Da Ming Tai Shi

Chapter 114 My mind is a little messed up

Early the next morning, Chen Yunfu was not in a hurry to go to Dongge to find Zhu Biao to continue talking about the abolition of corvee, he was not so free.

Neither Xie Hengqu nor Luan Kefa showed up on the case in Henan, and Jin Yiwei has already sent someone to get it.

Although it is said that the two of them have handled this matter in a mess, after all, they have gathered enough people for Guochao, and it is time for the Northern Expedition to begin!

"The first batch of grain and minding have arrived in Tongzhou, Beiping, and the rest are heading north one after another."

Standing next to the huge sand table in the Hall of Martial Arts, Chen Yunfu held a notebook in his hand, and relayed the relevant situation to Song Guogong Feng Shengtong: "The weapons, bows, arrows and other items in charge of the Military Weapons Bureau have also arrived one after another. Beiping, His Royal Highness King Yan also sent the book, and now Beiping's weapons, food, supplies, and soldiers have all been prepared properly, and we can set off as soon as Song Guogong arrives."

Speaking of the Northern Expedition, Chen Yunfu couldn't help being amazed.

What am I amazed at? I am amazed at the terrifying national power of Daming at this moment!
Later generations only use historical research to show that the peak of the Ming Dynasty's national power was in the early Ming Dynasty, that is, the Hongwu and Yongle dynasties, and all subsequent descendants were actually on the decline.

Don't look at the Wanli Dynasty, the population of the Ming Dynasty exceeded [-] million, but that was useless.

Speaking of this Northern Expedition, Chen Yunfu, as the chief steward of Ming Dynasty at the moment, has the most intuitive feeling for the national power.

Do you think that the most troublesome thing for the Central Committee during the Northern Expedition was the deployment of troops?

No, it's transferring people, that is, apportioning civilian husbands.

Whether it's money, food or weapons, the Ministry of Households and the Weapons Bureau waited until the civilian husbands were ready, and they transferred enough from the major treasuries and arsenals to go north with the civilian husbands after three days of useless.

As for the transfer of troops, none of the soldiers in the Beijing camp were moved.

Last year, only 30 soldiers were mobilized in the Yunnan Expedition, and another 20 elite soldiers have been drawn from Shandong, Hebei, Beiping, and Shanxi in the current Northern Expedition.

Even [-] cavalry in Beiping and Hebei are enough.

Is it used to go to Beijing camp?Is it used in Shaanxi and Gansu?
Totally useless!
Even the military households in Shandong and Jiangsu can't use it.

Oh yes, the military guards in northern Jiangsu and Shandong are the predecessors of the so-called Beiwa Army.

There are not many, anyway, the elite of a hundred thousand or so can still be scraped together.

Chen Yunfu picked his fingers and calculated the account. If Daming devoted all his soldiers to a national war at this time, he could probably mobilize more than 100 million Zhengmiaohong elites who had fought in the war within three months, and mobilize more than 500 million troops. 30 million shi war reserves and no less than [-] war horses.

Not to mention the fact that one Han is the five Hu, with this configuration, whether you are fighting a raid or a tough battle, or a protracted war that can't delay logistics, Ming's million-strong army can live in the grassland for three to five years.

Among Zhu Laosi's military medals, more than half can be attributed to Zhu Yuanzhang.

"Well, it's hard work for the Grand Master." Feng Sheng said hard, and then continued to meditate on the sand table.

Now that everything has been prepared, the imperial decree is just around the corner. Finally, he needs to reunite with the generals including Sapphire to determine the overall strategy.

At this time, Chen Yunfu couldn't stay any longer, so he took his leave and left.

Walking out of the Wuying Hall with the front foot, I got a letter from the Imperial Secretary on the back foot, saying that Zhu Yuanzhang had summoned him.

Don't dare to delay, hurry up and face the saint.

"Chenwenyuange University."

"Stop reporting the number, come here!"

Zhu Yuanzhang didn't look like he was sick. He was wearing a leather uniform at the moment, and his mighty figure stood upright.

"Have you sent a note to Feng Sheng and the others?"

"As I said before, Song Guogong, Shen Guogong, and all the princes discussed military affairs, and I didn't dare to disturb them and left on my own."

"It's okay to listen to a few words once in a while." Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at Chen Yunfu, and snorted dissatisfiedly: "You kid, ghost spirit, ghost spirit, looks honest and responsible, but you are full of scheming, and you are also instigating the bid Bar."

"what?"

