Well, Chang Yu couldn't help but cursed mmp in his mind. As the old saying goes, it's hard for a clever woman to make a living without rice. The Central Plains is full of rich households, and most of them are vassal fiefs. He can get a few bites of food with a bowl, but this north is a bitter cold land.
Not to mention that there were no vassal kings, there were not many wealthy households, and there was no place to beg for alms.
But seeing that Chongzhen was determined to be the hands-off shopkeeper, it would be futile to continue talking, but it would make him unhappy, so Chang Yu simply acquiesced and remained silent.
"Have you been thinking about a strategy to retreat from the enemy in the past few days?" Chongzhen felt a little embarrassed and immediately changed the subject.
"No, but I am confident that I can stop the enemy from moving south!"
Chang Yu vowed, and Chongzhen sighed in his heart, but he had nothing to say. He only prayed that the blessed general could give him another surprise. To be honest, he had great expectations and confidence in Chang Yu. After all, he had the merits of his former teacher and went there in the first place
When we were in Taiyuan, we didn't expect that he could make such a big splash and raise such a big flag. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been transferred to the northern front line at such a time.
"If you have any needs, just ask, I will do my best to help you. As long as you can fight back or block the Qing Gou, it will be a great achievement!" Chongzhen patted his chest and said very proudly.
But hey, Chang Yu secretly curled his lips, asking for money, food, and soldiers, so what kind of help could he give?
Allocate some men and horses to the ministers in the capital camp, even a small amount will do, the troops in the north are really too thin."
The Beijing camp should not be moved. Chongzhen had emphasized it long ago, but he seemed to feel a little embarrassed to keep rejecting Chang Yu today. He reluctantly said: "How many troops do you want? You know the importance of the Beijing camp. If you have more, I won't give it to you. If you have less, I won't give it to you."
It’s just a drop in the bucket and it doesn’t work.”
When Chang Yu heard this, he said, hey, there's a show, and he immediately became energetic: "Your Majesty, it's not about the number of soldiers, but the skills. I only need one battalion of Shenji Battalion."
The Beijing Camp is also known as the three major camps, which are divided into the Fifth Military Camp, the Three Thousand Battalion and the Shenji Camp. The Fifth Military Camp is the largest battalion, including 12 battalions that are responsible for the officers and soldiers of the cavalry, with a normal strength of more than 100,000 troops.
The Three Thousand Battalion was a cavalry force. Initially there were 3,000 cavalrymen composed of soldiers surrendered outside the Great Wall. Although the number was small, it was indeed the most powerful cavalry force under Zhu Di at that time. It later developed and grew, reaching more than 70,000 at its peak.
The Shenji Battalion is a specialized firepower unit and the world's first professional special forces unit. It was called the Firearms Battalion after the Qing Dynasty. The Shenji Battalion has a regular structure of about 5,000 people, with about 3,500 infantry, each equipped with a gun, and a thousand cavalry.
, about 500 artillery. In terms of strength, it is the smallest of the three battalions, but its power is the most powerful.
Now Chang Yu wants this 5,000-strong army to guard the border with him.
"Are you going to use artillery to fight back the enemy like Yuan Chonghuan did in Ningyuan? But now I heard that the power of Qinggou's artillery is no worse than ours, I'm afraid..." Chongzhen frowned.
"Maybe it can be used as a backup. With such a strong army, the ministers will have the confidence to respond to the battle. Can the emperor be sure?" Chang Yu was noncommittal.
At this time, Chongzhen was in trouble: "Now that you have mentioned it, I should have agreed to it, but it is not up to me alone to mobilize the Beijing troops to go out to participate in the war. First, the cabinet must pass, and once the opening is opened, only
Shi Kefa from the Ministry of Terrorism also followed the same example." He said with a long sigh: "I will discuss this matter with the cabinet early tomorrow morning. How about I get back to you as soon as possible?"
Chang Yu nodded, still somewhat confident. The chief minister of the cabinet is Li Banghua, and the governor of the capital is Wang Jiayan. These two people are absolutely loyal ministers, and they are definitely not the kind of stuff like Chen Yan, Wei Dezao, and Li Jiantai who just eat together.
Waiting to die.
These two people are definitely people who do practical things. When the country is in crisis, they will definitely not stick to the rules. What's more, these people have good relations with the prince, especially Li Banghua's favorite disciple Li Mingrui or Zuo Zhongyun of the East Palace. Historically, Li Banghua suggested that Nan
It was Qian who asked Li Mingrui to find out about Chongzhen, but this time their promotion was also recommended by the prince and Gong Yonggu.
So with this relationship in mind, Chang Yu feels that the success rate is very high.
"Your Majesty, I have another plan to enrich the national treasury." Chang Yu suddenly changed the subject.
Chongzhen was immediately overjoyed: "What's the plan? Tell me and listen."
"Tea tax, commercial tax," Chang Yu said solemnly, staring at Chongzhen.
Chongzhen suddenly felt disappointed, smiled bitterly and shook his head: "Are you imitating Wei Zhongxian? I'm afraid you will end up getting angry again. This method won't work."
