Finance Department.

The atmosphere was solemn and tense.

The reason is that Prince Rui is taking inventory.

Dozens of bookkeepers temporarily hired from Zhong Xiangcheng were "thunderbolting" and calculating, and one by one the data slips were constantly handed to Li An'an, the Hubei Zuo Counselor, who was in charge of financial work, and then summarized them to Prince Rui.

This Li An'an is the nephew of Li Shijie, the governor of Sichuan, and was recommended by Li Shijie to serve as a lieutenant officer in the Jia Sixth Division, who was the governor of Sichuan at the time.

Later, Jia Liu returned to Beijing to take up this Li safe, and he has been in charge of financial work, which is regarded as his private general ledger accountant, and he has hung a rank of senator from the fourth rank in the Yamen of the Governor of Zhili.

Now that he has been promoted to participate in politics from the third grade, compared to Li An'an, who has not even shown his fame, it is an important turning point in his life, and he is really boiled out.

Compared with the prefect of the fourth grade, Li An'an was very satisfied.

If the future work can be appreciated by Prince Rui as always, he may not be able to serve as a governor and minister in the future.

The Qing Dynasty employs people based on ability, not academic qualifications.

If you want to look at your academic qualifications, Li Wei, the governor of Zhili back then, and the current Prince Rui, one may continue to be the second generation of the rich at home, and the other may pretend to be a ghost at some point.

And the prince's employment is even more eclectic, and His Majesty is extremely relaxed, making it difficult for people not to get close.

But today's inventory, whether it is the prince himself or Li An'an, they all look solemn, and the atmosphere is very tense.

Because the inventory is not only related to the issue of account expenditure, but also to whether the prince's political offensive can continue.

Historically, Zhao'an must give enough money and food to the people recruited, so that their political treatment and living treatment are one or two levels higher than before, so that the recruited people can be willing to work for the imperial court.

It's like when people make 2,000 yuan a month when they rebel, but they also get 2,000 yuan a month after recruiting, and they don't even have 2,000 yuan.

Wasn't that the Ming Dynasty Zhao'an Dakou Zhang Xianzhong like this.

The base of the Xinghan army was too small and too weak, so Jia Liu's political offensive was right, but the premise of the political offensive was that there were enough banknotes.

Sorry, Jia Liu had just been told that his money was about to bottom.

This made Jia Liu very depressed, he knocked on more than two million taels of banknotes in Beijing, so he was full of confidence to go south to beg for thieves, why did he just start to show his strength, but his confidence was gone.

Therefore, it is necessary to take inventory.

He doesn't want to know where he got his money, he wants to know how he didn't have it.

The following is counting the expenses of the past two months, and here Ji Yun is summarizing the situation in Huguang.

"Lord Wang, the ordinary silver expenditure of the Huguang Green Battalion, the monthly silver payment of the horse soldiers is two taels, the monthly silver payment of the soldiers is one tael and five cents, and the monthly silver payment of the guards is one tael, and the three are all three buckets of rice per month. The rice is distributed according to the summer and winter seasons, and all of them are registered by the ministries and sent to the ministries for verification..."

However, under normal circumstances, whether it is a horseman, a soldier, or a garrison, there is actually only 12 taels of money a year, about 450 catties of grain.

The number of defenders may be roughly this number, and the money for the soldiers and horsemen must be more than that, where did it go?

It is nothing more than layers of exploitation, and deductions are made in various names.

According to the actual purchasing power of silver, 12 taels of silver is about six or seven thousand yuan, plus a few hundred catties of rice, and it will be 10,000 yuan if you reach the sky.

How can 10,000 yuan feed a family?

Therefore, the salaries of the officers and men of the Green Battalion were really low, and Jia Liu knew this very well when he was the governor in Sichuan, so he proposed the same salary system for the banner and the Han, and gave his descendants Jinchuan Town, Chongqing Town, and Chengdu Town of the Sichuan Green Battalion, a double salary, and a multi-pronged approach to ensure that the annual income of ordinary soldiers in the Sichuan Green Battalion was about 30,000 yuan, which was three times the salary in the past.

The salaries of officers have more than tripled.

In this way, the Sichuan Green Battalion was firmly held in his hands, whether it was a soldier or an officer, he only knew Lord Jia but not the Qing Dynasty.

While ensuring loyalty, it has greatly improved the combat effectiveness of the Sichuan Green Battalion.

Money is a man's guts, and you can't go wrong with that.

It's just that the source of funds for Jia Liu's equal pay for equal work in Sichuan is not the household department or the military department, but the money he and Sichuan Governor Li Shijie privately raised.

This includes, but is not limited to, embezzlement.

In essence, the money is still from the imperial court, but in the actual operation process, this money is surnamed Jia.

In addition to the Sichuan Green Camp, the teams that Jia Liu pulled up in Zhili basically refer to this model, and the source of funds used to support these teams is the private property of the Holy Ancestor Kangxi Ye and Shizong Yongzheng Ye in addition to the finance of Zhili.

These funds were all revitalized by Jia Liu through various means, so in addition to Jia Liu's political wisdom and military command ability, Jia Liu's business acumen is also highly developed.

