Emperor Ming Dynasty

Chapter 145 Commanding an Army of One Hundred Thousand
The so-called three rates are the Liao rate, the practice rate, and the suppression rate.

It is not an exaggeration to say that Ming died in the three pay.

Among them, 520 million taels of silver are collected each year for "Liao Xing"; more than 330 million taels of silver are distributed every year for "Suppressing Xing Xun";

A total of 5 million taels per year.

At this time, taking the sixth year of Tianqi as an example, 430 million shi of wheat and 2149 million shi of grain were harvested that year.

During the reign of Chongzhen, it shrank, but based on one tael per stone grain, it was almost 20 million taels.

In other words, the three rates in the late Ming Dynasty almost doubled the tax.

If coupled with the excessive collection by officials, the burden on the people will be several times that of the Tianqi period.

Therefore, during the reign of Chongzhen, there were more bandits and rebellions, and more and more people were suppressed, and they drank poison to quench their thirst.

The tax arrears in the Ming Dynasty refers to these three rates. The regular tax must not be owed, and it must be paid on time.

Later, when the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, they kept saying that the Ming Dynasty died in the Three Pays, but in fact they directly included the Liao Pay in the regular tax, and you have no choice but to owe it.

"Three salaries are exempted, and the people rejoice."

Zhao Shu said with emotion: "Even the summer tax has been reduced and exempted, so that the common people are willing to go out of the mountains and forests to reclaim wasteland."

"Has the summer tax been reduced?"

Zhu Yixi thought for a while, nodded and said: "It is feasible to pay lightly and pay less. Now Jiangxi and Lingnan can buy food, as long as the money is enough."

"In addition to the three rates, other exorbitant taxes should also be abolished. There is no need to talk about the distinction between upper and lower fields, etc., and they will be collected at the rate of one bucket per mu."

In the feudal era, the simpler and more direct, the better for the people, so that officials would not be able to take advantage of loopholes.

That's why Taoism advocates governance by doing nothing. For example, Emperor Qin Shihuang and Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty were tossing so hard. You thought it would only hurt the people by one point, but with the addition of officials, it would become ten points.

Suddenly, Zhu Yixi thought of Shaanxi merchants, and said casually: "When the country was founded, Taizu stabilized the world, and set a business tax of [-] one. If the emphasis is on agriculture and less on business, the merchants should bear a heavier tax."

"Business tax?" Zhao Shu frowned and said, "I'm afraid it's not easy!"

"Now that I am in power, who dares to be presumptuous?"

Zhu Yixi sneered and said: "I intend to draw up commercial taxes, which are divided into sitting taxes and tariffs."

Sitting tax is the store operating tax of sitting merchants, which is stable, fixed, and easy to collect.

Tariffs, as the name suggests, are customs clearance taxes, which are collected from merchants, and the representative ones are customs clearance and customs in the Qing Dynasty.

These two commercial taxes are the simplest and most direct and must be collected.

Seeing Zhao Shu's embarrassment, Zhu Yixi said with understanding: "I will set up another yamen to be responsible for the collection of commercial taxes and land taxes. The military and political department is still measuring land and coordinating Dingkou."

After all, Zhao Shu was born as an aide, so it would be fine if he was in charge of money management. For specific tax collection, he had to have a special and powerful yamen.

Hearing this, Zhao Shu heaved a sigh of relief, and said, "Your Highness, this is the best way to do this. In order to measure the land and make yellow books, the Military and Political Department is already too busy."

"By the way, how is the yellow book registration now?"

Zhu Yixi was quite interested, but he wanted to know how many people were under his rule.

"Xiangyang Mansion is fully completed, Dingkou 160,000, 110,000 hectares of land; Chengtian Mansion is also completed, 500,000 mouths, 33 hectares of land."

"The rest of the prefectures are still going on."

Zhao Shu said softly, with regret on his face.

You know, Chengtian Mansion was the most affluent place in Huguang back then. As Jiajing's old nest, there were more than 3 million people in just one mansion.

Unfortunately, they were all ruined.

"How much wasteland do these two prefectures have?"

"No less than 200,000 hectares." Zhao Shu let out a foul breath.

