The wind was cold and Dong Mao stood alone at the top of the city, but his eyes looked north. I don’t know how long he had been standing at the top of the city until his shoulders were heavy, and then he realized that there was a thick sheepskin coat on his body.

"Husband, the city is too cold. Just now, the head of the king sent a message, saying that it was a letter sent by my father. The Black Mountain Army also sent a message, saying that it was to borrow some food from my husband."

Wuhuan's woman spoke softly, and Dong Mao looked at the north again. He knew that today was the day when the army of Pingcheng's west expedition was launched.

"It's quite cold on the top of the city, let's go down together."

Dong Mao smiled, but he had been at the city wall for a long time and his smile was a little stiff.

"Dad sent someone to come, do you know who it is?"

While supporting him down the city, the woman said that she didn't know, but Dong Mao soon saw who it was at home, not someone else, but his second brother Dong Huang and the old housekeeper Dong Zhong.

Dong Huang seemed to have suffered a great grievance. Before Dong Zhong could speak, he spoke up a little unhappy when he saw Dong Min.

"Brother, my uncle wants my second brother to come and withdraw 50 million yuan. He is just an old slave in my Dong family, so he refused to agree! Is this Bingzhou Mu a Yaoshan or his eldest brother?"

Dong Huang was used to being domineering in Lintao, and Dong Mao was unwilling to pay attention to him, but just looked at the white-haired Dong Zhong.

"Uncle Zhong, the soldiers led by his father are all Han soldiers in Meiyang. The court should not be short of money and food. Why do you need so much money at once?"

Dong Zhong was about to get up, and Dong Mao waved his hand.

"Uncle Zhong is his own family, so you don't have to be so polite."

Even though Dong Mao said so, Dong Zhong stood up and held his fists respectfully.

"What the young master said is that the soldiers led by the master were all Meiyang Han soldiers, but... General Huangfu believes that the Meiyang Han soldiers should not be mobilized. Once he leaves the Meiyang camp, he will no longer be Meiyang soldiers."

Dong Mao frowned. The Meiyang Camp had only 40,000 to 50,000 troops, which were the soldiers who fled back after Zhang Wen's six routes were defeated. According to common sense, more than half of the more than 100,000 Han soldiers were lost, and the same number of soldiers should be recruited again. However, the imperial court taxes were insufficient, so the emperor asked the Central Secretariat Zhao Zhong to serve as General of the Cheqi and Cavalry to preside over the recruitment of soldiers and the distribution of pensions for the soldiers who died in war. However, Zhao Zhong did not recruit any additional soldiers, and even withdrew the pensions for the soldiers who died in war. Later, the emperor was dismissed from his position as General of the Cheqi and Cavalry by the "furious" emperor. Then Zhu Ye succeeded to the position of General of the Cheqi and Cavalry.

In terms of private affairs, Dong Zhuo took away five thousand cavalry in Meiyang Camp, which was already insufficient; in terms of public affairs, the five thousand cavalry would run to Luoyang, which would pose a greater threat to the already unsafe court. In terms of private affairs, Huangfu Song had reason to avoid Dong Zhuo bringing five thousand cavalry into Luoyang, and he was unwilling to use the military pay from Meiyang Camp to support Dong Zhuo's private soldiers.

With just a few short words, Dong Mao knew what was going on. He was silent for a moment and turned to look at the woman beside him.

"The cost of my father may be more when he goes to Luoyang. Later, you will go to find Uncle Dashan with Uncle Zhong and withdraw 10,000 yuan from Curry. In addition, please inform Dong Hou and ask him to transfer 2,000 people to escort 50,000 stones of grain to deliver the food to the ferry. My father can take it away when he comes."

"Um."

The woman nodded in agreement. Just when Dong Huang nodded with satisfaction, Dong Mao said another stunned words.

"Fifty thousand stones of grain are nothing. Although there is not a lot of grain in Jinyang, Huwa is not short of this food. 50,000 stones of grain can be returned to Bingzhou in the future. Uncle Zhong and his second brother must make it clear to his father."

