Long Chuan returned to the coastal defense camp with the list in his hand, and saw Song Shiting and Heng Yan running happily on the beach not far away, Li Yang picked up his clothes and ran over with four small steps: Under is the jade-faced little white dragon who is famous in the rivers and lakes, Yushu Linfeng, and everyone loves him, I don't know who the two young ladies are, the girl looks so handsome, "hehe", come and let the uncle kiss one

When Song Shiting heard this, she covered her mouth with her hand and laughed, "Hehe", the jade-faced little white dragon

Li Yang quickly stepped forward and hugged Song Shiting in his arms, and then kissed her cheek with his mouth, only to hear the sound of "hey", "hehe", which is really fragrant

Song Shiting shyly covered her face with her hands, "Oops", she was ashamed, and as she spoke, she gently beat my chest with her hand

Li Yang raised his hand to wipe the corners of his mouth, and then looked at Heng Yan, "Beauty, it's your turn this time," he said, and he raised his hands and ran towards Heng Yan

Heng Yan screamed "Ah", only to see her stretch out her hands and grab the oncoming hand and break it back and forth

I only heard the two crisp bone sounds of "quack", and then there was a miserable scream "Ah", Li Yang's face was flushed, and he patted Heng Yan's hand with his hand: Madam-pain-pain

Heng Yan is worthy of being a person who has been practicing martial arts for a long time, and at the moment when Li Yang pounced on her, she reacted instinctively and made a dead hand, and after seeing Li Yang's painful expression, she immediately let go of her hand: Did the husband hurt you

Li Yang put his hand in the crotch of his pants in pain and jumped straight on the spot: Madame, why are you still moving

Heng Yan stepped forward and stretched out her hand to support Li Yang: Husband, I didn't mean to show me my hand just now

Li Yang grinned and raised his hand to see that his hand was swollen like a steamed bun and trembled slightly: Madam, your hand strength is really not ordinary

Song Shiting hurriedly ran over and grabbed my hand and blew it with her mouth: Sister, why do you have such a heavy hand, does it still hurt like this

Li Yang endured the pain, "Hmm" is much stronger than just now, madam, let's go back, I have to go to the forging workshop in the afternoon

After returning to the manor, Guanshan saw that Li Yang's hands were swollen like steamed buns, so he asked: What's wrong with your hands, boss

Song Shiting and Hengyan covered their mouths with their hands and snickered when they heard this, I have to tell him that I was broken by her when I was molesting the two ladies, this is too damaging to face, and if I want to spread it, this matter will definitely become a laughing stock of the brothers: I accidentally fell down while walking and rubbed my hands

Guanshan nodded: Then you have nothing to do, can you move more, can the owner speak further

Li Yang looked at Song Shiting: Madam, then you two go back to the house first, and I will go back in a while

Seeing that the two of them were gone, Guanshan mysteriously pulled me to his house, and after confirming that there was no one around, he closed the door with both hands, and then he walked to the wardrobe and opened it

Seeing this, Li Yang said: What is so mysterious and mysterious about the head of the mountain road

Guanshan made a "shhhh

Li Yang: "Hmm"

Guanshan carefully placed a delicate small wooden box on the table, and after opening it, it was filled with some herbal foam and golden ink: according to legend, this powerful golden pill can multiply manpower, and the great force can lift a thousand catties, if the owner has such an army, then we can use a small number of troops to hit or destroy the enemy army that is several times with me

Li Yang: Then what do you need?

Guanshan: The poor road needs a ding alchemy furnace and some tools for refining pills

Li Yang: How sure are you that the Guanshan Dao Master is refining the Great Golden Pill

Guanshan: 20%.

Li Yang: Then you will go to the forging workshop with me for a while, and you can tell Ouyang Xiu what kind of Dan furnace and alchemy tools you need

After lunch, the two rode horses to the suburbs slowly, and saw dozens of chimneys in the forge workshop emitting white smoke from a long distance, and the sound of "ding-ding-ding" hammers hitting the metal came from the forging workshop after getting closer, and the two tied their horses to the small trees on the side of the road and walked into the workshop, the craftsmen in front of them were busy making steel, some were busy forging swords, armor and polishing blades, and saw that the craftsmen were concentrating on their work, which made Li Yang feel very gratified, and the two walked around the workshop for a while

Guanshan picked up a freshly forged steel knife on the knife holder, only to see a cold light flashing in front of him, he looked at the steel knife in his hand with a surprised face, and slashed a few times, "so light", and then poked it on the blade with his hand and flicked it on the knife surface, only to hear a crisp sound of "ding": the owner is a good knife

Li Yang took the steel knife from Guanshan's hand, looked it up and down, "Well, it's indeed a good knife," and after speaking, he put the steel knife on the knife holder

Ouyang Xiu leisurely supervised the work of the craftsmen in the workshop with his hands behind his back, and when he saw Li Yang and Guanshan, he immediately greeted him, because of the noise in the workshop, he shouted softly: "Boss, you are here."

