Chapter 344: Fifty Million

The king, feeling guilty, became even more enthusiastic, and insisted on having dinner together with Xie Yuan before letting him go.

You say take down the banner? No way. Only a few people see it in a day, and that's early.

The next day, Xie Yuan appeared in the Hall of Receiving Light, and the king's mood for work instantly improved.

After introducing the newly appointed Grand Censor, the king without hesitation handed over all matters concerning the selection of examination candidates to Xie Yuan, for no one is more professional than him in these tasks.

Xie Yuan still knew nothing about the examinations; the king said to let him privately hand over duties with the Grand Tutor, this academic bigwig remained completely calm, utterly unaware that the king had already ruined the scholar aristocracy's cake.

The newly arrived big shot, the ministers adapted well; the Chancellor and Grand Tutor placed high hopes in him. They only hoped that next time the king caused trouble, there would be one more person who could speak up.

The court session quickly moved on to the next agenda.

Xie Yuan stood beside the Chancellor, also becoming the second-in-chief of the Northern Border Group. His position put him eye-to-eye with the bear beside the king's throne……

Now how does it feel that the king is still quite law-abiding in the Imperial Academy? That bear at least sits at the gate of the academy, yet here he's come into the Hall of Receiving Light and sits beside us?

But looking at the calm demeanor of the officials filling the hall, it's clearly not the first time.

Then he discovered that the king still kept a low profile in the Imperial Academy. Probably the king's true nature was shown when he unceremoniously expelled those few scholar-aristocrat friends from the academy.

Xie Yuan noticed that whenever the king asked a question, the responding officials all trembled with fear.

Even the older new colleagues, when replying to the king's questions, would actually shake.

He had just arrived and didn't know that being singled out by the king meant absolutely nothing good.

Earlier, the king had Zhang Tu tally the current shortfall in basic equipment for the Northern Border troops, such as armor, warhorses, and weapons.

At this morning's court, Zhang Tu presented his report: armor is standard issue for each person; the king had initially promised to replace all his armor with new ones, after all it's also a life safeguard. Especially the garrisons at Upper Valley Pass and Jade Gate Pass, having changed masters still wear the old Great Jin uniforms, which doesn't sound good.

Moreover, those old armors are practically useless—thin iron plates covering only vital spots, some are simply rattan armor, and old rattan at that. In short, their protective effect is limited; casualties happen regardless. When the king persuaded them, he had already said they'd all be replaced with new ones, like the Youzhou troops, and after the war it's time to make good on that promise.

As for warhorses, it's fine; they don't all need to be equipped as cavalry, we can wait for his ranch base to breed.

Weapons also need to be replaced.

Excluding horses, there is a shortfall of 160,000 armor sets, and the same number for weapons.

As for weapons, Changli, the weaponry expert, has this to say: a regular army with each unit fulfilling its role must be able to bring out its tactics, and weapons are crucial.

He believes even the minimum equipment should include spears, swords, halberds, and shields.

The king took out his little booklet and quoted prices item by item.

Currently, except for the Owl Cavalry, the armor for cavalry and other infantry is the same price: 28 ingots, which converts to 280 taels of silver. Weapons vary; the weapons currently used by cavalry start at five ingots each, and for the 50,000 troops of Youzhou whose weapons haven't been fully updated yet, we can estimate around fifty-plus taels each.

330 times 160,000?

Multiplying that by 160,000, the whole hall fell silent.

Silence is fine; the king will call names.

"Minister of Agriculture Zhang, how many sets of armor can the silver that can be reallocated from the Northern Border Treasury buy?"

"... About four hundred sets?"

"Nobody dares to say that."

Old Man Zhang prostrated himself, kowtowing to the king: "Your servant, I deserve death ten thousand times!"

The king rested his chin on his hand and smiled: "Even if you died ten thousand times, you couldn't conjure fifty million taels; say something useful."