The snow beads fell fine and dense all night, the temperature suddenly turned cold, until dawn, the land of Gyeonggi has been plated with a layer of white, when the sun rises, the old eagle on the city of Beijing noisily screamed for two hours, until the smoke rises, only then helpless to perch in the mass grave in the field.

Lin Feng barely slept for a few hours, and when it was dawn, he hurriedly got up, and ordered the pro-soldier brigade to set off as a whole army to personally inspect the work of the people outside the city.

Last night's work did not stop, when Lin Feng came to the outside of the city, there were still many torches on both sides of the road that had not been completely extinguished, still emitting a little green smoke, and hundreds of soldiers surrounded the commander, inspecting the various transportation situations one by one.

Before walking a few miles, Tang Bin, who got the news, hurried up. Since the start of the Forbidden City, he has rolled up the covering, and has taken a few old servants to work in the temple outside the city, patrolling and supervising day and night, and not allowing his subordinates to slack off. It is also for this reason that a group of petty officials in the Han military government hated him to death during this time, it was so cold and cold, these officials also accompanied him in the field every day, and some frail and old officials fell ill and vacant in patches.

After the hasty communication, Lin Feng immediately met with Tang Bin.

"Uncle Kong, your complexion is not very good, but you have to take care of your body, if you feel unwell, it is okay to put these trivial things aside for the time being!" Lin Feng looked at Tang Bin with concern, the day before yesterday he appointed Tang Bin as the head of relief to take charge of the resettlement of the displaced people, looking at his current appearance, he was really tired, "You are my minister, if you don't take care of yourself like this, it's not good!" ”

"Thank you for your patronage!" Tang Bin showed a grateful look on his face, and whispered in a hoarse voice, "By the order of the lord, the major palaces and major royal gardens in the Forbidden City will be demolished first, and I have handed over the best timber pulled out now to General Zhou Peigong, and the millions of catties of copper, pig iron, and stainless steel washed out have also been transferred to General Dai's office, and now the people are carefully cleaning up in the ruins of the foundation, and they dare not slack off, please rest assured that the lord ......."

"Don't worry-Kong Bo is doing things, can I still be at ease?!" Lin Feng smiled slightly, and scolded Li Ergou, the general of the army, and ordered to camp on the spot, where the terrain is very high, close to the official road of Beijing City Gate, and far away from the Tongji River waterway, which is a place with an excellent view.

The soldiers were busy for a while, and the raging charcoal fire came up in a short time, Lin Feng took Tang Bin's hand and walked with the brazier, Tang Bin was honestly afraid, trembling and did not dare to sit down, his hands were tightly pressed in his sleeves and did not dare to stretch out, Lin Feng was surprised in his heart, pulled out his hands, and couldn't help but be stunned when he saw the abscesses on his hands. In just these ten days, this pair of originally slender and white palms were swollen like steamed buns at the moment, and many places were ulcerated and bleeding, looking at Tang Bin's hands full of frostbite, Lin Feng sighed, "Kong Bo is really a loyal man!" ”

"This is the subordinate position...... Tang Bin smiled reluctantly, and stopped talking.

Lin Feng didn't raise his head, stretched out his palm and turned it over repeatedly, "Does Kong Bo think that Ben Shuai's demolition of the Forbidden City is too crazy?!" ”

"Don't dare, don't dare to ......" Tang Bin was startled, suddenly regained his senses, and plucked up the courage to say, "But...... But perhaps...... Maybe there's something wrong......"

"Hehe, Ben Shuai didn't know that this move was too shocking, but when things came to this point, I had to continue to do it," Lin Feng raised his head and smiled bitterly, "Kong Bo was originally in charge of the position of treasurer under Jin Qing, and if he wants to come to the financial accounts of my Han army, he shouldn't be able to hide it from you, right?!" ”

"This ...... The subordinates know a little about ......"

"Yes, then I'll settle accounts for you first," Lin Feng's expression was solemn, this Tang Bin is now in charge of an important position, if he doesn't remove his heart, I'm afraid this matter will be difficult to do perfectly, "Originally, the finances of our Han army were extremely abundant, and when the army first entered Beijing, it happened to meet the completion of taxes in various places, because of the conquest of the three feudatories, this year's taxes are much more than in previous years, plus the accumulation in previous years, the household has nearly 28 million taels of silver, In addition, in addition to the six million taels of silver and six hundred and seventy thousand taels of gold deposited in the Imperial Clan's Mansion, in addition to the three million taels of silver copied out of the major royal mansions, Baylor, and Efu Mansions, a total of about 42 million taels of silver were seized, and the total amount of silver seized was about 42 million taels ......"

"Lord...... The subordinates vaguely remembered that the number on the general ledger seemed to be ...... It seems to be more than 50 million taels ......" Tang Bin couldn't help but interject when he heard this amount.

