Listening to Gu Shi's inquiry about the progress of the strategy, He Nian spread his hands and said with a wry smile: "The strategy formulated by Lord Zhenxiang was presented to the Son of Heaven yesterday, and the prime ministers did not have anything new to say, but there is no money in the household department at the moment, and the strategy will be put into effect for a while." ”

"Move?" Gu Shi was a little surprised. When Shang Cheng outlined the strategy of the Eastern War, he made it very clear that the key to sending troops to the East was the first step, so it was suggested that the soldiers should be selected immediately in the state capitals of Suzhou, Hangzhou, Yuexiu and other prefectures in eastern Zhejiang, and the requisitioned sailors and civilian ships would converge in Mingzhou, supplemented by experienced sailors as guides, and rush to the East by the southern route, striving to wipe out the head of the Fujiwara clan with lightning speed, so that the Fujiwara clan and the group would be leaderless; When they dealt with the Fujiwara clan's henchmen, Da Zhao assisted the first three families in preparing on the one hand, and on the other hand, they also created momentum for the opening of the northern front, and at the same time stepped up contact with the Han Wu and other states in Goryeo, and tried to get them to agree to Da Zhao's fleet to dock and replenish. Shang Cheng predicted that if the preparations for all matters could be accurate and timely, the first garrison would be dispatched to the Iwami region of the eastern Japanese this winter; No later than the beginning of next summer at the latest. There is another advantage of staggering the operation time between the north and south roads, that is, in case the surprise attack on the south road does not go well, the north road can also be stopped in time, so that it will not waste money and food. Gu Shi felt that Shangcheng's strategy was closely linked to each other, coherent and mutually influential, and it was indeed a desirable strategy, and there was one thing that was not good, that is, the time was too urgent, and the large ships of the sailors that could be mobilized in a short period of time were by no means enough to support the simultaneous action of the two lines, so they could only hire a large number of civilian sea ships to supplement them. The hiring of civilian ships not only has to pay rent, but also to make up for the losses of the merchants, and a large amount of money is inevitably required, which makes a surprise attack that was expected to be easily handled by four or five hundred thousand people become a large-scale use of troops several times. But this is again an inevitable consequence; After all, Shang Cheng said categorically, asserting that there must be a silver mountain that can mine 20,000 taels of silver in Iwami Country, and there are still 10 million taels of gold on Kagoshima, even if he is false, the imperial court will send troops to confirm it!

In front of the first three people, Gu Shi didn't mention Jinshan Yinshan one by one, and the fewer people who knew about it, the better! But he still asked, why did Tobe suddenly change his mind?

He Nian also had a sad face, sighed and said, "I asked my colleagues in the household department. They said that there was some living money in the account of the household, and that some gold and silver could be borrowed from the great treasury, and together they could have been about seven million. But the money didn't dare to move around. Now General Xiao has arrived in Jiazhou, and by the way, he may fight with Nanzhao, as long as the beacon fire is together, the money spent is like flowing water, so there must be room for General Xiao to leave two million. And Tibet. The imperial court still can't figure out the true plans of the Tubo people, in case General Xiao and Nanzhao fight, they suddenly kill from the side and attack with Nanzhao, it is a bottomless pit of eating copper coins raw. Therefore, the household department had to set aside another 2 million to guard against the Tibetans. There are also two Wei towns in Longxi and Dingjin. The imperial court predicts that there will be a war in the direction of Longding this year and next year, and although the size of the war is unpredictable, it also needs to leave room for manoeuvre in terms of food and salary consumption...... In short, the 7 million taels of the household department are prepared for war and must not be used. He let out a long breath, shook his head, and said, "I can't count on this year's Xia Fu. The beginning of the summer levy is June, and the collection of taxes from all over the country is then summarized in Beijing, not to mention the end of autumn, which is far water, and it cannot quench the thirst at all. ”

Gu Shi looked at him with blazing eyes, and was speechless for a long time. With the death of the crown prince, the Poyang Gu family has shown a trace of decadence, and others are afraid of starting a fire at this time, and they are afraid of the people of the Gu family, and his ears and eyes are naturally far less timely than in the past. But after all, he is a Shangzhu country, although his identity is sensitive and he never involves specific military affairs, but any changes in the general direction of the military will ask him for advice, so he is also very clear about some things closely related to the military in the court. He was sure that the household department had more than 7 million taels of money and grain in his hands, and even if he wanted to keep some silver money in the treasury, there were at least nearly 10 million taels in his account. So, why didn't the household department take out the three million rich first? He glanced at the three mouthfuls in front of him, and wondered if this guy would rather draw a big pie for Da Zhao than be burdened with a large amount of debt.