"Before, the military colonized tens of thousands of hectares, all of which were in Xiangyang Mansion. Now, I plan to divide some of the land to the army."

Zhu Yixi smiled helplessly: "In the past few months, in the battle of Sanguan in Hanzhong Mansion and the battle of Xianrenguan, Ma Ke was defeated and Niu became a tiger; in the battle of Xiangyang and Wuchang, Bai Wang and Zuo Liangyu were defeated."

"Last month, Nanyang Mansion was taken again."

"I'm already crowned king, if I don't reward you, I'm afraid the soldiers will mutiny!"

Only then did Zhao Shu suddenly realize: "Having fought so many battles? Your Highness has really worked hard."

"So, you mean to replace gold and silver with land?"

"That's right!" Zhu Yixi nodded: "It is necessary to be promoted, but the rewards cannot be missed. The gold and silver are kept to buy food, so we can only use more land."

"Furthermore, with land, you can start a family and start a business, increasing taxes and income."

Chinese people's longing for the land can burst out huge energy.

Why are the Eight Banners of the Manchu Qing Dynasty so fierce?
Because those people know that once they enter the customs, they can own a lot of land and slaves, for real.

Therefore, knowing that enclosing land would lose the hearts of the Han people, the Qing Dynasty had no choice but to implement it.

The military order to reward meritorious service was issued, and the army rejoiced.

Generals and schools from all over the country quickly left the station and came to Xiangyang to receive the reward.

Li Jizu and You Shiwei from Jingzhou, Li Jingwu from Huangzhou Mansion, Zhao Guangyuan from Hanyang Mansion, and Chen Yongfu from Wuchang Mansion, all rushed here without any delay.

In addition to them, Wang Guangen, Liu Tingjie, Yan Guochao and others who stayed in Xiangyang are also waiting to see.

In this regard, Zhu Yixi sorted out the soldiers and horses under his command.

Firearms Battalion, Cavalry Battalion, Guards Battalion, Grenadier Battalion, Mingjie, Mingfu, Sanbian, Yulin, Mingyuan, Yunyang, Mingwang, a total of eleven battalions.

Therefore, Zhu Yixi divided the soldiers of Yunyang Mansion into two, Hui Dengxiang and Wang Guangen each commanded [-] soldiers and horses, and divided them into Minghui Camp and Mingen Camp.

Li Jizu's Sanbian Battalion, You Shiwei's Yulin Battalion, Chen Yongfu's Mingfu Battalion, Liu Tingjie's Mingjie Battalion, Zhao Guangyuan's Mingyuan Battalion, Li Jingwu's Cavalry Battalion, and Yan Guochao's Heavy Infantry Battalion (formerly the grenadier battalion).

They both perform augmentation.

The number of soldiers and horses has expanded from three thousand to five thousand.

The source is the [-] recruits from Hanzhong.

Only Baiwang's Mingwang camp still maintains 3000 people, showing its status as a start-up.

In this way, excluding the firearms battalion and the guard battalion in the headquarters, there are a total of ten battalion commanders.

Forty-seven thousand people.

The number of firearms and guards totals 20,000 people, and will soon expand to [-] people.

The soldiers are expected to number 7000 people.

Raising these soldiers and horses, including the firearms battalion, cavalry battalion, and heavy infantry battalion, was a big loss. The monthly salary, food, and loss exceeded 200,000 taels.

Even so, there are more than 30,000 surrendered soldiers who have been transformed by the new barracks and are about to leave the camp.

"They are all arranged to be guards, and the salary is half of the soldiers (five qian)."

With a wave of Zhu Yixi's hand, each of the eight prefectures in Hubei has [-] garrisons, and Nanyang Mansion has [-] garrisons.

The rest just replenished the soldiers and horses of the headquarters.

Therefore, under Zhu Yixi's command, two troops were formed, the warriors and the defenders.

If you add Xin Wencheng's Qishan Camp (Xianrenguan) and Zhu Meng's Sanguan Camp, the total number of soldiers and horses has exceeded [-].

This is much stronger than Zuo Liangyu's 100,000 people.

Is it okay to call yourself Zhu Shiwan?
"It's a pity, there is a shortage of sailor battalion now, time won't wait for me!"

(End of this chapter)