There is a space for passenger planes in the late Ming Dynasty

Everyone in the world knows that raising troops is the most expensive.

Therefore, some historical experts later summarized the reasons for the demise of the Ming Dynasty. One prominent reason was the financial bankruptcy of the imperial court. There were millions of frontier troops, but because they had no money to pay them, a lot of the frontier troops were thieves. They were all poor. Trouble caused.

As the scale of the Zhenming Army continues to expand, the pressure on military pay is also increasing. Lin Feng didn't want to cause the army to rebel because he had no money to pay.

So Lin Feng called Su Shunnian, Li Wanxiang, Lin Jiakang and others to discuss the issue of future military expenditures.

"Ieyasu, please first tell us the current size of our Zhenming Army and the approximate monthly military expenditure, and then we will discuss how to solve it." Lin Feng said first.

Upon hearing this, Lin Jiakang opened the Zhenming Army's account books and began to report: "According to the Zhenming Army's reorganization plan after the last capture of Jiazhou, we set up two brigades in the direction of Fugu, including the Fugu combat brigade with 2200 people and the Fugu combat brigade. The Valley Guard Brigade has 1600 men, totaling 3800 men.

One brigade and one battalion were set up in the direction of Shenmu, including 1600 people from the Shenmu combat brigade and 1000 people from the Shenmu garrison battalion, totaling 2600 people.

There are two mobile combat brigades in the direction of Jiazhou, including the first mobile combat brigade with 2000 people and the second mobile combat brigade with 1600 people, for a total of 3600 people.

Recently we recruited another 1000 troops in Linxian County and allowed Wang Qin to recruit 1000 more troops on the northern front.

Added up, the total strength of the Zhenming Army exceeded 12,000, and the monthly military pay and food expenses alone were 36,000 taels.

In addition, the southern and northern fronts have been fighting recently, and the distribution of reward money and pensions is also a large expense. It is estimated that about 20,000 taels will be needed.

So this month alone we have to prepare 56,000 yuan in military expenses, plus the expenses of the ordnance factory, it will be at least 60,000 taels. "

Lin Feng used to rely on captured money and the output of Zhenming Group to support his troops.

Capture can only be achieved in an offensive battle, and when the attack is relatively smooth and the casualties are small, it can be realized to support the war with war.

If there is an encirclement and suppression by the imperial court in the future, there will be no place to seize it. Or if there are large casualties in combat and large pension expenditures, military expenditures may only be spent from savings.

Therefore, how to stably solve the problem of military expenditure support is a prominent issue that Lin Feng needs to consider and solve.

"In this year, how much can we collect from the summer and autumn taxes in the several states and counties under our control?" Lin Feng asked. The bulk of the money for raising soldiers must come from taxes.

"Sir, our Fugu originally receivable tax money of about 14,000 taels in summer and autumn. Shenmu Bitian has more fields than Fugu, about 18,000 taels. Jiazhou City should collect 23,000 taels, a total of five Fifteen thousand taels.

As for the taxes newly added by the imperial court last year, your Excellency has announced their abolition in several places, so naturally they will no longer be levied. All the previous tax increases by the county government have also been abolished.

The current two-season regular tax is levied at one and a half cents per mu set by the court, and the tax is not high. If it can be strictly implemented, the burden on the people will not be very heavy.

Including the newly occupied Suidezhou, Mizhi, Hequ, and Baodezhou, I estimate that about 60,000 taels can be collected, but this is a year's tax. And a quarter of it must be reserved for government expenses. "Su Shunnian replied.

After listening to this, Lin Feng made a total calculation. Even if all the tax collection for the currently occupied territory was completed, he would not be able to collect more than 120,000 taels a year. He would still have to leave 30,000 taels for government expenses. About 90,000 taels would be used to support the troops. It's less than 8,000 taels a month.

"What about the business tax situation?" Lin Feng then asked.

"Currently, only Fugu has a relatively formal commercial tax rate, which is about 3000 taels per month. The situation in other states and counties has not yet been calculated," Su Shunnian replied.

"Mr. Li, where is our Zhenming Group's income? How has it been in the past two months?" Lin Feng then asked.

"Sir, in April and May, as the weather got warmer, the sales volume of the group's briquette stoves and wool products dropped. However, the sales of the newly launched perfumes and soaps were booming, and the group's overall profits increased steadily.

Not counting the profits of the Luoyang branch, and leaving the funds needed for the group's own expansion, approximately 10,000 taels of profit can be handed over to the Governor's Office in April and May respectively. "Li Wanxiang replied.

"This month's large military expenditures will be spent first from the money seized from the captured states and counties. This money should be almost enough. Ieyasu and your secretary department will make statistics and strengthen the supervision of the allocation of various ministries." Lin Feng explained.

"understand!"

"Judging from the current situation, our fixed monthly income that can be used to support soldiers is only about 8000 taels from state and county taxes, and Zhenming Group's profit is about taels. This gap is still relatively large.

Commercial tax is currently collected in an informal manner and the scale is not large, so we will not calculate it for the time being.

Therefore, we must take effective measures to expand the fixed fiscal revenue of the Governor's Office and ensure that the Zhenming Army's military expenditure needs are supplied in the future.

