Chapter 85 Sooner or later, we have to deal with these insects

Bi Zisu sat at the head of the east side, and without wiping the spit off his face, he continued to retort in a stern voice:
"I am temporarily in charge of the money and grain for Qianfeng Town. Jinyou will do as much as he can with the grain he has. Before the Liao salary arrives this year, the troops from Shandong and other places must not come to Liaoxi to build the city."

The ban army is a part of the soldiers selected from the garrison, who are sent to the capital or the nine border military garrisons to serve as soldiers for two months every year. This process is also called capital exercises or border exercises.

According to the nature of Ming Dynasty officials, they built palaces in the capital and city walls in border areas.

Therefore, the nine frontier military garrisons were established in one step, and the term "banjun" was used directly to refer to the inland garrison soldiers who were repairing the city walls.

"From what you said, is there no food in our area? Where is Jin Qizhen, the former magistrate in charge of Jinyou's finances? Where did he go?"

Although Juehua Island lost a large amount of grain, Li Hao still had confidence in the financial resources of the Ming Dynasty during the Tianqi period. Although there were small-scale arrears in wages, the operation of Liaozhen could be supported overall.

Bi Zisu, with his square face, sat upright, looking straight ahead, his lips not moving at all, and it seemed that he did not want to answer the question.

Li Hao returned to the main seat, and the old man Dong Yingju on his left whispered to explain the changes in the Tongpan Hall.

"The former governor ordered the withdrawal of Jinyou, but the livestock were insufficient, and about 40,000 to 50,000 dan of grain in Youtun City had not been evacuated in time, which benefited the Tartars. Juehua Island also lost a large part of it. Jin Qizhuo was a good official, he took it all on himself and died by slitting his throat. To save face, Governor Yuan reported that Jin Qizhuo went to the top of the city to supervise the battle, but died because of a cannon explosion."

"There is really not much grain left outside the Great Wall, only about 200,000 shi, which is barely enough for the more than 80,000 soldiers in Ningyuan, Qiantun, Jinyou and other places to survive for three months. Yuan Futai's intention is to first pay the soldiers of the general and deputy general, and owe the rest of the camps first, and then pay them when the Liao salary arrives this year.

Of course, Qianfeng Town is good at fighting, and the court is counting on Li Shuai to recover the lost land, so the soldiers in Jinyou and other places were given enough food and wages, and a lot of silver for horse prices was also transferred. I embezzled part of it to feed the refugees first, and then returned it after they planted the land. "

Li Hao slammed the armrest angrily, "How much food was lost? And how much did you report?"

This wasn't even the Chongzhen period yet, how come it had come to the point of robbing Peter to pay Paul?

Dong Yingju looked at the two civil servants with a guilty look on his face, but neither Bi nor Sun wanted to explain the matter.

He could only shamelessly reply: "I came to Liaozhen as an official relatively late, so I don't know much about the ins and outs here."

"I'll explain it to Li Shuai."

The old eunuch Ji Yong's voice sounded, and he stepped into the hall, "Youtun lost 50,000 dan, Juehua Island lost 130,000 dan, and there were hundreds of thousands of bundles of fodder burned by the Tartars. Yuan Futai reported 82,000 dan, which is a shortfall of 100,000 dan."

The eunuch in charge of the army came in and found that the two main seats were occupied, so he sat down on the empty chair on the west side.

He would rather sit in the military generals' area than sit in the third chair for civil officials in the east area.

Li Hao was so angry that he didn't want to say a word.

He also wanted to lead his troops forward to Sancha River, and successively capture Haizhou, Liaoyang and other places in May and June.

Even if we capture the six battalions in Qianfeng Town, we cannot hold on to them.

No wonder the troops were not dispatched to repair the city walls. Even the monthly salaries of the soldiers outside the pass are barely paid, and the troops who came up would have starved to death in the past few months.

The two old men in the hall looked at each other, and You Jiyong spoke first to test the waters: "I wonder which parts of the city wall General Li wants to repair? If not many, we can submit a petition to the palace. We must find a way to get the important parts done first."

The Jinzhou general's attack came suddenly, and this group of civil servants and eunuchs supervising the army had not yet communicated with each other.

"The whole area west of Sancha River and east of Lushan Mountain must be repaired. If we don't repair the city wall, when a small group of Tartars come, they will plunder all the people."

Li Hao thought about the current situation and added, "The section of the Great Wall between Fuxin and Yizhou also needs to be repaired. The Eight Banners may join forces with the Khorchin tribe and attack from there."

During the Battle of Yizhou, there were several hundred cavalrymen from the two yellow flags in the two major Mongolian coalition forces. This group of Tartars followed the Mongolian soldiers and fled towards Fuxin instead of running to Guangning and other places. It is believed that their leader should still be connecting the Mongolian tribes near Liaohe.

This cannot be ignored.

The stubborn Bi Zisu joined the discussion among the civil officials. He had been in Liao for many years and knew the cost of building city walls.

They concluded that only with an additional hundreds of thousands of taels of silver could the Great Wall be repaired near several major cities and key roads.

As for the twenty or thirty small forts near Guangning, they could not be repaired no matter what.

"There is no money in the warehouse, and the treasury is almost completely spent."

This was Bi Zisu’s reply.

Li Hao sneered, "Do you know if there is any silver in Beijing?"

He didn't believe it.

Just torture the salary and you can get as much silver as you want.

Dong Yingju explained in a low voice: "His brother Bi Ziyan was the Minister of Finance a year ago, supervising the Liao military expenditures throughout the country. He and I have worked together in Tianjin for many years. Now he has just been promoted to the Minister of Revenue. He is well versed in the matters of grain and military expenditures."

