Ming politicians

Zhu Yousong's attitude was unusually frank, and without hesitation, he agreed to take out 100 million taels of silver. As for what Su Tiancheng said, it would be returned after three years, Zhu Yousong was not in a hurry.

Fu Wang's wealth is relatively well-known in the court, but even though he is rich, it is not a small matter to spend 100 million taels of silver. Su Tiancheng is still very happy for Zhu Yousong's support.

Zhu Shenxuan's fief is in Taiyuan, Shanxi, and Fu Wang's fief is in Luoyang, Henan Province. The two places are not far from Shaanxi. Therefore, after Zhu Shenxuan and Zhu Yousong expressed their views, Su Tiancheng immediately sent elite soldiers from the Jiangning Camp to Taiyuan and Luoyang to escort them. Gold, because silver is not easy to carry, converted into gold, it is 10 taels, small in size, and not eye-catching.

Zhu Shenxuan and Zhu Yousong went to work together for King Qin, King Rui and King Han. King Qin was in Xi’an Mansion, King Rui was in Hanzhong Mansion, King Han was in Pingliang Mansion, Hanzhong Mansion and Pingliang Mansion were not very safe. So, Su Tiancheng sent [-] Jiangning battalion soldiers, moreover soldiers from the personal battalion and the scout battalion, to escort along the road, led by Liu Tiehan, the commander of the scout battalion.

There were no shadows of the bandits along the way.

Five days later, Zhu Shenxuan and Zhu Yousong brought back 15 taels of gold.

The money raising went so smoothly, which made Su Tiancheng very happy.

The most difficult thing is solved.

The distribution plan has long been clarified. None of the eight magistrates in Shaanxi has allocated 30 taels of silver. The silver is divided into two parts, of which 20 taels are used to solve the problems of seeds and cultivated land, including Relief for the people, the remaining 10 taels of silver are used to solve the difficulties of the government, and the remaining silver is used as a reserve fund to be controlled by the governor's office.Relief place at any time.

Money is definitely not enough. There are many counties under the jurisdiction of the magistrate's yamen, but the governor's yamen cannot completely solve it. The prefectures and counties themselves have to find a way.Always find a way.

The Jiangning camp was divided into three, with more than 2 people stationed in Xi'an Prefecture, 1 people stationed in Hanzhong Prefecture, and [-] people stationed in Fengxiang Prefecture.

The responsibilities of the Jiangning Battalion are also very clear. The soldiers stationed in Xi'an Mansion are responsible for the security of Yan'an Mansion, Qingyang Mansion, and Lintao Mansion. The soldiers of the Jiangning Battalion stationed in Fengxiang Mansion are responsible for the security of Pingliang Mansion and Gongchang Mansion. Guards, soldiers of the Jiangning battalion stationed in Hanzhong Prefecture.He is only responsible for the safety and security matters of Hanzhong Mansion.

Hong Chengchou was stationed in Xi'an Mansion and took overall responsibility, Sun Chuanting was stationed in Hanzhong Mansion, and Bi Maokang was stationed in Fengxiang Mansion.

After finishing these things, it is already the first ten days of November.

The first step has been taken smoothly, and the next step is the key reform.

There are also quite a few guard troops stationed in Shaanxi.Most of them are under the jurisdiction of the commanders and envoys, and the combat effectiveness of these guard sergeants.It is really unflattering, except for the frontier troops stationed at the border, which undertake different tasks and have some combat power in front of them, the rest of the guards exist in name only.The officers in the guards are just dawdling, relying on empty pay to survive.

The Weisuo in Shaanxi is notorious, and the sergeant of the Weisuo here.Fleeing was very common. Ironically, most of the elite forces of the rogues were former soldiers from the Shaanxi Guard.

After Su Tiancheng came to Shaanxi, the first thing that needed to be reformed was the affairs of the guard army.

It is not too difficult to abolish the guard army. After the Jiangning battalion came to Shaanxi, there was no need for the guard army stationed at the border.

According to Su Tiancheng's idea, after the abolition of the guard post, some sergeants were arranged to go to the inspection department of Fuzhou County to become a local militia, with the focus on maintaining law and order in the local area. The expenses of this part of the sergeant, the prefecture and county were directly responsible, and the rest of the sergeant, They all went home to farm. Shaanxi is seriously short of labor force. After many years of fighting, there are not many young and strong.

The [-] surrendered rogues who have been stranded in the barracks have been educated after more than a month. These people will also be sent home and go back to farming, so as to make up for the shortage of labor to the greatest extent.

Such an idea is very beautiful, but in execution, it is extremely dangerous.

The military household system was established by Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, and it has lasted for hundreds of years. If you want to abolish such a system easily, you may risk beheading.

Besides, although the establishment of the guards lags far behind the development needs of the society, it has supported a group of military officers. These military officers have become rich by drinking the blood of soldiers and eating empty wages, and they have become a force that cannot be underestimated. There is also a lot of land allocated to the guard by the imperial court. These official lands have also become the main source of income for the officers of the guard.

