Chapter 395 There Will Be a War (asking for monthly tickets)
Moreover, if this workshop is really established, people can advance the money this year, and maybe next year it can pay taxes to replenish the national treasury!
If we can cover the expenses of fighting against the Japanese pirates, we will be truly self-sufficient! Also, before, they said to kill Xu Zhengye, and in order to shorten the battle time, reduce casualties and expenses, they even led people to the Bian River to kill, and this battle would decide the outcome... How considerate, what a cost-saving and labor-saving way to kill!
Those money-losing guys really should learn this lesson!
Faced with Governor Chang who was so good at saving money for the Ministry of Revenue, if the rules did not allow it, Minister Zhan would have wanted to have a portrait of him hung in the lobby of the Ministry of Revenue to boost the national treasury.
Nowadays, anyone who can save money is the God of Wealth.
Tan Li, who also worked in the Ministry of Households, had similar thoughts. Their situation was particularly difficult as they had just started working in the Ministry of Households when they encountered the poorest and most difficult year for the ministry.
My parents don't have to worry about him embezzling money. The national treasury is so clean that even if he wanted to, he would find it impossible to do so.
In order to "increase revenue", the Ministry of Revenue has recently secretly joined forces with the Censorate, intending to catch some corrupt officials to fill the national treasury.
In the past, corrupt officials were eyeing the national treasury, but now the national treasury is eyeing corrupt officials... How can such a Ministry of Revenue not be considered extremely poor? In such an environment, it is inevitable that people will favor the governor Chang, who is good at saving money.
However... thinking about the fight against the Japanese pirates, Tan Li couldn't help but feel worried.
After the defeat of Duke Hanguo Li Xian, people often mentioned the saying "a long siege is a taboo in military strategy". Governor Chang's war against the Japanese pirates had been going on for several months since the first clash between the two sides.
However, naval warfare is different from siege warfare. The Japanese army is good at guerrilla warfare, so it is inevitable that the battle line will be longer.
However, Dasheng is now in danger, and everyone is on high alert, fearing that one day news of defeat will suddenly be reported from Jiangdu.
If the Japanese army really invaded the Jiangnan area, the grand event would be torn apart... I dare not even think about it.
Therefore, the burden on Governor Chang's shoulders was indeed particularly heavy, and he was not favored by most people.
Yesterday, he and Song Xian heard several officials discussing privately. They all sighed and said that Jiangdu was in a bad situation and was just barely holding on. They didn't know if they could survive this year...
Now, no one is clamoring for a change of commander. Wars are frequent, and even if Chang Suining is replaced, there is no suitable general to take his place. Moreover, the Chang family is a father and daughter who fight the enemy together, so at least there is Chang Kuo.
Amid the bleak and uneasy atmosphere, the sweet-scented osmanthus flowers in the capital city withered exceptionally early this year.
At the end of August, the scent of osmanthus was no longer in the city.
The Double Ninth Festival is approaching, and a rain has fallen, bringing a slight chill.
The doghouse of Awu in the Imperial College has replaced the cool mat with a soft mattress. In the past two days, when Qiao Jijiu took the dog to go fishing, he would also bring a small quilt to wrap the dog. Because he felt it was inconvenient, he discussed with his wife to make a set of clothes for Awu.
After finally getting his wife to agree, Qiao Jijiu raised another request: it must be padded, the surface must be fine silk, and it would be best if there were two wine jugs embroidered on it...
Wang became impatient: "You look like a wine jug to me!"
Seeing that his wife was about to give up, Qiao Jijiu quickly resorted to the method of playing the victim: "Madam, you know... Wu Jue lost his mother when he was young, and was picked up by his master very early. Now he has finally been reborn to us, what do you think..."
Wang resisted the urge to roll her eyes and turned around to look for material.
While Awu's new clothes were still being sewn, the elderly and cold-fearing Master Chu had already tied a cloak over his official robes.
As it was getting dark, Master Chu returned from his shift. When the sedan chair got off the ground, servants went up to greet it with umbrellas in hand.
The roads were slippery on rainy days and the old man couldn't afford to fall, so another servant carefully helped the old tutor back to his residence.
As they walked up the stone steps, Master Chu saw that the rabbit lantern was still hanging under the porch, being blown by the wind and rain, and he hurriedly said, "...quickly fetch the ladder and take the lantern down!"
The servant quickly brought a ladder and saw that the old servant was subconsciously trying to climb the ladder to take down the lantern. The old servant was frightened and hurriedly stopped him: "Old Master, you are almost seventy, not seventeen!"
After the New Year, I will be sixty-nine! The old servant asked the boy to take down the lamp. Master Chu took it and wiped it carefully with his sleeve while complaining that the servants in the courtyard did not do their job properly: "...If it rains again, remember to take down the lamp early!"
