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

Chapter 196 Master Hou’s Gun Is Strange

Chapter 195

Zhu Weiti still wanted to get dressed, but the problem was, she looked at Cheng Shijie and felt a little embarrassed, because she remembered that she hadn't done a very important thing, her heart was sore, but she still couldn't open her mouth.

And the layer of window paper was not pierced, so I couldn't help but feel extremely frustrated.

As a person who has experienced it, Cheng Shijie immediately understood that the Ming Dynasty was different from the later generations. On the wedding night, a snow-white silk scarf or sweat scarf should be placed under the body to prove Yuanhong. This square scarf will be regarded as the most commemorative item by women. Hidden in the bottom of the box.

But the square scarf that Zhu Weiti had prepared was still as white as snow.

Cheng Shijie looked at Zhu Weiti's embarrassment, but he didn't immediately pull out a ritual knife on the screen wall, and gently scratched the blade on his arm, blood gurgling.

Cheng Shijie said: "Follow it!"

Zhu Weiti looked at the wound on Cheng Shijie's wrist and was a little scared: "My son-in-law, how could you..."

"You know this matter, I know it, God knows it, and the earth knows it, that's fine!"

While Cheng Shijie was speaking, Gu Ziyi outside brought hot water for the bride to wash, folded her sleeves and said, "Slave Ziyi, please greet the princess and son-in-law..."

Zhu Weiti was also caught off guard by Gu Ziyi, and hurriedly put away the blood-stained square scarf. She blushed, and then grabbed the copper basin: "I don't need you here!"

"Yes, the slaves retire!"

What relieved Zhu Weiti's hanging heart was that Cheng Shijie was very considerate to her.After all, Cheng Shijie was used to dressing and washing by himself, but Zhu Weiti couldn't really do these things if she was really asked to do them.

Men's clothes are different from women's clothes, what's more, Zhu Weiti has never been in contact with these things.

After changing clothes and washing the wall, I started to eat breakfast.

In the Ming Dynasty, in the family of a large gentry, wives and concubines had different tables. Cheng Shijie didn't pay much attention to it. What he liked was the dining atmosphere of later generations. The Luo family had already prepared breakfast.

In the past, Luo’s breakfast for Cheng Shijie was very simple, steamed buns, millet porridge, or fried buns, egg pancakes, etc. Since Cheng Shijie is from the north, he likes to eat pasta, but he doesn’t like to eat rice noodles or rice noodles. food.

But because of the presence of Mrs. Zhu Weiti, when she was preparing breakfast, she cooked a lot, including eight salty foods, eight sweet foods, twelve side dishes, four hot dishes, and four kinds of soups. A pot of tofu fish soup, a pot of pigeon soup, a pot of porridge mixed with more than a dozen kinds of white sugar, a pot of wontons, and cold-cut ham, beef jerky, and pig's trotters, which seemed extremely luxurious.

If it was Cheng Shijie himself, he wouldn't be so extravagant, but now that he has Zhu Weiti, he won't be as casual as before. Of course, not to mention the current breakfast, Cheng Shijie can afford it even if it is ten times more extravagant.

Although the salaries of officials in the Ming Dynasty were extremely low, not even a fraction of that in the Tang Dynasty, and less than one-tenth of that in the Song Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty inherited the Song system and also followed the Song Dynasty's system of recording salary.

For example, Lu Xiangsheng, he is the governor of six prefectures including the inspector of Shandong, the censor of Youqian capital, part-time daiming mansion, and Baoding mansion of Zhending mansion. His salary is actually divided into three parts. According to the inspector's envoy is the third grade, and the governor's six mansions are the second grade, so when the salary is paid, Lu Xiangsheng receives a salary of the third grade of the Shandong inspection department, which is 35 shi meters per month, 420 shi a year, and a central right The censor of Qiandu is the salary of the fourth rank, which is 24 shi per month, 280 eight shi meters a year, and one part of the salary of the governor, the second rank, which is 61 shi per month and 730 two shi a year.