Such a reform, if not paid attention to, may cause the largest riot in Shaanxi. If the officers of the Shaanxi Guards take the initiative to join the rogues and oppose the imperial court, the impact will be fatal.

But such reforms must be carried out.

The two biggest problems Su Tiancheng is facing, one is the problem of silver shortage, which has been solved now, and the second problem is the problem of land annexation, which is even more fatal.

The annexation of land in Shaanxi is nothing more than two big pieces, one is the land acquired by gentry and wealthy households, and the second is the official land, including the cultivated land occupied by the guards. The statistics are already in the hands of Su Tiancheng.

The Shaanxi provincial guards are somewhat special. The cultivated land they occupy is completely incomparable with those in the south, especially near the Ningxia Wei area and the Yulin Wei area. The land occupied by the guards is astronomical. , almost all belong to the capital and guards. This situation is common in places close to the border. In the early Ming Dynasty, these places were mainly used to station frontier troops to resist Mongolian invasion. The prefectures and counties also mainly serve the capitals and guards.

This system has lasted for hundreds of years. In the Wanli period, it did not conform to the actual situation at all. The imperial court had planned to carry out reforms, but it involved various interests, and finally gave up. In addition, these places belonged to poverty-stricken places. It is not high, and no one pays special attention to it, and it has slowly dragged on until now.

Shaanxi Province has a total of 64 hectares of arable land, equivalent to 400 million mu, of which 21 hectares are official land, accounting for one-third of the total arable land. The real private land is only 30 hectares, less than half. It is an extremely abnormal phenomenon. In the south, with such arable land, the prefectural and county governments have long since collapsed.

Even when land mergers were the most severe, about [-]% of the cultivated land in the south and civilian land still accounted for about [-]%, that is to say, about [-]% of the land was responsible for all the land taxes. up.

But in Shaanxi, the number of people's land only accounts for about [-]%, that is, about [-]% of the cultivated land bears all the taxes, and the land tax on the heads of the people has more than doubled.

Considering that the grain output in Shaanxi is not high, the average harvested grain per mu of arable land is only 1.2 to 1.4 shi, which is more than one shi less per mu in the south. It is conceivable that the ordinary people here bear a heavy tax. To put it bluntly, even if it is When the weather is good, the common people are struggling, not to mention suffering from a famine.

The attitude of the government is also worth pondering. What the officials think of is to exploit the people, not only the normal taxes, but also on this basis, they collect many other taxes, such as the suppression salary, training salary, war horse tax, etc., and turn them over to the court. It doesn't matter if the tax cannot be collected, anyway, if it is in arrears, other taxes that can be levied must be collected, and there can be no arrears, because these silver are the small treasury of the government and officials.

Poverty is a vicious cycle. When the government is poor, it exploits the common people. When the common people have no way out, they rise up to rebel. Under such circumstances, the situation in Shaanxi is getting worse and worse, and it has almost entered a dead end.

It is no wonder that there are so many people rebelling in Shaanxi.

It's no wonder that the officials in the imperial court were unwilling to come to Shaanxi after being beaten to death.

Su Tiancheng must get rid of this vicious circle. The only way to get rid of it is to overthrow the original system and start a new one. Repairing and tinkering will have no effect at all, and no matter how much money is invested, it will have no effect.

Hundreds of years of accumulation of thought, coupled with familiarity with historical conditions, made Su Tiancheng understand the role of economic leverage, and he must make drastic reforms.

Reform is a fatal matter, especially when it involves the interests of the powerful and powerful, it is even more difficult. Many reforms throughout the ages have been carried out or implemented through bloodshed.

The reform in Shaanxi Province seems simple, but if such a matter is considered by the entire Ming Dynasty and discussed in the court, it will cause an uproar, which will affect the interests of the powerful and may encounter crazy counterattacks.

Su Tiancheng hesitated for the first time.

He didn't want to touch the root cause, and thought about developing the economy through generally gentle means, thereby strengthening the strength of the court, and making the Ming Dynasty stronger. In the past, it was not a big problem to do this in prefectures and counties, because the people involved were not There are many, the place is not big, and it will not attract the special attention of the court. In addition, the life of the people is better, and the court also has a substantial treasury, so it can get support and praise from everyone.

But in Shaanxi Province, the territory is large, and the impact will be extraordinary, and it may even touch the fundamental interests of the powerful. At such a time, he must consider the impact.

There are no more than two ways. The first is to raise a large amount of money by raising money, creating superficial prosperity, or even indulging in smuggling, etc. This situation can be fooled for a while, and everyone is happy. It will touch the interests of the tax, but in the end it is the people who will suffer, and the harm caused by this false prosperity is long-term and even fatal.

The second is to carry out reforms. At the beginning, it does not need to be so thorough, but the ultimate way out is to establish a mature system and use economic levers to leverage the market, that is, the market economy in a few hundred years. At this point, there may be a huge price to pay.

Su Tiancheng felt that he was caught in a dilemma. Whether to be responsible for history or to be a pure politician, this choice was very difficult. (To be continued..)