Emperor Ming Dynasty

Chapter 806 Chengde
It is rare for the emperor to come here once, and all the soldiers of the Beijing camp who have been inspected will be rewarded with one piece of money.

Therefore, the sound of long live is endless.

"Your Majesty, living in the capital is not easy!"

After being caught in a secluded place, You Shiwei and others mounted their horses and accompanied the emperor wandering around the barracks.

More than a dozen nobles followed behind, You Shiwei and Zhu Meng were separated from each other, no one came forward to disturb, there was already a tacit understanding.

"Oh? Don't you have enough official salary?"

The emperor deliberately asked: "As far as I know, your salaries are quite a lot!"

These words made everyone look ashamed.

Unlike the big-headed soldiers who only have monthly salaries, the salary of the military officer class comes from three aspects, namely, official position, military rank, and title.

The official position is easy to understand. Nowadays, the civil and military are the same salary, the lowest is from the ninth grade, and there are ten silver dollars (jialumi) a year.

The military ranks are sergeant, school, prefect, and general, and the lowest right soldier is a member of the team, which is basically equal to the official position, which is equivalent to getting two salaries.

When you reach a certain status, if you get a title, you will also have a title.

A baron is less than three hundred stones, a viscount is five hundred stones, an earl is five hundred to one thousand stones, a marquis is three thousand stones or less, and a duke is five thousand stones or more.

Note: There are two copies of Lumi and Qian.

There is no juelu in time, but the backbone of the military officer class, although not rich and powerful, can support their families.

In addition, let me say that there are more than [-] people awarded barons and viscounts by the imperial court, but they are not flooded. Nowadays, the requirements for titles are becoming more and more stringent.
For example, for the most common baron, the standard for conferring a knighthood is to fight against the enemy's regular army (the number is not less than [-]% of your own), kill [-] enemies, and lose less than [-]% of your own.

This also means that the chances of team leadership are too small. Most barons are battalion leaders, viscounts are mostly guerrillas (regiment leaders), and earls and marquises are in the same town and rank in the general army.

Not to mention the duke, the governor's mansion is serving him.

"I waited for His Majesty's kindness to honor our ancestors so much, but the monthly salary of the children of the Beijing camp is too low..."

Under tremendous pressure, You Shiwei's voice became smaller and smaller.

The emperor glanced at him, then at the others, all of them agreed.

In an instant, I thought about it in my heart.

Today, due to being stationed in the capital, the monthly salary of the children of the capital camp has also risen, to one yuan and five silver yuan per month.

It looks like a lot. After all, the price of shimi in the capital is as low as [-] cents, which is enough for an ordinary soldier to buy two shimi, about [-] catties.

(One stone is four jun, one jun is 30 jin, one jin is six hundred grams, one stone is now 150 jin).

But the family is not just eating, they have to be satisfied with oil, rice, firewood, salt, soy sauce, vinegar and tea. This little money can only make the Beijing camp live a little more.

To be honest, silver coins are made of a mixture of [-]% silver and [-]% copper (the ratio of Yuan Datou in the early Republic of China), but because of the exquisite forging, one silver coin is worth one tael of silver.

In the beginning, it did stabilize the finances and barely suppressed inflation.

But everyone knows that with the opening of customs, the massive export of handmade products, and the import of massive amounts of silver, silver will inevitably depreciate, while copper and gold will appreciate.

Therefore, the issuance of gold coins is just a taste, and this group of unscrupulous people cannot be allowed to take advantage of the court.

As far as Zhu Yixi knows, the silver dollar can only be exchanged for [-] copper dollars among the people, and one copper dollar is worth ten copper coins.

If it hadn't been for the imperial court to put Taicang grain into the market and suppress the price of grain, it would have risen to a stone a stone.

The military's request for a monthly salary increase seems to be justifiable.

But one hair can move the whole body.

Ordinary soldiers have been raised, should officers be raised?

Officers are raised, should civil and military officials' salaries be increased?

What's more, the expenses in the army had been planned as early as the beginning of the year, and the money had been allocated and kept in the Ministry of War. When the sudden increase, the pressure on the Ministry of Finance came.

"What do you mean?"

Although the emperor added a friend, he asked Zhu Meng who was at the side.

As the head of the family and the most trusted general, Zhu Meng's attitude is extremely important.

"His Majesty, the idea of ​​the Military Supplies Department is not surprising."

Zhu Meng lowered his head slightly, unable to look directly at the emperor: "I heard that the staff of the Jingshi Restaurant earn fifty or sixty renminbi every day. After all, the soldiers are working hard, and the monthly salary is indeed a little less..."

"What plan does the Quartermaster come up with?"

The emperor nodded slightly, looking straight ahead.

"Your Majesty, the Military Supplies Department thought over and over again and came up with three solutions." You Shiwei said in a low voice:
"One, ordinary soldiers will be increased from one yuan and five to two yuan, and officers will not change; the other is to set up food supplements, and each sergeant will receive three buckets of food."

