Chapter 332: War Expenses
Zhao Yulin shook his head and said: Since we have given you the food, you don't need to give so much silver. Tell Lord Meng that this year our New Song Dynasty has to fight against the Mongolian army, and it has cost a lot to deal with the plague, so give him three million strings of cash.
Mr. Ding agreed immediately. He just couldn't bear to give money to Meng Gong. When he heard Zhao Yulin said to reduce the amount by two million, he was happy and agreed immediately.
Lao Cao also felt that the expenses this year were too high, so he gave Meng Gong food and it was reasonable to reduce taxes.
The three of them discussed the important matters and then said goodbye and left.
Zhao Yulin accompanied Feiyan to Caotang Academy to visit Wuyong, Qiao Xingjian and Zhang Xiangyang, and then told him that her belly was getting bigger and she was a little embarrassed to go out.
He said it was time for her to rest and prepare for the birth of her baby, so he asked her and Yangjin to give Ding an announcement for leave and go back to Cuiping Mountain to recuperate and prepare for the birth of her baby.
The little girl kissed him happily on the face, told the maid to serve tea, and went out to look for Yangjin.
Zhao Yulin picked up the documents on the table and began to read them one by one.
Wu Yuqi and Jiang Ligang formed a joint investigation team, and successively arrested the pacification envoys of Tongchuanfu Road and Kuizhou Road, as well as a group of officials of all ranks involved in the corruption case, which shocked Zhao Yulin.
This was the most powerful anti-corruption campaign outside of Chengdu Fulu since the founding of the New Song Dynasty. He couldn't believe his eyes.
Just as he was wondering, Chu Yuxuan outside the door shouted: Young Master, Mr. Ding, Mr. Li and Mr. Fan are here to visit.
Zhao Yulin hurried out to welcome the three adults in.
Everybody sat down in the small living room. As soon as the maid brought tea and left, Ding Gong said that he had just seen a secret report that two frontier officials were captured in one fell swoop. It was incredible.
Will people all over the world accuse us of excluding dissidents?
Fan Gong said that the collusion between the chief officers of these two routes and the transport and grain transport was extremely serious, but it was inevitable that they would cause a stir in other routes if they were arrested suddenly.
Mr. Li nodded and said slowly that since the crime was unforgivable, he must be taken. Now we should think about who will take over?
Zhao Yulin didn't have an idea for a moment. He thought for a while and said that he would think about it and discuss it together in court tomorrow. He looked at Ding Gong's frowning face and said with a smile that it was okay, the sky would not fall. At present, the garrisons in various places have basically completed their training. I believe that the army can properly protect the local peace and there is no need to worry.
Zhao Yulin sent the officials away, returned to the study and asked Xiaochu to find Zhang Guoan and Dongmei. He sat down and continued to read the documents.
After a while, Guoan and Dongmei arrived.
He pointed to the intelligence that had just been delivered and said that if the chief officers of the two routes got into trouble, there would definitely be disturbances in Chengdu. He asked Dongmei to keep a close eye on them, and since Sister Yuqi was not there, she must keep an eye on them for him.
Zhao Yulin told the National Security Bureau that he and General Cao would be going to Xinshi recently, and the safety of Chengdu would be left to him and his wife.
Zhang Guoan knew that Zhao Yulin had brought him and his wife together for a serious matter. He told the Third Young Master to relax and that Chengdu was definitely impregnable.
Zhao Yulin nodded and asked them if there was anything they needed him to do.
The couple kept waving their hands and saying no, everything was fine.
He asked Xiao Chu to send Guoan and his wife away, and he went to Chen Chen's room to talk. The little woman was busy with official business all day, and she had changed her personality. She was no longer like a magpie when she entered the door.
When Chen Chen saw him coming, he asked what happened to alarm his brother?
Aren't you always spending the whole day with your concubine?
He walked up to the woman, hugged her in his arms and asked, "Are you jealous?"
Chen Chen broke free and told her not to bother her as she was very busy.
Zhao Yulin told her that the country was growing bigger and bigger, and if they continued to use silver to mint coins, the silver production would not be able to keep up with the usage, which would inevitably lead to a sharp rise in the price of silver. He planned to resume issuing paper money and use Jiaozi.
Chen Chen told him to go find Ma Ling, his first wife. Then he stood up and pulled him to Ma Ling's room.
The three of them discussed the issuance of banknotes together.
Earlier, when Chen Chen was supervising coinage in Jiading Prefecture, Zhao Yulin asked Chen Chen to supervise the production of paper money.
He handed a stack of manuscript paper to Ma Ling, which recorded how to make paper for paper money in the future, how to code, number and other anti-counterfeiting measures. He said that what we need to make is coins, which can be exchanged with metal coins at the same value, but do not need to be recycled. He asked the two sisters to take time out to go to Cuiping Mountain to plan the production of new coins and create new coins that are unique and cannot be imitated.
Chen Chen was unhappy and said that he gave the good idea of coin minting to Ma Ling, which meant that he was favoring Ma Ling'er alone. Why didn't she help with planning when she was supervising the coin minting?
Zhao Yulin glared at her and said that there was no foundation at all at the beginning, so it was useless for him to say anything.
Cuiping Mountain has been developing it for so long, it should have a certain foundation, and the court is anxious to use it, so he sat down and thought about it carefully.
Chen Chen didn't care and asked him to serve well at night as compensation, otherwise he would not help Ma Ling.
It was simply a naked threat, so Zhao Yulin ignored her.
Ma Linger smiled and said that the boy would belong to her tonight and her elder sister would not snatch him away. Even if he came, she would kick him out.
Chen Chen glanced at him proudly and walked away.
Ma Ling laughed and said that Chen Chen was just like that, so there was no need to be angry.
