Huantian. Shaantian took a step forward and told everyone the information Zeng Yi had sent back!
"What! Impossible!"
"This, how is this possible? Is there something wrong with the intelligence?"
Everyone couldn't react at once, and they all looked at Shaantian in shock. The old prince sighed, "There is basically no problem with the source of the information. It was passed back by Mr. Ni, the commander of the pro-military Duwei Mansion!"
"This this!"
After a while, the Minister of War stood up and said, "Your Majesty, the four countries are approaching fiercely. We must prepare in advance. I suggest that we immediately mobilize our troops and generals in all directions and prepare in advance!"
The old prince looked at the Minister of War and said, "The empire and other places cannot mobilize too many soldiers. If new recruits are recruited, how many soldiers can be mobilized to the border now?"
"Prince Qi, if you prepare in advance, there should be no problem in recruiting 500,000 troops within three months!"
Hearing this, the old prince shook his head, "Half a million new troops are not enough. The four countries will definitely move in full force. It is expected that the number of troops will exceed one million. With half a million new troops, there is no way to stop the enemy! And three months is too long.
Long, I’m afraid the enemy won’t wait that long!”
"Is it possible to replace the veterans from various places with new soldiers and send the veterans to the front line?" Zhuge Shenhou said from the side.
Upon hearing Zhuge Shenhou's words, the Minister of War immediately said: "The Shenhou is really clever. In this way, the new soldiers can have time to train in the rear, and the problem of insufficient training of soldiers can be solved. As long as the Ministry of Revenue can allocate funds."
With enough military spending, our Ministry of War is confident enough to recruit and train an army of 500,000 troops within three months!"
The old prince looked at the Minister of Hubu, who immediately stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, recruiting fifty-five troops will require a military expenditure of tens of millions. If war preparations are added, the national treasury will not be able to support it!"
As soon as the Secretary of the Ministry of Finance said this, everyone frowned, and the old prince also frowned and asked: "Can't the treasury come up with so much money?"
"Your Majesty, the imperial court has spent huge amounts of money. In the past few years, in addition to disaster relief, operations such as annihilating King Xing's rebellion, annihilating the White Lotus Sect, etc., the cost has been huge each time. In addition, the navy has just upgraded to armored ships, and the balance of the household department has been reduced to all.
There’s not much left, and we really can’t support such a huge consumption!”
Although the court was rich, it also spent huge amounts of money. Let’s not talk about the daily court expenses. Let’s talk about the large-scale wars in recent years. Not only did the large-scale wars require a huge amount of money, but also the navy’s replacement of iron-clad ships also cost a huge amount. The national treasury’s
Money has barely reached a balance. If a war breaks out and so many new soldiers are recruited, the money from the national treasury will not be able to support it.
Most of the people did not expect that the biggest difficulty facing the imperial court was not anything else, but the insufficient balance of the treasury! Talking without money is in vain, let alone recruiting new soldiers. If the four countries really come over, the treasury money
Can't even support this war.
"Is there anything the Ministry of Finance can do?"
"My lord, the only quick way is to impose taxes!"
"No, the promise of never increasing taxes was passed down from Taizu!" As he said that, the old prince looked at the old eunuch, the general manager of the East Factory, who was also the general manager of the palace, and asked, "Eunuch Cao, how much money do you have left in the inner treasury?
"
"Your Majesty, although His Majesty still has some money in his inner treasury, it is only a few million taels of silver, and these are all needed to support the expenses of the harem..." Before the old eunuch finished speaking, the old prince asked,
He waved his hand and said: "When the national crisis strikes, there will be no distinction between internal and external matters. Necessary expenses for the palace will be left, and all the rest will be put into the national treasury!"
Even if the money from the internal treasury is taken out, the money is still not enough. The old prince asked: "Is there no other way for the Ministry of Revenue to increase the national treasury?"
"Reporting to the prince is nothing more than increasing revenue and reducing expenditure, but this also takes time, and it can't even be effective in two or three months!"
In fact, Guo Juxia Huantian and others have another way to quickly increase their income. There is no way faster than quarreling. As long as they take down a group of corrupt officials, they will definitely be able to raise a lot of money, but the current situation
, but does not allow the court to do that. Corrupt officials are certainly abhorrent, but what the court needs most now is stability. If people are panicked because of crackdowns on corrupt officials, then the gains outweigh the losses.
Everyone was silent for a while, and the old prince frowned and said: "If we don't have enough money, we must make preparations in advance. With how much money we have, we can do as many things as possible. We must recruit new soldiers without delay, otherwise there will not be enough soldiers to deal with the four countries! The Ministry of War immediately drew up a plan
Plan to start recruiting troops! Other departments, cooperate with the Ministry of War, start preparations as soon as possible!" (To be continued)