open sea

Chapter 1068 Road Consumption

People have become accustomed to fighting in Chen Mu's way, that is, every time they fight a battle, they can earn a lot for the government and the opposition.

What the imperial court looks at is how much they earn back, but people from all walks of life other than officials and merchants, they see that the imperial court is using war for their welfare. Opponents, it's just that their voices are easily suppressed by the customs tax documents of the Ministry of Household Affairs.

Being an emperor in ancient China was difficult most of the time, because you had to face the fact that this land was the place with the highest intensity of peasant uprisings in the whole earth.

Because the theory of blood lineage does not work here, no dynasty is born by birth, and the interests of the majority of people in all classes must be safeguarded. There are many kinds of legitimacy of imperial power, and the most effective one is to save the people from fire and water.

If there is no such achievement, then we can only promote Buddhism and let the people give up this life to practice blessings in the next life.

Officials are born from the common people, learn benevolence and practice loyalty and filial piety. Naturally, personal desires are high officials and rich salary, but political ideals are not lacking in benefiting one side in any place.Therefore, in this dynasty where the centralization of power is said to be very strong in the history books, local officials will choose to conceal the population in order to pay less taxes to the court.

But this is not only contrary to the interests of the court, but also dereliction of duty and breaking the law, but morality allows them to do so.

The same contradiction also exists in wars, wars that do not seek to repay the strategic significance is greater than the actual rewards, and the people do not want wars.

Maybe they also want to avenge their hatred and be loyal to the court, but once such a war involves each of them serving corvee, laying down their own land to build roads, build bridges, and drive ox carts when the farming should be busy To transport food on the front line, you have to hand over some of the rice in your rice tank every now and then?
That's different.

Sometimes local officials will stand with the common people. This is not a big mistake, but the angle is different.

And the most crucial thing, officials and magistrates usually don't understand military affairs.

In the eyes of Emperor Wanli, the strategic significance of controlling the grassland was clearly the nail that would raid the belly of the grassland and cut off the communication between the Mongolian Jurchens. The extremely clear map was placed in front of them, and there was nothing but a barren land.

This is a difficult problem.

The emperor was full of enthusiasm, but he couldn't solve the practical problem. No matter how much food was transported from Nanyang to Qi Jiguang's army, it could not solve the problem of transporting food from Tianjin to Qi Jiguang's army. There will be a day when I finish eating... Besides, this is really a stupid method, cattle and sheep can do many things besides being turned into food.

But Emperor Wanli's cabinet can solve the most difficult things. The emperor stood behind him, and with a big wave of his hand, he blocked all the mouths of the court that wanted to speak.

After Duoqing, the middle-aged god has already broken his can and smashed it. Anyway, he has already been scolded bloody, and the dignified chief minister of the empire even used the words that pigs and dogs are inferior. Are you afraid of being scolded and ruthless again?
Power is a necessary factor for carrying out major events without short-term interests.

In the face of the war, there is no disadvantage in sacrificing the test method. The tasks assigned by the cabinet to the governing departments and the counties along the way have been refined.

"The teacher's solution is something I can learn." Emperor Wanli in Qianqing Palace looked in the direction of the cabinet with a thoughtful look, and asked Wang An: "Should I also implement the method of examination in the palace?"

Zhang Juzheng silently resolved the resistance to excessive consumption of grain and grass.

The chief assistant of the empire didn't even say a word, but just issued an official document to the Ministry of Household Affairs, the Ministry of War, the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Sixth Division.

The official document is short and inconspicuous, but its content is scary.

In the past, transporting grain, grass, armored soldiers, salt and iron from county A to county B was a matter of legal examination, and local officials would be convicted and punished if they did not do well.

Now, transporting a thousand shi of grain and grass or a number of armored soldiers, salt and iron from County A to County B is a matter of legal examination, and the local officials will be convicted and punished if they do not do well.

In the past, if you failed to deliver [-] shi of grain and grass, you would be convicted of one crime in the monthly inspection and half-yearly report; now you will be convicted of ten crimes during the inspection when you ship [-] shi of grain and grass. It is a matter of fine salary or demotion, and it is a matter of dismissal or imprisonment.