"What--"

Dong Huang stood up and looked at Dong Mao with a solemn expression with disbelief.

"Brother, are you crazy?"

Dong Mao lowered his eyebrows and said, "Whether ten thousand or ten thousand coins are all the money from Bingzhou, or the money from 100,000 soldiers in Bingzhou. Because the money is small, there is no way to distribute copper coins from 100,000 soldiers. This has been placed in Curry and Curry, not the eldest brother's private wealth. The second brother must understand this."

Dong Huang frowned and said, "Bingzhou is the Bingzhou of the imperial court. My uncle led his troops into the capital to garrison the country. The money and food required should be born from the imperial court. There is no war in Bingzhou now, so what's wrong with withdrawing some taxes to relieve the country's worries?"

Dong Huang's words almost clearly stated that Bingzhou became Dong Mao and Dong Hu's private territory. After hearing this, Dong Zhong was very anxious and hurriedly stepped forward to explain, but he still asked Dong Mao to wave his hand to stop him.

"Not to mention that Bingzhou has been fighting for several years, the people have long been poor and unable to pay taxes. If the eldest brother doesn't say this, he will pay taxes as he said. Can such a tax be issued to the 100,000 soldiers of Bingzhou?"

"Brother, you..."

"The second brother wants to say that Huwa's soldiers are military farming soldiers, and they don't need money, right? Isn't it really necessary? If I really don't need it, Huwa wouldn't send 10,000 yuan to Hu San and the others! And since you mentioned the word "tax", since you want to discuss public relations, your eldest brother will discuss public relations with you."

Dong Mao lowered his eyebrows and said, "For public, the taxes in Bingzhou are taxes from the state. If they are collected, they must be sent to Luoyang treasury, rather than to send the taxes to his father. In terms of private matters, the money in Jinyang City was taken away by the soldiers from the Xiongnu and Baibo thieves, and it was the gains of the soldiers. Second brother, you know the rules of mercenaries. The money in Jinyang City is the private money of the soldiers. The eldest brother is not qualified to use their money at all."

"Of course, my second brother also said that my father guards the country and this matter is for the public! For this reason, although my elder brother misappropriates the money of the soldiers in accordance with the rules, my father needs to return it to the soldiers in the future..."

"Brother, your surname is Dong!"

Dong Huang was extremely angry. Dong Mao nodded seriously.

"The eldest brother is surnamed Dong, but Bingzhou is not Lintao, nor is it the manor of my Dong family, and the money in the Jinyang treasury is not the wealth of my Dong family!"

Just as Dong Huang was still angry, Dong Zhong dared not let him continue to yell, and hurriedly stepped forward and bowed.

"What the eldest son said is that Huwa borrowed money and grain from his family in Lintao and had to pay back the money and grain. The eldest son took out the gains of the soldiers... It was my Dong family who borrowed money from the soldiers, and he would also do it with the soldiers in the future..."

"Brother Zhong's words are reasonable!"

There was a thunder outside the hall, and everyone went to see it. Just as Yao Shan took Dong Hou in, the two of them first punched Dong Mao, and then they stood in front of Dong Zhong with a dark face. Seeing the old brother like this, Dong Zhong felt a sudden bitterness in his heart.

"Public is public and private is private. Huwa has to pay back any money and food he borrows from anyone. If the second young master wants to take away money and food, he must return it to many soldiers in the future!"

Yao Shan was outside and was not only annoyed Dong Huang, but also Dong Zhong was also angry.

"snort!"

"I want to pay taxes... OK!"

Yao Shan snorted coldly: "The damn Xiongnu people have just ravaged Taiyuan County, Shangdang County, and the provincial governor have exempted the taxes for two counties for three years. The rest are Xihe County, Yanmen County, Dingxiang County and Hetao County. The people of the border prefectures and counties are all military soldiers. The land tax is not enough for officials, and the generals have no taxes. The military soldiers guarding the border prefectures and fields have no taxes. If the second young master wants the children's tribute, he doesn't have to ask the emperor to speak, so we will give you 200,000 copper coins!"

