Xinshun 1730

Chapter 394 Military Expenses
The ministers in the court guessed what the emperor was thinking, but they also knew that the matter of conquering the Japanese was settled like this.

The only difference from before is that the emperor appointed three people to assist in handling various confidential matters concerning the conquest of the Japanese.

One is Jiang Chen, the false privy envoy, the other is Lu Zhilei, who was once the Minister of the Household Government and is now in the Tianyou Palace, and the other is Liu Yu.

This is both reasonable and unexpected.

When the military reform gradually took away the power and responsibility of the military government, some people saw that the emperor wanted to continue to strengthen the centralization of power, especially the control of military power.

During the time when these three people were conquering the Japanese, they obviously served as the emperor's private secretary, not the systematic secretarial team like Tianyou Temple.

These three people each have their own official positions and titles, but this time the coordinator of the war against Japan is an obvious temporary organization with no status.

As for whether it will be completely changed in the future, forming a real Privy Council dedicated to the military, or even reforming the Temple of Heavenly Blessing, that is unknown.

Excluding these three people's own positions and their legitimate identities within the system, these three people are nominally not qualified to issue orders to subordinates.

In the end, whether it is troop deployment, food distribution, coordination, etc., the Temple of Heavenly Blessing and the Six Governments are still needed, and the emperor, as the intermediary, is in charge of the overall situation.

In this way, it made many people feel relieved. From this point of view, Liu Yu is already No. 1 in the military after Jiang Chen's generation completely retires?

If this is the case, it may not be a good thing.

After the military reform, the military No.1 is useful when it is fighting, but when it is not fighting, it has much less say in the political affairs of the DPRK and China.

For those who are destined to be in charge of the army, the emperor should not allow him to participate in too many political affairs.

There are also people who speculate from today's events or what institutional changes will happen in the future. The six governments, the Temple of Heaven, and the Privy Council, which has just been built and has not yet taken shape, will have some doubts about what will happen in the future. I don't quite understand.

The only thing that is certain is that Liu Yu has not fallen out of favor, and there is probably something else going on about the navy matter.

After the court meeting, the three met for the first time in a room in the Forbidden City, and the emperor himself was there.

This place is not far from Tianyou Hall, and there are no other people in the room, only four people. After all, this is not a well-established institution.

The windows are still covered with window paper, not glass that can be seen clearly from the outside. There are ice cubes in the room to cool off the heat, and there are no eunuchs or maids to serve.

Liu Yu thought in his heart that this time his name was right and wrong, and it was fine to speak by himself, but according to the rules, he was farting, and in the end the emperor had to come forward to follow the formal procedure.

At this time, I am really not even as good as a secretary. A well-organized secretary has certain powers and responsibilities. Now I can at most be regarded as the emperor's retainer, or a non-functional official. I can directly talk to the emperor and even make decisions, but I have no power...

The remaining two people, whether it is Jiang Chen or Lu Zhilei, except for this house, they all have official seals, and now I have a private stamp.

Several people in the room are familiar with each other, they have heard Jiang Chen's story as early as when they were in the Martial Virtue Palace, and since then they have been in charge of the army in the northwest.

Lu Zhilei, the former Minister of the Household Government, had met Lu Zhilei in the court, but he was not familiar with him, and he did not know his temperament. However, the reason why the emperor asked him to participate in this matter can also be guessed. As the secretary of the household government, I also know some things about the household government.

Times change, newcomers replace old ones, the members of Tianyou Temple are no longer the old people they were when Liu Yu was a Xunwei.

The military reform has not yet been completely reformed in terms of system, and Jiang Chen's position as a privy envoy is very embarrassing.

Jiang Chen is not embarrassed, but the position of Privy Councilor is very embarrassing, the current power and prestige belong to Jiang Chen, what exactly is Privy Councilor is not yet decided yet.

It is not yet clear where it will belong in the future, whether the Emperor will take the lead to directly manage the Ministry of the Navy and the War Department to separate the Privy Council, or customize a quota for Privy Envoys to enter the Tianyou Hall.

