I really don't want to be emperor at the end of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 128 Cheng Shijie, Don't Be Deceived
Chapter 127

Since ancient times, farmers have been vulnerable groups.Because of poverty, even if new types of agricultural tools such as plows and rakes are invented, they have neither the money nor the ability to replace them.Even though everyone knows that cotton can keep out the cold, everyone knows that the best cotton cloth is more expensive than silk.

But the problem is that without money, there is no cost to invest. Planting economic crops is not like ordinary grain. After thousands of years of replanting, crops such as wheat, soybeans, and sorghum, such as cotton and flax, are not planted on a large area. The harrow-powder intensive farming technology has become more and more mature. During the Ming and Qing dynasties for more than 600 years, there has been little development of farm tools and agriculture.

Just like sweet potatoes, in the eighth year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1580), the seedlings obtained by Chen Yi from the Spaniards in Luzon were introduced to Daming. However, more than 50 years and half a century have passed, and sweet potatoes are only sporadically planted in Shandong. It's not that farmers are conservative, nor are they lazy and unwilling to plant.

It is heavy extortionate taxes, which make the peasants breathless, and any mistake will ruin their families.Unless you have seen the high yield of sweet potatoes and corn with your own eyes, and learn from other people's experience, the learning speed is naturally slow.

There is another reason, that is because farmers have no land, and there is no way to grow it if they want to.Landlords who own a large amount of land are naturally unwilling to plant such high-yield crops, because this will destroy the high grain market.If there are not a large number of hungry people, how can food be sold at a high price?

For ordinary farmers, a bumper harvest is not necessarily a good thing.Because grain may not be sold in a good year, nor can it be sold at a high price.

The development of anything should be viewed from a long-term perspective, just like in later generations, from contracting production to households to today, private contracting of a large amount of farmland has formed a comprehensive trend.Because this is very dangerous. Once the oligopoly and capital monopolize real estate, food prices will rise like a rocket.

Although there is no household contract, the current military households are also very enthusiastic about their work. As the saying goes, if there is no comparison, there will be no harm.The land rent of the landlords in the Ming Dynasty was as low as [-] to [-] percent, and as high as [-] to [-] percent, which made it impossible for the farmers of the Ming Dynasty to accumulate continuously, so it was impossible to get rich. The gap between rich and poor is also widening.

Cheng Shijie stipulated that the military households in Ning Haijun's farmland will not receive any remuneration except for the rations for labor reform prisoners. However, ordinary military households or military households reorganized from refugees only charge three buckets per mu of military land. This tax rate is almost 15.00%. Ten to [-]%, even the most conscientious landlord, is more than double the land rent of Ning Haijun.

The land tax in southern Liaoning is not only much lower than that of landlords, but also much lower than that of the imperial court, because in addition to paying taxes, farmers also have to serve corvee, but there is no corvee in southern Liao. paid work.

Now the military households in Ning Haijun are very enthusiastic about their work. They are distributed homesteads of one or three acres of land. Generally speaking, even if there are nine people in a family, a house of [-] square meters on half an acre of land is actually enough for a family. The reason why there are many homesteads distributed is to let the military households in southern Liaoning grow vegetables in these places.

No matter where you go, you can see vegetables such as cucumbers, beans, wax gourds, pumpkins, radishes, cabbage, eggplants, zucchini, etc. in front of and behind newly built houses.

In the end, Cheng Shijie will not distribute the land in southern Liaoning equally to ordinary people, but plans to reward the fields with military merits, military exploits, reforms, innovations, technological inventions, technological transfers, and great achievements to form farms one by one.Liberate a large number of farmers from the land and provide sufficient manpower for the industrial revolution.

A farmer plants [-] mu of land and works hard all year round to barely make ends meet, but a worker can earn at least ten taels of silver for a year in a factory where food and housing are included. This is the difference.If a farmer wants to earn more than ten taels of silver, he needs not only land, but also a large number of livestock, which can produce manure and provide sufficient fertilizer for the land.

