open sea

Chapter 583 Conscription
In the letter Chen Mu wrote to Chen Bazhi, he not only asked about his health, but also discussed the situation in Japan. On the one hand, he urged to resolve the troubled Japan as soon as possible; .

This is at odds with his strategy.

"It's not difficult to destroy the circulation of money in this place. The difficulty is that we have to withdraw our troops. Smuggling merchants from all over the place is useless. It is impossible to completely block it, brother." Chen Bazhi spread his arms, drank a pot of tea for Chen Jiujing and Li Dan, said : "Once the troops are withdrawn, the current good situation will come to naught."

"Balang, you are not the lord of this place, but the general of the imperial court. The country of Japan is uneasy, and the adoptive father is worried about going east." Li Dan smiled lightly. He knew what the adoptive brother said about the good situation, but he felt that it was meaningless. Crossing his legs, he stretched out the big sleeves of his toga and said, "Even if you defeat the Qingzhou army, so what, do you still want to hold the king and order the princes like him?"

The situation in Japan is not very good. The Liaodong United Army in Kanto has lost its vitality in the long war. Although it has a new guard, it is also trapped in the guard. The seven guards of the public can only achieve self-sufficiency in military food - but the biggest advantage between them and the local daimyo is precisely that they do not have to be self-sufficient in military food.

Others are limited by food and supplies, but they have the possibility of sending rice and grain from outside to have the possibility of attacking in farming time. Once they rely on land cultivation, it is equivalent to restraining their own hands and feet.

In the final analysis, the group of people they led should never have come to Japan to fight.

If we really want to say that the situation is very good, we can only say that Chen Bazhi's side is very good. There are many powerful lords of the Western Kingdom outside. Implementing the policy of dividing the land and clearing up the hearts of the oppressed peasants is a huge advantage anyway—before the dissatisfaction of the neighboring princes can suppress their fear of the Ming army.

Li Dan always believed that if Chen Bazhi could not quickly seize power in this way, he would be collapsed by the rebellion of the princes who had already surrendered.

Chen Bazhi didn't speak for a long time, holding his teacup, he didn't know what to think, and after a long while, he suddenly raised his head and changed the subject.

"What is father doing in Beiyang? I heard from my elder brother that he will train soldiers there for a year and a half?"

Li Dan tilted his head slightly, and let out a long snort. To be honest, he has become more and more afraid of Chen Bazhi in the past few years, especially after taking over the Japanese affairs. Smiling and not speaking, people will swallow the advice they want.

He said: "Beiyang needs to train the horse army, purchase war horses from northern Xinjiang, and recruit manpower. In addition, it needs to set up iron, mining, oil, and military bureaus in Tianjin and Zunhua to prepare for the Eastern Expedition."

"It will take a lot of time. I still have time. Brother, let's figure it out. If we recruit more soldiers, will the income and expenditure be balanced?"

"Nowadays, transporting grain and grass a year is calculated as the road consumption in Shanghai, which is 18 shi, and the sea transportation is impermanent. It is always correct to remember that it is 21 shi. If we recruit more soldiers, we need to transport more than 3000 shi for every thousand people, and the war and road consumption will cost more. , 32 shi for 23 people, counting another [-] shi, then [-] shi, equivalent to [-] taels of silver."

"At present, the three prefectures export wood, iron, copper, lead, tin and commercial goods to the sea a year, and they can only exchange less than 13 yuan for silver. If you count the silver mountain, it is naturally a lot, but if you don't count the silver mountain, there is a big shortage. , As for taxes... like confiscation, there are only less than [-]."

Li Dan quickly calculated the number, and after finishing speaking, he spread his hands and said: "Therefore, it cannot be offset."

"If I want it to offset, what do I have to do?"

"Do you want it to offset?" Li Dan frowned slightly, got up and said: "If the flow is not slow, then we must open up."

Speaking of which, Li Dan went out. The tea in Chen Jiujing's hand was cold, so he simply put it down and asked Chen Bazhi, "Brother wants to fight?"

Before Li Dan came back, he had heard Chen Bazhi ask if the vassal daimyo wanted to die. The answer to this question was too obvious, of course he didn't want to die - if the vassal daimyo didn't, then he would go to war.

Chen Bazhi didn't answer, bit his lip slightly and shook his head, not thinking about chatting with Chen Jiujing at all, he was waiting for Li Dan.

Not long after, Li Dan opened the door again and came back with an extra letter in his hand, unfolded it and slapped it on the table, saying: "The annual silver income of the Sanfu is more than 12 taels. If these taels are bought in China, it is far less than that of the Sanfu." Soldiers and horses are consumed, but if you exchange for copper coins in the country, and then go to Sanfu to buy rice, it will be enough."

"Buying rice in Sanfu?"

Chen Bazhi and Chen Jiujing spoke in unison and asked, "What do you mean?"

"Ming money is more valuable than Japanese money. Because you collect less tax and the people have more food, the price of food in the three prefectures is lower than that of other places. One penny of Ming money is worth four pieces of Japanese money. Two or three hundred dollars can buy a stone of rice, millet More, in this way, not only will the military expenses be settled, but the common people will still have money in hand, so they can develop businesses, collect taxes from merchants, and get back part of the money.”

"In addition, there are many mines owned by thousands of households in Ni Shangzhong. We control the shipping, so we can trade with them, bring things over, and earn more income."

Li Dan clarified the matter by comparing the prices on the paper, and then asked Chen Bazhi, "What are you recruiting for?"

Hearing what Li Dan said, Chen Bazhi's brows finally relaxed, he took a sip of tea in a comfortable sitting position, put down the tea bowl and said on the low table: "Recently I got news that Takeda Shingen died four years ago, Takeda They were defeated again last year, and it is impossible to expect them to contain Nobunaga in the east, but as Nobunaga's ally, he should gather all his strength to clean up Takeda in order to expand his territory."

"It's really impossible to count on those pirates. Long Junxiong encountered the main force of the enemy and was attacked in the river only a hundred miles away from Wangjing. The gang of Japanese pirates under his command were defeated. They gathered their troops and fled back to Osaka Bay. They fled after grabbing a fortune. come back."

"This is my chance. I plan to attack eastward during the autumn harvest in a few months, so that his allies will be hungry this year and defeat Zhitian in one fell swoop next year." Chen Bazhi, who is usually listless, is very ambitious when he talks about these things, saying : "They didn't deliver food to the Hongan Temple. The Dharma Lord can't last long. Don't care whether others think it or not. When we enter Wangjing, it doesn't matter what others think."

With that said, Chen Bazhi turned his head to Chen Jiujing and said, "You and Li Ruzhang guard the three mansions. General Wang leads an army and General Bozhou Mansion and others attack eastward. Li Rubai and I guard the front line from the sea road. Soldiers plundered, two or three months, come back for the New Year."

Chen Jiujing tried his best to think about the situation in his mind, but according to Chen Bazhi's words, he thought more about guarding the three mansions, saying: "The army is all over the nest, what if the princes of Kanxi rebel?"

"I will leave enough soldiers for you to deal with them. It's not difficult to beat them up and guard them for two or three months."

(End of this chapter)