It is estimated that the emperor is also trying, especially wanting to use this time to start a war against the Japanese to try what to do in the future.

Change always needs to be tried, but no matter how you try, the emperor has a clear idea of ​​grasping military power.

The small circle is much more relaxed than the outside. It is not necessary to kneel all the time or the emperor gives permission not to kneel. The emperor sits in the middle, and Liu Yu sits on a short pier.

"This conquest of the Japanese has been roughly decided. I have the sea power, and I can land anywhere. Liu Aiqing first went to the Japanese country for a tour, and the Japanese people's division of troops has basically been completed. I don't think there is much to say about this battle. What do you think? "

For these years, Liu Yu's mind has been full of conquest of Japanese. This is Dashun's first step out of the sea, and it is also the most important step in establishing a new tributary system in East Asia.

Roughly speaking, he deduced all the possible actions of Japan.When the emperor asked at this time, he didn't talk too much.

"I think that Japanese people don't have many choices."

"If you are forced to divide your troops in various places and organize four or five mobile regiments scattered in various places, this battle will be simple. As long as the army lands, the general situation will be determined."

"If we only focus on Edo and Kyushu Island, the navy will either transport troops to Pusan ​​to find opportunities, or patrol around Ryukyu, and the country will be in chaos within half a year."

"Now that the army has assembled in Weihai, a part of the navy has already joined forces with the Songhua River, and will soon occupy Yeyi. I believe that it is not appropriate for the army to move first, but to order the navy to gather in Pusan ​​first, with the marines plus a part The army camps there. Three thousand people are enough."

"The navy conducts armed reconnaissance along the coastline of the Wa country to see if the country has dispersed its forces into several mobile regiments. If so, the main force of the navy will return and prepare for landing operations. The navy will divide a small half to bring Pusan's soldiers to land and harass, and attack the city. stronghold."

"Based on the estimates of my ministers and the calculations of the previous naval staff officers, the military expenditure this time is only within 200 million taels, which will definitely make the Japanese surrender."

"The Japanese shogunate must first defend the inside and then fight outside. A long war is not good for the Japanese country."

After reporting a "200 million taels of military expenditure" that surprised all three present, the three were shocked.

"200 million taels?"

Although I know that this battle should not cost more than the cost of conquering Junggar, I really can't believe it only costs 200 million taels.

"Two million taels. At most, it's only a few 200 taels."

Taking advantage of everyone's surprise and disbelief, he repeated it again.

It's just that Liu Yu has set up an ambush and played a trick.

The money spent on building ships and building the navy before the navy does not count.

The money for military reform, new army training, and outfit changes does not count.

Logistics and transportation are outsourced to trading companies with future trade monopoly rights, which does not count.

The normal military pay of the army during the war does not count. Anyway, if there is no war, you have to spend money to support soldiers.

In this way, the amount of 200 million given sounds shocking.

200 million taels seems like a lot, but for Dashun's size, it's actually not much to do.

Although I also know that Japan is not too strong, but with the experience of fighting in North Korea in the previous dynasty, I always feel that this country must at least be a big country at the level of Goguryeo.

200 million taels to beat a big country of such a level to the ground sounds like a child's play.

What can 200 million taels do?
Lu Zhilei, the former Minister of the Household Government, was very sensitive to numbers. After experiencing the war against Junggar, it was really a waste of money that day.

If Liu Yu hadn't sent troops out of the Altai Mountains back then, and borrowed Dunduobu's strategy to lure the enemy into deep, he would have defeated the main force of the Zhun Ministry in one fell swoop, and the money for the First World War would have been doubled. .

Of course, the money was not saved afterwards.After some military reforms and shipbuilding, all the savings were spent again.

Does he think Liu Yu made a mistake?
The emperor was also a little shocked by this number. After questioning carefully, although he trusted Liu Yu in his heart, he couldn't believe that such a number would be reported.

But after listening to Liu Yu's detailed explanation, I feel that this is indeed the case.

