"Your Majesty, the minister also knows that the Pingxi Regions do cost a lot, but the Western Regions are too big, too far and too desolate, there is nothing, and everything has to be transferred from Hexi and Guanzhong. The military funds allocated by the imperial court were simply not enough. The minister had no choice but to press the money for the clothing, mules and horses, and grain of 20,000 soldiers and did not send them. If the imperial court can't make up this money, I'm afraid that the minister's Hexi army and Anxi army will no longer have the strength to fight......"

It is Wu Sangui who is pouring bitter water!

Acting King Zhu Cijiong is now unbundled, and Wu Sangui has fallen into a bigger financial black hole - the Western Regions!

It's the Age of Discovery!

The Silk Road in the Western Regions has long been abolished, so there is no comparison between the current Western Regions and the Han and Tang Dynasties. During the Han and Tang dynasties, the Silk Road in the Western Regions was full of wealthy commercial city-states, and the climate in the Western Regions was very humid at that time, and the area of oases was very large. Wherever the Silk Road passed, they were all good places with abundant products and prosperous trade. Therefore, the army of the Central Plains Dynasty can be supplied on the spot in the Western Regions, and there is no need for the imperial court to spend a lot of money to maintain it.

But now it is different, there are no prosperous trade routes in the Western Regions, there are few prosperous city-states left in the past, and there are only a few oases suitable for farming, such as Hami, Gaochang, and Luntai.

Therefore, after Wu Sangui's army entered, they found that there was nothing to loot at all, and everything had to be transferred from Hexi and Guanzhong, which was really like flowing water!

In addition, the depression in the Western Regions also affected Hexi. Without trade, the Hexi Corridor was not a "corridor", but became an arid, depressed agricultural area, and was often harassed by some poor small Mongolian tribes, which was a very troublesome place.

Therefore, Hexi did not have much spare strength to support Anxi, so he could only rely on the materials in Guanzhong to be transported thousands of miles to the Anxi battlefield.

Wu Sangui is really desperate now, he is ready to resign, if Emperor Zhu refuses to give money, then he is willing not to do this festival to make peace with the capital. And he just wants to do it, but he can't do it!

The military service system practiced by the two loss-making feudal domains at hand was different from that of the vast majority of the Ming army (including the feudal army), and the land military service system was still being implemented. Earlier, Lao Wu had 330 thousand households, but now it has been reduced to 240, which is theoretically 240,000 military households. If all mobilized, it will be an army of 240,000!

It's scary to watch, but it's impossible to mobilize, because Wu Sangui doesn't have that much money to subsidize them. Without adequate subsidies, most military households could not afford to prepare their suits, nor could they get rations, mules and horses, and could not serve in the army.

Therefore, Wu Sangui could only adopt the method of providing eight households for one household and maintain 30,000 Long March soldiers available at any time. This time to send troops to Anxi, 24,000 Long March soldiers were mobilized.

The 24,000 Long March soldiers needed to bring their own clothing, food, mules and horses before setting out, and if the expedition time exceeded expectations, Wu Sangui needed to distribute the Long March soldiers' clothing money, food money, and mule and horse money to their families to subsidize their lives, and at the same time pay the soldiers a certain amount of military salary.

If Wu Sangui did not issue money for loading, rations, and mules and horses, then these Long March soldiers would fall into poverty or even bankruptcy, and they would no longer be able to serve in the military!

"Liang Guogong, don't worry," Zhu Cihong also knew that he couldn't repay the debt, otherwise the Hexi Army and the Anxi Army would be gone, "How much money should it be, the imperial court will not lose a penny, and the battle of the Western Regions is very good, and the imperial court will also reward the soldiers who participated in the war!" ”

He paused, and then asked, "Duke Liang Guo, how is the matter of setting up the Anxi Army?" Can 120,000 households be mobilized into Anxi? The Northern Expeditionary Army also captured a lot of prisoners, can it be broken up and distributed to the 120 thousand households in Anxi? ”

Wu Sangui frowned: "That's one hundred and twenty thousand households, at least a hundred thousand households, hundreds of thousands of people are going to Anxi...... How easy it is to say that!

Not to mention moving to Kashgar, even if it is moved to Dunhuang, Hami, Gaochang, Luntai and other places, each household will have to spend at least dozens of taels of silver to resettle, even if there are 10 million taels, it may not be enough to spend!

