Chapter 212 Financial Pressure

Zhu Qizhen sent Meng Ying away and silently thought about the problem just now.

When the news of the defeat came, Zhu Qizhen thought a lot. The most important thing was how to turn the crisis into his own plan.

The first major reform in the Ming Dynasty's military Beijing camp system was presided over by Yu Qian, who turned the three battalions into ten regiment battalions. This was also the reform with the greatest impact.

After all, the situation in the capital was deteriorating from then on, and no amount of reform was of any use.

As for why Yu Qian was able to reform so easily, it was certainly because after the Tumubao Incident, all the nobles and nobles of Jingnan were wiped out. There was also the crisis of Washi's troops coming to the city.

Under this situation, Yu Qian's political resistance was almost zero.

Although this defeat shook Zhu Qizhen's authority, the problem was that the emperor was not another politician, the emperor was the emperor. There had never been an emperor who stepped down because his ministers lost a battle, unless the capital was captured.

Zhu Qizhen has many ways to reverse this impact, and even the civil service system will help Zhu Qizhen.

Because although the emperor and the civil service group had conflicts with each other, they were more cooperative in facing many things.

If this were not the case, civilian politics would not have lasted for so many years.

Therefore, the time is ripe to strike at the Beijing camp.

But what is the question of how to reform?

Zhu Qizhen must first decouple the Beijing Camp from the Guards Station.

I have mentioned before about the relationship between the Beijing Camp and the 72 Guards Station of the Beijing Army, but the collapse of the Guard Station, numerous soldiers and generals, land occupation, and other problems.

Zhu Qizhen didn't know how to start. After all, they were an important pillar in maintaining the rule of the Ming royal family.

If civil servants are used to rectify it, will the Beijing camp still obey the emperor after the rectification?

The reason why the emperor was so weak in the late Ming Dynasty was that the military power was no longer in his hands.

As for letting Xungui check it himself, Zhu Qizhen also tried it, but the effect was not obvious.

When the problem was so complicated and confusing that he didn't know how to deal with it, Zhu Qizhen began to think about starting a new business.

That's recruiting troops.

In fact, the military power of the Tang Dynasty also encountered such a crisis. In the early period of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, the government troops were unable to be used. In the Tang Dynasty, soldiers were recruited to replace the government troops and continue the combat effectiveness of the Tang Dynasty.

Although troubles were later caused by the Anshi Rebellion, it cannot be said that this method is useless.

Therefore, what Zhu Qizhen wants is a recruited army. Instead of selecting people from the guards, now they will be paid directly and no longer granted land. They will be completely professional soldiers.

Zhu Qizhen has already calculated that, not counting equipment and other things, twelve taels of silver per year is enough to support each soldier. If the Beijing camp supports 500,000 taels, it will be about six million taels a year. This is just the salary, and then

Including equipment, horses, pensions, etc., ten million taels of silver a year may not be enough to survive.

Therefore, Zhu Qizhen would not immediately change the capital camp to recruit soldiers. However, the imperial court was in a hurry and there was a shortage of 50,000 soldiers. Could it be a right-based strategy and recruit 50,000 soldiers first?

At this critical moment, which minister dares to say no?

In the process of recruiting soldiers, civilian officials should be involved. In this way, civilian officials will have the motivation to expand the scope of recruiting soldiers and reduce the scope of soldiers in the garrison.

As for the recruitment of troops, the majority are naturally martial arts students.

The process of recruiting soldiers to replace garrison soldiers was naturally combined with the replacement of old and new nobles.

When will the imperial court's military system based on recruiting soldiers be completely formed? After sorting out the military system, Zhu Qizhen's authority will be able to be implemented into the army without any hindrance.

At that time, what was the big deal about just tile thorns?

Of course, there is a problem with this plan.

That is, once Meng Ying loses his game, Wa Ci's real army is approaching the city? What should we do?

First of all, Zhu Qizhen still trusts Meng Ying. There are various ministers, Yang Hong and Guo Deng, who were promoted by Zhu Qizhen from below, and they are all brave men.

It can be said that the mature generals in the Ming army are at the highest level.

If such a camp can't stop Wa Ci, it can only be said that Wa Ci is cheating.

