In the Governor's Yamen Hall, Chen Yue, Marquis of Pingnan, convened a meeting of the heads of the shogunate's various divisions.

In the land under his rule, the number of troops increased, and the affairs of the governor's yamen became more and more complicated. Generally speaking, civil Chen Yue does not ask questions, they are all handled by the local government, and those involved in military affairs will be dealt with.

In the provinces of Jiangbei, in addition to the Pingnan Army, in addition to the local armies of various prefectures and counties, there are more than ten other deputy generals of the general army, and the total number of troops is more than 100,000. However, Chen Yue has not paid attention to the miscellaneous armies in these places, and the most important thing now is to strengthen the Pingnan army as soon as possible.

Every three days, the heads of the shogunate sat together in meetings to discuss various matters. Although the shogunate was divided into several divisions, each with its own responsibility, there were many things that needed to be solved together.

or to report on the recent major events of the imperial court, and various things related to the rule of the governor of Jiangbei, the participants are the heads of various departments, and such things must be well understood.

Therefore, it has become a common practice to meet every three days. For other things, Chen Yue will only convene the relevant personnel involved to discuss and solve them.

Recently, the shogunate added another division, called the Degree Branch, which was equivalent to the function of the household department of the imperial court, and was in charge of the revenue and expenditure of the governor's office.

Ren Yu, the new director of the Du Branch, is also the old man of the Pingnan Army, Chen Yue, who was originally from Shandong, was originally the shopkeeper of a commercial house, and his family was ruined because of the Qing army's entry into Koushan, and his family was ruined, and he was transferred to Beijing. Originally, he had been assisting Zhang Chenglei in managing logistics matters, and this time he set up a degree branch division, considering that he had been a treasurer and proficient in accounts, he was appointed as the director of the degree branch division.

"Master Hou, the Ordnance Division just withdrew 100,000 taels of silver last month, and recently withdrew another 150,000 taels." Ren Yu said about the recent situation of the Du Branch.

"The boy surnamed Ren, what do you mean? Last month, 200,000 taels of silver were used to set up various ordnance workshops and to distribute silver to craftsmen to settle down. You don't know how expensive the land in Yangzhou is, and you don't have to pay for land acquisition and hiring people! This month's 150,000 taels were used to pay a deposit to the merchants, and to buy various raw materials such as copper, iron, charcoal, and sulfur. ”

Li Xiong interrupted Ren Yu's words and shouted dissatisfiedly.

"Director Li, I'm just talking about the recent expenditure account of the branch." Ren Yu said expressionlessly.

"Director Li, don't talk yet, let Director Ren finish." Chen Yue tapped his fingers on the table and motioned for Li Xiong to shut up.

"This month, the Military Training Department withdrew 30,000 taels of silver to pay the soldiers, and the Logistics Department withdrew 50,000 taels of silver to purchase various material ...... of military rations and vegetables."

Ren Yu's face calmly said the various accounts of the expenses of the branch, and Chen Yue's face became more and more solemn.

"In the past two months, the total amount of silver has been 632,137 taels of silver, and there are currently 930,000 taels of silver left in the treasury of the Governor's Palace."

Ren Yu finally said.

......Everyone present gasped, it turned out that so much silver had been spent in the two months of coming to Yangzhou!

Chen Yue showed a wry smile on his face, the Pingnan Army just came to Yangzhou, everything is a start-up, and naturally it costs a lot, just more than ten workshops in the Ordnance Division, hundreds of thousands of silver are consumed every day, the new barracks in the north of Yangzhou City, the construction of barracks, the food of 30,000 recruits three meals a day, plus the monthly soldiers' salaries, and the salaries of the shogunate, the expenses are really too much.

And what about the income of the Pingnan Army? The imperial court would allocate 500,000 taels of silver every year, and then 3,000 taels of salt for the army's military rations.

If it relied on the military salaries of the imperial court, the Pingnan army was at most the same as other local armies, most of the soldiers lived a half-starved life and wore ragged military uniforms, how could such an army have combat power at all.

The current recruits of the Pingnan Army can eat three meals a day, eat a full meal, and eat a meal of meat every three days, and in terms of food in this era, they are already better off than most rural landlords, not to mention that they still have a full amount of money every month and never deduct it.

Of course, all this needs money, and the silver allocated by the imperial court is of course not enough, and it is the private money that the Pingnan army has been saving, and when it was difficult to escape from Beijing, everything was abandoned, that is, hundreds of thousands of taels of silver were always carried, and more than a dozen noble homes were raided in Nanjing, and thirty percent of the seizures were deducted, which was nearly two million taels of silver.

Then there is 30% of the profits of the Four Seas Merchants, most of which will be used to raise the army. These are the sources of income for the Pingnan Army.

"According to the current silver deposit in the treasury, it will last for four to five months at most, and Hou Ye has to plan early." Ren Yu finished reporting and sat down.

According to the current expenditure, the soldiers' food and military salaries, as well as the salaries of the shogunate, the monthly expenditure is at least 100,000 taels of silver, if you want to maintain this situation or even expand the army more, you must think of expanding financial resources, Chen Yue touched his nose and thought.

After Ren Yu reported the accounts of the Du Branch Division, the directors of each division reported their own work. The training of the soldiers of the Military Training Department is normal, and in another month the training of the recruit period will be completed, and then they will be formed into an army.

The General Staff Division is considering the establishment of battalions and their garrison, which is a more complex project.

The various workshops of the Ordnance Division have been established, and the craftsmen recruited from Nanjing are coming one after another, waiting for all kinds of raw materials to come, and they can start making armor and ordnance. The military uniforms of 30,000 recruits have been entrusted to the merchants in Yangzhou, and tens of thousands of summer military uniforms are being sewn.

The Enemy Intelligence Department has already dispatched a lot of detailed work to Shandong and Henan, and is investigating the affairs in the north. Although Chen Yue knew that the Qing soldiers would not go south this year, the necessary investigation was still needed. Take advantage of this time to plant in the north, and when the war starts in the future, information will naturally come in a steady stream.

Of course, the affairs of the Enemy Intelligence Department cannot be discussed at this kind of meeting, and they are usually reported to Chen Yue in private.

Chen Yue also told everyone about the current situation of the imperial court, and also said that the civil officials asked the Pingnan Army to enter Shandong in the Northern Expedition.

"These civilian officials know that nonsense, our recruits have only been trained for two months, and the armor is not complete, how can we go into battle and fight? Isn't this sitting and arguing and blindly commanding? ”

Qian Fenglin, the chief of the staff department, said with a smile, he had been a magistrate, so he naturally knew the temperament of those civil officials in the imperial court, which was why he would rather be in the Pingnan Army than be recommended by Chen Yue to continue to be an official.

Everyone also laughed one after another, and for these martial artists, it was a pleasure to laugh at those officials and masters in the court.

"By the way, just yesterday there was an interesting incident, two children of the health institute who were originally here to participate in the assessment, caught the murderer and robber and the smuggler on the way, and escorted them to Yangzhou."

In the end, Shan Minglei, the director of the Zhenfu Division, told an interesting anecdote that aroused Chen Yue's interest.