"Master Shangshu, we say goodbye now. I don't know when we will see each other again."

In Daxia Capital, outside the imperial city gate, Yang Xuangan bowed deeply to He Shen in front of him.

It has been half a year since the Sui envoy arrived in Beijing.

Apart from them, the envoys of the Han and Tang Dynasties had already returned to Beijing.

Yang Xuangan and Li Mi, the two envoys of the Sui Dynasty, could not stay any longer.

During his stay in the capital, Yang Xuangan didn't learn anything. Instead, he became very familiar with Heshen, the Minister of the Ministry of Finance who was proficient in fun. Even before returning to the Sui Dynasty, he had to come and say goodbye.

He Shen also looked sad.

"My dear brother, don't be sad. When Daxia needs envoys to go to the Sui Dynasty, brother, I will definitely find a position and go to Daxing to reunite with my dear brother."

"Then it's settled! When brother comes, I will take him to see the Qinhuai River!"

He Shen's eyes lit up and he nodded repeatedly.

Yang Xuangan stopped staying and turned around to leave.

Seeing Yang Xuangan's back disappear, He Shen's face was no longer sad, only a little regretful, and he quickly returned to the imperial city.

After a while, He Shen came to the imperial study room.

"The Sui envoy left?"

Li Ye is browsing this year's people's livelihood summary.

This thing has never existed before. It was ordered by Li Ye six months ago, and the Ministry of Household took the lead in drafting it. All ministries cooperated to make it. It took half a year to complete. It contains the number of people and livelihood statistics of the entire Daxia state and county. It can be said to be the Daxia version.

National reports, objective facts.

"Replying to Your Majesty, Yang Xuangan was very sad when he left. I guess he was influenced by his father."

What He Shen said is true.

When Yang Su was in court, Yang Xuangan had a stable mentality, and his envoys were always gold-plated. No matter Li Mi, the deputy envoy, or other attendants, they all treated him with respect.

But since Yang Su lost power, and since Li Mi, everyone has been avoiding him like the plague.

It was also at that time that He Shen found the opportunity to hang out with the Sui envoy.

He and Yang Xuangan, a second-generation official who was talented but not very ambitious, had something in common, but the reason why they hung out with each other was mainly due to Li Ye's order.

"very good."

Li Ye said casually without raising his head.

"In that case, let's go with the adults."

He Shen thought he could get some reward. When he heard this, his face trembled, but he did not dare to argue and had to turn around and leave.

As I walked to the door, I suddenly heard a voice coming from behind.

"From today on, Monk Shu can receive twenty taels of salary every month."

After Hai Rui cracked down on corrupt and mediocre officials, in order to prevent officials from having difficulty supporting their families, Li Ye increased the salary in the court a lot.

For a minister, twenty taels of salary was not enough to fill his teeth. Even before the promotion, it was completely incompatible. The level of salary after the promotion was even higher, but it made He Shen smile.

"My lord, thank you Lord for your kindness!"

He Shen left happily, and Li Ye ordered people to find Zhuge Liang and Liu Ji.

There were three previous ministers of the Ministry of War in Daxia.

They are Wen Tianxiang who died in battle, Cao Cao who temporarily served as Minister of War, Yu Qian who first became Minister of War and later was promoted to Minister of Industry.

Zhuge Liang successfully took this position after presiding over the Battle of Pingtu.

In contrast, the generals of the First World War at that time, except Wei Qing and Huo Qubing, only had an increase in food households, and the other generals also had their military positions promoted.

"Your Majesty summoned us to come. Do you have any instructions?"

Zhuge Liang and Liu Ji stood in front of the table and saluted respectfully.

Li Ye looked at the two of them and said with a smile.

"My lords, after careful consideration, I have decided to expand our army."

"I wonder what you two adults think?"

Zhuge Liang and Liu Ji were shocked at the same time. The latter did not speak and turned to look at Zhuge Liang.

As the Minister of War, Zhuge Liang manages the world's military affairs. The more soldiers there are, the greater his power. He should be happy, but now he is frowning.

"Your Majesty, I would like to ask if the national treasury can support the cost of military expansion?"

Expanding the army requires money, and raising the army requires even more money.

