readytorunbook Chapter 248: No more money and food?
Chapter 248: No more money and food?
Ning Yi added, "The vassal kings can gather a hundred thousand elite soldiers. Only thirty to fifty thousand are needed to be transported to the border. They don't need to be gathered together to march north. Besides, the northern border is a thousand miles long. If they are scattered everywhere, how can they make a difference?"
Everyone found Ning Yi's explanation feasible.
Minister of Works Zhao Yinghong frowned and said, "Your Highness, if the vassal kings' troops are heading north and need the imperial court to provide them with weapons and armor, the Ministry of Works cannot afford it."
"Last time, the Ministry of Industry replaced the weapons and equipment for the 100,000-man army of the Beijing Camp, and they took out all the inventory from the warehouse."
Ning Yi looked at Yang Long, and Yang Long's eyes immediately became vague.
Fatty Yang was still muttering in his heart, "Look at what I'm doing. There's a bunch of junk in the Ministry of War's warehouse. You know much more than I do. You've taken all the good stuff."
Ning Yi said slowly, "The princes can bring their own weapons and armor. Tell them that they are fighting for the Great Wu Kingdom and the Taizu. If they don't even take their weapons and equipment, then let the world see how these descendants of the dragon act. As long as they still have the nerve to live."
Everyone knows that the soldiers of the vassal kings are elite. I still don’t believe that you, the vassal king, can send out troops without even weapons and equipment. How can you be considered elite?
Emperor Wu thought about it and found it feasible.
Si Cheng from the grain storage department smiled bitterly: "Your Highness, everything else is easy to deal with, but where are the military rations?"
"The Grain Reserves provided some support when the 100,000 troops from the capital marched north, and another batch to suppress the rebellion. Now the Grain Reserves don't have much military rations left. It's barely enough for the capital. It will take three months before new grain can be collected, and we really can't provide any more."
The grain storage department is afraid of the Sixth Prince. He just killed one of their Si Cheng last time. Now Si Cheng dare not offend the Sixth Prince easily.
The Grain Storage Department simply has no food. If you don't believe me, Sixth Prince, go check the accounts yourself. You can even open all the granaries in the Grain Storage Department to see where there is enough food for the hundreds of thousands of elite soldiers.
Before Ning Yi could say anything, the Duke of Baoguo frowned and said, "Fang Chengyu of Hushan Pass was wiped out. Was there no grain captured at Hushan Pass?"
It shouldn't be like this. There are 100,000 soldiers rebelling at Hushan Pass. If Fang Chengyu wants to start a rebellion, he must prepare at least one year's worth of military rations for 100,000 soldiers. Otherwise, how could he dare to start a rebellion so easily?
Any general with military knowledge knows this.
Fang Chengyu was rebelling against a general, not a group of hungry people. It was impossible for Fang Chengyu not to know the principle that food and fodder should be sent before the army arrives.
Si Cheng from the Grain Storage Department shrugged and said, "We at the Grain Storage Department really haven't seen a single grain of grain at Hushan Pass."
Ning Yi immediately said, "At that time, this prince ordered the troops at Hushan Pass to rebel, and then the army went to Hushan Pass."
"I personally ordered the Imperial Guards to take over the warehouses throughout Hushan Pass, but they discovered that there was only enough rations for more than 20,000 soldiers to last for three months. Nothing else."
"According to the investigation, Fang Chengyu expanded his army, but only prepared less than three months' worth of military rations. He wanted to take advantage of the capital's emptiness and quickly capture it. All military rations, even military pay, had to be obtained from the capital."
Ning Yi also emphasized that the Imperial Guards were sent to take over the warehouse. The Imperial Guards were the personal army reorganized by the old emperor himself, and all of them were people he trusted very much.
Believe what the Royal Guards say, it is convincing enough.
When this was mentioned, Emperor Wu's face turned extremely ugly.
Damn Fang Chengyu, after rebelling, he actually wanted to come to the capital to get military pay and food, he really deserved to die.
And that old fellow Fang Chengyu actually hanged himself in the prison.
Emperor Wu was planning to wait until Prince Huai was captured and then execute them both by slow slicing, but one was killed by Prince Ji and the other died in prison.
Emperor Wu still feels unsatisfied.
At least that's what he himself and openly said about how these two people died.
The Imperial Guards did say that there was not much food in Hushan Pass and that it was reserved for the defenders.
As for money, there is almost nothing valuable in the entire Duke Dingguo's Mansion.
It is said that Duke Dingguo spent a lot of money and food to expand the army, and he had accumulated an army of 100,000 over many years.
Only Yang Long looked at Ning Yi with a strange look.
But he knew that Ning Yi had a certain trump card.
Otherwise, what would Ning Yi do with all the weapons and armor he took away?
He was the Minister of War, and most of the captured weapons had to be handed over to the Ministry of War.
But what was handed over was just a bunch of junk, and they said that these were the only spoils from Hushan Pass and Huaizhou Prefecture.
Do you think he is a fool? If they were Fang Chengyu and King Huai's elite troops, they would not dare to rebel even if they were wearing such tattered armor and holding such worn-out weapons.
As for how many elite soldiers Ning Yi had, Yang Long really had no idea.
He only knew that Ning Yi had asked him to secretly change his equipment several times. That was not all, but from time to time, he would reorganize a group of officers in the name of a certain Beijing camp guard.
I dare not say how many more, but Yang Long felt that judging from the amount of military supplies Ning Yi took away, the number should have reached 30,000 elite soldiers.
As for the military supplies, money, and weapons inside Hushan Pass, there were not many left, and the imperial court found almost nothing.
Needless to say, a lot of it must have been stolen by his son-in-law.
But he still couldn't understand, if Ning Yi wanted to steal so many supplies, why didn't the 20,000 city defense troops guarding the city release any news?
Unless the soldiers defending the city are all Ning Yi's soldiers.
They had already surrendered to the Sixth Prince long ago, even before Fang Chengyu rebelled. Otherwise, they would not have been able to transfer so many supplies without anyone noticing, and without anyone reporting it.
However, Yang Long would not be so foolish as to make a fuss on his own. He was Ning Yi's father-in-law, and everyone in the court knew that he was the Sixth Prince's absolute supporter.
If he were to expose these problems now, both he, Yang Long, and the Yang family would be in trouble.
The more powerful the Sixth Prince becomes, the happier he is. He even wishes that the Sixth Prince would have an army of hundreds of thousands to drive the old prince out of power.
However, Yang Long felt sad in his heart. It had only been a short time, and the Sixth Prince had gone from being nothing to a domineering prince who was looked down upon by everyone.
In the blink of an eye, he became a man with merits and military achievements, and he also hid tens of thousands of elite soldiers in secret, without being discovered.
When it comes to the issue of military rations, everyone is worried.
After all, you can force the princes to come out with your army and let them carry their own weapons and equipment.
But you can't let the princes bring their own military rations, right?
Your court must take care of the army’s food, right?
Otherwise, what is the use of your court? You are employing people for nothing. Do you expect them to carry food and fight for your court?
This reason was enough for the princes to refuse to send troops.
After all, this time the troops were sent to support the border. Everyone knows that the hundreds of thousands of troops of the border barbarians are quite terrifying and have strong combat effectiveness.
Look at the hundreds of thousands of elite troops on the border and the 100,000 elite troops in the Beijing camp, they have suffered heavy losses.
The soldiers they sent over were simply to fill the fire pit. Anyone would feel uncomfortable with the elite troops they had trained with great effort helping the imperial court fill the pit and resist the barbarians.