The Jinzhou general glanced at him sideways, and then he remembered that the old man was from the Imperial Household Department. In places east of the capital, such as Tianjin, defense civil servants were often served by officials from the Imperial Household Department.

The worst of this group of people have known each other for many years, and some of them may even be real old friends, the kind that have supported each other since their ancestors. In the next few months, he will have to fight the Tartars and will not be able to spare any time.

After Nurhaci was killed and only a few people of the Later Jin were left, he had time to collect money and support the army.

Sooner or later we have to deal with these insects!
"I have an idea."

Li Hao raised his right hand, spread out his five fingers, and explained them one by one.

"Guangning and other places have been recovered. Qianfeng Town needs to be relocated. The court needs to spend some money. We have just captured a lot of Mongolian soldiers. Qianfeng Town needs to expand a few camps. This is another excuse. I also need to prepare for a big battle across Sancha River. Military equipment and food are another silver. The cost of converting the chariot camp into a cavalry camp should also be allocated. The silver we need is used to buy grain from northern Zhili, Shandong and other places and transport it here. "

The general of Jinzhou listed four reasons that were most likely to get money and asked this group of civil servants to ask the court for food and wages.

The civil servants looked embarrassed. Dong Yingju, the leader, said with a shy smile:

"Only General Li can get silver and food. General Li should submit a memorial first, and we will then elaborate on the matters required for building the city, cultivating farmland, crossing the river and burning the border."

Li Hao ignored him and turned to look at Ji Yong.

"I told Liu Yingkun before that I would wear the seal of the former general who conquered the enemy. All the 900 heads from the Northern Expedition have been handed in. Where are my reward silver and seal? Man Gui has already got the silver order arrow, but I cut off almost half of the more than 300 heads from the Ningyuan victory. I can't even get a silver order arrow?"

This old eunuch is also from Wei Zhongxian's faction.

Hearing the question, Ji Yong hurriedly put down the teacup in his hand and replied, "Don't worry, General Li. The reward for the Northern Expedition will be issued soon. One Tartar head is worth forty taels of silver. The court wants to use this to strengthen the Liao army and stabilize the morale. Those who fight to the death to kill the Tartar will be rewarded. As for Man Gui's silver arrow, what's so rare about it? I heard that there may be a royal flag this time."

Although he used the word "maybe", the matter was already a done deal and he just had to wait for the Ministry of War to notify the general of Qianfeng Town to go to Shanhaiguan to receive the seal.

"Oh, right, General Li, you have to think about getting married. You killed a lot of Tartars during the Northern Expedition. You have all the imperial gifts, titles, and titles for your sons. It's all ready."

The young and brave general of Jinzhou has no wife yet, and many people are eyeing him.

The eunuchs of Wei Zhongxian's faction were not hindered by their opponents and were more efficient than the civil servants.

He was quite satisfied with the result.

"I will submit a petition for money in the next two days. You should hurry up and calculate the expenses. Don't repair the government offices yet. I will go to Panshan and other places in a few days. Send all the extra laborers to the banks of Shuangtaizi River to help me build ships and repair the city walls of Panshan."

His standard camp is still stationed in Guangning City, and he will have to march eastward in the next two days.

Li Hao took a sip of the tea. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and stood up to greet and say goodbye.

After driving them away, the Jinzhou general called the generals under his jurisdiction and began to arrange defense in various places and train cavalry.

Li Hao felt much more relaxed when staying with the generals. He ordered people to bring in several square tables and put them together, and asked the generals to bring chairs and sit around the tables.

Naturally, there was a map of Liaodong on the table. There were not only many civilians in the Ming Dynasty, but also many scholars and candidates who were keen on drawing maps. Even the top scholar in the imperial examination loved to tinker with maps.

The map used in Jinzhou Town was expanded from the Liao area in Guangyu Tu. This atlas was compiled by Luo Hongxian, the top scholar in the eighth year of Jiajing. It is much more detailed than the geomancy map used in the Later Jin Dynasty.

"Wu Xiang, you are also a veteran. Can you tell me how we can use these six battalions to defend this area?"

Although Zhu Mei's base is Youtun, he, Deng Maolin, and Xu Zoufu are currently guarding Yizhou with three chariot camps. There are many Mongolian soldiers who have surrendered there, and some more soldiers can be mobilized.

The situation north of Yizhou is more complicated, but it is also beneficial to the Ming Dynasty.

After the death of Ligdan Khan, the eight Chahar tribes began to fight among themselves, and many Mongolian herdsmen took the initiative to flee south and throw themselves into the arms of the Ming Dynasty.

Wu Sangui's father blinked and suggested: "Let Zhu Zhen bring his battalion back, and Generals Deng and Xu will temporarily stay in Yizhou, and use the Mongolian soldiers to garrison Guangning."

This is a very bold idea. If Guangning can be defended, then defend it. If it cannot be defended, then retreat. The advantage is that all the Han soldiers in Liaozhen are in a safe area.

Coach Li Hao didn't think of such a cowardly law-abiding person, "You are far worse than Sangui."

He turned to his godson and said, "Just tell me what you think. We have to capture a few big cities in Hedong before June, and we have to be able to hold them if we capture them."

After being disrupted by Li Hao's troops in February, the internal strength of the Later Jin Dynasty decreased a lot, and the war potential became lower. Wu Xiang's steady style of play was obviously not suitable.

It is advisable to chase the poor with the courage of the left, but not to be the overlord.

"As long as we can defend the lower reaches of the Liao River, it doesn't matter whether Jinyou has soldiers or not. We still have Yizhou and Guangning to the north to guard the gate. What I mean is that Zhu Zhen's battalion should be moved to Guangning, and we can bring the two battalions of Jinyou to Shuangtaizi River, add godfather's standard battalion and servants, and keep fighting eastward."

Wu Sangui was much more radical than his father.

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(End of this chapter)