He Sui also noticed his eyes, and hurriedly helped the first three to justify, saying: "Gu Hou is too careful, this matter has nothing to do with the great monk." In addition to seven million, the household department does have some surplus money, and if it is taken out to support the strategy of the East Wa, it is barely enough to use. The great monk was even more eager to write an IOU to the household department, but the household department did not agree. The household department said that this money is the life-saving money of the imperial court, and if there is a drought and flood in various prefectures and counties, the crops will fail, and countless Li people will all count on the money of the household department to survive, so several prime ministers took turns to speak, and they were all forced back by the household department. Gu Xiang also has a book in charge of the household department, and ran back to the household yamen around noon yesterday, leading the two attendants on the left and right to discuss with the household department, and said all the good things, and the household department only promised to allocate 300,000 yuan. Several heads of the household department and Lang Zhong said everything, and it was because of the affection of the Son of Heaven and the prime ministers that they allocated 300,000 yuan to deal with the Eastern Wa Foreign Domain, and there was no more; If Zhang Xiang and Gu Xiang still have to entangle, it's a big deal that everyone will resign and not do it! ”

Gu Shi was dumbfounded, and he didn't know how to deal with it at all. Even if you don't shy away from the first three, the imperial court can't say that sending troops to the east is for the sake of people's gold and silver; Besides, whether there are these two mountains in Dongwei or not, before there is conclusive evidence, the imperial court will not dare to say that this is taking a small amount of money to fight a big money, it is purely a gamble If there are no two mountains in the end, it is estimated that the people in the Hanyuan Hall that night, one counts as one, and they all have to laugh for a thousand years, and no one can run away! Therefore, whether it is the Prime Minister's Mansion or the Shangshu Shilang of the Six Ministries, the caliber of the external is completely the same, and the dispatch of troops to the East is to punish violence and eliminate evil on behalf of the heavens. With such a ridiculous reason, it is okay to coax the rural villagers, and to rely on it to persuade the household department to lend millions of yuan is to dream. Now the household department refuses to take out the money, not to mention that the first three and a feudal monk have to be worried, even Zhang Pu and the Son of Heaven, it is estimated that there is nothing to be done. If you want to take money from the household, you must have a valid reason; Sending troops to help suppress the violence and suppress the chaos is obviously not a legitimate reason; The reason why the Eastern Wa State has gold and silver mountains is valid enough, but it is not yet time to mention it; But without a valid reason, the household department will never take the money...... He thought about it again and again, this buckle could not be untied, and he had no choice but to look at Shang Cheng with his eyes.

Shang Cheng is also at a loss. He had just read Zhenxiang's letter, which was written about the general content of the strategy submitted by the Ministry of War to the Prime Minister's Office, and the direct reason why the strategy was likely to suffer an untimely death. This strategy presided over by Zhen Xiang, and the actions of the South Road were basically to copy the surprise attack plan he proposed that day; The plan for the northern route was more perfect, and the military department decided to take advantage of the opportunity of sending troops to the east to set up two new naval divisions in Dengzhou and Laizhou, and to add 14 new brigades to the three prefectures of Denglai and Qingdao, and at the same time set up the Qingzhou command yamen to oversee more than 47,800 people in the two naval and land divisions of the five prefectures of Qingzi, Wei, and Denglai. The initial plan was to station 5,000 troops in Iwami, 3,000 in Kagoshima, and the rest in Japan to deter Goryeo and maintain the sea lanes. Part of this is the plan of the Ministry of Industry, which will open larger ship yards in Mingzhou, Quanzhou, and Fuzhou, and build large ships of more than 10,000 stones, so as to facilitate the transportation of soldiers, grain, merchants, and goods between Dazhao and Dongwei in the future...... In short, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Industry, and the Ministry of Rites, as well as other yamen who can intervene in this strategy, all have their own ideas and requirements. They proposed to set up governors' yamen in important cities and ports such as Heiankyo, Hakata, Tsuruga, and Mitsuura in the Eastern Wa Kingdom, so as to better and more appropriately deal with all kinds of disputes between the merchants of the Great Zhao and the locals who went to the Eastern Wa Kingdom. Shang Cheng thought of the letter now, and couldn't help but shake his head and sigh, alas, if everyone wasn't so concerned and enthusiastic about Dongwei's affairs, and couldn't put all their ideas into practice, how could a strategy toss nearly four million yuan? You must know that he marched into the grassland in Yanshan several times, and only spent 2.6 million yuan before and after. That's the entire left wing of the Turquoise with 100,000 armor, and the two times the troops are only more than 20,000 people each time, and then look at the people's real Qian, if you fight an easterner, you will gather 50,000 troops, why don't he give these 50,000 to himself? If he could have these 50,000 horses, if he couldn't drive the king of Donglu Valley to Siberia to drink the wind, he would write the word Shang upside down! and the 8,000 men and horses stationed in the east. Zhenqian obviously didn't know what the current situation of the Eastern Wa Kingdom was, with a population of less than two million, backward metal smelting technology, and even the agricultural tools were mixed with wooden and bronze tools, and it was necessary to use 8,000 regular troops trained all year round to suppress the place? Do you really think that the Eastern Wa Kingdom, like the Turquoise, still has a standing army like the Great Horde? The easiest way is to transfer two hundred heavy cavalry equipped with armor and cavalry in the forbidden army and send them over, and make an appearance at the enthronement ceremony of the first three people, which is estimated to be able to scare the courage of those rural landlords! It's a pity that the thousands of heavy cavalry raised by Da Zhao have been swallowing gold and silver all year round, but after looking through the history of the war for a hundred years, they didn't even have a single dispatch of thousands of people, and they purely became the honor guards who acted as the face of the imperial court.