But right now, how can the people in southern Liaoning have the capital to raise horses and cattle?
Fu Zonglong and Sun Yuanhua followed Cheng Shijie to the horse farm in Jinzhou. In the horse farm, there are currently only more than 400 stallions. Although the number of stallions is small, each horse is tall and strong, with a strong backbone and full of energy.

Some of these war horses were captured by Cheng Shijie in Shandong, some were captured by Jiannu in southern Liaoning, and some were purchased from Jiannu.

Today's Hu Erqi, after the Dongjiang army mutiny in Haizhou, led more than [-] people under his command to join Cheng Shijie. Cheng Shijie gave limited trust to this Haixi slave.He was appointed as the garrison of Wangtai Town, Haizhou. This Wangtai Town is the front convex part of Haizhou.

Geographically speaking, this looking town is like Dagu Town of Chu Yunfei in "Bright Sword", surrounded on three sides, even if Hu Erqi rebelled again, it would have little impact on the overall defense of southern Liaoning.

Cheng Shijie asked Hu Erqi to trade with Jiannu in Wangtai Town. Cattle, sheep, horses and even people in Jiannu's hands could be traded in Wangtai Town. There are more than 140 excellent stallions in this horse farm, all of which Hu Erqi bought from Jiannu. Returned at an extremely low price.

Now almost many Jiannu tribes know that there is a Hu Shoubei under the command of the Liaonan Ning Navy who dares to sell refined salt, grain, cloth, tea, and even weapons as long as the money is in place.

It’s just that Hu Erqi is very greedy. Even if he sold grain for one tael or two per stone in Dengzhou, Shandong, he sold it for five taels of silver per stone. , but he actually doubled it ten times directly, and dared to sell it for eight taels of silver per stone, whether he wanted to buy it or not.

Compared with ordinary food, rice is undoubtedly more liked by the slave nobles.But the price of eight taels of silver is already the price of a pony or a calf.

Hu Erqi's defensive energy seems to be very powerful, not only can he get a lot of rice, but also pure spirits, crystals that make beauties crazy,
Of course, Cheng Shijie acquiesced in Hu Erqi's smuggling channels and behaviors. The purpose was to confuse Jiannu and make Jiannu think that Ning Haijun is actually no different from Guan Ningjun, and can be bought, drawn, or divided.

At the same time, it is also to increase the cavalry strength of the Ning Navy. If a country has a million powerful infantry, no one will dare to bully it. If a country has 50 cavalry, it can definitely sweep the world.

During this period of time, these war horses had a good life. They would have inexhaustible fodder every day in the stables, and there would be specially assigned personnel to fumigate mosquitoes and clean up horse manure for them. Well, even those hard-working soldiers in the barracks have to swallow their saliva when they see it.

These stallions are Cheng Shijie's treasures, so of course they have to be taken care of.

Fu Zonglong praised Cheng Shijie for raising the horse well, but Cheng Shijie just smiled and didn't speak.

In fact, the Ming Dynasty did not lack experience in raising horses. Since the founding of the country, Henan and Shandong have always been one of the important horse breeding bases. Horse households provide a large number of horses to the army every year. If the quality of the horses is not good enough, it is You will be fined.

This horse policy ensured the supply of war horses for the Ming army, enabling the Ming army to maintain a strong cavalry force for more than 200 years, but it also made the people of Shandong and Henan suffer. In order to complete the task of raising horses, they had to devote themselves There are not a few people who have lost their homes because of this.

Now that the people's livelihood is dying, even the common people can't live happily anymore, and the horse administration is naturally unsustainable. However, there are still a large number of horse breeders, and Cheng Shijie just recruited some at will, and the four hundred war horses are properly served. .

After seeing the horse farms, pig farms, and sheep flocks all over the mountains and plains, most of the sheep in southern Liaoning are raised in captivity, not free-range. The alfalfa is cut off and sent to the sheep pen to feed the sheep.After the corn is harvested, soybean stalks and corn stalks can also be used as silage for cattle, horses or feeding.

