Not long after Changlu received the good news, the excerpts from the towns on the nine sides of the country reporting that there were actually soldiers were finally reported. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

After the accounting of the Governor's Office of the Five Armies and the Ministry of War, Zhang Weixian and Sun Chengzong, together with Sun Chengzong, gave the emperor an excerpt in the name of the Military Aircraft Department, explaining the current situation of soldiers in Beijing and various towns, and at the same time put forward a proposal to make up the military salary as soon as possible.

The nine sides refer to the nine important military towns located on the northern border of Liaodong, Jizhou, Xuanfu, Datong, Taiyuan, Guyuan, Yansui, Ningxia and Gansu.

Of course, this is the Ming Dynasty Hongzhi period of the initial establishment of the nine-sided town, and later from Jizhou Town and a Shanhai Town, from Guyuan Town and a Lintao Town, in addition to some towns that have been established for a period of time and revoked.

In short, when it came to the actual existence of the nine-sided towns in the Chongzhen period, there were eleven in total, instead of the nine as commonly understood, but the nine-sided statement has continued and has not changed.

The towns on the nine sides were originally only in charge of the guards within their own jurisdiction, but later the guards were abolished, and more and more soldiers were recruited, and in the last years of the Apocalypse, basically half of them were recruited soldiers, and most of the soldiers who really had combat effectiveness were recruits.

The salary of the conscripted soldiers is usually about 18 taels per person per year, but later because of the shortage of food on the nine sides and the rise in prices, the salary of the conscripted soldiers also rose with the tide, rising to 25 taels per person per year.

Compared with recruitment, the salary of the guards was much lower, and at first the guards did not pay money, because they were given land, they were hereditary military households, and it was their duty to fight as soldiers.

But after Wanli, the guard post became more and more deserted, the combat effectiveness of the guard soldiers also seriously declined, and the nine sides were poor, the military households fled continuously, and the towns on the nine sides were seriously insufficient, so they had to pay military salaries to encourage military households to join the army, and at the same time recruit the people who dare to fight as soldiers.

Therefore, although the guards pay the soldiers, it is much lower than the recruitment, and now each person is about 12 taels a year. Even so, according to the actual number of soldiers reported by the towns of the Nine Sides, military spending is still a huge figure.

Liaodong Town had the largest number of people, and the recruits and guards were added together, with a total of 85,000 people reported, Shanhai Town reported 25,000 people, Jizhen Town reported 20,000 people, Xuanfu Town reported 20,000 people, Datong Town reported 30,000 people, Taiyuan Town reported 25,000 people, Guyuan Town reported 20,000 people, Yansui Town reported 25,000 people, Ningxia Town reported 20,000 people, Gansu Town reported 25,000 people, and Lintao Town reported 15,000 people. In addition, Mao Wenlong's Dongjiang Town reported 30,000 people, totaling 340,000 people.

Zhu Daming was basically satisfied with the number reported by the towns, at least compared with the original number of people in the hands of the Governor's Office and the Military Department of the Five Armies, the amount of water contained was much less, and it was closer to reality.

However, he believed that the governors and commanders of the towns in the Nine Frontiers would certainly not report the truth completely, after all, eating empty salaries has become a chronic problem of the generals and officials in the Nine Frontiers towns, and it has been the case since the establishment of the Nine Frontiers.

Zhu Daming can tolerate a moderate empty salary, but he must not tolerate the existence of such a thing as eating Daming's rice and smashing Daming's pot, and such a thing has become more and more intense in the Chongzhen period.

As for how many soldiers there were in the nine-sided towns at the end of the Ming Dynasty, no one can say clearly, but according to the combat effectiveness of the nine-sided towns in history, even if it is 340,000, I am afraid that it does not know how much water it contains.

As for the Jingying, because it was under the emperor's nose, and Zhang Weixian, the governor of the Jingying, also saw that the emperor in front of him this time was not a person who could be deceived by lies, so he didn't dare to falsely report the number of people, counting the old, weak, sick and disabled who could be pulled out to appear, and finally made up enough 60,000.

As for the previous military salaries, they were paid according to how many heads, and now they can't be taken care of, anyway, the emperor has clearly pardoned the previous problems, and the household department has never honestly paid military salaries according to the figures reported by the military department, and they are all discounted.

In fact, when they passed through the military department, they were also discounted, and the ministers of the DPRK and the central government, especially the household department of the military department, actually knew about the pettiness of the Jiubian and the Beijing camp, but they were unwilling to pursue it and offend people.

In this way, counting the Beijing camp and the nine borders, the Beijing camp and the nine border army, which are known as one million, even if they contain an unknown amount of water, there are only 400,000 people with names and surnames today.

On the one hand, although Zhu Daming had already prepared in his heart, he was still taken aback, on the one hand, although it was true that there was less money to be paid for the death and the financial situation was a little more comfortable, but with such a little army with lax armaments and low morale, it was really difficult to have a chance of winning against the Jianyu army.

It is no wonder that the Ming army in history always lost more than the victory against the Jianju, and it was difficult to have a big victory, and later the generals were afraid of the war, and they were crushed at the touch of a button.

Thinking of this, Zhu Daming was also angry in his heart, but angry is angry, and he still has to find a way.

After reading the excerpt of the military aircraft department's report to the soldiers and asking for salaries, Zhu Daming quickly found Zhang Weixian and Sun Chengzong, who were on standby at the military aircraft department.

