"Can't afford it?Is the situation really so serious?" Zhao Bufan frowned, his eyes staring straight at Lin Chong.

Lin Chong was bored, and went through the army's accounts in his mind, and then took out a stack of thick account books from his arms and put them on the table in front of Zhao Bufan, and said softly: "This is the general ledger that I copied, you can see it for yourself, and the specific details are stored in the logistics department, and all the details can be checked, I am really not alarmist, the actual situation is probably more serious than what I said." If you think about it, the normal establishment of the Great Song Dynasty Forbidden Army is ten armies, with a total of 25,000 people, including logistics personnel.

According to your requirements, to what extent did the Liangshan Army expand privately, with 7,500 cavalry members of the Five Tigers, 12,500 infantry personnel of the Fifth Army, 2,500 guards battalion, golden gun cavalry battalion, and silver-armored archers of the Chinese army, and 22,500 troops in the main battle alone, and the logistics department was separately set aside by you, with a total of more than 2,500 people in the military medical office, the military horse department, the battalion room, the money and grain store, the armor storehouse, the document and archives office, the military justice office, and other official offices, plus the 6,000 reservists you requested, the total number of the whole army was 31,000.

The imperial court distributed food and salary to us according to the ration of the forbidden army with a full strength of 25,000 people, but after the Privy Council, the Ministry of War, the Department of Transport, and other officials as usual to draw the layers, only half of the food and salary actually sent to northern Xinjiang, to put it simply, only 12,500 people were supported by the imperial court, and the rest could only be supplemented by ourselves.

In addition, although the Cangzhou Liutun Forbidden Army is not a regular full organization, it belongs to a special quota establishment, only 20,000 people, but according to the agreement between you and Cai Jing, all the food and salary over there can be privately swallowed by Cai Jing, and all the horses are completely raised by us, what a huge expense is a full 20,000 people?

Fortunately, those border armies belong to the establishment of van soldiers, and the distribution of grain and grass is controlled by the officials of the local state capital, otherwise I am really afraid that if you say that you want to make up for their establishment or distribute it in full, then even if you behead me, I will not dare to take care of the accounts for you anymore. In short, I will make it clear today, you also know that the commanders and above have official ranks, and they are all issued separately by the imperial court, and they are never mixed with the lower-level soldiers, so they will not be exploited by the upper and lower officials, and they have always been in full, but in our army, no one among the brothers is fully paid, basically all the people with official ranks only take a little, and the others are all subsidized to the soldiers below, but this is still a drop in the bucket.

If it weren't for the fact that the people you selected and transferred here respected you, attached great importance to righteousness, and tried their best to stabilize the morale of the army, then I wouldn't know what to do, and now the wives of many generals such as Hu Yanzhuo and Guan Sheng quarrel with them every day, complaining all day long that they are about to be unable to open the pot at home, and even their children eat meat every two days.

Lin Chong said all the words that were held in his heart in one breath, took a deep breath, and continued bitterly: "Extraordinary, although the brothers all respect you and are righteous, but this is not a long-term solution after all, everyone comes out to run for a future, the wind comes and goes in the rain, and the head on the neck hangs at any time, maybe it will be gone one day, but now even the family can't support the old and young, it's really not a way!" That day, I went to Xu Ning's house and walked around, and saw his wife nibbling dry buns in one hand and feeding children under the age of one with rice soup in the other, without even a little meat, I really didn't feel good in my heart!"

These words hit Zhao Bufan's heart, making his heart sour, and he was silent and speechless.

Lin Chong looked at him for a long time, knowing that he couldn't get more money, so he could only sigh after all.

With the gradual organization of the Liangshan Army, the Cangzhou Liutun Forbidden Army is also slowly being formed, and the expenses will be even greater in the future, I have made detailed calculations, if the two armies are completely formed and perfected, then the total expenditure will at least double, and may even be close to two, and the actual ration of the imperial court is only enough for 12,500 people, and the remaining 30,000 or 40,000 people are like a bottomless pit, and no matter how much money you have, you can fill it!"

These words made Zhao Bufan's heart hesitate, he did so many things earlier completely out of the stability of the northern Xinjiang and to resist the Liao State in the north, but he had never made detailed calculations, and there was no such person around him who was extremely sensitive to finances, so everything was done first and then said. Now that the scene is so big, all kinds of problems are endless, which makes him feel a little remorseful in his heart.

"It seems that I was really in a bit of a hurry at the beginning, I shouldn't have been in such a hurry, and now I am tearing down the east wall and making up the west wall, which is really a mess!"

