The Great Bandit in Kangxi Year

Chapter 203
The battle did not come to an end until July 1675. It took more than five months to capture Jiangxi, Hunan and other three provinces despite the desperate fighting of an army of 60. The Ming Dynasty's own casualties were also about 16.

Luo Sen and Zheng Jiaolin, the commanders-in-chief of Sichuan, saw that the Ming Dynasty was powerful and the unification of the country was a foregone conclusion. Under the persecution of hundreds of thousands of troops, they had to surrender with [-] remnants.

Within half a year, Wei Donglai and others recovered Hunan, Jiangxi and other four provinces, but Jiang Tao was not happy because the treasury ran out of money.

The big campaign that mobilized 60 people cost tens of millions of taels of military expenditure every month, not counting the compensation for casualties, and it cost more than 600 million taels to buy more than [-] surrendered troops.

During this period, Jiang Tao ordered Jiang Shi to regain the messy Shaanxi and Gansu provinces, so that the pressure on the government was even greater.

Although the agricultural tax has been exempted for three years in the Ming Dynasty, the commercial tax is still collected. The monthly tax and the Dutch trade profits are about 800 million taels, and there are more than 5000 million taels in the treasury, but this battle has been fought. Over five months, a total of more than 8000 million taels of silver was spent, so that only more than 800 million taels of silver were left in the treasury.

This was indeed beyond Jiang Tao's expectations. Now more than 20 troops have been recruited, with a total of more than 150 million regular troops and 30 police forces. Without fighting, they also spend more than 600 million in military pay every month.

In other words, if you don't try to make money, the country will run into a financial deficit before long, and it won't even be able to pay soldiers.

The main reason for this is that Jiang Tao is self-confident, making double noises during the war, high rewards for killing enemies, and high compensation for casualties, but it is not without benefits. Under the supervision of military orders, the soldiers of all armies are brave and brave. It is even more fierce pursuit, otherwise the Great Zhou Army will not be defeated within half a year.

Because Jiang Tao issued an imperial decree, whoever takes Wu Sangui's head will not only be promoted to three ranks, but will also be rewarded with a reward of ten thousand taels.

In this way, it is impossible to attack Yunnan and Guizhou again. Fortunately, the autumn harvest is coming soon, and the six northern provinces do not need to be subsidized by the state. Jiang Tao hastened to convene the cabinet ministers to discuss the matter, otherwise the consequences would be disastrous.

In fact, Cheng Zhang and others were also studying this matter. When Jiang Tao asked a question, Cheng Zhang immediately replied: "My lord, now that Man Qing and Wu Sangui are dying, there is no need to maintain so many soldiers and horses. We can reduce the regular army by 50. Save 200 million taels of silver."

To be honest, Jiang Tao was reluctant to disarm. After all, Galdan, Kangxi, Wu Shifan, and Mongolian ministries all had certain strengths, and their threatening power was not small. There were Raksha people farther away, and they were just about to move.

Especially Kangxi, the most not to be underestimated. I heard that he has recently annexed several Mongolian tribes, and his strength has become a little bigger.

Jiang Tao had a headache and couldn't help looking at Wei Donglai, the representative of the military.

Wei Donglai understood what Jiang Tao meant, and said confidently: "My lord, disarming the army is of great benefit. Only 60 infantry and 20 cavalry are enough. The rest of the army can be cut. The navy now has more than 8 people and can cut half of it." .”

Jiang Tao was taken aback. He didn't expect Wei Donglai to cut more. He saw Huang Zongxi and the others nodded repeatedly, and was about to ask a question, but Wei Donglai continued, "My lord, the sharpshooter has contributed a lot to this battle. Forty sharpshooters can be formed." , a total of 60 people, two artillery divisions are enough, plus 20 cavalry, the combat power is definitely stronger than the previous 150 million army. As for the navy, there is no need to set up a marine corps at all, and recently the navy has seized very little, but it has built warships, which cost countless."

Seeing that Huang Zongxi and Gu Yanwu both nodded in agreement, Jiang Tao felt very unhappy. The reason why the navy has seized very little recently is because the Portuguese were kicked out of Macau, and the strength of the pirates was greatly reduced. Except for the Dutch ships, they dared to come and go. It was robbed by the navy acting as a pirate, so that no one dared to step into the South China Sea.