After the two of them saluted and sat down, Zhu Daming said: "I have seen the excerpts of your soldiers, and the Beijing camp has reported 60,000 people, and the nine sides have reported 340,000 people. When I looked at these numbers, I was both happy and worried.

"Happily, the figures reported this time have finally squeezed out a lot of empty salary, and I have a little conscience, which can save a little silver for the court and let the court take a breath.

"The worry is that the army of one million in the north of my Ming Dynasty is now rotten to the bones, and there are only 400,000 people on the nine sides plus the Beijing camp.

"From these figures, I finally understand the reason for Liaodong's repeated defeats. Now that the matter of verifying the soldiers has come to an end, you can all talk about it, what should I do about this matter? ”

Hearing the emperor's inquiry, Zhang Weixian looked at Sun Chengzong, then left his seat, knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, the minister is guilty." I beg your Majesty's forgiveness. ”

Zhu Daming also understood what Zhang Weixian meant, and said to him: "Aiqing doesn't have to be like this. I have already said that I will not mention any of the previous questions. Freezing three feet is not a day's cold, and it has long been a practice for Beijing and Jiubian to make false claims, since the imperial court has not pursued it in the past few decades, I naturally have no need to pursue accountability for the problems left in the past. This time, I am very relieved that the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies and the three battalions of the Beijing Division under Aiqing's command can truthfully report that there are actual soldiers. Aiqing is flat. ”

Zhang Weixian heard this, got up, sat down again, and then said to the emperor: "Your Majesty, now that it has been a close year, the problem of arrears in Beijing and Jiubian can no longer be delayed, and I also ask Your Majesty to order the household department as soon as possible to make up part of the arrears according to the number of people reported, so that the soldiers of Jiubian and Jingying can have a good year." ”

After listening to Zhang Weixian's words, Zhu Daming bowed slightly, and then looked at Sun Chengzong.

Sun Chengzong immediately bowed down and said, "Your Majesty, what the British public said is reasonable. Now the cold winter wax moon, the year is approaching, the arrears are really not suitable to delay, now Jiubian and Beijing camp have reported the amount of soldiers, the situation is much better than in the past, according to the ministers and supervisors Ji Liao period knows, at least the situation in Liaodong Town is basically true, there may be discrepancies during the period, but they are all within the tolerable range. If there is chaos today, it is not appropriate to pursue some small sections too much. Your Majesty, please be aware of it. ”

After listening to what Sun Chengzong said, Zhu Daming said: "What the two Aiqing said is extremely true. When the water is clear, there are no fish, and when people are observed, there are no disciples, I understand these truths. In this case, I now have some silver in my hand, so I will allocate four million taels from the inner treasury, and give a part of it first according to the standard of ten taels per capita, especially the soldiers of the nine sides, after a hard year, it is indeed time to have a good year. ”

When Sun Chengzong and Zhang Weixian heard this, the two of them unanimously left their seats and knelt on the ground together, saying that His Majesty was wise, and these words were indeed from the heart.

For today's emperor, these two people are also extremely admired, less than eighteen years old young son of heaven, there is no problem with the emperor before the Ming Dynasty, there is no problem of misconduct, there is no greed for money and lust, since the accession to the throne, dreaming of sleep, conscientious, although there is also the infamy of accumulating wealth and lazy government, but those words of the official are completely out of ignorance, even if the emperor in front of him only goes to the court once every ten days, but the cabinet and the military aircraft department have not been idle, the small court meeting of the Wenhua Palace, the military aircraft department of the Wuying Palace, All of them are more efficient means of handling court affairs, and the operation of the government is much smoother and more effective than in the past.

This time it is even more so, four million taels of silver, the emperor said that he would take it out, there was no need for two people to say it clearly, and there was no need for repeated requests from courtiers, and there was no trace of the legendary greed for money at all.

Of course, Zhu Daming is also a little painful, although in the past two months, relying on the eunuch party's house, the silver in the inner treasury has skyrocketed, but the expenses are also large, not to mention the Huangzhuang, at present, a new army has not been recruited, but the silver invested has exceeded one million.

In addition, the reopening of the Zunhua Iron Works is also a bottomless pit, and the silver that Li Banghua took away not long ago is 600,000 taels.

There are also Sun Yuanhua's sons and sons and Ding, who led people to Macao to buy guns, although the deposit brought for the first time is not more than 200,000 taels, but in the future, the cost of buying guns, hiring people, and even establishing a cannon foundry will inevitably be small.

In addition to the silver invested in the research and promotion of new crops by the Agricultural Academy, as well as the subsidy to the household department, the new Shangshu Bi Ziyan sent people to Jiangnan to buy grain to stabilize the price of the Beijing division of the million taels, plus the four million military salaries, although there are many copied in, but also a lot of spending, it is completely a passing god of wealth.

Fortunately, the blessing of Lu Shanji recently, Jinyiwei copied out a sum of silver from Changlu Salt Officer and salt merchants in Zhangjiakou and other places, and it is being transported back to Beijing one after another, just to top the hole spent on the reissue of military salaries.

Of course, what makes Zhu Daming feel the most uncertain is how much of this silver will eventually evaporate halfway through, and how much it can really be sent to the hands of low-level soldiers, everything is unknown.