Go back to the Ming Dynasty to be a thousand households

Chapter 251 Army weapon income and expenditure, flintlock?Summer tax and autumn grain!
Huang Ruzhen, the warehouse ambassador of Wuzhai Fort, is a distant relative of the Huang family, who has been managing the grain and grass depot of Wuzhai Fort for many years.Responsible for supervising the storage of grain and distributing grain and dendrobium.

Due to the bumper crops in Wuzhai Fort every year, more and more military granaries were built inside and outside the fort, and the grain, rice, and fodder stored inside were already comparable to the Taiying warehouse in Taiyuan Prefecture.Wuzhai Granary is the largest granary in Northwest Shanxi.

Every year after autumn, after the harvest of each farm in Wuzhai Fort, the grain is temporarily stored in the warehouses of each farm, and then specially selected and sorted, treated with impurities, and finally transported to the granary in the fort for storage.Generally speaking, there are all kinds of serious pest problems in granaries, especially the habit of moth pests such as wheat moths like to climb on the grain surface to mate and lay eggs, which is even more troublesome.

In the past, these pests could only be culled with bamboo brooms. However, since Huang Laifu proposed the folk pest control soil method for later generations, the pest problem has been greatly solved.Other Junbao prefectures and counties also came to learn after seeing the successful experience of Wuzhai Warehouse storage.

Huang Ruzhen reported to Huang Laifu the total amount of grain stored in the Wuzhai warehouse, various storage and distribution situations, followed by Wang Qinian, director of the Wuzhaibao Animal Husbandry Bureau, who gave a speech and report.

The hot sales of Wuzhaibao's non-staple food and the rapid development of the woolen industry have naturally expanded the scale of Wuzhaibao's major livestock farms. By the end of this year, Wuzhaibao has expanded to ten large livestock farms, raising fat There are nearly 8 pigs, more than [-] sheep, countless chickens, ducks and fat fish, and even a lot of rabbits and deer.

Wuzhaibao adopts captive and free-range breeding methods, coupled with the incubation method of underground heating circles, and there are a large number of veterinarians such as Wang Qinian, so the survival rate of livestock in major livestock farms is very high.And with Wang Qinian, a master breeder, the vigorous development of the major livestock farms in Wuzhaibao can be expected.

Next, Liu Tianlu, director of the Wuzhaibao Arms Bureau, gave a speech and report.The current Wuzhaibao Arms Bureau has been greatly developed. Due to the expansion of Huang Laifu's army and the need for a large number of weapons and equipment for immigrants outside the Great Wall, the scale of Wuzhaibao Arms Workshop has expanded, and the related weapons production Even hotter.

Now Wuzhaibao Arms Workshop has thousands of craftsmen of various colors, divided into two shifts, and it is set to be built in four seasons.As of this year, Jike has produced more than [-] waist knives and long guns, more than [-] pairs of armor, more than [-] bird guns and hand guns, and the number of other waist knives, target guns and guns varies. There are more than [-] craftsmen in the Instrument Bureau.However, the number of weapons produced each year exceeds the [-] pieces of waist knives, armor and other equipment produced by the Military Weapons Bureau of the Ministry of Industry every year.It even exceeded the annual production of more than a dozen guards in some capitals.

According to the Ming system, the arms bureaus of all guards in the world have their own arms manufacturing quotas every year, which must be handed over to the Ministry of Industry.Each guard needs to manufacture 160 pairs of military weapons each year, including one helmet, armor, and waist knife.One bow, two strings, thirty arrows.A pair of sacks, five guns and arrows, and one spear.Armors, waist knives and other self-made fixed weapons are handed in to Wuzhaiwei every year, and bows and arrows are converted into silver and handed in.

Due to the good management system of the Wuzhaibao Arms Bureau, there is absolutely no problem in terms of quality.Wuzhaibao weapons have become excellent representatives, and many military town guards intend to buy them from Wuzhaibao Weapons Bureau.Even the officials of the Ministry of Industry couldn't let go of the Wuzhaibao weapons.

Of course, the cost of making these weapons is also huge. Not to mention the monthly silver and food for thousands of military craftsmen, even making these weapons every year also requires a large amount of high-quality iron, buffalo leather, cotton rope, cooked copper, etc. thing.Iron Huang Laifu has it, but buffalo leather, cotton rope, cooked copper, etc. need to spend a lot of money and food from Huang Laifu to buy from other places every year.

