The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 163 All the money is gone
In June of the first year of Taichang, the summer harvest in Liaodong began, and all the garrisons were busy.

The horse market in Fushun and other places, which had been interrupted for many years, was finally restored. Horse traders from Yehe Mongolia resumed trading with the Han people and continuously supplied horses to Kaiyuan.

During the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court attached great importance to horse management. In order to obtain excellent war horses, the imperial court established a system in which the people raised horses on behalf of officials.

There were frequent wars in the early Ming Dynasty, and this system could not solve the shortage of war horses, so tribute trade came into being.

The Ming Dynasty adopted a policy of appeasing ethnic minorities and offered generous rewards to those who came to pay tribute with horses. As a result, there was an endless stream of people from various tribes offering tribute horses.

In order to facilitate transactions, the imperial court set up horse markets in Kaiyuan, Fushun, Qinghe and other places, and appointed horse market officials to manage them specifically.

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Developing cavalry requires a large number of war horses, and transporting supplies requires miscellaneous horses. Five thousand war horses are only enough for the cavalry battalion, so we must continue to buy horses.

Restoring the horse market will not only provide more horses, but also strengthen the connection between Kaiyuan and foreign countries.

Therefore, the Chamber of Commerce transported grain and cloth to trading points and traded them with foreign tribes in exchange for war horses.

According to the quality of war horses, they can be divided into five types: top horse, top horse, middle horse, bottom horse and foal.

Before the Battle of Sarhu, most of the war horses sold by the Mongols to Jianzhou were top horses, while those sold to the Ming Dynasty were bottom horses.

Of course, the horse officials in Liaodong City tacitly dismounted the horses and reported the price paid for them to the court.

Ping Liaohou abolished the position of horse market official and let the civil affairs be responsible for the war horse trading. The cavalry camp and the central army guards sent people to supervise to eliminate the possibility of corruption and bribery.

The prices of horses are as follows: the best horse is worth eight dan of rice and eight bolts of silk, the best horse is worth five dan of rice and five bolts of silk, the middle horse is worth three dan, and the worst horse is worth one dan.

Ping Liaohou was never stingy with his military spending. To acquire excellent war horses, the Kaiyuan civil officials offered a generous price.

In addition, the food and accommodation expenses of foreign merchants who went to Kaiyuan, Fushun, Qinghe, Kuandian and other places to trade were covered by local officials.

Stimulated by many profit-making measures, horse traders brought high-quality war horses to Kaiyuan for trading.

Horse traders in Sinuiju even smuggled Dayuan horses and sold them to Kuandian.

Yuan Chonghuan was very bold and accepted all the desperate Korean horse dealers.

Historically, Korea has been supplying war horses to the Ming Dynasty.

In the early Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang imitated the Yuan Dynasty and took advantage of its vassal state relationship to send envoys to Korea repeatedly to ask for horses. This did not end until the first year of Jingtai. According to statistics, Korea provided the Ming Dynasty with more than 70,000 war horses in total.

Most transactions are conducted with buyers (fair and just transactions between two parties).

With Liu Zhaosun's current strength, he cannot be as domineering as Zhu Yuanzhang and buy so many things at once.

Fortunately, the war horses supplied by foreign tribes can meet Kaiyuan’s needs.

Throughout the first half of the year, the Civil Affairs Bureau traded a total of 8,000 war horses of various types with the Khorchin, Tumed, Doyan, Yehe and other tribes.

There were two thousand top-quality horses, three thousand middle-quality horses, and three thousand lower-quality horses and foals.

The principle of Kaiyuan's trade with foreign countries is to ensure that Kaiyuan benefits and the foreigners do not suffer losses.

The expansion of the cavalry battalion took place simultaneously.

Among the Liao people, many were skilled riders. Liu Zhaosun selected 1,200 skilled riders from among the tens of thousands of refugees and incorporated them into the cavalry battalion. Adding to this the Mongolian nomads who had come to seek refuge there, 2,000 new cavalry were added in March and April, bringing the total cavalry strength to 4,000.

Blind expansion comes at a price. With Kaiyuan's current financial resources, supporting 4,000 elite cavalry is already the limit.

The previous battles were too brutal and the casualties were too heavy, so Ping Liaohou always felt that he had too few soldiers.

Even though we are short of financial resources now, we must bite the bullet and expand our military.

Kang Yingqian strongly disapproved of this excessive expansion. The tens of thousands of pieces of cloth stored in the warehouses were all emptied by civil officials and replaced with war horses and mules.

What made Kang Yingqian even more angry was that hundreds of thousands of dan of grain in the granary were transported in carts by the "Liaodong Trading Company" to Mongolia, Yehe, Korea, and Man Gui in Jizhen, and exchanged for ginseng, sable fur, pine nuts, fungus, and pearls, which were then transported back in carts.

