"Where did so many Jin soldiers come from? Are the Jin soldiers made of iron, needing no rest? Last time, 120,000 troops went south. Besides the fifteen Meng'an lost at Changshe, the scattered casualties were no less than one or two thousand. Don't they need to replenish soldiers and warhorses? Moreover, the Jin people have been intolerant of summer heat for many years. Why has that suddenly changed today? On this matter,朕 (Zhen, I) and Ministers Yue and Lü share the same view. Eight or nine times out of ten, it is Liu Yu who has borrowed Jin military uniforms to strengthen his own military prestige and use it for intimidation..."

As Qu Duan entered the hall, he immediately saw a young man in a red robe on the throne speaking eloquently. He knew that this person was the Zhao Song emperor, so he braced himself against the pain in his back and wanted to salute. However, the young man on the throne looked down from above, simply raised his hand casually, and ignored him, but the words in his mouth did not stop, seeming to be discussing the Pseudo-Qi issue.

"But if that's the case, I have one thing I don't understand."

Han Shizhong, who had entered the hall earlier, no longer had the arrogant demeanor he had outside the hall, but simply cupped his hands as if nothing had happened. "How many soldiers does Pseudo-Qi currently have? And what is their combat strength? Who gave them the courage to take the initiative to attack?"

The Zhao Emperor turned his head to look at a person below the steps, who was none other than Lü Qin, who had been stationed in Nanjing during this period, leading the confrontation with Pseudo-Qi on the front line.

"There must be at least 200,000, right?" Lü Qin was about to speak, but Zhang Jun suddenly chuckled and said, "With seven or eight large prefectures there, can't one prefecture support 20,000 soldiers? Add some laborers, gather 200,000 soldiers, and claim to have a million is common."

"How can one prefecture support 20,000 soldiers?" Han Shizhong frowned immediately.

"Grand Commandant Han naturally doesn't understand this kind of thing, otherwise, there wouldn't have been a near-civil unrest in Huaixi." Zhang Jun was not afraid at all, and took the opportunity to mock the other party.

Han Shizhong was secretly resentful, but he rarely lost his temper… firstly, he couldn't lose his temper in front of the emperor, and secondly, this matter had already been settled, and it was indeed his fault.

But what can he say? If there was an opportunity, he, Han Shizhong, would never let Zhang Jun off.

It must be known that these two, early on, Wang Yuan used to create a balance for the imperial court, deliberately provoking the two to oppose each other, and neither of them was stupid, just cooperating. But as time went on, grievances accumulated, coupled with the bad habits developed in the army, it became unclear what was true and false… Anyway, now Han Liangchen feels that Zhang Boying is not good at fighting, only knows how to be greedy for money, and deserves to be called by him, the "Rascal Han the Fifth"?

As for what Zhang Jun thought, that's hard to say.

"One prefecture certainly can't support 20,000 soldiers, but it depends on whether there is military pay, whether they need to train, and whether the soldiers are fed and have hot water." Grand Councilor Wang Boyan was too lazy to pay attention to these two, and simply stood aside with his hands clasped. "I remember that when Royal Camp Forward Army Commander Wang Shan came to Tokyo from Hedong, there were 200,000 soldiers..."

"That's the truth." Lü Qin also chimed in. "Pulling in conscripts, like Jin people using a club on Han Chinese, if that's the case, let alone 200,000, with the population of Jingdong there, 400,000 is possible... However, observing from the front line, some of the Pseudo-Qi troops are quite combat-effective, such as Liu Yu's main force in Jinan and Kong Yanzhou's troops in Yanzhou. In addition, there is also Li Cheng's force in Qingzhou, who is said to be even better than Kong Yanzhou in leading troops and governing the army!"

"I've heard of these two." Zhao Jiu nodded in response. "Kong Yanzhou is known as Little Yue Fei, and Li Cheng's martial arts are comparable to Pengju… If they can reach this level, they are naturally remarkable figures… How much core combat power do they have?"

"Liu Yu has about ten thousand men, personally controlled by his son Liu Lin; Kong Yanzhou has fewer, only seven or eight thousand; Li Cheng has a large territory, so he may have more, but definitely won't exceed the limit of fifteen thousand." Yue Fei cupped his hands in response.

Zhao Jiu finally frowned slightly.

Seeing this, Zhang Jun carefully stepped forward: "To inform the Emperor, when I was in Xuzhou, after subduing Yizhou, Li Cheng once sent someone to greet me. This person might be recruited."

