Emperor Ming Dynasty

Qin State, the capital of Hanoi.

With the baptism of the last heavy rain, most of Qin State entered the dry season.

Spring rice is from February to May, and summer rice is from June to October.

October to January is upland rice, with the lowest yield and value.

Before, due to the smooth progress of the autumn harvest, Hanoi was extremely prosperous.

This is the first time in hundreds of years that the grain taxes of the 21 prefectures across the country have been put into the warehouse so neatly. For Qin, it is extremely cumbersome and joyful.

The Prime Minister Liu Guan of the Yizheng Hall, the Second Prime Minister Mao Fu, and the Group Minister Ruan Cheng, the three of them sat quietly, their eyes shifted, but they did not say a word.

Five out of forty Liu Guan came from a fellow Jinshi; Mao Fu three out of forty was also a fellow Jinshi.

Only Ruan Cheng, a native, in his early sixties, was a Jinshi in the Hou Li Dynasty, and has always been highly respected among the people.

In order to completely eliminate the resistance of the people in Annan, the state of Qin invited him to the political hall and became a group minister.

Following the example of Ming Dynasty politics, the State of Qin was headed by the Yizhengtang, with a prime minister, secondary ministers, and group ministers, and votes to prepare memorials to assist the King of Qin in governing.

At the same time, set up the Dadu Protectorate to command the local army of the entire Qin State.

Set up the Wing Forbidden Army, with a number of [-], guarding the Jiaozhou capital to protect the safety of the king and the capital.

There are 21 prefectures and 190 counties across the country, of which Jiaozhou prefecture governs 21 counties, which is the most among them.

The eight ministers are judgment books, and the five temples are judgment temples.

"Your Highness is here—"

Suddenly, the eunuch screamed, and the 19-year-old King Qin Shi Shi came over.

His face is slightly dark, his eyes are full of spirit, and he inherited the bloodline from Emperor Ming, making him handsome and extraordinary.

Wearing a four-claw dragon robe, there are dragons on the shoulders, chest, and back. The yellow dragon robe looks majestic.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty—"

Several people bowed their hands hurriedly, nearly sixty degrees.

"Be flat!"

King Qin waved his hands casually, and then sat down on the soft couch.

Looking at the three officials of the country, he smiled and said:

"The Qin State was unified for several months, and each prefecture and county was established. Our Qin State is three thousand miles from north to south, with 600 million people, and the South China Sea is a prosperous country—"

"The autumn harvest is over, how much grain does the household department have in stock?"

Compared with the vast area of ​​thousands of miles from north to south in the Ming Dynasty, Qin State has only one province, which is long and narrow from north to south, and relies on the entire Jiaozhou. The King of Qin directly controls the grain-producing area of ​​the Red River Plain.

Therefore, in just over a month, it was enough to put the whole country's grain into storage, and the entire Red River Plain was collected and put into storage in less than a month.

"Your Highness, the 21 prefectures handed in a total of 670 million shi."

Liu Guan said softly: "The imperial treasury is full!"

The king of Qin nodded in satisfaction when he heard the words: "When the spring grain was put into the warehouse, this king had just entered Hanoi. There was no peace in the country, and the treasury only received 400 million shi."

"It's nearly 700 million stones now, Zhu Qing has worked hard."

"The ministers dare not take credit for—"

Several people are humble.

Liu Guanfu said: "Dry rice is not as good as spring and summer. Its yield is only half, and the imperial court can collect about 400 million shi. In this way, in the 18 years of Shaowu, the treasury can receive 500 million shi of grain."

As he said that, he said excitedly: "It's a pity that our country's food is cheap, and each stone is only worth four silver cents, which is only half of Daming."

"But when the commercial tax was first established, it still uses the old one, so it can only collect 30 yuan..."

"Even so, Qin can still earn 630 million silver dollars a year."

"How much did you spend?"

The corner of Qin Wang's mouth rose, and he forcibly suppressed the joy in his heart.

