Liu Bei's military expenses were mainly obtained through three channels.
1: The support of the rich and wealthy businessmen
We know that Liu Bei raised an army in Zhuo County, and his first team was sponsored by The wealthy zhongshan merchants Zhang Shiping and Su Shuang. At that time, Zhang Shiping and Su Shuang went to Zhuo County to sell horses and became acquainted with Liu Bei, and they thought that Liu Bei was not an ordinary person, so they gave Liu Bei a large amount of money. After Liu Bei received money from Zhang Shiping and Su Shuang, he began to recruit soldiers. Zhang Shiping and Su Shuang can be said to be the biggest sponsors of Liu Bei's uprising, and they gave Liu Bei the first bucket of gold for "starting a business".
Zhongshan merchants Zhang Shiping and Su Shuang and others paid thousands of dollars, and sold horses around Zhuo County, seeing different things, but many of them had gold and wealth. The lord is to use the disciples. The Biography of the Three Kingdoms Chronicles of the Shu Dynasty
In addition to the wealthy merchants, Liu Bei also received the support of the Hao clan. Lu Zhu was a representative of the Hao clan who supported Liu Bei, and these Hao clans not only gave Liu Bei military expenses, they even provided Liu Bei with soldiers and territory. After the death of Xuzhou Mu Taoqian, Liu Bei was proud to take over Xuzhou with the support of the Hao clans such as Lu Zhu and Chen Deng. Later, Xuzhou was attacked by Lü Bu, and Liu Bei fled to Haixi with heavy losses. In the case of Liu Bei's desperation, Lu Zhu not only sent Liu Bei a large amount of property as military expenses, but also replenished Liu Bei with two thousand troops. It was Lu Zhu's unsourcing that enabled Liu Bei to turn the crisis around.
In the first year of Jian'an, Lü Bu took advantage of the ancestor's departure to reject Yuan Shu and attack Pi, and captured the wife of the first lord. The first lord turned to Guangling Haixi, Zhu Yu was the wife of the first lord, the slaves were two thousand, and the gold and silver currency was used to help the army; The Tale of the Three Kingdoms Shu Shu Shu Zhu Zhu
2: Ally support
Looking at Liu Bei's entrepreneurial history, we can find that Liu Bei did have noble people to help him before establishing the Shu state. The nobles here are not only the rich and wealthy merchants who support Liu Bei that we mentioned above, but also Liu Bei's "allies".
After the Battle of Guandu, Liu Bei defected to Jingzhou to assassinate Liu Biao. Liu Biao accepted Liu Bei and gave Liu Bei additional troops to garrison Xinye. From this, it can be seen that Liu Bei became Liu Biao's "subordinate", so Liu Bei's military expenses naturally had to be obtained from Liu Biao. Yuan Shao and Cao Cao had all given Liu Bei assistance, and a large part of Liu Bei's previous military expenditure came from them. Here we will only say that one of the most typical princes of great power who sponsored Liu Bei is Liu Zhang.
Cao Gong broke shao and attacked the lord from the south. The first lord sent Lu Zhu, Sun Qian, and Liu Biao to hear each other, and the table greeted them from the outskirts, and the above guests treated them with courtesy, benefited their soldiers, and made Tun Xinye. The Biography of the Three Kingdoms Chronicles of the Shu Dynasty
Liu Zhang, who occupied Yizhou, was threatened by Zhang Lu in Hanzhong, so he came up with a plan to "invite wolves into the house". He invited Liu Bei of Jingzhou to Shudi, hoping that Liu Bei would attack Zhang Lu on his behalf. In order to show his sincerity in allying with Liu Bei, Liu Zhang successively funded Liu Bei with a large amount of military funds and soldiers and horses. However, Liu Bei's intention in entering Shu land was to seize Liu Zhang's territory rather than eliminate the disaster for Liu Zhang, and Liu Bei received Liu Zhang's assistance and then took Yizhou.
Zhang Zeng took the lead in the army, attacked Zhang Lu, and then ordered the White Water Army to be supervised. The first lord and the army of more than 30,000 people, the car armor equipment is very rich in goods....... But from Zhang, he asked for ten thousand soldiers and resources, and wanted to go east. Zhang Dan Xu soldiers four thousand, the rest are given half. The Biography of the Three Kingdoms Chronicles of the Shu Dynasty
3: Proceeds from the siege
The most external way to replenish military spending in a chaotic world is to plunder through war. Liu Bei also made a windfall through the war, and according to historical records, Liu Bei obtained a large amount of wealth after attacking and occupying Yizhou. At that time, Zhuge Liang, Zhang Fei, Guan Yu, and Fa Zheng each received five hundred catties of gold, one thousand catties of silver, fifty million gold, and one thousand splendid horses, and the generals of the three armies also received unequal rewards according to the size of their military merits. From this we can see that Liu Bei's capture of Yizhou this time was indeed a windfall, and the capture of Yizhou not only solved his military expenditure problem but also made him one of the most powerful princes in the late Eastern Han Dynasty.
Yizhou was given 500 catties each for Zhuge Liang, Fazheng, Fei and Guan Yujin, 500 jin for silver, 50 million for money, and 1,000 horses for jin, and the rest of the awards were different, so as to fly to the Brazilian Taishou. The Biography of Zhang Fei in the Book of the Three Kingdoms
In the midst of Shu, yin was prosperous and happy, and the lord first placed wine and pawns, took the gold and silver in the city of Shu and gave them to the soldiers, and returned their grains. The Biography of the Three Kingdoms Chronicles of the Shu Dynasty