Wang An is a student of the Neishutang, and the teachers of the Neishutang are Hanlin, so he can read and understand. He poured cold water on the emperor's optimism, saying: "The order of the elder Ge is very good for the imperial court to organize military affairs, but that's it. As a result, local officials who love the people will either send more corvees against their will, or resign on the spot; on the contrary, officials who do not care about the power of the people will pass the exam because of this, and when they expire, they will be promoted, and the local people will lose their support.

Emperor Wanli raised his eyebrows lightly, and said with a smile: "You can think of it, how could Master and I not think of it?"

The emperor took out the letter from his arms and shook it in his hands: "I will issue an edict to allocate the Taicang silver to the places along the way. The soldiers and civilians will be forced to serve. The guards will deposit one cent of the daily silver for grain, and the common people will deposit four cents of the daily silver for grain. The old road was repaired along the [-] li along the road from Qingshan Pass outside the Great Wall to Daning City, and Taicang also paid for it.”

"I've done the calculations. In this way, even if Qi Shuai goes all the way to the northernmost point of Wuliangha, the imperial court's monthly expenditure on shipping costs will not be much more..."

Emperor Wanli raised his eyebrows, showing a strange sense of satisfaction, and his tone was light and bright: "It's only 3 taels. If it needs to be transported for a year, it just happens to spend the silver that Dadongyang transported in Beijing last year."

Wang An pursed his lips and dared not make a sound.

This is just freight, food and utensils are all taxed by the local government or allocated by Taicang grain, and it is not considered road construction materials. It costs a thousand taels of silver a day, and the emperor's grandfather actually used "cai", only 3 taels a month?

If the first emperor, who was reluctant to spend 50 taels, knew about this expense, wouldn't he come out of Zhaoling and kick your ass?

More importantly, it doesn't matter if the emperor did all the good things, but Zhang Juzheng did the bad things. Wang An couldn't bear it, and said: "In this way, the war is over, Mr. Ge..."

Regarding this, Emperor Wanli's expression was as usual, and he just said a word softly: "He is Zhang Juzheng of the empire."

The emperor knew that the teacher once said 'I am not a phase, but a photo', so how do you say that?The filth of the country is called the master of the country; the bad luck of the country is the king of the world.

Since the teacher is the regent, good and bad, let's bear it all together.

"Don't look at me like that. Although the money won't rot in Taicang, it's also useless. Isn't it just right to give it to the poor soldiers and civilians who work hard for the court? The reason why I say so is because other things cost more. In order to reduce road consumption, small carts that can only transport one or two stones are no longer used, and double carriages are used. One cart can transport twelve stones of grain and grass to the front line, and most of the money is spent on road repairs, and there are no roads. Local cars can’t move.”

Emperor Wanli said while lying on the deck of Wanli Room and wrote a letter to the Steam Bureau, saying: "It would be great if Lord Huodexing could run faster. I want to build a road from Beiyang to Qingshankou for Lord Huodexing to run." Road, as long as you can pull things and walk four miles in an hour, there will be no road consumption."

Wang An reminded: "Your Majesty, Lord Huode Xing doesn't eat food, but he eats coal."

"As long as you don't eat food, there is no road consumption, and there is a lot of coal in Shuntian. If it can be done, several roads in the country will have to be repaired. Outside the Great Wall, not only at Qingshan Pass, but also in Wuliangha. When Buta Shili grows up, there will be more roads. Build to Tumochuan, then connect Tumochuan, Wuliangha, and Jianzhou, north to east and west.”

When the emperor said this, he raised his head and lowered his eyes to look at Wang An: "As long as there is no road consumption, how much rice grain can be transported to Tianjin, and how much rice grain can be delivered to Wuliangha? Food, supplies, and even soldiers were sent to Uliangha.”

"There is no need to worry about food consumption, and the army has no fatigue from traveling. They can fight when they come to the place. Do you think about what Daming was like at that time?"

"Your Majesty, last time Beiyang said how many taels a mile is?" Wang An took a deep breath slowly and said, "I only heard Your Majesty say that His Majesty's treasury has plenty of silver."

"Hey hey, you're right."

The little eunuch's words made the emperor smile. He threw charcoal on the deck, raised his chin proudly, then shrugged his shoulders and laughed loudly: "I am rich, I am so rich! Haha, hahahaha."

(End of this chapter)