Water Margin people

Chapter 1479 Education Funding

The Gaochang army, which had recovered, wanted to organize a counterattack, but the entire camp was already in chaos and the soldiers did not obey orders at all.

"Kill me!"

Sun Li gave orders to the soldiers around him, saying that the enemy had been defeated and now it was time to reap their lives.

The soldiers quickly began to charge in teams of a hundred, and the Gaochang army, which had just gathered, scattered again.

Sun Li himself did not continue to charge, but took his personal soldiers to start looking for the enemy's food and grass. He only had two thousand people, and they had rushed thousands of miles in the snow and ice. Now he was already at the end of his strength, and he had to withdraw after fighting this wave.

But before leaving, he had to destroy the food and fodder. Without food and fodder in such severe winter weather, the army would be doomed.

"Found it, set it on fire!"

Sun Li quickly found the location of the food and grass, and ordered a fire without hesitation.

Setting fire was a piece of cake for the soldiers. They set fire everywhere and soon the fire was blazing.

"withdraw!"

Sun Li gave the order without hesitation. He took advantage of the dawn to launch a surprise attack when the enemy was still unconscious. After this wave of fighting, the enemy had begun to wake up, so they could not stay for long.

The army quickly gathered and headed east.

"Damn it! Kill! Kill him!"

The Gaochang army reacted and looked at the burning grain pile. The fire had already been completely burned out and there was no way to save it. They could only vent their anger on the enemy.

When Balbu arrived near Puchanghai, thick smoke had already risen, and Balbu saw at a glance that the food and grass were on fire.

"Damn it! Damn it!"

Balbu roared, they had very little food and supplies, and now they were burned, the army completely lost its fighting power.

"General, the brothers are chasing after them!"

A soldier pointed at the army pursuing eastward.

"Blow the horn and tell them to come back!"

Balbu immediately gave the order. Although he was also very angry, he knew it was too late to pursue the enemy now, and the pursuit would most likely lead to another enemy ambush.

At the sound of a horn, the angry Gaochang army stopped pursuing.

"It's not easy!"

Sun Li looked back and saw that the enemy did not pursue him anymore, feeling a little regretful. He had wanted to lead the enemy in a circle and kill them for a while, and then kill them again when Luan Tingyu came, but now the enemy did not pursue him anymore, and everything remained in the plan.

However, Sun Li did not stop. They had won the battle. Since the enemy did not fall for it, they should quit while they were ahead.

Balbu counted the losses. In just this simple battle, they suffered more than 3,000 casualties, all their food and fodder were lost, and most of their weapons were lost.

"How come enemies suddenly come here? Where are the scouts?"

All the officers began to shirk responsibility, and the first to bear the brunt of the blame were the scouts who had been sent out to attack, as the enemy was approaching and the scouts did not report anything.

"Don't worry about this anymore, gather the army and return to Gaochang!"

Babur looked at everyone and said that the food and grass had been destroyed and the army could no longer stay in Puchanghai. He had perfectly completed the task given to him by Bilege, and the appearance of the Qi army made the matter flawless.

Liangshan City.

Sun Lei was inspecting the warehouse. "Well, not bad, not bad!"

Sun Lei was very satisfied with the mountains of silver and copper coins. He wanted to roll around on the coins without any image, but he was surrounded by officials who were on patrol with him, and he couldn't be like an ignorant country bumpkin.

"Your Majesty, there are a total of 50 million silver coins and more than 500 million copper coins here!"

Jiang Jing looked at Sun Lei and smiled.

"Where is all this money, and where are the gold coins?"

Sun Lei looked at Jiang Jingjing and asked, the entire warehouse was filled with silver coins and copper coins, but there were no gold coins.

"Your Majesty, this gold coin...to be honest, it has low circulation. Most of the gold coins are exchanged by wealthy merchants, but the amount they can exchange is limited after all. The most commonly used coins by ordinary families are copper coins and silver coins."

Jiang Jing said that among the new coins introduced, silver coins and copper coins were the most popular, but few people were interested in the most valuable gold coins. Even if someone wanted to exchange them, they would make an appointment in advance.

"So this is ah!"

Sun Lei suddenly realized that he had really become a rich man and had forgotten about the life of ordinary people.

Ordinary people have no use for expensive currency like gold coins, just like ordinary people in later generations have no use for checks. Merchants, who have the most money flow, do not need so many gold coins. What they need most are silver bills that can be exchanged everywhere to ensure that money can be withdrawn and redeemed anytime and anywhere.

"Then we should mine large quantities of Goryeo's copper mines and Japan's silver mines."

Sun Lei nodded. That's right. The copper and silver mines are closer and easier to mine.

"Now that the currency circulation is on track, it's time to strengthen the management of the bank. The accounts must be strict, and the bank must be independent. No one is allowed to embezzle money for any reason, including me!"

Sun Lei looked at Jiang Jing and emphasized the rules. Although he was using physical currency now, the credit still existed. Once there was a problem with the bank, the blame would be directed at the country, and the unrest caused would be no less than a war.

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Jiang Jing saluted and said that this was what he was most worried about. If the silver bank bound everyone in Qi State, and if the emperor turned the silver bank into a national treasury or a private treasury and misappropriated the money at will, the result would be the loss of the world.

"Your Majesty, this money currently belongs to the national treasury!"

Wen Huanzhang said that he naturally agreed to let the bank become independent. Now that the bank had all the deposits from Tianxia Baixin, misappropriation of the money would cause a big mess.

But since Wen Huanzhang was in charge of the Secretariat, all government orders in the world had to come from him. The execution of government orders involved money, so the national treasury was very important.

In Wen Huanzhang's view, most of the money in the silver bank now came from overseas. This money belonged to the emperor and should be distinguished from that of the people.

"Don't worry, Prime Minister Wen. I have recorded all these accounts. Your Majesty is currently the largest shareholder of the bank, and most of this money belongs to Your Majesty. However, as the bank gains experience, it will soon start to make a profit..."

Jiang Jing introduced his plan with a smile.

Wen Huanzhang nodded after listening to this. After the Chinese New Year, spring ploughing will begin in various places. Some poor and disaster-stricken areas will need funding from the court, as well as military expenses for the Western Expedition. After the spring ploughing, various places will also need to repair rivers...

"Your Majesty, the start-up funds for the Western Expedition will be about 10 million silver coins. Another 5 million will be needed to research weapons and build ships. As for schools, they will start classes after the Chinese New Year, which will probably cost another 5 million strings of silver coins."

Zhu Wu said that the most important expenses must be stated in advance, and these items must be paid for immediately.

"Well, these are all small matters. The army will earn back double the military expenses through war plunder. Weapons and ships will also bring in more income."

"Only for education, five million is too little. Now is the starting stage, and schools, desks and chairs, books, and teachers all need to be built from scratch. I will allocate ten million strings of cash this year. I don't want to see any child drop out of school because of lack of money. Within three years, I want all school-age children to learn to read and write! Mr. Xiao, please arrange this matter! Issue a decree, and this item will be included in the assessment of local officials!"

Sun Lei looked at Xiao Jiasui and said, education may seem like an investment with no return, but quantitative change will inevitably lead to qualitative change, and the value it brings is immeasurable.