Before the crossing, Xu Shiyang especially hated meetings.

But now, on the contrary, Xu Shiyang feels that meetings are particularly important.

In the case of the military, there were seminars before the war, summary meetings after the war, monthly meetings in peacetime, meetings after training, and meetings after cultural study at night schools.

As officials who also have a huge say in the field of people's livelihood, Xu Shiyang and Zhang Mingyi also have to attend various regular meetings of the Governor's Office and departmental meetings of several people's livelihood departments.

There will be so many, and it is no wonder that Zhang Mingyi complained.

"Do you have more meetings to have the opportunity to learn from the strengths of others and learn from the strengths of others?" Xu Shiyang said with a smile: "What's more, clarifying the lessons is a shortcut to improving yourself." ”

"So stop complaining and go back to rest."

"I think you're trying to drive me away." Zhang Mingyi put away his notebook and walked out while muttering.

When he walked to the gate of the small courtyard, he suddenly turned his head and said, "I shouldn't have told you this, but as a good friend, I cheekily advise you, you should try to take Wenyue with you now." ”

"You are in dire need of an eldest son."

……

December 20 of the first year of the Great Zhou Longdao.

The Grand Governor Xu Muhe held an annual meeting at the Quancheng Governor's Mansion.

The annual meeting was held at this time because by this time all the work had been completed this year:

On the military side, it is natural that no new offensive will be launched during this time.

In terms of civil affairs, the tax collection work of the first year of Longdao has already been completed, and the major factories have also paid the last month's salary and New Year's goods in advance, so that the workers can go home for a good year.

Public servants are still working overtime at this time, and various data for this year can already be released, so it is natural to hold a meeting a few days in advance to summarize this year's work and give a general plan for next year.

After this final work is done a few days in advance, the officials can also get a chance to take a turn off when everything is in order.

……

The first provincial annual meeting of the Governor's Mansion was divided into several parts: first, the military and people's livelihood departments held a summary meeting by themselves, and then the representatives of various departments went to the Governor's Mansion to hold a comprehensive meeting.

In other words, the annual meeting of the Governor's Office consisted of a series of small meetings and several assemblies.

As a cross-border senior official, Xu Shiyang has to participate in many meetings of the military and people's livelihood, which can be described as non-stop.

On February 25, the first comprehensive meeting of the first annual meeting was officially held.

The main agenda this time is the summary.

As the supreme leader of the military, Xu Shiyang issued the "National Defense Report" of the first year of Longdao.

In the first part of the report, Xu Shiyang very calmly released the report on the military strength of Qi Province to all the delegates of the annual meeting: So far, the new army of Qi Province has a total of ten field brigades and some independent special units (engineers, cavalry, artillery, suppression, medical), commanders' guards, trapped camps, blue military camps and other units, totaling about 20,000 people.

In addition, there are more than 5,000 troops in the training camp of the New Army and more than 3,000 troops in the Navy.

Not counting the militia, the armed forces of Qi Province currently have 28,000 people, and the military expenditure (including weapons procurement costs and pensions for the casualties) in the first year of Longdao is converted into 150 million catties of grain (all materials are converted into grain, the same below), and the additional special war expenses are 50 million catties.

A total of 2000000 catties of grain.

The war seizures on the part of the army are not counted as land, only the materials handed over, including gold, silver, treasures, various pearls, jade and gemstones, livestock and poultry, grain and cloth, carts and ships, etc., are converted together, and the total price is not less than 35000000 catties!

In other words, in the past year, the Qi army not only did not lose money, but made a profit of almost 100 million catties of grain!

After this figure was counted, the various livelihood departments were even a little surprised: this is too contrary to common sense, and it is still profitable to fight a war!

Xu Shiyang pointed out at the meeting: It is actually normal to profit from war, and the Tartars like to loot so much, isn't it because war can obtain a lot of economic gains?

In fact, this calculation method is still undercounted, after all, the land and population of southern Liaoning are the most valuable wealth.

The summary of the military aspects is followed by plans for next year.

Of course, the war plan cannot be announced at the meeting, but the expansion plan can.

Xu Shiyang made it clear that now all recruits will be added to the field troops, and with the reorganization of regular cavalry units, the expansion of the navy, and the expansion of special arms, Xu Shiyang hopes to expand the total strength of the army and navy of the new army to about 40,000.

Because nearly 5,000 war horses have been captured this year, the Qi Provincial Military Horse Farm can also provide the first batch of war horses raised by themselves next year, and the grain and grass consumed by horses are much higher than that of soldiers (but horses do not need military pay to support their families).

Therefore, it is expected that military spending will not be less than 300 million catties next year.

If the additional war expenses are added, the army consumption next year is estimated to be between 350 million and 400 million catties.

"40,000 soldiers, calculated according to 35,000 catties, 58 stones per soldier. According to 40,000 catties, it is 67 stone ......, why is it so high? Xu Muhe asked: "Does the forbidden army in Jiangnan have this kind of treatment?" ”

"Father, our soldiers are much stronger than the imperial forbidden army, and the forbidden army can't behead tens of thousands and recover the Golden Brigade." Xu Shiyang smiled and defended: "What's more, this is a discounted grain, not all of them are military salaries, I made soldiers, armor, guns, and navy ships for the army, all of which are counted in it." ”

"So many horses have been captured this year, and next year I will set up a regular cavalry unit, riding five paces at a time, and there is a lot of consumption in this."

Xu Muhe nodded, and then asked the representative in charge of finance: "How is the overall income this year?" How much does it cost? Can the requirements of the army be met next year? ”

"This year, the province has 12 million mu of land (not counting southern Liaoning), and 380 million catties of summer and autumn taxes."

The representative of the Ministry of Finance answered:

"In terms of the salt industry, this year's income is 120 million catties of grain; commercial tax is equivalent to 80 million catties; The mining income is equivalent to 50 million catties; The income of various factories is equivalent to 330 million catties; Other income - mainly bank loan interest, equivalent to 30 million catties. ”

"All of them add up, it's 9900000 catties, or 6.6 million stones."

The official of the financial department read according to the script:

"In terms of expenditure, the military expenditure was just said by the third prince, 20,000 catties; 120,000,000 catties of officials; 130 million catties were invested in education; loans of 50 million catties to the people of the province; The capital investment of the newly opened factory is 50 million catties; There are also the expenses of the water conservancy engineering team, and the salaries paid to migrant workers for other laborers totaling 80 million catties; 30 million catties for various other consumption, and finally ......"

The man glanced at the Governor above:

"The Governor's Mansion cost a total of 30 million catties."

"These all add up, the actual cost is 69000000 catties, last year's public treasury retained about 30 million catties, and this year's retention is theoretically 33000000 catties."

"However, the materials seized by the army, as the third prince said just now, can be equivalent to 3500000 catties of grain. In addition, there is assistance from Jiangnan and Shuangyu, which is scattered and scattered for a total of 150 million catties. ”

"If you count all of these, 8300000 catties will probably be enough for two years of military spending."