In the second year of Yongxing in the Ming Dynasty, at the beginning of the new year, Lu Xiangsheng, the Marquis of Liaoyang, the secretary of the Ministry of War, proposed that in order to save military expenditures and reduce the financial pressure of the imperial court, it was recommended to abolish part of the army, and at the same time implement the strategy of elite troops to maintain the overall combat strength.

This was actually discussed by Zhang Bin and Yongxing Emperor Zhu Cihong, but he just said it through Lu Xiangsheng's mouth, so naturally he would not encounter any resistance, and soon passed the fold, and a huge disarmament began.

First of all, the Shanxi Army, the Shaanxi Army, the Huguang Army, and the Henan Army canceled their numbers, and more than 130,000 officers and men were all disarmed and returned to the fields, and the guards who originally had enough arable land were given a certain amount of severance pay and went home directly, and the soldiers who had no arable land or had insufficient arable land were uniformly allocated enough arable land in the important towns of the nine borders, and most of the civilians in the original important towns of the nine sides were relocated to the areas closer to the five northwestern provinces.

With the popularization of large-scale water wheels, more and more farmland can be cultivated for cash crops in the disaster areas in northwest China, and it is not a problem to move in more than 100,000 rural households.

Immediately after that, the Liaodong Army and the Dongjiang Army began to select elites and merge them into the new Liaodong Army, and all the 60,000 horses that had been laid off were deployed to Tuntian in Liaohetao and other areas between Liaodong and the Chahar Grassland and the Horqin Grassland.

Originally, these places were deserted there and uncultivated due to the dense rivers and inconvenient transportation, and there were too many swamps to be suitable for farming, but this time it was different, due to the successive droughts, the swamps were almost dried up, and they were just right for arable land.

And the rivers here are dense, the water is abundant, basically not affected by the drought, it is the best fertile land, Zhang Bin originally wanted to organize people to reclaim the wasteland here, but the problem of the Mengyuan tribes has not been solved before, if the station is again here, it will become the front line of the battlefield, and farming here is equivalent to sending food to the Mengyuan tribes, so this idea has not been implemented.

Now that the Mengyuan Chahar Department has been completely under control, and the Horqin Department is also gradually under control, there is no danger in opening up wasteland here, so Zhang Bin arranged for the 60,000 Liaodong Army and Dongjiang Army to be laid off in Tuntian.

In this way, the Liaodong Xingdu Division is equal to more than ten more guards, and the Daming Tunwei has expanded again, and the internal and external guards are close to five hundred, and the number of Tunwei military households has almost three million!

Just when the disarmament of Daming was in full swing, Zhang Bin quietly went out of the capital with a few teams of guards and a few familiar officials, and walked around the state capital of Beizhili.

He wanted to see how the people were doing, and he also wanted to see what they urgently needed, because the Ming Dynasty's taxes last year reached an unprecedented more than 31 million taels, excluding the military budget and officials' salaries, there were nearly 13 million taels left, and all this money, Zhang Bin meant, was spent to improve people's livelihood.

As for the accumulation of the state treasury, there is no hurry, in the future, there will be time, let the people live and work in peace and contentment, and after entering the peaceful and prosperous era, the annual tax will increase, and at that time, the money will be saved faster.

The first stop of his tour was Tongzhou, accompanied by Cao Jun, the head of the household department, and Xu Fuyuan, the former governor of Tongzhou, but this time the champion Lang Wen Zhenmeng was replaced by the new right attendant of the Ministry of Rites, Chen Zilong, who was the successor he cultivated, and later replaced him as the first assistant of the cabinet to assist the Yongxing Emperor Zhu Cihong.

The group came to the familiar Zhangjiawan, far away, and before entering the village, Zhang Laohan shouted and organized a large group of villagers to welcome him.