"Minister Zhang has misunderstood." The Zhao Emperor on the throne finally smiled. "Although 朕 (Zhen, I) cherish talent, I don't want just anyone. Since this Li Cheng has become a Grand Commander in the Jin people's puppet court, how can 朕 (Zhen, I) still want him? On the other hand, Zhang Rong of Liangshanbo in Dongping Prefecture, although he didn't come to the River South, and he has been reluctant to come to see 朕 (Zhen, I), saying that he's enjoying himself in Liangshanbo, but after all, he's firm on the big issues. 朕 (Zhen, I), on the contrary, don't care..."

Several military leaders below quickly became solemn, and several acquaintances finally turned around and looked at Qu Duan standing in the corner inside the hall door.

"In fact, this is why Liu is rebelling and dares to actively deploy troops, trying to provoke trouble." Wang Boyan appropriately spoke up to formally summarize the previous question. "Think about it, since this thief has declared himself emperor, from his perspective, he must be clear that he can no longer coexist with the Imperial Song from now on, so he must spare no effort to be an enemy of us… Whether it's issuing proclamations and worshiping Chen Dong as soon as he ascends the throne, or subsequently respecting Confucius and opening the imperial examinations, or even actively mobilizing troops today, spring and summer, it seems that the Song and Jin countries combined don't have as much activity as his Jinan Prefecture alone… Isn't it because he has no choice?"

Everyone nodded, all feeling that Councilor Wang's words were of a high standard, firstly because they hit the point, and secondly because his tone was similar to the Emperor's, which was truly impressive.

"Therefore, there is no need to discuss this matter further." The Zhao Emperor on the throne nodded and frankly instructed. "If he really dares to attack, the three Ministers Zhang, Yue, and Lü on the front line don't need to report, just fight back directly, but be quick, ruthless, and stable, and don't be greedy… In short, remember one sentence, the Jin people are the real enemies, and don't get caught in the quagmire of Jingdong for a while, giving the Jin people an opportunity for nothing!"

Zhang Jun, Yue Fei, and Lü Qin formally stepped forward and solemnly cupped their hands in response… It seemed that this topic was about to pass.

"What should we talk about?" Zhao Jiu asked Lü Haowen and Xu Jingheng indifferently.

"Warhorses, quotas, military expenses!" Xu Jingheng was concise.

"That's right, warhorses, quotas, and military expenses." Zhao Jiu nodded, as if he had really forgotten these things. "Let's just talk about warhorses… Just now, Liangchen actually said almost everything before leaving the hall, let Guanzhong keep some, and send a full 10,000 to this side… Among them, the Rear Army is a reserve force, so don't divide them; then the Central Army has Li Yanxian, Wang De, and Wang Yan, so give them more, take 4,000 horses, and the Forward Army, Left Army, and Right Army will divide the remaining 6,000 equally… How's that?"

The crowd looked at each other, but they were speechless… If they really argued about this, there would be no end, and Zhao Emperor initially wanted to use them centrally, but no one accepted it, and no one knew which family the cavalry brigade would belong to if it really formed.

Right now, this was a relatively fair plan, and everyone had compromised.

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

"Speaking of the quotas of each army, it's linked to military expenses." Zhao Emperor continued to speak eloquently from the throne. "According to the calculations Liangchen made for 朕 (Zhen, I) before leaving the hall, raising a cavalryman in the Central Plains, including both the person and the horse, requires 100 strings of cash and goods a year to support, so if 10,000 cavalrymen come here, that would be a full one million strings a year?"

"Reporting to the Emperor, that is indeed the case." Han Shizhong said with a stiff neck.

"This also requires collecting specific items for military use… Right?" Zhao Emperor continued to press on. "Sinew, fodder, and so on?"

"Yes..."

"If we don't count the cavalry, just ordinary armored soldiers, how much money does it take to raise an elite and brave armored soldier for a year?" Zhao Emperor's arithmetic was extremely poor today.

"Fifty strings of cash plus ten or so shi of grain..." Han Shizhong responded cautiously. "We have to account for the soldiers' family expenses."

"What about Commander Zhang's side?" Zhao Jiu continued to ask.

"It's probably the same, right?" Zhang Jun rarely answered the same way as Han Shizhong.

"Minister Yue..."

"If we want to pay the full military salary and conduct daily training, it's naturally as Grand Commandant Han said, fifty strings of cash plus ten or so shi of grain." Yue Fei answered honestly. "However, this is naturally a rough number."

