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When Zheng Xunrui was settling accounts with Yang He with a bitter face, Zheng Jinhong on the side turned pale, if it takes such a large expense to maintain a thousand elite cavalry, it is better not to want it, who can bear it.

Yang He also opened his mouth to put several eggs in it, and after Zheng Xunrui settled the account, he was stunned and suddenly laughed.

"Young master, if it is according to your calculations, Da Ming will not be willing to have cavalry, no, not only cavalry, even foot soldiers do not exist, no one can feed it."

Zheng Xunrui was a little dazed, looking at Yang He and not speaking, he really calculated it, and there would never be any such things as deducting military salaries, so it was said that there was no mistake.

Soon, Yang He's face became stern.

"Young master, do you know that this calculation method of yours means that these thousand elite cavalry are fighting every day, without a moment of rest, and even if they fight every day, they don't need such a huge overhead."

"Oh, it turns out that there are such reasons, so tell me how much the annual cost of a thousand elite cavalry is."

"The young master is so serious, his subordinates don't dare to speak, first, this military salary of five taels of silver per person per month, no army has done it now, even if it is a pro-soldier, he can't get so much, it is good to be able to have three taels of silver when he is full, even the county master, the monthly salary is five taels of silver."

Zheng Xunrui shook his head slightly.

"I think this is already the least, it can't be less, the county magistrate's monthly salary of five taels of silver, that's on the surface, the actual income is definitely more than that, otherwise I won't be able to live, as for the other armies, I don't care how much they take."

Yang He looked at Zheng Xunrui, a look of surprise flashed on his face.

"Okay, the second expense, Arab war horses, the young master is eighty taels of silver, if you need such a large number of Arab war horses, you definitely don't need to spend eighty thousand taels of silver, at most fifty thousand taels of silver, fifty taels of silver for each Arab horse, including saddles and other items, such a number of Arab war horses, merchants will do business, subordinates have seen with their own eyes, merchants trade Arabian horses, forty-five taels of silver each."

"War horses are a one-time investment, and there is no need to buy them after they are purchased."

Zheng Xunrui nodded and didn't speak, he really didn't know what Yang He said about this.

"The third expense, one hundred and fifty taels of silver per year for each war horse, this is even more impossible, even if it is fed with oats and soybeans every day, it does not need such a large expense, and the war horse needs forage, always feeding oats and soybeans, the war horse can't bear it, and the time when it needs oats and soybeans is used, that is, in wartime, concentrate feed is used every day, and it needs to be taken care of, but it can't last very long, and the subordinates calculate the annual expenses of each war horse according to the young master's idea, which should be about thirty taels of silver."

"The fourth expense, the sergeant's equipment, clothing, etc., according to the highest grade, four sets of clothes per year, including spears, swords, bows and arrows, bows and crossbows, etc., on average, five taels of silver is not enough, about eight taels of silver, but the equipment is also one-time, there is no need to buy every year, and the clothes are also purchased once every two years, which is equivalent to every year, two taels to three taels of silver is enough."

"The subordinates calculated that the cost of forming a thousand elite cavalry would require 118,000 taels of silver, including the cost of war horses for a year, totaling 148,000 taels of silver, and in the second year, the cost would be 90,000 taels of silver."

"This is still calculated according to the highest cost, and in the actual operation, it will not exceed 100,000 taels of silver, of which the most is the military salary."

Yang He wanted to speak and stopped, as if he was going to talk about the military salary again, and when he saw that Zheng Xunrui did not speak, he mustered up his courage.

"Regarding the military salary, the subordinates still have to say that if it is according to the young master's plan, the sergeant's food and lodging must be provided, in this case, there is no need for a monthly military salary of five taels, and the monthly military salary of three taels of silver is enough, and the sergeant's own life does not need to consume silver, and three taels of silver can support his family."

"The young master can calculate the account, and the subordinates are not good at refutation, but the subordinates know one thing, Guanning Iron Cavalry has 8,000 soldiers, and the annual expenditure does not exceed 300,000 taels of silver, if it is according to the young master's algorithm, with 8,000 troops, the cost will reach 800,000, such an expense, I am afraid that no one can afford it."

A hint of coldness flashed in Zheng Xunrui's eyes, he remembered that he had a conversation with Yang He when he was traveling, and when he talked about Guan Ning Iron Cavalry, but he didn't go deeper, Yang He actually knew the cost of Guan Ning Iron Cavalry, and it seemed that he knew a lot of things.

The rest of the Ming army has a high degree of fear of gold, and will not confront the Houjin cavalry face-to-face.

Guanning Iron Cavalry 8,000 sergeants, the annual expenditure is only 300,000 taels of silver, it seems that the huge cost of the war horse recorded in the history book is really misleading, and even some history books say that the cost of a war horse is equivalent to 20 sergeants, which is not astronomical to calculate the cost.

