Chapter 1161 The financial crisis of Murong's family
"Sir, there is news from Xiake Island that 30,000 new troops have been trained. Will this army be moved to the Central Plains to prepare for emergencies?" A'Zhu changed the topic and asked about Xiake Island.
thing.
"That's it?" Murong Fu was stunned when he heard this, somewhat disappointed. You must know that the Murong family has been recruiting troops in the past two years. The Tianshu Army alone now has more than 200,000. He has high hopes for Xiake Island.
, it seems that only 30,000 troops and horses are too few.
Everyone had different expressions when they heard this, and A'Zhu rolled his eyes at him, "Master, don't underestimate this 30,000-strong army. It is said that most of these 30,000 soldiers and horses are composed of disciples from several big families. Their combat power is not comparable to that of ordinary armies."
Than."
At this time, Deng Baichuan also said, "Sir, I think what Miss A'Zhu said is true. Xia Ke Island is far away overseas. It will not be easy to recruit so many troops. And the most important thing is that Xia Ke Island has its own island."
A country can still continue to replenish it in the future."
Murong Fu thought about it. The biggest advantage of Xiake Island is that it has its own population base, and soldiers can be continuously replenished. He immediately nodded and said, "Move here, just move to the Fujian area. For the specific matters, A'Zhu sent people and A Jiu
Contact us and let her take full responsibility for this matter, so we can take this opportunity to gain a foothold in the southeast."
"Yes," A'Zhu replied, "In addition, the Sun and Moon God Sect Yue Qian sent people to ask for help."
"Oh? What's the matter?" Murong Fu was surprised. Is there someone who is detrimental to the Sun and Moon God Sect?
A'Zhu glanced at Bao BuTong without leaving any trace, "The leader of the Eastern Cult sent a message saying that the Sun Moon God Sect's money, food and grass are no longer enough. I hope the Murong family can donate some money."
Murong Fu felt relieved, then his face turned cold, and he looked at Bao BuTong, "Brother Bao, what's going on?"
At the beginning, he had promised Dongfang Qing that he would give her a large amount of money and materials at the beginning of the reform of the Sun-Moon God Sect to help the Miao border area overcome difficulties. Afterwards, he also sent an order to Bao Bubu to allocate a large sum of money every month.
How could there be a shortage of silver coins?
He remembered that Su Quan had also filed a complaint when he was on Shenlong Island. Tianxialou deliberately deducted the military pay allocated to Shenlong Island, and Bao Bubutong even took the initiative to seize a batch of treasures without authorization. He couldn't help but wonder whether Bao Bubutong was greedy and enriched himself.
?
He couldn't help but think otherwise. As the saying goes, wine makes a man's face red, and gold touches the Taoist heart. Even though Bao BuTong was so loyal in the past, it is no exaggeration to say that the wealth accumulated by the Murong family is as rich as the enemy's country. Faced with such wealth,
It's normal for him to be tempted as he holds the financial power.
Bao BuTong seemed to sense Murong Fu's suspicion, and couldn't help but smile slightly, "Master, please let Bao San settle the account for you first."
As he spoke, he took out an iron abacus from his waist, started clicking it, and read in his mouth, "In the past year, the fertile fields of Taihu Lake collected a total of 200,000 shi of grain, which is equivalent to 100,000 taels of silver. Restaurants and brothels in various places
, the gambling house and other various industries collected about 13 million taels of silver. There were 27 salt mines and iron mines secretly controlled by Tianxialou, with a profit of 18 million taels, a total of 31,000,000 taels of silver.
Bao San has no right to interfere with the accounts of Crystal Palace and Blood Shadow Palace, but it is expected that it will not exceed five million, which is the total income of the Murong family in a year."
Murong Fu was surprised when he heard this, "You can make so little money with so many salt fields and iron ore?"
He really didn't expect that the profit from salt and iron would be so small. You must know that in this era, the most profitable business is definitely salt and iron. The former is the daily needs of the people and the cost is extremely low. The profits can be imagined, while the latter It is indispensable to the national army and is a precious material that is strictly prohibited from being sold by various countries. Its price has always remained high.
It can be said that these two things are related to the lifeline of a country. Murong Fu spent a huge price to control the salt and iron in his hands. The reason is that he can earn huge profits and indirectly control the lifeline of a country. Who would have thought The profit he earned was only a few million more than that of a brothel and gambling house, so why did he spend so much energy on it? He might as well open a brothel in the future.
It was not difficult for Bao BuTong to see his doubts, and his face became increasingly bitter, "Young master, you don't know. There are two main reasons why Salt and Iron's profits are so small."
Murong Fu's face was a little gloomy, "Please tell me and listen."
"First, after all, Tianxialou only acted secretly and did not completely control these salt fields and iron mines. In other words, a large part of the profits from the salt and iron output was still divided. Secondly, the Murong family has continued to recruit troops over the years. , to expand the army, most of the iron ore output is directly used to build armaments, and is rarely sold, so it does not earn much silver." Bao BuTong explained slowly.
Murong Fu's face softened slightly, and he reluctantly agreed with what he said, but he still couldn't accept it in his heart. It's no wonder that he had invested a lot of money in those saltworks and iron ore, and now the profits were greatly different from expectations, how could he accept it.
In fact, this was because he was a little greedy. Nowadays, the total annual income of the Song Dynasty treasury is only 70 to 80 million taels, and he, a wealthy family, has an annual income of 40 million taels. Zhao Gou must know this. , I am afraid that I will be so angry that I will jump out of the coffin board, because the income from salt and iron is money stolen from the national treasury.
