Ming Dynasty: Moral blackmail? I, Emperor Chongzhen, have no morals!

Hong Chengchou thought for a moment and then asked, "Does the military pay for the Jiangnan region need to be transferred from Shanxi?"

This year's military pay will still be collected by local governments from regular taxes and Liaodong taxes, and supplied to the troops in Jiangnan who are suppressing bandits. However, next year all regular taxes and Liaodong taxes will be exempted, and the military pay for the Jiangnan troops will be left unpaid. Therefore, Hong Chengchou is reminding Zhu Jian to make plans in advance.

"The salt tax from Lianghuai and the commercial tax from Jiangnan will all be used to fund the army!"

Hong Chengchou continued, "Are the back salaries of local officials and princes being paid on time?"

"If we don't issue them, everyone from the Grand Secretary down to the lowest-ranking official will be allowed to resign and find their own way in life!"

After saying that, he added, "Those who resign from office will not be allowed to serve in office for three generations!"

Zhu Jian plans to use these officials' salaries to force an increase in commercial and mining taxes! Whether you're from the Donglin Party or any other faction, since you oppose increasing commercial and mining taxes, then you can use your own money to pay for the work, or you can resign and go home!

The statutory tax rate for commercial taxes was originally one-thirtieth (about 3.3%), but later, for some reason, it was reduced to 1.5% to benefit the people.

There's also the salt tax. In the first year of the Tianqi reign, after the eunuch Cui Chengxiu reformed it, it collected 2.5 million taels of silver a year. During the Chongzhen reign, after Li Sancai, a member of the Donglin Party, became the governor of Huaiyang, it dropped to less than 1 million taels of silver. Now it's less than 600,000 taels of silver!

Needless to say, tea tax was already low during the Ming Dynasty, and it shrank drastically during the Chongzhen era. After Emperor Chongzhen (Zhu Youjian) ascended the throne, tea tax in Zhejiang alone decreased by 50%...

Will these officials starve? Of course not. These literati, though "clean-handed," still receive generous fees for their writing!

Would the local gentry and landlords not give face to a calligraphy or painting handwritten by the county magistrate? Wasn't the Ming Dynasty a society based on personal connections...?

"Three...three generations without officials...isn't that a bit too much?" Li Banghua asked with a troubled expression.

"Now that the nation is in peril, those who abandon it are not virtuous ministers or good sons!"

"Once the nation is out of danger, we will discard it!"

Then, changing the subject, he added, "Of course, if there are ways to increase revenue, we can continue to pay officials' salaries. As for the imperial relatives, there's no need for that. The two vassal states of the Jin Dynasty have stated that they will not go hungry even in twenty years!"

Zhu Jian was referring to the wealth and status of the top-ranking members of the imperial clan, while many of the lower-ranking members had become refugees, just like Liu Bei, the descendant of Prince Jing of Zhongshan, who was also weaving straw sandals.

Since the Liu family clan can weave straw sandals, then the Zhu family clan can weave straw sandals too.

Saying they won't farm, trade, or serve in government is pure nonsense. Nobody cares about that anymore... It's quite possible that some of their relatives are now rebelling alongside the likes of Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong in the peasant army!

"Yes!" Li Banghua replied, cupping his hands in greeting.

"Xiang Sheng, send 1.5 million taels of silver to Liaodong! Remember, it's silver!"

Zhu Jian had already paid Liaodong 1.5 million taels of military pay. Now he will pay them another 1.5 million taels, and then pay them again in three months. This will ensure that the Guan Ning Army will not be hungry or starving, and that there will be no arrears in their pay.

We'd rather not feed them too much and cause trouble, since the Liaodong Army isn't Zhu Jian's central army... and Zuo Liangyu and the other armies in Jiangnan aren't Zhu Jian's central army either, so we won't let them eat their fill in terms of pay!

At present, the three towns of Shanxi, Taiyuan, the capital, Jizhou, and the newly trained army are all Zhu Jian's central army. These troops are definitely being paid their full pay and well-fed!

"yes!"

"Are the military salaries of the troops stationed in Taiyuan being paid now?" Lu Xiang-sheng asked again.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Jian replied without hesitation, "Distribute! Not only to Taiyuan, but also to Shanxi, Datong, and Xuanfu, the three towns of Datong and Xuanfu, your 20,000 troops receiving pay, and the new army trained by Sun Chuanting! Distribute them all!"