Zhao Jiu nodded repeatedly: "Then suppose the Imperial Camp selects and fixes 200,000 armored soldiers, and then, based on Zhang Jun's memorial, boldly set a quota of 30,000 cavalry, then it would be 1.3 to 1.4 million strings of cash a year, plus 3 to 4 million shi of grain... This would require the entire Southeast economy to recover to before the Jingkang Incident, and then empty out the Southeast to be enough... Right?"

Everyone shook their heads, but no one dared to respond, even Qu Duan was shaking his head below, sighing secretly that this Zhao Song Emperor really didn't understand people's hearts and customs. Moreover, Qu Da hesitated for a moment, wondering if he should remind this Emperor, considering the twenty lashes he had received earlier.

"Not enough!" At this moment, Imperial Camp Commander Wang Yuan rarely spoke. "Your Majesty, please forgive my bluntness, Your Majesty's argument is only accurate in calculation, but the actual expenditure is more... Because the wealth and taxes collected is one number, transferred to the army is another number, and what is actually distributed is yet another number... If I may be bold, if Your Majesty really wants to raise 200,000 elite troops in the Imperial Camp and place 30,000 cavalry, then it will require 25 million strings a year, plus 5 million shi of military grain, or nothing."

Zhao Jiu's expression remained unchanged, he simply nodded slightly, and said in a normal tone: "So, you're eating empty salaries and drinking soldiers' blood to the point of drinking away half of it?"

Qu Duan in the corner was dumbfounded, and the several grand commandants below were even more embarrassed for a moment.

Wang Yuan was helpless and carefully explained: "Your Majesty, this is not purely eating empty salaries... Losses during transportation and the use of laborers are the main expenses. Even when it really reaches the army, the officers' salaries cannot be calculated based on a mere fifty strings."

"That's the truth." Zhao Jiu nodded in response. "朕 (Zhen, I) was wrong… You eat empty salaries and drink soldiers' blood, only drinking away 30%, which is really remarkable."

No one dared to respond below, not even Wang Yuan.

"But if that's the case, 25 million strings plus 5 million shi of grain, wouldn't that empty out all the income of the Southeast and Sichuan, and add the grain of Jingxiang?" Zhao Jiu sighed faintly. "In that case, it would be easy for 朕 (Zhen, I), and 朕 (Zhen, I) can still shoot a few rabbits at the Genyue Garden to subsidize the household, and if it really doesn't work, 朕 (Zhen, I) can be a live-in son-in-law in the Wu family or the Pan family, borrow some grain to live on, anyway, there are only four or five people, we can always eat our fill... But what should the civil and military officials in Tokyo and the officials in hundreds of prefectures and armies eat?"

"Your Majesty!" Qu Duan really couldn't hold back. "You only calculated the Imperial Camp's troops, doesn't Guanzhong have a single bit of military pay? 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 realization. "That's right, what this newly arrived Commander Qu said is correct. Actually, in terms of transportation losses, it's more worthwhile to directly supply Guanzhong with money and grain from Sichuan, and also raise four or five thousand troops there… But if we calculate it this way, doesn't that mean that the Imperial Camp is using the wealth of the entire country and still can't afford to raise 200,000 armored soldiers?"

"Your Majesty... Liang-Huai (The area between Yangtze and Huai River) still exists, don't forget to calculate the wealth and taxes of Huainan." Xu Jingheng reminded coldly. "Huainan is rich and can offset Sichuan."

"That's right." Zhao Jiu nodded hurriedly and spread out both hands. "You see, things have come back again… 朕 (Zhen, I) still have to go to the Wu family and the Pan family to bum food and be a live-in son-in-law."

"Your Majesty!" In a moment of silence, Yue Fei was the first to lose his patience, and instead raised his head to face the Emperor. "In the Imperial Camp's Forward Army, Your Majesty only provides 50 strings of cash and 10 shi of grain for each armored soldier, and 臣 (Chen, I) will never ask for more."

"臣 (Chen, I) is also the same." Before Zhao Jiu could speak, Han Shizhong and Zhang Jun almost unanimously stepped forward and bowed.

With Han and Zhang taking the lead, Wang Yan and Lü Qin also expressed the same sentiment.

Zhao Jiu shook his head repeatedly: "Some of you, 朕 (Zhen, I) truly believe, and some of you 朕 (Zhen, I) can't believe… Liangchen?"

