“It’s fun…it’s very interesting.”

Liu He looked at the latest report and looked playful.

"I didn't expect that Cao Cao had tried hard to seize Jingzhou in his original history, but unfortunately, he failed in the battle of Chibi, and never set foot in Jingzhou again in his life. But this life was so easy. He first colluded with Cai Mao and others to seek Jingbei, and then conquered the four prefects including Han Xuan and Jin Xuan. With no effort, he occupied the four counties in Jingnan and drove Sun Jian away."

He sighed in his heart.

Qian Li put down the documents he had just processed, raised his head and said, "In this battle, Cao's army and our army are not a winner. They were slightly defeated by Liu Bei, but they were a big winner against Sun Jian. From this point of view, Cao Cao is still the winner after all. Now Cao Cao has occupied Yuzhou and Jingzhou, as well as Pengcheng and Xiapi counties in Xuzhou, with a population of over 10 million, which is really a strong enemy."

Xun Yu frowned and said, "This is not an urgent matter. The key point is that Cao Cao has understood the essence of our cavalry and has also explored the weaknesses of the Han Wuzhang and the Jindao Camp. In time, he will reorganize the army under his command. His strength is enough to threaten the court."

Liu He waved his hand: "This matter is easy. Boping sent a secret report from Chen Liu. He proposed to expand the troops and horses of our army, including Shenji Camp, Zijin Dragon Cavalry, Feiyu Cavalry, Han Wuzhang, and Jindao Camp. In addition to the headquarters commanded by the generals, it is necessary to strengthen its troops, and a group of soldiers should be trained and scattered into the remaining armies. Multiple troops will cooperate to complement each other and be able to break the offensive of Cao's army."

"Well, General Gao Shun is well versed in military strategy, but this method is of top quality. Although the Jindao Camp is powerful, it is worn with light armor and insufficient protection. Secondly, the blade is sharp but not durable. Every time he cuts hundreds of times, the blade will be rolled and difficult to hold for a long time. However, the Han Wushang has both attack and defense, but its flexibility is too poor. The Cao army has learned the essence of cavalry and can easily break the formation of the Han Wushang."

Xun Yu analyzed: "But there is no perfect army in the world, and the advantages and disadvantages of each army can be complementary. The flying feather cavalry is agile and changeable, the purple gold dragon cavalry is thunderous, and the Shenji camp penetrates the gold-splitting stones and cooperates with each other, and the world is invincible."

"Well, I have the same intention. Back then, I commanded the army, showed my strengths, defeated the Huguan, and wiped out the Yuan bandits. Over the years, the recruits and surrendered soldiers from all sides have been mostly organized into ordinary infantry. Although they were diligent in their training, they could not be compared with the elite troops. Under our army's rule, the number of cities increased, and the elite troops of each unit gradually dispersed in various places. It seems that the troops are becoming stronger and stronger, but the combat power is not as good as before. It is time to rectify them. I want to double the Purple Gold Dragon Cavalry and other units respectively. At that time, I want to see what strategy Cao Cao has in the face of such a huge gap in strength."

When Liu He said this, he seemed to have thought of the scene of himself sweeping the world and reunifying the world, and he felt a little fascinated.

However, following Qian Li's words, he brought him back to reality.

"Your Majesty has this ambition and is magnificent. However, this move is expensive. I am afraid that the court treasury is still difficult to bear."

"No way?" Liu He was a little surprised: "Although the imperial court has only half of the country in recent years, as far as I know, the annual income of money and grain is far greater than that of Emperor Huan Ling. I have been learning from it on weekdays. I have ascended the throne for many years and have never built new palaces. Even the construction of a tomb for me has been rejected by me. How could the treasury have no money?"

Although the current senior gang in the court is Zhan Lian and Zhan Qingyuan, although his intelligence and politics reach 84 and 89 respectively, he can barely be competent for the position of Jiuqing, he has the special attributes of "savvy farmer" and is really a bit inexplicable in the Luoyang court.

Liu Hai initially promoted him, just to occupy a position. After all, the Grand Secretary was in charge of the national treasury, so such an important position must be in the hands of his own people.

However, Zhan Lian rarely appears in Luoyang. He usually stays in Bingzhou, taking care of the military garrisons of the court, the official farmlands, and the group of "farmers" disciples who taught him. Therefore, Qian Li is actually in charge of the treasury. Qian Li has been called Liu He's logistics manager over the years, so this arrangement is reasonable.

Because of this, when Qian Li said this, although Liu He was a little confused, he still acted like he listened to his explanation carefully.

Qian Li said seriously: "What Your Majesty said is not bad. The court now collects taxes, and the annual income of more than 46 million stones of grain is invested. In addition, the military camps and officials are engaged in farming, and the annual income of nearly 10 million stones. However, the annual salary of officials in the court exceeds 10 million stones. Now the size of the imperial army is about 30 million stones. The annual income of the capital is about 30 million stones. Rebuilding and expanding cities in various places, allocating about 70 million stones to Tong Jian for the laborers who rectify the Yellow River and river affairs. In addition, they also have to provide support to the harem, and the increase in the number of officials in the court year by year, rewarding the soldiers who have made meritorious services in the army, etc.."

"At present, the national treasury is sufficient to support the army. However, Han Wushu and other soldiers, whether they are training on daily basis or going out for battle, each person needs twice as much food and salary as ordinary soldiers. Your Majesty wants to double its scale. If one increases or decreases, it will be equivalent to adding more than one hundred thousand troops. It is still barely able to cope with the daily training, but once it goes to the battle, it will be a little stretched."

"In addition, these troops, weapons, armor, war horses, and pensions after death are several times higher than ordinary soldiers. Now the imperial court has earned more than 17 billion yuan in annual coins, which has been saving about 2 billion yuan per year for three consecutive years. Once Your Majesty's move is implemented, all the six billion yuan is not enough, and the annual maintenance cost is also a huge expense."

Liu He frowned when he heard this. He had the most headache about these accounts and other things.

"Okay, okay, don't talk about it anymore. I just want to ask, if the expansion is necessary, will the treasury bear it?"

Qian Li was silent for a while and said, "The current national treasury can bear it..."

Liu He's face relaxed, but Qian Li immediately changed his voice: "However, if natural disasters occur in various places, the court will be unable to provide relief at that time. For example, this year, the two counties in southern Jizhou have not rained for more than four consecutive months. The court wants to provide relief and rebuild, which consumes millions of stones of food and grass and more than one billion coins. There is also the locust plague in Liangzhou..."

Listening to Qian Li's reply, Liu He felt dizzy and hurriedly shouted: "Stop and stop. Since that's the case, let's start first and expand the troops of each unit by 50%. The remaining numbers will be discussed in the future."

Liu He thought about it, he had not been worried about money for a long time. The Han court in his hand has always been rich in money and food, which gradually made him have the illusion that "the national treasury is inexhaustible". Now that I think about it, I am still too naive.

But after thinking about it carefully, Liu He quickly understood.

A soldier of the Purple Gold Dragon Cavalry needs to be equipped with a complete set of equipment and three war horses, which costs more than 2 million yuan. The annual maintenance expenses are hundreds of thousands, not counting the food and grass expenses of soldiers and war horses, as well as merit rewards, and pensions after death.

With a light word, I would add 30,000 purple gold dragon cavalry, plus Han Wuzhan, Jindao Camp, etc., it is no wonder that Qian Li, the treasury steward, was so excited.

"Making money...it's really troublesome to make money... where can there be a new way to make money?"
Chapter completed!