When Wuzhaibao forges weapons, it follows the equipment standards of soldiers in the imperial city.The armor surface of each pair of armor must be made of thick green and white cotton cloth, and the outer nail armor must also be made of wax paint.Each pair of green cloth iron armor weighs 25 catties, and forty catty eight taels of good iron is needed.It also needs a lot of buffalo leather, cotton rope, deer leather and so on.The waist knife target also needs a large number of general-purpose oblique leather.These are all bought with money.

The iron produced by the Shenchibao Iron Works is not very good and has many impurities. It takes a lot of waste to smelt wrought iron.As for the iron material for armor, swords and guns, at least every fifteen catties of wrought iron, plus a lot of charcoal, can be smelted into about three catties of good iron, which is used to make good knives.

These are armored swords and guns. As for the blunderbuss, the wear and tear is even more astonishing. It takes 170 jin of wrought iron to smelt [-] jin of good iron for making blunderbusses, and [-] jin of charcoal is needed. Money, wood money, etc., the cost of a bird gun needs at least three, two, eight, and three cents.Of course, the cost of making a bird gun by the Ministry of Industry is two or three cents a cent, but the quality of this kind of bird gun is not good enough, and it keeps blowing up, so Huang Laifu doesn't want it.

This is a bird gun, but when making a hand gun, you need to use cooked copper.Each copper hand gun weighs about five or six catties, and you need to buy a lot of copper materials.There are also various gunpowder, sulfur, flame nitrate, lead bullets, etc. that need to be purchased outside.

In particular, the black lacquer bows of mulberry wood, sparrow birch hard bows of mulberry wood, and sharkskin edge bows of black lacquer were commonly used by the frontier army of the Ming Dynasty.The black carved feather birch pole chisel iron arrow used, the black carved feather bamboo rod shoots the horse iron arrow, and the black carved feather clasps the armor-piercing iron arrow.There are also saddles, bridles, whips, bells, and stumps used by horses.Chariot artillery used by the car camp, etc.The Wuzhaibao Arms Bureau will never be able to manufacture it, and it needs to buy it from outside.

The cotton battle clothes worn by the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty are called mandarin duck battle jackets. They have four colors of red, purple, blue and yellow, and are generally made of fine and wide white cotton cloth.Each upper jacket is four feet six inches long and contains two catties of cotton velvet, and half a catty of cotton velvet for fat jackets and trousers.There are also shoes with a length of nine inches and five minutes, or up to one foot, or one foot and two minutes.There are also various military uniforms and equipment for sergeants, such as red felt jackets, rain hats, rain cages, rain helmet cages, leather bags, spear bags, flag banners, trumpet belts, etc.

Except some of these are manufactured by Wuzhaibao Woolen Mill, the rest must be purchased from outside.What a waste of money!

Huang Laifu had said long ago that although the military department of Ming Dynasty would allocate some weapons and equipment, the quantity was small, the quality was not good, and they were often procrastinated. To increase the combat effectiveness of his army, Huang Laifu could only rely on himself to have enough food and clothing. This caused the rapid expansion of Wuzhaibao's military costs.

Liu Tianlu slowly reported to Huang Laifu and everyone present the inventory of weapons manufactured by the Wuzhaibao Arms Bureau and the income and expenditure situation.Generally speaking, the Weapons Bureau is a big eater and cannot be self-sufficient. It needs Huang Laifu to allocate a large amount of money every year.

In terms of weapon research and development, the armor, knives and guns should use the common equipment of the Ming Dynasty, which should be more sophisticated anyway.However, in terms of armor production, Huang Laifu already has some ideas, that is, except for important parts, some unimportant parts have been outsourced to some merchant workshops for production, so that the production speed will be faster.Anyway, the advantage of China's scale armor is here, it can be produced in an assembly line.

In terms of firecrackers, continue to manufacture carrying guns and birdcracks.At present, the gunpowder ratio of Ming firearms is very close to the optimal ratio, and the proportion of ammunition is also very high. The airtightness of bird guns is far better than that of Europe at that time. The key problem in the later period of Ming Dynasty bird guns is that the quality control is not good.However, if it is a bird gun made by Daming Seiko, it can be called a work of art compared to the European high-end goods.

At present, it is known that the bird guns used by the Daming Army divide and store sub-drugs in quantitative quantities, and pre-pack them in small bamboo buckets.When fighting, Qi Jiguang knew the five-column shooting method.Bird guns are also powerful, not only farther than bows and arrows, but also able to pierce heavy armor.It can be said that as long as the quality problem is solved, Daming's bird guns have entered the realm of perfect art.