In fact, there are not many places in Jinzhou that can be seen. For example, the steel mills, the work of the Ordnance Bureau, and the factories of the Gun Bureau are absolutely impossible for Fu Zonglong and the others to see. He could easily produce [-] gun barrels a month, and he would definitely go crazy.

What's more, Cheng Shijie has already hoarded a large amount of food, grass and equipment, which is a taboo thing in itself. If his brain is flooded, will he take him to see it?

Aren't you afraid of being labeled a big hat by him?
The issue that Fu Zonglong is most concerned about is actually the combat effectiveness of the Ning Navy. As the governor of Jimen, Liaodong, and Baoding military affairs, he knows very well that there are not many troops in Ming Dynasty that can fight, and Ning Haijun, a rising star, is the one who takes the lead.

"Cheng Jinglue, let's take a look at the barracks!"

"Yes!"

The strategic defense center of the Ning Navy is in Haizhou and the northeast of Fuzhou. As for Jinzhou, the military headquarters of the Ning Navy and a garrison bureau were originally deployed. , Come to attend the conferring ceremony.

The group soon arrived at the temporary barracks of Ning Haijun. Fu Zonglong looked at the towering and continuous fences of the Ning Haijun camp, the thick deer village, the deep and wide trenches, and the meticulous arrangement of everything, like a Tangchi iron fortress. A large camp is a headache.

Next to the big camp is a more heavily guarded camp, with five steps, one sentry post and ten steps, one post, and all the fences are covered with thick soil to prevent fire. The robbers used the cover of vegetation to approach secretly and sneak into the camp.

"Meet the Master!"

In the school grounds, more than [-] Ning Navy officers and men saluted Cheng Shijie in unison.

"All the officers and men are exempt from courtesy, rest at ease!"

Fu Zonglong looked at the Ning navy officers and soldiers lined up densely, full of murderous aura, surprisingly uniform equipment, surprisingly uniform mental outlook, the whole army was integrated into one, giving people an indescribable pressure.

At the very beginning, the sources of equipment for the officers and men of the Ning Navy can be said to be various. Some were allocated by the commander of the Dengzhou Guard, Si Yamen, some were allocated by Sun Yuanhua from the Denglai New Army, and some were captured from the bandits. Generally, there is no armor. The bandits who can have armor have actually been besieged by the government army, and they have successfully defeated the government army, so it is possible to have armor.

Of course, it is also possible that like Zhang Huairen of Zhensanshan, he relied on the Zhang family of Laiyang and used the craftsmen of the Zhang family to build it privately. When Cheng Shijie had no choice, he could only use this kind of armor of uneven quality. The Armor Bureau of the Ning Navy successfully produced plate armor.

Cheng Shijie replaced the armor of the officers and men of the Ning Navy with a unified standard. As for the equipment of the Ning Navy, he gave it to the officers and men of the Dongjiang Army in a half-buy, half-free way. In the arc-shaped mold, and then take advantage of the fact that the steel plate is not completely cooled, it is then forged by a forging press to form the arc of the human body. This plate armor is only composed of six parts, but it can cover the entire chest and abdomen from the shoulders to the abdomen. Strictly.

All the plate armors were painted black, and Fu Zonglong was even more surprised that Ning Haijun, whether it was a pike soldier, a firecracker soldier, or a sword and shield soldier, had a dogleg knife hanging from his waist.Whether it is a pike soldier or a sword and shield soldier, everyone carries a crossbow machine on their backs.

Fu Zonglong looked at Ning Haijun's equipment, and immediately understood why Ning Haijun could behead tens of thousands of slaves. This kind of armor is much stronger than the tattered ones produced by the imperial staff bureau.

Especially the sword and shield soldiers. They not only wear heavy armor, but also hold a heavy shield 1.4 meters high and [-] centimeters wide. This heavy shield is covered with a layer of steel plate and weighs more than [-] kilograms.In battle or on the march, it is a heavy burden for soldiers.