"Finally, there is a war salary. For example, when going to war, the salary will be subsidized by one piece."

These three methods have advantages and disadvantages. The first method is simple and straightforward, but although it is only an increase of 2 cents and the officers remain the same, it is conservatively estimated that the military expenditure will increase by another [-] million yuan per year.

Food supplements save money, but the consumption of food will intensify and add trouble.

The wartime subsidy looks good, there are not many troops on the battlefield, and it can also boost morale.

But if there is one, there are two. Subsidies are coming, and bad regulations such as starting fees are not far away.

From this point of view, food supplements are the most affordable.

After thinking about it again and again, in the expectation of everyone, the emperor did not give a definite answer:

"Let's discuss it with the Ministry of Household Affairs and the cabinet before making a decision. First, I will make a memorial."

Although he had some calculations in his heart, Zhu Yixi did not make a hasty decision.

This is not about power, but about respect for the cabinet and the system.

The integration of China and foreign countries, maintaining the majesty of the foreign court is tantamount to maintaining the imperial power, and the legality of the process is very necessary.

When the prime minister is treated as nothing, who still respects the emperor?

"Yes!" Several people responded with a little disappointment, feeling hopeful in their hearts.

No wonder they pointed out at this time that part of the summer tax had already been paid.

Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang, and Yingtian shipped the summer tax to Tianjin in early September, and then arrived in Beijing.

Although taxes are kept secret, for them, the court's secrets cannot be hidden.

Three provinces and one government received a total of 7 million yuan in silver, of which commercial taxes (seat tax and customs tax) exceeded 3 million yuan.

According to the regular tax estimates over the years, the four places in the south of the Yangtze River accounted for 3% of the national tax revenue, that is, the summer tax this year was about 3000 yuan, plus the seasonal collection of salt, iron, wine, and tea, it undoubtedly exceeded [-] yuan.

In the sixth year of Shaowu, the summer and autumn taxes exceeded 50 million yuan. The reason why there was one thousand less was because there was only summer tax in the north.

Obviously, this year must be a year of prosperity.

The Ministry of Households urgently expanded Taicang to prepare for the wealthy silver coins.

In fact, Zhu Yixi also felt happy, it really didn't feel real.

But he understands that this is the fruit of dividing up the land of the military household guards and the peace of the world, and it is not certain how many years it will last.

Especially for commercial taxation, Japan and North Korea were forced to open their doors to allow Ming merchants to develop, which greatly promoted the capital of Jiangnan.

But business is an unstable thing, and getting rich this year may not be the case next year.

Of course Zhu Yixi knew their mentality after their money exploded, but he wouldn't act recklessly after getting rich.

After wandering around for half a day, he was also tired, and was going to go home to soak in the hot springs in Yuquan Villa.

The carriage was walking on the official road, but Zhu Yixi's thoughts did not leave the capital camp.

There are 160,000 people in the Beijing camp, and more than 10,000 are currently in Liaodong. The rest of the provincial commanders have taken away 3000 people to sit in the town. The number of troops stationed near Gyeonggi does not exceed 100,000 people.

About 50,000 people were stationed in Xishan (including Yuquanshan) and Tongzhou respectively, and they were divided into camps.

Although it doesn't look like much, there is also the patrol battalion of Suncheon Prefecture, which is responsible for the security of Gyeonggi, with a scale of more than 20,000 people.

In addition, there are frontier troops in Jizhen and Xuanda, each with [-] troops. There are frontier troops on the surrounding walls, and the Jingying is located in the center of the town. It can be said that the capital is as stable as Mount Tai.

The Manchu Qing troops in Gyeonggi never exceeded [-] troops, and the famous Fengtai Camp only had [-] troops.

"Do you want to recruit some more? Make up 200,000?"

After thinking about it, Zhu Yixi decided to throw the issue to the cabinet.

The inside of the car was a bit stuffy, Zhu Yixi opened the window, and the goal was the spacious official road.

Seeing such a large army, passers-by came to the side of the road patiently and waited for them to pass. The crowded merchants did not dare to show any dissatisfaction, and all of them showed respect.

Although the presence of the Ministry of Industry is a little weaker, it has never disappointed.

From Shaowu's entry into Beijing in the second year to now, in less than four years, the Ministry of Industry has repaired and expanded official roads that have exceeded thousands of miles.

Among them, Jingjin Road is more than [-] miles long, Jingbao Road leading to Baoding is more than [-] miles long, and Jingxuan Road is [-] miles long.

In the past few years, they have been busy fighting, and their manpower and material resources are insufficient, but they also consumed more than two million silver dollars.

Speaking of which, everyone knows the straight roads of the Qin Dynasty, but they don’t know the official roads of the Ming Dynasty. The straight roads of the Qin Dynasty are about 20-60 meters wide, while the main roads of the Ming official roads are about ten feet wide, which is equivalent to about 30 meters, which is wider than the straight roads of the Qin Dynasty. A little narrower, but wide enough.