The development trend of firearms in the future is to replace matchlock guns with flintlock guns. It is not far from the invention of flintlock guns by Bi Maokang, the servant of the household department of the Ming Dynasty in the early 17th century, and flintlock guns should have appeared earlier.Matchlock guns and flintlock guns are similar in structure, even the trigger system is the same, the difference is only in the firing device, one is to rely on a burning match, and the other is to use a flintlock hammer to strike flint. In fact, it is just a matter of thinking.

Flint hair needs gears, although as early as 400 BC, China has begun to use gears.Moreover, in the Jiajing year, Zeng Mi, the governor of the three sides of Shaanxi, once invented a kind of landmine, a large pot decorated with colorful depictions, filled with gunpowder, and a lead wire with a slow-fire device, which was thrown when the Tatars passed by. If the Tatar picks it up and hits a lead wire, it will be bad luck.This slow firing device is exactly a steel wheel lighter, that is, a gear device.Obviously, steel wheel lighters existed in the Jiajing period, but the flintlock gun was not invented until after the 17th century. History really played its cards randomly.

Huang Laifu has forgotten when he told the Wuzhaibao Arms Bureau to develop the flintlock. It may be that there are no relevant talents in the Arms Bureau to manufacture precision metal gears. Up to now, no flintlock has been produced.Liu Tianlu asked Huang Laifu to introduce relevant talents.

Now the outstanding firearms talents of Ming Dynasty are all in the Military Weapons Bureau and Military Battle Bureau in the capital, especially Zhao Shizhen, an expert in firearms invention, improved the Lumi blunderbuss, and installed a steel knife at the end of the gun bed, which can be used as a saber in close combat .He also invented the Thunderbolt, which can be fired from a revolving wheel.He also invented the electric blunderbuss, which adopts the rear-loading blunderbuss type, which are loaded into the barrel in turn to fire during combat, and the shooting speed is significantly accelerated.

This guy is still working as an eighth-rank official in Honglu Temple in Beijing. No matter what, Huang Laifu, a military talent, will not let him go.He planned to find a way to get him to Wuzhai Fort when he returned to Ningwu Pass after the Chinese New Year.

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Zhou Wendong, chief treasurer of Wuzhaibao Bank and director of Wuzhaibao Accounting Bureau, made a speech and reported.Report the accounting situation of these years, the various situations of Wuzhaibao Bank, etc.The Accounting Bureau is a very popular department in Wuzhaibao. Every farm in Wuzhaibao, every personnel and administrative unit, the budgets they submitted, the finances of each bureau, and the money and food funds handed over all need to be reviewed by the Accounting Bureau.It is a unit with extremely high gold content in Wuzhai Fort.

In these years, the big bank of Wuzhai Fort has been greatly developed. Not to mention that most of the merchants in Wuzhai Fort deposit their money in the bank, even the ordinary soldiers and civilians of Wuzhai Fort have also changed how they deposit their money in these years. The practice of hiding in the cellar, and depositing the silver in the bank to earn interest.And the large amount of silver deposits in Wuzhaibao Bank is also convenient for Huang Laifu to do many things.

Qu Yuanrui, president of the Wuzhaibao Chamber of Commerce, also spoke. In these years, Wuzhaibao’s business has developed greatly. Qu Yuanrui has also cooperated with Huang Laifu in many things. Business cooperation, etc., there is Qu Yuanrui's figure swaying behind.Qu Yuanrui is Huang Laifu's in-laws and also Huang Laifu's inseparable business partner.

Huang Laifu intends to let Qu Yuanrui, the president of the Chamber of Commerce, continue to work.

Then Jiang Dazhong, the general of Wuzhai Fort, gave a speech, reporting on the defense of Wuzhai Fort and other issues.He guarded the Wuzhai Fort and guarded Huang Laifu's fundamental fortune. Naturally, he has made great achievements and has a heavy responsibility.But speaking of it, Huang Laifu's army is a big eater of money, and it is impossible to survive without appropriation.The Wuzhai camp led by Jiang Dazhong is naturally like this.

In one battalion of the Wuzhai Camp, there are more than three thousand soldiers, each soldier is one tael per month, and each officer is several taels to more than ten taels per month. The military salary alone costs tens of thousands of taels.There are also military uniforms, weapons and equipment, etc., which are very expensive.The cost of a bird gun is more than three taels, and the artillery chariot is even more expensive. The cost of a chariot alone is 30 taels of silver.Swords, guns, armor, etc. cost a lot.There are also various weapon consumption, various benefits, etc., which also require a lot of money.

