My Pen Pal Zhu Yuanzhang

Chapter 226: The Big Issue of Grain Tax

After the test of the new gun in the martial arts field was a great success, the new gun quickly entered the mass production stage. Based on the experience of the trial production stage, Liu Sanwu began to organize manpower and train new assembly line workers.

Fortunately, the Craftsman Academy continuously supplies high-quality workers to the factories of the Industrial Department, otherwise Li Min would have to worry about the problem of insufficient manpower again.

Of course, it is impossible to completely replace the needle-fired guns at the beginning when manufacturing the new guns. The original needle-fired guns are still being produced, but the output has begun to decrease compared to before.

On the one hand, of course, the new gun uses a brand-new technology, and there are not many skilled workers. In addition, the output of many new mechanical equipment has not caught up, and the workers also need to continue to get used to the new equipment.

On the other hand, the Ming army was too large, and it would be difficult to replace all of them with new guns in a short period of time.

The total strength of the Beijing garrison, the garrisons in various places, and the border troops has reached one million and two hundred thousand people, but less than 40% of them can be equipped with needle-fired guns.

Of course, among them, the 200,000 Beijing troops in the Beijing Camp of Yingtian Prefecture have all been equipped with needle-shot rifles, and the northern border troops and the garrisons guarding the northwest, the desert, Liaodong, Goryeo and other places have also realized the use of thermal weapons.

However, in the southwest and inland garrisons, the equipment rate of needle-fired guns was less than 20%, and some garrisons could not even reach 10%, and they still mainly relied on cold weapons such as swords and guns.

However, in Zhu Yuanzhang's plan, after the new guns were officially put into service, the obsolete needle-fired guns could be equipped to the garrisons in various places in batches.

Soon, the first batch of one thousand Type 56 semi-automatic rifles were produced and equipped to the Musketeer Battalion first. As a large amount of bullets arrived, the Musketeer Battalion also began training with the new guns.

Zhu Yuanzhang then issued the "Three-Three" system as a new training outline.

When Xu Da, Li Wenzhong and others saw the three-three system for the first time, they were quite confused. According to their ideas, the linear formation could of course bring out the greatest advantage of muskets.

This will split the officers and soldiers that make up the array into groups of three. Doesn't this disperse the firepower?

However, after trying to train a musket battalion using the three-three system, they found that they were extremely wrong.

Although on the surface it seems that the firepower cannot be concentrated because the combat personnel are dispersed, in actual operations they found that although the personnel are dispersed, the intensity and sustainability of the firepower are further enhanced.

Because the ammunition capacity is ten rounds, it can ensure that every soldier can achieve continuous shooting at different times.

Moreover, every soldier in each group can coordinate with each other, and the speed of attack is far beyond the linear formation.

At the same time, since each soldier is in a three-three system, while some soldiers are attacking forward, there are soldiers beside them to provide cover and shooting. This not only effectively protects themselves, but also forms a powerful firepower suppression on the enemy!
Moreover, the three-three system can not only be used in battles on plains, but is also more suitable for complex terrains such as mountains and jungles. It can almost be said to be a perfect tactic.

After training for a period of time and the soldiers and officers of the musket battalion used in the experiment mastered the three-three system, Li Wenzhong was surprised to find that the opponents attacked by the three-three system were actually enemies also equipped with powerful firepower.

In other words, the three-three system is used to enable the weak to defeat the strong!

In other words, if the current Ming army used the new guns and the three-three system to fight against an enemy army that only used swords, spears and muskets, then the outcome of the battle, well, maybe the only thing the Ming army needs to worry about is that the under-trained recruits accidentally hurt themselves.

Although His Majesty did not explicitly state who created the Three-Three System, Xu Da and others knew it clearly in their minds. Apart from a genius, who else could have such a genius idea?

It seems that this extraordinary person is not only knowledgeable about the world, but also an expert in military law!
With the promotion of the three-three system, Zhu Di and Xu Huizu also quickly entered into training.

Li Jinglong saw this and became even more anxious. He had no part in the Northern Expedition, and was not allowed to participate in the maritime trade. Seeing that both Zhu Di and Xu Huizu had made great achievements, and Xu Huizu was even on the honor roll in the palace, he became even more jealous.

