How much money Chongzhen lacked, this can be seen from the "three salaries at the end of the Ming Dynasty" imposed by the Chongzhen Dynasty.

In the first year of Chongzhen, the Liao salary was levied, according to the old system of Wanli 48 years, the world field, each mu was levied nine cents of silver, and the annual tax was more than 5.2 million taels of silver.

Chongzhen for three years, and then add Liao, plus three percent of silver per mu, and then tax more than 170,000 taels of silver every year, and the Liaoyu salary has accumulated to more than 7 million taels per year, and has since become customized.

In the tenth year of Chongzhen, the "salary" was levied, and six cents of silver were levied per mu, and more than 3.4 million taels of silver were added every year.

In the twelfth year of Chongzhen, the "training salary" was levied, and one and a half cents of silver were levied per mu, and more than 7 million taels of silver were taxed every year.

That is to say, by the twelfth year of Chongzhen, the cumulative amount of the three salaries levied each year was more than 17.4 million taels, plus the original tax of more than 4 million taels, since the twelfth year of Chongzhen, the annual taxes collected by the imperial court have reached more than 22 million taels!

Liao, Lian, and Ran, and other "three salaries" have become the biggest stain and evidence of Chongzhen's life, for which he can be said to have been infamous through the ages.

You must know that in the Apocalypse Dynasty, the highest tax in the six years of the Apocalypse is more than 5.5 million taels, and in the Chongzhen Dynasty, it is more than 22 million taels a year.

The Tianqi Dynasty only paid so much in total, and Wei Zhongxian could "cut out" more than 3 million taels to build a mausoleum for himself, and he could also seal 17 relatives, rewarding a total of more than 4 million taels of property.

The taxes of the Chongzhen Dynasty were so heavy, but in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, Chongzhen was still poor and borrowed money from the officials in the capital, why is this?

Is it because Chongzhen is arrogant and lascivious, spends every day and drinks every day, and eats the wine pond and meat forest?

No, Chongzhen is quite diligent and thrifty, he has been in power for seventeen years, and he has not even repaired the palace once!

The reason why Chongzhen is so short of money is because the military expenditure is too large.

In the third year of Chongzhen, the Later Jin Emperor Taiji led the army to raid the capital, Gyeonggi was shaken, and the lives were devastated, and more than 400,000 troops from all over the Ming Dynasty entered the king of Beijing Qin, without taxes, what do so many people eat?

In the tenth year of Chongzhen, it was Huang Taiji who led the army into the Kou, breaking the sixteen cities of Changping, and Chongzhen urgently transferred Lu Xiangsheng to lead the army to help, so that no one suppressed the peasant rebel army.

Zhang Xianzhong took the opportunity to recover, united with Luo Rucai and other troops of more than 200,000 troops, and attacked Qizhou, Huoshan and other places.

Li Zicheng gathered Gao Yingxiang's old department, waved his army into Sichuan, and broke more than ten cities.

The Ming Dynasty is stormy, if you don't mobilize a large army to conquer and suppress, the disaster of the country is not far away, and if you don't increase taxes, where will the military expenses come from!

In the twelfth year of Chongzhen, it was Huang Taiji who led the army into the Kou, broke through Jinan Mansion in Shandong, Kecheng more than 10, Chongzhen mobilized several armies were defeated by it, and the capital of the Ming Dynasty was under martial law.

Zhang Xianzhong took the opportunity to surrender and re-sentence, and united with Luo Rucai, Zhang Tianlin and others to rise again, break Fang County and Baokang, and annihilate the main force of the Ming army, Zuo Liangyu, in Luo Monkey Mountain.

Li Zicheng took the opportunity to enter Henan, and within a few months, he gathered hundreds of thousands of righteous troops.

The Ming Dynasty is in danger, if you don't gather a large army and do your best, the disaster of the country is imminent, or the old problem, if you don't add taxes, where will the military spending come from?