"臣 (Chen, I) am here." Han Shizhong bowed in response.

"朕 (Zhen, I) gave your Imperial Camp's Left Army a quota of 50,000 soldiers, plus military supplies for 50,000 armored soldiers. When the time comes to fight, if the Jin army comes with 50,000, 朕 (Zhen, I) ask you to go up and hold them off, aren't you afraid that you can only take 30,000 armored soldiers up there?" Zhao Jiu said nonchalantly. "And Boying, 朕 (Zhen, I) gave you a quota of 50,000, and military supplies for 50,000 armored soldiers. When the time comes, you can actually pull out a solid 50,000 soldiers, but how many of them can wear armor and how many of them can be trained? If 朕 (Zhen, I) really believed your words, 朕 (Zhen, I) might suffer a big loss... But then again, how could 朕 (Zhen, I) believe you? We've been together for a long time, why do you two have to play this kind of trick in front of 朕 (Zhen, I)?"

Zhang and Han were almost ashamed to the point of wanting to hide.

"Your Majesty, don't be too harsh on the two Grand Commandants." Lü Haowen finally spoke up at the right time. "In the current situation, Han and Zhang are ultimately capable of fighting, and these money isn't being embezzled by the two Grand Commandants themselves. The commander, the commander, all the way down to the team leader, who doesn't get a share... The corruption of the country's military administration is a problem accumulated over a hundred years. Relatively speaking, there is no need to be too harsh on the two Grand Commandants!"

"朕 (Zhen, I) am naturally clear, otherwise, why would 朕 (Zhen, I) openly and honestly talk with them?" Zhao Jiu still didn't care. "朕 (Zhen, I)'m not forcing them to do anything, just telling them clearly about the country's difficulties."

Just as Zhang and Han were about to speak again, Xu Jingheng, next to Lü Haowen, spoke seriously again:

"Your Majesty, there are actually only two paths to take in this matter... Firstly, increase taxes in the Southeast and increase levies in Jingxiang; secondly, raise fewer soldiers... That's all."

Zhao Jiu fell silent, and the grand councilors and grand commandants below also fell silent... In fact, this was an old topic, and even after Lü Yihao arrived in Yangzhou this time, he directly sent a plan to increase military pay in the Southeast and Liang-Huai in a targeted manner, because he had long known that if he wanted to raise soldiers, he could only increase taxes. Otherwise, the tax revenue that had been severely damaged after the Jingkang Incident was destined to be unable to support so many soldiers.

After a long silence, Zhao Emperor laughed and said: "The Jin army's east and west routes are the standard version of twenty *Wanhu* (Ten-thousand households, a military administrative unit under the Mongol Yuan Dynasty), if we don't raise 200,000 soldiers, how can we resist the enemy?"

Many people below instinctively breathed a sigh of relief, because they knew that this sentence was the most important sentence today.

"But if that's the case, we can only allow the increase of taxes in the Southeast and the increase of levies in Jingxiang to barely support it..." Zhao Jiu indeed said this, but continued non-stop from the throne. "And the reason 朕 (Zhen, I) called you grand commandants here today is not only to set the quotas for each army for you, to distribute the warhorses from the Northwest, and even less to talk about Pseudo-Qi... 朕 (Zhen, I) really don't take these things to heart. What 朕 (Zhen, I) want to do is precisely to clearly calculate this account in front of you!"

Speaking to this point, the Zhao Emperor in his red robe suddenly stood up from the throne and faced them with a stern expression: "朕 (Zhen, I) hope you grand commandants remember firmly that there are some things that 朕 (Zhen, I) have no choice but to endure, but that doesn't mean that these things are right, and 朕 (Zhen, I) will continue to endure in the future! This is the first thing! And what you eat and use are all the blood and sweat of the people of the Southeast, Jingxiang, Sichuan, and Liang-Huai. If they rebel one day, you can attack and conquer, but you must remember clearly that they were all forced out by you and me! This is the second thing!"

After saying these words, without waiting for these grand commandants to kneel down and plead guilty, Zhao Jiu turned around and walked down the imperial steps, and turned to leave through the side door.

After a while, Yang Yizhong, who had followed the Emperor out, returned: "The Emperor's verbal decree, two more rabbits were shot this morning, Military Advisor Wanqisi and Grand Commandant Yue stay for a meal, and the rest of the grand councilors and grand commandants are dismissed."