As the servant agreed, he muttered to himself, it's just a lantern, I don't know why the old master treasures it so much.
When Master Chu returned to the house, the old servant took off his cloak for him and brought out an account book: "...the silver from the sales is all in here, a total of more than 100,000 taels."
"Only 100,000 taels?" Master Chu looked a little disgusted, and then said, "Take out my 100,000 strings of cash as well."
"Are you talking about the 100,000 strings of cash in your private vault?" The old servant was stunned: "That's your retirement money."
The Taifu was an upright official and had a large family to support. He set aside the 100,000 taels for his retirement - after all, there were too many cicadas in the house and they were too noisy, so the old Taifu had planned early on that he would want to live in peace and quiet after retiring and returning home.
These one hundred thousand taels are money for retirement so that I can live in peace and quiet.
But now, the Grand Tutor is actually giving away the money for retirement? He also sold the calligraphy and paintings that can be sold... How can he live like this? "You don't have to worry about these..." Grand Tutor Chu hummed a little proudly, "Someone will take care of me in my old age."
The old servant sighed. This was indeed true. After all, his grandchildren were already in their twenties, so they didn't have to worry about having no one to take care of them in their old age.
"Those calligraphy and paintings are all your treasures." Thinking of those calligraphy and paintings that were sold, the old servant still felt distressed.
Master Chu said in a tone that was not worth mentioning: "Those are not treasures..."
The old man looked at the painting of secluded mountains and rocks hanging in the room, as well as the palm-sized framed "kowtow statue", and stroked his gray beard with satisfaction.
As for those things he sold, they were just dead things. He would not hesitate to throw them into the brazier to keep his students warm.
It's already a bit chilly in the capital, and the sea will surely be even colder.
He is most afraid that students will suffer from cold.
Over the years, he often had a dream in which he could always see with his own eyes the scene when his students left.
His unfortunate student committed suicide by slashing his throat with a sword on the snowy field. The sword, the wind and snow... He always thought, how painful and cold that must have been.
Whenever they met in his dreams, he would always ask her "Does it hurt? Are you cold?" She would always smile and shake her head, but when he held her hands, he could clearly feel them cold to the bone.
【There is not a single word of truth in his mouth! 】
In the dream, he started to scold, but his voice always became hoarse and his eyes turned red. He could only cover his bloody and snow-covered hands with heartache, trying to warm them up for her, but he couldn't warm them up.
That chill often emerged from his dreams, piercing his thin body that was so old that it should have been numb, as if the most biting wind and snow in the Northern Di had poured into his heart.
He was so cold. How could a stupid student with battle wounds and who had been tortured in Beidi for three whole years not be cold?
Now that his silly student has gone home, he, as a teacher, can't just do what he does: scolding him. As it's a festival, he has to give the student some money for charcoal, right?
Military funds were tight, and she was building a school and a workshop in Jiangdu. I heard that she owed a lot of debt to Xuanzhou...
He couldn't take care of the big guys, nor the soldiers under her command. He only took care of her. The two hundred thousand taels were more than enough to keep her well fed, clothed, and warmed by the fire.
The rest was packed in a lunch box as a New Year's gift to her in advance.
The old tutor picked up a pen and wrote a letter, repeatedly reminding the person on the other end of the letter not to freeze himself!
The letter was sent to Jiangdu by express horse. Within six days, it was delivered to Chang Suining along with the silver note worth 200,000 taels.
Chang Suining couldn't help but laugh when she saw the letter. It was only the beginning of September, how could she be cold?
And two hundred thousand taels...
Which family is so generous in buying charcoal? The teacher has always been honest, and he has children and grandchildren to support. I'm afraid that this two hundred thousand taels must have been earned by selling everything he had, right?
Chang Suining put the banknotes back into the box.
She picked up her pen and wrote a reply. She had to tell her teacher that she was no longer poor but rich.
In order to prove this, she planned to give her teacher another 200,000 taels and send it back.
Just think of it as a New Year's money given to the teacher in advance... No, cross out the New Year's money, it's too disrespectful, let's change it to filial piety money.
Although it was crossed out, I don't intend to write a new one.
Looking at the clearly visible words "New Year's Day", Chang Suining blew the letter paper dry with satisfaction.
It's better to suppress it. The purpose of suppressing the New Year is to suppress evil spirits, drive away evil spirits and ghosts, and wish you a long and healthy life.
After sealing the letter personally, Chang Suining gave it to Xier and asked her to deliver it.
Soon, Ah Zhi came into the tent, holding a box in his hand. "Girl, Manager Shen has had the things you requested prepared and sent over."
The Manager Shen mentioned by Azhi is Shen Sanmao.
What Chang Suining asked him to make was a polo ball.
This polo ball is about the same size as Chang Suining's fist. It is made of wood and painted. It looks no different from an ordinary polo.
