Song Gongwen did some calculations.
Regardless of the various preparations required for Your Majesty to lead the army in person.
There is also the list from the Ministry of War, which includes the expenses for the 200,000-strong army and logistics.
Even if all the deposits in the Ministry of Revenue were emptied, it would not be enough, after all, there was not much left in the first place.
How is it possible to support another major war now?
So we have to think of other ways.
Your Majesty has seven days to prepare it.
Although this deadline is not strict for the Ministry of Revenue.
But Duke Song Wenxin was very clear that this was His Majesty's first time leading an expedition in person, and he absolutely could not afford to be careless. Although the army had not yet moved, the food and fodder had already been sent.
Even if there were some minor problems with the Ministry of War's mobilization and arrangement of the army, it was no big deal.
But if it were the Ministry of Revenue, it would be completely different, as one move would affect the entire body.
So he knew that he had to arrange everything.
At least.
We need to prepare at least one month's worth of silver to support Your Majesty's personal expedition.
Only when this aspect is done well, other things will not matter.
However, he was a little puzzled as to where the money would come from.
I had thought that once the tax revenue from the reforms came in, there would be no problem at all. But now it is clear that we can’t wait until then, and the bank balance in the Ministry of Revenue is not enough…
"Forget it, let's go ask the teacher and see if he has any solution."
Song Gongwen really couldn't think of it. After all, the time was too urgent and there were no signs beforehand.
Although I am only in charge of the Ministry of Revenue, it is impossible for me to conjure silver out of thin air.
Not long after, in the west of the capital.
Zhang Zhengming and Song Gongwen sat opposite each other.
As before, the two did not immediately start talking about state affairs, but drank tea separately.
When the hot tea in the pot was empty, Zhang Zhengming put down the cup in his hand and said with a smile: "You came to me specifically, it must be because the money from the Ministry of Revenue is not enough for Your Majesty to lead the army in person, right?"
"A teacher is still a teacher. You can see through my thoughts." Song Gongwen did not hide it.
He told the Ministry of Revenue about all its expenses and some recent accounts.
In fact, before the tax reform, the tax revenue was not increased.
The Ministry of Revenue has always been in financial difficulty.
Save as much as possible in all aspects and use it for important things during the Jingzhe period.
Under such circumstances, Song Gongwen was able to keep the entire court running normally without any chaos, and he was also able to save some silver in the Ministry of Revenue. His ability was quite strong.
Even Zhang Zhengming couldn't help but sigh. After all, if it were him, whether he could do it or not would be a different matter.
After all, he was in charge of the transfer department before, and there were too many things to do and they were too troublesome.
It requires a lot of energy and is thankless.
Now His Majesty is about to lead the army in person again.
Of course it's difficult to come up with the money.
"You're really working hard managing the Ministry of Revenue. Do you want me to find a way to get you some money?" Zhang Zhengming smiled and continued, "As I said last time, I, your teacher, don't have any other ideas right now. I've looked at your accounts and tried every possible method. Everything I can think of, you've also thought of. It's really unlikely that you can get money from somewhere else. Even if you can, it'll just be a drop in the bucket."
Hearing this, Song Gongwen shook his head slightly. In fact, he also had this premonition in his heart.
But I always held on to some hope that I could hear what the other person said in person.
I can't help but be completely speechless.
If he were given enough time, getting money would not be a problem at all, but the problem was that what he lacked now was time.
"However, I recently received some news that may be helpful to you." At this time, Zhang Zhengming spoke up, "An official recently came from the northern border to report on his work. He said that the border trade led by Sun Kejian has made great progress. The news should be reported to the Ministry of Revenue in the next few days. Not only that, Sun Kejian also said that he is preparing to go to Zhenbei Pass."
"Because they had heard the news that the nine khans had been captured alive, they felt that this was just an opportunity to completely establish border trade."
As soon as these words were spoken, Song Gongwen's eyes lit up.
During this period, he was dealing with the affairs of the Ministry of Revenue and almost forgot that Sun Kejian was still leading the border trade.
And there was no news from the other party, so I didn't pay much attention to it.
Now, some officials came from the north and received this news.
That means.
Sun Kejian achieved great results in mutual trade.
As the Minister of Revenue, Song Gongwen knew very well that once this matter was completed, although the commercial taxes collected would not be as much as the taxes collected from the reform, the silver collected would still be considerable.
No wonder Sun Kejian didn’t send any news. It turned out that he had prepared everything long ago and was ready to give himself a surprise.
He remembered that the other party said before leaving that he would not send any news or come back until progress was made.
If someone brings the news now, the costs must have been recovered long ago.
"Okay, okay."
"Sun Kejian is truly a talented person. He managed to complete such a complex task as border trade in just a few months. He is indeed a descendant of the Sun family. In this regard, I'm afraid no one in the Ministry of Revenue can match him."
At this moment, Song Gongwen was very happy, as he was worried about the money issue.
But he didn't expect the other party to give him such a surprise.
There will be news in the next few days.
Obviously, this is accompanied by commercial taxes in recent times.
Although we don't know how much it is, we can guess that it will not be too little. After all, before the mutual trade started, Sun Kejian directly took out 500,000 taels of silver. Presumably, if the number did not exceed this, the other party would not have passed on the news!
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