Moreover, because of the disasters of war in the Western Regions (the Yeerqiang Khanate itself also fought every day, it did not stop), the people had long been poor, the cities were dilapidated, and the oases were barren. Such a place, I am afraid that within ten years, I will not want to receive any taxes from the Western Regions.

If we want to take root in the Western Regions, even if we restore the situation of the Han and Tang Dynasties, we have to take another million taels of silver to smash it into it every year, which will be used to build city water conservancy, tidy up roads and city gates, appease the local wealthy families, and build academies and Buddhist temples, which is a bottomless pit at all!

In addition, the minister's Hexi is also a bitter and barren land! There is a drought and little rain, and the harvest has been poor year after year, so I really don't have the strength to support Anxi......"

"Can the grain in Hexi and the Western Regions be self-sufficient?" Zhu Cihong doesn't ask about money at all, because money is not a problem!

In his opinion, the root of the Ming problem is who pays and who contributes? Let those who have money pay, let those who have power contribute, and the problem will be solved.

As for who is rich, it is also obvious, that is, the four rivers and two lakes, Fujian and Guangdong, plus one Sichuan Tianfu. These territories can take out 100 million (silver plus grain), and the Ming Dynasty is the Celestial Empire. Take 50 million out, and the Ming Dynasty will be peaceful and prosperous. If you are only willing to give 10 million, it will be heavenly!

However, in this era, the transportation capacity is relatively poor, and there is really no trick for places where food is not self-sufficient and transportation is inconvenient.

"I don't know the situation in the Western Regions yet, Hexi can barely be self-sufficient," Wu Sangui said with a sad face, "but sometimes it is necessary to add some from Guanzhong, but the supply of other things is difficult, and most of them have to be imported from the Central Plains, because the road is far away, so the price is not cheap." Therefore, most of the military households are poor, and they can get a little income by exporting horses before, but now that the imperial court has a place to raise horses in Monan, it is estimated that the business of selling horses will not last long. ”

"Liang Guogong, you don't have to worry," Zhu Cihong said with a smile, "I already plan to implement a conscription system in Hexi and Anxi, and at the same time keep the military households as regimental training militias, so you don't have to stay away from home." ”

"Recruitment?" Wu Sangui hurriedly asked, "I wonder how many standing troops Your Majesty is going to maintain in Hexi and Anxi?" ”

"Hexi and the Western Regions are vast, and it is not enough to have 30,000 standing soldiers!" Zhu Cihong had already discussed with the people of the Generalissimo's Mansion about the armaments of Hexi and the Western Regions, "And these 30,000 standing soldiers must also be mainly musketeers, at least half of them must be musketeers." ”

The musketeers were black-speared mule soldiers, who showed their might in the Battle of Pingqing, which greatly weakened the cavalry advantage of the Qing army.

"So many musketeers......" Wu Sangui was taken aback by Emperor Zhu's arrogance, "Your Majesty, I'm afraid that the military expenses of Hexi and Anxi will cost 1.5 million a year!" ”

Zhu Cihong nodded: "Anxi will make up another million for resettlement and construction, plus this one and a half million, it will be two and a half million!"

In addition, I agreed with you that Anxi Festival Town will allow you to inherit the Wu family! Anxi put 20,000 recruits, plus the cost of resettlement and construction, the imperial court gave 2 million taels a year! ”

"Your Majesty," Wu Sangui was stunned and stunned, "Anxi and Hexi are two and a half million taels a year...... There are also Shuofang, Anbei, Beiping, Daning and other festival towns, which also cost money, and the imperial court is really so rich? ”

Zhu Cihong smiled and said: "Anbei, Beiping, and Daning are not as expensive as yours, more than five million a year is enough......" He turned his head and looked at Zhu Yujian, "Tang Wang, how much does Shuo Fang want?" ”

"300,000 is enough!" Zhu Yujian said, "Shuofang has been managed well by the acting king, and if the minister works hard, it should be able to be flat in four or five years." ”

Zhu Cihong nodded and said with a smile: "Okay, Tang Wangguo is a virtuous king!" But you still have to spend it! If today's wealth is in the southeast, as long as the southeast is managed well, it can supply the military supplies of the northland...... I have already thought about it, and I will move south in March and go to Nanjing to make money! ”