"It's just the 100,000 taels of silver for the defense fee, I'm afraid there is nothing I can do!"

Xu Naizhao knew that if Jianghai Beiguan was rectified well, it would be possible to collect thousands or even tens of thousands of taxes more per month, and it was not impossible for this part to be pulled out to Yu Shengjun as an auxiliary defense fee, but the 100,000 yuan mentioned earlier could not be given again!

Lin Zhe smiled: "My lord said that he was joking, then you also know that after deducting the quota of 60,000 taels, there will be a surplus of a few thousand taels per month at most, which can only barely meet the needs of 2,000 soldiers to eat and drink, and it is naturally impossible to build 2,000 troops in the early stage with only this money, so the cost of building the army of 100,000 taels of silver is naturally still needed!" ”

This assistance defense fee is the assistance defense fee, and the military construction fee is the military construction fee, these are two different things can not be confused, although Lin Zhe's Jianghai Beiguan may get a lot of income from it in the future, but these taxes are used as future monthly defense expenses, and the early army construction expenses have nothing to do with it.

Seeing that Xu Naizhao's face became a little unpleasant, Lin Zhe immediately continued: "However, if there is a shortage of money and food in the Jiangsu Yamen, it can be less, but 80,000 taels is the least!" ”

Xu Naizhao stood up, and he didn't see how loud his voice was, but said softly: "As far as I know, there were a lot of silver deposits in Su Songtai's military preparation Dao Yamen and Jianghaiguan before, and the amount was hundreds of thousands of taels, if the official's prediction was correct, I'm afraid that these silvers have already fallen into the hands of Lin Xiandi!" ”

Hearing Xu Naizhao suddenly talk about this, although Lin Zhe's face remained unchanged, he had already scolded in his heart, this old fox knew it clearly, but he also expected this, the original Daotai Yamen and Jianghaiguan in Shanghai had a huge amount of silver, and there were not many people who knew it, Lin Zhe and an outsider could know in advance that there was so much silver in Shanghai, and Xu Naizhao had no reason not to know.

However, if you want Lin Zhe to spit out this batch of silver, it is absolutely impossible, it is a big deal that he will directly return to Zhejiang with the troops and silver, not to mention him Xu Naizhao, even Xiang Rong, Qi Shan or Yiliang have to stare dryly! What can you do to me?

But Xu Naizhao didn't say this before, but now he suddenly mentioned it, undoubtedly warning himself not to be too greedy!

Many thoughts flashed, and Lin Zhe still smiled: "My lord said that he laughed, although my Yu Shengjun attacked the city and captured it slightly, but it only needed a little rice grain, and the gold and silver were only thousands, and those deposits of silver were probably looted and squandered by the thief army!" ”

Lin Zhe cheekily didn't admit it directly, and Xu Naizhao didn't break his lie, but just continued flatly: "30,000 taels, plus the remaining taxes in Jianghai Beiguan every month in addition to the fixed amount of 60,000 taels, if Lord Lin feels that he has lost so much, he can go back to Huzhou!" ”

Lin Zhe stood up, his face still not changing much: "Fifty thousand taels!" ”

Xu Naizhao glanced at Lin Zhe a few times after hearing this, seemed to be silent, seemed to be thinking, and stood up after a long time: "Okay, it's only 50,000 taels, but I ask your army to help defend Shanghai, at least half of the veterans, and the newly built army must follow the existing regulations of Yu Shengjun, and it must not be reduced!"

In addition, I will lead the army back to Suzhou tomorrow, and then go to Zhenjiang, and the remnants of the thief army outside Songjiang City will be handed over to you to clean up! ”

"No problem, with my Yu Shengjun here, there will be no chaos in the reunion in this Songjiang Mansion!"

50,000 taels of silver plus the remaining tax after the fixed amount of 60,000 yuan in the monthly tax of Jianghai Beiguan is a verbal agreement reached by Xu Naizhao and Lin Zhe.

Although this is only a verbal agreement, this is not the first time that Lin Zhe and Xu Naizhao have cooperated, and the last time Lin Zhe was invited to send troops, it was only a verbal agreement.

Soon, Xu Naizhao began to fulfill his agreement, and on the same day, he issued an official document in the name of the governor of Jiangsu, appointing Lin Zhe to negotiate with Wu Jianzhang and the foreigners about the recovery of Jianghai Beiguan, and at the same time, he also ordered Jianghai Beiguan to pay a fixed amount of 60,000 taels of taxes every month to help military supplies, and if there was any surplus, Yu Shengjun would be allocated as appropriate to assist in the defense.

