Super Cultivation System of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 869: Finding a Way to Make Money
"Interesting...very interesting."

Liu He looked at the latest report with an amused expression.

"I never thought that Cao Cao had painstakingly planned to seize Jingzhou in the original history, but unfortunately failed in the Battle of Red Cliffs, and never set foot in Jingzhou again in his life. But in this life, it was so easy. He first colluded with Cai Mao and others to seize Jingbei, and then intimidated Han Xuan, Jin Xuan and other four governors. He easily occupied the four counties in Jingnan and drove away Sun Jian."

He sighed inwardly.

Qian Li put down the documents he had just finished handling, raised his head, and said, "In this battle, Cao's army and our army are evenly matched. We were slightly defeated by Liu Bei, but we won a great victory against Sun Jian. From this point of view, Cao Cao is the winner after all. Now Cao Cao occupies Yuzhou and Jingzhou, as well as Pengcheng and Xiapi counties in Xuzhou, and has a population of over 10 million. He is indeed a strong enemy."

Xun Yu frowned and said, "This is not an urgent matter. The key point is that Cao Cao has already understood the essence of our cavalry, and has also discovered the weaknesses of the Han Wuzu and the Golden Sword Camp. Given time, he will reorganize his army, and its strength will be strong enough to threaten the court."

Liu He waved his hand and said, "This is easy. Bo Ping sent a secret report from Chenliu. He proposed to expand our army to include the Shenji Battalion, the Purple Gold Dragon Cavalry, the Flying Feather Cavalry, the Han Wuzu, and the Golden Sword Battalion. In addition to strengthening the troops commanded by the generals, we also need to train another group of troops and distribute them to the rest of the army. The cooperation of multiple troops will complement each other and be enough to break the offensive of Cao's army."

"Well, General Gao Shun is well versed in military strategy, and this method is superior. Although the Golden Sword Battalion is extremely powerful, they are wearing light armor and lack protection. Secondly, the blades are sharp, but not durable. After hundreds of strikes in each battle, the blades will bend and it is difficult to maintain for a long time. The Han Wuzu are both offensive and defensive, but their flexibility is too poor. Cao's army has learned the essence of cavalry and can easily break the Han Wuzu formation."

Xun Yu analyzed, "However, there is no perfect army in the world. The strengths and weaknesses of each army can complement each other. The Feathered Cavalry is agile and versatile, the Purple Gold Dragon Cavalry is powerful, and the Divine Machine Battalion can penetrate gold and split rocks. If they cooperate with each other, they will be invincible."

"Yes, I have the same idea. Back then, I led all the armies and used their strengths to defeat the barbarians and wipe out the Yuan bandits. Over the years, most of the recruits and surrendered soldiers have been organized into ordinary infantry. Although they have been trained diligently, they can never be compared with the elite divisions. The number of cities under our jurisdiction is increasing day by day, and the elite troops of each division are gradually dispersed to various places. It seems that the military strength is getting stronger, but the combat effectiveness is not as good as before. It is time to reorganize it. I want to double the number of the Purple Gold Dragon Cavalry and other divisions. Then I want to see what strategies Cao Cao has in the face of such a huge gap in strength."

When Liu He said this, he seemed to have imagined himself conquering the world and unifying the four seas, and he couldn't help but feel fascinated.

However, Qian Li's next words brought him back to reality.

"Your Majesty's ambition is magnificent, but it is a waste of money. I am afraid that the imperial treasury cannot afford it now."

"No way?" Liu He was a little surprised. "Although the court has only half of the country in recent years, as far as I know, the annual income of money and grain is far higher than that of Emperor Huan and Emperor Ling. I usually learn from it. I have been on the throne for many years, and I have never built a new palace. Even the idea of ​​building a mausoleum for me was rejected by me. How can the treasury be out of money?"

Although the current Minister of Agriculture of the court is Zhan Lian, Zhan Qingyuan, although his intelligence and political scores have reached 84 and 89 respectively, he can barely be qualified for the position of Nine Ministers, but he has the special attribute of "excellence in agriculture" after all, and it is really a waste of his talent to keep him in the court of Luoyang.

Liu Hai originally promoted him just to occupy a position. After all, the Grand Minister of Agriculture was in charge of the national treasury, and such an important position should naturally be in the hands of one's own people.

However, Zhan Lian rarely appeared in Luoyang. He usually stayed in Bingzhou, taking care of the court's military and official farms, and teaching his group of "farmer" disciples. Therefore, the national treasury was actually managed by Qian Li. Qian Li himself had been Liu He's logistics manager over the years, so this arrangement was reasonable. Because of this, when Qian Li said this, although Liu He was a little puzzled, he still pretended to listen to his explanation seriously.

Qian Li said seriously, "Your Majesty is right. The court now collects more than 46 million dan of grain from taxes, and the annual income from military and government farms is nearly 10 million dan. However, the court's annual official salary expenditure exceeds 10 million dan. The current size of the court's army requires about 30 million dan of grain and salaries. The labor costs of rebuilding and expanding cities in various places and allocating about 7 to 8 million dan to Tong Jian for the Yellow River project are also needed. In addition, there are also the harem, the increasing number of court officials, and the rewards for meritorious soldiers in the army, etc."

"At present, the national treasury is sufficient to support the army's needs. However, the Han Wuzu and other soldiers, whether in daily training or going out to fight, each person needs twice as much food and wages as ordinary soldiers. Your Majesty wants to double their size. With one increase and one decrease, it is equivalent to adding more than 100,000 troops to the expenses. It can barely cope with daily training, but once going out to fight, it will be a bit stretched."

"In addition, the weapons, armor, horses, and pensions for these troops are several times more than those of ordinary soldiers. The court now has an annual income of more than 17 billion coins, and has saved about 2 billion coins every year for three consecutive years. Once your majesty implements this measure, the 6 billion coins will not be enough, and the annual maintenance cost is also a huge expense."

Liu He frowned when he heard this. He was most troubled by these things like account numbers.

"Okay, okay, no need to continue. I just want to ask, if we must expand, is there any way the national treasury can afford it?"

Qian Li was silent for a while, then said, "At present, the national treasury can afford it..."

Liu He's face relaxed, but Qian Li immediately changed the subject: "However, if this happens, the court will be unable to provide relief if natural disasters occur in other places. For example, this year, there has been no rain in the two counties in the southern part of Jizhou for more than four months. The court had to provide disaster relief and rebuild, which cost millions of tons of grain and grass and more than 1 billion coins. There was also a locust plague in Liangzhou..."

Listening to Qian Li's reply, Liu He felt dizzy and hurriedly called for a halt: "Stop, stop, stop. In this case, let's start by expanding the troops of each unit by 50%, and the rest will be discussed later."

Liu He thought about it and realized that he hadn't worried about money for a long time. The Han Dynasty court under his control had always had abundant money and grain, so much so that he gradually developed the illusion that "the treasury was inexhaustible." Now, he thought that he was too naive.

But after thinking about it carefully, Liu He quickly understood.

To equip a soldier of the Purple Gold Dragon Riders with a full set of equipment and three war horses would cost more than two million coins, and the annual maintenance expenses would be hundreds of thousands, not to mention the food and fodder expenses for the soldiers and horses, as well as the rewards for meritorious service and posthumous pensions.

With just a few words, he could increase the number of Purple Gold Dragon Riders by 30,000, plus the Han Wuzu, Golden Sword Battalion, etc. It is no wonder that Qian Li, the steward of the national treasury, would be so excited.

"Making money... and making money again, it's really troublesome... where can I find new ways to make money?"

(End of this chapter)