But he was no longer angry that the court had nearly 10,000 heavy cavalry for nothing, so he could only complain and curse a few words in his stomach. If someone shouted that he wanted to cut the budget of the heavy cavalry, he would definitely be the first to jump up and scold his mother. Although it is said that the heavy cavalry is not practical, but people put the bright light armor on the horse and hang the big shoulder harness, and thousands of people put the formation in such a column, at a glance, there is a shining light everywhere, and it makes people feel majestic when they look at it.

Gu Shi looked at him as if he was absent-minded, so he simply didn't talk to him in a circle, and asked bluntly: "Zida, you are the initiator of the Dongwei strategy, and the household department refuses to allocate money and grain, what can you do?" ”

Shang Cheng grinned. He's got a shit trick. At most, he could only complain angrily: "God doesn't take it, but suffers from it!" Today, if we don't help the great monk seek the position of this king, it will be too late to regret it when we turn back! ”

Hearing his words, the first three mouthfuls who had been bent over their waists and sullen finally showed some smiles on their faces. He came to Da Zhao three times before and after, and he saw no less than hundreds of Da Zhao officials, only this Ying County Uncle was the best to him, and other officials may not help to speak even if they sent gold, but this Ying County Uncle didn't even see the gold, so he helped him a lot. Even if this time the Great Zhao Imperial Court agreed to send troops to the Eastern Wa, he also signed a contract One by one, Lord Shang Shu Zhai of the Ministry of Industry called the contract a "contract", and he also signed the contract in the name of the Wa King, but even so, no matter who it was, when he talked to him, he was still full of righteousness, not claiming that this was a rebellion on behalf of the heavens, that is, this was a righteous act of Yu Ping, although he also understood in his heart that after Da Zhao arrived in the East Wa, most of them would do everything possible to push him into the position of the Wa King, but Zhang Pu Zhenqian They didn't say it directly, There is always a rock hanging in his heart, and he is worried all the time. Now, it is Uncle Ying County again, and it is Uncle Ying County who is the first to come out and give him a reassuring pill......

He was so grateful that he couldn't even speak, and wiped his tears and snot to Shang Cheng and made a deep earthly gift to Shang Cheng. He shouted in his heart: The parents of those who gave birth to me, and the only one who knows me is the county uncle!

Shang Cheng hurriedly helped him up, made him sit down, handed him the teacup to him, taught him to drink hot tea soup to calm his mind, and said to him: "Don't be anxious, great monk, this matter has not yet reached the time of complete despair." You see, our Son of Heaven, the Prime Minister, and the six ministries of the imperial court have all agreed to send troops, and the strategy of the real master of the military department has also passed, which is all good news. The problem now is that the household department does not agree to pay. It's really not easy to do. But we can figure it out, don't we? There are always more solutions than problems. He didn't return to his seat, he pulled the chair and sat next to the first three, patted the back of his hand to comfort him, and continued, "Did you go to the transfer department?" ”

The first three sniffed, nodded and whimpered, "I've found ...... Yesterday, yesterday after dark. ”

"How?"

“…… They disagreed. ”

Shang Cheng smiled and said, "I'm not asking what the household department said, I'm asking, how did you tell them?" ”

"I, I ......" the first three didn't understand why Shang Cheng asked. He went to the household department of the central government to tell Da Zhao to allocate money and grain, what else can he say, of course, he told the truth about the Eastern Wa Kingdom to the officials who received him in the household department. But before he finished speaking, people began to entertain guests. Fortunately, it was the Chinese New Year who accompanied him at that time, and with the Chinese New Year to accompany him, others listened to him impatiently and reluctantly finish the story, and then ...... Of course, there is no "then".

