Chongzhen is also the kind of person who is bold and reckless, he knows that increasing taxes will make the people's lives more difficult, but he thinks that when it should be added, he still has to add it, if Zhang Bin dares to mention it, he really dares to add it!

Of course, Zhang Bin would not do this kind of stupid thing to quench his thirst, his plan was to need more people and horses, but these people's food and horses did not need to be responsible for the imperial court, let alone Chongzhen's additional taxes.

He was trying to take this opportunity to pull out the soldiers of the East Nine Guards openly, and at this time, the number of East Nine Guards was not even more than 100,000, so there was naturally no problem in pulling out 100,000 people.

However, these 100,000 horses can't appear suddenly, let alone let Chongzhen know that he recruited them privately, if Chongzhen knows that he has secretly recruited so many troops, it would be strange if he didn't turn his face against him.

The Ming Dynasty did not prohibit the recruitment of soldiers, but they could only be recruited with the permission of the emperor and after reporting to the Ministry of War, and this kind of soldiers were called private soldiers.

Private soldiers are the product of a specific environment, and the early and middle Ming Dynasty rarely had this specific environment, so there was basically no record of private soldiers at that time.

However, in the late Ming Dynasty, due to the serious escape of the guards, there were not many remaining guards in the guards, and the guards were rotten, even if most of the remaining guards became serfs under the officers of the guards, and even some became ruffians, ruffians, and hooligans, so many generals were reluctant to use the guards, and would rather use private soldiers.

The more famous of the private placement soldiers are the Qi family army and the white pole soldiers of the Sichuan army, there are basically no guards in these two strong forces, they are all civilians recruited by Qi Jiguang and Qin Liangyu and others in the local area, and their outstanding military exploits are enough to prove that the guards at this time are even inferior to well-trained civilians.

Zhang Bin just wanted to take the opportunity to turn the soldiers of the East Fan Nine Guards into legitimate private placement soldiers, although the East Fan Nine Guards were all in the guard station, and these soldiers were also selected from the elite of the guards, he still didn't want these soldiers to appear in the form of guards, because there were more than 5,000 guards in a full guard, and he couldn't explain how the 100,000 troops came from.

Now, Chongzhen actually took the initiative to mention this issue of troops, which couldn't be better.

Zhang Bin hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, Weichen has an idea, that is, to recruit a group of recruits in Fuguang, Fuguang has not suffered disasters over the years, the people are living a good life, the quality of soldiers is much better than that of the five northwestern provinces, and there should be no problem in recruiting 100,000 young people." ”

Sure enough, if you want to recruit troops again, let's recruit them, Chongzhen gritted his teeth and said: "It's okay, but in this way, this salary and training salary will be increased, how much do you say the increase is appropriate?" ”

Unexpectedly, Zhang Bin shook his head and said: "Your Majesty, the food and salary of these private soldiers do not need to be borne by the imperial court, Wechen got acquainted with some big merchants when he was in Fuguang, and the food and salary were raised from them when he exterminated the pirates, and now that the country is in trouble, Weichen thinks they should not sit down." Wei Chen left this face and begged them, believing that he could barely make up the food and salary of the 100,000 army for three years. ”

There is no need for the imperial court to pay for food!

Chongzhen couldn't help but be stunned when he heard this, but he quickly reacted, indeed, Zhang Bin never asked him for food and salary when he was chasing pirates in Fuguang, and his food and salary were all collected by someone.

It is naturally best to get an army of 100,000 without paying money, but there is a way, Chongzhen doesn't want to increase taxes, he can't help but be pleased: "Very good, Shuangquan, you go and tell them, this time the money they donate is calculated according to donations, how much silver they donate, I will give them as many officials!" ”

Zhang Bin really didn't think about this problem, the imperial court does have a system of donations, that is to say, ordinary people can donate money to buy officials, but this money is not a little bit, the general donation of silver has to exceed 10,000 taels to buy officials, and the officials bought are also loose officials, basically without any authority, just an official position.

This feeling is good, if he can buy an official by donating money, he may really be able to raise 100,000 troops for three years' food and salary, at this time, there are many big merchants who want to be officials, but they don't dare to donate money indiscriminately.

Everyone knows that you can buy officials by donating money, but everyone understands that wealth is not exposed, if you donate money stupidly and are targeted by corrupt officials, it will be over.

The case of Wu Yangchun in Huangshan of the Apocalypse Dynasty is a model, their Wu family donated 500,000 taels of silver before and after, and bought eight officials, but unfortunately, they were targeted by Wei Zhongxian, and as a result, all the family property was taken away by Wei Zhongxian, not to mention, and the crime of being the owner behind the scenes of Donglin was almost wiped out by Wei Zhongxian!