Li Yang: Senior Ouyang, I came to the workshop today to have a look at nothing, and I just have something I want to discuss with you

Ouyang Xiu: It's too noisy here, so come to my house

As soon as he entered the house, Ouyang Xiu made a gesture of please with his hand, motioned for the two to sit down, turned around and poured a cup of tea for the two: Please forgive me for a bowl of coarse tea from the owner

Li Yang picked up the tea bowl and took a sip of tea: Senior, you are too outward, as long as you take care of the forging workshop, it is better than anything else, and when I get back, I will ask someone to send you a few packs of this year's new tea

Ouyang Xiu: Then I'll thank the owner first, by the way, the owner has something to discuss with me

Li Yang: I'm here today to discuss with you about the expansion of the forging workshop

Ouyang Xiu: I don't know how much money the owner wants to spend to expand the forging workshop

Li Yang thought for a moment: 1,000 silver coins

Ouyang Xiu: Dongjia steel is the main material for forging weapons, if you want to forge a good weapon, you need good steel, at present, there are too few steel-making furnaces in the workshop, craftsmen do not have enough steel to forge weapons, to build a medium-sized steel-making furnace needs 50 silver coins to make 500 catties of steel, such a steel-making furnace to build 10 needs to cost 500 silver coins

Craftsmen forging weapons need a forging table to repeatedly hammer the steel used to hammer blades and armor, a forging table can be used by two craftsmen at the same time and requires 5 silver coins, such a forging table can be built 50 at the same time can be used by 100 craftsmen at the same time, it takes 250 silver coins, craftsmen need molds to forge weapons and armor, and the rest of the money is used to make various molds

Li Yang is a cheerful person and doesn't think much about it: Senior, I will ask people to send you 1,000 silver coins in the past two days, and I have to ask you to help Zhang Le about the expansion of the workshop

Ouyang Xiu had a stunned expression: If you give me so much money from the owner, aren't you afraid that I will be greedy for it

Li Yang laughed, "Hehe, if you are greedy, don't blame you for it, I don't know anyone, the senior forging workshop was handed over to you to take care of because I trust you, I believe that you will not do such a thing, senior."

Ouyang Xiu smiled with relief after hearing this: "Owner, you can rest assured that the old decay will not live up to you."

In fact, Li Yang is a complete layman for forging weapons and armor, and he doesn't want Ouyang Xiu to see that he doesn't understand, so he simply let Ouyang Xiu go to Zhang Leba to spend all this money, and he can still make a clean profit, why not do it

Ouyang Xiu: After the expansion of the Dongjia Forging Workshop, can you consider recruiting some craftsmen?

Li Yang: Then how many people do you think should be recruited?

Ouyang Xiu: Let's recruit 100 people first, it may take a year and a half to wait for these people to become successful

Li Yang: "Well, I'll go back and let Juzheng recruit 100 craftsmen in the county, by the way, the senior Guanshan Taoist wants you to help forge a Ding Dan furnace."

Ouyang Xiu: I don't know what kind of Dan furnace you want

Guanshan took out a drawing from his arms and handed it over: Do you see if this Dingdan furnace can be made?

Ouyang Xiu took the drawing and glanced at it: You can wait until it's done, and I'll have someone send it to you

Guanshan bow: Then there is labor

Ouyang Xiu: By the way, we can already make the iron crossbow you sent last time, but this kind of iron crossbow requires too many parts, and it takes too many years to make one, and it takes many years of craftsmen to make one in 7 days

Li Yang was a little excited when he heard this: It doesn't matter if it takes a long time, as long as it can be made, this kind of iron crossbow is very important to me

Ouyang Xiu: If the owner says this, then I know it in my heart

Li Yang got up and stood up: The predecessor forging workshop has to worry about you, I will go back first today

Ouyang Xiu: I'll send you to the owner

Li Yang shook his hand: Seniors stay

A few days later, Li Song took the caravan to take 10 warships led by Long Chuan, and went to Fuguo to transport the remaining 3 million catties of grain back, on this day the sea was very windy and the waves were much more turbulent than before, Li Yang stood alone on the coast and watched the fleet gradually disappear into the sea, I hope you can smoothly transport the grain back this time, and the livelihood of tens of thousands of people in Alan County depends on you