Hearing Liu Yu explain where all the money was saved, the emperor smiled and said: "The rice in the south of the Yangtze River, walking along the canal, costs one cent in the capital, and the common people can't afford four cents. Conquering Junggar, 20% of the army's rations, only [-]% of the army's food when it reaches the front line. Half of it can be left over. The rice, which costs one tael and one stone, is transported to the Altai Mountains, and it costs more than [-] taels of silver.”

"For this conquest of the Japanese kingdom, the shipping loss given by Ying Suobo is [-]%. The Japanese kingdom is separated by thousands of miles and the sea. It is almost the same as sending troops from the capital to Zhangjiakou?"

Liu Yu thought in his heart that the big money spent on wars will always be logistics.If you travel from Beijing to Zhangjiakou, the consumption of grain may not necessarily be as much as transporting grain from Songjiang to Nagasaki.Anyway, Nanyang merchants can transport rice from Siam to Guangdong to sell, and there is still a lot of money to be made.

Sima Qian's "Biography of Huozhi" said: "Do not sell woodcutters for hundreds of miles, and do not sell goods for thousands of miles."In front of the sea, it's not quite right anymore.

I also thought, if you stipulated that the price of rice transported to Hami was two taels and one stone when you conquered Junggar, the merchants would have been scared away.But if you go to Guangdong, tell the merchants that no matter where the rice comes from, the payment will be made in two to one stone boats. As long as they have the right to control the sea, the maritime merchants can take out the coffin and go to Nanyang to buy rice.

During the Opium War, troops were transported from Britain and India and fought for two years. Adding wages and some newly built special ships, the total cost was only 1200 million taels, and the wages of soldiers were included in it.

From Dashun to fight Japan, it does not seek land occupation or rule, and the distance is close. Excluding the previous money for shipbuilding and military reform, and it does not count as the military salary of the soldiers, 200 million taels is definitely enough.

The most important point is that during the Battle of the Japanese Conquest, the imperial court’s most troublesome logistical problem was “contracted” to a trading company, and the imperial court did not spend a penny. All it needed was a two-year monopoly on trade with Japan.

Before Liu Yu intervened, the tax collection level of Dashun Customs and the state of smuggling were rampant, and the customs revenue from the Japanese trade was only a few thousand taels of silver a year.

The trade with Japan was not initiated by Liu Yu, but has always existed.However, Liu Yu led the money to flow into the navy, workshops, military industry and other directions.

For the court, especially the classical land power court like Dashun, and the British prime minister who thinks that the British export subsidies give money to merchants, there is something wrong with his mind, they always feel that not getting the money from the court is tantamount to does not exist.

Dashun’s special situation of high land rents and high interest rates makes it impossible to set up banks to issue bonds and national debts: ordinary people have no money to buy them, and those who have money lend themselves or buy land. The income is much higher than that of national debts, unless the Dashun court can take A high rate of return of 30.00% per annum, otherwise fools would buy treasury bonds.

As for the 30.00% annual interest rate of return, the Dashun court could not afford it.

Therefore, Liu Yu chose this extremely profitable method, exchanging the monopoly power for the national debt of the war, which seemed to make the court feel that no money was spent, but in fact the two-year monopoly power was worth at least two or three million taels of silver.

Especially in the case of driving away the Dutch, liberalizing North Korean trade, and liberalizing the Japanese trade credit card system.

But as long as you don't go out from the treasury, in the eyes of the court, it means no flowers.As for the advance payment of monopoly rights...the imperial court did not have the opportunity to advance payment before, so this naturally does not count.

Therefore, the 200 million taels mentioned by Liu Yu is extremely watery.

The 200 million taels are money such as gunpowder, shells, lead weights, medicinal materials, pensions, and payment for killing enemies.Originally, some of Songjiang’s grain rice this year was going to be shipped to Weihai for military rations. There was really little difference between shipping to Weihai and Nagasaki.

If it is converted into the normal full calculation situation, it should be around 800 million taels; if military reform and shipbuilding are included, it should be around 400 million taels.

(End of this chapter)