Wanli 1592

Chapter 87

Yuan Huang gradually understood what Xiao Ruxun meant, and turned pale with shock: "What Ji Xin said... Could it be... Ji Xin, those are captives, not young and strong! How can we have the money to support so many captives?"

"Who said we were going to raise captives? Duke Yuan, have you heard about His Majesty's opening of more mines and increasing taxes on mines?"

Yuan Huang was stunned: "I have heard that most of the courtiers are dissatisfied, and the local people are full of resentment. Those mine tax eunuchs are too arrogant and enslave the local people. If things go on like this, the world will be unstable."

"Is it feasible to replace the common people with [-] young and strong captives?"

Yuan Huang opened his mouth and didn't know how to express his thoughts. It took him a while to react: "Let the captives go to mine?"

"That's right. Since ancient times, all dynasties have used the practice of letting the children of prisoners serve as some cheap jobs. Since the natives can, why not foreign captives? Anyway, they are all captives. Instead of killing or releasing them, why not make them serve Daming , contribute labor, and die directly on the construction site, wouldn’t it be enough?”

Xiao Ruxun smiled coldly.

Yuan Huang shivered.

"Yuan Gong, there is no need to show any sympathy for foreign captives. The main reason why the court officials oppose His Majesty's mining and endangering the local people is to disturb the people and harm the people. Then let's let the Japanese captives go to the mines directly. We don't care whether they are dead or alive. , and there is no need to harm the power of the local people, the captives are not the people of Ming Dynasty, but war criminals, and there is no need to pay a penny for the war criminals to open the mine, so what reason do the courtiers object to His Majesty's mining?"

Yuan Huang thought about it carefully, and felt that it was indeed the case, as long as someone took good care of those war criminals, it would be fine, but...

"Ji Xin supports His Majesty's mining?"

There was something wrong with Yuan Huang's eyes.

"Of course I support it. Don't Mr. Yuan know that the battle of Ningxia and the current war would not have been possible without His Majesty's transfer of money from the internal treasury?"

Yuan Huang's complexion also became not quite right.

"Where does the money in your majesty's inner treasury come from? Naturally, it is the exorbitant taxes that these courtiers strongly oppose, but in other words, why does your majesty want to open mines and pay these exorbitant taxes? Why does the court not allocate funds from the Ministry of Households when it starts a war, but asks your majesty from the inner treasury Transferring money? This has happened many times since the Jiajing period, if His Majesty has no money in the treasury, how can we fight this battle?"

Yuan Huang's face was gloomy, speechless.

"Those courtiers, others don't know, but I know it clearly! Local taxation has been greedy again and again, and the taxation is getting lower every year. It is reasonable to say that the war is pacified and production is resumed. The tax should be higher than before, but now Taxes did not increase but decreased, and in some years even the annual income of 300 million taels was not even [-] million taels. They squeezed out the money of the people and did not pay for themselves. The tax of ten taels of silver could be stolen by five taels or even six taels or seven taels! They really thought that Everyone in the world is a fool?!"

After being yelled at by Xiao Ruxun, Yuan Huang frowned tightly, said nothing, and his eyes were a little erratic and unnatural. There must be some fools that Xiao Ruxun said, but this old gentleman is definitely not included. He has seen everything before he is discouraged Leng retired from the world and no longer served as an official, but tried to save the country and the people from another path.

"I am a military general. I only look at the result, not the process. I only know who supported me in this battle, who gave me money, who gave me food and ordnance. That's all. I only know about these mining operations. At least part of the money was spent on military expenses, but the tax that was stolen was not used where it should be used, and it was all spent by corrupt officials! Then I naturally support mining!
Of course, I have also read books, I also know how difficult people's livelihood is, and I also know that survival is not easy, and I am not a cold-blooded person. The people of the Ming Dynasty, let them rest for a while, save a little money for the court, and give the people a little more breathing space. This is all I can do, and it is the only way I can save money for the Ming Dynasty as a general. Yuan male!am I wrong? "

Yuan Huang lowered his head and said nothing.

After a long time, Yuan Huang sighed deeply.

"Ji Xin, sometimes it's not good to see too clearly."

"Yuan Gong, this is the way of life of civil servants. Xiao Ruxun is a military general, and he is still a very awkward person. He is obviously not qualified to control, but he always thinks about what he shouldn't think. If the country is peaceful and the people are safe, you can't feel at ease. Only when you are at peace, can Ruxun If you can't convince yourself that you have a happy life, then even if you have the wealth of Wan Guan's family that rivals a country, and you embrace beautiful women like clouds on the left and right, you will still be unhappy. Instead of being depressed all your life, you might as well give it a go and die, you are worthy of a man."

Yuan Huang raised his head and looked deeply at Xiao Ruxun.

"If you were a Jinshi Hanlin, how wonderful would it be? But why are you a general..."

"Ye Gong also said this to me. I told him that the Ming Dynasty is not the Ming Dynasty of Jinshi, nor the Ming Dynasty of the Imperial Academy, but the Ming Dynasty of the world. "Although Ruxun's status is low, she also has the ambition to serve the country. This body will not be destroyed, and this ambition will not change."

Yuan Huang looked at Xiao Ruxun in a daze, and after a while, he seemed to close his eyes with shame on his face.

"This statement is enough to shame the Hanlin Imperial Scholars to death! Ji Xin, I am not as good as you!"

After speaking, Yuan Huang stood up, sighed, and walked out of the room slowly.

On the fifth day of October, [-] soldiers from Shandong arrived at Zhenjiang Fort one after another. On the seventh day of October, the crossbowmen of Xuanda arrived at Zhenjiang Fort one after another. On the tenth day of October, the Nanbing Group from Zhejiang arrived one after another, and a large number of gunners and artillery arrived. As long as the Ningxia Firearms Battalion arrives, the army will be ready to arrive.

Xiao Ruxun started crossing the river north on the 200th day of October, inspecting the army at Fort Zhenjiang, calming down the army, arranging food, clothing and housing for the army, and then brought over a mixed military medical battalion composed of more than [-] Korean and Ming doctors. Specialized in seeing and treating some soldiers who fell ill on the way. Some symptoms such as headache, brain fever, and discomfort can be cured quickly. What Xiao Ruxun is most worried about is that so many people come at once, so don't cause a plague.

Then, Xiao Ruxun issued the first military order. All soldiers are not allowed to drink raw water or eat raw food. The water must be boiled before drinking. The food must be cooked. , The first time was ten blows, the second time was fifteen, the third time was twenty, and the fourth time, beheading for public display.

What's more, we called up the generals who led the troops to participate in the battle, the deputy commander-in-chief and the generals who participated in the guerrillas. Meet and get acquainted with each other, and see who can be trusted and can be used to great effect, who are reckless and cannot be used without authorization, and who I am dissatisfied with the commanding army at my age, want to find trouble, and so on.

Commanding a large army is a very troublesome thing, and it is even more difficult to command a large army from different places from all over the world. The Ming Dynasty has always led troops like this. The soldiers did not know the generals and did not know the soldiers. Being good at fighting is not a big disadvantage, but as time goes by, there are fewer and fewer generals who are good at fighting, and the soldiers are getting weaker and weaker, which is a big problem.

How the Lord will run in with the various troops is a very important thing.

So Xiao Ruxun intentionally or unintentionally indulged the news that Xiao Ruxun blamed Li Rusong for twenty in the barracks.

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(End of this chapter)