At the end of Ming Dynasty: I, Sun Kewang!Desperate comeback!

As summer passed and autumn came, as Obai defeated Li Laiheng in Nanyang, he defeated Shun's army.

The urgent needs of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties were solved, and the war in the world seemed to have lowered its intensity.

But even so, the fierce war still continues.

Lord Sun's Northern Expedition and Western Expedition have begun.

Compared with the terrible war, the Manchu Qing also needed to solve a huge financial deficit.

It originally started when Hong Chengchou organized and trained 100,000 green battalion elite troops in Huguang, spending millions on wages.

The Manchu Qing Dynasty's finances were already in a state of deficit.

The deficit increased from 2.56 million taels at the beginning to more than 5.6 million taels on the eve of the civil strife among the three kings.

When the Yunnan-Guizhou war broke out, the Qing Dynasty's annual income was only more than 10 million taels, but its military expenditures reached more than 30 million taels!

Originally, after Yungui was defeated, it was time for the Qing Dynasty to take a breath.

But as soon as Sun Kewang started this scourge, our military expenditure in the Qing Dynasty increased instead of decreasing!

In addition to huge military expenditures, the army and generals were lost due to the successive losses of divisions and territory.

Our Qing Dynasty also had to train an additional 100,000 new troops.

And due to the invasion of pirates, the united front value of the Jiangnan gentry increased rapidly.

Therefore, our Qing Dynasty had to suffer from the eight imperial merchants and spend 100,000 new troops.

After surviving for so long, Liang Huafeng defeated Zheng Chenggong.

Not only did it repel the pirates, it also provided an opportunity for the Qing Dynasty to raid Jiangnan.

But before the Qing Dynasty could take action, damn Sun Kewang took advantage of the situation and went to Jiangnan first.

Let half of the Qing Dynasty collapse!

Shaanxi and Gansu are the origin of elite soldiers, and Jiangnan is the origin of money and grain.

Without Jiangnan, our Qing Dynasty can hardly maintain its existing army. How can we expand the army to regain the lost country and wipe out the bandits like Sun Kewang?

As a last resort, the Manchu Qing Dynasty decided to increase the payment of three salaries through a meeting of political kings and ministers to further inflict hardship on the people.

High-level officials of the Manchu Qing Dynasty responded to the situation that their annual incomes had dropped significantly due to the loss of Jiangnan, Zhejiang and other wealth areas.

A posthumous edict was issued in the name of the deceased Shunzhi, deciding: "We will temporarily burden our people for two years and increase the land tax by three points per mu."

As Guangdong and Guangxi were lost and Huguang was occupied, Yunnan and Guizhou fell into the hands of Wu Sangui.

And Jiangnan was attacked by Sun Kewang.

The news in Fujian and Zhejiang is different. Jiangxi has been cut off in fact because the Western Army's front has advanced to Jiujiang and the navy is rampant.

At this time, the Manchu Qing Dynasty could only control the six provinces of Shaanxi, Gansu, Henan, Shandong, Shanxi, and Beizhi.

Of course, nominally most of Sichuan is still under the control of the Qing Dynasty.

However, the annual tax in Boryeong and other places is only more than 5,000 taels, and it is difficult to make ends meet just by paying the salaries to local officials.

So Sichuan can be ignored directly.

Among these six provinces,

There are 459,000 hectares of cultivated land in Beizhi. In addition to these 459,000 hectares of civilian farmland, there are also about 160,000 hectares of flag land and about 30,000 hectares of investment land.

It's just that the income from the banner land and investment land belongs to the Eight Banners, not to the Qing Dynasty.

Therefore, only these 459,000 hectares of cultivated land can really generate income.

Relying on these arable lands, Beizhi was able to produce 1,820,000 taels of silver from land tax, 340,000 taels of silver from land dues, and more than 19,000 shi of rice, wheat and beans.

After adding three cents per acre and three taels per 100 acres.

These cultivated lands can yield an additional 1,377,000 taels of silver.

The number of cultivated land in Shandong is 740,000 hectares, which can produce 2.38 million taels of land tax, 275,000 taels of land due silver, and 394,000 shi of rice and wheat.

After adding the bonus, you can earn more than 2 million taels of income.

Shanxi has about 400,000 hectares of arable land, 2.2 million taels of silver as field tax, about 200,000 taels of dingy silver, and more than 40,000 shi of rice, wheat, and beans.

After adding more troops, you can get an extra 1.2 million taels of silver.

Henan has 380,000 hectares of arable land, 1,800,000 taels of land tax, more than 100,000 taels of corvee silver, and about 240,000 shi of rice, wheat and beans.

After adding more, you can get more than 1.1 million taels of silver.

Shaanxi has 370,000 hectares, 1,430,000 taels of land tax, about 100,000 taels of silver, and 60,000 shi of rice, wheat and beans.

After adding more people, we can collect approximately 1.1 million more silver.

There are also about 1.2 million taels for customs duties, salt duties, miscellaneous items, etc.

