The Good Grandson of the Red Chamber

Chapter 103 Horrifying Expenses

Chapter 102 Horrifying Expenses

There are many instances of embezzlement and ghost employees in the military.

Xia Chengzong's thousand-strong guard was paid by Emperor Yonglong directly from the imperial treasury, and all the officers, from top to bottom, were new recruits.

In his thousand-household unit, all soldiers received their full pay.

This is already a very rare thing in the entire Daqian Dynasty.

Their supplies were also fully provided, far exceeding those of other armies.

However, their training is far more extensive than that of other armies.

Other armies, including the Beijing Garrison, are lucky if they can train three or four times a month.

These three or four training sessions were mostly just formalities, nothing more than going through the motions.

As for Xia Chengzong's guard, they trained every day, with soldiers from top to bottom voluntarily adding extra training sessions at maximum intensity.

The training intensity is high, so the food must be good. Not only must the soldiers be fed, but they must also have meat every day.

Otherwise, with this level of training intensity, people would be ruined very quickly.

Not only must food be adequately provided, but medical care must also keep pace.

With such intense training, how could soldiers not get injured?

Without sufficient medication, soldiers will be ruined by overtraining.

As a result, the amount of silver allocated according to normal standards is far from sufficient.

From this perspective, there are objective reasons why other armies do not conduct daily training.

Blindly training troops without sufficient logistical support will only ruin them.

Xia Chengzong asked, "Based on the current expenses, how much silver would it cost per month?"

Shi Kaishan said, "Five thousand taels of silver a month should be enough, but now there is a shortfall of at least two thousand taels of silver."

Upon hearing this number, Xia Chengzong fell silent.

This is how much it costs to support a thousand soldiers. It costs five thousand taels of silver a month, and sixty thousand taels of silver a year.

The Great Qian Dynasty maintains a military force of three million on paper. Regardless of whether there are actually that many soldiers, military pay is based on the expenditure of three million soldiers.

If calculated based on the military expenses required for their own guards, it would cost 180 million taels of silver per year.

Even if we sold the entire Daqian Empire, we still couldn't afford to support so many soldiers!

Therefore, there are reasons why military preparedness is lax in various regions and why troops are not trained on a regular basis.

There simply wasn't enough money to train their troops.

Training an elite force is an incredibly expensive undertaking!

Now his perfume business is starting to make money, enough to support this guard.

However, he couldn't pay that amount of money.

After all, although this guard was affiliated with his palace, it was not his private army in the absolute sense.

If he were to fund the military training out of his own pocket, that would be a huge problem.

Thinking of this, Xia Chengzong said to Shi Kaishan, "Everything will remain the same. As for the military expenses, I will ask for them. You just need to focus on training the troops well."

Shi Kaishan replied happily, "Yes, Your Highness!"

After giving Shi Kaishan some more instructions, Xia Chengzong rode away from the military camp.

Shi Kaishan escorted them all the way out of the barracks.

Watching Xia Chengzong ride away, he felt a surge of admiration.

Your Highness is a true dragon!

Even after months of training, the soldiers' image in his eyes is probably not as beloved as the prince's arrival today.

This is not just due to status or position.

First of all, the prince himself was the best in the army, and the soldiers in the army admired the strong the most.

This alone left a deep impression on the soldiers.

What's even more remarkable is that the prince was approachable and drank and ate meat with the soldiers.

He could even call out the name of every soldier.

Even he, the head coach, couldn't do that.

In just a few months, he simply couldn't remember the names of more than a thousand soldiers.

However, the prince, who rarely came to the military camp, was actually able to do this!

How could a prince like this not be loved and respected by his soldiers?

The next day, Xia Chengzong went to the palace.

Upon entering the Hall of Mental Cultivation, Xia Chengzong greeted Emperor Yonglong, who was reviewing memorials.

Emperor Yonglong glanced at him and asked, "Zong-ge'er, what have you been busy with these days? It's been a while since you've come to see your imperial grandfather!"

Xia Chengzong smiled and said, "Grandpa Emperor, I've been busy training the troops these past few days!"

"Our Great Qian's borders are unstable, and your grandson is preparing to train a strong army to relieve your worries, Your Majesty!"

Emperor Yonglong asked, "Tell me, have you encountered some difficulties? Otherwise, you probably wouldn't have come to see your imperial grandfather so easily!"

Xia Chengzong laughed and said, "I came to see you because I missed you, Grandfather. There's nothing else I need to do."

"Grandpa is probably overthinking it; nothing like that happened!"

Emperor Yonglong looked at him with a half-smile and asked, "Is that so? Then you can't ask your grandfather for anything later!"

Xia Chengzong said helplessly, "Alright, actually there is still a small matter I need to ask of my grandfather."

"However, this little matter is just incidental; your grandson truly misses his imperial grandfather!"

Emperor Yonglong burst into laughter, a smug look on his face that said, "You little brat, I saw right through you."

"Tell me, what exactly is the trouble you've encountered?"

Xia Chengzong said, "Grandfather, it's still about training the troops; the military pay is insufficient."

"Only after personally training the troops did my grandson realize that training troops meant ensuring they were well-fed and that they were given meat every day."

"Medications for sprains and bruises must also be provided; otherwise, the soldiers will just be ruined by overtraining."

"And this is a huge expense. Military spending alone is simply not enough."

"Grandson has come this time to beg for alms from His Majesty."

Upon hearing this, Emperor Yonglong sighed, "Indeed, one doesn't know the cost of firewood and rice until one is in charge of the household!"

"You only maintain a guard, so you are responsible for your guard."

"But my imperial grandfather is responsible for the more than three million soldiers of my Great Qian Dynasty. He must also be responsible for these three million soldiers."

"Doesn't my imperial grandfather also wish to train all three million soldiers into elite troops?"

"So, our Great Qian can take the initiative to strike, defeat the foreign tribes that provoke our borders, and spread the glory of our Great Qian?"

"However, Daqian simply cannot afford such enormous expenses!"

"Your royal grandfather can still afford the expenses of your small guard."

"Would an extra three thousand taels of silver per month be enough for you?"

Xia Chengzong couldn't help but praise, "Grandpa is truly a living Zhuge Liang. He can predict the past eight hundred years and the future eight hundred years. There is nothing that can be hidden from Grandpa."

"My guard's monthly budget shortfall is exactly three thousand taels of silver!"

Upon hearing this, Emperor Yonglong burst into laughter again.

"Your imperial grandfather is not that kind of foolish ruler; how could he be ignorant of the army?"

"Grandpa Emperor also wants to see just how well you can train this army!"

As expected, Emperor Yonglong allocated an extra 3,000 taels of silver to the guards every month for military expenses.

In this way, the expenses of the guards will be more than enough.

Xia Chengzong instructed Shi Kaishan to save as much money as possible each month.

He planned to equip all the soldiers with the most advanced armor and weapons; he wanted to arm this guard to the teeth.

Because the funds were directly drawn from the imperial treasury by Emperor Yonglong, not many people knew about this.

However, it was hard to escape the eyes of those who were interested.