The Holy One actually wanted to recruit 270,000 troops at once!
It's really a big deal, but how much money will it cost?
Zhu Cixiang was also worried and said: "Father, is it too much to recruit 270,000 soldiers? Calculated based on the monthly salary of 2 taels per recruit, 270,000 soldiers would be 540,000 taels."
"540,000 taels a month, that's 6.48 million taels a year."
After saying this, Zhu Cixiang said again: "This is just a salary. If a war occurs and a war continues for many years, it will be necessary to pay war salary, and it will cost 20 million a year. This is too much."
It will cost 20 million taels of salary in just one year.
Even with mountains of gold and silver, the Ming Dynasty couldn't hold it.
You can't always use the official land in the north to pay your wages, right?
"Actually, it doesn't take that much." Chongzhen waved his hand and said, "The imperial court spoiled Guan Ningjun in the past. We can no longer follow this standard."
"Guan Ningjun has indeed been spoiled by the imperial court."
Hearing this, Huang Degong, Zuo Menggeng, Jin Shenghuan and others were deeply convinced.
Even Zheng Zhilong, Zheng Hongkui and others have heard of this.
Since Wanli, Guan Ning's army has been suppressed not once or twice. If it were another border town, it would have been suppressed countless times, but Guan Ning's army was stunned and nothing happened.
Chongzhen added: "But in fact, the only people who were really spoiled by the imperial court were Zu Dashou, Wu Sangui and other generals of the Guan Ning Army and their trusted servants. Ordinary soldiers of the Guan Ning Army actually did not get that much pay."
Upon hearing this, except for Huang Degong, the other generals in the border town lowered their heads.
Because withholding military pay is just a routine practice, how many generals in border towns do not withhold pay?
Chongzhen said: "The standard the imperial court gave Guan Ning's army was a monthly salary of 1 tael plus 1 shi of rice, but when it was given to ordinary soldiers, they only had two taels of silver and less than three dou of rice left."
"Western Liaoning is a narrow land with densely populated areas, and prices are high."
"So the soldiers of Liao Town can't support their families just with this little salary."
After saying this, Chongzhen gnashed his teeth and said: "I hate that Zu Kuan, Zu Dale and other generals of Liao Town did not want to distribute the withheld wages and rice, but instead allowed the soldiers of Liao Town to rob on the road, causing the discipline of the border army to collapse.
Bad, this is why there is a saying that a thief's offense is like combing his hair, and a soldier's offense is like shaving, so the people wherever the border troops passed by rose up in rebellion."
Huang Degong and brother Zheng Zhilong couldn't help but sigh again when they heard this.
Generals such as Jin Shenghuan, Ma Huabao, and Wang Zuntan were even more ashamed.
Because they did the same thing back then, even more ruthlessly than Guan Ningjun.
Chongzhen continued: "But fortunately, this kind of thing will never happen again in the future."
"Now the military salaries in each town are distributed by the imperial envoys, instead of going through the hands of military generals. In the future, each soldier will even have to open an account in the Ming Dynasty Royal Bank, and then the salary will be paid directly to their accounts, so that even the imperial envoys will not have to go through it.
By taking action, we will completely eliminate the way of corruption and deprivation of military pay."
"So, raising a soldier doesn't require as much money as before."
"From now on, when recruiting soldiers, the salary standard will be based on the Zhejiang soldiers of the Wanli Dynasty, with a monthly salary of 1 tael and 5 qian."
"And there will be no more royalties and war wages. This is the standard. However, if you kill a Jiannu, surrender the army or wrap a Jiannu, the reward standard will be the same as before, fifty taels for real slaves, and ten taels for the rest.
two."
After a pause, he then said: "So even if 270,000 soldiers are recruited and the monthly salary is only 405,000, I can still afford it. As for the reward, as long as the soldiers can kill the slaves on the battlefield, I will
The bounty must be paid to them even if they are selling the iron, and there will never be a cent short."
The proportion of pay in military expenditure must be reduced.
Like Xuzhou did before, salary expenditure accounts for the majority of military expenditure. This is absolutely unacceptable.
The bulk of military expenditures can only and must be weapons and equipment, at most a 50-50 split between salaries and wages.
Chongzhen himself set the total military expenditure at 10 million taels per year, so the salary expenditure for recruiting 270,000 soldiers accounted for about 50% of the military expenditure, which was no problem.
This leaves about 50% of military expenditures to purchase weapons and equipment.
The annual equipment expenditure of about 5 million taels is enough to arm an army of 270,000 people.
It's not like Chongzhen never thought about investing more and recruiting more soldiers at once, such as 500,000.
Speaking of money, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has sufficient deposits. In addition to the more than 40 million in the Royal Bank account, it will soon use the 12 million acres of cultivated land in Kaifeng Prefecture to issue debts of 60 million taels.