"No, I think it's feasible!" Chang Yu was resolute. Wei Zhongxian collected a tea tax during the Tianqi period and brought a huge amount of money to the royal family every year. However, this also became the focus of firepower of the Donglin Party and the civil servant group, thinking that it was
: There were widespread complaints about "competing with the people for profit" until it was abolished after Chongzhen came to power (some say it was not abolished, but it could not be reinstated)
"How can it be done? You are not afraid of them scolding you or forcing me to kill you, but I don't want to lose face for this little money and be punished again and again!" Chongzhen snorted with a dark face, but of course he
I thought about it too, otherwise why would I regret killing Wei Zhongxian so much.
"The tea tax collected by Wei Zhongxian at that time was used as internal money and returned to the royal family. It is not unfair to say that it was competing for profits with the people. But if it went into the national treasury, it was taken from the people and used by the people. Who can say anything?" Chang Yu
He said with a slight smile.
"Oh, you mean to put it into the national treasury!" Chongzhen's face softened slightly, but his tone seemed a little disappointed, but he was obviously moved: "It seems feasible, but what about the so-called commercial tax?"
"Business taxes are too low." Chang Yu smiled bitterly. Although merchants had a lower status than farmers in ancient times, it is undeniable that their wealth is incomparable to farmers. But what is ridiculous is that farmers' taxes are much higher than those of businessmen.
In the Ming Dynasty, agricultural taxes accounted for 75% or even higher of the country's total tax revenue, while commercial taxes have not changed since Lao Zhu established the Ming Dynasty. It has always been: "For commercial taxes, take one out of thirty, and the excess will be regarded as
"Order". Look, charging too much is illegal.
"You mean..." Chongzhen frowned.
"Reduce agricultural taxes and raise commercial taxes." Chang Yu said firmly: "The world is in chaos and the people are in dire straits. Natural disasters and wars are the natural causes, but excessively high agricultural taxes will undoubtedly add fuel to the fire. People will have no livelihood. More people are willing to follow the thieves in rebellion...
…If the emperor wants to pacify the world, suppressing bandits is one of the key measures, and reducing agricultural taxes is also a key means. One can calm the people, and the other can allow the people to resume production...Looking at the merchants, who is not making a lot of money..."
Chang Yu kept talking, and Chongzhen kept listening quietly, his face changing from time to time, sometimes nodding, sometimes frowning...
The monarch and his ministers chatted in Qianqing Palace until late at night, before Chang Yu resigned from the palace.
The chill was at its strongest at this time, and he couldn't help but shiver several times after he had just come out of the greenhouse. He hurried out of the Qianqing Gate with his neck scrunched up, and then glanced at the guard duty room in front of the palace gate, with a slight smile at the corner of his mouth.
He turned his head and walked towards the East Palace.
Tang Potian was on duty in the East Palace and was always excited. He kept showing off to several colleagues. The governor of the East Palace invited him to have fun in the evening and go to a boxing match to have a lot of fun. He wanted to make a lot of money...
Outside Dong'an Gate, Tang Potian shrank his neck with a bitter look on his face. He glanced at the carriage beside him and muttered in his heart, didn't he agree to take someone to have fun, so why did he become a bodyguard?
It wasn't until he arrived in a secret room in the Dongchang Yamen and listened to Wu Mengming chatting with a few strange men for a long time that he suddenly realized that he couldn't help but look at Chang Yu next to him gratefully. This was serious fun. This little guy
The eunuch is really loyal, and he doesn't forget to support him for such a good thing.
The strange men are Jiang Yiping, Fang Ba and Song Siyang. The three of them are here to report to Chang Yu. At the same time, they are here to meet two new shareholders. One is the leader of Jin Yiwei and the other is the emperor's personal guard.
Mr. Qian.
These two shareholders are both powerful people, and the amount of money is secondary. With these two people taking shares, the transaction will only be smoother. Of course, the current difficulties are also extraordinary.
Although 30,000 shi of food is not a small amount, it can be scraped together, and the manpower problem can be solved easily. After all, there are a large number of refugees in the capital. Just give a shout and they will be there immediately. The difficulty is to solve the problem of vehicles, mules, horses and other material resources in a short time.
, after all, there was no preparation beforehand, so everyone was really having a headache in such a hurry.
However, Chang Yu asked them to expand their business to other places as quickly as possible. Now they have just begun to take over part of the court's business. The food reserves in the capital can still cope with it. If they take over the whole business in time, they will naturally have to take over all aspects of the business across the country.
Get running.
At this time, there are three top priorities to start branching out immediately. One is Jiangnan, which is a major grain-producing province, and a procurement reserve and transfer base must be established. The second is Taiyuan, an area prone to war disasters, and the third is Zhangjiakou, a foreign trade zone.
.
Finally, Chang Yu added another sentence: If you leave Beijing tomorrow, you will need at least 5,000 shi of military rations, but any grains will do.
Jiang Yiping and others suddenly felt like their heads were pounding. (To be continued)