Zhao Junchen was not proficient in military affairs. Although he knew very well that the Ming Dynasty's military towns had long lost their combat effectiveness and were not reliable enough to rely on, he still spent a lot of effort to infiltrate the major military towns because Zhao Junchen himself did not train them personally.
The ability of an elite soldier, let alone the opportunity to personally train an elite soldier, or even the talents in related fields.
Therefore, in order to control a certain number of troops, Zhao Junchen knew that infiltrating military towns was a method that would get twice the result with half the effort, but he still did it.
Because Zhao Junchen has no other choice, although many things have little effect, it is better to do them than give up.
But now, because of Liang Fuchen's ideas, Zhao Junchen found another way!
The army that Qi Bin is responsible for training is simply a replica of the Qi family army. Just looking at the performance of this battalion of soldiers against the Mongolian cavalry, you know that the combat power of this army is far greater than that of the military soldiers!
At the same time, although Liang Fuchen attached great importance to the army trained by Qi Bin, he only expected them to stabilize the border defense. Liang Fuchen was a loyal minister and had no intention of continuing to control this army... In this way, Zhao Junchen seemed to have
You have an opportunity!
If Zhao Junchen can completely control this army, he will have the confidence to break up and overturn the table. Even if the other plans do not go smoothly, Zhao Junchen will have the power to protect himself and will no longer worry about Emperor Deqing's schemes.
By myself.
Thinking of this, Zhao Junchen felt a little excited.
However, Liang Fuchen was staring at Zhao Junchen with sharp eyes at this time, so Zhao Junchen's expression remained unchanged. He just pondered for a moment and asked: "After the number of sergeants in this battalion is expanded, Qi Qianhu will still be in charge of training?
Then why did Qi Qianhu not stay in Shaanxi and Gansu, but came to the capital with Mr. Liang Ge? What is the situation with Mr. Liang Ge's battalion of soldiers now? Is it stationed in a military town? Or has it become Master Wang Zheng
soldiers?"
Liang Fuchen explained: "After the expansion of this army, Qi Bin will still be in charge of training. I can only trust him in this matter. Now I bring him back to Beijing as a temporary measure. Qi Bin only needs to recruit new soldiers from good families."
', But although there are many outlaws in Shaanxi and Gansu, there are not many "good family members", so I plan to let him go to Yiwu, just like Qi Shaobao did in the past to recruit Yiwu miners. Now he is just staying in the capital temporarily to wait for news.
After he gets the money to recruit new soldiers, he will leave soon..."
After a pause, Liang Fuchen continued: "This year, when the Mongolian cavalry invaded, the Yansui generals fled in fear of the battle, and I killed them to frighten everyone. Now that there is a vacancy in the Yansui generals, I will let Qi Bin lead the troops and station them there.
, let him take over the position of the commander-in-chief of Yansui after a while, and then he can legitimately train the new army in Yansui... The new governor of the three sides, Wang Zheng, is not brave enough. If this army is handed over to him
, I am afraid that he will only use it to protect himself and will not use it to defend against the enemy at all, so I did not give this army to him, but just let him recruit his own soldiers."
Zhao Junchen nodded lightly and said: "I see. If that's the case, then I can rest assured. The recruits trained by Qi Qianhu will definitely be the mainstay of Shaanxi and Gansu in the future. If they are handed over to others, I will not
Don’t worry, if you invest a lot of money and food, it will only be wasted.”
Seeing what Zhao Junchen said, Liang Fuchen perked up and asked, "Master Zhao, do you already have a way to raise money and food?"
Zhao Junchen nodded lightly and said: "As long as we think of some ways and raise some money here and there, the Ministry of Household Affairs can still come up with 600,000 taels of silver. The key point is that the 800,000 shi of food is somewhat difficult... The imperial court's current food supply has indeed been exhausted.
We cannot make ends meet, so if we want to come up with this amount of food, we must use some special methods!"
"A special method?" Liang Fuchen asked: "What exactly is it?"
Zhao Junchen did not answer directly, but asked: "I heard that Mr. Zhou Ge has an appointment with Mr. Liang Ge tonight?"
Liang Fuchen was not surprised that Zhao Junchen had clear eyes and ears. He just nodded and said: "That's true."
Zhao Junchen sighed softly and said: "To be honest with Mr. Liang Ge, this method requires Mr. Liang Ge to convince Mr. Zhou Ge tonight. By tomorrow morning, the three of us can perform a play together... During this period,
In order to achieve the effect, Mr. Liang Ge needs to act as a villain and offend hundreds of officials in the court. But once this method is successful, at least 500,000 shi of grain can be raised, and then the Ministry of Revenue will use the money to purchase part of the grain from the private sector. These eight
One hundred thousand dan of food was enough to scrape together..."
