Lord Moyu was forced to open

The battle in the New World required the Song Dynasty to continuously deploy troops.

This side of Bianjing.

royal palace.

“Your Majesty, the military strength in the country is already stretched to its limits.

We must not only maintain domestic stability, but also deploy troops to garrison the Malay Straits and the territories of Malacca and East Asia.

What’s more important is that there is exile to the mainland.

Now the total strength of the Song Dynasty's navy and army has reached two million!
But even so, it is still in a state of shortage.

Now the troops from the New World are continuously being deployed, which is a huge burden on the court's finances!"

Zhang Zheng was reporting to Zhao Jun with a serious expression.

Sitting on the dragon chair, Zhao Jun tapped the armrest with his right hand and thought about all the information reported by Zhang Zheng in his mind. Then he asked, "So the current active troops are not enough, and the investment in the New World is too large, which has affected the finances?"

Zhang Zheng nodded heavily: "Your Majesty! That's right!"

Zhao Jun thought for a moment and then asked, "Now, apart from the domestic stability maintenance forces, where are the most troops deployed abroad?"

Zhang Zheng immediately replied: "It is in the Exile Continent. Due to domestic needs, we can now bring back tens of thousands of tons of various ores from the Exile Continent every year.

However, because the location of the Exile Continent is too close to Europe, if Europe knew that there are so many mineral deposits in the Exile Continent, trouble is inevitable.

Therefore, in order to prevent the news from leaking out, and to control the slaves and workers we sent to the New World for mining, our Great Song has now deployed 500,000 troops to the Exile Continent and has firmly controlled the entire Exile Continent. This is why Europe has never discovered any abnormalities in the Exile Continent over the years.

Or even if they discovered it, they had no way to verify it.

Because they can’t enter the Exile Continent at all, and those who enter can’t leave.”

"That's half a million dollars here!"

Zhao Jun nodded and murmured.

The population of the New World has grown from the initial 100,000 to at least 400,000 today, of which at least 300,000 are troops. They protect the daily production and activities of the remaining 100,000 people of the Song Dynasty in the New World.

This means that 800,000 troops have been tied up outside.

As for the remaining 120 million people, were released in Maliu Gorge and were released in East Asia.

There are 50,000 troops in the Luzon Islands, 30,000 in Chengluo, and 200,000 cavalry are stationed in the Turkic steppes all year round.

There are another 380,000 troops here.

After deducting these, of the remaining 820,000 troops, more than 300,000 were left in Bian Jing alone.

Five hundred thousand were scattered across the country to garrison.

From this perspective, it is clear that the troops are not enough.

Now it seems that the war has not yet happened.

If a war breaks out, Zhao Jun doesn't know where to draw troops from.

After thinking for a while, Zhao Jun asked about this year's fiscal revenue.

"Prime Minister Zhang, how much is the court's fiscal revenue this year?"

Zhang Zheng immediately replied: "Your Majesty, if the compensation from European countries is included, the fiscal revenue of our Song Dynasty this year has reached a huge amount of 1 billion taels of silver.

Among them, 100 million taels were obtained from mining in various parts of the Song Dynasty's territory, including gold and silver mines.

Among them, the New World alone provided gold worth 40 million taels of silver.

Of the remaining 900 million taels, the Song Dynasty collected 200 million in agricultural taxes.

Of the remaining 700 million, 300 million comes from commercial taxes in the mainland.

Three hundred million came from official taxes and commercial taxes on maritime trade.

The last 100 million came from Europa's compensation.

In general, the total income of the Song Dynasty this year is 1,533,261,804 taels of silver.

But the increase in fiscal revenue does not mean that the court is rich! "After talking about this year's fiscal revenue, Zhang Zheng changed the subject and immediately continued:

"Now the territory of our Song Dynasty extends to the Western Regions in the north, to the Luzon Islands in the south, to Sindhu in the east, and to the Xiongnu grasslands in the west!

The vastness of its territory is unprecedented in history.

But the vast territory also means increased administrative costs for the Song Dynasty.

In the early years of Xingwu, the total number of officials of high rank in our Great Song was about 9,000, and there were no less than 100,000 petty officials!

And now, the number of officials of high rank in our Great Song Dynasty has increased tenfold!
The number of personnel has reached 90,000!
The number of officials is even more astonishing!

According to your Majesty's will, the salaries of officials were also paid by the court. Therefore, in the early years of Xingwu, the annual expenditure of our Great Song Dynasty on officials' salaries alone was about five million.

Today, the Great Song Dynasty has spent 50 million taels just on the salaries of officials!
Add to that the money needed to maintain the basic operations of local court governments, the court's annual expenditure in this regard was as high as 1 million taels!

Due to its vast territory, there were areas of the imperial court suffering from disasters almost every moment, and the imperial court naturally had to provide disaster relief.

As a result, the total value of the disaster relief silver and supplies each year is about 10 million taels.

In addition, there is the court’s infrastructure, investment and development in various places, etc.!
The annual cost of maintaining the operation of the Song Dynasty government alone is as high as 200 million taels of silver.

Although this amount of silver seems to be a lot, it is not much for the imperial court, because there is another bigger expense for the court, that is the army.

According to the current configuration of the Song Dynasty’s army, the average monthly salary for each soldier is about ten taels.

The Song Dynasty had an army of two million, and the monthly expenditure on military salaries alone was already 20 million.

And that’s 240 million a year!

Adding to this a host of other things such as military maintenance, food, weapon replacement, etc., the Song Dynasty's annual military expenditure alone was around 350 million.

The imperial court's annual investment in military research has reached 50 million taels!

The remaining 50 million is manufacturing cost!

It would be fine if the army did not change its equipment that year, but if it did, it would be a huge expense.

And then add some miscellaneous things, in general, the normal expenditure of the Song Dynasty government has reached 00 million taels of silver a year!

This year we should be able to have a surplus of more than 3 million taels.”

After listening to Zhang Zheng's story, Zhao Jun pondered for a long time, and finally spoke with a firm look in his eyes and a certain determination:

"Recruit another million soldiers!"

"What?! Recruiting a million soldiers!"

As soon as he said this, Zhang Zheng was immediately shocked.

Today, the annual expenditure for an army of two million is already 350 million.

If we recruit another million soldiers, wouldn't the expenditure be towards 500 million?
"Your Majesty, this is an act of militarism!"

Zhang Zheng immediately dissuaded him.

How could they do this? If so, the court would have almost no surplus at the end of the year, and might even end up with a deficit if an unexpected event occurred!

This is definitely not a healthy financial situation.

Zhang Zheng was firmly opposed to conscription.

However, Zhao Jun's answer was still just one sentence!

"Conscript a million soldiers! Some wars cannot be dragged on for too long. If they are dragged on, they will cause greater losses. It hurts only when a blunt knife cuts a person!
I want to conquer the New World as soon as possible!
I no longer have the patience to continue wasting time with the natives of the New World!"

It is now the end of September in the sixteenth year of Xingwu.

Zhao Jun is already 44 years old.

How many times can a person be 44 years old in his life?
Zhao Jun felt that he couldn't wait any longer. If he waited any longer, he would get old. Some things might cost a little more, but as long as they could speed up the process, it would be worth it!
Listening to His Majesty's words, I looked up and saw His Majesty's tall back with his back turned, and the traces of white at the end of his temples. Finally, I sighed slowly, clasped my hands and responded:
"Yes! I obey your order!"

……

(End of this chapter)