600 million yuan, in Daming, only a few provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang can reach it, which is much better than many big provinces.

"The total number of officials is about 3000, one thousand in the imperial court, and two thousand in the local government. According to the salary in previous years, their expenditure can reach 400 million shi."

"The local garrison camp has two hundred in the county and five hundred in the government, with nearly 5 people, and its expenditure is 100 million shi."

"The Wing Forbidden Army, 3 people, spends 200 million stones a year..."

Qin's army was treated completely differently from the central and local governments.

In the local garrison camp, the average soldier's annual salary is ten stones, and food and clothing are included.

These garrison battalions are a mixture of captured soldiers and Qin army officers, and the treatment can only be said to be average.

But in the state of Qin, this is already considered good enough to support the family.

The Forbidden Army is further divided into Garrison Forbidden Army and Guard Forbidden Army.

The annual salary of the garrison imperial guards is [-] shi, and there are rewards on festivals and festivals.

Not to mention, there are [-] musketeers and [-] cavalry among them, who are elite soldiers for suppressing disobedience.

As for the imperial guards, there are only 5000 people, protecting the palace and guarding the city of Hanoi.

His salary even reached thirty shi.

For those veterans of the Beijing camp who helped him conquer the world, Qin Wang's relatives believed in them.

The title is given away.

There are five county marquises, 27 county uncles, 52 county sons, and 78 county men.

Officers above the team rank have basically won the title of knighthood.

It occupies the title of nobility, which is equal to the number of other [-] Qin troops.

In other words, six times as much.

The injured general went to various prefectures and counties to serve as garrison officers, which can be described as extremely thoughtful.

Ordinary soldiers are rewarded with two hundred acres of land per capita, and everyone who jumps up becomes a landlord.

Officials and the army eat 700 million shi a year, which is almost half of the finances.

The remaining 800 million stones seem to be a lot, but when converted into silver, they are only 300 million pieces.

"800 million stone."

King Qin squinted his eyes and rubbed his temples: "This king wants to pay 20 shi for this grain (for 10 yuan).

Send another 80 shi to the capital to sell in exchange for some silver coins.

The rest, one is used to expand Hanoi City; the other is used to repair national roads. "

"The third is to prepare for the construction of a navy."

"It's not bad to have 80 million left in the end."

Of these three things, the most important thing is to expand Hanoi City.

Hanoi, which is narrow and castle-like, was used for military purposes when the Zheng family was in power, and its circumference was no more than fifteen miles.

It can only accommodate a hundred thousand people at most.

This is not enough for Qin, which unified Annan.

Therefore, the King of Qin negotiated with Yizhengtang to extend Hanoi two to three miles outward, expand the outer city, and turn Hanoi into the inner city.

The city is six miles long from east to west and seven miles wide from north to south, totaling 26 miles.

Enough to accommodate half a million people.

For Qin, it was already a big city.

Along with the expansion, there are also the palace and the inner city.

In this way, the total cost of the Yizheng Hall is nearly 50 million shi, and [-] corvettes.

Naturally, it is divided into three years and repaired.

Facing King Qin's exclamation, Mao Fu, the second chancellor, smiled and said, "Now the imperial court is setting up a commercial and tax department and a customs department. By then, taxation will reach a new level."

"Judging from Daming's effect, it's pretty good."

King Qin smiled lightly.

Customs is his internal money, he doesn't ask for more, a net income of one million silver dollars a year is not bad.

"Your Highness!"

At this time, Ruan Cheng, the insignificant group minister, cupped his hands and said: "Nowadays, the imperial court's silver coins all depend on Daming, but the silver coins are so precious that the people may not be able to use them."

"The common people generally barter, and rarely use silver coins."

"Where are the copper coins?" King Qin was taken aback, then slapped his head: "Damn it, I forgot that we don't produce copper here."

In fact, there are copper mines in Annan, but its output is small, and the logging has been exhausted over the years.

