It was a rare occasion when the emperor came, and every soldier in the Beijing camp after reviewing them was rewarded with a piece of money.
As a result, the voice of long live is endless.
"Your Majesty, it's not easy to live in the capital!"
After being caught in a secluded place, You Shiwei and others mounted their horses and walked around the military camp with the emperor.
More than a dozen distinguished nobles followed behind, including You Shiwei and Zhu Meng. No one rushed to disturb them, and there was already a tacit understanding.
"Oh? Don't you have enough official salary?"
The emperor asked deliberately: "As far as I know, your salary is quite high!"
These words made everyone look ashamed.
Unlike the top soldiers who only have monthly salary, the salary of the officer class comes from three aspects, namely official position, military rank and title.
It is easy to understand the official position. Nowadays, civil and military officials have the same salary, the lowest is from the ninth rank, and each year they have ten silver coins (galumi).
The military ranks are sergeant, colonel, general, and general. The lowest right sergeant is a member of the army, which is basically the same as the official position, which is equivalent to receiving two salaries.
When you reach a certain status, if you obtain a title, you will also receive a title.
Baron is less than three hundred stone, viscount is five hundred stone, earl is five hundred to one thousand, marquis is less than three thousand, and duke is five thousand and above.
Note: There are two copies of Lumi and Qian.
Although there is no rank or salary, the backbone of the military officer class is not necessarily rich, but they can still support their families.
In addition, now the imperial court has awarded more than 300 barons and viscounts to people, but it is not widespread. Nowadays, the requirements for the title are becoming more and more demanding.
For example, for the most common baron, the standard for conferring a title is to fight against the enemy's regular army (the number of which is not less than 80% of your own), kill 300 enemies, and lose less than 30% of your own losses.
This also means that the probability of team alignment is too low. Barons are mostly battalion commanders, viscounts are mostly guerrillas (regiment leaders), and earls and marquises are in a town and rank in the general army.
Not to mention the Duke, the Governor's Mansion is waiting for him.
"It is thanks to His Majesty's kindness that I am so proud of my ancestors, but the monthly salary of the children of the Beijing camp is too low..."
You Shiwei was under tremendous pressure and his voice became smaller and smaller.
The emperor glanced at him and then at the others, all of whom expressed approval.
For a moment, I started thinking about it.
Today, because they are stationed in the capital, the monthly salary of the children in the capital has also increased, reaching one and five silver yuan per month.
It looks like a lot. After all, the price of stone rice in the capital is as low as eight millimeters. An ordinary soldier can buy two stone meters, which is about three hundred kilograms.
(One stone is four jun, one jun is 30 kilograms, one kilogram is 600 grams, and one stone is the current one hundred and fifty kilograms).
But the family does not just eat. They also have to be satisfied with oil, rice, firewood, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea. This small amount of money can only make Jingying live a tight life.
To be honest, the silver round is a mixture of 90% silver and 10% copper (the proportion of Yuan Datou in the early Republic of China). Just because it is beautifully forged, a silver round is worth one tael of silver.
It did stabilize the financial system at the beginning and barely suppressed inflation.
But everyone knows that with the opening of customs, the massive export of handmade products, and the import of massive silver, silver will inevitably depreciate, while copper and gold will appreciate.
Therefore, the issuance of Jinyuan was limited to a small amount, and we could not let these unscrupulous people take advantage of the imperial court.
As far as Zhu Yixi knows, silver yuan can only be exchanged for eighty copper yuan among the people, and one copper yuan is worth ten copper coins.
If the imperial court had not put Taicang grain into the market and suppressed the price of grain, it would have risen to one stone per stone.
The military's request for an increase in monthly pay seems to be justifiable.
But one move affects the whole body.
Ordinary soldiers have received a raise, should officers receive a raise?
If military officers get a raise, should civil and military officers get a raise?
What's more, the military expenses had been planned as early as the beginning of the year, and the money had been appropriated and kept in the Ministry of War. If it suddenly increased, the pressure on the Ministry of Revenue came.
"What do you mean?"
Although the emperor added a "men", he asked Zhu Meng who was standing aside.
As the family's most trusted general, Zhu Meng's attitude is extremely important.
"Your Majesty, the idea of the Munitions Department is not surprising."
Zhu Meng lowered his head slightly, unable to look directly at the emperor: "I heard that the clerks in the capital restaurant earn fifty or sixty coins every day. After all, the soldiers have to work hard, so the monthly salary is indeed a little less..."
"What plan has the Munitions Department come up with?"
The emperor nodded slightly and looked straight ahead.
"Your Majesty, the Munitions Department has thought over and over again and came up with three ways." You Shiwei said in a low voice:
"One is that ordinary soldiers will be increased from 1.5 yuan to 2 yuan, and officers will not change. The other is to set up a food supplement, and each sergeant will be given three measures of food."
"Finally, there is a war salary system. For example, when you go out to fight, you will receive a piece of salary as a subsidy."