"Payment should be distributed along with grain and cloth, ensuring the soldiers are well-fed and clothed, thus improving their combat effectiveness!"

"As you command!"

After Lu Xiang-sheng left, Zhu Jian asked, "How many soldiers has Sun Chuanting trained so far?"

"Your Majesty, the soldier who delivered the decree to Lord Sun has returned and said that the recruitment has reached 50,000, but only 18,000 of them are fully equipped with armor. The remaining soldiers are being urgently manufactured by the Ordnance Department!" Hong Chengchou said from the side.

"Send an imperial edict to Sun Chuanting, ordering Yang Guozhu to lead his troops and 18,000 new recruits to Kaifeng for garrison duty!"

"Issue another decree to Zhou Yuji in Datong, ordering him to lead his troops to Taiyuan to join me!"

"Yes!" Hong Chengchou accepted the order and was about to leave when he seemed to remember something, stopped, turned around, and said, "If Your Majesty wishes to annihilate Li Zicheng, I will lead the troops there!"

"Now that the tax exemption decree has been issued, the number of people willing to follow Li Zicheng will surely decrease sharply, and he can be wiped out in less than a year!"

Hong Chengchou is now very confident in annihilating Li Zicheng. Qin Liangyu and Zheng Chongjian have already surrounded Li Zicheng in Shaanxi. As long as he leads his troops there, he will surely wipe out Li Zicheng within a year! At that time, the peasant army will be basically pacified!

Zhu Jian waved his hand: "I have no intention of suppressing Li Zicheng!"

"I am preparing a surprise attack on Zhang Xianzhong!"

"Zhang Xianzhong?"

He then added specifically, "Zhang Xianzhong has already surrendered to Xiong Wencan, the Premier of Five Provinces, in Gucheng!"

Zhu Jian sneered, "Hasn't Zhang Xianzhong surrendered countless times?"

"Starting from the sixth year of the Chongzhen Emperor's reign, he has repeatedly feigned surrender. Now that I have the resources, it's time to eliminate him!"

Zhu Jian knew very well that in history, it was in May of this year (the twelfth year of Chongzhen, 1639) that Zhang Xianzhong rebelled again in Gucheng! At the same time, Li Zicheng also broke out from the Shangluo Mountains, and the two forces were unstoppable, and the Ming court could no longer suppress them!

Zhu Jian believed this was also related to the increased training pay! They rebelled after the training pay was increased, and now Zhu Jian had already issued a decree to exempt all taxes in the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty. As for whether Zhang Xianzhong would rebel again, he didn't know, but he wouldn't gamble on Zhang Xianzhong's loyalty!

Upon hearing this, Hong Chengchou hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, if we do that, the court will lose the trust of the people!"

Zhu Jian smirked, "The people of the world? Can Zhang Xianzhong represent the people of the world?"

"Self...self cannot represent us, but in that case, the other peasant army leaders will have no room to surrender!"

"Zhang Xianzhong only represents himself, not others. I cannot and disdain to repay evil with kindness!"

"Those who sincerely pledge allegiance to the court will be given important positions by me; General Gao Jie and Liu Guoneng are examples of this!"

Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng were the two main forces of the peasant uprising army. Zhu Jian wanted to cut off one of them first, but Li Zicheng was hiding in Shaanxi and was not easy to cut off. So he could only cut off Zhang Xianzhong, who was preparing to make a comeback in Gucheng!

"Your Majesty, please reconsider. If this precedent is set, the chances of recruiting others in the future will be slim!" Hong Chengchou advised.

The strategy of combining appeasement and suppression was a battle plan set by the cabinet and the Ministry of War, and it was also a plan highly recommended by Yang Sichang. However, Hong Chengchou felt that now it seemed that Zhu Jian was going to completely reject this plan!

"No need!"

"Once Zhou Yuji arrives in Taiyuan, depart immediately! General Cao Bianjiao, Gao Jie, Liu Guoneng, Meng Ruhu, and He Renlong will also depart together!"

"As for the battle plan, don't tell them yet!..."

Hong Chengchou sighed deeply, "As you command!"

Regarding the direction of the peasant army's operations, Hong Chengchou still favored Yang Sichang's approach of both appeasement and suppression! However, Zhu Jian's plan to directly annihilate the already surrendered peasant army would inevitably be attacked by public opinion, so we can only hope that Zhu Jian can hold on.

Otherwise, due to the pressure of public opinion, he would definitely be the scapegoat, but for now, we can only carry out the order!