My consideration is to implement three strategies to increase the income of the Governor's Office without increasing the burden on the people. "After hearing about the current financial situation, Lin Feng was ready to throw out the three economic policies he had thought about repeatedly. After taking a sip of tea, Lin Feng continued: "The first policy is the land policy. On the basis of inheriting the existing land policy of the Ming Dynasty, the policy of public ownership and leasing of land was adopted in parallel.

This is what we have implemented in Fugu before, where the land confiscated by law from large households, new land reclaimed by county government organizations, and land without owners due to wars will be returned to public ownership, and the government will lease it to landless farmers for cultivation, and charge no more than 30% of the land revenue. This part of the land is not allowed to be bought or sold. "

"Your Excellency, this strategy is very good. Fugu now has more than 13,000 acres of public land, which can greatly alleviate the landlessness problem of some farmers." Su Shunnian agreed.

"In line with this land policy, we will retain the land of other law-abiding large households to reduce their resistance. However, the government must strictly review the tax-free land, and do not allow the problem of cheating land without paying taxes. We need to amend the law to strengthen the protection against tax evasion. Punishment for behavior prevents wealthy gentry from passing on taxes to ordinary people." Lin Feng continued.

"Sir, this policy may be resisted by the wealthy gentry. How about suspending its implementation?" Li Wanxiang asked worriedly.

"No, civil unrest is raging in the Ming Dynasty because the land tax exemption policy has too many loopholes. The big families are so rich that they don't pay taxes. The people are miserable and have to bear most of the taxes, causing the government to force the people to rebel.

We must learn this lesson. Everyone must share taxes. The more land we have, the more we must pay. This policy must be implemented when we first capture the city. Anyone who dares to resist can test the speed of our swords. "Lin Feng is very determined to implement this policy. If he dares to resist, he can just raid a few more large households.

"Understood!" everyone responded.

"The second strategy I will talk about next is to strengthen the development of commercial real estate to obtain money. According to our model of developing agricultural markets in Fugu, we will transform agricultural markets or commercial streets in newly occupied prefectures and counties, and make profits by selling shops .”

"This strategy has been very effective in Fugu. After the farmers' market was renovated, store prices increased seven to eight times." Su Shunnian participated in the entire Fugu renovation project and said he had a strong say.

"Yes, our Li family has made a huge profit from the shops they purchased." Li Wanxiang also agreed.

“So, I decided to set up Zhenming Real Estate to be responsible for the renovation of commercial streets in various states and counties. Later, we can also develop residential properties for sale and use the land resources we control to make money.

Mr. Li, you also know the development process better. You will be responsible for establishing Zhenming Real Estate. The confiscated large shops will also be managed by Zhenming Real Estate. Your logistics department will first submit a charter to me for approval and hurry up to advance this matter. " Lin Feng arranged.

"Yes!" Li Wanxiang said happily, having another important authority in his hands.

“The last third policy is financial policy, which is about the circulation of money.

There is an economic problem in the Ming Dynasty. It is not that there is no money in the world, but that rich officials and wealthy officials like to hide money.

I have raided so many corrupt officials and wealthy households. Who doesn’t have tens of thousands of taels of cash in their home? If these people hide all their money, what will be the consequences? Lin Feng asked.

"Is there no money left in the market?" Li Wanxiang has been in business for many years and knows a little bit.

"Director Li is right. We need money to buy things, and to collect taxes and everything we need money. These people have hidden their money, and there will be less and less money circulating in the market.

Without money, items cannot be sold, and people cannot make money, and the entire market will shrink more and more. Therefore, we must find ways to restrict wealthy people from hiding their money. " Lin Feng then analyzed.

"Sir, how can we get rich people to take out their money?" Su Shunnian asked.

"This requires vigorous development of Zhenming Bank. If there is a place where it is very safe to deposit money, and there is still interest, would you like to deposit the money there?" Lin Feng continued to ask.

"Then you should be willing," several people replied.

"So, we must develop Zhenming Bank according to this standard to ensure that the money deposited in the bank is absolutely safe. At the same time, interest will be paid to those who save money based on the length of time they save money." Lin Feng said.

"Sir, aren't we losing money on this interest payment?" Su Shunnian asked.

"Haha, if you have money, are you afraid that you won't make any money? They deposit the money in Zhenming Bank, and we can use the money to issue loans and make investments. As long as the profit is greater than the interest paid, Zhenming Bank will not lose money. Money, you can still make a fortune.”

"Oh I got it!"

"Ieyasu, after the meeting, please notify Zhao Jialiang from Zhenming Bank and ask him to move the bank's headquarters to Jiazhou first. Fugu is still too small," Lin Feng explained.

"Understood!" Lin Jiakang responded.

"Also, in addition to these three strategies, I would like to emphasize the commercial tax issue again. The prefectures and counties we occupy must strictly levy commercial tax at a tax rate of one in twenty. This will be the main source of tax for the Governor's Mansion in the future. . The Supervision Section of the Secretarial Department must keep a close watch to prevent anyone from engaging in malpractice for personal gain and not collecting commercial taxes." Lin Feng finally explained.

"Yes!" Lin Jiakang accepted the order. (End of chapter)