After visiting Zhu Yuanzhang several times in the palace, he finally persuaded Zhu Yuanzhang to give him the title of a centurion of the musket battalion and let him go to train with him. …

Yunnan, Cheli Xuanweisi, in the Mansacha Mountains on the border with Laos.

Dao Han has been living with his tribe in the Mansacha Mountains since he was born and has never gone out in his life.

They call themselves "Dai", but the Han people outside call them Baiyi.

Dao Han has lived in the old mountains for generations, living in peace with the world. The only news from the outside world he knows is that the Yuan Dynasty has fallen and now it is the Ming Dynasty.

He only found out about this last year when an official from the Ming Dynasty came to the tribe and announced that the tribe was now under the jurisdiction of the Cheli Xuanwei Office.

He didn't understand what the Yuan Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty were, and he couldn't figure out the difference, but he felt that the Ming Dynasty was better than the Yuan Dynasty.

Because the officials of the Ming Dynasty said that the establishment of the new dynasty must bring about a new atmosphere, and the grain tax should be exempted for three years. From then on, the harvest would only need to be one out of ten for every ten crops planted.

It was just right that he could farm well in these few years, save some money, marry the beautiful Sunny, have a few more children, and then live like this for the rest of his life.

However, the chieftain of the tribe, Master Yanwen, seemed very dissatisfied with the Ming Dynasty. Daohan did not understand this. He thought that the Ming Dynasty had not collected taxes for three years, which was already very good.

In the past, during the Yuan Dynasty, taxes were very severe, with a typical rate of 30% for every 10% you planted. In the last few years, taxes were draconian, with a typical rate of 5% for every 10% you planted. At the most severe times, the rate was even 70%. Dao Han's mother starved to death, all because of the Yuan Dynasty.

But ever since the officials from the Ming Dynasty came, the chieftain has been cursing all day long, as if the Ming Dynasty's failure to collect taxes was harming him.

However, Dao Han didn't dare to ask about the chieftain's affairs, otherwise he would be skinned alive by the chieftain!

It is the season for harvesting Panax notoginseng recently. While Dao Han is not farming, he also goes to the mountains to harvest Panax notoginseng and sells it to traveling merchants who often come to the mountains to collect medicinal herbs. He can also exchange it for some salt and other things.

The traveling merchant told him that someone from the Ming Dynasty imperial court had come again, and they were high-ranking officials from the capital, and were showing moving pictures in several nearby tribes.

Those moving pictures were magical. The people in them moved and talked, just like gods.

Seeing what the traveling merchant said was amazing, Dao Han also felt curious and wanted to go and take a look, but without the permission of the chieftain, no one in the tribe could leave the village without permission.

Dao Han also wants to go outside the mountain to take a look!

The traveling merchants had traveled far and seen a lot, and in Dao Han's eyes, they were people who had seen the world and knew a lot. So Dao Han quietly asked them why the chieftains were so angry after the Ming Dynasty announced that it would not collect taxes, when exempting grain taxes was obviously a good thing!
After hearing this, the traveling merchant looked as if he was used to it, smiled bitterly, and told him that it was because the chieftain himself could not take advantage of it.

This made Dao Han even more puzzled, because the taxes were paid to the imperial court, so what did the chieftain have to do with it?

The traveling merchant secretly told him that during the Yuan Dynasty, taxes from the imperial court were collected by chieftains, and there was a lot to it.

Although the chieftains collected several percent of the grain, they could privately withhold one or two percent. Even if the court wanted to increase the tax by 10%, the chieftains would arbitrarily increase it to 20% or 30%.

But now the Ming Dynasty has announced a three-year exemption from grain tax, and after three years, 10% of the grain tax will be collected by officials from the Cheli Xuanwei Office. The chieftains will no longer be able to embezzle the money.

This is the 226th chapter. I made a mistake and got the chapter number wrong. The chapter number cannot be modified. I can only leave it as it is. It will not affect the reading. In the future, just follow the chapter number given by Qidian.
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(End of this chapter)