Early the next morning, Chen Qing came to the official office after nearly half a year's absence, and immediately ordered people to invite Guan Shigu and Zhang Miao.
Not long after, the two people hurried over and bowed together, "See you, Your Highness!"
Chen Qing smiled and said, "We haven't seen each other for half a year, and it seems like nothing has changed for anyone."
Guan Shigu smiled slightly and said: "We have not changed much, but His Highness has changed a lot."
"What changes have happened to me? My skin has become whiter. When I looked in the mirror yesterday, it was still the same black!"
Zhang Miao smiled and said: "When you left, you were the king of the county. Now that you are back, you have become His Highness King Yong. This is the biggest change."
The three of them laughed together. At this time, Jiang Yanxian and Zhao Kai also came after hearing the news.
As soon as he entered the door, Zhao Kai shouted: "Where is the inventory! I heard that His Highness stripped Uncle Wei Guo of his wealth. Where is the inventory?"
Chen Qing took out a thick booklet and handed it to him, smiling: "I knew your nose was the sharpest."
"Of course. If you don't know how expensive firewood and rice are, and you have to support your army of hundreds of thousands, I'll be worried to death every month."
Chen Qing was startled, "No way! Our family's financial resources are so thin? Do we have to worry about it every month?"
Jiang Yanxian laughed and said: "Your Highness, don't listen to him. He calls everyone poor, especially at the end of the year. He shouts the most fiercely. He just wants to deny us a little bit of welfare."
Everyone laughed, and Zhao Kai rolled his eyelids and said: "You only speak a few words when you meet people, and don't reveal your wealth. Do you understand? If you just laugh and say all day long, "You have money! Spend it as you like!" I would have said this three times.
It’s been squandered by you.”
Chen Qing smiled and said: "The God of Wealth must be a qualified miser. This is true!"
Everyone will laugh heartily.
At this time, Jiang Yanxian asked: "Why didn't Lu Qingshan come with His Highness?"
"The situation in Sichuan Road is unstable now. I need him to take charge and implement the system of ministerial affairs in Taiwan, especially the envoys in Taiwan. The matter is very complicated, so he will not come to Jingzhao for the time being. He is expected to report his duties to me at the spring meeting next year and transfer the envoys at the same time.
The Liucao envoys and the Xingtai envoys will also report their work to the Internal Affairs Hall."
According to Chen Qing's design, Shi, the Director of the Shangshu Xingtai Office, is a high-ranking official parallel to the Internal Affairs Counselor, and is directly responsible to him. However, the following agencies and state Xingtai envoys still report to the Internal Affairs Hall as before.
Jiang Yan nodded first, "I will report to His Highness later. Let the military department discuss important matters first!"
Guan Shigu then reported to Chen Qing, "We just learned the real reason why the Jin Kingdom signed a five-year armistice agreement with the Song Dynasty."
"what reason?"
"The Emperor of the Jin Kingdom has decided to go to war with the Mengwu tribe. The Emperor of the Jin Kingdom, Wanyan Dan, was going to transfer Wanyan Wushu back to Beijing. However, Wanyan Wushu refused to go north because he was worried about being attacked by us in the Central Plains. Instead, he recommended Wanyan Nian
Han went out to conquer the Mongol tribe. Now it seems that Wanyan Nianhan is likely to come back and lead an army of 100,000 to attack the Mongol tribe. Therefore, the Jin Kingdom must stabilize the Song Dynasty and sign an armistice agreement with the Song Dynasty, but there are opportunities on our side.
Just came out."
Chen Qing also knew about the situation in the grassland. It was conquered by the Liao Kingdom before. After the Liao Kingdom was destroyed, the tribes in the grassland took the opportunity to stand on their own. Among them, the chief of the Mongol tribe, Bo'er Jijin. Hebule was the strongest and was elected by each tribe.
For Hebul Khan, this man was Temujin's great-grandfather.
Hebul Khan refused to submit to the jurisdiction of the Jin State and continued to send troops to harass the Jin State. In the year when Jin Taizong Wanyan Sheng died, the Mongol Army occupied the northern part of Datong Prefecture. Now that the Jin Emperor Wanyan Dan has secured his throne, he decided to
He sent troops to attack the increasingly arrogant Mongol tribe, followed the example of the Liao Kingdom, and conquered the grasslands.
At present, the Kingdom of Jin has been experiencing some internal and external troubles. The internal worry is that the Kingdom of Jin has been defeated repeatedly in the west in the past few years, only losing troops and generals without any gains. The tribes are extremely dissatisfied with the Jin Dynasty, which makes the foundation of the Jin Dynasty begin to deteriorate.
stable.
Foreign aggression means that the Jin Kingdom is surrounded by three major enemies, the Mongolian and Wu army in the north, the Sichuan-Shaanxi army in the west, and the Song Dynasty imperial army in the south. The weakest among them is the Song Dynasty imperial army, which has been defeated by the Jin Dynasty and occupied.
Most of the Central Plains land signed an armistice agreement, which can be said to be a loss of power and humiliation to the country.
"The opportunity that Counselor Guan mentioned refers to Datong?"
"Exactly! Datong's 20,000 gold soldiers are going north to attack the Mongol army, and the city of Datong will be empty."