But the problem is that the Ning Navy is marching like mules and horses. This heavy shield is directly inserted into the wall of the carriage during the march to form a shield for the carriage. It can form a shield wall, and the sword and shield soldiers cooperate with the pike soldiers. Let Jiannu try to attack again?
"Master Fu, Sir Sun, do you want the soldiers to practice for the assessment of the elders?"

Fu Zonglong smiled and said: "Forget about the drill. Although the old man is old and dim, you can tell at a glance whether an army can fight or not. The Ning Navy is well-equipped and high-spirited from top to bottom. It is unbelievable that you can train such an elite soldier in half a year!"

"Actually, there is nothing difficult, just copy Qi Shaobao's "Ji Xiao's New Book"!"

Fu Zonglong didn't take Cheng Shijie's perfunctory words seriously, and Sun Yuanhua just laughed it off.

Don't look at Cheng Shijie's claim that Ning Haijun's training method comes from Qi Jiguang's "Ji Xiao New Book", but in fact, Ning Hai's training method is very similar to Wei Wuzu trained by Wu Qi during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods.

Wei Wuzu was a fearsome iron-blooded army during the Warring States Period, well-trained and well-equipped. The Wei Wuzu phalanx was like an unshakable Mount Tai, pressing firmly on the heads of the Shandong kingdoms, making them shudder.

From the perspective of later generations, this is the first professional army in Chinese history. Each soldier has his own land, serfs, certain economic strength, can purchase weapons and horses by himself, and has a high social status, so morale He is high-spirited, dares to fight and fight hard, and he is invincible in all the kingdoms of Shandong. Even the state of Qin suffered consecutive defeats in front of the phalanx of Wei soldiers, and lost nearly half of the country. If Wu Qi was not tolerated by the state of Wei, he had to run away. When it comes to Chu State, it is uncertain whether the Wei army will fight to Xianyang.

During the Battle of Hexi in the State of Qin, the Iron Eagles of the Great Qin Dynasty met the soldiers of Wei Wu, and the Wei army was defeated worse than Ma Ling. The elite soldiers and generals accumulated over a century were almost wiped out...

This does not actually prove that Wei Wuzu is not as good as the sharp soldiers of the Qin army. Wei Wuzu at the time of Hexi's disastrous defeat is no longer the Wei Wuzu who was in charge of military power under Wu Qi. At this time, Wei Wuzu is not as good as military training or social status. In Wu Qi's era, the land was eroded by the big landlords little by little, and the treatment was getting worse day by day. He was no longer able to buy excellent equipment for himself, but the burden increased instead, and the decline of combat power became inevitable.

Can't Ming's guard soldiers fight?
In order to completely eliminate the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang started the first Northern Expedition in 1370. In the next 26 years, he completed a total of eight Northern Expeditions before completely defeating the Northern Yuan forces.During the period of Chengzu Zhudi, he conquered Mobei five times and made seven voyages to the West. The guards of the Ming Dynasty were also very capable of fighting.

At that time, almost all guard soldiers owned more than 100 mu of land. When they were full, they still had money to spare. What's more, the hereditary military household system allowed those guard soldiers to forget their fear and death, and bravely kill enemy.

In any military system, as long as the officials are not corrupt and the interests of the soldiers can be guaranteed, the army can sweep all over the world without any disadvantage.The same is true of the Fubing system of the Tang Dynasty. When Guanzhong had more than 800 million acres of land, more than [-] Tang troops Guanzhong Fubing, Beiping and East Turks, conquered Goguryeo in the east, and destroyed West Turks and Gaochang in the west. When the land in Guanzhong was embezzled by the aristocratic family, the Tang Dynasty had no soldiers to use.

Cheng Shijie really wanted to build an army like the soldiers of Wei. Every soldier has his own land and property, and his family members can get better treatment, so as to enhance their centripetal force, so that they can devote themselves to the battlefield without distractions, and use their swords in their hands. To gain fame.