"You didn't say you paid the money back?" Shang Cheng asked.

"I said it!" The first three explained in frustration, "I said that I was willing to write an IOU to the household department and sign a contract to repay the money, but the household department still did not agree." ”

Shang Cheng was silent. It seems that the household department can't trust the qualifications and credibility of the first three. It's not easy; After all, the household department is not a bank, and there is no business of opening loans. But there are too many places where the Dongwei strategy costs money, and apart from the household department, he really can't think of anyone else who can come up with millions in one go. This amount of money is too big for a person to solve, even the Eastern Yuan Emperor, the king of a country, does not have the ability. After all, the treasury is the treasury, the treasury is the treasury, and the Dongyuan Emperor can't spend the money in the treasury casually, if he really wants to stretch out his hand, the imperial history will teach him to look good, and the historian will make a note of it: on a certain year, month and day, the Son of Heaven steals state-owned assets one by one, and it seems that it cannot be said that it is state-owned assets; It is too straightforward to say that the national money is too straightforward, and it is even worse to say that it is domestic; State? National Treasury ......

He waved his hand, pushing aside all the jumbled associations in his head, refocusing his attention on the matter at hand.

In order to smoothly implement the strategy of the Eastern Wa, the first three must borrow four million taels, and in order to ensure that he can easily win the hearts of the people and win the popularity after the fall of the Fujiwara clan, this number is not enough, at least one or two million taels are needed for public relations and bribery, so at least five million taels must be required to ensure that he becomes the king of the Wa. Where did the five million come from?

He bit his lip and thought hard about a good plan, and suddenly caught a glimpse of Gu Shi, who also had a sad face.

It was just that moment, a flash of inspiration flashed in his mind!

In Da Zhao, in addition to the household department, who else has money in their hands? Of course, it's Xianggu Shiyi, and he also includes himself, of course, they are big landlords. He is still a little worse, after all, he has only been a county uncle for a few days, and he has never been to Fengguo, and he has not found a suitable person to help manage it, so he can't talk about much wealth accumulation. But Gu Shi is different; The Poyang Gu family is one of the top ten outstanding landowners in Dazhao, with history, precipitation, and accumulation, of course, they are even richer, so it is unlikely that they can immediately take out five million yuan in cash, but four or five hundred thousand cash is probably no problem. In Dazhao, or simply near Gyeonggi, there are more than one or two big landowners like the Poyang Valley family, and when he first started to burn glass in the Ministry of Industry, the streets were full of people crying and shouting that they wanted to participate in the shares and lose money, and there were several old princes of the clan, didn't they come out with hundreds of thousands of dollars to say that they wanted to buy the glass shares in the hands of the Ministry of Industry? They dare to throw money at such a shadowless thing as burning glass, what if they go to the Eastern Wa Kingdom to pan for gold? Do they dare to smash it?

After thinking about it for a while, he felt that this thing could be done, so he naturally showed a calm smile on his face, and patted the shoulders of the first three casually: "Great monk, I ask you a sincere word, if I can help you borrow six million yuan, what will you take out as collateral?" ”

The first three mouthfuls froze at the time, and completely forgot to answer with their mouths open.

Not only did he froze, but Gu Shi, He Nian and Jiang Luan, they were all stunned. God! The household department even bit the four million and refused to let go, how did it come to Shangcheng, and it became six million in the blink of an eye? And listening to his relaxed tone, six million is obviously not a problem, it seems that he probably has a proper idea of nine out of ten. Everyone couldn't help but take a breath: Da Zhao's annual tax income is only about 9 million, of which 70% is still grain, silk and linen and other physical goods, if he wants to change it into money, he has to rely on sales, where does he go to find the 6 million cash?

The first three were overjoyed at first, and then they were sad. Where can he have any collateral? This time, the central government begged Da Zhao to send troops, and said all the good things, and before and after in Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu, he pointed out the land of seven or eight countries to Da Zhao, but Da Zhao either disliked the barrenness of this piece of land, that is, the road was inconvenient, so it was easy to say, and finally it came with a lot of benefits, so that the two adults of Zhenqian and Zhai Cuo agreed to accept Iwami as a "sacrifice of land" to Da Zhao. Now that Shang Cheng wants to mortgage again, what else can he find as a mortgage?