He said that he was not angry at all, he just didn't want to talk to her like that. We were all adults, so how could we bring that matter up on the table to argue?
Ma Ling'er laughed and talked about business: she got the news that Qian Fuxing, the owner of the Thirteen Shops in the city that sold Jiaozi and Guanzi coins, had come to her twice and asked the court to support them in issuing new coins.
Ever since the previous transfer and water transport officials were both brought down, Zhao Yulin, in order to stabilize Sichuan's finances, has not taken any action against these money houses, fearing that it would cause instability to Sichuan's economy.
Ma Ling'er took over as the deputy transport envoy, and after taking charge of the Chengdu transport, Zhao Yulin also told her not to move, hoping for a period of stability.
Now that the political situation in the New Song Dynasty was stable, the economy was prosperous, and taxes were increasing year by year, he felt that he could take action. Seeing that the price of silver was rising rapidly, he thought of issuing paper money.
Ma Ling'er said that the owner of the largest shop in Shisanpu, Qian Fuxing, also saw that the huge demand for silver coins promoted the mining of silver.
Due to the rapid economic development, the demand for silver coins was strong and the price of silver was high. Although the situation of those who made a living by exchanging silver and Jiaozi coins had improved slightly, they were still unable to withstand the pressure from the money houses and ticket shops opened by the surrounding governments to drag down their business.
Zhao Yulin said that the purpose of the government's work is to facilitate the people, and making money is their duty, but they cannot make money in a dishonest way like them.
Ma Ling'er said with a smile: That's why they want to save the government, and hope that the court will continue to issue Guanzi and Jiaozi to make money.
Zhao Yulin said with a dark face that it was not up to them. Shunfengsi had already received intelligence. When these people took over the issuance of Guanzi, they had mastered the printing plates of Qianyin and could print as many as they wanted. He was not sure whether the old banknotes were still hidden in the dark and had not been issued.
Ma Ling'er also nodded with a worried look on her face, saying that these money-makers were very generous and gave her a big golden Buddha right at the start.
Zhao Yulin was stunned, stared at her and asked, "Have you finished?"
Ma Ling glared at him and asked: Can she be bribed with a golden Buddha?
Zhao Yulin smiled and said that he believed his woman would not do such a stupid thing. He asked her to find Chen Chen to understand the situation and discuss a foolproof plan to make the new currency.
In Jiangdong, the imperial palace in Lin'an was also discussing coinage.
Zhao Bing saw that the Guanzi he issued had become worthless under the attack of Zhao Yulin's silver coins, and he was extremely short of money, so he called the Minister of Revenue and Shi's son to discuss countermeasures.
The Minister of Revenue said that now that we are issuing a large number of banknotes without collecting them, the people no longer believe them. When they see the black banknotes, they laugh at us and say that we are cheating and robbing people.
The merchants coming from the new Song State did not ask for money at all, only silver and copper coins.
Zhao Bing was extremely upset when he heard him call it the New Song Kingdom while sitting on the dragon throne. This was not to acknowledge the founding of Sichuan and Shu. He immediately corrected with a cold face: It was Sichuan and Shu, not the New Song Kingdom.
The Minister of Revenue knew that he had violated a taboo, and he apologized to the Emperor repeatedly, looking at the Prime Minister Shi's son with a silly look on his face.
Shi's son has great ambitions to govern the country but has nowhere to display them. He has been struggling to make ends meet since the disaster in Lin'an. Now this big ship is still full of holes and leaking everywhere, and he has run out of ideas.
He said that no more money notes could be printed because there were too many circulating in the market and ordinary people were already carrying them in sacks to exchange for silver. This went against the original intention of printing guanzi as a means of circulation for money notes because metal coins were too heavy and inconvenient for businessmen to trade.
Zhao Bing asked him: What if you don't issue money for the loan?
I am short of money right now.
Yu Jie of Jiangbei has sent an official letter demanding military pay. Last year, he withheld half of Yu Jie's pay, leaving Yu Jie with no money to support the troops. This year, he suffered a defeat with heavy casualties, the loss of cities and territory.
Zhao Bing cursed and said that he had suffered a huge loss. He had to replenish troops, weapons and food after losing the battle, and he also lost taxes after losing the city. On both ends, he lost a lot of money.
The Minister of Revenue said angrily that Meng Gong was still occupying Luzhou and refused to leave, and the soldiers from Jinghu were stationed in Hefei city.
Meng Gong and Shi's son used to work in the same government office and had some affection for each other. He said that Meng Gong was a military genius and with him living in Hefei, Huainan would be safe and we wouldn't have to transport military pay.
Then he slapped his thigh and said he had it, and sent someone to ask Meng Gong for money. In the past two years, Sichuan and Shu have been transferring taxes to Meng Gong, and this year when fighting in Lianghuai, Sichuan and Shu will definitely transfer a large amount of taxes to him.
Damn, these guys are actually planning to impose taxes on the New Song Kingdom in disguise.
However, this year Zhao Yulin changed the way he aided Meng Gong. General Meng wanted 10,000 dan of grain, but Zhao Yulin gave him 30,000 dan. He reduced the silver by 2 million, and only gave Meng Gong 3 million guan of money.
The imperial envoy from Jiangdong arrived at Meng Gong's military tent early to guard it, and the messenger from Yujie also came secretly to Meng Gong to borrow food.
When the fleet of the New Song Dynasty docked, Meng Gong did not see Cao Youwen, but Tan Yousan, the logistics envoy of the New Song Dynasty's Ministry of War. After meeting Meng Gong, he said that Commander Zhao had ordered the delivery of 30,000 dan of military rations and 3 million strings of cash.
The Shenwei Army also fought a battle this year, and Luoyang is also fighting the plague, so the expenses are too high. I hope the general will forgive me.