Of course Chen Yunfu wanted to pretend to be stupid, because he didn't understand what he said, so he asked, "Is there something wrong with the crown prince?"

"Don't do this with me." Zhu Yuanzhang unceremoniously tore off Chen Yunfu's hypocritical mask: "Abolition of corvee and restoration of business registration, do you dare to say that you didn't mention these two things?"

"Oh, it's from Chen Ti."

Seeing that he couldn't pretend to be confused, Chen Yunfu admitted it frankly, and almost missed Zhu Yuanzhang's waist.

"Then you still dare to pretend to be confused with me!"

Zhu Yuanzhang stared angrily, and saw Chen Yunfu spread his hands innocently and said, "Your Majesty, I am also your Wenyuan Pavilion scholar. There are so many affairs in the world, and there are many things that need to be reported to the prince. Don't you understand?" , I am stupid, how can I guess."

"If you are stupid, there will be no smart people in the world."

Unhappily snorted, Zhu Yuanzhang sent Zhu Biao's memorials about the abolition of corvee and restoration of business registration to Baoxiang in front of Chen Yunfu, and said, "It's written by Biao'er, you can read it yourself."

Chen Yunfu didn't even need to look at it, he knew all the regulations in this playbook were from his hands, but he still pretended to look through it a few times, and then looked back at Zhu Yuanzhang and said.

"The minister has finished reading."

"Tell me what you think."

As soon as Zhu Yuanzhang mentioned this matter, he became very angry, and reprimanded him: "Abolish corvee? Do you know how much my Daming Ministry of Industry spends for a year?"

"Last year it was 370 taels."

陈云甫张口就来：“其中汉江段因为疏河沙用了18万7000两、粮食11万四千五百石，动用民夫六千940人，死了17人，抚恤250五两银子、170匹绢布和十七头耕牛。

The Gan River in Jiangxi has been used."

"Okay, okay." Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand and interrupted: "I almost forgot, you have a good memory, you can remember everything after you go through it once, and you are familiar with the expenditure of money and food, and the scheduling of supplies. We can't control a country as big as Ming Dynasty too much.

I will not rest assured to hand over the Secretary of the General Administration to you, so you don't want to show off to me here, let's talk about the abolition of corvee.

In the past few years, our Daming has been relatively smooth, but the reason why the Ministry of Industry's expenses have remained high is because we have a vast land and abundant resources, and natural disasters have never stopped.

It was either a flood or a landslide. The chieftain in Guizhou had just been pacified, and the imperial army hadn't left yet. Because of a landslide, thousands of native villagers who had no food to eat, took up their swords and guns and turned against the people again.

You say, do I dare not give money to the Ministry of Industry? If I don’t give money to the Ministry of Industry, natural disasters will turn into man-made disasters. By then, I will be anti-people everywhere in Ming Dynasty.

The country is tense, I don’t say this, you should have an account in your heart, do you believe that if corvee is abolished, the Ministry of Industry’s budget for next year will be 1000 million taels. "

"Chen Xin."

"Then tell me, where did you get me the deficit of 620 taels?"

This Zhu Yuanzhang is naughty enough, at this time he did not forget to show off his memory to Chen Yunfu.

You are not the only one who can memorize these numbers. Zhu Yuanzhang dared to rule the three dynasties every day and read thousands of books every day, which is also beyond the reach of ordinary people.

It's a pity that Chen Yunfu is not a 'sensible' official, and he didn't intend to flatter Lao Zhu at all, so he just took the conversation and continued.

"That's why I'm going to talk about resuming my business status."

"With just one commercial tax, Guochao can make up for these shortfalls?"

Zhu Yuanzhang was noncommittal because of his naivety.

"The initial establishment of commercial taxation can indeed solve some financial tensions, but it is only in the initial stage. Once the imperial court allows merchants to appear, it will inevitably give them the soil to survive. Over time, as the merchants grow bigger, they will collude with local officials. At that time, tell me, can I still collect taxes in Ming Dynasty?"

Here I need to add a digression. There were merchants in Ming Dynasty, but this merchant is not the same concept as the merchant we know.

For example, there are businessmen who sell small stalls, open several restaurants, run a food store, and antique calligraphy and painting shops, but they are not serious businessmen, because apart from these industries, they all have to do one thing.

It means that there is land under the name, and it is attached to the agricultural registration.

Because Daming has no business registration now.

Zhu Yuanzhang's golden rule is that he can hunt and kill all producers who don't do anything, so he cut off from the root the way of businessmen who only point to buying and selling, and transferring goods to make a living by earning the difference.