Calculated in this way, Lu Xiangsheng's real annual salary is 440 shi. If the value of one shi of grain in the capital is 690 silver per shi according to the current grain price, then Lu Xiangsheng's annual salary is equivalent to 890 taels of grain. .However, Lu Xiangsheng is the champion, with [-] shi, which adds up to [-] and [-] shi.

Of course, this is only a theoretical salary income. In fact, the real income of officials in the Ming Dynasty was much lower than the theory. Banknotes have become butt wipes.

The biggest income item for officials is the benefits brought about by tax exemption. Officials at the level of Lu Xiangsheng can enjoy tax exemptions of 24 mu and [-] people from slave labor.

Cheng Shijie's salary classification is also the same, but he has more officials. His Beijing official is Zuo Dudu and Cong Yipin of the Dudu Mansion of the Five Armies, the Prince Shaobao is the regular second rank, and the Governor of Liaodong is the regular second rank. It is Hai Guogong.

In fact, Cheng Shijie’s current salary is theoretically Hai Guogong, four thousand shi, the crown prince Shaobao and the governor of Liaodong are the second grade, that is, 730 two shi every year, from the first grade to 880 eight shi, the total is 350 two shi. There are also six thousand and thirty-six taels of silver.

With such an income level, it is still affordable to eat these meals a day.

While eating breakfast, Cheng Shijie looked at Zhu Weiti and said, "Princess, I have something to discuss with you!"

"Please tell me, son-in-law!"

Cheng Shijie is pondering over his words. If it is said that in the past, when Cheng Shijie was unmarried, Cheng Shijie's life was very simple, and his food and clothing were all paid by the public account. But the problem is that it is different now, not only because of Zhu Weiti Mrs. Duke, at the same time, Zhu Weiti did not marry Cheng Shijie alone. She not only brought Gu Ziyi, a personal maid, but also more than two thousand palace maids and eunuchs.

Under such circumstances, Cheng Shijie must establish two sets of accounting systems, public accounts and internal accounts. The overall operation of Ning Haijun has a detailed and clear plan, and money is used everywhere.

Zhu Weiti can't withdraw at any time and spend money as he likes. It's not that Cheng Shijie is reluctant to give her up. The point is that the money has a real need. Things that move the whole body.

The construction of the internal treasury is not a matter of a few sentences. At the beginning, Cheng Shijie gave the dowry gift to Emperor Chongzhen, which was worth 4 to 800 taels of silver. The government also made up 8000 taels of gold and [-] taels of silver.

When Cheng Shijie needed money, he gave another 4 taels of silver. In all fairness, Emperor Chongzhen was very kind. In addition to the dowry brought by Zhu Weiti, which was included in the internal treasury, the gift money from the guests of the big wedding was also included. included in the library.

The most important gift money is the birthday of the ancestor, two boxes of gold, eight boxes of silver, one box of pearls, a pair of rare glazed large copper pots, and several precious books.Except for the invaluable books, the other gifts are worth nearly 20 taels of silver, so it cannot be said that they are not heavy gifts.

Zu Dashou is basically at odds with the ministers in the imperial court, and the intention of flattering Cheng Shijie is very obvious. What's more, this time, Zu Dabi and Zu Dale have won two official positions in the army, which is not easy to get money Bought, one family, three brothers and three soldiers.

Facing the aggressive Wu Xiang inside the Guanning Army, this is a direct threat from Zu Dashou. He hopes to take this opportunity to use Cheng Shijie's tiger skin to deal with Wu Xiang.

Secondly, Wu Xiang is the most important one. Wu Sangui was promoted to lieutenant general, and Wu Xiang was reinstated as a general. It can be said that Wu Sangui’s income was not small in the Liaoyang battle. The gifts he gave were basically the same as those of Zu Dashou. Two boxes of gold, eight boxes of silver, the contract is about 16 taels of silver, and other property is about 4 to 20 taels of silver, with a total value of [-] taels of silver.

