On the eighth day of the sixth month, in the second hall of the Tianjin Guogong Mansion, Li Zhi's military officials gathered together. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

What Li Zhi convened his subordinates to discuss was a financial issue.

Now Li Zhi's capital consumption is extremely high. After repeatedly recruiting new soldiers, increasing the number of soldiers and horses from 20,000 to 60,000, and constantly expanding the navy's ships and artillery, Li Zhi's deficit has reached a staggering 7 million 21 years.

Later, with the increase in the income from various industrial products, and the gradual reclamation of public land in Shandong, the income from land rent increased, and Li Zhi's financial situation improved, but now the annual deficit is still 4 million 21 years.

At the same time, a large amount of Li Zhi's money was also consumed by the cost of 600,000 Liao people. To get the vast black soil of the three northeastern provinces, it is impossible to say that it is not to open up the wasteland, and the future income after the end of the land development is considerable, but the capital consumption in the stage of land development is also amazing.

There are 600,000 Liao people who have opened up the wasteland, excluding women, children, the old and the young, there are about 300,000 laborers, each laborer has a monthly salary of 125 yuan, and there are three meals a day. Although the treatment of these Liao people was much lower than that of the Tiger Ben Army, the number of hundreds of thousands of people was too huge, and the daily expenses alone cost Li Zhi 16 million taels a year. And that's not even counting the camps, tools, and other expenses of the clearing team.

Li Zhi has recently started the construction of the road network in Liaodong Province. Li Zhi not only wants to build a 1,500-mile railway in eastern Liaodong, but also plans to build a cement highway in eastern Liaodong that will "connect towns and towns."

Of course, the construction of these road networks is useful, and according to Li Zhi's plan, after the completion of the road network in eastern Liaodong, the cost of grain transportation can be reduced to 10% of what it is now. If it is said that in the future, Liaodong plans to have 40 million mu of dry land, and the annual output of 20 million stone of grain is sold to the mainland, without the road network, the transportation cost is about 6 million taels a year. With railways and highways, freight can be saved by more than 5 million taels a year.

In the long term and as a whole, road construction is very cost-effective. In the future, the operation of the railway is expected to be profitable, and some of the construction costs can be recovered. But in the short term and from a financial point of view, the cost of rail and road construction is heavy. Li Zhi's 1,500-mile railway was all funded by the government, and the cost was estimated at 6 million taels. The length of the "town-to-town pass" highway is longer, and the cost is estimated to be 5 million taels.

Li Zhi obtained 10 million taels of silver by attacking Japan, 20 million taels from the "fallen Li" gentry in Shandong, 27 million taels from the Jin merchants, 15 million taels from the Jiangnan gentry who went south to stab them in the back, plus several million taels from the sale of Jurchen slaves, Li Zhi originally had more than 70 million taels of silver deposits.

However, in the past two years, the expanding tiger division and the sudden appearance of the wasteland team have consumed more than 20 million taels of Li Zhi's more than 70 million taels of silver. In the coming year, the deficit of the wasteland reclamation team and the tiger division will continue, and it is estimated that it will be more than 20 million taels. The construction of railways and roads will require 10 million taels.

That is to say, even if the future profits of the steam engine industry are counted, the rise in patent fee income and the land rent income of Liaodong Gongtian, in another two years, at most three years, Li Zhi's 70 million taels of silver obtained from the southern and northern wars in these years will be exhausted. At that time, the heavy deficit will be completely unsustainable, and the desert brigade and even part of the army will have to be disbanded.

This is still on the premise that Li Zhi does not expand his army.

Many Shandong officials have recently put forward proposals to build a railway and road network in Shandong. The proponents believe that the current traffic between Shandong and Tianjin often takes several days, which is not conducive to communication and management between the two places.

Li Zhi applauded the suggestion, but the finances were simply not able to support it.

Li Zhi urgently needs to open up new sources of finance.

Everyone sat in the second hall, and no one spoke for a long time. The financial situation is really a problem, and no one can suddenly conjure up tens of millions of taels of silver.

Seeing that everyone was silent for a long time, Li Zhi suddenly asked, "How many people are there in North Korea?" ”

Hearing Li Zhi's words, everyone's eyes lit up and they all came alive. Zhong Feng and Li Xing talked to each other, and even Li Laosi, who had always been more steady, also talked to Hong Chengchou, and seemed to have some ideas.

In the end, Hong Chengchou stood up and said, "Grandpa Guo, no one knows the specific number of the population of North Korea. Based on the General Staff Office's knowledge of the DPRK, it is estimated that the population of the DPRK is between 9 million and 12 million. North Korea was originally barren. However, the two classes of Korean nobles have continued to reclaim the wasteland over the years, but they have greatly expanded the number of fields in Korea, which is why so many people have been born. ”

Li Xing patted the armrest of the chair, stood up, and said loudly: "Big brother! In recent years, North Korea has taken refuge in the Tatar Qing to help the Ming Dynasty, not only paying tribute to the Taqing as a vassal, but also exporting a large amount of grain to the Tarqing with backward agriculture, and even directly sending troops to assist the Taqing in attacking and plundering the Ming Dynasty. In the first battle of Jinzhou, North Korea sent tens of thousands of horses! ”

"If there were no more than 10,000 soldiers and horses in North Korea, how much less blood would my Ming warriors shed in the Battle of Jinzhou? This hatred and hatred must be investigated! ”

Li Xing waved his sleeves and said, "I propose that we write a harshly worded letter to the king of Joseon, asking him to compensate us for the silver in Tianjin, as the price for assisting the Tatar Qing in the past!" ”

Hearing Li Xing's words, everyone was even more excited, and they began to talk about it again.

If you can get a sum of money from North Korea, it will be a happy thing for everyone. In the Battle of Jinzhou, the Ming army suffered heavy casualties, and there was the "merit" of the Korean soldiers and horses. Not to mention that it was the food of North Korea that helped the Tatar Qing to support the most basic social order, otherwise the Tatar Qing would not have been able to mobilize in the battle of Jinzhou at all.

Hong Chengchou took a breath and said: "Although the DPRK was cleared in the ninth year of Chongzhen, it regained its vassal status to the Ming Dynasty after the Jinzhou War in the fifteenth year of Chongzhen. Last year, the Son of Heaven had forgiven Korea and canonized the king of Korea, Yi Liang, as the lord of Korea, so now Korea is a vassal state of my Ming Dynasty. ”

Although Grandpa Guo actually fought against the Manchus alone, he had the right to pursue North Korea, which was in cahoots with the Manchus. But now that North Korea has reasserted its position as a vassal, we, as the courtiers of the Ming Dynasty, seem to have no position to crusade against him again. ”

Li Xing became angry when he heard this, and said: "North Korea's first rat at both ends! The surrender of the Manchus has not yet passed! Even if the Son of Heaven lets him go, our Tianjin town will not spare him! ”

Everyone whispered and talked for a while, and finally looked at Li Zhi. Whether or not to do such a major event as the crusade against North Korea and how to do it depends on the idea of the Duke of Jin.

Li Zhi looked at the platform outside the second hall and said slowly: "North Korea is abetting and abusive, and it must not go unpunished." Hong Chengchou! You write a letter to the king of Korea for this duke, and this duke is in the name of the general of the Ming expedition to the north, and is fully responsible for the military and diplomatic affairs of the northern Ming Dynasty. General Ben asked the DPRK to hand over 15 million taels of silver for the atonement, otherwise our Tianjin army would be burned and the whole country would regret it. ”