"you……"

"snort!"

Yao Shan is not as easy to talk to Dong Mao, so he will not be polite to Dong Huang. Moreover, after his appearance, Dong Zhong could not say anything more.

After the Dong family's death, the veterans of Lintao basically tended to Dong Hu, and Hu San ran to Luoyang without orders, which was almost no different from defection. Even though Dong Hu and the generals of the army privately explained, the veterans were still angry about it, let alone when they ran to Luoyang, they had to pay for their own money to support them.

The veteran generals such as Yao Shan were angry that Hu San affected the reputation of Lintao generals. It has been less than ten years since the establishment of mercenaries. Over the years, let alone Lintao generals, even the Qiang people in Liangzhou, no one of the Yellow Turban Army generals had defected. But now Hu San and Dong Yue had no orders to take soldiers to Luoyang without permission. How can this behavior not anger the veterans of Lintao?

In Dong Hu's army, it is inevitable that the younger generation will be the commander of the army. After all, the age of a veteran is almost the same as that of Dong Zhuo, and he can no longer run around and can only stay at home to guard the elderly, weak, women and children. However, these elderly people have a special status in the army, and are equivalent to the elders of the clan. A considerable number of elderly people were supported by Dong Hu in Lintao. Dong Hu is no different from their biological children and nephews. The veterans naturally hate any betrayal of others, not to mention that Hu San is a direct general of Lintao.

The veterans were annoyed Hu San, and Dong Yue ran to Luoyang with his troops without authorization. The soldiers in the army were also dissatisfied with their trip to Luoyang and they had to ask for money. However, the lord made a decision on the military discussion, and the army could only do this, but this does not mean that the army would not be annoyed Hu San and Dong Yue’s actions.

Even if Yao Shan didn't speak, Dong Mao knew the dissatisfaction of the army. At this time, if he had to give away the money robbed by the soldiers in bloody battles for nothing, the soldiers would have become more and more dissatisfied with his Dong family.

"This matter was decided so that the soldiers' rations are not required to be repaid, but Bingzhou is short of copper, so copper coins cannot be returned."

Dong Mao stood up, came to Yaoshan with a cane, and pulled him to sit down.

"Don't Dashan have any other additions?"

Dong Mao said this, what else can Yao Shan say? But he still glared at Dong Huang and Dong Zhong.

"Just follow the eldest son!"

Yao Shan knew the reason why Dong Hu was unwilling to send copper coins to Pingcheng, and knew that once these copper coins were completely withdrawn, Taiyuan County would suffer heavy damage. The original wealthiest place in Bingzhou would probably be difficult to restore its previous wealth in ten or twenty years.

The places north of Taiyuan County are almost on barren grasslands. The Xiongnu, Wuwan, and Xianbei people who live by cattle and sheep can do not use copper coins, and Dong Hu can also remain without copper coins in a short period of time. Moreover, even if he built Yanmen County into the richest place in the world, he would not be able to attract many people to enrich the border areas in a short period of time, because the surrounding areas around Yanmen County are sparsely populated places.

The north of Yanmen County is the southern desert grassland, the west is Xihe County, Shangjun, and Hetao County, and the west is Liangzhou Beidi County, Anding County, and Yanmen County is a Taihang Mountain in the east. The east of this Taihang Mountain is Youzhou Dai County. Because Dai County spans the Taihang Mountains, half is in Shanxi, and the other half is in Hebei. The south of Yanmen County is Taiyuan County. Even Dong Hu is the Xihe County, Shangjun, Hetao County, Dai County...even the people of Taiyuan County gather in Yanmen County, with less than 600,000 people.

Even if Dong Hu built Yanmen County into a pearl outside the frontier, even if he gathered all the people around him in Yanmen County, he would not have the potential to reach one million people. What's more, the people he could attract were still one of the border troops. Xihe County, Shangjun and Hetao County were originally a member of the "Nine-Border Important Towns". He enriched the people of Yanmen County, but other places were empty. Who would protect the important areas of the border?
Chapter completed!