After hearing Yang Yan's report, Gao Huan got up and left the side hall and went to the conference hall.

At this time, a group of civil and military officials from Liang State had gathered in the hall, talking in groups of three or three, guessing what Gao Huan wanted to do.

Generally speaking, how the country should be governed by the monarch is often good at listening to the ministers' opinions, and even doing it according to the rules given by the ministers.

However, in Liang State, ministers were Gao Huan's tools for governing the country. Basically, Gao Huan made requests to let the ministers do it.

This kind of arbitrary decisiveness is quite like a monarch of all dynasties, and he is a fierce man from heaven.

Of course, this style also made many ministers dissatisfied. Gao Huan was too independent and difficult to fool, which made it difficult for ministers who moved from the Ming Dynasty to the Liang State to adapt.

Many people talked privately, thinking that King Liang was doing well, because he was the Qin Emperor and Han Wu, and if he didn't do well, he would become Emperor Yang of Sui.

However, even if the Qin Emperor and Han Wu were disliked by the civil officials, they often attacked him, and were a model of tyrants in the hearts of literati.

A king who is too strong and wise means that the power of the ministers is weakened, making it difficult for them to deceive their superiors and subordinates, and cannot passively slacking off and gain benefits.

The monarch they expect should not care about what they do well. The major national affairs should be based on their wishes, and just let them handle national affairs.

At this time, everyone was talking in the meeting hall, and suddenly a guard outside the hall shouted, "The king is here!"

Everyone in the lobby became quiet, and Gao Huan and Li Yan quickly walked into the hall. Everyone stood up and bowed to salute, "I will welcome the king."

Although Gao Huan is still a Ming minister now, everyone knows that Emperor Hongguang is just a puppet controlled by Gao Huan, and Gao Huan is the actual emperor.

Now I have to go from behind the scenes to the front desk, and I only have one more time to join the court, not to follow the imperial court, but to worship the swords and shoes to the palace, and to abdicate an edict.

Of course, as long as Gao Huan has not finished the process, he will still be King Liang.

It is not something that the ministers can decide when Gao Huan wants to change the country name and what it means to make Zhu Yousong abdicate. It depends entirely on Gao Huan's meaning.

All they can do now is to have a place in Liang State. Once Gao Huan feels that the time is right, they will all be founding fathers.

At this time, Gao Huan walked straight to the central hall and sat down, then waved his hand, "Everyone is sitting!"

Many civil and military officials sat on both sides of the hall, and the palace maids stepped forward to serve everyone with refreshments.

At this time, Gao Huan smiled and said, "This year, I am facing many crises, but fortunately, everyone worked together and finally got through the difficulties."

Zhou Yanru immediately smiled and said, "These are all wise and magical martial arts of the king!"

"It's not my own merit." Gao Huan waved his hand and said, "Today, there are several things that need to be done by calling you. I hope everyone can work together to help me eliminate the warlords, conquer the pseudo-dynasty, and expel Jiannu!"

When everyone heard the words, they immediately stood up and bowed together, "I will do my best to help the king unify the world."

"Okay! I have you guys, and I can achieve hegemony!" Gao Huan nodded with satisfaction, let everyone sit down, and then said in a deep voice: "This year, I am defeated the Qing Dynasty in the north and swept the left side, so that my Daliang is mighty in the world! However, although my Daliang wins, I still lack strength to unify the world."

Zhou Yanru was in Jiangnan and followed Gao Huan. He knew Gao Huan’s thoughts and said, “What does the king mean to expand the army?”

Gao Huan nodded, "Not bad! I want to expand my army of 200,000, so that I can support 500,000 troops."

When they heard that they were about to expand their army by 500,000, they couldn't help but whisper and talk.

Everyone has expectations for Gao Huan to expand his army.

After all, last year, the Liang army lost nearly 30,000 people in Kaifeng and another 50,000 or 60,000 troops in Jiashan.

Although Gao Huan's direct troops did not suffer much loss, mainly from Chen Yongfu, Liu Zeqing, Liu Liangzuo, and the troops of Hongguang court, the losses of a small 100,000 are not small.

Furthermore, everyone understands that in the next few years, or even more than ten years, the world will never be peaceful. It will be a year for the destruction of a country and military use. It is necessary to expand the army.

Everyone knows this, so they are not opposed to the expansion of the army. It is only a 500,000 yuan. Can it be negotiated?

At this time, Sun Sike couldn't help but say, "Can the king explain the specific reasons for the expansion of the army?"

