Turbulent Times Chapter 1170: Money is the root of all evil

"Your Excellency is wise. The salt supply of the generals of each army is based on seven catties of salt a year. Fanyang County has been under the rule of the Lord for the past two years. Life is much easier than before, but the farmer's family has several people. It is not uncommon to have seven catties of salt a year. According to common sense, it is appropriate for a family of five to have twenty-five catties of salt a year. In addition, the total amount of salt this year can increase by seven times. In addition to the fact that the efficiency of boiling salt in the salt field has increased too much, it is also because of the great efforts of the adults to prohibit private affairs."

Yang Kongchan's thinking was very clear and her logic was clear. Everyone kept nodding as they listened. She continued, "Wait for the salt affairs in various places to be straightened out. If it falls below 40 yuan, there will be no profit for private lords, and the cost of banning can be reduced, and more than 200,000 taels of silver can be saved..."

Wang Junlin nodded. After Fanyang County was completely controlled by him like a salt field, and after the method of cooking salt provided by Nie Xiaoyu was widely promoted, the price of salt in various places dropped to below 40 cents. , is not an impossible dream. At that time, the profits of private lords selling salt will drop sharply, but the risk of beheading will increase a lot, and there will not be too many people doing this cheap business.

In addition, after the promotion of the new method of cooking salt, the large pastures around the salt field can be used for reclamation by the reduced salt households and salt soldiers. Two or three counties are not a problem.

"After handing over five hundred thousand taels of silver to the imperial court this year, there will still be one million taels of silver. If the catty increase price is suddenly reduced to eleven, all the salt and silver will be lost. I didn't expect to keep so much.

At present, Wang Junlin has confirmed that he can recruit more than 40,000 Sui troops who stayed in Fanyang County, after digestion and reorganization, the total number of troops under his command has exceeded 150,000.

Among them, there are already 100,000 soldiers in Fanyang County, but outside the imperial establishment, there are 20,000 cavalrymen from Yuchi Jingde and 15,000 infantrymen from Lu Han and Guan Xiaotong who must be supported by Wang Junlin himself. , Luo Shixin has 5,000 people and Shan Xiongxin has 10,000 people, which is already 65,000 people.

In addition, Huang Shaoqiu's 30,000 sailors from North Korea

The court is responsible for the finances, but Wang Junlin estimates that the court will stop providing support soon, and it is estimated that Zhao Chen's evasion will not be concealed for a long time. In addition, there are county soldiers in eight counties, each with 1,000 people. After Shan Xiongxin takes half of each county, each county will naturally make up 1,000 people, but these 8,000 people will be borne by each county's own finances. .

Overseas, there are 5,000 sailors stationed on Snake Island for a long time, Luo Chunlai leads 10,000 sailors on Dami Island and Bailing Island, An Nanguo Li Xuanba has 5,000 cavalry, and Liu Yidong has 30,000 horses. In addition, there are 20,000 Goguryeo puppet troops. This adds up to a total of 70,000 people, who will be responsible for dealing with the entire Goguryeo, and the pressure is not small. The Annan Kingdom's tax revenue alone is not enough, and Wang Junlin's financial subsidies are also needed.

In addition, there are 40,000 pirates scattered on thousands of large and small islands, led by Gan Ziqi. These people will spend two years in batches on Snake Island for training. According to the plan, 10,000 people will be handed over to Luo Chunlai, so that his men will reach 20,000, 10,000 will be stationed on Dami Island and Bailing Island, and Gan Ziqi's navy will be reduced to 30,000.

In addition, because there are too many sailors, according to Wang Junlin's plan, like the navy on Dami Island and Baekling Island before, every navy officer and soldier must undergo infantry training. Division, on the shore is a qualified infantry, siege and field battles are also not weak.

In short, although Wang Junlin has a lot of financial resources, the early Mingyue Perfume, Backing Mountain Wine, Xiaoyu Theater, Lihua Fragrant Tea, Fanyang County's Salt Shop, Salt Field Shipyard, and the two seafares that Yang Kongchan has established on the sea The Silk Commercial Road, and finally the taxation of the Annan Kingdom, the annual income of silver has exceeded the taxation of Goguryeo by a lot. Even compared with the annual income of the Sui Dynasty, although there is still a big gap, it is not far away. However, Wang Junlin raised nearly 200,000 soldiers and horses, and the money and food consumed were unknown.

200,000 soldiers and horses, if only military pay and food and grass only need five million taels of silver a year, but once a war starts, in addition to recruiting a large number of civilians to maintain material transportation, it will consume a lot of money. A, military merit awards, casualty pensions and other consumption, this is the big head.

The so-called "cooperation with righteousness and victory with odds" means the beginning of war

In the beginning, it is necessary to carry out military confrontation with regular soldiers. In the confrontation, find the key points to change the balance, and then implement unique strategies to achieve the final victory.

In history, there have been many wars in which both sides withdrew their troops. After all, they were still trapped by money and food.

"For thousands of years, in troubled times, we have competed in the world..." Wang Junlin shook his head and said, "The final winners are those who control enough money and food. For soldiers, without money and food, even the most elite A strong army will turn into a soft-legged shrimp in a few days."

Speaking of this, Wang Junlin thought to himself: "Right now there is a thousand cartloads of money looted from Goguryeo and Pyongyang. As long as we don't expand the size of the army within a few years, the money and food will be enough, and the money will not be enough later on." , you can consider getting out the bank. Since ancient times, when the bank appeared, the bank has become the easiest way to make money. If you control the bank, even if you don’t have money in your hands, it doesn’t matter. You can use the public’s money to do your own things. .”

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Compared to Wang Junlin who is not short of money right now, but has already begun to think about the possible lack of money in the future, Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty has been worrying about money these days.

After returning to Luoyang in embarrassment in Liaodong, at the beginning of autumn, there was a drought on the Hedong Road, and then a plague of locusts in Guanzhong. It was the harvest season more than a month ago, but there was nothing to harvest in the two places. I heard that Taiyuan City The grain has quietly increased ten cents, compared with last year, it has increased by as much as five times.

The ancients said that "the cheapness of the valley will hurt the farmers". Although Yang Guang's personality became more and more extreme, the whole person is actually a little abnormal. If he goes to see a psychologist in later generations, he will definitely be diagnosed with serious mental illness and even mental illness. Disease, but when he was a prince, he had already regarded himself as an emperor to study hard.

So Yang Guang is very clear about this point. If he wants to make the world stable, the first condition is cheap food. Only in this way can the tens of millions of mouths in the world be fed. Although he has never cared about the lives of the people, and in his eyes he is like an ant, but when too many people do not have enough to eat, the country is really unstable.