At the critical juncture, he suddenly blessed his soul, stood up and bowed to Shang Chengshen, and said very sincerely: "The small people outside the country are stupid and dull, and I hope that Uncle Ying will not hesitate to advise." ”

Shang Cheng returned the salute, and when he sat down, he said, "The great monk is too humble. Speaking of which, this incident was originally caused by me, and if it weren't for my troubles, I wouldn't have made a fuss to this point. By now, we can only advance and not retreat, otherwise, the face of my blind Yanshan merchant will be lost! He smiled, "It's not just me, Gu Hou, Lord Zhen, and Lord He, we are all the initiators of the strategy, if the strategy is abandoned halfway now, how can we win the trust of others in the future?" Gu Hou and I, do you still want to go out and lead the troops? ”

Hearing Shang Cheng mention himself, he raised himself to the same level as Poyang Hou Gushi, and a sense of pride suddenly arose in his heart, so he straightened his waist on the seat, looked at Shang Cheng intently, and waited for his next step. Gu Shi had a different mind. Shang Yanshan's eyes cherish feathers, so it is impossible to toss the Eastern Wei strategy; Even if he tossed out this Dongwei strategy, if there was really something that could not be done, it would be impossible for him to regret it. There is only one reason why Shang Yanshan is still worrying about the first three people and worrying about the strategy, that is, because there must be something to be done and can be done in this matter. He couldn't help but ask curiously, "Zida, will Ji An'an come out?" ”

"As long as Gu Hou is willing to help, six million is just a trivial matter." Shang Cheng sells Guanzi.

"Helping is for sure. After all, I have known the great monk once, how can I sit back and watch him fall into sorrow and ignore him? Gu Shi said with a haha.

"Okay," Shang Cheng said with a smile, "Please ask Gu Hou to make a trip and contact the Ruyang King and their clans, and you will say that there is a big deal that is a hundred times better than glass, and ask them if they are interested." He turned his head to look at the first three again. Here, I also want to ask the great monk to make a promise. Your Eastern Wa Kingdom is an agricultural country, agriculture is the foundation of the country, and agricultural taxes are the lifeblood of the country, so can you please use the various commercial taxes such as customs, centi, housing, and passing of the Eastern Wa Kingdom as a pledge to borrow these six million taels from the Guhou and them? ”

The first three were born in a monastery and grew up in a monastery, and the people around them are monks in addition to monks, where do they know other secular affairs? In addition to keeping the precepts and reciting sutras, other affairs in his life include government affairs, military affairs, economy, and taxation...... And so on, all of them are half-understood, and now I heard that Shang Cheng first promised not to move the agricultural tax of the Eastern Wa Kingdom, and then said that he only used what commercial tax as collateral, and he was so happy that his mouth was grinning on the back of his head, where would there be a little bit of disagreement?

Since the first three agreed to the loan conditions, the rest is a question of how to borrow and how to repay. But Gu Shi will definitely not be able to make up an idea of this matter alone, he must first find people who can make up such a large sum of money, and everyone will sit down to discuss a rule, and then he can carefully discuss the loan with the first three people.

The first three went away happily accompanied by the Chinese New Year.

After they had been gone for a long time, Jiang Yan also found an excuse to go out with a very good look, Gu Shi solemnly bowed to Shang Cheng, and said sincerely: "Zida, thank you for your great kindness." In the future, if you have something to drive, just one sentence, the Gu family will not obey it. ”

Shang Cheng did not give in this time, he generously accepted his full salute, hugged his fists and bowed his hands, and said: "As the saying goes, distant relatives are not as good as close neighbors, our two families are only separated by a river, if I don't help you, who else can I help?" After a pause, he opened his mouth again, but in the end he said nothing. He originally wanted to tell Gu Shi to take a step back when it is time to retreat, and let some when it is time to let go, so that he can take this opportunity to plan, and it may not be impossible for the Gu family to have a stable life for decades. But after thinking about it, I felt that these words were not easy to say. He is a junior, why should he teach his elders? Besides, Gu Shi eats more salt than he eats rice, do you still need his guidance?

Although he didn't say anything, Gu Shi could still guess what he wanted to say. But he couldn't pick on what he said, so he smiled and said, "I don't need you to remind me, I'll prepare the cicada's dowry neatly when I go back, pick an auspicious day, and help you get married." ”

Shang Chengdeng's face darkened, he didn't bother to say another word, he pulled out his feet and left. Shouldn't the help Gu Shi! Does it matter if he dies or not? It's better to die!

He was out of the courtyard, and Gu Shi's voice could still be heard behind him:

"Hey, don't go, I still haven't finished speaking! My daughter's dowry is quite a lot, and there are ......"