Tiantang Splendid

Chapter 2760 There are countermeasures

Firearms are a business that eats money, and the entire court has long agreed, but Li Zhi never thought that he was really eating money.

60 guan?

This is simply more wasteful than eating money directly!
Li Zhi looked at Liu Xun in shock, wondering if the brother-in-law exaggerated on purpose to make himself difficult, and wanted to take the opportunity to damage his prestige, where would he get so much money for him?
Seemingly feeling the search and suspicion in Li Zhi's eyes, Liu Shi gave a wry smile and said, "Your Highness, there is no need to doubt. How dare a humble official lie about such important military and state affairs? And it's only half a year's cost, and it will probably take a whole year." 100 million guns, of course, this is only because the Eastern Expedition is imminent, and all armies urgently need to replace their firearms, half of which is usually enough.”

Half of that is 50 guan!
Li Zhi asked curiously: "How did these military funds be resolved in the past?"

He didn't believe that the Ministry of Civil Affairs would allocate such a huge amount of funds to the Ministry of War. As for the imperial father's internal funds, it was even more impossible. No matter how rich the internal funds were, there was no reason to subsidize the money to the Ministry of War.

For the past two years, Liu Xun's thoughts have been on the Foundry Bureau, so he knows the source of the military funds of the Foundry Bureau: "The military funds needed by the Foundry Bureau have always been raised by the Duke of Yue, and the most important ones are the Fang family. Iron factories all over the world provide iron materials to the Foundry Bureau. This part is on credit, and the iron materials are continuously transported to the capital, and then gradually repaid with the income of the station under the Ministry of War. The other part of the copper materials is sent overseas by the Royal Navy. Public procurement, and 'East Datang Company' mining and mining in various countries. Of course, whether it is the Royal Navy or the 'East Datang Company', they all need to pay."

Li Zhi frowned.

Obviously Liu Shi didn't have the guts to lie to him, so this matter is really tricky.

In the past, the Fangjia Iron Works directly owed the iron materials to the Ministry of War on credit, but now it is almost equivalent to taking away the position of minister of the Ministry of War from Fang Jun. Even if he is willing to come to the door in person, will the Fang family still owe him the iron materials on credit?As for the Royal Navy and the "Eastern Datang Company", they are also directly under Fang Jun's control. It is almost conceivable that this part will be strangled to death by him from now on.

As long as I stay in the position of Minister of the Ministry of Military Affairs for one day, I don't expect to continue to get iron and copper on credit from Fangjia Iron Works, Royal Navy, and "Eastern Datang Company".

But the problem is such a large sum of money, where do I go to raise it?

Is it possible to go and ask the father for it, and let the father pay for himself from the inner money?

Not to mention whether the father would break the rules for himself, just because it made him more and more incompetent, Li Zhi couldn't open his mouth.

Fang Jun single-handedly developed the Ministry of War to such a state that you have to occupy the magpie's nest and grab the squad to seize power, but in the end you can't do anything well, and instead you have to empty out your father's internal money to maintain it?
so embarrassing...

But he rushed to the Ministry of War, relying on his status as the prince to occupy the position of the chief officer of the Ministry of War, but he was unable to complete the affairs of the Ministry, which eventually led to the reduction or even suspension of production of the foundry bureau, which caused the entire Liaodong garrison to change uniforms. It is absolutely impossible to cause confusion in the equipment of various armies in time.

If something like this really broke out, even if I lose all face, how can I command and win people's hearts in the Ministry of War in the future?
After thinking for a while, Li Zhi asked: "As far as I know, there is not only one iron factory in the Fang family in the Tang Dynasty, but Changsun's iron factory used to be inferior to the Fang family iron factory in terms of output and quality. Where does the Changsun family iron factory buy iron materials? Is this a rule set by Fang Jun so that he can use his power for personal gain?"

Liu Xun's eyes were strange: "How is this possible? Originally, the Fangjia Iron Works was unwilling to supply so much iron material for the Ministry of War. As a result, Jiangnan Shipyard often slowed down production due to insufficient iron materials, but the price of other iron factories was almost Fangjia Iron Factory twice as much, and the Foundry Bureau is responsible for all the firearms and equipment of Datang's army, so Fangjia Iron Factory has to bite the bullet and supply."

Li Zhiqi said: "Is it because the other family's asking price is too high? That's okay, I can go to Zhao Guogong and ask their iron factory to make less money, so that they can supply the needs of the Ministry of War in the future."

Liu Xixin said that this His Highness is indeed intelligent, but short of experience, and he is really unfamiliar with world affairs.