It is difficult to win a battle with a beggar-like army. Bandits may be able to because they have no choice, and guerrillas are also okay, but the regular army is definitely not good. If you don’t have enough food and clothing, once you die in battle, your whole family will have to starve Die, what combat power can such an army have?

Why doesn't Cheng Shijie divide the land equally for ordinary people, because the land resources in his land are limited. If it is divided equally, what will the soldiers of the Ning navy do?They have done meritorious service, what do they get to reward?What do soldiers who died in battle pay for?

Whether it is buying a horse bone with a thousand dollars, or inviting people to buy people's hearts.In fact, they are all the same. Cheng Shijie is going to use his best efforts to turn the Ning Navy soldiers and their families into the first batch of wealthy people in southern Liaoning.They have shed blood and established for southern Liaoning. Why can't future generations enjoy a rich material life?

Opportunities are also in front of everyone, whether they are willing to seize them, and whether they are willing to pay, that is everyone's business.

Fu Zonglong was very satisfied with Ning Haijun's mental outlook. When he came to the big tent of Ning Haijun's temporary barracks, only Cheng Shijie, Sun Yuanhua and Fu Zonglong were left.

Fu Zonglong said: "Cheng Jinglue!"

Cheng Shijie said: "Master Fu, Cheng's small character Beiping is the name taken by Mr. Sun Futai. You can call it Beiping!"

"Beiping!"

Fu Zonglong looked at Sun Yuanhua.

Although Xu Guangqi said many times that the relationship between Cheng Shijie and Sun Yuanhua was ordinary, just an ordinary relationship between superiors and subordinates, he even did not hesitate to make himself ugly, saying that Cheng Shijie bribed Sun Yuanhua's staff Xu Dacheng 8000 taels of silver in order to become an official.

Because Xu Dacheng received the money, he recommended Cheng Shijie to Sun Yuanhua.

The ministers did not believe this statement.If they had a disciple like Cheng Shijie, let alone bribe 8000 taels of silver, they would rather give Cheng Shijie 8 taels of silver, no, even 10 taels of silver would be unambiguous.

Now I heard from Cheng Shi that Sun Yuanhua got his calligraphy, and the characters are usually bestowed by elders or teachers. Sun Yuanhua was willing to give Cheng Shijie the calligraphy, and Cheng Shijie was willing to accept it. Could this be an ordinary relationship?

"Beiping!"

Fu Zonglong pondered and said: "Do you know? Originally, the imperial court only needed to appoint a doctor from the Ministry of Rites for this edict, or he could be in charge. Why did the old man come to Jinzhou?"

"Beiping is stupid, please speak clearly, Mr. Fu!"

Fu Zonglong sighed and said: "Someone in the court impeached you for selling military rations for profit, collecting people's fat and people's anointing as military resources, and building large quantities of weapons. It seems that you have evil intentions!"

Cheng Shijie's face changed slightly, but he immediately returned to normal, pretending to be indignant and cursed: "Which bastard did this? Isn't it too poisonous?"

Although Fu Zonglong didn't see Cheng Shijie's general workshop, but from Ning Haijun's racecourse, a large number of army fields, and the equipment of Ning Haijun's soldiers, he has already seen that these impeachment remarks are not groundless.

Sun Yuanhua said with disgust on his face: "Do you still need to ask? It must have been done by those censors!"

As early as when Sun Chengzong was in charge of Liaodong, he adopted fortress tactics to oppress the living space of Jiannu little by little, and used the method of cutting off food and aid to drive Jiannu into a desperate situation.

It doesn't take too long, if you persist for another five months or a year, Jiannu will fall down and disperse.Don't look at the Jiannu soldiers who are all strong and strong, why don't you try it in the first half of the year?If they can stand up, they are capable.

It's a pity that the official censor is like a troll in later generations, no matter what logic or reason.As long as you do things, you can spray.

These censors and speech officials have no real power, so they don't have to do anything, just swear.They do two things all day long, scolding the emperor and finding fault with their colleagues.