More than half a month later, thousands of people gathered on the coast near Lanxi Village, they were busy unloading bags of grain from the warship and loading them onto the carriage, Li Song and Longchuan they lived up to expectations and transported 3 million catties of grain back from Fuguo, watching the carriage full of grain continue to return to the manor, the stone hanging in Li Yang's heart finally landed, and this time the big guy can live a good year in peace

Today is the first day of the new year, the snow is very heavy, the old people say that this year is a good year to grow crops, the adults are quiet in the peace of the new year, the children are running and playing in the snow

And in the palace of Yufeng City, the capital of the country, there was a tense atmosphere, the king of Zhejiang Lei Tai sat on the throne with a straight face and looked at the officials under the hall, an old man with white hair who looked a little sick sat on a chair and faced the king of Zhejiang Lei Tai, this person is the prime minister of Zhejiang, Qin Jing, the people respect him as the prime minister of Qin, standing behind him is the civil official group - the official department Shangshu Xu Kai, followed by the official servant Lang Wen'an - the official Lang Lin Huaqing, the second row is the household servant Bai Sheng - the household member Wailang Wu Cheng - the household Lang Zhong Qian Hua, Lu An, the waiter of the Ministry of Rites, Jia Ze, the waiter of the Ministry of War, Ge Zhuang, the waiter of the Ministry of Works, Li Ning, the waiter of the Ministry of Works, and the Shaoqing Gander of Dali Temple

On the right side is the military attache group headed by the general Wang Ben, the left governor Gao Guoxing - the right governor Lan Mingxuan - the cavalry captain general Wei Ren - the general Zhaoyong Han Li - the national capital guard envoy Ma Sinan - the national capital patrol envoy Cao Jin - the guard general Sima Ming and other dozens of officials

Lei Tai glanced at the ministers in the hall: Qin Xiang is old and physically ill, and he is still worried about military affairs, which is really the pillar of the country

Qin Jingyi wanted to get up from the chair with stupid eyes, Xu Kai and Wen An immediately stepped forward to help him up: The prince's appreciation, the old minister is ashamed, he doesn't dare to be an old minister, he just does what he should do, and he can share the worries of the old minister for the prince and the country

Lei Tai nodded with satisfaction: Qin Xiang is worthy of being the old minister of the Three Dynasties, loyal to the monarch and the country, so quickly help Qin Xiang to sit back on the chair

Xu Kai and Wen An carefully supported Qin Jingyi and staggered back to the chair, Qin Jingyi closed his eyes and exhaled deeply

Lei Tai: Today is the first meeting of the new year or according to the old rules, first by the Ministry of Officials to report the tax and silver collected by each government this year, and then by the Ministry of Households to report the actual capital and use of each government this year, there are still a few major expenses this year, you will discuss to see which funds should be allocated and which should not be allocated, and the funds that should be allocated before the year are discussed

Xu Kai, the secretary of the ministry, took a step to the left: Xingyuan 1524 Jiaxing Mansion paid taxes and silver 121324 taels - Huzhou Mansion handed over 117621 taels - Hangzhou Mansion handed over 221449 taels - Yanzhou Mansion suffered from drought last year and only collected 54,912 taels - Hengzhou disaster situation was worse and collected 71,429 taels - last year Chuzhou was conquered by Fuguo and was recovered by the general with troops, in order to let the people of Chuzhou recuperate and be exempted from taxes for one year, Wenzhou government handed over 187345 taels - Taizhou government handed over 277689 taels - Ningbo government handed over 179899 taels - Shaoxing government handed over 200135 taels, the national capital Yufeng City collected 287625 taels of tax silver, and last year Zhejiang collected a total of 1,719,428 taels of tax silver

Bai Sheng, the head of the household department, stepped forward: Lord Xu just said that Zhejiang's taxes this year, then the official will talk about the expenses of Zhejiang this year, Zhejiang has 160,000 soldiers a year, and 1.92 million taels of silver are needed for a year, and the salaries of personnel at all levels in 11 prefectures of Zhejiang need nearly 300,000 taels a year, and the Yanzhou Mansion this year requires 240,000 taels of silver to build canals to divert water to irrigate fields, and the general Lei Qizuo asks for 100,000 taels of silver for repairing the defense of the state border gates, 120,000 taels of silver is required for repairing the palace of the national capital and the newly built courtyard, and 300,000 taels of silver is required to replace the old equipment of the defenders of various prefectures, Taizhou Prefecture needs 80,000 taels of silver to appease the victims, 260,000 taels of silver is needed to build road maintenance facilities in various prefectures, and 200,000 taels of silver is required to pay tribute to the Shengming Empire, and Zhejiang needs to spend 3.52 million taels of silver this year, but the tax revenue is only 1.71 million taels, with a gap of 1.81 million