These incomes were also tried hard to increase by our Qing Dynasty.

In addition, there are also the prefectures in Jiangbei and Gansu as additions.

With the best efforts of our Qing Dynasty, this year's income will probably reach about 22 million taels of silver.

It's just that Jiangnan and Zhejiang, which are the source of grain, have no hope.

Whether it is hundreds of thousands of bannermen in Beijing or hundreds of thousands of Qing troops across the country, they all need to distribute food to stay alive.

After losing the taxes and millions of grains from Jiangnan.

The Manchu Qing Dynasty had to carry out some reductions and increases in capital in the northern provinces.

As the name suggests, the original tax was to collect materials, giving grain to those who grew food, and salted fish to those who fished.

It’s just that our Qing Dynasty and our Ming Dynasty didn’t have so much energy to deal with these materials.

Therefore, since Zhang Juzheng's whipping method, the unscrupulous people at the bottom no longer need to hand over materials. They all convert the materials into silver and hand them over. This behavior is called Zhese.

This will facilitate government transportation and management.

It also gave the officials an extra way to make money, and everyone was happy.

Of course, before the reform, Lao Zhang mainly did it for convenience.

Moreover, the whip method actually seems to benefit the country at the top and the people at the bottom.

After all, before the whip law, people had to carry their own grain to the granary all the way to pay taxes.

This granary is probably hundreds of miles away from home. Even if the official is not happy and says that your food is too bad, he will not collect it and carry it back to where it came from.

This time and again, if the people's food was harvested, they would have to kneel down and kowtow to the officials.

But after the whipping method, there was no need to pay the grain, and the taxes were paid with a few pieces of silver.

But if it’s bad, then it’s bad. What kind of system does our Ming Dynasty have? What kind of system does our Qing Dynasty have?

After the whip method, there is something like fire consumption.

Although the common people came up with scraps of silver, local officials could not hand over a pile of scraps of silver to the national treasury.

Therefore, the broken silver had to be recast into official silver.

But here comes the problem, recasting will cause losses.

In this case, our officials in the Ming Dynasty will usually charge 20 to 30% of the fire cost.

After all, the unscrupulous people under my command will take advantage of any loopholes, and what is the quality of the scraps of money they hand over!

The fire cost of twenty or thirty is considered small. Why do the officials have to add more to it because of this group of unruly people?

It's even worse when we get to Qing Dynasty.

In the Kang Mazi era, the fire consumption was as high as 80%.

Eighty percent of the fire consumption, what we collected in the Qing Dynasty was broken silver or silver ore!

Originally, the Manchu Qing Dynasty relied on water transportation from the south of the Yangtze River to maintain its financial system.

But now that Jiangnan is gone, it’s useless no matter how much money we collect from the Qing Dynasty!

No matter how much money you have, can you use it as food?

Don't say 20 million taels. If we, the Qing Dynasty, try our best to search, we can scrape out 50 million taels!

Among the princes and nobles in Beijing, there is no one who doesn’t have millions hidden inside! But even the 50 million scraped out by the Qing Dynasty would be of no use.

Because war involves supplies, and money is just a way to adjust supplies.

The north is already short of food. No matter how much money is thrown at it, it will be of no use. Instead, it will cause violent inflation.

Therefore, our Qing Dynasty can only reduce discounts and increase capital, collecting less money and more materials.

The millions of stones transported by water in the Jiangnan region need to be supplemented.

Otherwise, hundreds of thousands of Manchus in Beijing and hundreds of thousands of troops across the country would go hungry without using this food.

The price of food in the areas occupied by the Qing Dynasty was already very high. After Sun Guozhu occupied Jiangnan, the price of food in the northern provinces increased rapidly.

If food is not distributed, the bannermen and the green camp soldiers will starve to death for a month.

Therefore, according to the conscience of our Qing Dynasty, the original income of 22 million taels has become 18 million li of silver and 4 million shi of food.

In addition to the rice, wheat and beans originally collected from the north.

After the Qing Dynasty sent more troops, our income reached 18 million taels of silver and more than 470 shi of grain.

Among them, the local reserves were about 3 million taels of silver. Even though the official salaries in Beijing were reduced, they still consumed 1 million taels.

Our Qing Dynasty has a total annual income of more than 18 million yuan in silver and grain.

It's just that the exact amount of the extra millions of taels of silver and the four million shi of grain that were reduced and increased in cost fell on the people is unknown.

All in all, through violent conscription, the Manchu Qing was able to support its own army and bannermen for the time being, and it seemed possible to further expand its army.

But underneath all this glory is a volcano ready to move.

Starting in August, Shunzhi's edict was quickly announced to the world, allowing Manchu officials everywhere to prepare to scrape the land.

"The national situation is difficult, and the governor's office will only increase it by 30%!"

In the city of Xi'an, after receiving the imperial edict, Bai Rumei, the governor of Shaanxi Province, said sternly.

"The governor is so righteous!" A group of officials dressed in mourning clothes were so moved that they wrote documents and distributed them throughout Shaanxi.

