Seeing that no one was willing to speak, Li Kai first stood up and said: "Shandong is currently under attack from the Longwu rebels and the rebels, and its troops are no longer sufficient. If a large-scale war occurs, the troops will definitely be even less. As a military general, the first thing I think of is that we must expand our troops, and this number cannot be too small."

Wu Ganlai frowned and said, "According to General Li Gan, how much troops should be expanded!"

Lee Kai-shek: "Of course the more, the better."

Wu Ganlai shook his head and said, "There are nearly 8 million people in Shandong, ranking first among the provinces of the Ming Dynasty. Recently, hundreds of thousands of people who fled from Hebei, Henan, Xuzhou and other places. It can be said that no matter how many soldiers they want to recruit, Shandong can be satisfied. But the problem is that the soldiers eat grain, wear armor, use swords, guns, swords, and halberds, and pay them on time. Only in this way can they truly call them soldiers and have a certain degree of face to the thief army.

Fighting power. At present, Shandong has a serious shortage of food. Many prefectures have consumed a lot of gold and silver because of the previous measures of governors to try their best to resettle refugees. The government offices are empty and there is almost no spare wealth. In this case, if a large number of soldiers are suddenly recruited, can the financial empowerment of various places be supported? In another month, it will be the day of harvesting crops, followed by the spring plowing season. During this period, a lot of labor is required, and it is not suitable to recruit a large number of soldiers."

Li Kaiyou looked angrily angry, "Then should we sit and watch the thief army attack Shandong?"

Wu Ganlai shook his head again, "I said it is not suitable to recruit a large number of soldiers, but it is still OK to recruit some. I think this number should be controlled at about 10,000, which is the right one."

Zhou Xian smiled bitterly and said, "Ten thousand soldiers, do Lord Wu really think this little bit is enough?"

Wu Ganlai said: "This is also a helpless move. As long as the crops in the village are harvested, you can get enough food and grass to supply the soldiers. After the spring plowing is completed, the young and strong can be vacant. It is appropriate to recruit a large number of soldiers at that time."

Zhou Xian was silent for a moment, and finally shook his head slowly and said, "It's too late to go up. Recruiting soldiers takes time, and training takes time. I can't let the soldiers who have just picked up their weapons go to the battlefield. As for what the prefect Wu said, I want to add that tens of thousands of new recruits will not have much impact on Shandong, which has a population of nearly 8 million. As for the problem of insufficient financial resources in various places, there is not a solution."

As he said that, Zhou Xian turned his head and ordered: "Han Chang, go and call Li Ding, Ma Huaiyi, Qi Ce, and Ding Guozheng to come here."

Han Chang went out, and after a while, the four of them walked into the hall. Li Ding was the shopkeeper of the Huaxia Money House and was versatile. Many people present knew him. As soon as he walked into the hall, he smiled and bowed his hands.

Zhou Xian waved his hand to stop him, "Ma Huaiyi, you have always been responsible for managing Jiaozhou Salt Field. I need silver now, just tell me directly, how much money can you provide me!"

Ma Huaiyi stood up and said, "Report to the commander, there are still more than 300,000 taels of silver in the salt farm's account, which can be withdrawn at any time. There are also various salts stored before, which can be handed over to local salt merchants for sale at a low price. You can get cash in within half a month, so that you can get about 300,000 taels of silver. The subordinates can also mobilize those salt merchants to donate silver to the government, and they should be able to get at least 100,000 taels of silver. There is no problem with 700,000 taels of silver."

Zhou Xian was silent for a moment and said sternly: "One million taels of silver will be sent to Jinan within one month. Otherwise, you should not be the owner of this salt farm."

Ma Huaiyi swallowed dryly and quickly knelt down and said, "I will do as I do."

Zhou Xian nodded and turned to Ding Guozheng and said, "Guozheng, you are a master of Mr. Song. You are currently in charge of all the mines in Shandong. What I want to ask now is, how did I ask you to subcontract the mines to local gentry and wealthy businessmen? Can you provide some money?"

Ding Guozheng frowned and said, "Report to the Tushuo, the subcontracting of the mine is currently being carried out smoothly, and there is indeed some cash silver. But what we discussed with these rich gentry merchants was that the government subcontracted the mine to them, but at the same time was responsible for purchasing the ore they mined. Therefore, most of the silver is used to purchase iron, copper and other ore, and then delivered to the artillery factory and the weapons factory to produce various artillery and weapons. Therefore, there are not much silver in hand. However, in Qingzhou and Laizhou, there are several iron ore and coal mines with abundant reserves, which were originally planned to be mined by the official in the future. If the Tushuo agrees, they can be subcontracted and hundreds of thousands of taels of silver are still OK."

Zhou Xian pondered for a moment, nodded and said, "Then subcontract them, but the subcontracting period should be limited. Five years, up to ten years. Once the time comes, the official will directly accept the mine. As for the money, you can take as much as you can! I will not make a strong request."

Ding Guozheng was grateful and bowed: "Thank you, Governor, for your understanding."

