The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Is 500,000 strings of cash a lot? (Chapter 499)

Upon hearing the figure of 500 strings of cash per soldier, the military officers were all taken aback.

So expensive!

They knew cavalry was expensive, and they guessed that cuirassiers equipped with four muskets would be even more expensive than ordinary cavalry, but they didn't expect them to be this expensive.

Li Gang shook his head and sighed, "At this cost, a thousand cuirassiers would require 500,000 strings of cash. Who can afford that?"

Yue Wenxuan laughed and said, "Can't afford it? I don't think it's too expensive."

The civil and military officials all turned around and looked at Yue Wenxuan with strange eyes. Although they didn't say anything, they were obviously thinking: Do you have no concept of numbers?
Yue Wenxuan smiled and said, "I would like to ask you all, do you still remember Song Jiang and his gang who wreaked havoc on the world a few years ago?"

Everyone present remembered this; it was a big deal.

Yue Wenxuan: "Among Song Jiang's group, there was a member of the Imperial Guard named Yang Zhi, the Blue-Faced Beast. He became an outlaw because of a mistake in escorting the Flower and Stone Tribute. If I remember correctly, the Flower and Stone Tribute he was escorting was worth 100,000 strings of cash."

Upon hearing this, everyone instantly understood what Yue Wenxuan meant.

Is 500,000 strings of cash a lot? It sounds like a lot, but if you convert it into the equivalent of five "flower and stone tributes," it's actually only five of those tributes.

Five tribute stones were nothing to the Song Dynasty!

During the reign of Emperor Huizong of Song, when he was indulging in tyrannical behavior, tributes of flowers and stones from all over the country were continuously sent to Kaifeng.

We could produce more than five; we could produce five hundred.

Why is it that when it comes to military expenses, everyone feels that 500,000 guan is not enough?

What exactly went wrong?
Li Gang was the first to realize the problem!
Ingratiating oneself with the emperor meant promotion and wealth, so local officials would desperately siphon off funds to send as tribute. But funding the army brought no benefit whatsoever, and local officials weren't willing to part with a single copper coin. As for the country being ravaged by enemy states, who cared? Even the emperor didn't care, so how could you expect local officials to?
"Sigh! It's not that the country doesn't have money, it's that the money isn't being spent in the right places."

Li Gang could only sigh.

Just then, a soldier came over to report: "Lord Fu has arrived with a transport team, bringing a large amount of military rations and ammunition."

Yue Wenxuan nodded and smiled at the civil and military officials, "Let's go see what the logistics team has brought."

A large group of people followed him toward the southeast gate of the camp.

The place was already bustling with activity, as two large groups of auxiliary soldiers and laborers were exchanging supplies.

This batch of supplies was transported from Huainan East Road. The person in charge of collecting these supplies was Fu Songqing, a minister of the Southern Song Dynasty who advocated war. He had been in the officialdom of the Northern Song Dynasty for several years and had now become like a Northern Song Dynasty official. He no longer had any of the pedantic air of the Southern Song Dynasty literati, nor any of the arrogant official demeanor.

His attire was very ordinary and approachable; he looked like a retired senior cadre, mingling with the transport team and chatting and laughing with others.

Li Gang recognized him at a glance and exclaimed in surprise, "Brother Fu!"

Fu Songqing turned around and saw: "Prime Minister Li! General Han! You've arrived too."

"They're here, they're all here."

Li Gang: "We heard that Brother Fu was detained and exiled when he was sent as an envoy to the Northern Song Dynasty, and then we lost contact with him. We were quite worried, but we did not expect that Brother Fu seems to be doing very well in the Northern Song Dynasty."

Fu Songqing sighed softly, "There's no great news, it's just about contributing to the resistance against the Jin. I've been following the news from the Southern Song, and after hearing about the Emperor's recent series of questionable actions, I...sigh...I don't know what to say. I often feel like, thank goodness I came to the Northern Song a long time ago." Li Gang: "..."

Fortunately, I arrived in the Northern Song Dynasty long ago. These words deeply stung Li Gang.

Just then, another head popped up behind Fu Songqing, exclaiming in surprise, "Brother Li!"

Li Gang looked closely and recognized him; it was Lu Zai, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel.

Lu Zai said, "After the pro-war faction suffered a defeat, I was also demoted. I wrote many letters and sent them to Lingnan, but I did not receive a reply from Brother Li. I was worried that something had happened to Brother Li. Fortunately, my son was clever and made contact with the Northern Song Dynasty, and finally found Brother Li."

Li Gang was overjoyed to see his old friend. The two held hands and looked at each other with tears in their eyes, sighing with emotion.

While the two of them were moved, on the other side, ten-year-old Lu You's bright eyes were darting around. Everything about the Northern Song Dynasty was new and exciting to him. What surprised him most was that the leader of the labor team sent by the Northern Song army to take over the logistics supplies was actually a child about the same age as him.

Lu You jumped in front of the child in a flash, cupped his hands in greeting, and said, "I am Lu You, son of Lu Zai, the Right Vice Minister of the Southern Song Dynasty!"

The child also bowed in greeting: "I am Ma Congyi, a descendant of General Ma Yuan, the Fubo General!"

Lu You asked curiously, "Brother Ma, you look about my age, maybe a little over ten, yet you're already in charge of logistics and military affairs in the Northern Song Dynasty?"

Upon hearing this, Ma Congyi became a little smug: "Hey! Because I'm a disciple of the Emperor."

Lu You was startled: "A student of the Emperor? That's amazing! The Emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty personally taught you?"

Ma Congyi: "No, that's not true! It was our government that built several schools, and I was the first student in those schools."

Lu You was very curious: "What do they teach at this school?"

Just as Ma Congyi was about to boast, someone handed him an account book filled with records of the supplies transported this time.

Lu You curiously peeked over and saw that the ledger was filled with many numbers.

Of course, these numbers were written using an old-fashioned counting method. Lu You glanced at one of them: "On such and such a day, passing by such and such a village, a righteous man in the village donated 4,832 strings of cash. On such and such a day, passing by such and such a village, a wealthy family in the village donated 332 strings of cash..."

Upon seeing this, Ma Congyi casually took out a pen and paper and wrote down: 4832 + 332
There were several more numbers at the end. Ma Congyi jotted down a string of symbols that Lu You couldn't understand as he saw each number. In the blink of an eye, Ma Congyi wrote down the last number and turned to his subordinates, saying, "The logistics team has received donations of 32,000 strings of cash along the way. Go and count them quickly."

Lu You was startled: "Brother Ma, how can you calculate so quickly? I didn't even see you take out your abacus, how did you calculate the total of a page full of dense numbers in the blink of an eye?"

Ma Congyi turned to look at Yue Wenxuan, only to see the latter smiling and nodding at him, indicating that he could mentor Lu You. He then laughed and said, "This is a new type of arithmetic that only the emperor's disciples know! Want to learn it? I can teach you."

Lu You: "Brother Ma, please do not hesitate to offer your guidance."

Ma Congyi laughed and said, "Then you can come with me to work on logistics. We're about the same age, so we'll definitely have a lot to talk about."

Lu You was overjoyed: "Excellent, excellent!"

The two children were darting around among a huge pile of logistical supplies, busier than the adults.

(End of this chapter)