"That's a great way! If this is the case, then the ruins can be expected to be destroyed," Chongzhen praised repeatedly:

Wu Fu, a scholar of Dongge University, reminded, "Your Majesty, although Lord Yang's method is good, but with such a large encirclement, it will take a lot of troops to send a strong force to pursue the Liukou." Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info".

To be honest, Wu Fu also thinks that this ten-sided net encirclement and suppression strategy is very good, at least he can't think of it, but he knows that the grand strategy needs to have strong troops as a foundation, and the current military strength of the Ming Dynasty is already stretched, and it is really worth considering whether this strategy can be completed, so he reminded Chongzhen.

Yang Sichang nodded and said, "Your Majesty, what Lord Wu said is right, this method does require a lot of troops. According to my calculations, it is necessary to mobilize an army of 120,000 ......"

"120,000?" , Chongzhen exclaimed, paused, and lamented with a sad face: "Where did Lian find so many soldiers?" Even if so many soldiers were brought, where would the household department get so much food? ”

Yang Sichang said confidently: "This matter has already been thought about, Fengyang and Sizhou Ancestral Tombs sent 5,000 officers and soldiers, and Chengtian Ancestral Tombs sent 5,000 officers and soldiers, each holding on; The border army sent 30,000 troops, the prime minister sent 30,000 officers and men, the Fengyang and Shanxi governors each sent 10,000 troops, and the Huguang and Henan second governors each sent 15,000 officers and men......"

Hearing him dispatch like this, Chongzhen's face softened.

I thought: "Listening to him do this, it's not that he can't get 120,000 yuan, but what about the food?" Thinking of this, he asked: "Aiqing, this is not enough to have soldiers, but also to have food and salary, I don't know how much silver is needed for these 120,000 soldiers?" You know, it's going to be hard right now......"

Yang Sichang already had a countermeasure to this matter, and he had already calculated the required military expenses.

He said confidently: "Your Majesty, don't worry, Weichen has already planned about this. Of the 120,000 officers and soldiers, 74,000 were infantry and 36,000 were horsemen. Each infantryman was paid a monthly salary of one or a half taels of silver, and a total of one hundred and thirty-two thousand taels of silver was required for a year; Each horseman was paid three taels of silver and four denits of forage per month, and a total of 1,446,800 taels of silver was required for a year. The total amount of the two items is 2.8 million taels of silver. ”

"So much?" Chongzhen screamed in surprise, and then his face stiffened, and his heart suddenly cooled.

What he lacked most now was silver. But now Yang Sichang opened his mouth to 2.8 million taels, such a big number, where to ask him to raise it. He frowned, his face becoming more and more difficult to look at

Yang Sichang is the best at observing faces, and after glancing at Chongzhen's face, he sighed secretly in his heart: "Fuck, the salt merchants in Yangzhou can take out tens of millions of silver if they find a few at will, but a dignified Ming Dynasty, sixty-three provinces in the south and north, and a population of seven or eighty million, can't even take out a mere 2.8 million taels of silver, which is simply a big joke in the world." There is no way, send the Buddha to the end, I can only find a way for him. ”

Thinking of this, he bowed and said: "Your Majesty, you can't do without money to encircle and suppress the Liukou, since the household department really can't come up with the silver, then there is only open source and reduce expenditure." ”

"What is open source and reduce expenditure?" Chongzhen asked curiously. As long as it is a way to make money, he is interested.

Glancing at the emperor and the ministers, Yang Sichang said: "Saving money in the palace is throttling." ”

Hearing this, Chongzhen said in his heart: "Lao Tzu is already throttling enough, and if he continues to throttle, I'm afraid that he can only eat boiling water and pickles every day." "But after thinking about it, forget it, let's listen to him, boiling water to soak rice, boiling water to soak rice, in short, better than Taizu, he almost starved to death.

Thinking of this, he smiled and said to Yang Sichang: "What Aiqing said, it is aligned." So how does open source work? ”

"The so-called open source, its policy has four, said because of the grain, said overflow, said examples, said post delivery. The so-called grain is to levy all the acres of land in the world as a whole, increase the grain per mu by 60 yuan, and convert each stone of grain into eight dollars of silver, and the land that cannot be planted will not be harvested, so that the silver can be more than 1,929,000 a year......

Hearing this, Chongzhen interrupted him and asked suspiciously: "Aiqing, your method of causing food seems to be different from Lu Xiangsheng's method of causing food." ”

"It's different. Lord Lu's method of grain is that the tax per mu of land needs to be paid more than five taels, while the minister's method of grain is to levy it regardless of whether it is rich or poor. Yang Sichang bowed and said.

Chongzhen is not stupid, otherwise he would not be able to take Wei Zhongxian, after listening to Yang Sichang's method of causing grain, he felt that it was a little inappropriate, thought for a while, and asked: "Why don't you follow Lu Xiangsheng's method of causing grain?" ”

"Your Majesty, Lord Lu's method of food is good, but it is difficult to implement," Yang Sichang said with a wry smile

Chongzhen's face was blank, and he said coldly: "Does anyone dare to resist not paying taxes from the imperial court?" ”

"Not really. The main reason is that the rich people of the eunuch family are very treacherous, and they have always tried their best to avoid the taxes imposed by the imperial court, and now it is even more difficult to divide their wealth and poverty to pay taxes, neither time nor way, it is better to directly divide all the acres of land, so it is simple and fast. Yang Sichang said.

