Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 70
The profits of the salt industry are too rich. Many of the Shanxi merchants, Anhui merchants, and salt merchants in the Huaihe River and Huaihe area have millions of households, and their lives are extremely luxurious. Under their silver bullet offensive, the entire Jiangnan officialdom has completely fallen. Some salt merchants can even control the appointment and dismissal of prefectural and county officials. The first thing for all local officials in power is to visit the local salt merchants and gentry so that they can get their support for future governance. If you are not careful The consequences of offending these salt merchants and other gentry would be dire. All my government orders would never leave the yamen. If there is no policy, there will be no political achievements. At that time, the official's memorial to the court will contain mediocre talents and unbearable comments. This means that it will be difficult to advance in the official career, and it is not uncommon for him to lose his official position.

These are all things to say later. Reform will not be accomplished overnight. It will take a long process and time. It also requires a stable political environment, a group of like-minded supporters, and a stable survival situation. These conditions are indispensable. Step by step Come on, Chongzhen still understands the truth of haste makes waste.

The Zhangjiakou Fort operation has been planned for more than half a year. Jinyiwei's secret agents have investigated the situation of the relevant people in great detail. This time, they should have gained a lot, not only the wealth of the eight families including Fan Yongdou, but also the large number of generals, soldiers and officials involved. , the accumulated money should not be a small amount. According to the information of later generations, the amount of money should not be less than several million taels. Whether the eight families are about to trade or store important materials such as food and medicinal materials in the warehouse, the amount will be quite amazing. And there are also various shops, as well as shopkeepers, carriage porters, etc., who take over and plug and play. This is an intangible wealth. With this large windfall, at least in a few years, life will be pretty good. loose.

But although there are many harvests this time, it cannot be regarded as a long-term solution. Only by broadening the source of wealth and walking on a few legs can we go further and more steadily. The business route left by Fan Yongdou and other eight families is one of them. The Mongols outside the Great Wall It is no longer a big threat to Daming, and their output is exactly what Ming needs. Horses can supply the army. Whether it is a war horse or a pack horse, it is what Ming needs.

Cattle are urgently needed by the Ming Dynasty. Years of drought, famine, disease and wars have caused a large number of deaths. Shaanxi, Henan and other places are full of land without owners. For work, the primary task is to open up wasteland and cultivate. Cattle are one of the essential means of production. The efficiency of one ox in plowing land exceeds at least five young laborers. As long as there are a large number of cattle, the area of ​​cultivated land will increase rapidly. Supplemented by water conservancy construction such as digging wells and opening canals, the newly plowed fields will have output in the coming year. With food in hand, there is no panic in the heart, and the output will stabilize people's hearts. Follow the bandits to rebel and die.

The body of sheep is full of treasures, and the meat can be eaten. After tanning, various fur clothing, shoes and hats can be made, and even used as medicine. Wool can be rolled into felt, woven into blankets, or woven into warm clothing by spinning machines. If the amount of mutton is sufficient, it is a good high-protein supplement for the people of Ming Dynasty who lack food. Goat milk is also rich in nutritional value. For children who lack nutrition, goat milk is enough to make their bodies strong.

As for the commodities traded with the Mongols, in addition to tea, cloth, porcelain, and finished pharmaceuticals, after finding out the number of Mongols traded, after calculation, food can also be supplied according to the ration per person per day, so as to ensure that they eat more than meat. There are also supplements of grain, but the quantity must not be too much, as long as you are not hungry. The purpose of this is to prevent the Mongols from looting in Ming Dynasty because of the famine.

In Chongzhen's plan, in addition to the border trade outside the Great Wall, there is also a wider and more profitable business route of sea trade.Since we don't have any suitable candidates for maritime trade, we still need to use Jinyiwei's strength to search for ambitious, experienced and courageous merchants with shrewd minds and vision, but with too little capital in Jiangnan, Fujian, and Guangdong. , Let him come forward as a spokesperson, investigate the route, recruit manpower, and the royal family will contribute as an investor to buy merchant ships and commodities, and the profits will be divided into [-]-[-]. This kind of joint-stock method should be willing to many small merchants.