Lei Tai's eyebrows furrowed when he heard this: How can this year's gap be so big

Lin Huaqing: In previous years, the most taxed governments in Zhejiang Province do not know why, the taxes collected in the past two years are less and less year by year, take Hangzhou as an example, the annual tax was around 400,000 yuan, but in recent years, it has dropped again and again to only 221449 taels this year, and the previous tax of Shaoxing Mansion was around 360,000 yuan per year, and this year it has dropped to 200,000, and the previous tax of Ningbo Government has dropped to about 340,000 yuan per year, and this year it has dropped to nearly 180,000, and the difference between the three governments is 500,000 yuan

Leitai: Why are there so many differences?

Wen'an, the servant of the Ministry of Officials: The official sent someone to inquire about this matter, and the fact that the taxes paid by the three governments are getting less and less year by year is related to the arrears of taxes and silver by the wealthy merchants

Lei Tai: This is not going to work, Xu Kai will draw up a decree for me, ordering the three governments to pay all the tax arrears as soon as possible

Xu Kai: It's the prince

Lin Huaqing: I'm afraid it's not just the rich businessmen who owe taxes

Wen An: Lin Huaqing, what kind of consciousness do you say?

Lin Huaqing: Last year, the Taizhou government raised its own money to appease tens of thousands of disaster victims, which relieved a lot of pressure on the country, and the taxes paid this year were more than 70,000 taels more than in previous years

Lei Tai: Lin Qing's consciousness is that the king understands the problem and puts it on the officials of the various provinces, so let's put it aside in advance, and today I will mainly discuss how to dispatch the money

When the civil and military officials in the court heard this, they all lowered their heads and remained silent, and Lei Tai saw that the ministers all bowed their heads: the Ministry of Officials - the Ministry of Households said how to allocate the money

Xu Kaiju: The gap between the salary and the silver is too big, and the lower officials can't think of any way for a while, I think Bai Shilang should have a way

As soon as Bai Sheng, the head of the household department, is optimistic about you, you will throw the problem to the household department as soon as the wind of conversation changes, no, I have to quickly think of a way to prevaricate this matter: according to Weichen, first divide the major expenses of this year into priorities, which are in urgent need of allocating the salary, and which can be postponed, and the ministries may wish to take a look at this year's expenses if they can be postponed, they will be postponed first, and the household department will be allocated the salary as soon as possible

Bai Sheng's clever words made sense on the surface, but in fact, in a blink of an eye, he threw the problem to the officials present, this officialdom is a complicated affair with interests, just like that, all the ministries want to give it to whom, no matter who it doesn't give to, it will offend some people, even if there is a mistake in the allocation of salary, it can't be blamed on me, after all, this matter was decided by the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty

Lei Tai: What Bai Shilang said is reasonable, this year's expenses belong to the military department the most, so the military department will come first

Jia Ze, the squire of the military department: 60,000 of the 160,000 soldiers and horses in Zhejiang are border guards, 30,000 northern border guards are stationed on the northern border under the command of General Wang Ben, and 30,000 southern border troops are stationed on the border pass of the Hengzhou-Chuzhou-Wenzhou line under the command of the general Wang Dileicai. The remaining 100,000 people are the defenders of each prefecture, 5,000 in Jiaxing, 5,000 in Huzhou, 5,000 in Hangzhou, 5,000 in Yanzhou, 10,000 in Hengzhou, 10,000 in Chuzhou, 10,000 in Wenzhou, 20,000 in Taizhou, 10,000 in Ningbo, 10,000 in Shaoxing, and 10,000 in the Praetorian Guards

Lei Tai: Taizhou has the most soldiers in the state capital, why is this?

Jia Ze: In the past, the defenders of Taizhou were 10,000 infantry, 10,000 sailors, and 10,000 sailors, when the East Wa Haikou invaded, the Taizhou sailors fought at sea with the Japanese fleet, but unexpectedly encountered a storm, most of the warships sank to the bottom of the sea, and later the two countries fought between Fujian and Zhejiang, and the Taizhou Navy's division was dispatched to the border pass several times to fight with the enemy

Lei Tai: The salary and silver needed by the Ministry of War will be put aside first, and after the various departments have discussed the silver taels needed for this year, they will finally get the silver taels required by the Ministry of Parliament