Even if there is an extremely slim possibility that Wa Ci breaks through Beijing's outer defense line and approaches the city, Zhu Qizhen is confident that he can defend the city.

First of all, Wa Ci is not good at attacking the city.

This point has been reflected in many aspects. As for the city of Beijing, it is the most powerful city in the world. It has millions of stones of food, countless weapons and artillery, and more than one million soldiers and civilians.

Besides, during the battle to defend Beijing, there were only a few thousand young troops in the entire capital, and there were 100,000 deserters gathered. Even if there was a huge defeat, it was impossible for all the troops in the Beijing camp to be wiped out.

In addition, there are still 50,000 people in the army. Although it is a weak army, it is still an army.

It would not be a problem to defend the city like this for several years, but is it really possible for Wa Ci to stay under the walls of Beijing for a year?

The war potential of the Ming Dynasty was beyond the imagination of Wa Ci.

Zhu Qizhen felt that although it was risky to do so, he could live with it at a low level.

The only thing that makes him feel a little troublesome is nothing else but financial pressure.

Now, more than 100,000 soldiers have been killed in the battle. This is a huge expense. Not to mention that the last battle was defeated and another battle will be fought next.

Consumption has skyrocketed.

When Zhu Qizhen thought of this, he didn't dare to see Zhou Chen.

Zhou Chen is a good financial manager, but he is not a cash machine.

Zhou Chen has been working very hard to squeeze out profits based on the current financial foundation. However, the growth rate of the Ming army's expenditure is a figure that makes Zhou Chen despair.

Zhu Qizhen and Zhou Chen have a common principle, which is that no tax should be increased no matter what.

Zhu Qizhen was deeply impressed because the Ming Dynasty died due to tax increases, so he tried his best to avoid it. He would rather make money from other methods than increase taxes.

As for Zhou Chen's better understanding of the people at the bottom, he knew better that some tax burdens were not written in the court tax books, but they existed. These are the so-called exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes.

Generally speaking, in the past few years of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Qizhen had made some achievements under the policy of recuperating and recuperating from the Empress Dowager, but in essence many things were disturbing the people.

Therefore, the burden on the people at the bottom is already very heavy. When there is a disaster, refugees are everywhere again. Fujian and Jiangxi are prone to banditry. In fact, these two places were not hit hard in the late Yuan Dynasty. Therefore, the population density

The largest. As the population increases, land annexation is also the most intense.

Under such circumstances, any tax increase will be affordable in some places and not in others. It will upset the local balance.

Moreover, officials are reaching out to each other. If the court takes one tael, the officials below can embezzle 300 yuan. This is relatively clean. In the Qing Dynasty, when the government took one tael, the extra cost was at least five yuan or more. In some places, the extra cost was more than

The regular tax was still high, so the additional consumption was naturally divided equally among local officials.

Therefore, many of the financial reforms carried out by Zhou Chen did not include land tax. Is it because the land tax has no potential to be improved? No, the land tax has been the official tax of the Han Dynasty for thousands of years. If it is cleaned up, the income will definitely be more than

Twenty-three million stones of grain, even if it is doubled, it may not be impossible.

It's just that the water here is too deep. Even to rectify the salt tax, we have to kill people first. If we want to rectify the land tax, what will it look like?

Therefore, Zhou Chen advised Zhu Qizhen several times not to change the ancestral laws easily on top of the land tax.

However, with such a huge financial gap now, Zhu Qizhen really doesn’t know what to do.

He could only summon Zhou Chen to discuss this matter.

Zhou Chen's originally gray hair was completely white now, and his eye sockets were sunken. During this period of time, Zhou Chen was already very tired from presiding over cabinet affairs, taking care of army logistics, and the Yellow River construction, as well as the flood season problems in various places.

Zhu Qizhen exchanged a few words with Zhou Chen and talked about the cost of the Yellow River project. Even Zhou Chen, the general, had blocked the hole. As for military expenses, food and so on, he didn't mention it.

But when Zhu Qizhen took out the secret report from the Jinyi Guards, Zhou Chen suddenly became angry. Regardless of the military situation, he lost his composure and shouted angrily: "Zhu Yong deserves to die."

Zhu Qizhen said: "Sir, please calm down. Sir, please calm down?"
Chapter completed!