Therefore, at the end of the Ming Dynasty, there was such a strange phenomenon, corrupt officials and corrupt officials have money, but they refuse to take it out to the court for emergencies, many large merchants have money, but dare not donate to the court, they are not unwilling, but afraid of being targeted by these corrupt officials and corrupt officials, and finally end up with a family raid.

However, Zhang Bin believes that if he has his own guarantee, these people will definitely enthusiastically buy officials, because he is the second assistant of the cabinet, not to mention the power of the government and the opposition, it is no problem to protect a few wealthy businessmen, and his reputation among the merchants is quite good, he has always said the same, and no one will doubt it.

Perhaps, they should be given a higher position, after all, although these people do not have real power, they are also officials, they can also participate in the early dynasty, and they can also participate in the recital, if their position is high enough, they may be able to bring a lot of help to themselves.

Thinking of this, he pretended to be excited: "The emperor is wise, if this can be done, those big merchants will definitely enthusiastically donate, Wechen is bold, please set a specific standard for the emperor, if the position is high enough, Wechen believes that there will be no problem in raising the food and salary of the 100,000 army for three years." ”

Of course, Chongzhen doesn't know what the hell Zhang Bin is thinking, someone is willing to donate money, that relationship is good, official position or something, he has it, he has never been stingy with official positions, as long as you dare to ask for it, he will dare to give it!

He pondered for a moment and then nodded: "In this way, donate 10,000 taels of silver and give it to the deputy supervisor of the Taifu Temple; donated 50,000 taels of silver and gave it to the scholars; Donate 100,000 taels of silver and give it to the ministers of Taifu Temple. “

Chongzhen thought that it was already good to be able to donate 10,000 taels, it was quite good to be able to donate 50,000 taels, and it would be great to be able to donate 100,000 taels.

Zhang Bin knows that if you dare to give a bigger official, or even donate a million taels, this is not a joke, like he can take out a million taels to buy an official for his uncle, anyway, Dongshengtang "subsidizes" Fuguang's more than 100,000 private placement soldiers' salaries and salaries, I don't know how many one million taels are paid, this official position should not be in vain.

However, what Chongzhen proposed is the deputy supervisor of the Taifu Temple, the Zhongshu Sheren, and the Taifu Temple priest will definitely not work.

For example, the deputy supervisor of the Taifu Temple and the ministers of the Taifu Temple, it sounds like a bull criticism, but in fact, they are all idle positions that can no longer be idle, the Taifu Temple was originally in charge of all the horses in the imperial court, and Daming is afraid that there are more than 100,000 war horses alone, and the officials of the Taifu Temple are still quite powerful, but at this time, the Taifu Temple has been abolished, because the pasture of the Taifu Temple has been packaged and sold by Wei Zhongxian, and the court has no grass to raise horses at all, and the Taifu Temple still has the authority of a fart.

Not to mention the scholars, the cabinet scholars still have a bit of power, because the cabinet has a decree room, which is responsible for writing the edict, and the cabinet scholars will usually let the scholars help with some chores, these scholars are indeed fragrant, but the people who donate will definitely not enter the cabinet, and they will generally be arranged to other places to write the treasures, books, albums or something, to put it bluntly, it is a copyist, you love to copy it, the writing is not good, people still don't let you copy it!

Zhang Bin thought for a while, and pretended to say casually: "Your Majesty, what if you donate more than 100,000 taels?" ”

Chongzhen couldn't help but be stunned when he heard this, 100,000 taels is really amazing, he doesn't know very well what the market is outside, anyway, thousands of eunuchs and concubines in the palace, including him, the emperor and the queen, the prince, the prince, the princess, the princess, the entire palace people are all combined, and the annual food and clothing is only about 100,000 taels!

Of course, he is diligent and thrifty to the point of being terrible, so that the expenditure of the palace is compressed to this extent, and it is normal for other emperors to spend hundreds of thousands of taels or millions of taels a year, but even if he only spends 100,000 taels a year, these thousands of people have not seen anyone hungry and frozen, that is to say, 100,000 taels is enough for the expenses of everyone in the entire palace for a year.

These 100,000 taels are scary enough, can anyone donate more money?

You must know that the official position of the donation is not hereditary, it is only a term of three years, and when the three-year period expires, please get out, and you will be able to ensure the treatment of an official later, that is to say, you are considered an official gentry if you are on leave, and your son is not.

Chongzhen couldn't help but be dumbfounded: "Are all the private merchants so rich now?" You can also donate more than 100,000 taels! “

One hundred thousand taels is a fart, and there are a lot of people who can come up with a million taels now, but it just depends on whether you are willing to open a position that makes them happy.

Of course, you can't say this to Chongzhen, this guy is not a normal person, he wants to pump his brain, catch these merchants and expropriate them violently, then it will be over, and the entire social system of Daming will collapse because of this.