Just listen to Bao BuTong continue, "After calculating the income, Bao San will calculate the Murong family's annual expenses for the young master. Today, the Shu army supports 200,000 troops, the Tianxuan army supports 80,000 troops, and the Shenlong army supports 100,000 troops. In addition to the roughly 200,000 scattered troops secretly trained in various places, the total strength of the Murong family has reached 600,000, and the monthly expenditure on wages, food and grass, armament losses, and war horse losses totals nearly 1.8 million taels."
"In addition, the Lingjiu Palace, Sun Moon Sect, Wangwu Army, Baigan Army and other forces allocate a total of 600,000 taels of silver every month. Counting other scattered expenses, the Murong family will spend at least 25 million in a year. Although there is still a surplus of two, the young master has made it clear that 30% of the profit must be sealed into inventory every year for future uprisings, so it is not that Bao San deliberately deducted the pay of the troops and enriched his own pocket, but he was really powerless. "
After Bao BuTong settled the accounts, he did not miss the opportunity to vomit his bitterness and complain about injustice.
After listening to the "accounts" he calculated, Murong Fu couldn't help but feel that "if you are not a householder, you really don't know how expensive firewood, rice, oil and salt are". He did underestimate the consumption of so many troops. This was in normal times. In wartime, this consumption would probably still be higher. will grow exponentially.
This is not a small problem. Even though the Murong family's income has reached half of the country's, there is actually a fundamental difference. The Murong family's income relies on business profits, while the national treasury relies on taxes. In other words, they still The power of a country can only be reflected by including the money in the hands of the people, and the Murong family really had nothing but money.
In the past, when the Tianshu Army was small in number, it was still possible to maintain expenses by using mercenaries, but now it is far from possible. It is impossible to send an army of 200,000 as mercenaries. Even if Deng Baichuan dares, I am afraid that no employer dares.
hire.
"I'm still poor." After thinking about the problem, Murong Fu secretly smiled bitterly in his heart, and said comfortingly, "It's true that I wrongly blamed Brother Bao. Please don't take it to heart, but the expenses of each army will also be delayed.
No, just make up for it in full, don’t worry about the money, I will find a way."
"Young master, you are worrying too much. Bao San understands the importance of settling the accounts. How can he feel grudge because of this? Since the master has spoken, Bao San will not say anything more. After returning today, Bao San will immediately distribute the pay and silver to each army.
." Bao Bubu accepted it as he saw fit and replied like this.
"Brother Deng..." Murong Fu thought for a while and was about to say something to Deng Baichuan. Suddenly, he paused, looked up towards the door of the hall, and shouted in a cold voice, "Who is there, get out!"
Everyone was shocked when they heard this. Could it be that the thief who broke into Huanshi Shui Pavilion was here again?
But at this moment, a little head poked out from the door, revealing a delicate face, it turned out to be Ah Zi.
Murong Fu's face darkened. This girl was still so ignorant that she even dared to break into the underground palace!
Deng Baichuan snorted coldly, swayed, raised his hand and struck out with a palm, and walked straight towards the door in front of Ah Zi. Even though he was already integrated into the military, he was unambiguous in his actions, and he was a lot more powerful than before.
The spirit of decisiveness in dividing and killing.
A'Zhu was so frightened that he turned pale, "No!"
Murong Fu raised his eyebrows slightly, "Brother Deng, please show mercy!"
Deng Baichuan paused for a moment, his palm strength slowed down a lot, and then he changed his palms into claws, picked up Ah Zi, and threw her into the palace.
A'Zi's face was pale with fear, and A'Zhu hurriedly stepped forward to help her up, "A'Zi, are you okay? Are you injured anywhere?"
Deng Baichuan was both angry and speechless. This little girl was so unruly that she eavesdropped on their discussion. This was a capital crime.
"Azi, you are so brave!" Murong Fu shouted with a stern face, but in fact he felt quite helpless in his heart. She could reach the outside of the hall quietly, so she must have found the secret passage in the Shenhe Courtyard, otherwise she would definitely be dead.
She had been discovered by the guards long ago, and thanks to her cleverness, she was able to avoid those traps intact.
A'Zhu's body trembled, and she knelt down quickly, "Sir, A'Zhu is still young and ignorant. I beg you to forgive her this time."
Ah Zi seemed to feel the seriousness of the matter, and said hurriedly and obediently, "Brother-in-law, Ah Zi knows that she was wrong, and Ah Zi will never dare to do it again."
"Hmph!" Murong Fu's expression turned cold, "You dare to break into the underground palace, what else can't you dare to do?"
When A'Zhu was about to speak, Murong Fu immediately waved his hand to stop her, "Ting Feng, take her down and beat her with thirty punishment sticks."
Tingfeng didn't know whether what he said was true or not, but she didn't dare to go against his will at this time. She glanced at Ah Zi with a little pity, "Thirty punishment sticks, it's still light to break the skin and flesh, I'm afraid half of my life will be lost"
there is none left.
A'Zhu's face turned pale, "Master, A'Zhu is willing to be punished on A'Zi's behalf, please be lenient."
"Who asked you to replace me?" Ah Zi snorted, stood up, pouted her little lips and said to Murong Fu, "Brother-in-law, if Ah Zi does something wrong, just accept the punishment. There is no need for anyone to stand in for me.
If you want to hit me, hit me."
Murong Fu glanced at A'Zhu and sighed slightly, "That's fine, I'll execute the execution myself later, and Ting Feng will take her down."
A'Zi was carried out, and A'Zhu couldn't help but give Murong Fu a grateful look.
(ps: The data in this book are derived from rough calculations of some historical materials, mainly yy. There is no need to be more precise in researching the party!)