Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 147: Use Liao generals to guard Liao territory, and use Liao generals to support Liao generals

I didn't know how to answer, and I didn't dare to make a guarantee to the emperor.

Sun Chengzong thought for a while and said:
"I have been in Liaodong for four years, restored nine major cities, forty-five forts, and recruited and trained 110,000 elite soldiers."

"There are 300,000 Liao people, 30,000 Liao soldiers, 50,000 bows and crossbows, and 60,000 horses, oxen, and camels."

"Officers and soldiers have more than 5,000 hectares of farmland, 150,000 yuan of silver for the official settlement, 34,000 yuan of salt and 34,000 yuan of silver, and 180,000 yuan of Qingqing Province's salary department."

This was talking about his previous results. Zhu Youjian remained calm and continued to stare at Sun Chengzong.

With the emperor looking at him like this, Sun Chengzong could only continue:

"There were originally 140,000 soldiers and horses in Liaodong, each with a monthly salary of five dou, and 840,000 shi of grain should be distributed every year."

"After the reduction, I have more than 110,000 troops and horses. The amount of rice is 660,000 dan, and the amount of material is 678,500 dan."

"If there is a leap month, it will cost more than 50,000 stones for rice and more than 60,000 stones for beans."

Frowning at this, Zhu Youjian really didn't expect that just one leap month would cost tens of thousands more shi of food and horse feed.

This made him feel that the calendar must be changed to twelve months.

The traditional calendar is a luni-solar calendar that takes into account the relationship between the sun, moon and earth. There are approximately 354 or 355 days in a year. Every once in a while, there is a leap month, usually seven leap months in nineteen years.

Although this idea is good, it is too troublesome. With the existence of leap months, it is not suitable for monthly salary payment.

Zhu Youjian usually paid salaries to officials based on annual salary, without paying attention to the relationship between annual salary and monthly salary.

Now when Sun Chengzong mentioned it, I noticed that soldiers were given monthly rations, and they were also given out in leap months.

With rice being distributed this month, there are many ways to do it.

Not only do expenditures need to be listed separately in leap months, corruption is also prone to occur in other aspects.

Zhu Youjian remembered that one of the reasons why Qin Shiwen was recommended by Yuan Keli was because he was serving as the Taomin military commander to save pay.

The reason is that when the court allocates wages, each month is calculated as thirty days, but because of the size of the month, some months have thirty days, and some months have twenty-nine days.

When officials paid soldiers, they counted the days. After Qin Shiwen found out, he made a list of the surplus food and salary and submitted it to the court. He saved five or six days of food and salary every year. These food and wages were rewarded to him by Emperor Tianqi, and Qin Shiwen made a fortune.

From this, we can see that the problem of monthly rice distribution is huge. Similar problems occurred in various places in the Ming Dynasty. However, there is no way to pursue it. The workload of paying on a daily basis is too great.

But if they were paid annually like officials, most soldiers would not have enough food to survive for a year.

Therefore, we can only distribute food and salary on a monthly basis, just like the monthly salary in later generations. Change the number of days per month to fundamentally solve the problem:

"A leap month and a big and small month have been played by officials in so many ways. 』

"In the future, when the calendar is drawn up, each month will be designated as thirty days, and the extra five or six days will be counted in December. 』

Really speechless about the corruption of officials taking advantage of loopholes, Zhu Youjian planned to switch to a solar calendar in the future. The synodic phase associated with the moon is clearly a numerical date.

From now on, each month will be designated as having its 30th day, and the 56th day of the 12 months except 360 will be placed at the end of the year. Then give those days off and only give rewards to those on duty——

Food and salary are calculated based on thirty days every month to solve the problem of leap months and big and small months. Let those unscrupulous officials be unable to find loopholes to take advantage of.

With these things in mind, I looked forward to Xu Guangqi formulating a new calendar. Zhu Youjian listened to Sun Chengzong recounting his previous achievements and asked him directly:

"Director Sun, just tell me how long it will take for Liaodong to become self-sufficient."

"I don't ask you to level the Liao in five years. Is it enough to use the land of Liao to support the people of Liao in five years?"

