Chapter 227 Numbers Don’t Lie
Chen Gong's face turned pale, and he pointed at Cheng Yu with his trembling right hand, but under the gratitude of the generals, he did not utter a word.
His previous argument with Cheng Yu had already gone a little too far, and if he refuted again at this time, it would probably not end well, so he could only grit his teeth and swallow his anger.
"Okay, that's it for the military expansion. You guys go down first, and we'll discuss the internal affairs next." Tian Ze waved his hand at Zhang Liao and others.
"promise!"
After the generals left, the atmosphere in the field eased.
"Zhongde, thank you for your hard work." Tian Ze sighed.
Although the play just now did have the intention of debate, it was mainly for the military generals such as Zhang Liao to see.
Although Cheng Yu seemed to be the loudest in calling for the expansion of the army, in fact, the most urgent ones were the other generals. This war made many of them hold their breath, and if they didn't release it, they would probably be depressed.
But the finances under Tian Ze's rule are indeed in difficulty now. It seems that the income is a lot, but once it is spent, most of it is gone in an instant.
But this money cannot be saved. Official relations are the foundation of governance, population and security are fundamental, and education and infrastructure are development. None of them can be short of money.
Cheng Yu could only be the shield, to point out the contradictions and explain the current situation. He gave them a hard slap and then a sweet treat to appease these arrogant soldiers and generals.
Cheng Yu played the bad guy and finally asked Chen Gong to do a favor for the generals, which greatly eased the conflict.
"My lord, this is Yu's responsibility." Cheng Yu bowed.
"Gongtai, thank you for what you did just now."
After hearing what Cheng Yu said, Chen Gong couldn't help it anymore, and pointed at Cheng Yu angrily and said, "Cheng Zhongde, we agreed to send 50,000 troops, how come it became 100,000!"
"Will 50,000 be enough to convince the generals? What's more, everyone knows that you have reservations in your heart, otherwise you wouldn't have agreed so easily just now." Cheng Yu curled his lips.
"Nonsense! We agreed on this at the beginning, and everyone present witnessed it. Finances are so tight, how can I get the money to pay for the extra 50,000 troops? Should I deduct it from your salary?"
"You can just deduct that little bit of money. I basically eat and drink in the military camp anyway." Cheng Yu said nonchalantly.
He didn't care much about money and property. The rewards given by Tian Ze were already more than enough. He even had a large fiefdom in the Northeast Plain. He didn't care about this salary at all.
And despite this incident, he still managed to secure a lot of benefits for the generals, and the generals' kindness was enough to cover his salary for several years.
"Thousands of years of salary won't be enough to cover the deduction! No, let's make a written agreement that we won't expand the army again within two years." Chen Gong said angrily.
"Chen Gongtai, don't go too far. Don't think I don't know that there are problems with the data in the budget you made. That's enough." Cheng Yu patted the account book in his hand and said bluntly.
Although the data reported by Chen Gong are all true, there are many tricks in the algorithm. The same data with different algorithms will naturally produce different results, and the difference may even be far apart.
There is a lot of room for maneuver here, and the budget that Chen Gong just reported has made considerable efforts in these areas.
"So what? It's a fact that we are in financial difficulty. We can't really spend all our income without leaving any surplus. This is a time of chaos. Can you feel at ease if you don't save some money and food?" Chen Gong said.
From Chen Gong's perspective, the people's livelihood is the top priority, and military affairs should be ranked behind. Apart from anything else, with a population of more than 40 million, if it is managed well, the annual population growth is more than the population that can be obtained by conquering a state.
With the Northeast Plain and plenty of land, why rush to fight? From an economic perspective, as long as a war is launched, it will be a loss in the short term, so it is barely acceptable to take it step by step. If the idea of great unification was not deeply rooted, Chen Gong would not even want to fight.
Many military generals certainly did not understand the ideas of the civil officials represented by Chen Gong, but Cheng Yu did.
But understanding is one thing, but as the Minister of War, his position is different from Chen Gong's, and he is not willing to accept it.
On the side of the couch, how can you allow others to sleep soundly.
Who knows what changes may happen in the future, so it is better to fight quickly and avoid future troubles.