Chen Qing thought for a moment and said: "Can we form an alliance with Hebul Khan and properly support the Mongol army?"
Zhang Miao shook his head, "I don't think it's appropriate. Although the Mongol army is fighting against the Jin Kingdom, they are also unfriendly to us. They sent troops to attack our Fengzhou before, killing many Huihe herdsmen and taking away a large number of sheep. Several
A few months ago, a group of 3,000 Mongol cavalry marched south along the Helan Mountains to attack Lingzhou, killing more than 300 Han farmers and destroying thousands of acres of wheat fields. What I was worried about was that once they compromised with the Jurchens,
It will definitely become a knife on our heads, just like Xixia back then, so I will oppose and support them."
Fengzhou in Sichuan and Shaanxi is the Hetao Plain at the top of the "Ji" shape of the Yellow River. It was formerly the Heishan Dudufu of Xixia. The Hetao Plain was used to house the yellow-headed Uighur slaves captured by the Xixia people. They were specially used to herd sheep for the Xixia people and were called sheep slaves.
, there are more than 2,000 households and about 10,000 people.
After the Western Army destroyed Xixia, the Heishan Governor's Palace was restored to the name of the Sui and Tang Dynasties. Fengzhou and Uighur slaves were also liberated and became subjects of the Song Dynasty like the Qiang people. Chen Qing exempted them from taxes, but asked them to use relatively low taxes.
The fat sheep were sold to the Western Army at a reasonable price, and both parties benefited.
However, the Mongols also took a fancy to the Hetao Plain and began to send troops to harass. Chen Qing's thousand troops stationed in Fengzhou could no longer maintain the security of Fengzhou.
Fortunately, the Jin Kingdom decided to conquer the grassland, and the Mongol people no longer had to worry about Fengzhou. The Western Army could not stand aside and watch the battle, but had to participate in the war to safeguard its own vital interests.
The biggest benefit here is Datong City. If Datong City is empty, they must take the opportunity to occupy this extremely strong capital city.
Of course, it is not as simple as directly attacking Datong City. There are also more than a dozen state capitals including Xianzhou, Yingzhou, Daizhou, Shuozhou, Lanzhou, Linzhou, Fuzhou, Datong, etc., which is actually the north of Hedong Road.
Previously, Chen Qing's Western Army only captured Taiyuan Prefecture in the central part of the country. The Jin Kingdom still had 50,000 troops in the north of Hedong Road, including 20,000 Jurchen troops and 30,000 auxiliary troops. The 30,000 auxiliary troops were mainly the remnants of the former Xixia.
The emperor drew a cake and promised the Xixia people to restore their country in Datong, so that some Xixia nobles still dreamed of restoring their country.
The northern part of Hedong Road also belongs to Wanyanchang's sphere of influence. Last year, Wanyanhelisha became the governor of Xiping, commanding an army of 50,000.
Chen Qing walked a few steps with his hands behind his back: "It is our established strategy to attack the northern part of Hedong Road. Even if the Jin Kingdom does not attack the Mongol army, we will still send troops, but I need intelligence. Counselor Zhang, has the Intelligence Department sent out?"
Zhang Miao nodded, "Intelligence points in several southern states have been arranged. Only Datong City is a bit difficult, but Beizhi has arranged it. It is estimated that they have arrived in Datong City. Beizhi arranged it this time for Sogdians, and they were the only ones who showed up.
It’s more normal in Datong Prefecture.”
Chen Qing thought for a moment and then said: "Immediately order Niu Gao, the commander of the capital, to return to Beijing to report on his work!"
Everyone immediately understood Chen Qing's intention. This time he planned to use Niu Gao, who had always been stable, as the main general to attack the northern part of Hedong Road.
After everyone retreated, Chen Qing left Zhao Kai, who was in charge of finance, behind. He knew that Zhao Kai must have something to say to him.
Zhao Kai said worriedly: "Now our army is about 370,000 yuan, and the average monthly military expenditure has exceeded one million yuan, including the soldiers' salary, their food and drink, the normal renewal and replenishment of soldiers and armor, and the iron fire thunder.
Manufacturing, etc. Our annual military expenditure is 12 million yuan. If a war breaks out, the military salary will be doubled.
The Sichuan Road provides us with up to 6 million guan in finance and tax every year. Our salt tax revenue other than Sichuan Road is 3 million guan, and the official and commercial trade profits are 1 million guan. In the end, there is still a shortfall of 2 million guan every year.
.
But the key point is that this is only military expenditure. We also have government expenditures, official salaries, government expenditures, care for the elderly and orphans, refugees, running schools, building bridges and roads, and purchasing grain, livestock, etc., and we still need three million every year.
Guan Qian.
Our annual fiscal and tax gap is actually as much as five million yuan. Your Highness, Uncle Wei Guo's wealth from Sichuan and Lin'an can only be used as a reserve for war expenses and cannot be used to make up for the gap."
"Counsellor Zhao, just tell me! What exactly do you want to say?"
Zhao Kai said slowly: "Your Highness, what I mean by this humble position is that the tax holiday for Shaanxi Road and Hedong Road has ended and tax collection has started. Otherwise, it will be unfair to Sichuan Road!"
