Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 8
Wang Chengen hurriedly followed into the house, while Liu Chao ran to fetch pens, inks, papers and inkstones.

After he entered the palace, he had studied in the Inner Academy, so he was not very knowledgeable, but he was fluent in writing and calligraphy. Luo Yangxing was led down to the North Chamber by Zhuangtou's hospitality.

After Zhu Youjian entered the room, he sat down on the grand master's chair. Wang Chengen quickly took the teapot and poured tea for the emperor, and held it in front of him with both hands. Zhu Youjian took a sip.The tea was brought from the palace, and the water was from the well water in the village. In this era without industrial pollution, the well water was sweet and sweet, and the tea was brewed smooth and fragrant.

After a while, Liu Chao trotted in with the Four Treasures of the Study, Zhu Youjian put down the teacup and pointed to the side chair, "Sit!"

How could Liu Chao dare to sit down in front of the emperor, he waved his head and hands and replied: "There is no seat for a slave in front of the emperor, you have to break the slave!"

Zhu Youjian said impatiently: "If I tell you to sit down, you can sit down! I said later that you have to write on paper, how do you write while standing?"

After hearing this, Liu Chao found a seat and sat down, buttocks only dared to touch half of it.He put the pen, ink and paper on the small table by his side, twisted his body and said: "Your Majesty, this servant listens quietly to the holy parable!"

"How many granaries are there in the village? Will the summer grain be delivered to the palace this time?"

Zhu Youjian asked.

"If you go back to the emperor, there are three granaries in the village, each of which can hold about [-] shi of grain. Because the summer grain has not been harvested soon, some of it has not been dried, so the harvested grain is in the granary. In addition, the grain that has not been dried , with a total of about [-] shi, all of which are wheat and barley, and there is no miscellaneous grains.”

Liu Chao respectfully replied.

"I remember you said that there are a total of more than [-] mu of land, how much is the yield per mu? Why are there so many grains?"

Zhu Youjian asked suspiciously.

"Report to the emperor, the average yield per mu in the village is about one stone, and the land rent collected in the palace is seventeen. Because it is an emperor's village, no tax is paid, so there is a lot of food left over!"

Liu Chao replied truthfully.

Zhu Youjian frowned slightly when he heard the words: "Why is there so much land rent? Calculated by population, isn't the remaining rations for farmers just to cover their stomachs?"

"Returning to the emperor, this rule has been the same since Lord Longqing. Because it is not far from the capital, the young and strong men in the village will go to the city to do part-time jobs during the slack season to earn some money to subsidize their families. The old and weak women and children raise chickens Ducks, and a few households raise pigs, and there used to be plenty of water in the river to catch some fish and shrimp, so the farmers can barely survive, so there are no complaints."

Exploitation, naked exploitation!It took a year of hard work to plan and eat in the soil, and [-]% of the harvest would be taken away. The surplus grain and miscellaneous grains could hardly starve to death, so everyone thought it was justified, Zhu Youjian sighed inwardly.

"From today onwards, the land rent will be changed to fourteen, and it will be a common practice in the future!"

Zhu Youjian ordered decisively.

"Ah? This, this, this, is the emperor too tolerant? Land rent is a big income in the palace. If there is less income, the nobles in the palace will complain and make trouble!"

Both Wang Chengen and Liu Chao were taken aback.

In their hearts, the interests of the royal family are above all else. When the waters of the royal family rise, their boats will rise. As for these poor and lowly peasants, it is the grace of the royal family to have a stutter.

Zhu Youjian didn't intend to explain to them the values ​​of future generations such as civil rights and equality, but just waved his hand and said, "I've made up my mind, don't be too long-winded! Whoever dares to make trouble in the palace, I will let him go to Fengyang to guard the imperial mausoleum." go!"

Wang Chengen and Liu Chao shrank their necks, not daring to speak again.

"I have a plan. I plan to turn this village into a military logistics base. In the future, military supplies such as clothes and hats for Ming officers and soldiers will be produced from here!"

Zhu Youjian continued.

Liu Chao quickly dipped a pen into the ink and recorded the emperor's words.

"After tomorrow, you have to arrange manpower and select a large connected open space for the construction of the workshop. One is to make military rations, and the other is to make clothes and hats. I haven't thought about the others yet. The workshop must be spacious enough to accommodate Hundreds of people work. I will inform the Ministry of Industry about the style of the workshop and how to construct it, and arrange relevant people to come to guide it, and what you have to do is to gather the young and strong in the village for construction. Remember, this is not labor. Take two meals and be full!"

As for the salary, Zhu Youjian has no plans to pay it for the time being.Because there are too many places that need money now, and there is not much money left in the house, and if the Ministry of Households allocates money, those civil servants will definitely quarrel with the emperor.

There are more important uses for the money in the internal money, and if you can save it now, you can save it.

In fact, for ordinary farmers, it is normal to work hard. If they only manage two full meals, it will save a lot for the family.

I usually go to the capital to do part-time work during the slack season, and it is not always possible to find a job every day, and sometimes no one is hired for several days in a row. Where can I find such a good job without leaving my family at home.

Liu Chao quickly wrote down that although he hated to take care of the two meals, he didn't dare to argue aloud.

"After the workshop is built, build the wall to protect the village. It doesn't need to be as high as the city wall, just about nine feet."

Zhu Youjian intends to build this place into a logistics base, and the main reason for building the wall is for safety reasons.

This Zhuangzi is located in the southwest of the capital, about thirty or forty miles away from the capital, and if there are more Jiannu breaches to attack the capital, then their main attack direction will be northeast and true north.The rogue bandits of Ming Dynasty are basically roaming around Henan, Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Huguang at present, and they don't have the strength and courage to invade Beizhili.