"Without sufficient armaments, can you develop with peace of mind? You will just be a fat sheep waiting to be slaughtered. Putting aside other things, are you really not going to manage Jizhou anymore?" Cheng Yu snorted coldly.
Seeing the two start arguing again, Tian Ze interrupted them. "Okay, why are you arguing again? One hundred thousand is one hundred thousand, and we won't expand the army within a year. That's it."
Tian Ze thought he was quite good at making money, but except for the time when he was on Changxing Island, it seemed that the money and food he had were never enough at other times.
His ministers always quarreled over financial issues. He could not imagine how the Han Dynasty could collect 6 billion in taxes every year. Although local expenses had been deducted long ago, it was still amazing that they could support an army of more than 200,000.
"Zhongde, how can Yuan Benchu afford so many soldiers? And although they are not elite, their combat effectiveness does not seem to be too bad." Tian Ze asked.
"My lord, the Han Dynasty maintained an army of more than 200,000 in the past, which was very costly. The central army and the border army were the most expensive, while the ordinary county soldiers were slightly less expensive. On average, a border soldier needs about 15,000 yuan per year for food, clothing, weapons, etc."
"Our cost of maintaining each soldier is about four times that of theirs. Although we can only fight one against two or three in a head-on confrontation, we have a huge advantage in terms of logistics pressure, command and dispatch in wartime."
"Especially when we have a large number of troops, training elite soldiers in this way is absolutely the right choice." Cheng Yu first explained himself briefly.
Chen Gong couldn't help but roll his eyes. Now you know that you have more troops.
"According to the intelligence we have learned, the reason why Yuan Benchu's soldiers are so large is that he has mobilized almost all of his young and strong men."
"Just like the militiamen under our jurisdiction, they work normally on weekdays but train every three days. Even so, the annual expenditure must be considerable, at least more than 10,000 coins, and the total expenditure is probably no less than 6 billion coins."
"Where did Yuan Benchu get so much money? How much money do the Yuan family and the Hebei family have?" Tian Ze frowned.
When the civil officials heard this, they all looked puzzled.
Finally, it was Chen Gong who stood up and said, "My lord, the annual tax revenue of the Han Dynasty was only 6 billion coins."
Tian Ze was slightly stunned: "So?"
Chen Gong sighed, "Although the Han Dynasty did not have the per-acre yield of ours, its land area and population were larger than ours. Its total annual output of wealth was only several times that of ours, and definitely not more than ten times."
“But the difference in our tax revenue is more than 40 times.”
"Under such circumstances, the people under our rule generally have quite a bit of wealth, but the people of the Han Dynasty have almost none, and are struggling to make ends meet."
"The various taxes and land rents mean that they have to pay no less than 50% of their tax revenue every year."
"But wealth is limited, and some of it will not disappear for no reason. Therefore, my lord, you should know who holds the vast majority of wealth."
After hearing this, Tian Ze fell silent.
"Numbers don't lie." Chen Gong said solemnly.
After the establishment of the Jixia Academy, many new schools of thought emerged under the secret promotion of Tian Ze, and various academic disciplines that were previously not valued stood out, including mathematics.
"It has been nearly two hundred years since Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty. Even though there have been internal strife, changes in power, and various natural and man-made disasters, the accumulation of aristocratic families and powerful people is probably still much greater than we imagined."
"Although they may not be able to make ends meet now, the wealth they have accumulated is enough to support them for a long time. The Jizhou family behind Yuan Shao is one of the strongest in the world. Their foundation should not be underestimated."
Speaking of this, Tian Ze couldn't help but think of the military generals and followers of Jiangdong in the late Han Dynasty, as well as the three thousand death warriors raised by Sima Yi.
You know, those are not random soldiers, but real troops and death squads. The money and food required to support these elites may not be less than that of the soldiers under his command.
"However, they are not of one mind. As long as we don't push them too hard, they will be like a frog in boiling water. Even if they know our purpose, they will not work together." Tian Ze said.
He knew the integrity of these noble families too well. If they were more united, the Five Barbarians would not have invaded China.
Even heroes like Cao Cao, brilliant men like Liu Bei, and scheming men like Sun Quan were all frustrated by these people.
(End of this chapter)