Having said this, Zhao Junchen raised his eyes and looked at Liang Fuchen and continued: "Don't blame Mr. Liang Ge. In fact, the role of this villain can be played by the lower official. But now the lower official is working with hundreds of officials for the rectification of the court's agricultural affairs.
The relationship between us is already tense. If we continue to play the role of this evil person, I am afraid that we will completely lose our footing. I still have business and tax rectification, agricultural rectification, Sichuan salt development and other things that have not yet been completed, but I am unwilling to do it.
With such a loss of power, the role of this villain can only be played by Mr. Liang Ge... If Mr. Liang Ge is willing to play the role of this villain, then the official will tell his own way. If Mr. Liang Ge is not willing, then
It’s just that the current official didn’t mention this matter.”
Liang Fuchen was very satisfied with Zhao Junchen's openness and honesty.
After hearing what Zhao Junchen said, Liang Fuchen pondered for a moment and then said slowly: "If we can raise enough money and food to support Shaanxi and Gansu, then it doesn't matter if I play the villain once, even if it offends hundreds of officials!
"
Seeing Liang Fuchen's statement, Zhao Junchen's expression was full of respect, and he bowed his hands to Liang Fuchen and said: "Mr. Liang Ge's selflessness is really a model for ministers. I admire him!"
Of course, respect is real, but after Liang Fuchen offended hundreds of court officials, whether Zhao Junchen would take the opportunity to reap benefits is another matter.
The method Zhao Junchen thought of could indeed raise enough food, but Zhao Junchen also planned to kill three birds with one stone. He planned to take the opportunity to drag Liang Fuchen into the water and let Liang Fuchen stand on the same boat with him. By the way, he could also let Emperor Deqing
The plan to use Liang Fuchen to control the previous government went bankrupt!
But on the surface, Zhao Junchen still looked solemn and said slowly: "Actually, there is still some surplus grain in Jingtong Ercang, but this part of the grain cannot be used, because this grain is for the future use of the capital and officials near the capital.
Half a year's salary! During the Taizu period, the monthly salary of the first-rank officials in our court was eighty-seven dan. The monthly salary of the first-rank officials was also 74 dan. Even the seventh-rank officials also had monthly stipends.
Mi Ba Shi, to this day, although the official salary is only half of the rice, and the remaining amount is distributed in the form of salary silver, there are a total of more than 5,000 officials in the capital, and tens of thousands of officials. These
The combined salary of a person is enough to support an army of 300,000 for half a year!"
Hearing what Zhao Junchen said, Liang Fuchen was shocked. He felt that Zhao Junchen's method seemed to be more drastic than he imagined!
Surprised, Liang Fuchen asked: "Is it possible that Mr. Zhao intends to deduct officials' salaries?"
Zhao Junchen shook his head and said: "No, if the official dared to deduct the official salary, wouldn't the officials be in trouble? The official just planned to distribute all the salary in the form of silver and let the officials do it on their own.
It’s just to buy grain. In this way, Jingtong Ercang can save a lot of grain! Let’s estimate it, at least five hundred thousand dan!”
After hearing Zhao Junchen's explanation, Liang Fuchen's fear did not diminish at all!
There seems to be nothing wrong with Zhao Junchen's statement. All the stipends and rice are distributed in the form of stipends and silver. The officials buy food by themselves. This only wastes some energy and does not suffer much loss. However, in fact, the lack of food in the court has long been a problem.
Everyone knows that if all the officials and servants lose their salaries and spend money to buy food, then the price of food near the capital will inevitably skyrocket. This is a disguised form of depriving the officials of their salaries!
In addition, the common people will inevitably be affected by the soaring food prices!
Of course, as long as the court makes early preparations and can distribute some food to the people in a timely manner, there will not be much chaos. However, this matter will still cause a lot of public and official resentment, and once Liang Fuchen plays the role of a villain, he will inevitably
attracted countless hostility
After Zhao Junchen explained, he looked at Liang Fuchen and asked again: "If Mr. Liang regrets it, then the current official has not said anything about it, so he can just find a way!"
After Liang Fuchen was silent for a moment, he slowly shook his head and said: "It's okay, it's just some resentment. I can bear it. Mr. Zhao, please explain your method in detail, otherwise I won't be able to convince Zhou Shangjing."
*
The next day, go to the morning.
After Emperor Deqing arrived at the Huangji Hall, he seemed to be in high spirits. He first promoted Liang Fuchen's achievements in the past ten years, and then officially appointed Liang Fuchen to the cabinet to assist in administration, becoming the sixth cabinet minister!
Then, Liang Fuchen came out to receive the order, and all the officials congratulated him one after another without mentioning it.
Then, Wang Baoren, who finally made up his mind, finally abandoned the Nanjing Sixth Department completely, and several major officials of the Sanfa Department made statements one after another, telling Emperor Deqing and the officials that the assassination of Zhao Junchen was the mastermind behind the Nanjing Sixth Department.
make.