To describe him as an all-rounder, it is probably objective.

It's just that except for the descendants of the headquarters, the current situation of the Qing army is relatively miserable.

The wage level of the Huguang Green Battalion was simply unable to feed a family, so after the Xinghan Army entered Huguang, the local Green Battalion almost collapsed at the touch of a button, and then fell into a piece of thieves.

The original number of soldiers in the Huguang Green Battalion was 27,500, and the basic salary was calculated at 12 taels a year, and the annual treasury needed to pay 330,000 taels of silver.

This does not include officers' salaries, salted vegetables, clothing, weapons and ordnance, logistics support, communication and liaison expenses, social communication expenses, tobacco and alcohol entertainment expenses, and ushering and sending expenses...

Therefore, the annual military salary expenditure of the Guanglu Battalion of Dahu Lake is 1.58 million taels.

Huguang is actually two provinces, Hunan and Hubei.

The total annual fiscal revenue is less than 4 million taels.

The green battalion alone accounted for more than one-third of the military salaries, not counting the Jingzhou garrison of the Eight Banners and the salaries of civil servants in the province.

Miscellaneous calculations, Huguang's finances are barely level, that is, there is no need for the imperial court to make up for Huguang's deficit through transfer payments, but Huguang also has no ability to pay more taxes to the imperial court to help the poorer places than him develop the economy.

Now the problem is that Hubei has been eroded for almost two years, and although it has now recovered two-thirds of its territory, its fiscal revenue is about equal to zero.

Even if the big burden of the Eight Banners garrisoned in Jingzhou was removed, the Huguang Green Battalion itself suffered heavy losses in the two years of war, and the actual number of soldiers dropped from more than 20,000 in the past to less than 5,000, and Huguang's finances were still in a big deficit.

In the past two years, if it had not been for the large amount of funds allocated by the Ministry of Households, coupled with the support of the fraternal provinces of Sichuan, Henan, Shaanxi and other places, not to mention whether the remnants of the Qing army in Huguang could exist, even the counterinsurgency army commanded by Feng Shengyi would have to disperse because of poverty.

What about the situation on the other side of the household?

The old rich all acquiesced to the six virtuous brothers picking up Kangxi's grave, what else could they refer to.

"The total amount of thousands is only two taels of silver per month, and the total amount of silver is only one or two or five dollars of silver per month, and there is no rice stone. In an official ration, in addition to deducting the silver and the small moon silver, it is only used for one family to eat. If the wife and children are hungry and cold, how can they have no complaints? If they do not show grace out of the ordinary, the people's hearts will be uneasy, how can they ensure that there are no defectors to help the enemy? ”

Although Ji Yun is a half-witted vice minister of national defense, the situation he has is still detailed compared to the following, and the data given are the most real.

"If the silver tael required for the purchase of firewood and grass is calculated at three cents a day, it shall be half of the silver paid. It is reasonable to raise the family of Wu Ben. Then transferred to the emperor, there is nothing left, although there is half of silver, but to buy firewood and forage for cooking still need two silver, this item is also calculated according to three cents a day, so far the silver is exhausted. In addition, there are a lot of expenses, what is the surplus of food and rice on the way? What do you get from salted vegetables? What about clothing and weapons? ...”

Jia Liu's head was big when he heard this, and he said impatiently: "Okay, okay, you can tell me how much money this king needs to maintain the situation now." ”

"Hmm..."

Ji Yun asked the prince whether this account was calculated according to the past standard or according to the preferential treatment method.

Of course, Jia Liu calculated according to the preferential treatment, that is, his salary was doubled.

The remnants of the original Huguang Green Battalion and the newly surrendered Xinghan Army included the Shaanxi-Gansu Green Battalion, the Yunnan Green Battalion, and the Jiangxi Green Battalion under the control of his general Wang Temperance in Huguang.

Except for the descendants of the Eight Banners who came from Beijing, the rest of them still followed the previous standard, but this standard was several times higher than that of the green battalion.

Ji Yun said that he understood, and then picked up the account book and calculated with the abacus.

divided into several parts to calculate the expenses for the prince.

First, the Eight Banners.

According to the provisions of the "Household Rules", the Eight Banners Forward, Guard, and Leader are all paid 4 taels of silver per month, 3 taels of silver per month for vests, and 48 taels of rice per year.

Roughly speaking, the monthly salary of ordinary soldiers of the Eight Banners is 5,000 yuan, 60,000 yuan a year, in addition to miscellaneous benefits, if you do not go to the army, the ordinary soldiers of the Eight Banners earn about 100,000 yuan a year.

If you go on the expedition, you have to double it.

The other is the future of military achievements.

The overall salary level of Eight Banners is five to six times that of the Green Camp.

There are about 19,000 soldiers of the Central Eight Banners who accompanied Jia Liu to the front line in Huguang, and if these 19,000 people fight in Huguang for a year, not counting anything else, only counting wages and overtime pay, it will take about 2 million taels a year.

Counting all kinds of other expenses, the 19,000 central troops alone will cost about 3.5 million taels a year.

Second, the prince's own descendants.