Civil affairs officials vowed that they had opened up the Zhejiang-Fujian trade route, and that by shipping the goods south and exchanging them for sugar, tea, silk, and porcelain, they could make more than five times the profit.

Kang Yingqian didn't know much about the southern goods trade. However, he knew that the 600,000 taels of silver awarded to General Liu by Emperor Taichang had long been squandered.

It cost 80,000 taels just to build large ships for the three Korean islands, which was indeed a huge investment.

Combat battalions, cavalry battalions, navy, intelligence bureau, North Korean mines, everything costs money.

In less than half a year, a total of 1.2 million taels of silver were spent. It would not be long before the monthly wages of the soldiers could not be paid.

The people around Liu Zhaosun don't care about money, they just spend it.

Qiao Yiqi, Song Yingxing and others obeyed General Liu's orders, fearing that Kaiyuan's expansion was not fast enough.

Mao Yuanyi and the craftsmen in the workshop have been tinkering with some infantry field artillery recently. Needless to say, this has cost a lot of money. They come to Kang Yingqian to ask for money every now and then, and are more anxious than creditors.

Song Yingxing shifted his main focus to warship design. Following the instructions of Ping Liaohou, he was trying every possible way to improve the Fu ship. Liu Zhaosun followed the warship sketches he had drawn in game design in his previous life, tried hard to recall them, and drew a few, which he handed over to Song Yingxing for research.

Kang Yingqian had served as the Coast Guard Director in Shandong for five years and had a good understanding of warships. When he came to visit Song Yingxing, he saw that the desk was covered with sketches. He picked one up at random and saw that it showed a strangely shaped warship, which was different from ordinary Fujian ships and bird boats.

The mizzen mast's triangular sail was replaced with a gaff, and the bowsprit and bowsprit were eliminated. Old Kang was stunned. He had never thought a ship could be built like this. The poop was lower, and the gun deck was flatter.

Song Yingxing explained that this design was intended to equip larger artillery.

This will be the main battleship of the Liaodong Navy in the future. General Liu plans to build five of them first.

"They look more sturdy than the Fuchuan and the Niaochuan. I wonder how much silver they cost? Prefect Song, that prodigal son Mao Yuanyi spent 50,000 taels just on casting cannons last month. Don't learn from him. Be frugal and build your navy quickly, efficiently and economically. To be honest, General Liu is very short on money lately."

Song Yingxing didn't even raise his head, but just used the ruler to modify the sketch:

"The Marquis of Ping Liao gave us a budget the day before yesterday: twelve warships, each costing eighteen thousand taels."

"What? How much?"

"Eighteen thousand taels, not including the sailors' expenses..." Kang Yingqian was speechless.

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Mao Yuanyi and Song Yingxing were relatively well-behaved. In comparison, Yuan Ducha was simply acting recklessly on the Kuandian border.

Not only did he condone the smuggling of war horses in Yizhou, he also actively recruited Koreans into the country, regardless of whether they were desperate farmers or fugitives.

Yuan Ducha accepted everyone who came.

When these Koreans entered Kuandian, the civil officials of Kuandian immediately incorporated them into the garrison and announced that they would be exempted from rent for two years. The Koreans immediately became Kaiyuan citizens protected by Ping Liaohou.

In April alone, more than 800 people from Yizhou secretly crossed the river and became citizens of Kuandian. This blatant poaching behavior made the King of Joseon very unhappy.

Li Zong repeatedly sent officials across the river to demand the refugees. Yuan Chonghuan only symbolically handed over a few fugitives, and then pretended to be deaf and dumb, saying that these people were just passing through Kuandian and their whereabouts were unknown. They probably went to join the Later Jin Dynasty and had nothing to do with him.

Yuan Chonghuan only cared about digging holes and not burying them, frantically recruiting refugees. As for oxen, seeds, and farm tools, he sent people to ask General Liu for them all. Ping Liaohou never refused, and gave Kuandian whatever it wanted. Seeing that the Kuandian Special Zone had food, brothels, garrisons, and gambling houses, more refugees gathered there. It is said that in June, a ship of Japanese sailors arrived, saying that they wanted to settle in Kuandian...
So Yuan Chonghuan spent more and more money.

Kang Yingqian was speechless for a long time after learning about this.

"A bunch of lunatics!"

If he lets these lunatics continue to act like this, his wallet will burst before the She'an Rebellion breaks out.

One day at the end of June, Kang Yingqian brought two boxes of tea and went to the general's residence in person, ready to have a good talk with Marquis Liao and ask him to slow down the pace of his military expansion.

Specifically, it means stopping recruiting refugees, stopping expanding the new army, and stopping building warships and artillery. Otherwise, everyone will have to starve this winter.