Zhou Xian then turned to Qi Ce and said, "Shopkeeper Qi, what I told you to do now is going on?"

Qi Ce stood up and bowed to Zhou Xian and said, "Mr. Governor, I have been purchasing rice from southern provinces as you ordered. At present, in the warehouses on Chongming Island and Zhoushan Islands, there are 200,000 stones of refined rice and nearly 500,000 stones of various grains. It was previously limited to the ban on frozen seas in winter and could not be transported. However, the sea has been unblocked and can be set off to transport these grains and grass to Shandong at any time. Due to ship problems, it may take some time, but it is enough to do your best to transport them. In addition, our army sent troops to wipe out Huang Binqing of Zhoushan, pacify pirates around Zhoushan, and the income from sea trade, and all the income from sea trade have been recorded. In addition, the Korean generals have resettled the people of Zhoushan, recruit soldiers, train navy and other expenses, and there is a balance of more than 2 million taels of silver. The Korean generals have said that if the Supervisor needs it, he can transport all these silver to Shandong."

Zhou Xian nodded and said, "Transport 1.5 million taels! After all, the basic operation of sea trade and other things also require silver. You can rush back to Zhoushan as soon as possible and let Han Kuo transport the silver and food to Shandong."

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content behind! Qi Ce bowed and retreated.

Zhou Xian finally turned to Li Ding and said with a smile: "Shopkeeper Li, you and your Huaxia Money Bank have provided me with a lot of help over the years. This time I have to trouble you again."

Li Ding smiled flatteringly and said, "What did the Grand Marshal say? It is an honor to be able to do some small things for the government. Besides, the China Money Bank is not a villain, but a joint venture between the three companies, and the government is the owner of the main shares."

Zhou Xian was very satisfied with Li Ding's statement, "Then I want to know how much money I can borrow from the China Money House?"

Li Ding seemed to have prepared, "The government owed more than 2 million taels of silver before. After this period of repayment, there are currently less than one million taels of owed. However, in the last year, the Huaxia Money House expanded rapidly and the operation in various places was very good. The government shared 40% of the profits, and basically could pay off the debt. In addition, it could provide the government with 500,000 taels of cash silver for the government. In addition, it could also provide the government with 3 million taels of silver notes, which could be used to pay the soldiers' wages and other expenses. As long as not all soldiers entered the money house at the same time and exchanged the silver notes in their hands for cash silver, there would be no big problem. At the same time, I am willing to donate 300,000 taels of silver in the name of private to express my support for the court."

Everyone in the hall sighed. One million taels, one million taels, one million taels, five hundred thousand taels, three million taels, and three hundred thousand taels, which add up to six million and three hundred thousand taels, and there may be more. It can be said that Zhou Xian can call far more silver than the imperial court.

Zhou Xian nodded and turned to Wu Gan and said, "Master Wu, there is no problem with this!"

Wu Ganlai stood up and bowed, "I admire the way of making money by the commander, but I have no objection."

Zhou Xian asked, "Then are the other adults, but there is anything else to say?" Seeing that no one spoke, Zhou Xian continued, "Then let's recruit another army first." The military system adopted by Zhou Xian is similar to the three-three system in later generations. Each battalion has three thousand-person teams, and each thousand-person team has one thousand-person team with one thousand-eighty people. The third battalion is a regiment, and the third regiment is a one-element, which is 29,160 people. Of course, there are exceptions, such as the Wude Camp, where the number of people in each battalion is much larger than the normal scale.

Gao Mingheng was a little confused. Zhou Xian spent so much talk and persuaded everyone, but only recruited less than 30,000 people, which was obviously a bit unreasonable. He couldn't help but ask, "Supervisor, is it enough for one army?"

Zhou Xian shook his head and said, "It's not enough, but at present, we can only recruit so many first. But the rules required by each prefecture to maintain 3,000 township warriors and each county need to be changed. For example, the number of township warriors in the three prefectures such as Dongchang, Yanzhou and Jinan must be increased to 5,000 so that they can be incorporated into the army at any time. The prefectures and counties do not make any requests, and the officials in charge of each place will decide by themselves. For example, those on the front line and those with more bandits can recruit more, and other places can recruit less."

Speaking of this, Zhou Xian glanced at everyone and said, "In addition, considering the financial shortage of each government, I decided to take out one million taels of silver to supplement the finances of each government. The two governments of Denglai can receive 100,000 taels of silver per government. Jinan is relatively rich, but because the victims from Hebei are the most affected, there may be more in the future, so I can get 300,000 taels of silver. Qingzhou is a little better, 100,000 taels of silver. Because the two governments of Dongchang and Yanzhou are on the front line, each government can receive 200,000 taels of silver. The heads of each government can freely control the money, but the first task is two, one is to resettle refugees, and the other is to give certain support to the poor prefectures and counties under their rule. In short, when facing the enemy outside, I need a stable internal situation. Here, Zhou asks you all."

The officials led by Gao Mingheng stood up and bowed, "Abide by the commander of the governor."
Chapter completed!