"Western thieves are rampant and bandits are escaping. We must not increase the burden on the people. Our Yansui Taotai Yamen will only increase the rate by 40%!" Han Wenquan, a Yansui Taoist priest, said with a serious face after receiving the documents from the governor's Yamen.

"Master Daotai treats the people like this. If I were a common people, I would be satisfied." One official praised him.

"My Yan'an Mansion is already poor. Now the court is in a difficult situation and needs food and salary to maintain it."

"My Yan'an Prefecture Yamen can only live a miserable life." Yao Anwen, the prefect of Yan'an, sighed after receiving the documents from the Yansui Daotai Yamen.

"The prefect is right!" A group of officials agreed.

"Forget it, I can only suffer from the Yamen of Yan'an Prefecture." Yao Anwen sighed: "I will only add 20%. We must not let the people of Yan'an Prefecture be separated from their wives and families!"

"Master Prefect, it will be too hard for you if this happens!" A group of officials wiped away their tears.

It used to be an additional 50%, but now it's 20%.

This caused them to earn so much less money. How could this be possible?

"If I don't suffer, who will suffer? That's it." Yao Anwen waved his hand and turned to leave.

"Master Prefect!" A group of officials were filled with sadness.

Soon the documents from the Yan'an prefecture's Yamen were sent to all subordinate counties.

Yang Wenyue, the magistrate of Mizhi County, was at a loss.

Mizhi County repeatedly caused catastrophes, and it was from here that Li Zicheng and Sun Kewang fought their way out.

Later, Azige went south and slaughtered a piece of Mizhi County.

Now, after more than ten years of recovery, Mizhi County has gained some popularity.

But the burden of more than 100,000 taels of silver and 50,000 shi of grain fell again on the heads of the people.

"Master Magistrate, how much do you think the county charges from the people?" the master asked cautiously.

"We, the people of Mizhi, are already sparsely populated, and the extra troops sent by the imperial court have already overwhelmed the people."

"In addition, there are corvées and tenant rents from landlords and gentry. If we add more to this county, I'm afraid there will be a civil unrest." Yang Wenyue sighed.

The master also sighed after hearing this, but then he said: "But if the magistrate doesn't pay, what will happen to the magistrate's Beijing debt?"

"What should we eat with so many people in the magistrate's office?"

"I, the master, have been with you for many years, so I don't need you."

"But there are so many people in the county government office. If the county magistrate doesn't give us money or food, we in Mizhi County may not even be able to collect taxes!"

"When the time comes, before the civil uprising, the county magistrate will already be dead!"

Yang Wenyue's hair stood on end, and he felt horrified for a moment.

Although our Qing Dynasty appeared to be governed by the Ming Dynasty, in fact many places were less civilized than our Ming Dynasty.

Just like Yang Wenyue, although he was the magistrate of Mizhi County, he had already been burdened with Beijing debt of up to 20,000 taels before taking office.

Although we won the imperial examination in the Qing Dynasty, we could theoretically become an official.

But this is only theoretical. The average speed of the Qing Dynasty from the promotion of people or even Jinshi to the actual appointment was eight years.

In other words, if you pass the imperial examination, it will take another eight years before you can become an official.

Of course, it's not serious yet. After all, it has only been more than ten years since the Qing Dynasty entered the customs.

The first imperial examination was originally intended to admit 400 Jinshi, but the Manchu Qing Dynasty had just entered the country at that time, so we Ming literati also had to pay attention.

Therefore, a total of only 370 people participated in the imperial examination of the Qing Dynasty.

The Jinshi quota is already 400, but only 370 people have signed up.

Therefore, all those who refer to it are Jinshi.

But now, it has been more than ten years since the Manchus entered the country.

Therefore, the competition in the imperial examinations and officialdom in the Qing Dynasty became increasingly fierce.

After all, if there is nothing missing in this world, there will be no shortage of officials and people who want to be officials.

Not to mention shaving their heads in order to become officials, many literati would castrate themselves.

After being castrated, he cursed and humiliated himself while taking office.

Therefore, after more than ten years, the literati of Ming Dynasty could not resist the temptation and joined the Qing court one after another and participated in the imperial examination.

But when there are more people and competition becomes fiercer, this is the way to make money.

This is where the Beijing debt came into being.

After winning the civil examination, he had to wait in Beijing.

Wherever there is a vacancy, it can be filled.

But there is a carrot and a hole. This kind of real deficiency must be obtained through some exercise.

Therefore, if people like Yang Wenyue want to fill their vacancies after being elected, they must have someone behind them or have money.

But Yang Wenyue had no one and no money.

Now that this is the case, what can we do?

You can’t wait in Beijing forever, right?

Fortunately, the powerful people in Beijing thoughtfully launched Beijing bonds for poor scholars like Yang Wenyue.

Isn’t it true that Yang Wenyue has no one behind him and no money?

There is really nothing we can do if there is no one behind us, but we don’t have any money to borrow!

Doesn't it mean that you have it if you borrow it?

(End of this chapter)