As luck would have it, General Liu was having dinner with his wives and concubines. There were three or four dishes on the table. Liu Zhaosun was smiling and asked Jin'er to bring a chair and invited Kang Yinggan to eat rice dumplings.

"My wife made these herself, with red bean filling. Red beans grow in the south, and what do you miss most? Circuit Inspector Kang is from the south, and it's rare to get to eat zongzi in Liaodong. Come and have a bite."

Kang Yingqian threw the rice dumplings he had brought to the fat maid and glanced at the dishes on the table. They were all simple meals and there was no wine.

"Since this is the Marquis of Ping Liao's family banquet, I will not join in the fun."

Jin Yuji was a very hospitable person by nature. She was not willing to let General Kang leave and forced him to sit down.

Liu Zhaosun said with a smile: "What family banquet or not? I am a rough man and don't care about such things. I just quit drinking. There are no flowers or wine today. I am sorry to trouble the military supervisor Kang."

He rubbed his hands and noticed that Kang Yingqian had a few more white hairs on his temples. He couldn't help but worry about the old man.

"General Kang, please take care of yourself. Kaiyuan can't do without you."

He roughly guessed what the old man wanted to say.

"General Kang has worked so hard for the great cause of Kaiyuan that his hair has turned gray at an early age. This official has seen it with his own eyes and feels pain in his heart. After we pacify the southwest, if General Kang wants to go to Sichuan, that's fine too."

The bitten rice dumpling suddenly fell into the bowl. A smug look flashed across Kang Yinggan's brows, then quickly turned into a calm expression.

"Last time we talked about Shandong, Ping Liao Hou, please pay attention. As for the southwest, there is no need to go. Let's talk about it later."

At present, Yuan Chonghuan was assigned to Kuandian, Wu Aheng was assigned to Korea, and Qiao Yiqi was going to Qinghe.

Compared to the small city of Liaodong, Kang Yingqian got the entire southwest. This arrangement was indeed in line with his status as the most meritorious official in the army.

"When I first met Ping Liaohou, I knew you were no ordinary person. In just one year, you've become the ruler of Liaodong. How could this be possible if you weren't destined to be so?"

"Once we pacify the southwest, all the chieftains will be forced to leave. When that happens, we'll need great talents like General Kang to support us."

Kang Yingqian said a few humble words and had forgotten the purpose of his visit.

"These days, I have been spending money generously, waiting for the rebellion in the southwest to be quelled."

Jin Yuji finished eating first. Too lazy to listen to the boring analysis of the situation, she went back to the study to read her novel. Yang Qing'er took out the account book to help her husband count the accounts.

Shaoyao and Jin'er came up to clean up the dishes, served tea, and then left.

There were only two people left in the main hall.

When Kang Yingqian heard Ping Liaohou talking about spending money, he became angry and did the math for him.

According to the current training intensity of the cavalry battalion, the various expenses, such as food, horse feed, armor, and gunpowder, converted into silver, would cost at least ten taels of silver per cavalryman per month. For these four thousand cavalrymen alone, this would cost forty thousand taels of silver per month.

"General Liu, we have over 8,000 soldiers, and Qi Jin is still recruiting people every day. How many soldiers do you plan to maintain?"

Kang Yingqian counted on his fingers for a long time, but he still couldn't figure out how many taels of silver the four thousand headquarters would spend every month.

Liu Zhaosun picked up an account book from the coffee table next to him. It was densely marked with neat small characters. It was left by his wife Yang Qing'er.

"Liu Zhaosun raises soldiers, the more the better! Hahahaha!"

After saying this, he pointed to the account book and analyzed it to Kang Yingqian line by line, "Military uniforms, spears, swords, rations, muskets, gunpowder, armor, coconut scoops, gongs, and medicines—all that plus the military pay. A soldier costs four taels of silver per month. Eight thousand soldiers, that's exactly forty thousand taels."

Kang Yingqian was dumbfounded after hearing this. He had never expected that the cavalry and infantry alone would consume 80,000 taels of silver per month, not to mention the navy on the Korean side...

"The army is a money-eating beast. There's nothing we can do about it. The trading company earned 60,000 taels of silver in half a year, and we've spent all of it. We still need more soldiers and cavalry, at least tens of thousands of them. We can't stop."

"If we really can't pay the soldiers, we should first ask General Qiao and General Yang to borrow some. By the way, how is my father-in-law doing in Tianjin?"

Kang Yingqian was speechless and too lazy to answer Ping Liaohou.

~~~~~
June passed quickly, and the southwestern chieftains remained calm. Qin Jianxun sent back intelligence saying that She Chongming was very well-behaved in Chongqing and showed no signs of rebellion.

In early July, Liaodong became even hotter, and more and more refugees floated across the sea from Wendeng, Yantai and other places to southern Liaoning.

In Shandong, something big is happening.

(End of this chapter)