Since ancient times, sending the troops has been a matter of consuming military provisions.
As the Duke Residence’s three hundred thousand soldiers were always closely watched by the Emperor, their food and military supplies were never enough and they basically lived on a thrift.
Ever since the Emperor fell ill for a long time and the Crown Prince gained power, the military provisions of the Duke Residence were not as tight as before. However, with no silver in the national treasury, it was just slightly more relaxed.
Recent times, the three hundred thousand troops under the Duke Residence only have reserves of military provisions for three months.
When marching, the troops naturally need to move supplies. As Zhou Che moved stealthily, he not only took away supplies for one hundred thousand troops but also took a month’s worth of spare military provisions.
Now that Zhou Shen has left, he did the same as Zhou Che, taking not only the consumption for one hundred thousand troops but also a month’s worth of reserve military provisions.
In this way, there is no more food in the army.
The food and supplies problem for the remaining one hundred thousand soldiers thus became a major issue.
Therefore, after Zhou Shen left, Zhou Wei gave a verbal message through the people arranged by the old Duke to return home.
The old Duke slapped his thigh. Right, two hundred thousand soldiers leaving the capital is not trivial and the consumption of the marching army is a big problem. It could not be taken lightly as just mobilizing the troops. Now that the troops have departed, there was no need to worry about those who left since they could sustain for a month, but what about the remaining soldiers?
He was a little headache, without alerting the Emperor and the court’s civil and military officials, the grain and grass problem could not be brought to light.
He could only direct his subordinates to "first take silver from the chief house of the residence, secretly go outside the capital to collect grain, avoid making troubles, keep it secret, and sustain as long as possible."
His subordinates agreed and set off with their men that night.
The old Duke could only send people to the Eastern Palace again and pass the message to the Crown Prince.
Yan Huisheng had anticipated this, the military payment problem was currently the biggest issue facing Daliang’s national treasury. Once the Crown Prince was declared guilty of his crimes, a batch of officials from the Crown Prince’s faction were dismissed from office. Almost all the officials involved in the case related to the Imperial Concubine and the Crown Prince had their houses confiscated and were exiled. Because of this case, quite a few household goods were confiscated by the national treasury and it was enriched a bit.
Minister of Revenue Feng Chang finally stopped frowning, heaved a sigh of relief, but that was all. After all, the national treasury deficit was too serious, and even what was got from confiscating properties would hardly be enough to carter for it. Having something is better than having nothing at all.
Feng Chang still had to find a way to replenish the national treasury, get silver for the national treasury and reduce expenditure.
That night, Feng Chang was working on the Ministry of Housing’s accounts when the news of the Crown Prince’s arrival came, he was immediately startled. He looked at the dark night outside where he could not see his hand in the front of him, it was already deep in the night, but the visit of the Crown Prince, this....
He instinctively felt that Yan Huisheng looking for him in the middle of the night was not a good sign, but he dared not refuse him at the door and not let him in.
He could only hurry out to welcome him.
Upon seeing Yan Huisheng, he hurriedly saluted, "Crown Prince, if you have important matters, you can just send someone to inform me, why bother to come in person so late at night?"
"It’s an urgent matter." Yan Huisheng replied.
He left the Duke Residence and went straight to Feng Residence, he didn’t even return to the Eastern Palace. He knew what the army urgently needed. Since this matter had to be operated secretly, he needed to have Feng Chang facilitate it first. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮
Luckily, although Feng Chang did not join the Eastern Palace, he was also not an official who completely adhered to the law, couldn’t compromise, and was muddle-headed, otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to hold the position of Minister of Revenue.
Upon hearing this, Feng Chang could only nervously invited Yan Huisheng to his study.
Yan Huisheng went straight to the point: "I need a month’s military provision for one hundred thousand soldiers, quickly send it to Zhou Wei."
Feng Chang was taken aback, "Crown Prince, why suddenly need military provisions? The soldiers under the command of the Duke Residence have sufficient food and supplies, enough for three months."
"Now it’s not enough, I need to deploy troops." Yan Huisheng stared at him and slowly said, "Pingxi General in Jibei has the intention of rebellion, and there are signs of deploying troops. I have received the news that Zhang Ping may attack Nanping first. I have secretly dispatched two hundred thousand soldiers from the Zhou Family to Jibei and Nanping one after another. As you know, once troops are mobilized, these two hundred thousand soldiers will need to carry enough supplies for the march. Now, the reserves of the three hundred thousand soldiers have all been taken away by the two hundred thousand soldiers. Now there were only three days worth of supplies left for the remaining one hundred thousand soldiers."
Feng Chang was instantly covered in a cold sweat, "Your, Highness, is this news reliable?"
"Of course it is reliable, I would not take the Empire of Daliang lightly, nor would I treat the military matters frivolously." Yan Huisheng stood with his hands behind his back, "Lord Feng, you should know me. Whenever I do things, I am not without rules. Now that I come to you in private, it’s because I have no other choice. After all, this matter needs to be kept secret to prevent Zhang Ping’s eyes in the capital from getting the news and relay it back to Jibei. Everything needs to be done secretly, and kept low profile."
Feng Chang was not a fool, he quickly understood. Zhang Ping was the father-in-law of the second Prince, Yan Lin. The Crown Prince failed and it was over completely, but there was still a second Prince. At present, as long as the Crown Prince did not move, it was still okay for him to stay were he was as the second Prince. Once this matter was announced, the second Prince would definitely not stand it, he didn’t know what he would do.
He tentatively asked: "What about the Emperor..."
"I have yet to inform Father Emperor." Yan Huisheng shook his head, "Lord Zhang should understand why I didn’t go to Father Emperor."
Feng Chang understood too well. Over the years, Zhang Ping could be said to have been brought up by the Emperor’s hand, and even surpassed the Duke Residence in momentum. There was definitely someone from Zhang Ping’s side around the Emperor. If this matter were brought up to the Emperor, it might be exposed immediately.
Ah, if he had to say, the Crown Prince had been sufficiently forbearing throughout these years, and now he was devoting all his energy and attention to it.
However, having such a Crown Prince, it gave people hope.
He said, "Your Highness, although there has been some income in the national treasury recently, it’s impossible for me to turn all those incomes into grain and send it to the military."
Yan Huisheng said, "You don’t need to worry about that, you just need to give me those incomes, and I will secretly send someone to buy grains and military supplies."
Feng Chang heaved a sigh of relief, it was simpler if he didn’t need to buy grains. He immediately thought that since the old Duke dared to mobilize troops without the Emperor’s permission, why should he be afraid to take silver from the national treasury? After all, this throne was almost certainly to fall on the Crown Prince, except for Yan Huisheng, he really couldn’t think of anyone else who could take that position.
This ability, this wisdom, and this decisiveness to act immediately were unmatched.
So he took a deep breath, gritted his teeth and agreed, "Since your highness said so, I will give them to you."
He immediately took out the keys to the national treasury, "Your Highness, are you bringing people with you to follow me? Will you quietly move out tonight?"
That’s exactly what Yan Huisheng meant, the sooner the better. He nodded, "That is exactly what I mean."
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