"Hehe, this matter was specifically handled by Zezhen," Lin Feng shook his head and smiled bitterly, "You don't know this person Zezhen, Gongzhong is upright, and he is a dead-eyed scholar - he converted the seized silk, jade, antique calligraphy and painting, enamel, Western clocks, Xuande furnaces, valuable screens and other messy things into the accounts, why don't you say more?!" ”

Tang Bin also smiled bitterly, these things can indeed be converted into money within the "fine" in the peaceful season, but in this time of chaos, it is very different, it is difficult to make a move, and I am afraid that few businessmen dare to receive the goods, if it is a careful calculation, it can only be counted as a flower account or a false account. He couldn't help but glance at Lin Feng, in fact, he had never heard of these things, but just because the Han army had never rectified this kind of thing, he thought that the marshal had been busy with military affairs and was negligent, it seemed that this lord's heart was still very bright.

"Got it," Lin Feng pinched his nose, spread his fingers without moving, and counted them one by one, "I won't count the small accounts, just say a few big ones - the first one is to reward the soldiers, we fought a total of two big battles, this one expenditure went to more than four million taels of silver, the second is to recruit the army to give preferential care to military families, plus some salaries and clothing, camp and miscellaneous expenses, a total of more than five million taels, and the third one we still have a big burden, For example, the hundreds of thousands of women and children of the Eight Banners left by the former Qing court, as well as captured officials, in addition, we also have more than 100,000 family dependents, and there is also a small court of the Han army under Jin Qing......"

"This ......" Tang Bin sighed and said sincerely, "No wonder the handsome man is worried every day!" ”

"Yes, to be honest, these bullshit things are annoying, I really never thought in my life that one day I would be frightened and scared of so many people to eat and dress, alas...... It's really hard to be a family member! Lin Feng smiled bitterly, "In addition, we also have a bottomless pit that specializes in eating silver-tsk, look at that Dai Zidai manager, this kid is a talent, but he is even more stunned, looking for me every once in a while to fight the autumn wind, think about it, where is there an iron ore and copper mine in our Gyeonggi Zhili?!" - I have to buy them at a high price from other places, and then smuggle them into the country secretly, and on top of that, saltpeter, fine charcoal, graphite, and so on, where do you think I'm going to find them?! ”

"This ordnance thing...... It's a huge ......."

"I smashed him with two million taels of silver in one breath...... Lin Feng's face was full of pain, stretched out two fingers, trembling, "Fucking two million taels of silver...... But as soon as so much money was smashed into it, it bubbled up and disappeared - did you see our Han army's army of firearms?! - It's all fucking money, think about it, how many days can the little fine iron left by Kangxi last? During this time, it cost countless amounts of silver just to smuggle pig iron and copper in other places, and sometimes when I think about it, I really feel worried about sleeping......"

Tang Bin heard these confidential matters for the first time, and he didn't realize that his color changed greatly when he heard the words.

"Scared, aren't you? - And what," Lin Feng returned to normal, spread out the map casually, and pointed, "Kong Bo, you don't know anything about military affairs, I'll just talk about it here, you see—we are now under enemy on all sides, Shandong is adjacent to the army of Prince Jian of the Qing court, God knows when they will suddenly throw off Wu Sangui's army and go north, in addition, Datong and Xuanhua are close to the Mongolian Tushetu, Chahar, Horqin, and Junggar Divisions, while Datong Zhao Liangdong's troops only have 6,000 infantry troops, and Xuanhua only has 7,000 cavalry from Zhao Guangyuan's department—can you sleep?" Lin Feng scratched his head in pain, and returned his hand to draw a circle in Liaodong, "In addition, the Manchu Yu rebels in Liaodong are regrouping, do you think we can watch them thrive like Nurhachi?" You say that if we don't take advantage of their weakness to strangle them, will we be able to eat in the future?! …… Do you know how many troops do we have now? - in the early 50,000s, and 10,000 of them are still new recruits......"

Tang Bin was sweating profusely on his forehead, he was dazed with charcoal, and secretly wiped off the sweat from time to time.

"We still have to recruit soldiers, and besides, Kong Bo knows, how long does it take to train an infantry army capable of hand-to-hand combat?!" Lin Feng returned to normal, "It will take at least eight months, and a large number of veterans will have to be mixed, but even so, these infantry troops may not be effective against the cavalry!" - So today's plan, we have no way but to organize a large number of muskets and artillery units, and buy a large number of horses to form cavalry, otherwise our Han army will all die without a place to be buried......"

"Could it be that the handsome man is demolishing the Forbidden City...... It's for, it's for ......"

