Of course Zhang Cang has never sold cattle, and it is impossible for him to sell cattle.

But Chen Ping's words revealed Zhang Cang's bitter journey over the past year.

This year, Wang Li's troops in the north and east are new soldiers and infantry, so the amount of military pay in a single month is still the lowest. In terms of six dollars per person per month, they can't hold up Wang Li's 130,000 troops. This month, it is 780,000.

Money, the war in the east didn't last long, and the actual calculation was only two cycles, but that was also an additional expenditure of 260,000 yuan.

So far, the troops in Yuyang County have been away for five months. Including war subsidies, the Ministry of Household Affairs spent 4.16 million yuan just for the 130,000 recruits in Yuyang County.

Han Xin and Guan Ying were even more ruthless. The number of cavalry in Yunzhong County was also 130,000, but the monthly military pay was increased by one yuan, which meant an extra 130,000 yuan for this month, and one hundred thousand for the whole year.

Thousands.

Including the Forbidden Army, which has the same salary as the cavalry unit, the jungle army in the south, and the mountain army in the southwest, the military salary expenditure of the Han army alone has reached more than 17 million yuan this year.

Such a large amount of money, although it will not completely empty the household department.

But that's about it. Don't forget that the Ministry of Household Affairs still needs to bear the capital expenditure for the expansion of Luoyang.

Although many of them are paid in advance, plus payments in installments, the accounts department can breathe a short sigh of relief.

But for such a big country, there are many places where expenditures need to be made.

Although land sales in Luoyang can support expansion and generate a surplus, it is not a long-term solution.

For the next big man, even if he doesn't fight next year, as new soldiers join the army, next year's expenditure will be around 16 to 7 million.

Expenditures will only increase in the future, and although commercial taxes have improved compared to the previous two years, they are still far from enough to support these expenses.

So where to get all this money?

It's simply unrealistic.

Therefore, Zhang Cang had to try his best to make up for this hole.

There is nothing that Zhang Cang cannot do except what you can't think of.

Why should grain be converted into military pay? The many cattle and sheep that Zhang Buyi brought back from the grassland were also calculated by Zhang Cang.

Except for what was left for the border soldiers, everything else was pulled back and used to be converted into money and distributed as military pay.

The method of distribution is also very novel.

Meat is expensive these days, and a soldier cannot buy a sheep with his annual military pay.

Although this stuff was not valuable on the grasslands, and the soldiers almost vomited from eating it, in China, these meats were still very valuable.

On average, the price of one pound of mutton is equivalent to one stone of grain.

Therefore, Zhang Cang came up with two methods. One was to ask the butcher to kill the sheep and pay them as military pay at the price of four qian per catty.

The other is to give you a whole sheep at the price of three cents per catty, part of it will be used to offset the military pay, and the remaining part will be exchanged for money. You can even use the military pay for the next two months to offset it as well.

In order to keep more money in his hands for emergencies, Zhang Cang racked his brains and tried every means.

Therefore, although what Chen Ping said was a joke, it was actually a very realistic thing.

If a war of this scale continued for several years, Zhang Cang might really have to sell cattle to fill the hole.

"No more fighting..." Wang Buxu smiled. He also knew how embarrassed Zhang Cang was: "This time we beat the Huns hard enough. If there is nothing wrong with their brains, in a short time

I probably won’t cause trouble to the big man again, so there won’t be any wars in the next two years!”

"Two...two years???" Zhang Cang frowned.

So many big guys spoke for me, but in the end, he got two years back?

And two years later, isn't it the day when Luoyang's expansion is completed? It's also the day when the Ministry of Household Affairs needs to pay the balance.

Although the user department’s own money is not needed, don’t forget that the account department itself still lends a lot of money.

The current account department looks very good on the books and has a lot of profits, but in fact it doesn't make much money at all.

The so-called lending and collection of loans means that officials need to use their own salaries to repay the money. At most, the Ministry of Accounts will spend less money next month. It is just an extra record in the book. In fact, it has not been seen.

money.

"Yes!" Wang Buxu nodded directly and said: "Things in the south have been delayed for long enough. All the recruits for next year and the year after will be given to the south. We will step up preparations to see if Zhao Tuo has the awakening. If he persists,

In the fourth year of Jianyuan, the emperor sent his troops southward to defeat South Vietnam!"

The fourth year of Jianyuan was the seventh year of Han Dynasty.

Now it is the first year of Jianyuan and the fourth year of Han Dynasty. Two years are enough to prepare.

In the winter in the south, you can march and fight, and you don't have to be immobilized by the cold weather like in the north.

After two years of training, the Jungle Army has a small number of people, but it has gained some experience in jungle warfare.

In addition, we have found many guides from various places to help. After the new recruits join in the next two years, the existing group of veterans can directly serve as instructors and quickly condense their combat effectiveness.

Zhang Cang only felt that his brain seemed to be lacking oxygen.

Previously, the emperor deployed three aspects, the northern cavalry, the southern jungle army, and the southwestern mountain army.

Now that the cavalry is done, the next step is to build the jungle army. After the jungle army is done, is it the turn of the mountain army?

Otherwise, I'd better resign. I really haven't paid attention to myself these days...