Being the emperor of the Ming Dynasty is very hard work. If there is a slight mistake, there will be a large group of speech officials and censors, with green eyes and drooling, rushing to chase and beat the emperor. It is not enough to let the emperor bow his head and admit his mistake and pretend to be a grandson!
If the emperor is so angry that he wants to beat them up, that is even more desirable. For these guys, being subjected to the imperial staff is definitely the most glorious experience. They were all looking for trouble for nothing, finding fault with the emperor out of nothing, pointing at the emperor's nose and scolding him bloody.

It's not that the emperor really made so many mistakes, but that these guys have itchy buttocks, and want to deceive the court staff, often the emperor's face is livid but helpless.

As for the evidence, it is never needed for the spokesperson, their duty is to hear the rumors, not to handle the case!

"Master Fu Mingjian, Cheng..."

Without waiting for Cheng Shijie to explain, Fu Zonglong said with a smile: "Beiping has just entered the official career, and he doesn't know how to be an official."

Fu Zonglong looked at Sun Yuanhua and said, "Brother Chuyang, you have been in the officialdom for a long time, why can't you mention Beiping?"

Sun Yuanhua could only smile wryly, didn't he mention something?

The point is, Cheng Shijie has to listen to him.He had told Cheng Shijie a long time ago that he was going to Beijing to face the saint and cry poorly, but Cheng Shijie had his own plan.

Of course, Sun Yuanhua would not tear this layer of paper.

He murmured: "Beiping, Ben Xian also knows that things in southern Liaoning are complicated, and slavery is often harassed. It is inconvenient for you to get out of the matter easily, but the problem is that there are some things that you need to appeal to His Majesty. Since Ning Haijun became an army Since then, the Ministry of War has never allocated a grain of food or a pair of armor, and it is not easy for you!"

If Cheng Shijie couldn't understand what Sun Yuanhua meant, then all these years he had lived in vain.

This is called crying children get milk.

Fu Zonglong then lowered his voice and said: "There is no rush for this matter now. After the autumn harvest, you will bring tens of thousands of shi of grain to Beijing. It is really difficult for the court now. At that time, all rumors will be self-defeating!"

Cheng Shijie also knew that it was difficult for the court, but the problem was that there was no way to solve the difficulty.Many people think that the problem can be solved by killing all the gentry and dividing the land equally.

Actually, can it be solved?
Daming's problem is not only a land problem, but also a financial problem.Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the ban on the sea has existed in name only, and a large amount of silver has been earned through ocean trade. The silver has been stored but not circulated. Now, with natural disasters and man-made disasters, many big households have dug up the silver.

A large amount of silver flows into the market, causing inflation, which is only worse.

To solve the problem, there must be sufficient food and goods to meet the market demand. What Cheng Shijie needs is to fill this gap. This is like the 90s in later generations. Any goods are scarce materials. As long as they are produced, they will be money.

Cheng Shijie said: "It's so good. After autumn, Cheng is going to take 20 shi of grain to Beijing!"

"Very good!"

Fu Zonglong left with the well-fed Beijing officials. When leaving temporarily, Cheng Shijie gave each of them a big gift bag according to the size of their official positions.

Even the lowest ninth-rank official has ten catties of salt fish, dried kelp, a woolen cloak woven from wool and cotton thread, or a new book by Xu Guangqi that has just been printed.

This set of hardcover books, there are colorful pictures on it, there are also some dried mutton, horse meat, and crystal products, wooden crafts (a model made in a [-]:[-] scale, this is a four-wheeled carriage), and Some of the captured Jiannu items, such as bone ornaments, bows and arrows, knives, guns and armor and other equipment.

Fu Zonglong and his party left with big and small bags, and Sun Yuanhua was also about to leave.

When Sun Yuanhua left, he quietly said to Cheng Shijie: "Jiangxi Xiangshi has sent a letter, Beiping, don't be fooled!"

(End of this chapter)