"What should I say?" Zhao Jiu had a blank expression on his face. He asked Lu Haowen and Xu Jingheng again.

"War horses, quotas, military expenses!" Xu Jingheng was very frugal with his words.

"Yes, war horses, quotas and military expenses." Zhao Jiu nodded, as if he had really forgotten these things. "Just talking about war horses... before Liang Chen left the palace just now, he actually said almost everything. Let Guanxi keep some and send them here to count as a whole of 10,000... Among them, the rear army will be the reserve, so they will not be divided; then the central army has Li Yanxian, Wang De, and Wang Yan, so they will get more, 4,000 horses, and the front army, left army, and right army will share the remaining 6,000 horses equally... How do you think?"

Everyone looked at each other, but had nothing to say... This kind of thing would never end if there was a fight, and Emperor Zhao actually wanted to use all the forces in a centralized manner at the beginning, but no one accepted it, and no one knew who would own the cavalry brigade if it was really established.

This is already a relatively fair solution at the moment, and compromises have been made.

Just like that, seeing that everyone quietly accepted the plan, they continued their discussion.

"When it comes to the quotas for each army, they are linked to military expenditures." Emperor Zhao continued to talk in the imperial throne. "According to the calculations that Liang Chen made for me before leaving the palace, one cavalryman in the Central Plains needs one hundred strings of cash and other materials per year to support him and his horses. If these ten thousand cavalrymen come here, it will cost a full one million strings of cash per year?"

"That's right, Your Majesty," Han Shizhong said with a stiff face.

"This also requires the collection of specific items for military use... right?" Zhao Guanjia continued to ask. "Beef tendons, fodder, etc."

"yes……"

"If we don't count the cavalry, and only talk about the ordinary armored soldiers, how much does it cost a year to support an elite warrior who dares to fight?" Emperor Zhao was very bad at math today.

"Fifty strings of cash plus ten dan of grain..." Han Shizhong responded carefully. "We have to consider the expenses for the soldiers' families."

"What about General Zhang?" Zhao Jiu continued to ask.

"Is that so?" Zhang Jun rarely gave the same answer as Han Shizhong.

"Yue Qing..."

"If you want full military pay and daily training, it's naturally what Han Taiwei said, fifty strings of cash plus ten shi of grain." Yue Fei answered honestly. "However, this is of course a rough figure."

Zhao Jiu nodded repeatedly: "Then suppose the imperial army is carefully selected to be fixed at 200,000 soldiers, and then according to Zhang Jun's memorial, we boldly set the number of cavalry to 30,000. That would be 13 to 14 million strings of money a year, plus 3 to 4 million dan of grain... This would require the entire southeast economy to recover to the level before the Jingkang period, and then empty the southeast to be enough... right?"

Everyone shook their heads, but no one dared to respond. Even Qu Duan shook his head, secretly sighing that the Zhao Song official really did not know the customs of the people. Moreover, Qu Da hesitated for a moment, wondering whether he should remind the official for the sake of the twenty lashes he had received before.

"Not enough!" At this time, Wang Yuan, the commander of the Imperial Camp, rarely spoke. "Your Majesty, please forgive me for being frank. Your Majesty's argument is only accurate in calculations. In fact, it costs more... because the revenue collected is one number, the transportation to the army is another number, and the actual payment is still another number... I'll be bolder. If Your Majesty really wants to support 200,000 elite soldiers in the Imperial Camp and 30,000 cavalry, it will require 25 million strings of cash per year, plus 5 million shi of military rations. No other amount will be discussed."

Zhao Jiu's expression remained unchanged, he just nodded slightly, and said in a normal tone: "So, you guys are eating empty salaries and drinking the blood of soldiers, so you actually have to drink half of it?"

Qu Duan in the corner was stunned, and the several generals below were even more embarrassed.

Wang Yuan had no choice but to explain carefully: "Sir, this is not just a waste of money... The transportation losses and the use of civilians along the way are the biggest expenses. Even if you really go to the army, the salary of an officer cannot be calculated based on a mere fifty strings of cash."

"That's the truth." Zhao Jiu nodded in response. "I was wrong... You guys are eating empty salaries and drinking the blood of soldiers. You only drink 30%, which is really amazing."

No one dared to speak up, not even Wang Yuan.

"But if that's the case, wouldn't twenty-five million strings of cash plus five million grains of food drain all the income of Southeast and Bashu, and even Jingxiang?" Zhao Jiu sighed. "If that's the case, it's easy for me to deal with it. I can still shoot a few rabbits in Genyue to supplement my family's income. If that doesn't work, I can become a son-in-law of Wu or Pan and borrow some grains to get by. Anyway, there are only four or five people, and we can always have enough to eat... But what should the officials of Tokyo, the civil and military officials, and the officials of hundreds of states and armies in the world eat?"

"Your Majesty!" Qu Duan couldn't help himself. "You only counted the imperial camp troops. Don't you think there's any military pay for Guanxi? Isn't Chang'an going to be defended?"

"Oh!" Zhao Jiu seemed to have just reacted, pointing at Qu Duan with a look of sudden enlightenment on his face. "Yes, this newly arrived General Qu is right. In fact, judging from the transportation losses, it is more worthwhile to directly supply the money and food from Bashu to Guanxi, and we should also support 40,000 to 50,000 soldiers there... But if we calculate this way, wouldn't the Imperial Camp be able to support 200,000 soldiers even if we spent all the wealth in the world?"

"Your Majesty... Liang Huai is still here, don't forget to calculate Huainan's tax revenue." Xu Jingheng reminded coldly. "Huainan's wealth can offset Bashu."

"That's right." Zhao Jiu nodded and spread his hands. "You see, things are back to normal... I still have to go to the Wu and Pan families to beg for money and live off them."

"Your Majesty!" In the silence, Yue Fei was the first to lose his patience and raised his head. "In the front of the imperial camp, Your Majesty only provides one soldier with fifty strings of cash and ten stones of grain. I will not ask for a penny more..."

"I feel the same." Before Zhao Jiu could speak, Han Shizhong and Zhang Jun almost simultaneously stepped out and bowed their heads.

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!