After a sigh, Zhao Bufan carefully weighed the pros and cons of disarmament, but finally found that there was no way out, and couldn't help shaking his head and sighing: "Forget it, it's useless to regret it now, the soldiers who have been recruited must not be dismissed, otherwise it will chill their heart to serve the country, and I will also become a capricious and low-eyed mediocre talent, if I lose the support of the soldiers and lose the respect of the world's talented and righteous people, then I, the general of the bare pole, is nothing, and sooner or later I can only be forced to be the same as Cai Jing and them!" This is a road of no return, if I take the first step, I will definitely not be able to bear it if I encounter difficulties in the future, so what is the difference between you and me and Cai Jing, I can only fall deeper and deeper into the rotten circle of the Great Song Dynasty, and slowly become a new generation of traitors involuntarily, and there is no turning back!"

Lin Chong has followed Zhao Bufan for so long and seen so much, and now he doesn't understand these truths. There is an old saying that a penny can stump a hero, not to mention such a huge number at the moment, he also sighed at the moment, gritted his teeth and said fiercely: "If it weren't for the fear of His Majesty's blame, I would like to take troops to Liao to rob his treasury, no matter whether it succeeds or not, at least not so sloppy!"

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Zhao Bufan suddenly came to his senses, and his eyes flashed.

"I said I wanted to rob the treasury of the Liao State!" Lin Chong looked at him, reacted suddenly, and said in horror: "Extraordinary, I am also feeling aggrieved in my heart, just talking, don't take it seriously, if there is no support from the imperial court, going north without permission will not only cause casualties among the brothers, but also cause disasters to the people at the border gates!"

"How could I rush into the Liao Kingdom?" Zhao Bufan waved his hand, his mind was turning, and he already had some ideas, but he didn't explain too much to Lin Chong, but instead ordered: "Brother Lin Chong, you go to the military aircraft intelligence battalion to find Shi Qian now, and let him personally go to Yunzhou, where there are a group of bandits stationed in Shuibo Liangshan, let Shi Qian be sure to ask me about their recent movements, the more detailed the better." By the way, you asked him to go to Juxianzhuang to find Wu Song and Yang Zhi before going south, and let the three of them go together, and at the same time give Wu Song and Yang Zhi a death order, so that they must focus on time migration in this trip, and resolutely do not allow the courage of the horseman!"

"Okay!" Lin Chong nodded and replied.

"And what about this month's military salary?"

"You stabilize the army's heart first, I will rush to Dongxian Port immediately, and I will definitely scrape together the money as soon as possible, you just need to do your part with peace of mind!" After Zhao Bufan said this, he quickly got up and cleaned up the confidential documents on the table.

"Honorable Order!" Lin Chong didn't say much, and left as ordered.

After he left, Zhao Bufan didn't delay much, packed up the confidential documents and ran to the backyard to find Shang Kunyang, telling him to practice hard and not to run around, and then he recruited Hao Siwen, Lu Fang, Guo Sheng, and brought some dry food and water with him, so he hurriedly set off for Cangzhou.

............

Dongxian Port is located on the eastern coast of Yanshan County, Cangzhou, on the verge of the huge Bohai Bay, and is currently the largest small port north of Dengzhou in the Great Song Dynasty.

Since Zhao Bufan incorporated the Yunhai faction that made a living by sea, the original head Wei Chengfeng became the commander of the Yun Navy, and the elders Fan Ruhao and Chen Yinglong became the deputy commanders.

When Zhao Bufan arrived here quickly, it was early in the morning, and he saw Dongxian Harbor under construction everywhere from a distance, and he was very emotional.

Compared with more than half a year ago, the changes here are very great, Donghai Town and Dongxian Town, which were originally facing each other across the bay, have built a road along the coast, which is obviously in the period of merger and construction, and houses have been built sparsely on both sides of the road, and the cooking smoke is swirling, and from time to time you can vaguely see children running and playing outside the house, a peaceful scene.

Hao Siwen, who was riding beside him, was very surprised, and said with a smile: "General Zhao, Wei Chengfeng and they really have some ability, this Dongxian Port is well managed by them, I can't see that in three years, this place will definitely become a truly mature small port!"

"Of course it's the best!"

Zhao Bufan replied casually, and he didn't care about staying longer when he had something in his heart, and soon urged the war horse to rush to the mansion of the Yun Navy.

Walking outside the palace gate, the guards guarding the door looked at him slightly, but recognized him and immediately knelt down on one knee and saluted.