After thinking about it carefully, there is indeed no better way, now wait for the rice to be put into the pot, and then kill the Liukou first. Thinking of this, Chongzhen sighed and said, "Okay, because of the grain, Lian is understood, so what does overflow mean?" ”

"The so-called overflower is the wasteland that the peasants have cultivated more, and these fields have exceeded the original amount, and these lands must be taxed after verification, so that they can get more than 406,000 silver a year. The so-called example is that a wealthy person can pay for his son's qualification to be a prisoner, but this method has a great bad effect, so it can only be implemented for a short period of time and abolished after one year. The so-called post delivery is to take out 200,000 yuan of the silver saved by the previous abolition of the post post to make up the salary. Taken together, these items are completely sufficient. Yang Sichang said.

Listening to Yang Sichang's ideas, Chongzhen fell into deep thought, and after thinking for a while, he looked at His Royal Highness's Minister of Civil and Military Affairs and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, I don't know what you think of Yang Aiqing's proposals?" ”

"The ministers agree with Lord Yang's opinion," the ministers said in unison.

Because these policies are basically not conducive to the common people but to the prosperity of the eunuchs, the ministers are all big landlords and big bureaucrats, so naturally there are ways to pass on their own burdens, as for those grass people, whether they can live or not depends on their business. Even if the Ming Dynasty falls, it is just a change of emperor, as long as you keep your own wealth, you can still be prosperous and rich.

"Your Majesty, the minister opposes Lord Yang's two policies of food and overflow, once these two policies are implemented, it will be to drink water to quench their thirst, and more people will be forced to join the team of the Liukou in order to survive, this is not to encircle and suppress the Liukou, this is to help the Liukou grow their power." Wu Fu said loudly, with a worried face.

He knew very well that once Yang Sichang's two policies of grain and land overflow were implemented, it would add fuel to the fire, and more people would not survive, and more people would participate in the Liukou.

When Chongzhen heard this, he was stunned, lowered his head and thought carefully for a while, as if that was the case, and couldn't help but feel a little shaken in his heart.

"Your Majesty, Lord Wu's words are a bit alarmist, we don't add much, how can the people risk their lives to join the rogue for this little money and food, besides, we just collect it for one year, and after a year of exterminating the rogue will be canceled, the people should understand the hardships of the court." Yang Sichang hurriedly said.

Yang Sichang didn't think about these things that Wu Fu said, but he didn't think too much, and this was his first shot, and he didn't want to abolish it because of Wu Fu's opposition.

Sure enough, Yang Sichang's words reaffirmed Chongzhen's wavering thoughts, and he said loudly: "What the two Aiqing said makes sense, but the rogue can't be destroyed, so let's do it, in order to show fairness, change the grain to evenly lose, spread the message to all places, reluctantly obey the will of the court, temporarily accumulate my people for a year, and remove this big trouble." ”

In the late Ming Dynasty, when the economy was ruined and rebellions were repeated, the implementation of Yang Sichang's measure resulted in the drive of millions of peasants to the side of the peasant army, which directly led to the great development of the peasant uprising thirteen years after Chongzhen.

Seeing that the emperor agreed to his proposal, Yang Sichang was very happy in his heart, and he said: "Your Majesty, it is not enough to have soldiers and salaries, but also to have talents. And in order to achieve the goal of exterminating the Liukou, the person who commands the army must also be courageous, proficient in strategy, and have the ability to adapt to changes, and Lord Hong meets this requirement, but Wang Jiazhen, the prime minister of the five provinces in charge of the Central Plains, does not have this ability, so the minister suggested that Wang Jiazhen be removed and appointed to another person. ”

After thinking about it for a while, Chongzhen nodded: "I don't know if Aiqing has a suitable candidate......

After listening to the emperor's inquiry, Yang Sichang remembered that a few days ago, his friend Yao Minggong, the waiter of the Ministry of Rites, recommended Xiong Wencan, the governor of Liangguang and the governor of Fujian, Yao Minggong praised Xiong Wencan greatly, and Yang Sichang had also heard about it. He thought that since he could recruit pirates, he also had a way to recruit pirates, so that there would be fewer battles, fewer deaths, and less military spending. After a few days of consideration, he was already planning to recommend Xiong Wencan to the emperor.

"Xiong Wencan, the governor of Liangguang and the governor of Guangdong, is both capable and clear-minded, and the pirates who have been crisscrossing the southeast coast for many years have been subdued by him, and it can be said that he is the right person to replace Wang Jiazhen, the prime minister of the five provinces." Yang Sichang said.

Hearing this, Chongzhen thought for a while, and said happily: "Hearing Aiqing say this, this person is also a person with outstanding ability, and he is connected." ”

Seeing that the emperor was very face-saving, Yang Sichang was very happy in his heart, and he bowed and said: "The minister thanks Your Majesty for your trust, and the minister will definitely make every effort to plan wholeheartedly and strive to exterminate the Liukou as soon as possible, so as to repay Your Majesty's kindness." ”

"Retreat." After speaking, Chongzhen turned around and went back to the palace.

People are in good spirits on happy occasions, returned to the Qianqing Palace, drank a few sips of the best tribute tea, Chongzhen rarely felt hungry, so he repeatedly instructed Wang Chengen to notify the imperial dining room to send food, and specially asked for a small glass of imperial wine.