Nowadays, the folks are mainly bartering, cloth and food.

Just look at the state of Qin, isn't the salary also food?
"Paper money?" King Qin asked tentatively.

The three prime ministers justly refused.

This thing is not only disliked by ordinary people, but even officials like them are afraid of it, for fear that when the time comes, they will pay their salaries to wipe their asses.

"Which mineral is rich in our country?"

King Qin said helplessly.

"Coal, iron, lead."

Liu Guan said helplessly.

These three things can be described as extremely cheap.

In Guangdong, Ming Dynasty, a catty of pig iron cost fifteen yuan, and lead was even cheaper, only two or three yuan per catty.

"Then cast iron money."

The king of Qin thought over and over again, and decided to use iron to make money. If lead is used, it will easily break into eight petals, and it will not be usable in a year or two.

Although iron is rusty, it can be used anyway, right?

"In the Song Dynasty, iron coins were cast. Because of their bulkiness, one copper is worth ten irons."

Liu Guan read a lot of books, and said casually: "Although Qin is short of copper, we can only use iron money."

"How much iron money can be made from a catty of iron?"

King Qin asked suddenly.

"Song Shiyiguan (Song Shiyiguan [-]) iron coins weighed about seven catties, so one catty of iron can cast a hundred iron coins."

"Fifteen coins a catty of iron is worth 110 iron coins."

"Eight irons are worth one copper."

King Qin thought about it, good guy, it's really cheap enough.

The production of iron in Qin State is large, so it is cheaper, ten iron and one copper.

"No."

The King of Qin raised his head, and said in a deep voice: "Iron coins cast by the imperial court should be exquisite in style, and five irons and one copper are custom-made."

"Your Highness, I'm afraid that the folks are taking advantage of the opportunity and imitating a lot of bad money..."

Ruan Cheng said quickly, his face was full of worry.

"I can't control that much anymore." King Qin said casually: "Nowadays the folks are short of money, so what if they don't need iron money?"

"The country of Qin is hot and humid, food cannot be preserved for long, and iron money is unavoidable."

"That's it."

The King of Qin shook his head suddenly, and said helplessly, "I'm going to ask my father to give up some craftsmen to do fine work such as stamping and water forging. Then there will be fewer imitations."

At this time, he felt a little restless.

Although it is majestic to have a country all to yourself, there are a lot of bullshit things going on, which is really annoying!
Several people discussed for a whole morning, and in the end they still felt that in order to avoid private creation by the people, one copper and eight irons should be used for exchange.

In this way, iron ore is mined by the imperial court, coupled with blast furnace ironmaking, coal control, and exquisite forging, it can definitely reduce the private profit space.

Those with technology have no iron mines, and those with iron mines have no coal mines. All can be prepared unless it is an internal rebellion.

At noon, the eunuch was serving the meal, and suddenly someone came to report that it was an angel from the previous kingdom who had arrived.

"What's the matter, father?"

After thinking about it, the king of Qin really didn't know, so he had to bring all the civil and military officials to greet him outside the palace.

This is because Qin Fan is a pro-vassal. If it is like North Korea, the monarchs and ministers will kneel to greet them thirty miles out of the city.

The angel is a civil servant, carrying a circle of people, twenty or thirty, with a kind appearance:

"Your Highness, Your Majesty asked me to send the princess and the prince here..."

Hearing these words, King Qin was startled, and then showed joy.

He accepted several concubines in Qin, but he almost forgot about his son and wife in the capital.

The civil and military ministers behind him were also rejoicing.

The emperor sent the princess and the prince here, and the trust in it is self-evident.

Sure enough, a woman hugged a boy who was almost two years old, and slowly got out of the carriage, smiling gently.

"Your servants are waiting to knock on the concubine, the prince's mansion—"

All the civil and military personnel hurriedly knelt down.

"Pingshen!" The concubine raised her hand dignifiedly, with the taste of being a mother.

