Forewarned is forearmed, without prejudging the waste!
Since we have already made preparations for another war with the Japanese pirates, we naturally need to be prepared in advance!
The economic situation of Ming Dynasty is mainly reflected in state-owned enterprises.
The royal textile factory established by the empress has expanded a lot in scale. Because it is no longer enough to use only palace maids, some women from the capital have also been recruited. Of course, people from official families would not go there. Even if it was run by a queen, it would be a loss of status. But women from the middle and lower classes did not have such scruples about their status. If they could make money to support their families, they would have enough motivation.
But no matter what, this textile factory does not contribute much to the national treasury. On the contrary, the living conditions in the palace have improved a lot. Some palace maids who are old enough to be released from the palace even ask to work for a few more years before leaving.
Emperor Chongzhen did not pursue profit as his biggest goal for this textile factory. Rather, the purpose is to set a benchmark for women’s labor.
Most farm women also have to work in the fields or help with some housework at home. But generally speaking, except for a little bit in Jiangnan, there are very few other places where women show up to work. But now, Emperor Chongzhen wants to use this textile factory to convey to the world the impression that women in the family can also make money to support the family, and it is still a decent job.
Only when this concept is slowly formed can the labor force of women be truly released. No matter what, society needs to liberate women as a working group.
Correspondingly, Emperor Chongzhen issued an edict banning foot binding a year ago. At this time, some officials already had this bad habit. Emperor Chongzhen had seen it a lot, which made him very dissatisfied. The edict made it clear that if any official was found to have bound feet, he would be dismissed from office. Whether you want to be an official or have your feet bound, it’s your choice!
In addition, if perverts who like club feet are found, they will be arrested and given the enjoyment of foot binding for more than ten days, and they are not allowed to be hired as officials.
This decree, if it were replaced by the original history, probably not many people would understand it. However, in this dimension, Emperor Chongzhen personally conquered the country and won consecutive battles. In addition, he ruled the country with an iron fist. The crime of treason alone has already been committed in both Shanxi and Jiangnan. Anyone who dares to disobey the imperial edict will have his head judged. Is it hard enough? Don't think that the law does not punish the public. It was triggered after the Changshu rebellion case, but Emperor Chongzhen dismissed or punished more than a hundred local officials in one go. It can be seen from this that the emperor's iron fist is not just a decoration!
In addition, Emperor Chongzhen has always been committed to disaster prevention and relief. This persistence of serving the people has also been noticed by the people. The emperor's love for the people should be explained with facts, rather than needing to be interpreted and disseminated by scholars. This also lets the people of Ming Dynasty know that the emperor is a truly good emperor and is for the good of the people!
For ordinary people, based on a simple black and white view, they believe that since the emperor is a good emperor, then those who oppose the emperor, whether they are scholars or officials, must be corrupt officials, local tyrants and evil gentry!
Under this background, Emperor Chongzhen's will was basically implemented well.
Of course, Emperor Chongzhen also knew that binding feet and wearing women's colorful clothes were all caused by the lack of correct value orientation among wealthy dignitaries and businessmen after the Ming Dynasty's economic development. This must be correctly guided by the court. Just fine.
Emperor Chongzhen was already considering these things, whether to introduce later sports games, football, basketball and other sports with a very wide audience. It is better to like these than those bad habits.
After thinking for a while, Emperor Chongzhen retracted his thoughts and continued to read the summary of memorials about treasury revenue.
The basis of treasury revenue is actually the previous land-related taxes. Although only two of the three major rates in history actually appeared in this dimension, namely Liao rates and suppression rates, these have all been adopted by Chongzhen. The emperor was deposed. However, basic taxes alone can actually support the Ming Dynasty. The key lies in whether they can be collected.
In this regard, I have to say that Zhang Pu’s contribution is not small. In terms of verifying the quota of officials' exemptions and exemptions and calling for payment of arrears, Zhang Pu recovered an unknown amount of tax money for the court. Following his example, Emperor Chongzhen also sent other imperial envoys to do this. So far, the results are pretty good. This matter ensures the basis of national treasury revenue.
