choke element

Xu Ding and his party approached from a distant road, and guards had already come up to check their identities, and trotted to report to Guo Ning.

Guo Ning stood on tiptoe, saw Xu Ding and Jia She, gave some instructions to others, and came out of the crowd.

When his gaze caught him, Xu Ding jumped off the horse and saluted respectfully.

Guo Ning hurried a few steps, helped Xu Ding up, and then went to help Jia She.Jia She even said he didn't dare.

"Prime Minister Xu is a colleague, and Ji Chuan is a guest. Why are you two so cautious?" Guo Ning sighed, "It's rare for me to go wild with others. When I see you two, I have to pretend to be knowledgeable when I see you two." It looks like a ceremony. Let's find a decent hall to sit down and talk."

"The Duke's actions are calm and he can do whatever he wants. And I did this because I was familiar with the etiquette of superiority and inferiority since I was a child, and I really can't change it."

Guo Ning shook his head again and again, on the surface he was unhappy, but in his heart he was very satisfied with Xu Ding's knowledge.

He turned to look at Jia She again: "Jichuan, you come this way, how about my newly established Tianjin Mansion? How about the situation under my rule?"

Jia She smiled and said: "This place is full of vitality, and it is indeed a place where great achievements have arisen; as for the situation under the Duke's rule... I have one thing that I haven't figured out for the past few days."

"What's the matter?" Guo Ning rubbed his hands together, exhaling white gas.

"Duke, how can you support such a large expenditure? Even if some part of it is paid for by work, I have to. Even if there is support from maritime trade, even if the scale of maritime trade can continue to expand, no matter how I calculate it, it will be impossible for you to pay for it." Is it worth the bill?"

"Haha..." Guo Ning took half a step quickly, and said casually, "Shichuan, how do you calculate your account?"

"I walked south from Tongzhou. I saw the construction of cities, roads, bridges and docks along the way. It is roughly estimated that 650 people were used. According to the monthly salary of 18 or 40 yuan, it will cost them before the beginning of spring. [-] guan. It is said that the total number of peasants gathered in the entire Tianjin government is more than [-], which is nearly a million guan. Including three meals, clothing, tools, wood, and stone materials, if you count narrowly, you have to add another hundred One hundred thousand."

"It's almost that number..."

"This is a flower built by the Tianjin government. From the north of the Central Capital to the north and south entrances of Yongguan, and to the fortresses behind the Monan Mountains, I heard that they are also being restored. I don't know how many people were used there. It is roughly estimated that one important pass will be repaired for 200 passes, one fortress for [-] passes, and one fortress of [-] passes for military towers. The corresponding mountain road repairs will cost five passes per mile. of."

"This account is a bit interesting." Guo Ning stopped, looked at Xu Ding, and said half-jokingly: "Is Prime Minister Xu pouring bitter water on Shichuan?"

Xu Ding shook his head: "Not really."

"Brother Ji Chuan, you continue to talk, and I will listen carefully."

"Just now I heard from the students in the Imperial College that you are in Liaodong, and you have a new shipyard, which is a big expense. I don't know the specific cost of shipbuilding in the old days of the Dajin Kingdom. It is based on the situation of the Song Dynasty. In theory, a two-masted multi-oar ship similar in size to the Tongzhou type sea-going ship costs about 200 yuan for materials, labor, food, etc.; Shipyards cost more than [-] guan. As for the huge boats used by the generals, the price will exceed [-] guan because the wood is rare and difficult to dry. I heard that the Great Jin Kingdom has not built a decent ship for decades. To build a shipyard from scratch, and then produce sea-going ships, there are tens of hundreds of processes, and the cost of recruiting craftsmen is even greater. Regardless of the results in a few years, the cost will be at least five times that of the Song Dynasty... I reckon that if you invest [-] million guan first, you can barely see what it looks like, and you will need to continue to post compensation afterwards."

This number is really not bad.

Guo Ning gave Xu Ding another color, meaning, it's really not what your brother said?

Xu Ding shook his head again.

Guo Ning couldn't help but laugh.

And Jia She continued: "From outsiders' perspective, the Dinghai Navy controls the financial resources at sea, and the annual growth of millions of dollars is enough to support the expenditure of the Marshal's Mansion, but in fact, what you get, Duke, is really millions of dollars. What about the money? Not to mention, just before and after the beginning of spring last year, the food purchased urgently from the Song Dynasty consumed a large part of it? How much money did the military government take out to recycle capital? 100 million guan or more? "

Speaking of this, he laughed: "If it is less than this amount, Zhou Keshan will not be willing to bribe me with three thousand guan."

"Ahem, buying food this year does cost a lot. However, horses, furs and other things in the north can still make a lot of money."

"Horses are urgently needed by the Song Dynasty army. The number of war horses needed by the court and the army generally fluctuates between 150 and 200 horses every year. However, the money used by the Song Dynasty court to buy horses every year is not endless, at least [-] million. , no more than [-] million guan. And..."

Jia She laughed dryly: "There are rules for how the 200 million guan money will flow over the decades. Generally, the Chuanqin horses account for [-]%, and the Guangma account for [-]%. There are tea horses in both directions. Countless officials and merchants rely on this for food, and they move their hair everywhere, so there is no room for reduction? So last year and the year before, the imperial court specially allocated money to buy horses from sea merchants... This kind of Whether the expenses can be fixed, whether they will be kept forever, no one is sure, and even if they are kept, the annual expenses are fixed, and it is impossible to keep increasing."

"We still have furs and bead beads on hand. Recently, we have added wool felt clothes. The quality and style are very good, and..."

"All of them were sold to Da Song. Da Song doesn't have to buy them. Da Song won't sit back and watch copper coins and wealth flow out without limit!"

Jia She said in a deep voice: "It depends on how the navy organizes and trains the navy. It will expand to the point where it can defeat the Song Dynasty navy and forcibly promote trade. It will take at least 20 years!"

There was a moment of silence in the hall where the three were talking.

Seeing the situation in front of him, Xu Ding was a little embarrassed, so he went out to ask the servants for tea, and served it for Guo Ning and Jia She himself.

Jia She thanked Xu Ding, got up from the chair, and lowered his voice: "So..."

Guo Ning asked subconsciously: "So what?"

"So the huge expenditure and wealth of the Marshal's Mansion this year are actually based on confiscating the property of the Jurchen nobles in Zhongdu? Maybe the emperor's private property should also be counted? This year is like this, next year? Zhou Guogong, your territory is getting bigger and bigger. The bigger it is, the more places to spend money. At that time, we will force a few groups of Jurchens or former ministers of the Dajin court to find an excuse to kill their heads and seize their property? This seems to be a long-term plan to establish a country What? After the Jurchens have been killed, what next? Maybe they are so desperate that they have to go south to the Song Kingdom in an attempt to plunder them?"