But if you twist it hard in your hand, it can be split into two parts, and the inside is hollow.
Chang Suining folded the letter paper he had written in advance, rolled it into a short cylinder, stuffed it into the polo, and then closed it again.
After checking that everything was correct, Chang Suining threw the ball onto the table in front of him. Seeing that the mechanism was not loose when it bounced up, he raised his hand to catch it, handed it to Azhi, and asked her to arrange to send it out.
After finishing his business in the tent, Chang Suining heard Ah Dian's voice outside the tent, so he got up and went out for a walk.
Ah Dian stuffed a piece of date cake into her hands. Chang Suining took it, took a bite, and looked at the small flag stuck on the bamboo pole outside the tent.
This flag is a wind-measuring flag, made by Wu Jue, and can be used to observe wind direction in real time.
Looking at the small flag fluttering in the wind and feeling the coolness in the air, Chang Suining narrowed his eyes slightly and looked in the direction where the wind came from.
The season is approaching, and the northeast wind she has been waiting for will come.
Two months had passed since she last fought against the Japanese army in person. During these two months, facing the guerrilla offensive of the Japanese army, she still only defended and did not attack. It seemed that she could only defend and was not good at attacking.
In addition to the northeast wind, she also had to wait until Fujiwara's wait-and-see attitude and patience were exhausted before changing tactics.
Now that the northeast wind is coming, it is time for her to prepare for a real war against the Japanese pirates.
That night, Chang Suining met Tang Xing.
Tang Xing clasped his fists towards her and said, "Two hundred people, according to your instructions, have roughly mastered the terms used in the Eastern Luo army."
At this point, Tang Xing tried to ask, "Sir...are you planning to go to Dong Luo?"
Chang Suining shook his head.
She didn't plan to go to Dongluo, or rather, she didn't plan to go there at this time.
In the sea area directly in front of Wakoku and Silla facing Dasheng, there is a place where the people also speak Dongluo language.
For nearly half a month, the sea experienced a long-lost calm.
The Japanese army, which had previously frequently attacked the Dasheng Navy's defenses from various waters, had not attacked again since they retreated half a month ago.
"There has been no movement for quite some time. Are these Japanese afraid and are they withdrawing their troops and preparing to go back for the New Year?"
"Do the Japanese also celebrate the Spring Festival?"
“…”
"What are you all doing here?" Fang Chao jumped off the boat moored at the shore and sternly rebuked, "The Japanese army has always been cunning. If something goes wrong, there must be something unusual. How can we let our guard down?"
"Retreat?" He repeated what a soldier had said before, and as he glanced at several people, he said in a resounding voice: "The commander-in-chief said that the real battle with the Japanese army has not really begun yet!"
Several soldiers were stunned when they heard this. It hasn't really started yet? Then what is the point of the fighting over the past few months? "Our army has not used its full strength, and the Japanese army is the same. They are fighting guerrilla warfare everywhere in order to test our army's fighting methods and where the defense line is the weakest!"
Fang Chao's voice became higher and higher, and he said solemnly: "There will be a big battle next, so everyone should cheer up!"
Several soldiers stood up straight and answered loudly: "Yes!"
The coaches, led by Fang Chao, are still intensifying the training of the soldiers and have never relaxed for a single day.
Amid the powerful and orderly shouts, the sea water gradually rose until it got dark and the coast returned to silence again.
On a so-called secluded island, a small boat landed on the island at night and brought back a secret letter from the new ruler of the Dongluo Kingdom.
"Great General!"
A warrior came into a large tent, saluted, and said in a low voice: "The King of Dongluo sent someone to deliver a message, claiming that within half a month at the latest, he can send troops to attack Sheng together with the general!"
"Half a month?" A commander in the tent frowned and said angrily, "Jin Xianying has been dragging his feet until now and has not been able to quell the civil unrest. He is really incompetent!"
This person was the Japanese army commander who had injured Chang Suining during their previous fight. His name was Yoshimi Fu.
He had always advocated a quick victory, and he had lost all patience after all the delays. He said to Fujiwara no Maro, who was in charge, "General, we can't wait any longer! Even without the Tora navy, we can still invade Dasheng!"
"The Huangshui Ocean may freeze over this year. We don't have much time left! If we can't land in Dasheng within two months, we will have to wait until next year. By then, the Emperor and the heads of the various families will definitely blame us!"
Fujiwara no Maro knelt on the couch, feeling the cold wind coming in through the cracks in the tent, looking at the Japanese sword placed in front of him. After a moment, he suddenly raised his eyes and finally said word by word: "Then send an order to gather the troops and prepare. Within seven days, I will personally lead the army to attack Sheng!"
Ji Jianfu looked excited, so he responded loudly and left the tent.
Good evening, please give me a monthly pass at the end of the month ＾3＾
(End of this chapter)
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