There are also horses, which are even more difficult to raise.A military horse eats more than six soldiers in a year.Although the Wuzhai camp is an infantry camp, everyone has a horse to use as mounted infantry.

In Wuzhai Fort, there are special stables and warehouses to store fodder and supply fodder. There are thousands of horses, camels, donkeys, mules, cattle, sheep, foals and calves.According to reports from the stables, a military horse needs three liters of wheat (6 catties) a day, one liter of beans, and a bunch of grass.A donkey needs to eat one liter of wheat and half a bunch of grass a day.These horses, donkeys, etc., and the food they eat, etc., are a heavy burden.This is what I usually eat when I have nothing to do, and I eat more during wars and marches.

After all the calculations, the cost of raising soldiers for one battalion in Wuzhai camp alone may cost between 18 taels and 20 taels of silver a year.This is still a time of peace, if there is a war, the money spent and the loss of various materials will be astronomical.

Huang Laifu now has three battalions of soldiers, one battalion of Wuzhai battalion, one battalion of Zhenlu battalion of Laoyingbao, and one battalion of personal guards of Laifu battalion of Ningwuguan.These three battalions of soldiers were heavy shackles on Huang Laifu's head.

Although some money will be allocated from above, after layers of deductions, there is not much left in Huang Laifu's hands.And often in arrears.If Huang Laifu didn't want his soldiers to become the same as the tofu scum soldiers in other places in Ming Dynasty.Most of the money can only be paid by Huang Laifu himself.

Finally, Gu Yunniang, director of the Wuzhaibao Money Bureau, spoke. Not long after Gu Yunniang married Huang Laifu, she took over the affairs of the Money Bureau from Steward Yang, and after Qu Xiuhe got married, she has been helping her all the time.At this time, she was sitting alone among everyone, showing the importance of her status, so she was naturally very happy.

Wuzhaibao Money Bureau is the same as Wuzhaibao Accounting Bureau, which is a unit with extremely high gold content in Wuzhaibao.Wuzhaibao manages accounts regardless of money, while Gu Yunniang's money bureau manages money regardless of accounts. The two check and balance each other.The Bank and Money Bureau is located in the Huang Mansion, and there is a huge amount of silver stored. Usually, Huang Laifu's servants guard the treasury of the Huang Mansion at every level. Anyone who wants to spend money has to go through Gu Yunniang.

In addition to the various expenses of the various bureaus of the military farm, the annual tax package of Wuzhai Fort, Shenchi Fort, Bajiao Fort, Laoying Fort, and Ningwuguan Five Forts is 20 taels, which is also handled by the Money Bureau.Huang Laifu's form of tax package is different from the form of summer tax and autumn grain in various places in Ming Dynasty.

In the Ming Dynasty, the land tax was collected in two seasons, summer and autumn, and the annual tax could be paid in seven installments.In this year's Chief Secretary of Shanxi, Xuanfu's summer tax on wheat, the land of a mansion, only collected [-] shi.Autumn grain wheat, the land of a mansion, only levies [-] shi.Xuanfu's summer tax and autumn grain for a year are only more than [-] shi, and even less silver.

In Wuzhaibao and other cold places, the money paid to the Ministry of Households a year reached a real 20 taels of silver.After the autumn, the money was released, and there was no default at all.Why didn't this make Zhang Wenbao, the head of Shanxi's household department in charge of food, smile, and the officials of the household department found it incredible?This also makes the form of tax package the focus of consideration by officials of the Ministry of Household Affairs.

In addition, among the dividends obtained by the mine workshops in Wuzhaibao, the merchants, officials and generals are also divided into dividends. It can be said that all parties are satisfied, especially Emperor Wanli, who accounted for the majority of these dividends. , even more elated.

Gu Yunniang talked in detail about the disbursement of each payment by the Bank and Money Bureau, and compared it with the Accounting Bureau on the spot.

It wasn't until the evening that everyone's report was over. Huang Laifu saw that it was getting late, so he briefly talked about the next few five-year development plan outlines, and then sent detailed documents to everyone, and finally said with a smile: "The development of Wuzhaibao is inseparable from the hard work of all colleagues. I can see everyone's hard work. However, the task of the next five-year plan is even more arduous. In order to build Wuzhaibao and other places into a better It's getting better and better, please keep working hard!"

He stood up, bowed to everyone, and said with a smile: "Tomorrow will be the Chinese New Year. Here, I wish you all a happy New Year. I wish you all a happy New Year, your wishes come true, and everything goes well!"

(End of this chapter)