As soon as Zhang Bin hit his horse to the entrance of the village, Zhang Laohan recognized it, and he excitedly stepped forward to grab the reins of Zhang Bin's mount, helped Zhang Bin stop the mount, and then trembled: "Master Taishi, it's really you, the old man thought, you are the one who can bring so many people to see us." ”

Zhang Bin turned over and dismounted with a smile, pointed to Xu Fuyuan behind him and said, "Isn't Lord Xu here too?" ”

When Zhang Laohan heard this, he hurriedly arched his hand and said: "Lord Zhizhou, you have no news since you entered Beijing, and our villagers have been talking about you, this time you can be regarded as coming to see us." ”

Xu Fuyuan hurriedly turned over and dismounted, and bowed back: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, the Beijing Yamen is busy, and I really can't get out." It's you, Lao Zhangtou, the officials have been recruited many times and asked you to serve as the magistrate, why do you repeatedly refuse? ”

When Lao Zhangtou heard this, he said embarrassedly: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Lord Zhizhou, there are more and more people in this village, and the land is getting more and more, and the villain is afraid of delays, so he doesn't dare to go away, I'm really sorry, I'm sorry." ”

Zhang Bin patted him on the shoulder and said approvingly: "In fact, it's the same everywhere, it's all for the people, you are not tempted by high-ranking officials, stick to your heart, not bad." ”

Lao Zhang Tou said with a smile: "I'm not afraid of the jokes of the Taishi, this magistrate is indeed a high-ranking official, but this Yulu is not necessarily more than the villain who eats in this field, and the villain is also a little selfish." ”

When Zhang Bin heard this, he patted him on the back and motioned for him to lead everyone into the village, and asked with a sense of nature: "Oh, how much silver can you make by digging in the field this year?" ”

Zhang Laohan said without hesitation: "Don't hide it from Master Taishi, these more than 50 acres of land can earn almost a hundred taels of gross profit if you don't eat and drink in a year, except for the grain production and some potatoes and leafy vegetables." ”

When Zhang Bin heard this, he was pleasantly surprised: "Can every family earn so much, and how much silver can you save in a year after deducting daily expenses?" ”

Zhang Laohan was a little embarrassed and said: "This, not every household can earn so much, the villain's family has a lot of people, so there is more land, some families don't have so many people naturally don't have so much land, and most of them are too busy, they can't make other things, it's no problem to mix food and clothing for a year, if you have a surplus, I'm afraid there is not much, as for the villain, thirty or forty taels can be saved in a year." ”

Zhang Bin couldn't help but smile and said: "Well, the imperial court can only ensure that everyone has enough land, as for whether you can make full use of it, it depends on yourself, you have done a very good job, you can keep thirty or forty taels a year, and you will become a rich man in a few years." ”

Zhang Laohan shook his head again and again and said: "How can it, this house has been rebuilt, and the marriage has been done for the boss, and the money has almost been spent." ”

At this time, everyone happened to come to Zhang Laohan's courtyard, Zhang Bin looked up, good guy, the original adobe house has become a circle of brick houses, there are many more rooms, and it looks much more comfortable.

He couldn't help but hurriedly walked into the new house and took a closer look, this guy was indeed much better than the previous adobe house.

However, when he entered the village, he did not see a few such brick houses, and most of the houses they lived in were still adobe houses, and it would be good if he could help the people to convert all the adobe houses and even thatched houses into brick houses.

Thinking of this, he immediately asked, "Old Zhangtou, how much money did you spend on this house, let's talk about it." ”

Lao Zhangtou hurriedly snapped his fingers and said: "It cost more than one tael to buy coal, more than two taels to hire someone to make bricks and tiles, more than two taels to ask someone to burn bricks and tiles around the kiln, more than five taels to ask someone to build a house and add furniture, and eleven taels to come down together." ”

When Zhang Bin heard this, he couldn't help but nodded, he already had a certain plan in his heart, he went around Zhang Laohan's house, and went to a few difficult households to take a closer look, and he ended the inspection early and returned to Beijing with everyone.

Now it seems that the most important thing for the people to improve is housing, because the situation of not having enough food basically no longer exists, and it is rare to wear tattered clothes, food, clothing, housing and transportation, only most of the houses are still the same, so start with the house!

Within a few days, the imperial court issued a letter to all provinces of the Ming Dynasty, ordering all local prefectures and counties to count the housing situation of each household, but if all thatched houses and old adobe houses were reported, the imperial court would allocate coal to various localities in batches according to the degree of difficulty of each household, and the local prefectures and counties would organize their own laborers to concentrate on rebuilding houses, and all laborers would be offset against the forced labor of the year.

Good guys, in the past, the conscripts were to build roads, bridges, and city walls for the imperial court, and even to officials at all levels and relatives of the emperor to repair mansions and palaces, but now it has become a house for the people themselves, and the imperial court also provides coal for free, and the people all over the Ming Dynasty are happy.

It's really a good time for them to spread out, the court not only gives everyone enough food and clothing, but also helps everyone build houses!