These three methods have pros and cons. The first one is simple and straightforward, but although it only increases by 5 cents and leaves the officers unchanged, it is conservatively estimated that military expenditures will increase by another two million yuan per year.
Food supplementation saves money, but it will increase food consumption and cause trouble.
Wartime subsidies look good, as there are not many troops on the battlefield, and they can also boost morale.
But once there is one, there are two. Subsidies are coming, and bad regulations such as opening fees are not far away.
From this point of view, food supplements are the most affordable.
After much consideration, the emperor did not give a definite answer in the face of everyone's expectations:
"Let's wait for discussions with the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Cabinet before deciding. First, submit a memorial."
Although he had some calculations in his mind, Zhu Yixi did not make a decision hastily.
This has nothing to do with power, but respect for the cabinet and the system.
Integrating China and foreign countries, maintaining the majesty of the foreign court is equivalent to maintaining the imperial power. It is very necessary to make the process legal and formal.
When the prime minister and ministers are treated like nothing, who will respect the emperor?
"Yes!" Several people responded slightly disappointedly, feeling very hopeful in their hearts.
No wonder they suggested at this time that part of the summer tax had already arrived.
Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang, and Yingtian shipped the summer tax to Tianjin in early September, and then arrived in Beijing.
Although the taxes were kept secret, for them, the secrets of the court could not be kept secret.
The three provinces and one prefecture collected a total of 7 million yuan in silver dollars, of which commercial taxes (sitting tax and customs tax) exceeded 3 million yuan.
According to the official tax estimates for many years, the four regions in the south of the Yangtze River account for 30% of the national tax, which means that this summer tax will be about 23 million yuan, plus the seasonal collection of salt, iron, wine, and tea, the amount will exceed 3,000 yuan.
undoubtedly.
In the sixth year of Shaowu's reign, the summer and autumn taxes exceeded 50 million yuan. The reason why they were less than 1,000 yuan was because there were only summer taxes in the north.
Obviously, this year must be a year of prosperity.
The Ministry of Revenue urgently expanded Taicang to prepare for the wealthy silver coins.
In fact, Zhu Yixi also felt happy, but it really felt unreal.
But he understood that this was the fruit of dividing the land of military households and bringing peace to the world, and it was uncertain how many years it would last.
Especially with regard to commercial taxes, Japan and North Korea were forced to open their doors to allow Ming merchants to develop, which greatly promoted Jiangnan capital.
But business is unstable. If you get rich this year, you may not get rich next year.
Of course Zhu Yixi knows their mentality after their money explodes, but she will not act recklessly after getting rich.
After walking around for a long time, he was tired and was going to go home and take a bath in the hot springs at Yuquan Villa.
The carriage was walking on the official road, but Zhu Yixi's thoughts did not leave the capital camp.
There are 160,000 people in the Beijing camp, and there are currently more than 10,000 in Liaodong. The remaining provincial generals have taken away 3,000 people to guard the place. The number of troops stationed near the capital does not exceed 100,000.
About 50,000 people were stationed in Xishan (including Yuquan Mountain) and Tongzhou respectively, divided into camps.
Although it doesn't look like much, there is also the Sunchon Prefecture patrol camp, which is responsible for the security of Gyeonggi and has a scale of more than 20,000 people.
In addition, there are Ji Town and Xuanda's border troops, each numbering 20,000. There are border troops on the surrounding walls. The Beijing camp is in the center. It can be said that the capital is as stable as Mount Tai.
The Qing Dynasty's troops in Gyeonggi never exceeded 100,000, and the famous Fengtai camp only had 20,000 people.
"Do you want to recruit more people? Make up two hundred thousand?"
After thinking about it, Zhu Yixi decided to raise the issue to the cabinet.
It was a bit stuffy inside the car, so Zhu Yixi opened the window and saw the spacious official road.
When passers-by saw such a large force, they came to the roadside patiently and waited for them to pass. The crowded merchants did not dare to be dissatisfied at all, and all looked respectful.
Although the Ministry of Industry's presence is a bit weak, it has never disappointed anyone.
From the time Shaowu entered Beijing in the second year until now, in less than four years, the Ministry of Works has repaired and expanded official roads exceeding a thousand miles.
Among them, the Beijing-Tianjin Road is more than 200 miles long, the Beijing-Baoding Road to Baoding is more than 300 miles long, and the Beijing-Xuan Road is 400 miles long.
In the past few years, we have been busy fighting wars and have insufficient manpower and material resources, but we have also consumed more than two million silver coins.
Speaking of which, everyone knows the straight roads of the Qin Dynasty, but does not know the official roads of the Ming Dynasty. The width of the straight roads of the Qin Dynasty was about 20-60 meters, while the main road of the Ming official road was about ten feet wide, which is equivalent to about thirty meters, which is wider than that of the Qin Dynasty.
The straightaway is a little narrower, but wide enough.