"At the beginning of this month, the Chamber of Commerce had a showdown with me, and now the world is in chaos, and all the princes are buying iron and strictly restricting the outflow, and they can't smuggle it at the moment...... The food is a little better, and it can be bought directly from the rich people in the countryside, but the iron tools are strictly managed, and there is nothing to be done about it - now our ordnance factory has only melted copper coins to cast guns and field artillery......"

"......" Tang Bin opened his mouth wide and couldn't say a word. He has been in officialdom for a long time, and it is commonplace to use public affairs for personal gain, but it is unheard of for a person like this person in front of him to make a lot of profits under the banner of compassion and compassion for the people and saving the common people. Not only that, but such an unscrupulous and bold fanatic and such a crazy move are extremely rare in the history books of China's vast millennium.

"The Chinese national treasure is destroyed in one fell swoop, how can I not be heartbroken? A hundred years of savings, all over the place, how can I not regret it?! But what did Confucius know—what were we without an army? If an army has no weapons, what is an army? …… Can antique calligraphy and paintings, carved beams and paintings save our lives? Can we keep our country? What qualifications do we have to be vassals, and what qualifications do we have to mourn the ruins and sing the sunset? - We want artillery, muskets, bayonets, armies - do you understand?! ”

Lin Feng stood up suddenly, strode out of the tent, pointed to the rows of big trees flowing down the river from a distance, and said loudly, "Kong Bo, do you know why I want you to transport the thick and sturdy fine timber to Tianjin?!" ”

"The handsome man is wise and wise, and his subordinates dare not beg for ......" Tang Bin's expression was gloomy, and he stood behind Lin Feng and arched his hand.

"Because I'm going to use them to build sea ships—look at our Gyeonggi Naoli, what other forests are there to grow? - Fucking wood that can build ships is harder to find than a three-legged toad, and if I don't demolish the palace hall in the Forbidden City, where can I find it for a while?! Lin Feng said solemnly, "These things are far away in the deep mountains and old forests, and Ben Shuai doesn't have the energy or capital to cut wood and build ships at the moment." ”

Tang Bin was stunned for a while, as if he hadn't heard the words behind him, and couldn't help asking, "Dashuai...... What are we doing shipbuilding?! ”

"Kong Bo is my heart's minister, so I'll tell you directly!" Lin Feng turned around and entered the tent, and sat down by the fire with a golden sword, "One is for plunder, and the other is for trade - Kong Bo doesn't know the general trend of the world, this navy will be a treasure of the country in the future, and it is imperative to build an army, and the reason why I want to build it now is also forced by practical things!" Lin Feng pointed to the map again, "At present, our army in the Central Plains is facing the enemy everywhere, and trade can be said to be cut off, if I let it go, Gyeonggi Zhili will sooner or later fall to death, so I have to find another way - take Tianjin, open a seaport, and build a navy!! ”

"Lord...... The handsome ......" Tang Bin was shocked when he heard this, his face was as white as earth, his knees were weak, and he couldn't help but kneel on the ground, and said bitterly, "The water division has spent a lot of money, and it can't be done overnight, and now our army is short of military funds, and all kinds ......of waste are waiting to be rebuilt."

"Kong Bo doesn't have to be like this, Ben Shuai only has a plan!" Lin Feng hurriedly helped Tang Bin up and said gently, "Now I don't plan to build large warships, just some small sea ships that can be used to fight!" Seeing that Tang Bin was still uncertain, he explained, "After copying and destroying the Eight Banners and demolishing the Forbidden City, we are now hoarding a lot of rare and luxurious things in our hands - these things are difficult to sell in the north, so we can only ship them to the south to sell, and strive to convert them into silver taels as soon as possible to replenish military expenses, in addition, the grain, cloth, porcelain, tea, and silk in the south of the Yangtze River are also promising in the north. ——I will carefully prepare this matter with the people of the Chamber of Commerce, **Sheng and General Shi Lang, hehe, businessmen seek profits, I have been looking forward to this matter for a long time, Kong Bo rest assured, our Han army will definitely not suffer! ”

"Original...... It turns out that the lord has already made a plan...... No wonder General Yang was urgently summoned a few days ago......" Tang Bin admired in his heart. The confrontation between the two armies on the Texas front, the Han army Liu Laosi and the two armies of ** Sheng were directly subordinate to the canal portal, and the military situation could be described as tense, but some time ago, Lin Feng suddenly ordered the recall of the front-line generals, which really made these subordinates guess, but they couldn't imagine that it was actually for this matter.

"Does Cumber understand now?! - This demolition of the Forbidden City, in addition to building a temporary shelter for the displaced people and providing heating objects, also has many intentions, the reason why this commander braves the world's disapproval, there is no other - 'where the benefit, you can die'! ……”

Before he finished speaking, Li Ergou gently knocked on the door frame outside the tent, and reported respectfully, "Marshal Qiqi, General Shi Lang of the artillery team and General **Sheng ask to see you outside the tent!" ”