On this basis, other inputs have become new growth points for the surge in the national treasury.
For example, the income of Daming Royal Bank, after more than five years of development, has provided considerable profits. This is due to several large auctions, which require those who participate in the auction to deposit money. This regulation of the bank has greatly promoted the growth of the branches of the Royal Bank of Ming Dynasty.
However, the one with the highest profit expectations is the glass factory that was established only last year. Silent and transparent glass, under the example of the royal family and the promotion of the shareholders of the glass factory, is developing very rapidly.
The production of glass has driven the rapid development of the scientific experimental instrument industry. However, Emperor Chongzhen had a purpose for this, keeping the price down and making profits extremely low.
In addition, the glasses industry has also become a new industry and has developed rapidly to solve the problems of myopia and presbyopia among people in the Ming Dynasty. When crystal lenses were used in the past, only a few people could afford them. But things are different now, ordinary wealthy people can also use it.
There are also glass windows, glass decorations and other industries that have sprung up like mushrooms after a rain, all of which have boosted tax revenue in various places.
It can be said that by this time in the 17th year of Chongzhen's reign in the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty's treasury no longer needed to increase revenue for the treasury by means of making quick money like confiscating homes.
In fact, there is also a very, very important hidden income that has not been made public, which is smuggling income, that is, half of the Zheng family's income is given to the imperial court. The annual income of about 5 million taels is all used in Southeast Asia. of food purchases. Such a large amount of money does not need to be allocated from the national treasury, which greatly reduces the burden on the national treasury. Because of this, Emperor Chongzhen was able to spend a lot of money on the army.
The armor, weapons, gunpowder, etc. required by the newly added 50,000 to 60,000 troops in the Beijing Camp are astronomical figures. There are also three battalions under the Yuma Supervisor, the Dongjiang Army and the Guan Ning Army who are fighting. It is a very large expenditure for the national treasury. Just for military pay alone, more than three million taels are spent every year. The disadvantage is that every battle is won and there are seizures. Therefore, the rewards for military achievements are mostly based on fields. Otherwise, the money currently collected by the treasury is really not enough to support Emperor Chongzhen’s domestic disaster prevention and relief work. At the same time, the war against the Jianlu troops was also to be launched, and an additional 50,000 to 60,000 troops from the capital camp were added, and they were trained according to the elite.
War was a huge waste of money, but Emperor Chongzhen did not back down. The war should be fought, so fight it! Even if it costs money, we still have to fight. This is not negotiable!
However, the scale of the war must be controlled. This is why Emperor Chongzhen has only trained the three major battalions under the Royal Horse Supervisor so far. Only after the economic conditions are better can he reorganize the Beijing camp. As for the other local garrison troops, they are still on hold for the time being and are slowly being reorganized. If it were spread across the country at once, he would be a fool!
Fortunately, with the golden finger of the eavesdropping system, every battle was won at a small price. If it continues to fail and fight like it did in history, no amount of money will be enough to fill this bottomless hole.
Everything is prosperous now, and the expenditures of the treasury can be seen in return, which makes Emperor Chongzhen very happy.
At the Beijing Camp, he also went over to inspect and review from time to time, which made him quite satisfied. After all, they were elite soldiers transferred from the border army, and they did not need to be trained from scratch by the court. In addition, the fact that Wu Sangui's cavalry from the Beijing camp accompanied them on a triumphant expedition to the grassland also stimulated the infantry in the Beijing camp, making them train more seriously and hard, and they looked forward to being able to accompany them on the expedition soon and earn a lot of money. Get military merit and make your wife and son.
They were looking forward to it, and Emperor Chongzhen was also looking forward to it, hoping that when the autumn harvest came, the troops in the Beijing camp would also be able to use it. After all, if you want to protect the Ming people on Kong Youde's side and rescue as many as possible, you can't succeed without making some big noise.
For this reason, Emperor Chongzhen began planning from the moment he received the news. The army is one aspect, and the more important aspect is the preparation of food and supplies. I didn’t say anything, just stock up on food!