Stations are set up every sixty miles, and willows and poplars are planted on both sides of the road to provide shade from the summer heat, which brings great comfort to pedestrians.
Like the capital city, the newly built official road is divided into left and right lanes, drive on the right, and reverse driving is prohibited.
In the middle is a half-foot-wide interval composed of pebbles and gravel.
There are no lane divisions on the left and right sides, and the distance between the main lanes is eighty feet, twenty-four meters.
On both sides of the road are sidewalks, each one feet wide.
The ten-foot-wide high-quality official road, named a national road by the emperor, leads to all provinces and is suitable for large-scale mobile armies. Currently, it is mainly deployed in all directions around the capital.
Like a big spider web, it is inspiring to look at.
In addition, the most commendable thing is that the national highway is basically paved with simple cement and gravel.
The production of simple cement is also simple. Just grind limestone, clay, iron ore and coal into slag powder and then bake it.
But just crushing it is a big project nowadays.
Fortunately, the hydraulic pendulum can be used. Although it is inefficient and not careful enough, it can make cement continuously.
The hardest part is drying.
When cement gets wet, it will solidify into blocks and basically become useless. Therefore, all the ingredients in the cement must be absolutely dry, and the moisture content must be strictly controlled. This cannot be achieved by natural drying.
Modern technology uses a boiling furnace to dry the auxiliary materials.
Nowadays, it is necessary to use a blower to make the fuel stir up and down in the furnace, like boiling water, into a boiling state. The fuel burns in a suspended state, heats the air, and then uses these high-temperature air to dry the raw materials.
These technologies were difficult in the Sui, Tang, Song and Yuan dynasties, but they are not difficult now.
From this, a steady stream of cement was produced,
It has become the main material of national highways.
The official roads in each province are called provincial roads, which are branches of national roads and connect various prefectures.
The specifications of the provincial highway are naturally lower, and high-cost cement is not used. It is about five feet wide and follows the rules of the national highway. There are two rows on the left and right, and the roadside is full of willows and poplars.
The materials are still the same as before: gravel, cinder, and clay, compacted. It is simple, convenient and easy to repair, but it is easily damaged.
Although the railway tracks have been built, the official roads must continue. The more roads, the better.
It can be expected that with the recruitment of the engineering corps, the construction speed of official roads and railway tracks will become faster and faster. Expanding official roads to provincial roads within ten years is not a dream.
"It seems that the Ministry of Industry can't spare any effort and must increase its efforts..."
After sighing with emotion, Zhu Yixi suddenly realized that after having money, she had more places to spend.
Official roads, railway tracks, river embankments, lakes, canal dredging, ponds, canal repairs, grassland city building, the majority of the imperial court's expenditures in the next few years must undoubtedly go to the Ministry of Industry.
A conservative estimate would be more than 10 million yuan a year.
The imperial court began to make up for the social maintenance that had deteriorated since the Wanli period.
"Brother, who is this from? This car is really beautiful."
At the motorcade on the roadside, young people in their twenties secretly watched the team leaving and couldn't help but envy them.
"It's definitely the Duke." Song Liang said softly: "There are thousands of people, but only the Duke has such a pomp."
"Okay, stop looking and keep walking." Song Liang greeted the team, and a team of about thirty people and ten carriages set off again.
"With such a good road, you can reach Miyun in a few days."
These people were going to the grassland to purchase cattle, sheep, wool and other grassland specialties.
Since winter is coming, grassland herdsmen must store enough fodder to survive the winter, so they naturally slaughter the old and weak cattle and sheep to avoid losses.
More importantly, I heard that the imperial court was planning to build a new city near Hala Hetao, less than a hundred miles east of Gubeikou in Weiyun, Miyun, and less than five hundred miles from the capital.
This is an opportunity for small and medium-sized businessmen. The emergence of a new city will create a lot of business opportunities.
Since they did not carry firearms or other prohibited items, they just paid the customs fee. The group exited Gubeikou and saw the grassland in front of them.
"Brother, what is the name of this new city?"
"I heard it was called Chengde, in honor of the emperor's kindness." Song Liang twirled his beard and said with a smile: "Chifeng in the past was the hometown of the Chahar tribe. It was too far away from the imperial court, so we built another Chengde."
When they arrived in Chengde, the place was in full swing. The city wall had been repaired, the moat was being dug, and a large number of ditches were being built. It was obvious that they wanted to turn this place into a granary.
The most eye-catching thing is that this is a huge temple with a gleaming golden Buddha statue two feet high, which is intimidating.
The lamas are dressed in monk's robes, and the devout Buddhist sounds surround their ears, making people feel calmer unconsciously.
With the active participation of a large number of herdsmen, the Buddhist temple was always the first to be built.
The temple was named Chengde, given by the emperor, and the whole city got its name from it.
Everyone welcomes caravans coming from afar.
Wool, sheepskin, and all kinds of grassland specialties were all available. Iron pots, tea cakes, and salt were all exchanged for it, and the fleet was full.