sent Gao Hongtu away, and Zhu Cihong decided to summon Jiang Yueguang and Lu Zhenfei.

Although Gao Hongtu was a little stubborn, what he said made sense.

It is necessary to reinstate the governor of Denglai, and the restoration of the Denglai Navy Division is not a matter for one department of the Ministry of Industry. Zhu Cihong must coordinate multiple parties.

Originally, Zhu Cihong wanted to bring the officials in again to discuss together.

But considering that Zhang Shenyan, the secretary of the ministry, is seriously ill and has been recuperating at home, it is not appropriate for Zhu Cihong to call a waiter, so he simply summoned Jiang Yueguang and Lu Zhenfei.

Anyway, after the agreement, the ministry will just let you know.

As long as Jiang Yueguang, who is in charge of money, and Lu Zhenfei, who is in charge of soldiers, have no problem, then this matter will be done.

Zhu Cihong, who was waiting, simply analyzed the war in Henan on the map.

Now that Gao Jie's Northern Expedition has laid Kaifeng, he can continue to fight Huaiqing and Weihui to directly threaten Beizhili.

He could also concentrate his forces to capture Luoyang.

Luoyang is the same Xiongcheng as Kaifeng, and its importance is even higher than that of Kaifeng.

It can be said that Gao Jie is very good no matter where he chooses to play.

Zhu Cihong himself is inclined to take Luoyang. However, he does not intend to limit Gao Jie's conditions.

In wartime, any small change on the battlefield can lead to a change in decision-making.

Taking advantage of the gap in the Manchu Qing Dynasty's western expedition as much as possible to grab benefits is what Zhu Cihong needs to do now.

Just when Zhu Cihong was contemplating and contemplating, the inner attendants Lu Zhenfei and Jiang Yueguang had already come to wait outside the hall.

Zhu Cihong sat down in a robe and said loudly: "Xuan! ”

The king must sit upright, not be angry, and must not do anything that damages his image.

Zhu Cihong felt that he had done a good job in this regard.

Jiang Yueguang and Lu Zhenfei knelt down and saluted after entering the hall in turn, and Zhu Cihong gave them a flat body, and each gave a brocade pier to rest.

"I summoned the two ministers to discuss an important matter, and I am ready to reinstate the governor of Denglai and rebuild the Denglai Naval Division. What do the two families think? ”

Lu Zhenfei was refreshed when he heard this.

He firmly supported the Northern Expedition and opposed all forms of peace talks.

In his opinion, only if they are stronger and subdued and scared, they will obediently withdraw from the pass. And once he shows weakness, Dongyu will pounce on him mercilessly like a hungry wolf.

"Your Majesty is wise! Denglai is in an excellent location, and the establishment of a naval division here can not only threaten Jinmen, but also use troops to Lushun, which is really a double win. ”

Since Lu Zhenfei became the secretary of the military department, he has always wanted to rebuild the water division in Denglai. It's just that at that time, there were less than five sea ships in the hands of the imperial court, so naturally they couldn't do this.

Fortunately, the Son of Heaven was wise enough to reform the Longjiang Shipyard, use rewards to motivate craftsmen to build ships, and built dozens of lucky ships and sea ships in just a few months.

Although this number is not comparable to the number of ships in the heyday of the Denglai Marines, it is already a very good start.

Lu Zhenfei believes that in one year at most, or half a year at least, the Denglai Sailor will be able to return to its former scale.

Shoujiang? Shouhuai?

Don't do it all!

If it really comes time to rely on guarding the river and guarding Huai, the Ming Dynasty will soon fall.

Even if you want to defend it, it is Shandong and Henan that you will guard. Defending these two places, Dongyu would not be able to threaten Nanjing at all.

Keeping the enemy out of the country is the best policy.

"Well, then Lu Aiqing will estimate the number of soldiers in Denglai Town, and take out a charter and report it to me."