This also caused great harm, which was a heavy blow to the interests of Chinese maritime merchants. In the end, Jiang Tao knew that if he wanted to enter Southeast Asia, he had to rely on these people, so he sent someone to contact him. Under the temptation, Jiang Tao successfully established a complete intelligence network in Southeast Asia.

Jiang Tao knows that the benefits are within the range of the cannon, otherwise the benefits will be unreliable, and the navy is a mobile fort, no matter how much money is spent, the navy must continue to run, so he approved another [-] seal-class cruise ships. Shipbuilding plan.

The Sea Lion-class cruiser, which is more powerful than the Seal-class cruiser, is also being perfected. As long as the water test is successful, it will be built in batches.

Jiang Tao didn't blame the decrease in the navy's seizures. As long as Shi Lang could bring the caravan back safely, there must be extraordinary gains.

He didn't expect Wei Donglai to blatantly suppress the navy, and Huang Zongyi and Gu Yanwu both agreed. Most people must have felt that they were wrong. The navy that cost a lot of money to build was useless. Jiang Tao didn't want to explain too much. He wanted to prove the usefulness of the navy with facts .

However, he agrees with Wei Donglai's plan to form an elite army. Now he has established 20 sharpshooters and 3 cavalry troops. After the disarmament, he can almost maintain the status quo. Using this method, forty sharpshooter divisions and [-] cavalry troops will be formed within two years to become a field army, um, plus the [-]rd sharpshooter division."

"The abolished soldiers and horses select 40 to become the local garrison army, stick to the pass or city, and protect the safety of the place. The remaining 50 soldiers and horses select 10 to join the police force. Go back to your hometown."

In this way, the local garrison became a second-line force, and the salaries of officers and soldiers at all levels were reduced by one-fifth.

The 40 police force is dedicated to maintaining local law and order. Today, there are nearly 900 counties under the Ming Dynasty, which means that there are only more than 400 police officers in a county. In troubled times, they are no match for bandits at all. Suppressing everything, coupled with the assistance of the local garrison, should be able to maintain the local order.

Moreover, the salary of the police force is one-third less than that of the regular army, and the state only needs to distribute a part of the food, and it doesn't care about eating.

They can also marry and have children. There are not as strict military orders as in the army, and the amount of daily training is also reduced by more than half. Presumably, some of the defeated soldiers will be willing.

As long as there is a big war, the local garrison can be transformed into a regular army at any time. Jiang Tao knows that this is only a stopgap measure, and the only way for everyone to perform compulsory military service is the last word. However, people in this era have not yet had such a high awareness.

If we want to improve the consciousness of the people, we can only promote education, but this requires money, a lot of silver, and the national treasury is obviously empty.

"My lord is wise! In this way, there will be no big commotion!" Gu Yanwu agreed first, and everyone nodded.

"Is there any other way?" Jiang Tao was very helpless. In this way, he could only save more than 200 million taels of silver every month.

"My lord, now the grain production in the territory is stable, and every household in the countryside raises chickens and pigs, so there is no need to buy large quantities of grain, cattle and sheep. This way, we can save 300 million taels a month." Cheng Zhang suggested.

"Okay, you can also buy a large number of horses from various Mongolian tribes, import a lot of luxury goods to various Mongolian tribes, and break the relationship between the Manchus and the Mongols, otherwise they will definitely violate the border, and the purchase of European war horses with the Dutch cannot stop. Next, after all, European war horses can form heavy cavalry, which is far from being comparable to Mongolian horses. This is the case with 20 cavalry, [-] tiger and leopard cavalry, [-] spear cavalry, and [-] light cavalry."

When Jiang Tao said this, he allocated the 2 sharpshooters again: "The Korean military region has Han Yong as its general, and there are three sharpshooters and a part of the [-]nd sharpshooter division under its command. The Liaodong military region has Jiang Wuji as its chief general. There are four sharpshooters under his command, [-] light and heavy cavalry plus the first sharpshooter division."

"The Shaanxi-Gansu Military Region is led by Jiang Shi, and there are two sharpshooter divisions under his command, one of which is the second sharpshooter division."