At the same time, Xu Naizhao directly sent Lin Zhe the next day the first batch of 10,000 taels of silver for the defense fee, which was the first part of the 50,000 taels of military construction expenses.

After Xu Naizhao and Lin Zhe reached this series of agreements, they did not stay in Shanghai for long, in fact, after he met Lin Zhe, the next day he led his 3,000 Qing troops to hurry north again, because Xiang Rong had already given him a letter, saying that since Shanghai had asked him to return to Zhenjiang as much as possible.

Xiang Rong's pressure is not small, and Emperor Xianfeng has repeatedly asked Xiang Rong to conquer Jiangning as soon as possible.

On the day of bidding farewell to Xu Naizhao, Lin Zhe publicly announced in front of many officials and gentry in Songjiang Mansion and Shanghai: In view of the fact that Songjiang Mansion has not been appeased, and the thief army is still running around, Yu Shengjun will send troops to the surrounding prefectures and counties in the next few days to eliminate the thief army and return the general public to a bright future.

At the same time, he also gave Xu Naizhao a private promise, guaranteeing that at least half of the veterans of the Yu Sheng Army in the future of assisting in the defense of Songjiang Mansion would not be newly recruited, and at the same time promised that the strength of the Yu Sheng Army in the future of assisting in the defense of Shanghai would not be less than 2,000 people, and the regulations of the newly built army would follow the existing Yu Shengjun regulations.

Xu Naizhao is quite satisfied with this, although they are all Yu Shengjun, but there will definitely be a gap between the new army and the old army, and Xu Naizhao spent money to invite Yu Shengjun to assist in the defense of Shanghai, so he naturally hopes that the Yu Shengjun he hired are mainly veterans, as for the number, two thousand is the least.

After sending Xu Naizhao away, the huge Shanghai county returned to the days when there were only Lin Zhe, his Yu Shengjun, Wu Jianzhang and a group of local officials.

Wu Jianzhang cautiously tried two sentences, and after learning that Lin Zhe really did not plan to live in the Daotai Yamen, he moved back to the Daotai Yamen from the Shanghai County Yamen, and as for Lin Zhe himself, he continued to set up the military headquarters of Yu Shengjun near the West City Gate.

Then Lin Zhe began to get busy, first of all, he ordered all the members of Yu Shengjun who stayed in Shaoxing Mansion to recruit troops, expand the scale of recruitment, and require that recruitment not only be limited to Shaoxing Prefecture, but also send people to several prefectures and counties in southern Zhejiang to recruit troops.

Zhejiang is rich in the north and poor in the south, and the northern region is a traditional land of fish and rice, without suffering from large-scale natural disasters or **, ordinary people generally live a good life, and the folk customs are relatively mild, in fact, it is not suitable for large-scale recruitment.

Since ancient times, it has been a good soldier from poor mountains and bad waters, and modern times are no exception.

The well-known regimental training army in modern times, such as Zeng Guofan's Hunan army and Li Hongzhang's Huai army, their soldiers are actually recruited from remote areas, the Hunan army is recruited from remote areas of Hunan, and the Huai army is recruited poor people in Jiangbei, these places are not rich areas, not to mention the remote mountainous areas of Hunan, Jiangbei is not a good place in this era, although they are all in Jiangsu Province, but northern Jiangsu and southern Jiangsu are very different.

Yu Shengjun initially recruited troops in Yuyao County, and later expanded to the entire Shaoxing Prefecture, but Shaoxing Prefecture was still a relatively wealthy area in general, with a large population but not many qualified soldiers.

In order to further expand the number of qualified soldiers, it is reasonable for Lin Zhe to set his sights on remote areas in southern Zhejiang.

In addition to recruitment, Lin Zhe also ordered the Suiying Academy to expand the enrollment scale, enrollment is not only limited to Shaoxing Prefecture, but expanded to the entire Zhejiang and southern Jiangsu regions, basically as long as they are willing to apply for the examination, and can be accepted after the examination, no longer limited to the local scholar group in Shaoxing as before.

In order to be able to quickly expand the army and build a foundation, Lin Zhe also changed the previous model of forming a new infantry regiment, but adopted the transfer of several infantry companies from the existing army to serve as the backbone of the new infantry regiment, and then enrich the unit with new recruits.