Of course, these are all things that happened when Zhang Bin did not cross, and now that Zhang Bin has crossed over, will the so-called three salaries be levied?

It's a pity that in the second year of Chongzhen, the Liao salary that was originally going to be levied in the first year of Chongzhen still began to be levied!

Why?

Not to mention the peasant uprising in the northwest, not to mention the Anluxe Rebellion in the southwest, not to mention Zhang Bin's suppression of pirates in Fujian. Just calculate Liaodong's current military expenditures.

The food and salary set in Liaodong at that time was one stone per month for infantry and one or two and five yuan of silver, one stone per month for cavalry, two or three yuan of silver per month, and seven yuan for pasture.

So how many troops did Liaodong gather at this time, under the command of the Jiliao Governor, Jizhou Town, Shanhaiguan, Guanningjin Line, Shandong Denglai Line, and Dongjiang Town, a total of more than 50,000 Jizhou border troops, more than 100,000 Liaodong Army, more than 50,000 Guanning Iron Cavalry, more than 30,000 Denglai Water Division, and more than 100,000 Dongjiang Army.

Of course, this is the number reported by the generals of each army, in fact, there is not so much, among which the least water should be the Liaodong Army and the Guanning Iron Cavalry, Chongzhen Dynasty many times real number, the total strength of these two strong brigades is about 130,000, there is a little water, but not much, the largest water should be the Dongjiang Army, Yuan Chonghuan counted once, a total of only 28,000 people.

However, regardless of whether it is real or false, the imperial court still has to pay the food and salary reported by these troops, and if they do not pay, there is a high chance that something will happen.

According to the calculations reported, there were more than 280,000 infantry soldiers and more than 50,000 cavalrymen, and the monthly salary to be paid was 700,000 plus 200,000 taels, a total of 900,000 taels, or 10,800,000 taels a year.

The generals of the various armies have reported it, what will happen if the court does not pay?

Some of them are very false, such as the Dongjiang Army, they originally had the idea that they could deceive as much as they could, and if you don't give it to him, it won't be good, they will just continue to urge.

Some of them are very few, and most of them are real, and if the court does not pay, it will be a terrible thing, because the soldiers who can't get the food are likely to mutiny!

In the first year of Chongzhen, Ningyuan mutiny was because the imperial court was in arrears of food and wages.

In fact, the Liaodong mutiny was not only Ningyuan, Yuan Chonghuan took the silver and went to Ningyuan's thirteenth battalion mutiny, but there were mutinies in other places.

For example, the East Guerrilla and Yumuling and Baiyangyu reinforcement camps in Jizhou Town cut down trees and set up villages, served pythons and erected flags, and wrote the eight characters of "Serve the country with a naked heart, and set up food for the hungry army", roaring loudly and angrily, if you don't pay food, you will be reversed!

What can Chongzhen do?

How much money did Zhang Bin send him?

Gao Cai and Chen Eryi confiscated more than 1 million taels of corruption gains;

The 20,000 acres of land in Yuegang have been leased to merchants for different years, totaling more than 500,000 taels;

exterminated all kinds of pirates, and successively handed over more than 1.9 million taels of thieves' stolen goods;

Destroy the Dutch and Spanish defenders entrenched in Dongfan, and capture more than 1 million taels;

The ship in the first year of Chongzhen received 850,000 taels;

In the first year of Chongzhen, the monthly tax income of Hong Kong was more than 500,000 taels;

adds up to a total of more than 5 million taels, which is about the same, offsetting a year's salary.

However, in the second year of Chongzhen, Zhang Bin was only able to pay the ship introduction and tax income of Yuegang, which was worth nothing for the huge military expenditure in Liaodong.

However, this Liao salary is not something you can definitely collect if you want to levy it, Chongzhen can issue an order to levy Liao salary, but whether it is collected or not is a matter of the household department.

The household department in charge of the collection is strict and can't play tricks with the localities, you can't pay it, you don't pay it, you don't pay it to clean you up.