In history, it was also in the last year of the Chongzhen Dynasty that Li Zicheng led people to the capital. As for the construction of the wall, it was only to reassure the farmers.

"Send people to the Jingshi market to buy chicken, duck seedlings and piglets, and then distribute them to every household free of charge, mobilize the old and weak, women and children to raise them. Build several large pig farms, each pig farm can raise about [-] pigs, Those households who raise pigs in the village have experience in raising pigs, so they should be the masters of the pig farms."

Zhu Youjian took a sip of tea, and continued: "Let someone go to buy rice, all kinds of beans, millet, millet, etc., after buying, grind them into flour with wheat and barley, and mix them together Add an appropriate amount of oil, salt, and sugar in a large pot and stir-fry to cool. Then let the women and children in the village use cotton cloth to make long and thin bags like intestines, and each bag can hold about five catties of this thing!"

Five catties of such military rations, because of the addition of high-calorie species such as salt, sugar, oil, etc., can be eaten sparingly enough for a soldier for seven days.

"Then let people buy cotton and cotton cloth to make winter clothes for officers and soldiers. I will allocate 10 taels of silver for the above-mentioned expenses. If it is not enough, tell me and I will think of a way. If there is any surplus, I will buy it all If the granary is not enough, build it as appropriate, that’s all for the time being, have you written it down?”

Liu Chao nodded while recording quickly.

The last time it was allocated to Hong Chengchou, Lu Xiangsheng had a total of 40 taels of silver, and this time he allocated another 10 taels to Liu Chao.Although it is for the Zhu family's country, the money can't stand such a waste.

After the original Chongzhen ascended the throne, following the wishes of the civil servants, he abolished the mine supervisors and tax supervisors in various places, and won rave reviews from the civil servants and the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River. Looking back now, his predecessor was fooled.

The income of mine supervisors and tax supervisors all goes into the internal treasury.

Since the 11th year of Wanli, these incomes have been the main source of royal expenses. Those civil servants who bewitched the emperor to abolish mine supervisors and tax supervisors are actually the spokespersons of Jiangnan gentry who have their own interests violated.

Although I know the activities of those civil servants, it is already very difficult to send mine supervisors and tax supervisors now, and I will definitely encounter fierce opposition from the government and the opposition.

Now that there are rogues inside and slaves outside, we can no longer cause unnecessary troubles, let alone big troubles, so we can only bear with it first, and wait for the internal and external to be settled before going back to the situation.

Have to find a way to open source!At the thought of making money, Zhu Youjian was immediately upset.I am a liberal arts student, where did I do business in my previous life?
I have read a lot of time-traveling articles on the Internet, looking at those protagonists who have time-traveled back, they can easily get rich quickly from a commoner, and then recruit troops to overthrow the feudal rule. It may not be possible to surpass Jack Ma in wealth at a young age.

Complaints are complaints, time travel has become a reality, lack of money is the top priority, and you have to find a way to make money.Making glass, making soap, making perfume, issuing bonds, and speculating in stocks can make money quickly, but I am a liberal arts student who doesn't know anything about that.

The only thing that can be seen now is the eight imperial merchants in the early Qing Dynasty. I only hope that they have accumulated enough wealth over the years.

If God does not take, you will be blamed instead!
Then there are the salt merchants in Jianghuai, all of whom are billionaires, but they have huge connections behind them, so it is not easy to find an excuse to start.

There is also Zheng Zhilong who makes Zhu Youjian fantasize, that is really rich.In history, Zheng Zhilong's pirate group collected huge protection fees, and he used a huge fleet to do business, with an annual income of tens of millions of taels of silver.

Zheng Zhilong's biggest weakness is that he is very afraid of strong force, which may be related to his desire for stability after years of hard work and accumulation of huge wealth.

The older the rivers and lakes, the less courageous they are.At the beginning, there was nothing in the rivers and lakes, but after making a fortune, who doesn't hope that the children and grandchildren will enjoy the wealth forever?

It seems that Zheng Zhilong will really bow his head to the court only after he can wipe out the rogues.

He was thinking about his thoughts there, and he didn't speak for a long time, and Wang and Liu didn't dare to disturb him.

After a while, Zhu Youjian came back to his senses and asked: "Can you remember all of them? After I return to the palace tomorrow, I don't know when I will come back next time. You have to understand all of these strategies and be sure." For the execution of the deduction, if there is anything you don’t understand, you should ask clearly, do you hear me?”

"The slaves and maids have written down and understood everything. The servants and maids who the emperor told them will definitely be able to do well!" Liu Chao solemnly assured Zhu Youjian.

"That's good, I'm waiting for your good news. In addition, I will ask Wang Chengen to pick some people from the palace to help you. After all, there are so many things that you can't do it yourself. Those Zhuangtou don't have much knowledge and brains, so they can help you." It's not your business."

Zhu Youjian continued to give orders, and Wang Chengen quickly responded.

During the conversation, Luo Yangxing greeted him outside the house, and after entering the house, he presented the playbook in his hands. It seemed that the new strategy of Jin Yiwei's rectification had been completed.

Zhu Youjian took it in his hand and looked it over. What Luo Yangxing said in the article was basically the same as what he said.

"Not bad, let's do it first, and implement it immediately after returning to Beijing!"

Luo Yangxing bowed and agreed.

It was the hour of You, and the sky outside gradually calmed down. Zhu Youjian and the others felt a little tired after eating dinner in the yard for a while, so he ordered to take a bath and change clothes, and then rested under the service of Wang Chengen.

Perhaps it was related to the resolution of a major matter in his heart, Zhu Youjian slept very sweetly this time, and did not wake up until the sun was bright.

After a simple early meal, Zhu Youjian and his party drove back to the capital, and Liu Chao respectfully sent Shengjia out of the village for several miles before returning to the village.

(End of this chapter)