"Obey the order!"

Lu Zhenfei happily accepted the order.

"Jiang Aiqing, is there a problem with the household department?"

Zhu Cihong turned to Jiang Yueguang again.

"Your Majesty, it is a good thing to restore Denglai Town. But I'm afraid the matter of money and food is a little difficult to do. Lao Chen doesn't know how much Denglai Town is going to set up troops, but this year, the true color of the silver will add up to at least one million taels, right? The household department can't come up with so much money. ”

This old fox cries poor as soon as he comes up!

Zhu Cihong secretly scolded a sentence, but smiled slightly: "Oh? Can't you get a million taels of silver? ”

Jiang Yueguang was waiting for Zhu Cihong's words, and hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, Huguang's annual military salary will consume half of the annual income, plus the daily expenses of the hundreds of thousands of garrisons in Nanzhili, it is just enough." If Your Majesty asks the minister to squeeze out more than 100,000 taels, it may be possible, but if you ask the minister to take out 1 million taels at once, the minister really can't do it. ”

What Jiang Yueguang said is true or false.

It is really the Southern Ming Dynasty that the cost of raising the army is indeed very large. Let's just say that Zuo Liangyu's "800,000" army has to be supported by the imperial court.

If Zhu Cihong cut off Zuo Liangyu's military salary, Zuo Liangyu would definitely jump to his feet and scold his mother, and it would be possible to pull the flag and rebel.

Therefore, Huguang's military salary cannot be broken for the time being.

Then there is the salary of the warlords of Nanzhili.

Needless to say, Gao Jie and Huang Degong are self-explanatory. Even before Liu Liangzuo and Liu Zeqing launched a rebellion, the imperial court did not lose a tael of their silver.

The cost of this piece is indeed huge.

Fortunately, now Liu Zeqing and Liu Liangzuo have all been ambushed, saving a lot of silver. As long as Zuo Liangyu dies, Zhu Cihong will be able to use Jin Shenghuan, Ma Jinzhong and others to control Huguang. After bringing the situation in Huguang under control, it is certain that a part of the army will be dismantled. There is too much water in these 800,000 people, and there are no 200,000 people who can really fight.

Zhu Cihong doesn't plan to raise so many idlers, and he can save a sum of money after losing weight.

Even if Jiang Yueguang didn't know that Zhu Cihong planned to use a knife against Zuo Zhen, he should always know that Liu Liangzuo and Liu Zeqing's rebellion had been put down, right?

How can it not be possible to transfer the military salaries that originally belonged to Liu Zeqing and Liu Liangzuo to Denglai Town, which is about to be restored?

Even if there is a shortfall, it will not be a million taels, at most hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.

Jiang Yueguang insisted that he had no money, didn't he obviously want Zhu Cihong to pay out of his own pocket and pay this military salary from within?

Zhu Cihong is not stupid and will not take the initiative to admit this black account.

He decided to reason with Jiang Yueguang.

"I don't think so, right? Liu Liangzuo and Liu Zeqing have been killed, and the rebels have almost been killed. Why didn't Jiang Aiqing allocate this part of the money to Denglai Town? ”

Jiang Yueguang seemed to have been prepared, and he blew his beard and said: "Your Majesty doesn't know that the consumption of sailors is much more than that of infantry. Although the number of the two Liu rebels is 50,000 or 60,000, the military salary consumed a year is 560,000 taels, but if the same person is replaced by a sailor, even if the maintenance cost of various boats is not counted, the soldier's salary alone will have to be doubled. ”

This Jiang Yueguang didn't lie. It costs more money to raise cavalry than infantry, and water divisions cost more money than cavalry. In this way, if Denglai has a fixed number of 50,000 or 60,000 soldiers, it will indeed need to consume millions of taels a year.

It's not that Zhu Cihong doesn't understand this, he just doesn't like Jiang Yueguang's attitude of only reaching out and asking for money.

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