The preparations before the Zheng expedition were not only military, but also political and economic.

Economically, as soon as the so-called cannon goes off, there are 10,000 taels of gold, and as soon as this kind of big war begins, the expenses of armaments, money and grain, transportation of people, and the army will follow one after another, and the spending of money will inevitably be like running water.

Fang Yuan had just spent three million taels of silver to build an artillery mothership formation, and one million taels of silver was paid for Ma Lin and Gan Hui to recruit and train troops in Zhejiang Mansion to build 30,000 pairs of armor to equip the mountain warfare corps.

Before the start of the war, it was necessary to purchase sufficient artillery, gunpowder, and lead bullets, which required another 500,000 taels.

As soon as all the major expenses were deducted, the silver in Fang Yuan's inventory was spent cleanly, and even the silver on Yue Bao was called three million taels, and only eight hundred and fifty thousand taels could be left in the account. A mere 850,000 taels of silver is obviously not enough to support a major battle of more than 100,000 troops and a thousand-mile southern expedition.

According to the calculations of the Independent Accounting Group, the 80,000 regiments' thousand-mile expedition required the employment of 300,000 civilians and 150,000 mules for the transportation of military rations and strategic materials alone, according to the ratio of four civilians and one soldier.

If the war drags on for half a year, this expense alone will be about two million taels of silver, and the other scattered expenses will need at least four million taels of silver.

The shortfall in war funds was more than three million taels of silver, and with such a big shortfall, Fang Yuan could only start the idea of emergency grain reserves.

Since the cultivation of hybrid rice began on one million acres of official land, two crops have been harvested. He counted the accounts of the independent accounting group, and there were still 1.2 million stone of grain in the military field official warehouse, and at least 700,000 stone of grain could be used, which was 1 million taels of silver according to the market price of 1.5 taels per stone.

But this is only the data on the books, and if such a large amount of grain is smashed on the market at once, not to mention the difficulty of realizing it, it will definitely drop the price of grain by one or two silver.

Fang Yuan's idea was to change the way salaries were paid and pay with food.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the salary of officials consisted of hard currency grain and printed treasure money. By the middle of the Ming Dynasty, there was a shortage of food, and the treasure money had long been depreciated and no one cared about, and the salaries of officials were varied, some of which were paid with salt, tea, and even spices. In the late Ming Dynasty, due to the large inflow of silver, all grain and silver were used for salary payment.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, wars were frequent and the price of rice skyrocketed, and grain, as a hard currency, was obviously more precious than silver. When Fang Yuan first arrived in Jiangnan, the salaries of Jiangnan officials were already mainly paid in silver.

Fang Yuan decided that from now on, the monthly salary spent by the Xuanjia Army, Jinyiwei, Changshu Arsenal, and Jiangnan University Hall will change the previous method of issuing all silver, and instead adopt the method of half silver and half rice.

This method of operation can not only turn grain into silver, but also not put a large amount of grain into the market at once, which will affect the price of grain. Moreover, as grain is a hard currency, everyone will not have much complaint.

Fang Yuan ordered the independent accounting team to calculate that in eight months, before the Zheng clan was conquered, at least one million taels of silver could be saved for military expenses.

As a result, the shortfall in war funds was only more than 2 million taels.

The two million taels were indeed a thorny problem, and the only way Fang Yuan could think of was to issue two million taels of silver war bonds to wealthy businessmen and middle-class households in Nanzhili and Zhejiang.

The issuance of war bonds was also a method that was commonly used in the world of the First and Second World Wars, and the war funds were collected by paying them at a premium after the war.

War bonds can also be divided into long-term war bonds and short-term war bonds according to their nature.

The so-called long-term war bonds, which are no different from government bonds, are set to be repaid at a time limit, and as long as the Fang Yuan regime does not collapse, the issued war bonds will be redeemed at maturity. This type of bond usually has a longer maturity, at least more than 10 years, and the annual interest does not exceed 10%.

The so-called short-term war bonds are bonds issued for a certain short-term war, with a maturity of one or two years, and in order to quickly collect military spending, the interest rate of short-term war bonds is usually very high, and the premium is at least 30% or more.

Fang Yuan was not short of silver in the long run, but at this juncture, he spent a lot of money in a concentrated manner, and his hand was too tight for a while, so he tended to issue short-term war bonds, limited to one year, and pay the silver directly after the war against the Zheng clan.

He called all the wealthy businessmen of the business association, including the Dongting Merchants, the Suzhou Merchants, the Shanshan Merchants, the Huizhou Merchants, the Jinling Merchants, and the Zhejiang Merchants.

He told everyone straight to the point that he was going to issue two million taels of silver war bonds, and stipulated that the term of the war bonds was two years and the interest rate was 50%.

Although the war bond is a new matter, the concept is not difficult to understand, Fang Yuan explained a little, and the wealthy businessmen understood the way of profit and loss, mainly to judge whether Fang Yuan had the ability to repay the three million taels of silver with interest after the war bond matured.