To this end, Lin Zhe directly took the three companies of the Second Infantry Regiment brought to Shanghai as the backbone and directly established the Fourth Infantry Regiment, with Shen Chiyun, the former deputy commander of the Second Infantry Regiment, as the commander of the Fourth Infantry Regiment.

In addition, the third, fourth, and fifth companies were also transferred from the First Infantry Corps as the backbone to form the Fifth Infantry Regiment, and the new commander was Qu Panyun, who was also the commander of the Third Infantry Company of the First Infantry Corps.

At the same time, Lin Zhe established the Fourth Artillery Company on the basis of several captured mountain splitting guns, and the company commander was the original deputy company commander of the Second Artillery Company and the first platoon commander Lin Mingbei, who was also a veteran of Yu Shengjun's artillery.

Originally a small household of the Lin family, Yu Shengjun was recruited as an artillery soldier after its establishment, because he knew a few words, and he was young and studious, he was soon promoted to artillery commander, platoon commander, and finally promoted to deputy company commander.

As for the cavalry troops, Lin Zhe considered that Xu Naizhao had sent more than 100 war horses to Huzhou, so he directly expanded the cavalry troops left in Huzhou and established the second cavalry company.

The baggage troops also transferred a company from the existing baggage regiment back to Huzhou, plus the fourth baggage regiment that remained in Huzhou, to jointly form the second baggage regiment, and the original baggage regiment that remained in Shanghai was renamed the first baggage regiment and governed the remaining two baggage companies.

After such a dismantling and adjustment, Yu Shengjun's establishment table changed from the original three infantry regiments, three artillery companies, one cavalry company, and one baggage regiment to five infantry regiments, four artillery companies, two cavalry companies, and two baggage regiments.

Of course, at present, these expansions in the establishment have not directly increased the total strength of Yu Shengjun, and the newly recruited soldiers have not yet arrived, and the current regiments except for the Third Infantry Regiment that remained in Huzhou, the others are only three infantry companies, in addition to the Fourth Artillery Company is also an empty shelf, and the two baggage regiments are only two companies each.

Once the soldiers of each department are replenished, the total strength of Yu Sheng's army is expected to exceed 5,000 in the future!

It's just that it will take at least two or three months to complete the soldiers and weapons of the above-mentioned troops, which is still a case of qiēshun lì, and if all the delays are made, I am afraid it will take even longer.

And to recruit new soldiers, purchase weapons, mules and horses, etc., just the upfront expenditure will be at least seventy or eighty thousand taels of silver, looking at the dense account books that Bi Yutong took over, and then looking at the total amount of expenditure below, Lin Zhe couldn't help but sigh.

This war and army expansion is to burn money!

I finally made hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, and I spent tens of thousands of dollars before I could cover the heat, and if you count the salary that has not been paid this month, it will cost another 10,000 or 20,000.

When the expansion of the army is completed, the monthly expenditure will be at least 40,000 taels, and if it is still during the war, the expenses will rise even more.

The five or six hundred thousand taels of silver in his hand seem to be a lot, but in fact, it can't last long.

Yu Shengjun spent a lot of money, and the Hunan army Zeng Guofan, who had more people than Yu Shengjun, had smashed hundreds of thousands, and the Hunan army had to spend millions this year.

The total military expenditure of the Qing army throughout the country is calculated in tens of millions, and a mere few hundred thousand taels of silver is really nothing.

In addition to recruiting troops to expand the army, it is necessary to buy weapons, muskets are supplied by the Linde Machinery Factory, and ammunition and artillery must be imported, as long as there is money, it is not a big problem.

And these things Lin Zhe is just grasping a general, and the detailed affairs are naturally handled by many people from Yu Shengjun.

Yu Shengjun's lively expansion of the army, in fact, in this expansion, Lin Zhe himself was not busy, so after just issuing many orders to his subordinates, Lin Zhe turned his attention to Jianghaibei Pass.

You know, he has to get Jianghai Beiguan back from the foreigners first, so that he can talk about cracking down on smuggling and rectifying the Jiangbei Customs, so as to create more tax revenues, so as to provide military expenses for Yu Shengjun.

Jianghai Beiguan is related to Yu Shengjun's military income in the next few months or even the next few years, Lin Zhe naturally hopes to get it back as soon as possible, but how to act has to be carefully considered by Lin Zhe!

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