The tone was as tactful as possible and said: "Your Highness has misunderstood. The Ministry of War is the central yamen. Except for the Fangjia Iron Factory, which has to take into account the Jiangnan Shipyard, so the production capacity is slightly insufficient. How can other companies not be willing to supply? After all, the iron materials required by the Foundry Bureau The consumption is huge, even if you make less money, winning by quantity is far better than idle retail. But what His Highness does not know is that Fangjia Iron Works has personally improved the smelting method through Yue Guogong, which has greatly improved both the cost and the quality. Even if another iron factory loses money, it will not be able to match the low price of Fangjia Iron Factory, and the quality is even worse."

Li Zhi was embarrassed.

In the past few years, he has put his mind on the administrative affairs of documents and documents, but he has never cared about those specific practical affairs. In his opinion, only by grasping the government affairs well and studying administration hard can he strengthen himself. As for those messy things Why do you have to intervene by yourself if you have professionals to do it?
Right now, it seems that he is indeed a bit ambitious.

Only the improvement of the smelting method can make the cost of iron materials lower and the quality better, which immediately greatly increases the amount of iron materials smelted in Datang, and the cost is greatly reduced, resulting in more extensive uses of iron materials and higher quality. Better than before.

The resulting cost savings lead to a sharp increase in usage, which indirectly leads to higher taxes.

The useless things that seem to be strange and obscene skills have made Datang's national power have an intuitive growth, and even for a long time to come, the smelting industry of Datang has completely crushed the surrounding countries, making those foreign countries The barbarians are almost behind.

No matter how disdainful the practice is, Li Zhi also knows that smelting, like population and food, represents the most basic national strength. The development of smelting means that the army can have more and better ordnance, and the people can have more production and living utensils. The reason why it has been able to maintain its leading position over the foreign races for thousands of years is precisely because of the leading iron-smelting technology.

"Okay, I already know about it, and I will give you an answer in a few days."

"Here! Does Your Highness have any orders?"

"You go back first."

"Here."

After driving Liu Xun away, Li Zhi sat alone in the duty room drinking tea, one head and two big.

He was not sure whether Liu Shi deliberately found problems for himself in order to damage his prestige, but in any case, whether he could solve the military funding problem of the foundry bureau represented whether he could carry out his plan smoothly in the Ministry of War. Don't worry, it's certain that the prestige will plummet.

Fang Jun single-handedly founded the foundry bureau, developed firearms, and made it a well-deserved mainstay in the military of the Tang Dynasty. As a result, he picked peaches and snatched his position in a hurry, but he couldn't even get military funds. Sentence?
If that was the case, then how powerful was the aura of entering the military department, and how bad the slander and ridicule I suffered afterwards...

The tea was already cold, and Li Zhi felt that he was very angry, so he ordered the clerk to pour out the tea and make a new pot, drink more water, and remove the fire.

As a result, the new tea hadn't been brewed yet, and another scribe came in, saying that it was Cui Dunli who asked to see him...

This time, Li Zhi didn't dare to be optimistic and thought that some people would come over to "surrender" sometimes, just please don't continue to create problems for himself. Come to a problem, I'm afraid I won't be able to sleep at night.

But in any case, seeing is a must.

I begged God to worship Buddha and prayed in my heart, and said to the scribe, "You have feelings."

After a while, Cui Dunli strode in, bowed his hands and saluted: "Your Majesty has seen Your Highness."

Li Zhi smiled like a spring breeze, waved his hands, and said affectionately: "There is no need to be polite, Minister Cui, come and sit down, and drink tea with this king."

Cui Dunli hesitated for a moment, then responded with a smile: "Then the lower official is presumptuous."

Step forward and sit opposite the desk.

Li Zhi said with a smile: "Why do you say that you overstepped? Now you and I are on errands together. Apart from the difference between the superior and the superior, there is still a friendship of colleagues. You don't need to see each other. Speaking of it, my father also mentioned it to the king, saying yes Cui Yuanli informed Siyi of their love and hypocrisy, repeatedly envoyed Turks, established Ming Dynasty successively, allowed them to meet opportunities, and had talents... This king has always admired him from the bottom of his heart. Now that his colleagues are officials, he should get closer. I still need to ask Cui Shilang for advice, and I hope you will let me know."

"Yuanli" is Cui Dunli's word...

Hearing Li Zhi's words, Cui Dunli expressed sincerity and fear, and said: "Your Majesty, who sleeps long and hard at night, works hard to govern, but still knows the name of the lower official, it is really extremely frightening, a little effort, let alone worthy of His Highness's praise .”

At this moment, the clerk brought the teapot over, and Li Zhi poured tea for Cui Dunli with the teapot in his hand.

Li Zhi waved his hand casually, asked Cui Dunli to sit down, and asked with a smile: "Cui Shilang is here, is there something wrong?"

(End of this chapter)