Then there are Sun Chengzong, Xu Guangqi, and Sun Yuanhua. Sun Chengzong is a teacher, and the teacher is like a father, but similarly, the apprentice is also a half-son. Once Sun Chengzong drives west in the future, Cheng Shijie will also wear hemp and filial piety. This is an ancient rule.

Not to mention Xu Guangqi, whether Cheng Shijie admits it or not, Xu Guangqi and Sun Yuanhua are Cheng Shijie's benefactors.

What surprised Cheng Shijie the most was Hou Xun, Daxing has [-] acres of fertile land, [-] cattle, and [-] good horses.
Lu Xiangsheng, Hong Chengchou, and Zhu Dadian also had gift money of more than two taels of silver. Most of the civil and military officials of the imperial court followed the gift, even enemies who were not friends like Wu Zongda and Wen Tiren also followed the gift.

But the number of people can't stand it, the silver is included in the internal treasury, and the internal treasury will reach more than 110 million taels. At this time, the huge amount of deposits in the public account have been consumed for nearly five months, and a large sum of money has to be allocated Silver was used as the start-up capital for weapon development, and in the end, only more than 400 million taels were reserved for raising the army that would no longer be used.

Hearing that Cheng Shijie handed over the internal accounts to her, Zhu Weiti immediately nodded and agreed. Cheng Shijie has not been an official for a long time, and even his current income is just over 6000 taels a year. In 1, it was only more than 110 taels of silver, but I did not expect that there were more than [-] million taels of silver.

Zhu Weiti was frightened instantly: "Consort... Husband, how much?"

"110 thirty-four thousand and seven hundred and fifty taels, there are still a lot of property, there is no way to calculate it, and it can be settled by tomorrow night at the latest!"

Zheng Qi reported to Zhu Weiti: "According to the statistics of my subordinates, it should be around 140 million taels of silver!"

Cheng Shijie will go to the Haiguo Mansion in Daxing County after dinner, and go there to participate in the weapons exhibition. More than 400 million taels of silver seems to be a lot, but the problem is that Ning's navy is expanding too fast, especially the navy, which is too short According to Cheng Shijie's standards, the warships of the Ning Navy Navy do not have qualified warships.

This is a gold swallowing behemoth.

……

Just like Cheng Shijie’s big wedding, although there were a lot of banquets, which benefited the surrounding areas of the capital, more than 8000 tables were prepared, but the problem is that compared with the past five years of Chongzhen, Henan in Chongzhen’s six years was more difficult than last year.

After the flood in June of the fifth year of Chongzhen, God seemed to concentrate the annual rain in June, especially November and December, including the first month. Most areas in Henan did not snow.

As the so-called auspicious snow heralds a good year, because it didn't snow when it was supposed to snow in winter, experienced farmers have already judged that the sixth year of Chongzhen will be very difficult.

Although Jiannu was severely beaten by Cheng Shijie, the special tax increase that the common people expected to be exempted from Liao's salary was not cancelled, but became heavier and heavier.
The heavy taxation is like a big mountain, weighing heavily on the common people, making them unable to straighten their backs.

The rogues also became more and more troublesome. Although the attempt of the rogues to try to capitalize was crushed mercilessly by the Tianxiong Army, it was hard to be reassured by such a result. A large number of rogues fled into the Taihang Mountains. , actually fled to Henan.

The bandits have been suppressed for so many years, and millions of military salaries have been wasted, but they have not been able to wipe out the bandits. On the contrary, the bandits are still spreading from the northwest to the Central Plains!This is undoubtedly a very bad omen.

For the people in southern Liaoning, they are happy. No matter how difficult they are, the most difficult time has passed. Cheng Shijie got married in the capital, but he did not forget the people in southern Liaoning and the soldiers of Ning Haijun.