Therefore, even if the military expenditure is doubled to 20 million taels, it can still last for several years.
But Chongzhen felt that it was still necessary to be careful and leave room for leeway.
After all, the bond market in the Ming Dynasty was not yet mature, and it might not be possible to borrow money in the next few years.
If this is the case, you spend too much money in the first few years, and then you run out of money later, and it's the end of the world.
There is a saying that goes from frugality to luxury, but from luxury to frugality is difficult. Once you are used to spending a lot of money every year, it will be difficult to adapt to the hard days before.
What's more, the Ministry of Internal Affairs now also needs a large amount of money.
Not to mention anything else, a large amount of money is needed to resettle and support the 150,000 soldiers in Xuzhou's town, the 200,000 soldiers in Guide's town, and the more than 1 million immigrants who moved to Kaifeng.
Because of a war in Xuzhou, the farming season was delayed.
After the Jiannu troops retreated, the town soldiers and immigrants could only replant winter wheat.
Therefore, until the winter wheat matures next summer, the court will have to provide food to feed them.
In addition, money is needed to provide these soldiers and the people with seeds, farm tools and cattle.
Of course, the seeds and farm tools and cattle are not given in vain. When the soldiers and immigrants harvest food next summer, they will have to pay back the money for the seeds, farm tools and cattle. At most, they can be paid back over many years.
All in all, you still have to spend money within your means.
At present, the profitability of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is still too weak, so it must save money.
When the handicraft industry in Jiangnan flourishes and the 700 million taels of silver deposited by the people become fully mobile, creating a three, five or even seven times money multiplier effect, then you can spend money freely.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! As for now, it is better to be more economical and recruit 600 soldiers for a total of 270,000 recruits.
270,000 people are not many, but once the army is organized and all kinds of weapons and equipment are in place, plus the 350,000 militiamen in Xuzhou Zhentai and Guide Zhentai, self-protection will definitely not be a problem.
…
From Nanjing to Shanyin, it is more than six hundred miles.
But Xu Yingwei only took less than five days to complete the journey. By the evening of the sixth day, Xu Yingwei had even arrived at his hometown of Laodong, a large village located at the eastern foot of Tianmu Mountain.
What does it mean to return home like an arrow? This is called returning home like an arrow.
The sun was about to set that day. Xu Shiyi collected his farm tools and prepared to return home.
Xu Shiyi is the patriarch of the Xu family in Laodong. His family owns dozens of acres of land and even hires long-term workers. However, during the busy farming season, he will still go to the fields with the long-term workers.
This year, the entire Laodong Mountain District suffered a severe drought that has not been seen in a century, and most of the crops in the fields withered.
Xu Shiyi and his two long-term workers got up before dawn to carry water to water the crops, but they still couldn't withstand the scorching sun. They watched the rice and soybeans in the fields wither one by one, not to mention how uncomfortable it was.
"Alas, it seems that this year will be a disaster year." Xu Shiyi said worriedly.
"Yes, I don't know how many people will starve to death." Longgong Wu Niu said angrily.
Looking at the black cow's strong back, Xu Shiyi hesitated to speak, thinking that the black cow was big and round, making it a good cropper. It was also willing to work hard, and one person could almost carry a cow.
But one thing that's not pretty is that the appetite is really scary.
Usually when times are good, Xu Shiyi doesn't mind raising black cattle.
But in this year's situation, we really can't afford to raise this black cow.
But for a moment, Xu Shiyi didn't know how to speak.
"Shi Yigong, Shi Yigong!" At this moment, a boy rushed over.
"Little lunatic?" Xu Shiyi's thoughts were interrupted, and he immediately scolded him angrily, "Why are you so crazy? Where is your sheep? If the sheep is snatched away by a wolf, your father will beat you to death when you get home.
.”
"Shi Yigong, Xiucai Gong is back." The boy was running out of breath.
"Master Xiu Cai? Are you talking about my eldest son? That's nonsense." Xu Shiyi said angrily, "My eldest son is fighting in Xuzhou with the Holy Master. How can he return to Laodong's hometown so quickly?"
The mountainous area is isolated, and it has been several months, but we still don’t know about the great victory in Xuzhou.
"Shi Yigong, he is really the scholar." The boy swore, "You can really see from the top of the mountain that the scholar is riding a tall horse. He has passed the south pit and will soon reach the entrance of the village.
"
As soon as he finished speaking, the sound of horse hooves could be heard from the mountain pass ahead.
When he looked closely, he saw a scholar wearing a robe already riding a horse galloping down the stone road.
"Shi Yigong, look quickly, Xiucai Gong!" the boy pointed at the horse galloping on the rocky road and shouted repeatedly.
"Master, it seems that the eldest son is really here!" Wu Niu rubbed his eyes and said in disbelief, "Master, it is really the eldest son who is back, the eldest son is back!"
"It's true, it's true that my son is back." Xu Shiyi couldn't help but wet his eyes.