"Wang Dashan is the main general in the Southwest Military Region, and there are three Sharpshooter Divisions under his command, plus the 3rd Artillery Division."

"Shandong, Hebei, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Taiwan, Fujian, Guangdong, and Sichuan each sent a sharpshooter to garrison."

"In addition to the North Korean military region, 40 of the 15 local garrison troops belonged to the other three major military regions, and the main force was to defend the border. The remaining 25 guarded the key towns."

Jiang Tao finished speaking in one breath, and added: "As for the other [-] sharpshooters, they are reorganizing and training near Jiangning, waiting for equipment. The cabinet will prepare for half a month, and the whole army will compete in half a month. The king will personally supervise the elite troops, while the navy will remain unchanged, and the navy will form three marine divisions."

Although the productivity has been improved, one sharpshooter can be equipped in a month, but it will not be completed in a short period of time. It is estimated that all equipment will be completed in March 1677.

"My lord, even if this is the case, there is no money to set up various factories in the north." Cheng Zhang raised the most acute question.

Money again!
Jiang Tao is crazy, hey, by the way, Huaxing Bank can be established, and deposits can earn interest.

As soon as everyone saves money, the bank will have money, and then I can borrow money to make up money.

In fact, it is equivalent to borrowing money from the common people, but it is not on the surface. After all, directly borrowing money from the subjects of the Ming Dynasty is an insult to the majesty of the court. The more Jiang Tao thinks about it, the more feasible it is.

The silver standard is a monetary system in which silver is the standard currency.There are two types of silver standard and silver coin standard.The silver standard is based on the silver weight "two" as the price standard for the circulation of silver bullion.The silver coin standard means that the state stipulates that silver is a monetary metal, and that silver coins of a certain shape, weight and fineness are required to be cast; silver coins can be cast and melted freely; bank notes can be freely exchanged for silver coins or silver; silver coins and silver can be freely exported or imported , to ensure the stability of the foreign exchange market.

In the history of currency, silver served as the standard currency earlier than gold.But gold is far superior to silver as a monetary commodity.With the development of economy in western countries, the silver standard system first transitioned to the gold and silver bistandard system, and was replaced by the gold standard system after the 19s.

At present, the world's major powers such as Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Britain, France and other countries are on the silver standard, so the use of the silver standard will promote international trade.At the same time, silver has gradually become a monetary metal since the Han Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, silver was actually monetized. Now it coexists with copper coins and gold. Enter the stage of a real silver standard currency system.

It was not until the "Currency Regulations" was promulgated in the second year of Xuantong (AD [-]) that the silver standard was officially adopted, with "yuan" as the currency unit, a silver coin with a weight of seven cents and two cents of Kuping, and a fineness of [-]%. Implement the silver standard system.

At the same time, although the current Ming Dynasty has half a foot in the silver standard country, there is a serious problem. Daming is a country that lacks silver. Although the country is vast, it lacks silver, and the amount of mining cannot keep up with the accumulation of national wealth. , always constrains economic development.Therefore, it is still a situation where silver, copper coins and gold coexist in China.

However, there was also a shortage of copper coins in the Ming Dynasty, and the copper raw materials for casting coins had to be imported from the Philippines and Japan, so the currency system that relied on foreign countries was easily manipulated by other countries.Historically, after the First Sino-Japanese War, large-scale dumping of silver by the great powers to China was the main means of economic aggression.

It will be several hundred years before the silver standard system is replaced by the gold standard system, and the use of the silver dollar standard can reduce fire consumption, implement yuan, jiao, fen, yuan is minted with silver, and jiao and fen coins are minted with copper.

In this way, when there is no need to change the money, chopping up the silver or finding a lot of copper can make the people trade better. This is what Jiang Tao has already considered, and he hurriedly told the cabinet ministers, but he knew in his heart Mexico, the Philippines and other places must be occupied, otherwise problems will arise sooner or later.

Ministers who understand this, even the knowledgeable Huang Zongyi was dumbfounded, but hearing that it can relieve financial pressure and use private wealth to create greater wealth, each of them said that they could try it in a small area.

(End of this chapter)