Relying on the collection of normal fiscal revenues such as land taxes and commercial taxes will certainly not be able to pay it within a year. These elf-like wealthy businessmen knew when they smelled the smell that Fang Yuan could only raise three million taels of silver in a short period of time by waging wars and plundering foreign countries.

Although Xi Benzhen was in the cabinet, he didn't get the slightest news of the war, not to mention borrowing two million taels of silver, the scale of this war must be not small, and he asked, "Governor Fang, there will be a large-scale foreign war within a year?" ”

Since he was reaching out to these wealthy businessmen to raise money, of course, he didn't have to hide it from them, Fang Yuan said truthfully, "Yes, otherwise I wouldn't have to sell this war bond." ”

Wu Dashan asked carefully, "Who is Governor Fang fighting with?" ”

Fang Yuan smiled, since he asked so clearly, he was naturally interested. These businessmen had to make a comprehensive assessment of the outcome of the war before they could decide whether they were able to pay their debts. Only if the battlefield is won, Fang Yuan can pay off his debts through war plunder, if the battlefield is lost, where will Fang Yuan get the money to pay off his debts?

Fang Yuan knew that if he didn't tell them the truth, he explained, "The Zheng family in Fujian. ”

The wealthy businessmen began to whisper that since it was a short-term risky investment, they naturally had to calculate the probability of winning or losing this war.

Whether it is salt, tea, or silk, they all have huge business contacts with Fujian, and it can be seen at a glance that the key point of this thousand-mile expedition to Fujian is whether it can break through the Xianxia Ancient Road. On the Xianxia Ancient Road, the Zheng army stationed at least 50,000 troops.

Jiang Yan asked tentatively, "When will Governor Fang send troops this time?" How many troops to send? Is it land and water? ”

When to send troops, how many troops to send, and what route to take are military secrets, of course Fang Yuan will not inform these rich businessmen, and said lightly, "This has nothing to do with you, you only need to decide whether to buy or not." ”

Xu Hua, a big official and businessman, asked again, "Governor Fang, can we amortize the war bond this time?" ”

Fang Yuan had to admire the clever minds of these businessmen, he did not discuss with Xu Hua in advance, Xu Hua was also the first time to hear about war bonds, but at a glance he found a way to lose without taking risks, and winning was profitable, that is, underwriting.

Fang Yuan gave them a 50% premium, and they could issue a 30% premium in the market, and if they lost, they didn't take any risk, and all of them were passed on to the people, and if they won, they could eat the premium difference in the middle.

He is eighty or ninety percent sure of the outcome of this war, Xu Hua is willing to send money to the people, so send it!

Fang Yuan smiled and said, "Yes, I only need silver, no matter where the silver comes from." ”

Xu Hua asked tentatively, "Can Governor Fang issue an official bill of one hundred taels of silver?" ”

This kind of official banknote is actually a bond issued by the government, and after a year of maturity, you can use this kind of official banknote to find the government to redeem it into silver.

Fang Yuan secretly bought a large box of 100 yuan denomination banknote paper on Taobao, there were 20,000 pieces, a total of 2 million taels of silver.

In ancient times, when issuing banknotes, the most worrying thing was counterfeit banknotes, which were not easy to identify. With modern printing process banknote counting paper, you don't have to worry about counterfeit banknotes. Because of the craftsmanship of this era, it is impossible to make counterfeit banknotes with such fine textures.

Fang Yuan pointed to a large box of banknote and said, "This war bond is in an anonymous way, and when it expires, I will use these to exchange silver with the government and the government, and one hundred taels of silver per piece of paper, and I will keep it properly." ”

Most of the wealthy businessmen are quite optimistic about the prospects of Fang Yuan, not to mention that this war bond can still be underwritten, and who does not want to do it?

The wealthy merchants of the major merchant gangs began to come forward to subscribe, and the war bonds of 300,000 taels for you, 500,000 taels for me, and 2 million taels of silver were sold out in less than half an hour.

Xi Benzhen didn't fight for this quota, and after everyone left, he asked privately, "Governor Fang, the military operation should be carried out in secret, you made a lot of noise months in advance, will the Zheng clan strike first?" ”

Fang Yuan smiled and said, "I have publicly demarcated the date of attacking Fujian, Zheng Zhilong, the official gentry and wealthy businessmen in Fujian will be frightened three times a day when they get the news, Zheng Sen wants to take the initiative to attack, these people will also obstruct it, gather troops to stick to Fujian, where do they dare to take the initiative to attack?" ”

Xi Benzhen suddenly realized that Fang Yuan was really far-sighted, and took the initiative to deter Fujian with the news of attacking Fujian, so that the Zheng clan was busy defending, and did not dare to take the initiative to attack, but it was a clever move.

The economic problem is solved, and the next step is to occupy the commanding heights of politics, as long as you can obtain the edict of the imperial court to crusade against Zheng Zhilong, then you will be famous.