Of course, it is very likely that when he finally handed in the list of levies, where did he not hand it over, Chongzhen would remove his local officials from his post and investigate them, but in this case, he would offend people ruthlessly, would people dare to resent the emperor, of course not, if you want to hate, you will only be a household secretary!

He did not act brutally, but personally wrote a letter to explain the situation to the governors of the provinces or the political envoys, listed various expenditures, and listed the mutinies provoked by the failure to pay food and wages on time.

Fujian Governor Zhang Bin, as the highest military and political governor of Fujian, naturally also received a letter from Bi Ziyan.

On the fifteenth day of the first month of the second year of Chongzhen, the Shangyuan Festival, the governor of the eastern part of the yamen put up lights everywhere, and was full of joy.

However, the governor Zhang Bin was not happy, because at noon that day, he was arrested by his mother Huang again.

This time, it was not as simple as talking alone, the Huang family directly invited Qi Yin's family and Hong Xianchun's family directly to the main house for dinner, and "forced" Zhang Chengde and Zhang Bin and his son to accompany him.

The Huang family is full of spring breeze, and the parents who accompanied Qi Fanghua and Hong Ronger talked and laughed.

Qi Fanghua and Hong Rong'er were extremely shy, their faces were flushed, and they peeked at Zhang Bin from time to time.

Zhang Chengde and Zhang Bin, father and son, were trembling and walking on thin ice.

Taking advantage of the Huang family's efforts to persuade Qi Yin and Hong Xianchun and his wife to drink, Zhang Chengde secretly said to Zhang Bin: "Stinky boy, what do you mean, Rong'er and Fanghua are not worthy of you, you have been grinding for a few years, I don't want you to say it, you are so procrastinating, you have dragged people into old girls." Your mother nagged in front of me every day, and my ears were calloused, do you know, can you spare your father? ”

Zhang Bin rolled his eyes and said helplessly: "Who said that I didn't agree, isn't this no time." ”

Zhang Chengde rolled his eyes exactly the same and complained: "How long does it take to become a parent, don't you have any time?" ”

At this time, Huang suddenly came up, patted Zhang Chengde on the shoulder and said softly: "Old man, you finally said a human word, yes, go on, educate this stinky boy for the old lady." ”

The father and son rolled their eyes at the same time, what kind of thing is this, what is it to finally say a human word!

At this time, Qi Yin and Hong Xianchun and his wife all cast expectant eyes, looking at Zhang Bin with a blank look, and the meaning was obvious: Lord Governor, you just nod your head and get things done.

Zhang Bin suddenly felt that Yali Mountain was big, and cold sweat was about to burst out.

He really wanted to say that Jiannu was going to fight in the capital, can the happy event be repulsed from Jiannu and then done?

However, he really didn't dare to say this, even in the face of his family, he didn't dare to say it, Jiannu attacked the capital, this is too appalling, before people called, I don't know how big a wave it will set off.

Just when his scalp was numb from being stared at, Zhao Ru's voice suddenly came from outside: "My lord, Lord Bi Mao Kangbi and Master Cai Shanji Cai have urgent matters to see." ”

Before Zhang Bin could react, Huang suddenly stood up, ran to the door, grabbed Zhao Ru's ear, and shouted angrily: "Stinky boy, the skin is itchy, right, do you want me to call your mother over and loosen your skin?" ”

Zhao Ru didn't dare to resist, so he could only cast a look at Zhang Bin for help.

Zhang Bin only reacted at this time, and he hurriedly asked, "What's the urgency?" ”

Zhao Ru bared his teeth and said: "Lord Bi said that there is an urgent document of eight hundred miles from the capital, please deal with it." ”

When Zhang Bin heard this, his face changed, eight hundred miles of urgent official documents, wouldn't it be Huang Taiji calling!

He stood up suddenly, arched his hand, and said, "I'm sorry, everyone, I missed you." ”

With that, he ran to the study in the front hall.