Being a soldier and getting paid is a principle that has not changed since ancient times.

Now in Daxia, there are about 100,000 troops in the military garrison in various places. The Beiwei army and other departments in the Beijing camp add up to 300,000 troops, of which 50,000 are stationed in the south of the Yangtze River to prevent Japanese pirates from attacking. There are also two border troops.

More than 100,000 are distributed at various border crossings.

For an army of 600,000, military pay alone costs two to three million per year. In addition, there are also expenditures on ordnance, armor, money and food, etc. Combined into one place, military pay expenditures cost five hundred per year.

Ten thousand taels of silver.

If they fight together, money will be wasted like water.

An army of 600,000 is like this. How difficult it is to expand the army.

But it is necessary to expand the army.

In today's era of great strife, even the small country of Goguryeo has hundreds of thousands of soldiers. When the Great Sui Dynasty conquered Goguryeo, they could use half a million soldiers at will. The other countries except the Great Xia, no matter the foreign Turks of the Yuan Dynasty, or the Qin, Han, Sui and Tang Dynasties, who

Aren't they millions of soldiers?

If there are not enough people, no matter how good the soldiers are and how vast the generals are, how can we compete with them?

Li Ye was not surprised when he heard Zhuge Liang's words, but instead appreciated Zhuge Liang's sincerity more and more.

He smiled and said: "Sir, don't worry, the state treasury has more than enough money and food. I think you should know about Minister Shen of the Ministry of Revenue spreading money."

This incident was a big deal at first, and even after Shen Wansan left the capital, legends about him were still circulating in the capital. How could Zhuge Liang not know this? He nodded lightly and acknowledged it.

"Sir, do you know how much return Mr. Shen has received on the money he invested this month?"

Zhuge Liang was confused when he heard this.

This matter is the responsibility of the Minister of the Ministry of Hubu. How can he, the Minister of the Ministry of War, know where to go?

"Three million taels."

"Um!"

Zhuge Liang was shocked, looked at Li Ye with a surprised expression, and said in shock.

"There are so many!"

"right."

Li Ye looked at Zhuge Liang with a smile.

"Sir, do you think this is money gathered from investments from all places?"

"Is there something else?"

Zhuge Liang said in shock.

Li Ye stopped trying to keep it secret and spoke.

"The three million taels I mentioned are the household investment income in one place in the capital."

"Now Shilang Shen has traveled to the southwest of our country. In other prefectures, counties, and big cities, Shilang Shen has invested."

"Except for those barren and impoverished areas, where the Ministry of Revenue is still spending money to improve the lives of local people, the five places including Jiangnan and South Zhili alone have collected more than two million taels each in the previous month!

"

"The investment income of the Household Department last month totaled fifteen million taels!"

Li Ye looked at the stunned Zhuge Liang and Liu Ji and asked with a smile.

"Sir, do you think we can expand our army in Daxia?"

Zhuge Liang was shocked, came to his senses, made fists with both hands, and saluted to the end.

“I admire your Majesty’s actions greatly!”

Zhuge Liang knew that the investment was definitely not Shen Wansan's own idea, let alone the idea of ​​the Minister of Revenue. He Shen was still opposed by the government at the beginning. Although Shen Wansan executed the matter, it must have been Li Ye's idea.

Therefore, he worshiped the emperor.

"There is no need to salute, sir."

Li Ye waved his hands with a serious expression.

"I will first allocate five million taels of silver to you. Sir, you will recruit 800,000 soldiers from various places. Then I will assign a group of generals to follow you and train elite soldiers."

"Sir, remember, I only want elite soldiers!"

"yes!"

Zhuge Liang bowed to the end and said in a deep voice.

"I, Zhuge Liang, will definitely live up to your majesty's great trust!"

Zhuge Liang took the order and left.

Then, Li Ye mobilized a group of good military training generals such as Yue Fei and Chen Ziyun to accompany Zhuge Liang and went to various states to recruit and train troops.

When everything was over, Li Ye raised his head and saw Liu Ji still waiting in front of him.

He secretly praised Liu Ji for understanding his intentions, and stood up with a smile.
Chapter completed!