He thought about it for a while, and simply coaxed: "Your Majesty, a person will definitely not be able to come up with so much silver, but it is no problem for a merchant gang to come up with hundreds of thousands of taels or even millions of taels, it just depends on whether the emperor can give them a position that makes them happy." ”

In order to save the loss of long-distance transportation of border soldiers and military supplies, the imperial court used salt and tea as intermediaries to recruit merchants to pay military rations, horses and other materials.

If these businessmen are willing to donate money, what can he not afford to give to the official position, as long as you pay the money, I can afford to be an official, whether you want a cabinet scholar or not, as long as you donate 10 million taels of silver, I will give you three years!

Of course, this can only be thought about, and he also knows that no one donated 10 million taels of silver.

However, he has never been a stingy official, he wants a bigger official, right, okay, I also want more silver, Chongzhen raised his eyebrows, and said angrily: "What position can make these merchants excited, how about Shaoqing of Guanglu Temple, how about Shaoqing of Taifu Temple?" ”

"Poof", Zhang Bin heard this, so there was no mouthful of blood spurted out, of course, he was excited, although the Taifu Temple was abolished, that Shaoqing was a member of the court of the fourth grade, although the Guanglu Temple was responsible for the chores of the banquet, that Shaoqing was also a member of the court of the fifth grade, Chongzhen really dared to give!

However, very good, this can definitely be had, Zhang Bin was really excited this time: "If the emperor can give such a high official position, there are definitely businessmen who are willing to donate 500,000 taels or even 1 million taels." ”

Then what else is there to say, give it.

Chongzhen nodded without hesitation and said: "That's okay, donate 500,000 taels, I will give him a Shaoqing of Guanglu Temple, donate 1 million taels, I will give him a Shaoqing of Taifu Temple!" ”

This guy is simply very good, he definitely doesn't have to worry about the food and salary of the 100,000 army for three years, he doesn't even have to pay a penny, and these merchants who have donated money will definitely be on his side.

Zhang Bin thought about it carefully again, and simply admonished: "Your Majesty, there is no horse to manage in Taifu Temple anyway, and there is no banquet to be held in Guanglu Temple. ”

Clearly mark the price, buy and sell officials, this is a typical thing that a faint king and traitor does!

Of course, Zhang Bin is definitely not a traitor, the two yamen of Taifu Temple and Guanglu Temple are idle and can no longer be idle idle yamen at this time, not to mention Taifu Temple, the grassland has been sold, and it exists in name only.

Guanglu Temple is similar, because Guanglu Temple is in charge of the wine banquet, Chongzhen is poor at this time, what kind of wine banquet, ten years, he has not held a wine banquet, this Guanglu Temple official is equivalent to playing for ten years, at most he is responsible for the procurement of palace ingredients, this guy, Chongzhen is called a thrifty, a total of 100,000 taels are spent all year round, Guanglu Temple officials are called an idle egg hurt.

Besides, which merchant can't buy things and hold wine banquets, they are specialized in trading, and many of them are opening big restaurants, this little thing is simply not worth it to them, and they don't have to worry about their incompetence at all, these things, they are much more competent than the nerds who came out of the imperial examination.

Chongzhen is a veritable faint monarch, he feels that this suggestion is quite good, a ruined yamen that exists in name only and a small yamen who do miscellaneous things, not only does not have to bear the burden of the imperial court for a year, but also can bring a stable income of millions of taels, why not do it!

He thought about it for a while, then nodded and said: "Okay, you make a charter, but the Zhengqing of the Taifu Temple and the Zhengqing of the Guanglu Temple can't be sold, although these two yamen have no authority, but the Zhengqing of the Taifu Temple and the Zhengqing of the Guanglu Temple have also hung up the name of the Three Princes and the Nine Secretaries, and they can't let the idlers and others take the position." ”

This is natural, it is really ridiculous to sell the three princes and nine qing, Zhang Bin still won't do this kind of thing, besides, even if Chongzhen wants to sell, it is estimated that no one can buy it, according to the standard of his lion's mouth, Taifu Temple Zhengqing and Guanglu Temple Zhengqing are not allowed to offer a sky-high price of five million taels, who can buy it!

The two discussed for a while, and the famous absurd law of the Chongzhen Dynasty, the "Salary Law", was born, but although this law sounds ridiculous, it is actually not absurd at all, because the court is short of money, and it is also a last resort to sell the idle positions of two idle yamen to raise food.

Chongzhen knew this, Zhang Bin knew it, and the court officials also knew it, so when Zhang Bin proposed the "Donation Law" the next morning, although some upright officials frowned slightly, none of them stood up to oppose it.

As for those corrupt officials and corrupt officials, not to mention, as long as they are not allowed to pay, it doesn't matter what they buy and sell officials, they all want to buy and sell officials, this "Donation and Salary Law" is good!