Huang's hand was frightened by the "Eight Hundred Miles Urgent Official Document", and he looked at Zhang Bin's back in a daze, his eyes were full of worry, while Zhao Ru glanced at Huang cautiously, and then secretly turned around and slipped away.

Zhang Bin hurriedly ran to the study, took the official document handed over by Bi Maokang, and saw that it was sent by the household department, ordering the provinces to immediately levy Liaoyu!

It turned out to be this, but fortunately it was not Huang Taiji who attacked the capital.

Before he could speak, Bi Maokang handed him another envelope and said with a solemn expression: "This is a handwritten letter from Master Bi Ziyan Bi, the head of the household department, and it was sent along with the official document. ”

Zhang Bin hurriedly closed the envelope and opened it.

At the beginning, Bi Ziyan actually listed many mutinies!

It turned out that not only Ningyuan mutiny, but also many places have mutiny, the most serious is Jizhou Town, at this time the East Guerrilla and Yumuling, Baiyangyu reinforcement camp has been cut down and set up a village, serving the python to erect a flag, the big book "Serve the country with a naked heart, and set up food for the hungry army", roaring loudly, if you don't pay for food, you will be reversed!

Later, Bi Ziyan also listed the various military expenditures of the Liaodong Army, totaling more than 10 million taels.

He listed so many things, that is, he asked Zhang Bin to immediately levy a levy on Liao to solve the urgent needs of the imperial court.

In the end, he even said something personal.

It turned out that it was a coincidence that when Ningyuan mutinied, Bi Zisu was just held by the rebels and forced to pay for food, and Zhang Bin's one million taels of silver were just sent to the capital.

Chongzhen sent a message to give them supplementary food and salary, and Bi Ziyan hurriedly rushed eight hundred miles to inform the generals of the Ningyuan garrison, saying that he would immediately allocate the salary and silver, and asked them to persuade the rebellious soldiers not to make radical moves.

As a result, Yuan Chonghuan took the money and ran to Ningyuan, not only quelling the mutiny, but also saving Bi Zisu.

The court promised to pay back the salary, and those rebellious soldiers naturally would not abuse Bi Zisu anymore and forced him to commit suicide, just like that, Zhang Bin indirectly saved Bi Zisu's life, and Bi Ziyan was naturally grateful to him.

After reading the letter, Zhang Bin couldn't help sighing, saving Bi Zisu is naturally a merit, but what should I do with this salary?

Don't look at the addition of nine cents per mu, the average farmer's home is not one mu of land but about ten acres, and ten mu is nine points, which is already a considerable burden on farmers.

At this time, if it was the early years of the Ming Dynasty, the prosperous era of Hongwu and the prosperous era of Yongle, a family of ordinary people generally had forty or fifty acres of land, and a family could still have a surplus after eating, drinking, and wearing, and this nine-cent silver was really nothing.

However, this is not the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, but the end of the Ming Dynasty, the land annexation is serious, a family of ordinary people only has ten acres of land, the harvest is a little less, they can't eat enough, nine cents of silver, sometimes they can force people to death!

Seeing Zhang Bin standing there frowning and not speaking, Bi Maokang couldn't help but ask worriedly: "My lord, what should I do with this salary, to accept it or not?" ”

Cai Shanji also had a worried expression, staring at Zhang Bin tightly, they are all rare good officials, it can be said that they are dedicated to the country and the people, the country is in trouble at this time, but the way the court came up with is to pass this on to the people!

For the sake of the country or for the sake of the people? They are really contradictory.

Zhang Bin thought about it for a long time, and finally sighed, and said helplessly: "Let's levy it, there is no way, the imperial court can't produce money now, and if you don't levy Liao's salary, the mutiny will inevitably become more and more intense, and it can't end!" ”

When Bi Maokang and Cai Shanji heard this, they had to nod helplessly, tens of millions of taels, no one can give birth to so much money.

Zhang Bin finally sighed: "Now it can only be like this, everyone should think of a way to see how to benefit the people and compensate for the money." ”