There are about 7,000 people in the Hot Hip Horse Team, Sauron Soldiers, Guards, and Guards, all of which are given with reference to the doubling of the salary of the Eight Banners, and the annual expenditure of equipment and war horses is at least 2.5 million taels.

Third, the troops under the control of the prince, because the basic salary is small, even if it is doubled, it will not cost a million taels.

Fourth, it is the surrendered Xinghan army.

The total number of people is nearly 40,000, and according to the preferential treatment method of double the salary of the prince, then a person must be given at least 25 taels to 30 taels a year, and at least 2 million taels of silver will be required together with equipment and grain and grass.

These are calculated only for officers and soldiers, and do not include generals and officers.

The tens of thousands of people in the Red Belt Battalion have not been counted, because these people are all supplied by ordinary soldiers, and the cost is very low.

After a messy calculation, Ji Yun came to the conclusion that to maintain the current expenditure of 100,000 troops, with a minimum of 11 million taels a year.

This number shocked Jia Liu into a cold sweat: "You calculate it again." ”

"Okay."

Ji Yun recalculated, and somehow it was calculated to 12 million taels.

However, it has increased the expenses of the people, the cost of bereavement and reward for the dead.

"This king finally understands that it is not easy for the fourth devil."

Jia Liu sighed deeply, this account is not unknown, and he was shocked.

Originally, I heard that the old four devils spent seventy or eighty million taels of silver in order to fight the size of Jinchuan in two counties, but they were so happy that they thought that the generals of the Qing Dynasty in front of the Jinchuan Army used Jinchuan as an ATM.

But when things came to me, I realized that war is really a bottomless pit.

The so-called cannon sounds, ten thousand taels of gold, it is really not sensational, but real.

Spending tens of millions of taels a year, how can this battle be fought?

Fortunately, it has only been two months, and the expenses are not very large.

Accountant Li reported the accounts one by one, and the accounts showed that the cash silver that Prince Rui brought with the army when he went out in Beijing was 2.56 million taels, most of which were collected and half were the appropriation fees given by the household department.

"When the king opened the capital, he gave each person ten taels, which went to almost 300,000 taels, and the other parts along the way lost about 100,000 taels... According to the preferential treatment method, half a year's salary is advanced in advance, and a total of more than 1.1 million taels of silver needs to be allocated, and more than 300,000 taels of silver are allocated to rebuild the place, 170,000 taels of meat and salt vegetables are procured, more than 80,000 taels of horse feed, and 100,000 taels are given to Wang Daji and others..."

Li An'an reported the accounts one by one, and finally told the prince that there were only 54,203 taels left in the account.

"So precise?"

Jia Liu looked at Li An'an deeply, wondering if the general ledger accountant had embezzled his own money.

Seeing this, Li An'an hurriedly said: "If the prince doesn't believe the lower officials, you can ask a third party to intervene in the re-audit." ”

"Ahem,"

Jia Liu's hand waved casually, "Lao Li, I can't trust you, will I let you be my head of the household?" You can do things with confidence, I can trust you. ”

asked Ji Yun with a side face, if the preferential treatment method continues, how long can the 50,000 taels last.

"Lord Wang, it's not how long it can last, even if one soldier is given half a year's salary, these 50,000 taels can only appease 4,000 soldiers at most."

Ji Yun said that in the current situation, the prince will not be able to support the silver in about three or two days, let alone raise a lot of money to recruit the high-level of the Xinghan army.

"Terrifying!"

Jia Liu gasped and asked Ji Yun how much money the Hubei Governor Yamen could squeeze out for the expenses of the general Wang Xingyuan.

Answer: Yes: Zero.

Ji Yun didn't bother to explain the specific situation.

Li An'an also said that Hubei appeased Zheng Dajin to be so poor that he was not only unable to support Xingyuan, but also wanted to ask Xingyuan for money.

The reason is that the prince here has put all the resettlement tasks on the Hubei region, and he has nothing to do except for the money given by preferential treatment, so what does this make the local government do?

The resettlement of the army is not only as simple as paying half a year's salary, but also giving oil, salt, rice, clothes, and helping to settle the family rolls.

No money, how to get it.

I don't want Jia Liu's face to darken on the spot: "This is not good, the landlord's family has no surplus grain, ask Zheng Dajin to go to the court and the court, what kind of business do you want to count with me!" I'm not really a stupid person, and I have a lot of money. ”

Ji Yun thought about it, and still reminded kindly: "Lord, as far as the officials know, when the prince left Beijing, he made a package ticket with His Royal Highness the Prince, Fu Zhongtang, and Prince An. ”

Jia Liuyi was stunned: "What package ticket?" ”

Ji Yun said: "The prince said that in addition to the grain and grass on this expedition, the rest will be solved by the prince himself, and he doesn't want a big son in the court." ”

Jia Liu's face was amused: "I'll just talk about it, can they still take it seriously?" This Qing Dynasty is not the Qing Dynasty of this king, why should this king pay out of his own pocket to help the Qing Dynasty do things? ”

It's not that Jia Liu doesn't admit it, it's that he didn't expect the expenses to be so big.

Ji Yun and Accountant Li were silent.

The atmosphere gradually became invincible.