If the concubine and the son didn't mention it, the King of Qin never worried about it. How could a grandfather harm his grandson?

The angel bluntly stated the reason: "The imperial court will set up a Qin embassy in Hanoi, inherit Beijing's words, and probe into Qin's affairs..."

"Imperial envoy?" Qin Wang's face was ugly, he didn't want to have an overlord.

"What exactly?"

Seeing that his tone had turned cold, the angel hurriedly said: "The imperial envoy of the vassal state, the ambassador of the subordinate country, is only in the embassy on weekdays and does not interfere in Qin's political affairs."

"It's just to convey the imperial decree of Beijing."

"His Royal Highness will also go to Beijing to set up an embassy and send envoys to stay permanently."

King Qin heaved a sigh of relief.

……

When it comes to setting up an embassy, ​​North Korea is the most enthusiastic.

It's close, and it takes a day or two to cross the sea.

Hearing about the affairs of the embassy during the day, and arriving in Beijing at night.

It just made the Ministry of Rites dumbfounded. North Korea was dissatisfied with its own ambassador and asked for an imperial envoy:
"Although our country belongs to the county king, it enjoys the treatment of a prince. Why not be an envoy?"

The Ministry of Rites said helplessly: "The imperial envoys all go to the relatives, and your majesty's parents and children are in the country, so it is a bit special..."

As a result, North Korea was willing to give up.

When the delegation entered Beijing, it happened to be mid-September, and everything was gradually bleak, leaving the last touch of green before winter.

At this time, the emperor and court, who had escaped from Yuquan Mountain for summer vacation, also returned to Beijing, where they had been away for several months.

As a result, the capital city became lively again.

As for the embassy area, it was drawn to the vicinity of Chaoyang Gate in Daxing County, and an area was drawn out.

The Ministry of Rites bluntly said: "The inner city is tight and there are many people, so you don't run around, lest you can't find people, the embassy is next to each other, and it only needs to cover an area of ​​one mu square."

The vassals can only rent or buy a secondary courtyard in a designated area, and they cannot run around.

Such an arrangement can be regarded as letting the Ministry of Rites take a breather.

The emperor just came back from Yuquan Mountain, and he couldn't live in peace.

It turned out that the pinyin was [-]%, and after several compilations, it was named "Shaowu Zhuyin Method" and published all over the world.

For a time, public opinion boiled.

The defenders were furious, and they usurped the Chinese language with barbarians, which should not have been published.

Some were overjoyed, and started enlightenment according to their methods, and the progress was rapid.

mixed reviews.

Seeing this, Zhu Yixi was annoyed by this group of people scolding, and he said directly: "I not only need pinyin, but also have to hear it all over the world."

A group of doctors were recruited in the Imperial College and asked them to compile enlightenment books.

That is to say, Confucian children's enlightenment books such as the Three-Character Classic, Thousand-Character Classic, and the Classic of Filial Piety must be annotated in pinyin, and then promoted to the world.

At the same time, the emperor asked them to compile "Three Hundred Poems of Tang Dynasty", "Three Hundred Poems of Song Dynasty" and "Guanzhi of Ancient Prose".

Poems, words, and prose can't escape.

These must be phonetic.

To put it bluntly, this group of enlightenment books made Confucian children familiar with pinyin from an early age.

At this point, the emperor refused to give up. He once again summoned Confucian scholars from the government and the public to compile a dictionary "Shaowu Dictionary".

According to the order of pinyin letters, radicals, strokes, etc., sort Chinese characters.

The role of Shaowu dictionary is very important for scholars, especially poor scholars.

Since there is no guidance from a famous teacher, the dictionary can help him standardize taboos, retrieve typos, and standardize pronunciation.

Compared with the Kangxi dictionary, the Shaowu dictionary has more normative and taboo things, and I don’t know how many people it can save in the imperial examination.

At the same time, due to the existence of pinyin, the dictionary can also quickly popularize Mandarin, so that everyone can speak as one.