Seeing that his son returned home safely, Xu Shiyi's anxious heart finally fell back into his stomach.
The ancestors of the Xu family in Laodong were once rich, but in the past few hundred years, such a talented scholar was born.
This time, I finally didn’t end up in Xuzhou. I finally returned to Laodong’s hometown alive, and it seemed that I had returned home in fine clothes. Otherwise, where did this tall horse come from?
Needless to say, it was Xu Yingwei who came.
Only a few dozen steps away, Xu Yingwei saw Xu Shiyi.
Xu Yingwei quickly rolled off his saddle and dismounted, walked a few steps quickly to Xu Shiyi and knelt down on the ground: "Father, please accept my child's obeisance."
"Get up, just come back."
By this time, Xu Shiyi had already put away his emotions.
Confucianism emphasizes being distant to one's sons and close to one's grandchildren, being strict with sons but close to grandchildren.
Xu Shiyi was always very strict and unsmiling towards Xu Yingwei.
Xu Yingwei kowtowed to his father respectfully before he dared to stand up.
The black ox next to him had already led Xu Yingwei's mount and praised him repeatedly: "What a good animal. He is as tall as my shoulders. He is probably very strong. It should not be a problem to plow ten acres of land."
"Wuniu, what nonsense are you talking about?" Xu Yingwei said with a smile, "That's a war horse."
"War horse?" Xu Shiyi said, "Is this the war horse assigned to your scholar camp by the imperial court?"
"No, they are war horses allocated by the imperial court to the cavalry camp." Xu Yingwei said, "My son borrowed them from the cavalry camp."
A hint of disappointment flashed through the depths of Xu Shiyi's eyes. It turned out that the war horse was just a borrowed war horse, not a gift from the imperial court to his son. It seemed that his son was not doing well either.
At that moment, Xu Shiyi asked his son: "How is the battle in Xuzhou going?"
"We won the battle," Xu Yingwei said. "Almost 20,000 Jiannu were killed, and the Huanghuai defense line was also held."
"Just hold on to the Huanghuai defense line." Xu Shiyi sighed and said, "This way we can protect at least half of the south of the Yangtze River, and at least we can live in peace for a hundred years."
After a pause, Xu Shiyi asked again: "Then you came home this time to visit relatives?"
Xu Yingwei said: "My son came back this time not only to visit relatives, but also to recruit soldiers."
"Recruiting troops? You want to recruit troops in Laodong?" Xu Shiyi's eyes suddenly lit up when he heard this.
This year the whole of Laodong has been hit by a severe drought, and I don't know how to get through this difficult time.
Now it's good. If we can recruit troops, Laodong will not only have dozens of mouths to eat, but also have money to earn, so people don't have to starve to death. There is no better result than this.
Xu Yingwei said: "Yes, my son has been ordered by the emperor to recruit at least three sentries in Laodong."
"Three sentries?" Xu Shiyi was even more happy when he heard this, "Recruiting 270 soldiers?"
Xu Yingwei said: "Yes, just Laodong will recruit 270 soldiers, and the entire Jiangnan will recruit 270,000 soldiers. Today's Holy Emperor is a promising leader and will never settle for protecting half of Jiangnan. Sooner or later, the Holy Emperor will lead
We will attack Youyan in the north, expel the Jian slaves and regain the capital."
"Little lunatic." Xu Shiyi said to the boy, "If you have quick legs, go to each village quickly and ask the village chiefs, village chiefs and clan elders of each village to come to the big ancestral hall for a meeting overnight, and tell them that there is something big going on."
The boy was a little embarrassed and said: "Chief, what should I do with my sheep?"
"I'll let Wu Niu drive the sheep back to the sheepfold for you." Xu Shiyi said with a big wave of his hand.
"Okay." The boy was overjoyed when he heard this, and immediately flew away to report.
"Father, son, come on." Xu Yingwei took the bucket burden from Xu Shiyi.
Xu Shiyi was not pretentious. He asked another long-term worker to lead the war horse and asked: "Youzhen, this time I am serving the imperial edict to King Qin. Have you seen the current emperor? What does he look like?"
After all, he was a country boy and was curious about what the emperor looked like.
Xu Yingwei said with a smile: "My son not only met the Holy One, but also lived and ate with the Holy One for a long time. He could almost count how many beards the Holy One had."
"Are you serious about this?" Xu Shiyi's eyes flashed strangely, "So, the Holy One thinks highly of you?"
"That's right." Xu Yingwei smiled slightly and added, "Thanks to the Holy Spirit, my son has been given a position in the military department."
"All the military departments have been approved?" Xu Shiyi was so excited that he didn't even care about his old father's reserve. He said anxiously, "All the seventh-grade military officers have been approved? Are they the same rank as the county magistrate?"
"County magistrate?" Xu Yingwei just smiled when he heard this.