All businessmen in the world have agricultural or military registration.

With agricultural registration, you need to buy land to produce food, and pay grain taxes every year. With military registration, your family must be incorporated into the guard station.

Then on this basis, you said that the family has idle property, and it is only fine to open a local restaurant and sell handmade artifacts or something.

Like the kind of people who take the money and do nothing, and say they go to Pingdingshan to collect coal and sell it in Datong, Shanxi, and they catch one and kill the other.

My brains have become more courageous.

"I don't set up business registration. This is the way to fundamentally limit the scope of businessmen's survival, so that they can never leave their homeland and the most basic production. They are also doomed to be unable to expand the business industry. If their descendants want to be born, they have to study as examiners and be useful talents to the country.

Instead of working with abacus gold and silver all day long, just thinking about how to take away the little money left in the pockets of ordinary people, businessmen are cunning, vicious and selfish, and they are no less than the slave owners in the past. You have to resume business This gives them a chance to become bigger. In the future, officials and businessmen will collude to hide the truth from the country and abuse the good people. Once I think about it, I want to kill you. "

At the end, Zhu Yuanzhang moved a little bit of power and pressed on Chen Yunfu.

But what Zhu Yuanzhang didn't expect was that the latter remained unmoved at all, and every word and sentence was still in order.

"Since the ancestor of Yan and Huang, Yin Shi, merchants have been born. They have noticed business opportunities from the initial barter. Seashells along the coast can be exchanged for too many good things inland, and all they need to pay is to walk a few hundred miles more. the way.

Businessmen who pursue profit should not be despised. This is the same as ordinary people who want to rule the world. Everyone wants to live a good life.

The only difference is that businessmen use their brains more.

The national policy of completely banning merchants can be promulgated, but it cannot stop the greed in human nature or people's yearning for a better life. Private salt in Lianghuai is rampant, and there are still many followers who know that they are beheaded. Why, because private salt makes money.

A catty of salt is inconspicuous, and the price difference is only two or three Wen, but a thousand catties is two taels of silver, and a small boat can pull thousands of catties of private salt. Every year's salary is more.

The common people want to make this money, buy a house and property, and have two beautiful wives and beautiful concubines, and they don't hesitate to gamble with their lives.

Your Majesty wants to ban it, can it be banned? "

"Hearing what you mean, not only do I want to resume my business registration, but I also want to lift the salt ban?"

Zhu Yuanzhang narrowed his eyes, his tone was full of unkindness.

Today, if Chen Yunfu dared to say such stupid words as letting go of the salt and iron franchise, he would have to beat him up.

"Specialization is state-owned assets, smuggling of salt is smuggling, and smuggling is never stopped. It is better to block it than to block it. It is better to guide it than to ban it."

Chen Yunfu faced Zhu Yuanzhang directly, and said eloquently, "Your Majesty knows that your majesty is worried about merchants hoarding goods and making huge profits, so why not draw a circle, and if the merchants don't jump out of this circle, they won't be able to make waves."

"Drawing a circle?" Zhu Yuanzhang was taken aback when he heard this, and didn't quite understand: "You mean to limit their business scope?"

"That's limitless."

Chen Yunfu said: "The price of salt in the southeast is cheaper than that in the northwest, and the price of salt in the coast is cheaper than that in the inland. They will still rush to resell things to the inland and northwest to make huge profits.

The restriction referred to by the minister refers to the restriction of the price of the commodity. "

Can the price of the product be limited?
Zhu Yuanzhang was really fresh, with his arm on the gold case and his upper body leaning forward.

"Tell us about it."

"Since ancient times, the price of commodities has been set by merchants, and merchants have set corresponding prices according to the economic laws of the market and the tightness of commodities, which is why the term hoarding comes into being.

Merchants hoarded grains in good times to find out where disasters occurred so they could sell them at high prices to earn huge profits. Since the imperial court could not restrict the actions of merchants, they should limit the prices of the commodities themselves, that is, the power to set commodity prices was in the hands of the imperial court. inside.

The price of salt in the Huaihe River and Huaihe River is now nine renminbi a catty, but it is sold in Henan for thirteen renminbi and in Shaanxi and Gansu for [-] renminbi, so illegal salt is rampant.

If the price of salt in Gansu and Shaanxi is similar to that in Lianghuai or only a penny or two higher, then what are the private salt dealers doing? "

"impossible."

Zhu Yuanzhang interrupted directly: "How can the salt price in Shaanxi and Gansu be controlled to be the same as that in Lianghuai?"

