Chongzhen immediately realized that this was a rare opportunity to learn military knowledge.
He continued to ask: "What about the cavalry? How can the cavalry prevent this situation from happening?"
"Your Majesty, the truth is the same. Cavalry pays more attention to formation. Going fast on horseback is not a skill. Being able to slow down the horse and always maintain formation is an elite division. The purpose is also the same, which is to make everyone have to
Fight hard. No matter whether you are willing in your heart or not, you can only fight hard. There is no other choice. There are so many things in this world that you are willing to do. Everyone has no choice but to do many things."
Chongzhen sighed in his heart that Yang Fan was one of the few people who dared to tell the truth to him. Just like this time, what Yang Fan said were extremely realistic issues.
Other ministers would not talk about this kind of issue. At least they would not talk about it so thoroughly.
Fighting and escaping has become the number one problem for the Ming Dynasty's army.
Starting from the Battle of Sarhu, every time the Ming army was defeated, a large number of officers and soldiers fled the battle. These actions directly led to a sharp deterioration of the battlefield situation.
There were even many battles that were defeated because the entire army fled.
For example, in the Battle of Shenyang that year, the Qi Jiajun and the Baigan soldiers fought very well and withstood the attack of the Eight Banners soldiers. Unfortunately, the 30,000 cavalry reinforcements collapsed at the first touch, and the commander took the lead in fleeing. As a result, the Qi Jiajun and the Baigan soldiers were isolated and helpless. In the end, the entire army was annihilated.
.
If the officers and soldiers of Liaodong resist desperately, even if they are defeated, they will cause great casualties to the Jiannu. They are few in number, and they cannot afford to replace one of ten.
Chongzhen said helplessly: "I have the intention to revitalize the three armies and restore the combat effectiveness of the army during the Taizu and Chengzu periods. It's a pity that I don't have the talent. Not only are there few generals, but there are also not enough qualified officers. What's more, the new
I don’t have a good way to prevent corruption in the military, and it’s a huge headache for me.”
Chongzhen is obviously going to start a new one and train a new army in the capital that will be completely obedient to his own orders. He will use internal funds to pay the army without going through the Ministry of War. In other words, he will draw a clear line with the civilian officials to prevent them from interfering with the army.
Yang Fan suddenly thought that this would be a good opportunity to attract business to Xinghe Bank.
"Your Majesty, regarding the corruption problem in the New Army, I do have a solution." Yang Fan said.
"Oh, Yang Qing, tell me quickly. How to solve these chronic diseases." Chongzhen asked hurriedly.
"The corruption in our Ming army is mainly due to empty pay and theft of food and wages. If the money and food distributed by Your Majesty is directly sent to the hands of the soldiers without going through officers at all levels, we can prevent the money and food from being withheld." Yang Fan said.
"How can this be achieved? I can't personally pay every officer and soldier." Chongzhen was a little confused about what Yang Fan meant.
"Your Majesty, you can deposit the military pay into Xinghe Bank first, and then each officer and soldier will apply for a passbook. The military pay will be paid into their account regularly. They will take the passbook to the bank to withdraw the money. This will prevent soldiers from being deducted by officers.
The army is paid. The officers and soldiers under my command also do the same."
Chongzhen suddenly realized. He knew that the queen took a lot of money from the inner treasury and deposited it in Xinghe Bank. It earned a lot of interest every year. It was more cost-effective than keeping it in the inner treasury.
There is also loss in the bank. Mainly due to the silver men and eunuchs in the bank, they use various methods to steal it. Even if you take off your clothes when you go in and out, it will be useless. The silver is still lost regularly according to a certain proportion.
This was a problem that the Ming Dynasty had not solved for more than two hundred years. No matter it was the treasury of the Ministry of Revenue, the treasury of other provinces, or even the inner treasury of the imperial family, all the money was lost. The emperor could not figure out how the money disappeared out of thin air.
The queen quickly found a solution. She found that the reputation of private banks such as Xinghe Bank was very good. It was very safe to deposit funds. After all, they relied on reputation to make a living.
The queen chose Xinghe Bank mainly because of Yang Fan's strong capital. The strength of this bank was the most important option. In addition, it was also based on the need for confidentiality. The emperor did not want the outside world to know how much private money he had.
The emperor did not dare to save money in the banks of Shanxi merchants and Huizhou merchants. After much deliberation, only Yang Fan's Xinghe Bank kept the confidentiality the best.
I deposited some money at Xinghe Bank. I found that not only would it not decrease, but there would also be interest. Although it was not a lot, the principal was large, so it was quite a lot.
The Queen deposited one million taels for the first time and received an interest of 20,000 taels that year.
This incident also attracted Chongzhen's attention, and he investigated the situation of Xinghe Bank in detail. Therefore, he had a relatively good understanding of the passbook system.
Chongzhen's eyes suddenly lit up, this was definitely a good idea.
Since money does not pass through the hands of officers at all levels, they will have no chance of embezzlement. Moreover, they themselves will be less worried.
He knows that banks operate on credibility, and credibility is life.
The bank takes serious responsibility for every depositor and never dares to make any mistakes.
It will only be more secure for these soldiers.
After all, these people have weapons and are not as easy to bully as the common people.
In this way, you can save yourself worry and effort, and there will be no difference in the salary of the officers and soldiers. It is indeed a good idea.
"Well, this, if I deposit the military salary into the bank, will there be any interest?" Chongzhen asked immediately.
He was a very diligent and frugal emperor. When he and his queen deposited part of their money in Xinghe Bank, they carefully studied the regulations of Xinghe Bank.
Now, His Majesty the Emperor is so poor that he cannot let go of even a small amount of money.
"Of course this is true. His Majesty distributes military pay on a fixed date. From the time the funds are deposited to the day when the military pay is issued, there will be regular interest for more than seven days. If it is less than seven days, there will also be current interest. The interest rates are all public."
Chongzhen nodded with satisfaction. He knew all about this. Xinghe Bank announced interest rates every quarter. These were all public.
"The issue of military pay has been solved. I wonder if Yang Qing has any solution to the problem of food and pay."
"Your Majesty, there is nothing I can do about this. After all, the army cooks in a unified manner. You can't give rice to the soldiers and let them cook by themselves. If the officers withhold rations and other non-staple food, it is really difficult to monitor. Your Majesty can only
At the grassroots level of the army, some hidden stakes of the Imperial Guards should be arranged. Report secretly to His Majesty at any time and strengthen surveillance."
Chongzhen nodded, thinking that this was the only way to go.
After all, this army must be firmly in his hands, and he should have put more spies into it. This matter can be left to Wang Chengen.
After all, Dongchang is all his own, so he is very relieved.
Yang Fan felt a little happy when he saw that His Majesty had been moved by his words.
Acting as an agent for various expenditures of the imperial court is a big business. I have never seen the largest bank in the universe in later generations undertaking a large amount of business of acting as an agent for the government to distribute various types of funds.
Don't look at the current army that is still training at the Jingshan rear camp. There are only 5,000 people. It is estimated that the monthly military pay is only more than 10,000 and less than 20,000.
Once His Majesty discovers the benefits of this model, he is likely to hand over many expenditures to Xinghe Bank.
Maybe in the future, all the official salaries of the imperial court may be handed over to the bank for distribution. Even the taxes paid by the provinces will be exchanged. In that case, Xinghe Bank will gradually develop into a central bank.
This chapter has been completed!