In the Zhaoren Hall of Qianqing Palace, Chongzhen is summoning Xue Lian, Marquis of Yangwu, and Bowei Shichun of Xuancheng. Both of them committed suicide after Chongzhen hanged himself in history.

Xue Lian's ancestral home was Hancheng, Shaanxi, and his ancestors moved to Xuejiadao, Zhanhua. The title of Marquis of Yangwu was won by Xue Lubo, who followed Emperor Yongle from north to south during the Jingnan Battle, and made great contributions to Zhu Di's seizure of power. .

After Zhu Di ascended the throne, he rewarded a group of loyal ministers and generals who followed him. Xue Lu was granted the title of Marquis of Yangwu because of his outstanding military exploits, never lost a battle in his life, and his loyalty to Zhu Di, which has been handed down to Xue Lian for thirteen generations. , but the Xue family's loyalty to the royal family has never changed.

Although Wei Shichun's ancestors were also officials in the past dynasties, there had never been any amazing and talented people in the family. It was not until the Jingtai period that Wei Ying, the ancestor of the governor of the five armies at that time, was the commander of the governor's office. Dagong was conferred the title of hereditary earl by the Yingzong, and it has been seven generations so far.

Chongzhen smiled and said: "Xue Qing, I heard the rumors in the market that all say that Qing is brave and slightly indifferent. He likes to read military books every day, and he has the demeanor of the time when Zu Jing was in trouble; Weary, I want to reorganize the Beijing camp now, and when it becomes an army, I will divide a part of it to the Central Plains to suppress bandits, do you have any suggestions for me to know?"

Both Xue and Wei were shocked when they heard the words. Although they had never been in the army, because their ancestors were both from the army, they were inextricably linked with the army, and there were also trusted people waiting in the Beijing camp. He held a position in the middle school, so the understanding of the Beijing camp is relatively detailed.

The Beijing camp has always been in the hands of the British Duke Zhang's family and the Chengguo Duke Zhu's family. Because the British Duke Zhang Weixian is old and frail, he can't take care of things, so now the admiral of the 30 people in the Beijing Camp is Cheng Guogong Zhu Chunchen, relying on Chengguo For 200 years, the first line of public affairs has had an intricate relationship with the army. The generals of the public lineage of Cheng Guo have firmly controlled the real power positions at all levels in the Beijing camp. The royal Beijing camp has actually become the private team of Zhu and Zhang.

Chongzhen knew that in history, after Li Zicheng entered the capital and the emperor hanged himself, Zhu Chunchen, Duke of the Cheng State, and Li Guozhen, the uncle of Xiangcheng, the admiral of the Beijing camp, opened the inner city gate and knelt down to the bandits, leaving a shameful stroke in the history books. For these two women who have milk and are mothers, who have enjoyed the prosperity and wealth of the Ming Dynasty for generations, but in the end they are the nobles who quickly changed their families, Chongzhen has a strong resentment.

The Beijing Camp claims to have 30 horses. According to Jin Yiwei’s investigation through various methods, the actual number of soldiers is only a little over 20%. According to the monthly payment of seven renminbi per person by the imperial court, the empty salary of these 20 people alone is nearly one hundred thousand taels a month, and more than 150 million taels a year. It is distributed on a monthly basis; if you count other military supplies, such as knives, guns, gunpowder, armor tents, flag uniforms, salt, vegetable, sauce and vinegar, etc., they are allocated to the army according to the number of people. After receiving the money, many materials will be resold. When Lu Xiangsheng was preparing to build the Tianxiong Army in Hebei, the local gentry raised money and then bought weapons from the Beijing camp and the warehouse of the Ministry of War.

Of the remaining [-] or so actual soldiers, the elderly and weak accounted for a considerable part, and many of the natives of the capital were among them. These slippery people lived in the capital for generations. Officials and generals at all levels of the middle and lower ranks are very familiar with each other. They are idle and lazy on weekdays, so they rely on several layers of connections to sneak into the army and receive monthly salaries. How can such soldiers have any combat power? The battle with guns and swords ended in a rush. The Beijing soldiers who escorted Wang Bing to Fengyang to pay homage to the imperial tomb in the eighth year of Chongzhen is the best example.

(End of this chapter)