"Zhang Shangshu, don't panic. In the next two years, the imperial court will make every effort to develop the economy, and the money problem will be solved soon!" Wang Buxu seemed to have noticed Zhang Cang's headache, so he said.

"Your Majesty, excluding Luoyang, the empire's total commercial tax in the first half of this year is 2,773,911 yuan, and this year's military expenditure is more than 17 million yuan..." Zhang Cangsheng

It's better to die looking at the king and not feel hungry.

Even if the epidemic breaks out in the second half of the year and there is a tax revenue of 6 million yuan this year, there will still be a hole of 11 million yuan in military expenditures. What about the expenditures of local governments?

The government's expenditure will only be more than the military expenditure. The only advantage is that part of the official's salary is paid out in grain, and the demand for money is not particularly large.

When Tian Dan and other merchants accepted orders, they also accepted payment in terms of grain prices.

Although there are thousands of acres of food in the farmland, you have to take care of the food after recruiting so many workers, right?

It just so happened that they paid for it and bought it themselves, and also saved the manpower and material resources of transportation back and forth.

"The unsatisfactory development of business is due to three factors. Insufficient variety of goods, difficulties in transportation, and funding problems." Wang Buxu looked at everyone and directly revealed his family background.

In fact, this sentence is not difficult to understand. It will become clear if you think about the slogans of later generations.

If you want to get rich, you must first build roads. If you think clearly about these six words and combine them with your own actual situation, you will basically never starve to death, let alone getting rich.

If the king is not hungry, he won't consider building roads. There is no need for it at the moment, and the big man doesn't have the ability.

You mean technology?

Sorry, there is really no need for technology these days. It is simply because the goods are not circulated, so the business cannot develop. It is still in its infancy, and the customers are far less picky.

Not to mention that this thing of yours has no technological content, and there is no need to compete for core technologies. These are just clouds. As long as there is goods, there is no need to worry about selling them.

The military expenditures thrown out by the court will be spent by the people sooner or later. The economy is nothing more than allowing goods and funds to flow. As long as these two are present, the rest will fall into place, and naturally, taxes will rise.

"Your Majesty, the best solution is actually commodities!" Xiao He said bluntly. He has also been groping for the past two years, but he has never found a way. He has no choice but to proceed step by step for the time being.

Although Dahan's construction is making steady progress, the pace of progress has never been very fast.

The reason why there are eye-catching data in the financial and agricultural statements is mainly due to Wang Buxu's vigorous promotion of business. Although it is just a policy tilt, it still allows some people to operate. The other is the investment of Xinli

, coupled with the construction of water canals, this made farming more labor-saving than before, and the abundant water sources also enabled more production than before.

The price of grain in the Han Dynasty was able to drop to four cents and one stone in just a few years, relying on these two things. Even if mules were invested, the price of grain could not drop any further. This point has been reached by the entire court.

Now, including military pay, officials' salaries, and wages for recruiting workers, all are set around the price of food. Once the price of food becomes unstable, it will have a huge impact on the stability of the entire Han Dynasty.

Therefore, Xiao He has mainly done three things in the past two years: one is to stabilize the internal situation, the other is to develop the local area, and the third is to use the remaining money to purchase grain and store it in warehouses. When the critical moment comes, he will release the grain to stabilize grain prices and maintain the current situation.

The system is immune to turmoil.

"The last two are not as difficult as imagined!" Wang Buxu chuckled. As a descendant, how can he be stumped by this problem?

nonexistent!

"Isn't the cultivation of mules in the past two years very good? Use part of it to form a transport team in various places, and also encourage individuals to form. How much does it cost to raise a mule for a month?" Wang Buxu asked as he looked at everyone.

"It doesn't cost much, just one person is enough. If you give him better treatment, add some sugarcane!" Zhang Cang said.

Mules are notoriously easy to raise, and they eat grass, crop stalks, and anything else. In the past, these things were basically brought home to be burned for warmth in the winter, but now they are considered waste.

Basically, if one person works full-time, he can look after twenty or thirty mules at the same time, or even more.

And how much does one person earn per month?

Five cents!

This is the official price set by the court. Those offered by private individuals outside are lower, ranging from three cents to four cents. Anyway, there are plenty of people, and if you don’t want to do it, others are rushing to do it.

"Just five yuan a month for a mule, plus two people, fifteen yuan a month, and a cart to pull a cart of goods from Luoyang to Xingyang. It costs eight yuan. Is it expensive?" Wang Buxu asked.

.

"It's not expensive at all!" Zhang Cang thought for a while and said.

It takes about six days to go back and forth. Basically, if you make two trips a month, your capital will be saved. If you make more than three trips, you can make money. After excluding the transportation cost, if you can keep going, you will get your capital back in almost two months.

.

Expensive is for those powerful people who have the ability to maintain such a fleet of cars. Inexpensive is for small businessmen because the current transportation costs are very high.

"Let me tell you, it's not expensive at all. Merchants hand over the goods to the transportation team for transportation. They charge according to the weight, mileage, and the number of vehicles used. If you are not worried, you can follow the convoy. If you are not worried, you can come back alone and wait.

Just take it and receive it. With the fleet, merchants no longer need to take a group of people out, only three or two people can handle it, so it saves trouble!" Wang Buxu said with a smile.
Chapter completed!