Post stations are set up every sixty miles, and willows and poplars are planted on both sides of the road, so as to escape the summer heat and provide shade, which is a great comfort to pedestrians.

Like the capital city, the newly built official road is divided into left and right lanes, driving on the right side, and no retrograde traffic is allowed.

In the middle is an interval composed of half-foot-wide pebbles and crushed stones.

There is no lane division on the left and right sides, and the distance between the main lanes reaches eight feet, 24 meters.

On both sides of the road, there are sidewalks, each one foot wide.

The ten-foot-wide high-quality official road, named national road by the emperor, leads to various provinces and is suitable for large-scale mobile troops. At present, it is mainly deployed around the capital in all directions.

It's like a big spider web, and it's exciting to look at.

In addition, the most commendable thing is that the national road is basically paved with simple cement and gravel.

The production of simple cement is also simple. Limestone, clay, iron ore and coal are crushed into slag powder, and then fired.

But just crushing is a big project nowadays.

Fortunately, the hydraulic pendulum can be used. Although it is inefficient and not careful enough, it can produce cement continuously.

The hardest part is drying.

Cement will solidify into blocks when exposed to moisture, and is basically useless. Therefore, all components in cement must be absolutely dry, and the water content must be strictly controlled. This cannot be achieved by natural drying.

The modern process is to use a fluidized furnace to dry the auxiliary materials.

Now it is necessary to use a blower to make the fuel churn up and down in the furnace, just like boiling water, into a boiling state. The fuel burns in a suspended state to heat the air, and then use the high-temperature air to dry the raw materials.

These technologies were very difficult in the Sui, Tang, Song and Yuan dynasties, but they are not difficult now.

As a result, a steady stream of cement is produced,

It has become the main material of the national highway.

The official roads in each province are called provincial roads, which are branch lines of the national roads, linking the various prefectures.

The specification of the provincial road is naturally lower, and it does not use high-cost cement. Its width is about five feet, and it also follows the rules of the national road.

Its materials are still the same as before, crushed stone, cinder, clay, compacted, simple, convenient and easy to repair, but it is easy to damage.

Although the railway track has been built, the official road must continue. The more roads, the better.

It can be predicted that with the recruitment of the Corps of Engineers, the speed of construction of official roads and railway tracks will become faster and faster. It is not a dream to expand official roads to provincial roads within ten years.

"It seems that the Ministry of Industry can't save it, and we have to step up efforts..."

After saying a word with emotion, Zhu Yixi suddenly realized that after having money, there are more places to spend it.

Official roads, railroad tracks, embankments, dredging of lakes and canals, maintenance of ponds and canals, and city building on the grasslands. The Ministry of Industry will undoubtedly spend most of the money in the next few years.

It is conservatively estimated that more than ten million yuan a year.

The court began to make up for the rotten social maintenance that began during the Wanli period.

"Brother, which noble family is this? This car is really beautiful."

In the convoy by the side of the road, the young man in his twenties secretly watched the convoy leave, and couldn't help saying enviously.

"It's definitely the Duke." Song Liang said softly: "There are thousands of people, and only the Duke has this pomp."

"Okay, don't look at it, keep going." Song Liang greeted the team, and the team consisting of thirty people and ten carriages set off again.

"With such a good road, you can reach Miyun in a few days."

These people are planning to go to the grassland to buy cattle, sheep, and grassland specialties such as wool.

Since the winter is about to pass, grassland herdsmen must store enough forage for the winter, so they naturally slaughter those old and weak cattle and sheep to avoid loss.

More importantly, I heard that the imperial court is going to build a new city near Hara Hetao, which is less than a hundred miles east of Gubeikou, Miyun Weiwei, and less than five hundred miles away from the capital.

This is an opportunity for small and medium businessmen. The emergence of a new city will create a lot of business opportunities.

Since they did not carry prohibited items such as firearms, they just paid the checkpoint fee, and the group left Gubeikou, and the grassland was in front of them.

"Brother, what's the name of this new city?"

"I heard it's called Chengde, Emperor Chengde." Song Liang twirled his beard and said with a smile, "Chifeng in the past was the hometown of the Chahar tribe. It was too far away from the imperial court, so another Chengde was built."

When they arrived in Chengde, it was in full swing, the city wall had been repaired, the moat was being dug, and a large number of ditches were being built, apparently to turn this place into a granary.

The most eye-catching thing is that this is a huge temple. The golden Buddha statue is as high as two feet, which makes people daunting.

The lamas are dressed in monk's robes, and the pious sound of Buddha surrounds the ears, which makes people feel calmer unconsciously.

With the active participation of a large number of herdsmen, Buddhist temples are always the first to be built.

The name of the temple is Chengde, bestowed by the emperor, and the whole city is named after it.

As for the caravans coming from afar, everyone welcomes them.

Wool, sheepskin, all kinds of grassland specialties, everything that one expects to find, iron pots, tea cakes, and salt are also exchanged, and the caravan is full.

But what Song Liang wanted was to run a shop.

(End of this chapter)