Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 315 I Really Didn’t Expect That
"Cut military spending? If you say that kind of shit to me again, I'll throw you into the Changjiang River and drown you."

Xia Lin has a professional staff team under him, which can be commonly known as the "Master's Nest". This is composed of a group of people who moved in when Lao Xu left. They are in charge of every detail of the entire town's food, clothing, housing and transportation, and increasing revenue and reducing expenditure is naturally part of their job tasks.

But when they calculated the county's annual budget at the end of the year, they found that the annual military expenditure was too exaggerated, so exaggerated that it could eat up one-third of the county's surplus.

If this money was used in other places, the development would not be so tight. After all, this is not tens of thousands of taels of money. Fuliang’s military expenditure in one year was 300,000 taels!
So they came early in the morning to propose cutting military spending, but Xia Lin pointed at their noses and pressed their heads and scolded them, saying that they were a bunch of short-sighted people. The chaotic times are approaching, and people with no status are cutting heads and stationing troops, while here they are with the legitimate reason to cut military spending.

It's like holding a lantern in the toilet - looking for death.

After being scolded, the staff naturally dared not mention this matter again, and Xia Lin continued the meeting. Basically, the policy for next year will be a continuation of this year's policy. There will be some fine-tuning but the magnitude will not be large. The main focus is on the current livelihood security of residents, such as clean water and coal use. From now on, the problem of burning firewood must be eliminated to maximize the protection of lush trees in the entire area.

As for why there is such a problem, it is a bit helpless to say. In fact, Xia Lin himself was curious about one thing before coming here, that is, there are trees everywhere on the mountain, so how could people freeze to death in winter in ancient times?

But after he came here, he realized that he was too naive. There were no trees on the wild mountains. Not to mention years of disaster, even in normal years it was impossible for trees to grow on the mountains. The only mountains with trees were those owned by the landlords, and people were not allowed to go up there to cut firewood.

Now their explosives technology is relatively mature, and the large coal mines around Yongshan Township can now be excavated very easily. The excavated coal blocks are washed and crushed, and then added with straw, carbonized sawdust, lime, yellow mud and other things. This can become a low-cost, fire-resistant, high-quality fuel.

This thing, like salt, is exclusively owned by the government here, and it is a strategic material that is not allowed to be purchased in bulk. Since the emergence of this thing called honeycomb coal by the people, anyone who cuts down trees will be arrested and fined. The originally hollowed-out mountains have long been planted with various saplings, and forest rangers are patrolling day and night.

However, most people now have not actually realized Xia Lin's idea. They just think that Xia Lin wants to make more money with this kind of thing. But in fact, the coal he sells is almost at cost price, and he even loses the labor costs. Because it is a classic people's livelihood security project, he really doesn't dare to make a penny.

When it was almost over, someone came in from outside and reported that an old man named Zhu came to look for Xia Lin.

"The old man told me to inform Lord Xia that the defeated general from that year is coming to visit."

When Xia Lin heard this, he quickly stood up and followed him out. When he arrived at the yamen, he saw Mr. Zhu drinking tea from a distance.

"Mr. Zhu came to visit unexpectedly, but he didn't even tell us in advance."

When Mr. Zhu heard Xia Lin's voice, he quickly stood up and bowed, saying, "Master Xia, I haven't seen you for a long time. You look even more handsome now."

This is not a compliment. When he was fifteen years old, Xia Lin looked a bit like a girl. With his fair and clean complexion and those fox eyes, it was no wonder that people said that he came out of the same bed with Lao Zhang.

But now that he is in his early twenties, the physical changes are very obvious. He has grown taller and his features are clearer. At first glance, he looks like those literati fanning themselves with a palm-leaf fan. Even though he is wearing an official uniform, he is the only one who can make it look like fashionable attire.

"Mr. Zhu always praises me, which really makes me blush. But I think Mr. Zhu must have something to do this time, otherwise he wouldn't have come all the way to my poor and remote place."

A remote area?

Sai Zhuge laughed in silence. This place seemed to have become a super political resource for the young prince to gain a foothold. Its prosperity had caught up with those metropolises that had existed for thousands of years in just a few years. If this was a remote and poor place, then there would be no place in the world that was not poor.

But it was not easy to respond to this question, so he simply got straight to the point: "Master Xia, I came here this time because of the request of the young prince. He asked me to come to Fuliang to borrow something from Master Xia."

"As long as you don't use my life as a pretext, everything is fine."

"Hahahaha..." Mr. Zhu waved his hands quickly: "Master Xia, please stop joking. I will not hide it from you, Master Xia. His Majesty has already decided that the young prince will be the heir this time."

"Oh? Then I have to congratulate the prince in advance." Xia Lin sat down happily: "I also have to congratulate Prime Minister Zhu in advance."

"Oh, I dare not, I dare not..." Mr. Zhu said he dare not, "But after the crown prince is appointed, His Majesty will no longer be involved in state affairs, and everything will be handed over to Prince Teng and Your Highness... Tsk, oh, I'll be frank. Your Highness asked me to ask Lord Xia to borrow troops."