"It can be realized if the imperial court comes to cover the price of commodities."

"That's a huge loss."

When it came to money bags, the emperor Zhu Yuanzhang turned himself into the head of the family, and from the beginning he confronted Chen Yunfu tit for tat.

"The imperial court sells salt in Shaanxi, Gansu, and eighteen Wen is only enough money. If it is reduced to nine or ten Wen, the court will lose nine Wen for a catty of salt, which is almost equivalent to the money earned by selling three catties in Lianghuai. It is enough for the imperial court to sell a catty in Shaanxi and Gansu at a loss."

"Economic accounts can't be calculated that way."

Chen Yunfu was also talking about it this time, and he didn't notice the wording in the conversation between himself and Zhu Yuanzhang.

"It seems that the court has lost money, but the money is just sent from the court to the salt officials responsible for transporting salt and turned into wages.

Let's compare the entire Ming Dynasty to a family. His Majesty is the head of the family, and the ministers are the children. His Majesty gave the minister ten renminbi to make soy sauce.

Although Your Majesty spent ten Wen, our family property of Ten Wen has become a bottle of eight Wen of soy sauce and two Wen in my pocket.

In the same way, His Majesty spent [-] Wens to bring Lianghuai Salt to Shaanxi and Gansu for [-] Wens or [-] Wens. The treasury lost [-] Wens, but the people in Shaanxi and Gansu had nine Wens in their pockets. There is no change in the overall economy of .

People in Shaanxi and Gansu have nine coins in their pockets, and they will use the nine coins to do things with nine coins. The common people are good at hoarding grain for disaster years, and the annual backlog of grain in the treasury can be sold for hundreds more. There are more than ten thousand stones, this is the extra revenue.

We price all the commodities that can be circulated in the country at a uniform price, and the country’s losses in salt can be recovered by selling grain, farm tools, clothes, and cattle.

With more money in their pockets, ordinary people can wear clothes to avoid the cold, buy cattle and cultivate land, which not only promotes weaving, but also realizes the expansion of production, and the income of the household department is increased every year.

In these years, the wars in the northwest and southwest were the first surveys, and it was time to resume production. However, the imperial court could not distribute food and money to the people for free every year.

However, the income of the people in the northwest and southwest is pitifully scarce every year, and they can’t even afford to wear clothes when they buy high-priced salt and grain, so how can they talk about restoring their vitality.

Why is the silk, silk, and clothing industries in Jiangnan unable to increase their production every year? Is it because they cannot be sold due to price constraints? No, because except for the rich Jiangnan, people in any place in Ming Dynasty have no energy to buy clothes anymore.

I heard that the Northwest family of five wears the same clothes, and whoever goes out wears them, leaving the wife and children at home naked, is it ridiculous?No, it is really sad!
Merchants seek profit, and take the silk cloth from the south of the Yangtze River to the northwest to sell it for a tael of silver a piece. How can the common people have enough money to bear it?

Is it important to put on the face of the clothes, or the inside of the stomach? There is no doubt that the face is more important than the stomach.

In terms of policy, the imperial court gave convenience to the southwest and northwest, so that the rapid recovery of the two places will naturally drive the weaving industry in the south of the Yangtze River to expand production and increase income.

The people in the northwest and southwest have enough food and clothes, and they will not die of cold and hunger every winter, and they will give birth to more offspring. With more people, the development of the northwest and southwest will naturally speed up.

The development of forestry, animal husbandry, aquaculture, and mining is bound to increase. The price of wood purchased by the imperial court from the southwest every year will decrease, the price of beef, mutton, and pork will decrease, and the price of chicken, duck, geese, and poultry will also decrease. The cost of cutting blades and casting cannons will be reduced.

The country's expenditures are decreasing year by year, and its revenue is increasing year by year. Are you still worried that the country has no money? In a word, the country is rich if the people are rich, and if the people are poor, the country's wealth is just rootless duckweed. "

Without realizing the prosperity of the whole people, there will be no prosperity of the country and the strength of the people!

If it weren't for the fear of Zhu Yuanzhang's violent reaction, Chen Yunfu even planned to study the pilot tax reform policy with Lao Zhu.

This is a big deal, which is enough for Zhu Yuanzhang to digest.

Sure enough, after Chen Yunfu finished speaking for a long while, Zhu Yuanzhang didn't react.

Look at Chen Yunfu, then look at Baoxiang.

a long time.

"Baoxiang, go find Biao'er, I'm a little confused right now."

(End of this chapter)