Ding said that his mood when he went to court today was just like going to the grave.
Queen Mother!
Not easy to deal with.
But he couldn't help it.
If you let me die, I will have to die!
"Today I summoned the ministers and others to discuss Fan Yong's son."
"Your Majesty, you can speak freely."
As soon as the court meeting began, Liu E made a high-profile statement and asked all ministers to express their opinions.
"In the northwest, the troops have been dormant for a long time. Now there are more than 100,000 troops, and the annual food and salary expenditure is only ten million."
"Last year, Shaanxi received 12 million yuan in food and paid 11.4 million guan in food. The wealth of Shaanxi alone was enough to support the troops stationed in the border areas."
Wang Zeng was the first to express his opinion. He felt that Shaanxi did not need to receive food from China.
Although Shaanxi's annual income last year was enough to cover its expenses, with less than one million yuan left, this figure is indeed a bit dangerous.
But Shaanxi was the Shaanxi of the Song Dynasty, and it had the imperial court as its backing. Even if taxes were insufficient, the imperial court would provide some additional subsidies, which would not be a problem at all.
In addition, if it were just an ordinary entry plan, Wang Zeng might not object.
When you enter the center normally, all processes are under the supervision of the court, and everything is traceable.
In this way, it will not only help the court grasp the specific number of entries, but also prevent businessmen or local officials from taking advantage of the loopholes.
"Prime Minister, this is wrong."
As soon as Wang Zeng finished his speech, Ding Wei immediately responded in kind.
"The official family, the eldest empress, I have been in charge of three departments for more than seven years."
"Although it was during the reign of Jingde and Xiangfu, to this day, I still remember the expense of the border troops."
"In the land of Shaanxi, the cost of one soldier is no less than a hundred thousand (hundred thousand guan, including all expenses for food, clothing, food, and wages), and for ten thousand people, the cost is millions."
"There are more than 100,000 troops stationed today, which is an expenditure of tens of millions."
"In addition, in addition to the 100,000 garrison troops, there are still 70,000 to 80,000 rural soldiers. Although the rural soldiers are not as good as the imperial army, the cost of one soldier is still 30 to 40 thousand (30-40 guan) per year."
"Therefore, the cost of the local soldiers is more than two million yuan."
Ding Wei has always been sensitive to things like numbers. Although the data he just reported is not the latest data.
But the data from a few years ago still has reference value now.
"The annual cost of garrison troops plus rural troops is more than 100,000 yuan, and this is the expenditure after the troops in the northwest are suspended."
"If war breaks out again in the northwest, the cost of raising troops alone will be 20 to 30 million yuan per year."
"The cost is so high because Shaanxi is land and has no canals to transport it. According to the statistics of the Third Division, a bucket of transportation costs more than 70 yuan.
The fee for one stone is as high as more than 700 Wen. Even based on the price of grain in Beijing, more than 700 Wen alone can buy one stone of rice."
"The loss of the Gang's luck is almost one to one. If the Gang's luck is changed to the middle, the loss along the way can be reduced by at least half."
The loss ratio is as high as one to one. This is not a random fabrication by Ding Wei, but this is the real situation.
Official transportation and merchant transshipment, the same distance and the same quantity, why are the losses different?
The reason is nothing more than the word ‘conscience’.
The daily ration for Gangyun soldiers is two liters, which is a rule. In addition, in addition to rations, soldiers can still receive salary.
When merchants transship, the situation is completely different.
After all, transportation costs the country's money, and merchants pay all the expenses for transportation out of their own pockets.
The former is public money and the latter is private money. How can it be used the same?
In order to pursue profits, businessmen exploited laborers to the limit of human strength.
People are like oxen and horses, this is not a joke.
"Therefore, I think it is feasible to receive food from the Central Government!"
Ding Wei said these words forcefully. While he was speaking, he kept secretly observing the Queen Mother with his peripheral vision.
Seeing that the Queen Mother's expression was getting worse and worse, he quickly changed the subject.
"However, Fan Yong's strategy also has flaws."
"It is feasible to use salt as a guide. However, if merchants directly go to the border areas to invite salt, they will inevitably run the risk of losing control."
"I dare to say that I can tell the story of Yongxi and ask the merchants to go to Beijing to pay for the goods, and then go to the border to collect the grain."
During the Yongxi period, Zhao Kuangyi, the "God of War" of the Song Dynasty, launched the famous Yongxi Northern Expedition, with a three-pronged army directed towards the Sixteenth Prefecture of Yanyun.
As a result, the ‘God of War’ was worthy of being the God of War, and was completely defeated in the end.
During the Northern Expedition, too many troops were sent out, and the logistics could not keep up. The army was in short supply of food and grass. In order to solve this problem, the method of entering China came into being.
Ding Wei's speech was very tactful. It not only fulfilled the official's instructions, but also did not directly offend the Queen Mother to death.
The method of entering is indeed an important supplement.
Regarding this method alone, Ding said that I absolutely agree with it.
Of course, there is another reason why he agrees to join China. There are loopholes that can be exploited in the process of joining China and receiving food.
Forbidden questions and entering the middle are complementary to each other.
Want to know more about it?
Do you want to know about the false estimate?
On the other side, after listening to Ding Wei's final supplementary remarks, most of Wang Zeng's objections were immediately reduced.
Although he didn't want to admit it, Ding said he was indeed a capable official.
All kinds of data are clear to the mind. This alone can put him ahead of most of the courtiers, not to mention that Ding Wei is also good at managing money and is indeed somewhat capable.
On stage.
Upon hearing the 'Yongxi Story', Liu E's face couldn't help but warm up a little.
"What Prime Minister Ding said is indeed a good strategy."
At this moment, Li Jie suddenly raised a rather difficult question.
"However, the quality of the dehydrated salt is not as good as the green and white salt produced by the Xia people. If all the grains imported into China have been dehydrated and settled, how much is its value?"
"If it's higher than Qingbai Salt, I'm afraid it will greatly dampen the enthusiasm of merchants."
"But if it is much lower than Qingbai salt, how can the price of salt be maintained?"
Food is the first priority for the people. Grain is important, and salt is equally important. Xia Di has always been famous for its rich production of salt.
The large amount of salt output was also an important capital for Xixia's army.
Not only is the quality of the salt produced in Xia Di higher than that of salt, but its price is also lower than that of salt.
High-quality and low-priced table salt is not only liked by ordinary people, but also by businessmen.
Salt was an important source of finance and taxation for the Xia people. Song Ting was well aware of this, and the Song Ting also thought of cutting off the Xia people's salt income.
The God of War of the Song Dynasty once issued a ban prohibiting the entry of green and white salt into the Song Dynasty.
[Anyone from the west of Shaanxi who dares to privately sell the salt of the Rong people will die!]
Anyone who smuggles green salt will be punished by death.
The death penalty is not a serious one.
But as for the effect, I can’t say there is none, I can only say it is approximately none.
Song Taizong was very smart and banned green salt, but he did not think of transporting additional salt to the northwest.
Perhaps the wise man thought that salt could be dug out of the crop fields.
As we all know, people cannot avoid eating salt for a long time. If the sodium intake is too low, it will not only lead to lack of energy and strength, but in severe cases, it may even cause shock or even death.
With the inflow of green salt cut off and no additional salt coming in, the people on the northwest border had no salt to eat. The first to rebel were the nomadic peoples who surrendered to the Song Dynasty.
The ban on salt led to rebellion. When the God of War of the Song Dynasty saw this, he was frightened and immediately stopped the policy of banning salt.