Before the New Year, the Ning Naval Military Affairs Office distributed New Year’s gifts to the entire army. Each soldier distributed a bag of one hundred catties of wheat flour, ten catties of horse meat, ten catties of pork, two catties of candy, and five Jin oil.And a piece of cloth for each soldier.

The veterans of the Ning Navy who followed Cheng Shijie from Dengzhouwei, Shandong, are used to this matter. During the holidays, Yang Menglong always sends out something to everyone. They annexed the Dongjiang Army openly, but these Dongjiang Army soldiers couldn't believe their eyes.

The soldiers of the Dongjiang Army are fine. After all, they are used to being poor. The most important thing is that many of the soldiers who received gifts are wounded soldiers from the Guanning Army. They are still recuperating in southern Liaoning. They also distributed these things. , the same as Ning Haijun's standard, the difference is that those with high official positions will have slightly more New Year gifts.

The officers and men of the Ning Navy who received the New Year gifts also tried their best to have a good New Year for their families, especially the cloth that was distributed. Most of these cloths are high-quality cotton cloth, and a piece of cloth is not too much. Still enough.

The pork and horse meat were not willing to be stewed, but Chinese cabbage and vermicelli were added, chopped into dumpling fillings, and one hundred catties of white flour was enough for their family to eat for a long time.

Pork and cabbage vermicelli dumplings are also delicious in future generations, but the problem is that if you eat too much dumplings, you will still get tired. Some children of soldiers don’t want to eat dumplings, so they beg their parents to improve their food and change their taste.

A big mouth came over: "You are beautiful, do you know how difficult it was to eat dumplings in the past?"

In addition to Ning Haijun, ordinary military households also received New Year’s gifts. Even if they are reform-through-labor prisoners, they can also eat dumplings filled with meat. Ordinary military households receive far less things. Each household is given a bag of ten catties Flour, two catties of pork, one catty of candy, and a few feet of cloth.

Seeing the smell of dumplings wafting from the homes of Ning Haijun soldiers, ordinary military households were extremely jealous, and said in their hearts: "What's the big deal, when the next conscription, I will join the army too!"

When Cheng Shijie came to Daxing County, it was already afternoon, there was no way, there were too many people out of the city, and it was still the Chinese New Year period, visiting relatives and friends, the road was so tightly blocked that the carriage could not move at all.

When Cheng Shijie arrived at Haiguo Mansion, the concierge and servants saluted one after another.

Cheng Shijie looked at Sun Zhichen and said, "How many people are here?"

Sun Zhichen said: "There are many, dozens of people, all in the martial arts arena!"

On the martial arts arena, there are now only more than [-] Ning Navy cavalry. These Ning Navy soldiers are working as business personnel. They wear plate armor made by Ning Navy. This kind of plate armor is produced very quickly. It is composed of six steel plates. , has a human body curve, and its defense ability has passed the test of the battlefield.

These more than 300 Ning Navy soldiers are divided into fifty fully armed cavalry at one post, one post with 50 crossbowmen, one post with 50 pikemen, one post with fifty musketeers, and one post with fifty musketeers. There are 50 sent artillery and a 50 sent heavy soldiers.

As for the Xunlei gun, it’s a show. After all, the price-performance ratio of the Xunlei gun is not high. As for the navy soldiers, there is no exhibition, and the exhibition is useless. Except for Cheng Shijie, no general is willing to spend a lot of money to develop the navy. Of course, Sun Yuanhua is an outlier. except.

Although there are only 50 people in each arm, the Ning Haijun lined up in a neat line, as one, advancing and retreating together. This momentum alone is very scary.

Hou Xun could see the real strength of Ning Haijun's soldiers, he looked at Zuo Liangyu and asked, "How?"

"Strong, too strong!"

"I pay my respects to Duke Hai!"