Directly stating the number of years, Zhu Youjian continued:

"I have already ordered the exemption of taxes in Shaanxi next year, which naturally includes Liao rates." "I plan to exempt Liao rates in Henan and Shanxi from next year."

"Otherwise, it would be impossible to control the refugees and bandits in these three places."

"Master Sun doesn't want to force the Ming Dynasty to rebel everywhere just for the sake of salary, right?"

Staring closely at Sun Chengzong, Sun Chengzong really did not dare to bear such responsibility.

But asking him to promise the emperor that he would use Liao land to support Liao people in five years was deceiving him. He could only tell the truth:

"The sacred lands outside the pass are all occupied by the generals, and only remote places can be used for military garrison."

"Guarding Liaodong also requires generals. It is impossible to support Liao people with Liao land by relying on military camps alone."

Zhu Youjian was furious when he heard this. He finally understood the reason why Sun Chengzong kept talking about him, and scolded:

"Use Liao people to defend the Liao land, and use the Liao land to support the Liao people."

"This is the strategy you called out back then. How come it has now become 'defend the land of Liao with Liao generals and support Liao generals with Liao's pay'?"

"Could it be said that the imperial court's salary is supporting a group of Liao generals?"

"There are refugees all over the pass just to fatten up the generals of Liaodong?"

Thinking of the subsequent performance of Liaodong's generals, Zhu Youjian was so angry that he couldn't help but feel angry.

These generals who were fattened by Liao's salary had little desire to serve the country and love the people. Instead, they became the vanguard of the Tatar invasion and the main force in the destruction of the Southern Ming Dynasty. In the end, he did not fare well and was eliminated by the Tatars in order to cut down the feudal vassalage.

If Sun Chengzong had this attitude, then he would not have to go to Liaodong to supervise the division. Zhu Youjian could only change someone to deal with the Liaodong generals.

The emperor's rage made Sun Chengzong helpless.

But he believed that if Liaodong soldiers were to be used to defend Liao, it would be impossible to move them at this time.

So Sun Chengzong could only say:
"I thought that exempting Liao from paying taxes would only end the war in Liaodong."

"Otherwise, the levy of Liao's salary is really unavoidable."

Zhu Youjian heard what he said and continued to ask:
"Then tell me how to end the Liaodong War?"

"Tell me about your strategy for Ping Liao?"

Sun Chengzong's policy of pinging Liao was of course still the old method. However, he is quite a down-to-earth person and does not boast about the five years of Ping Liao like Yuan Chonghuan. He only said that he would supervise and lead the three armies and prevent the captives from running rampant. After the situation stabilized, he would select brave and intelligent generals, train soldiers and horses, give instructions on strategies, and decide on offensive and defensive strategies.

What Zhu Youjian wanted was for him to straighten out Liaodong, but he didn't expect him to level Liaodong. Seeing that he was quite pragmatic, we decided to let him go to Liaodong to supervise the division——

The current situation in Liaodong was established by Sun Chengzong. It would not be easy for anyone else to straighten things out.

Sun Chengzong at least had enough prestige, and he knew the foundation of Liaodong generals, and the people he used, such as Ma Shilong and You Shilu, were not natives of Liaodong.

Let him lead these people to rectify Liaodong, which is better than Yuan Chonghuan using Zu Dashou and Wu Xiang.

The Liao people's policy of defending Liao territory has just been implemented for five years, and the influence of previous guest armies from various places is still there. Most of the local generals in Liaodong have not yet reached high positions.

However, with the implementation of this policy, more and more locals from Liaodong will be promoted in battle. In the end, he will completely control the Liaodong army and squeeze out other generals.

Before they could fully gain momentum, Zhu Youjian decided to take action at this time to interrupt the Liaodong general's power.

　"Records of Ming Xi Zong":
　　Bingyin Li Ke gave Zhang Weiyi the six disadvantages of closing the door during the incident

　　The disadvantages of a farm are that there are rich melon fields everywhere outside Yuguan. Those who are promising are all suppressing the generals to support the incorruptible. Those who are far away are beginning to be military camps. The benefits of the villages lie in Wu Bian, not in the court.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)