"Borrowing troops?"

"Yes, borrow troops. Sneak peek."

Xia Lin narrowed his eyes and said, "Your Highness is worried that someone will revolt after the crown prince is appointed?"

"Hmm." Mr. Zhu took a deep breath and said, "What do you think, Lord Xia?"

"Then what opinion can I have? I will do whatever Your Highness says. But I don't know how many soldiers Your Highness wants. Do you want me to lead them myself?"

Mr. Zhu shook his head: "There is no need for Lord Xia to lead the troops personally. Just ask a few thousand soldiers to disguise themselves as a merchant caravan and enter the capital to settle down."

Hearing this, Xia Lin laughed inwardly. The young prince's idea was really naive. Thousands of people disguised as a caravan had to enter the capital. Not only that, they also had to hide and settle down.

There are thousands of people here, not just a few. Can they just hide like that?

From this sentence, we can see that the young prince is still not politically wise enough. His idea is indeed good, but it is almost impossible to implement it. Mr. Zhu smiled shyly when he saw Xia Lin's expression. How could he not know that the young prince's idea was really unreliable?
But he is about to become the real prince, that is, the future emperor, so of course he only needs to open his mouth, and the people below will naturally think of the solution.

"Mr. Zhu, do you think it's appropriate?" Xia Lin leaned over and took a deep breath and said, "Hehe..."

Mr. Zhu pursed his lips and said nothing for a long time. He certainly felt it was inappropriate, but what else could he say?

"Then I would like to ask Master Xia for your guidance."

"I don't deserve your advice." Xia Lin waved his hand: "The secret passage to Chencang is because that is Chencang. Who has ever heard of a secret passage to Nanjing?"

"Yes."

The two fell into silence again. After a while, Mr. Zhu's eyes suddenly lit up: "Master Xia, I have a plan."

"Mr. Zhu, please speak."

Mr. Zhu hesitated for a moment, then stood up and said, "Your Highness is about to take charge of military affairs. Although the military power is still in the hands of Prince Teng for the time being, you can form a new army of your own."

"Then how will the Ministry of War pass? How will the Ministry of Revenue pass? How will the Imperial Household pass? The money for one new army is enough to empty the Imperial Household Treasury three times. There is no way around it."

"Yeah... oops... I have a headache." Mr. Zhu slapped his hands on his knees, making loud clapping sounds.

At this time, Xia Lin suddenly laughed: "Hey, I have an idea."

"Master Xia, please speak."

"His Highness first proposed a new army, but that was rejected. So he had to settle for the next best thing and proposed a small military exercise."

Mr. Zhu was curious: "What is a small military training?"

"Just gather 800 people, practice some new tactics, learn some new martial arts, and become a general." Xia Lin said with a smile, "800 people, without armor or horses, are very cheap, and the various departments will not make it too difficult for the sake of the new monarch. These 800 people can be stationed on the outskirts of the city, and then I will gradually transfer people and troops over. The daily exercises are just going out to drill and line up, and no one will pay attention after a few times. Although it is impossible to sneak into Chencang, it is still easy to steal and replace the pillars."

"Master Xia, is this really feasible?"

"Let's try."

Xia Lin shook his head helplessly: "It's better than having thousands of people disguised and lurking."

Mr. Zhu thought about it and realized that this was the truth, so he could only accept it helplessly. However, he came here not only for this reason, but also because he wanted Xia Lin to further expand Fuliang's business after His Highness took office.

In fact, Xia Lin knew in his heart that this was to pave the way for his future momentum. As the saying goes, food and fodder must be sent before the army moves. Fuliang is your highness's granary.

Of course, he also knew that no matter how much he expanded, those places would eventually be taken advantage of by His Highness. But it didn't matter, as long as he couldn't touch the core foundation, it would be fine.

However, once the business begins to expand overseas on a large scale, it would be tantamount to declaring war directly on the local families. But who cares? The moment His Highness stepped into the palace, the war had already begun.

But it doesn’t matter. After all, he has been preparing for this day for so long.

All we have to do now is wait for Gao Shilian to make a list of all the noble families after the new king ascends the throne.

After chatting for a while and basically determining the basic route for the crown prince, Xia Lin asked Mr. Zhu to stay for a few more days. Mr. Zhu gladly accepted it. After all, Fuliang was famous and it was a holiday resort.

After arranging things for Mr. Zhu, Xia Lin returned to Chuntao's house. Chuntao and Narcissus were not at home these days. They went to worship Buddha, saying that it was for praying for wealth, but in fact Xia Lin knew that they were actually there to pray for children.

While he was lying on the balcony enjoying the warm winter sun in the south, he suddenly heard footsteps beside him. He opened his eyes slightly and saw Tingyun sneaking around and rummaging through something in the cupboard.

"When did you come back?"

"I was scared to death..." Tingyun was startled by Xia Lin: "I just came back and was going to get some clothes, take a shower and have a nap."

Xia Lin hummed, "Tell me about what you saw and heard in the capital later."

(End of this chapter)