Cheng Shijie greeted everyone very enthusiastically. In Cheng Shijie's eyes, these people were his God of Wealth, and they all came here to give him money.

Regardless of the fact that there are more than 400 million taels of silver in Cheng Shijie's public account, the problem is that the money is really useless. Ning Haijun's normal expenses are 60 million taels of silver, but after the beginning of spring, roads and ditches have to be built , Spring plowing is still needed, there are too many places to spend money, and the income needs to wait until August and September.

Without these people taking advantage of them, how could Cheng Shijie persist until the autumn harvest.

"Everyone, how do you see it!"

"Duke Hai is a good soldier!"

Everyone looked at the more than [-] soldiers on the Ninghai Martial Arts Field with hot and dangerous eyes.

Cheng Shijie said: "Wu Sheng!"

"To!"

"Make them move!"

"Yes!"

Following Wu Sheng's order!
"dong dong dong dong"

The sound of the thick drum sounded, and the soldiers marched forward after hearing the drum, and the troops were withdrawn by the sound of gold.This is actually the basic way of transmitting military orders in ancient times. The sound of drums will convey the basic rhythm and order.

Of course, the order of the rhythm is not static, and only soldiers who are familiar with this rhythm will truly understand what it means.

Fifty crossbowmen were the first to enter the stage. These crossbowmen silently stepped on the brisk beat of the drums and pushed forward. When they were only a hundred steps away from a large row of targets, the drummers made a strong sound. Fifty pairs of feet stopped at the same time. The first row of crossbowmen squatted, the second row half-kneeled, the third row stood upright, and the fourth row split into two to protect the left and right wings.

Fifty soldiers aimed their crossbows at the target.

With a heavy hammer down, these crossbowmen who heard the order began to shoot arrows. Of course, they didn't shoot out directly, but the first row shot first, followed by the second row, and the third row.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa..."

Fifty crossbowmen shot three rounds of crossbow arrows at the target, like flowing water, the target in front of them immediately became densely packed, as if the target was covered with weeds.

When the fifth round of shooting was completed, the drum changed its rhythm again, and fifty firecrackers began to appear, and their subject of performance was the three-stage strike of the firecracker.

"Bang bang bang bang..."

As the sound of firecrackers sounded like popping beans, the entire martial arts arena soon filled with a strong smell of gunpowder.

"Cheng Shuai is indeed a genius in the sky, unexpectedly he thought that the firecracker can be used like this!"

Lu Xiangsheng could see that this method was not invented by Cheng Shijie, but by the founding general Mu Ying of the Ming Dynasty. As the elephants charged into the formation, General Mu Ying lined up the gunners in three rows, reloading and firing in turn. I don't know how many elephants became sieves under the rain of bullets.

After the collective martial arts performance was over, Cheng Shijie asked for a long spear from one of the pikemen. With a flick of his wrist, he played with a spear.

Cheng Shijie laughed and said, "Bring a pig over here!"

"It's handsome!"

Soon a big fat pig weighing about two to three hundred catties came in led by a Ning Navy soldier.

Cheng Shijie suddenly yelled, stabbing like lightning, followed by a false stab, and then another thrust, the movement was simple and sharp, murderous, screaming, when everyone was dazzled, Cheng Shijie stabbed with the spear Hitting the chest of this big fat pig, the sharp spear pierced through the fat pig's body, directly hitting the heart with one shot.

Afterwards, the blood flow continued, and the pig died not long after, which was the result of stabbing at a non-critical part!
Zuo Liangyu looked at the spear in Cheng Shijie's hand, and vaguely noticed something.

"Lord Hou, I want to buy this spear too!"

Zuo Liangyu suddenly watched as Cheng Shijie dropped his spear and took a Tang Zhidao. He then made a trick and slashed at the big fat pig, and the fat pig's huge head rolled off.

Zuo Liangyu excitedly said: "This gun is weird!"

(End of this chapter)