"See General Zhao!"

"Get up!" Zhao Bufan waved his hand holding the horsewhip and asked casually: "Wei Chengfeng and Fan Ruhao are working in the mansion?"

"General Hui, Commander Wei and Deputy Commander Fan have been directing the unloading at the dock since late last night, and they should still be there now!"

"What kind of cargo is so important?" Zhao Bufan asked suspiciously.

The guards did not dare to conceal it in the slightest, and immediately explained: "General Hui, this batch of goods is very important, it is said that it came from the distant country of Fulin, and it is full of rare and exotic objects and special products from there, which were originally transported to Guangzhou in the south by the merchants of the country of Fulin through the maritime Silk Road. Commander Wei happened to deliver the goods to Canton at that time, so he went to great lengths to negotiate the business, and our Yunhai No. 1 was responsible for the transportation, which had just arrived late last night. ”

Hearing the guards say that it was a shipment from the Fulin Kingdom, Zhao Bufan was a little excited, he knew that the Fulin Kingdom was also called the Eastern Roman Empire, a powerful country that he had only heard of, but had never seen with his own eyes, so he immediately turned around and ran to the dock.

"Let's go to the docks to find them!"

Hao Siwen smiled with Lu Fang and Guo Sheng, and also followed the horse to catch up.

In a short time, they came to the noisy docks!

Wei Chengfeng, who was busy, suddenly saw his figure, and immediately didn't care about the affairs at hand, and pulled Fan Ruhao and ran over.

"General Zhao wants to come over, why don't you say hello in advance, and your subordinates can pick you up!"

Zhao Bufan smiled, didn't answer his words, turned over and dismounted, and pointed to the boxes piled up in the distance with a horsewhip.

"I heard that there is a shipment of goods from Rome?"

Wei Chengfeng looked back, smiled and nodded: "The general's news is really well-informed, this is a rare and exotic object from Fulin, it is a merchant from Guangzhou who bought from the fleet of Fulin Kingdom, because that Guangzhou merchant has cooperated with big merchants in Taiyuan Mansion, Hejian Mansion and other places in our north, so he plans to resell it to them, and now we are about to finish unloading the goods, and when those big merchants come to hand over, this business will be completed, because the value of the goods is very large, so we can make a lot of money!"

Zhao Bufan listened to him while approaching the boxes to check, and when he finished speaking, he was already a little curious, and he reached out to open the boxes.

Wei Chengfeng was startled and rushed to stop him.

"General, you can't open the box!"

"What's wrong?" Zhao Bufan looked at him in amazement.

Fan Ruhao stepped forward and bowed down to explain: "General Zhao, it's not that your subordinates won't let you see it, but this is the rule of shipping. We are only responsible for transportation, the goods in Guangzhou handover in front of the seller to complete the inventory, all affixed seals, now smoothly landed, then also wait for the buyer to arrive after the unpacking inventory, and finally complete the business, and private unpacking in the shipping line is a taboo, the punishment is very strict. ”

"How do you say that?" Zhao Bufan had never been to sea, so he didn't know where this taboo came from.

Fan Ruhao looked at him and quickly continued: "General, if a brother opens the box on the sea without permission, what should he do if he is tempted by the valuable items inside?" The sea is not as good as the inland, it is a place where there is no restraint at all, and you must not make mistakes, so all the brothers who are begging for a living at sea must restrain themselves with this iron law, because once the box is opened, we are not responsible for ourselves and the brothers who accompany life and death, and no one dares to be sure that they are not tempted, and they have evil thoughts for a lifetime, that is the life of the whole boat, and the brothers of life and death are also in vain, so this precedent must not be opened!"

Hearing that the matter was so serious, Zhao Bufan, who was just a little curious, immediately dispelled his thoughts, and said with a smile: "Then don't open it, it seems that this box is more precious than the goods, he is the brotherhood of your sons on the sea, whoever opens the box is equivalent to accepting the temptation and betraying the brother!"

Seeing that he dispelled his thoughts, Wei Chengfeng breathed a long sigh of relief, and took over with a smile: "The general is really aptly described, I can't hide it, if you really open this batch of goods, I'm afraid you will be difficult to bear, the things in it are worth ......."

Zhao Bufan immediately interrupted: "Don't say it! I'm short of money now, when you tell the value in it, I'm really afraid that I can't help but swallow it privately, then the future business of the Yun Navy will not have to be done, and the Dongxian Harbor that I have worked so hard to build will all be in vain!"