Emperor Deqing and all the officials had already expected the results of the Three Law Division's investigation of the case, but Emperor Deqing still showed an angry look, and all the officials were also filled with righteous indignation, so under an imperial edict from Emperor Deqing
As a result, Huang Yourong became the governor of Nanjing Zhili and temporarily took over all the powers of Nanjing Sixth Department. All officials of Nanjing Sixth Department will be suspended for investigation, and Nanjing Sixth Department is about to undergo a purge!
In the eyes of most officials, this incident should be the climax of this morning's meeting.
However, after finishing the affairs of the Six Ministries in Nanjing, and following the words of the eunuch Zhang De, "If there is anything to do, please report early, if there is nothing to do, withdraw from the court." Zhao Junchen slowly walked out of the army again under the attention of all the officials.
As expected, Zhao Junchen was still entangled in the agricultural rectification and did not give up at all.
"Your Majesty, after Mr. Liang Ge returned to Beijing yesterday, he talked with me about the current situation in Shaanxi and Gansu. Not only are the people unable to make a living without food, but the Trilateral Military Town is also lacking food and cannot survive. The Trilateral Military Town is related to the imperial court.
The northern border defense cannot be ignored. However, the imperial court's food reserves are insufficient and it is completely unable to support it. I hope that your majesty will pay attention to this matter, urge the people to return to their fields and return food, and allocate money to build water conservancy and irrigation. This will be a long-term solution!
"
After getting out of the queue, Zhao Junchen said loudly.
After hearing what Zhao Junchen said, all the officials had helpless expressions on their faces. They felt that Zhao Junchen was too paranoid and would never let go of any opportunity in order to implement his own agricultural rectification strategy.
Nowadays, because of the rectification of agricultural affairs, Zhao Junchen debates with officials every day, which has become the norm in the temple!
Therefore, most of the officials were familiar with each other and knew very well how they should refute Zhao Junchen.
So, as Zhao Junchen's words fell, hundreds of officials also came out to refute, such as "wasting money and wasting people", "provoking civil unrest", and "violating the ancestral system". They had already repeated the reasons countless times.
They all moved out again.
Because of the affairs between Shaanxi and Gansu, Zhao Junchen obviously found a new point of view today. After facing the rebuttal of the officials, he did not give in. He just asked: "Since you adults do not agree with my agricultural rectification,
However, now the common people and major military towns in Shaanxi and Gansu are short of food, do you have a solution?"
After hearing Zhao Junchen's question, at Zhou Shangjing's signal, Du Bai, the censor of Zuodu of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, came out and said: "The food shortage in Shaanxi and Gansu is only a matter of this year. Even if several of Master Zhao's suggestions are effective, but
It will only take a year or two to be effective, so how can it be a solution to the food shortage in Shaanxi and Gansu? According to my thinking, although the national treasury is short of food, it still has some money. Since Shaanxi and Gansu need money and food, then provide it to Shaanxi and Gansu.
A sum of money, just let Shaanxi and Gansu use the money to raise food."
But Zhao Junchen still refused to give in and said: "Use money to raise food by yourself? Mr. Du said it easily. Now not only is the court short of food, but also the people's food reserves are not much. How can such a large amount of food be done with money?
Bought?"
Du Bai sneered and said: "Master Zhao hasn't tried it yet, how do you know it won't work? The price of food among the people is not particularly high, so why can't you buy it? I'm afraid Master Zhao just doesn't want to waste his energy?"
After hearing what Du Bai said, all the officials in Huangji Palace expressed their agreement.
During this period of time, Zhao Junchen had already annoyed them to death. Now seeing Du Bai ridiculing Zhao Junchen like this, he felt very happy and everyone came out to express their support.
However, at this moment, Liang Fuchen came out to speak.
Liang Fuchen looked serious and said slowly: "Your Majesty, since all the officials think there is no difference between spending money to buy food and the court directly distributing food, and Shaanxi and Gansu are indeed in urgent need of food, then as far as I know, Beijing
There is also a batch of grain in Tongercang, which is the salary of the officials in the capital for the next half year, which is about 500,000 dan. It might as well provide this food directly to Shaanxi and Gansu, and the salary of the officials for the next half year will be all
By distributing stipends, the three sides of Shaanxi and Gansu will be able to save a lot of time and focus on the border defense plan during the autumn harvest. Your Majesty, please take note of this!"
Following Liang Fuchen's suggestion, the expressions of all the officials suddenly changed!
…
Well, the second update today! It’s also a big chapter of 4,000 words!
The Dragon Boat Festival holiday is over and there is no need to take care of the children, so the outbreak will occur tomorrow and the next two days.
Also, I have the nerve to ask for recommended tickets and monthly tickets. It’s been a long time since I’ve had monthly tickets worth thousands.