Gao Huan nodded, "The reason for expanding the army is very simple. After my Daliang occupied Jiangnan, the territory was vast. In the north, we had to face the Qing Dynasty and the pseudo-Ming Dynasty. Henan had to station 100,000 troops, and Jiangbei also had to station 100,000 troops. This led to a large army of 200,000. Now, there are 100,000 people in Jiangnan. The troops are only enough to defend and make progress, and it is difficult to make progress."

Now Liang State has only 300,000 troops, and defense is enough, but it is difficult to play out.

If Gao Huan attacks Zheng Zhilong or Zuo Menggeng, the country of Liang will be empty.

Gao Huan continued: "So I plan to expand my army of 200,000, of which 150,000 are the cavalry and infantry and 50,000 are the navy. If the army is expanded, it will not be a problem whether it is to destroy Zheng Zhilong, Zuo Menggeng, or to conquer the pseudo-Ming and Manchu Qing dynasties!"

This time, Gao Huan stopped going south and retreated his troops back to Nanjing, not only because he was blocked by the Qiantang River, but because Zheng Sen set up his troops in the Yangtze River Estuary because as the Liang army occupied the south of the Yangtze River, the territory became larger and the military strength was diluted.

After hearing Gao Huan's words, everyone knew that it was necessary for Liang State to expand its army, so they nodded one after another.

Seeing this, Gao Huan immediately said, "The second thing is that the navy cannot be completed in one day. Zheng Sen stationed troops in Chongming and threatened the Yangtze River channel. He could cut off the Yangtze River at any time and cut off the north-south connection between our Daliang. This is a huge hidden danger for our Daliang. If this hidden danger is not solved, I dare not fight to the south with all my might or advance west!"

Song Xiance said: "The estuary of the Yangtze River is very wide, not as good as an inland river. We have fewer boats and cannons, so it is probably difficult to expel Zheng Sen by force!"

Gao Huan nodded and said, "So I want you to build several riverside forts as soon as possible to block the waterways, so that Zheng Sen can't break into the river at any time. This is difficult for our Daliang to restore the economy in the south of the Yangtze River. Secondly, the Zheng family navy often goes in and out of the Yangtze River, which will damage the power of our Daliang's military and make people feel unacceptable!"

The Zheng family navy often swayed at the gates of Liang State, and from time to time went deep into the Yangtze River and into Liang State, which really made Liang State very passive.

If Gao Huan sends troops south or fights westward, Zheng Sen takes the opportunity to fight to the city of Nanjing, will Gao Huan not save him?

Li Yandao: "This fort should be built! I just don't know how much it takes to expand the army and build the fort?"

Gao Huan said in a deep voice: "A large army of 500,000 yuan, a month's military salary of 500,000 taels, military rations and materials consumed, about 100,000 taels, about 600,000 taels a month, about 6 million taels a year. In addition, shipbuilding and equipment are prepared for 500,000 taels, and 200,000 taels to build a fort. A total of 6.7 million taels!"

As soon as this number came out, there was an uproar in the lobby.

Li Yan frowned and said, "King! Even if Jiangnan is added, my Daliang pays taxes a year and his income is not 6 million taels. Now the army alone costs 6.7 million taels a year. How can I bear it over time?"

This year, the Qing army ruled the Yellow River. Liang Guofan’s government has posted a notice that the entire Yellow River area was exempted from taxes for two years. After the Left Army occupied Jiangnan, the economy of Jiangnan was damaged. I am afraid that six million taels would be optimistic.

This tax is not enough to provide relief to the people, restore the economy, and maintain the operation of the vassal states. Where can there be taxes to support so many soldiers?

Although Gao Huan captured Nanjing this time and captured a lot, this one-time income is by no means a long-term solution. Once the wealth is gone, the consequences of the army's failure to pay the salary will be extremely serious.

Over the years, the army's owed wages was a major event, not to mention that Chongzhen, who had not paid military wages, had already hung on a tree.

However, Gao Huan was able to propose expansion, so he must have had a solution and was prepared.

Gao Huan said in a deep voice: "I know this, so I decided to implement reforms and implement the state-owned salt and iron operation!"

Everyone was shocked after hearing this, and Zhou Yanru couldn't help but say, "King, the new law has been quite controversial. If it were the state-owned salt and iron, would the gentry, people and merchants feel that the court and the people compete for profit?"

Gao Huan said in a deep voice: "I don't want them to think, do you understand?"

(Thanks to Zhu Shangbing for his 500 reward from Qin State, please give me monthly tickets, recommend, and follow up)
Chapter completed!