When he was planning all this, the people of the Ming Dynasty who gathered on the Liaohe Plain naturally did not know that their emperor was working hard to save them. At this time, they were escorted by the Jianlu army. They were very worried and very depressed about the slim hope for the future.
In the past, they were distributed throughout Liaodong, and some were not too far from the sea. They were always looking for an opportunity to escape to the seaside. If they could escape to the seaside, they would have escaped from Jianlu's clutches and could return to the Ming Dynasty.
However, now that they are being taken to the hinterland of Liaodong, far away from the seaside, this means that they have lost all hope of escaping back to the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, they were very resentful towards Kong Youde who cut off their hopes.
If Kong Youde, a traitor, had not asked Jianlu to take them all to the Liaohe Plain to open up wasteland and farm in order to claim credit, they would not have come here, and naturally they would not have stayed far away from the coastline!
"Your Majesty has arrived!" Following the shouts of the soldiers, Kong Youde, surrounded by a group of soldiers, appeared in the fields on the Liaohe Plain.
The people of Ming Dynasty, who had been deliberately procrastinating out of resentment, heard this and took the opportunity to put down their hoes and start to be lazy. Their idea is very simple. Don't you want to take credit for this? Then we will delay it for you so that you can't take credit from Jianlu.
Kong Youde had actually heard about the behavior of these people in the Ming Dynasty, and came to inspect the fields this time because of this situation.
At this time, anyone who is not blind can see the behavior of these Ming people. In fact, the people of Ming Dynasty did it so obviously just to let Kong Youde see it.
Kong Yongan couldn't help but get angry. The prince was obviously helping them out of kindness, but they actually repaid him like this!
But he also knew that the real situation could never be made public. So, he immediately roared at the Ming people in the fields: "You are still alive and still have the strength to work here. Do you know whose kindness this is?"
When he went out and yelled like this, everyone looked at him and listened to what he was saying.
"If the prince had not transferred them to Liaodong, do you believe that many of you would have starved to death? If the prince had not withstood the pressure and kept all the rations allocated by the court for you, believe it or not, many of you would have Will people become fertilizer in this field? If it were not for the kindness and mercy of the prince, you would be so lazy and cunning. If it were someone else, believe it or not, many of you would be hanged in this field to kill as a warning to others? What if this year's The harvest is not good. Believe it or not, the first people to starve to death will definitely be you, not others..."
Kong Yongan roared angrily, making these Ming people unable to sit still. Because what Kong Yongan said was indeed the truth, and they could not refute this.
These days, having a bite to eat is already a luxury. No matter what, this can be considered a blessing of survival, right?
Thinking this way, although they hated Kong Youde for cutting off their hope of escaping Liaodong and returning to the Ming Dynasty, their hatred for Kong Youde was finally reduced a lot. Even some Ming people who looked away were vaguely grateful to Kong Youde.
Kong Youde looked at all this, but just said lightly: "If you can have a good harvest, it is my credit, and it is also the prerequisite for your survival. Just think of it as for yourself and work hard. If you continue to slack off, I will do it for the sake of the job." , maybe we will ask the court to send someone else to supervise the work."
He explained in the memorial that in order to maximize the diligence of the Han people, we cannot just rely on whips to suppress them. Therefore, he hoped to have his men supervise the work, so that he could detect the cheating of Han slaves in time. After giving a bunch of reasons, Dorgon also agreed to his petition. The approximately 20,000 Han slaves in custody were Kong Youde's men.
As for Geng Zhongming's men, as well as some of Shang Kexi's men, etc., they were all transferred to fishing.
At this time, hearing what Kong Youde said and thinking of the cruelty of the prisoner supervisors, the people of the Ming Dynasty became even more worried. Even if it is for yourself, you should still work hard!
In this way, the progress of land reclamation and farming in the Liaohe Plain has been greatly accelerated. Kong Youde also sent information about the situation here to Shengjing every once in a while, which gave Dorgon a lot of expectations.
As a result, Dorgon slowly placed most of his expectations for the autumn harvest on the Liaohe Plain. And this is what Kong Youde hoped for: to dig a big pit and trap these captives!
At the same time, a situation unprecedented in history also occurred on the southernmost tip of the Korean Peninsula.