Zheng Xunrui smiled bitterly and shook his head.

Yang He suddenly became a little nervous, he thought that the young master did not agree with his algorithm.

"Yang He, I still want to thank you, I can't imagine that there are so many strange expenses in this army, and I am just hearsay, so I calculated those expenses, thinking about the Ming Dynasty, which is known as a million army, if it is calculated according to such expenses, all the taxes are invested, I am afraid it will not be enough."

Everything needs to be practiced, talking on paper is useless, and the same is true for money, if you follow the requirements on paper, I am afraid that after settling accounts, many things will not dare to do.

Thinking of the Arabian horses that his father Zheng Fugui bought for a hundred taels of silver, and thinking of the war horses he bought for one hundred and ten taels of silver in Fengyang, Zheng Xunrui almost slapped himself, but he also knew that the price of a small number of transactions could not be cheap, and the Arabian horses were almost all smuggled, and there were very few cultivated in the mainland, and the imperial court transferred the task of raising horses to the people, and the people couldn't bear it, and no one wanted to feed the horses, so such a large number of Arab horses had to be transported from overseas. That's a big risk.

Seeing Yang He's expression soften, Zheng Xunrui spoke again.

"I'll think about the matter of military salaries, but I don't want to see the matter of deducting military salaries, if I find out about such things in the future, no matter who it is, there will be no mercy."

After Yang He and Zheng Jinhong left, Zheng Xunrui sat down, picked up a pen and paper and began to calculate the accounts again, this time he calculated very simply, Guanning Iron Cavalry 8,000 sergeants, even if the annual expenses are 300,000 taels of silver, then calm to the body of each sergeant, that is, about 38 taels of silver, each sergeant's annual salary needs at least 20 taels of silver, and the remaining less than 20 taels of silver, can it be said that the cost of the war horse is so at least, this can't be calculated.

According to the expenses that Yang He said, Zheng Xunrui made a list again, and after calculating, he didn't know where to save it, as if every one was a necessary expense, thinking about maintaining a thousand elite cavalry, the annual expenditure was close to 100,000 taels of silver, if this was expanded to 10,000 people, wouldn't the expenses be one million taels of silver, and the tax silver that the imperial court escorted to the treasury every year could only maintain the expenses of more than 30,000 cavalry.

This is indeed unlikely, if the cost of cavalry is so large, it is not the Ming court, and Houjin should not be able to support it, but Houjin's cavalry is extremely brave, and it is like entering no one's land in the pass.

His head was a little dizzy, Zheng Xunrui put the pen and paper aside, stood up and paced.

Suddenly, he stopped.

Words such as deducting military salaries and deficits entered his mind, and then thinking about the amount of each Niu Lu in the Eight Banners of Jinman, there should have been three hundred people under his command, but there were only a few dozen people who could participate in the battle each time, and at most it would be good to transfer more than 100 people.

Thinking of this, Zheng Xunrui's face once again showed a wry smile.

What Yang He said was not wrong, and what he calculated was not wrong, but unfortunately they all ignored a fact.

The situation of the Ming army deducting military salaries and false claims has been common, everyone knows that a thousand households should be 1,120 people under their command, no matter how many arms they are divided into, at least the number should be complete, the actual situation is that it is good to have 200 to 300 people under the command of a thousand households, and the rest are empty salaries, and the officers rely on this to make a fortune, Yang He just said, the income of the soldiers is very high for three taels of silver per month, that is because there is no deduction, and they really get it, as for the ordinary sergeant, they can get a few dollars of silver every month, I'm afraid it's good.

Houjin is not wealthy, so there are only more than 100 people at most under the command of each Niu Luzhen, usually dozens of people, even if it is the cost of maintaining these dozens of people, it is very difficult.

From this point of view, the investment of full calculation is indeed a lot, and the imperial court can't bear it at all, so Zhu Yuanzhang, the Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, implemented Tuntian.

It is impossible for the imperial court not to know the situation of the guards in various places, and also to know the situation of deducting military salaries and eating empty salaries below, so many ministers are not fools, so in the allocation of military salaries, they will never be allocated according to the normal amount, and they will be reduced a lot.

From the imperial court, military salaries began to be deducted, not to mention below, which formed a vicious circle, a dead knot that could not be opened, and the army of the leading army quickly weakened and lost its combat effectiveness.

That's the secret.

As for the 8,000 Guanning Iron Cavalry, the annual expenditure of 300,000 taels of silver is also easy to explain, the budget of the Guanning Iron Cavalry is so much silver, as for how much silver the commander has invested, will it be used in other aspects, this is something that no one knows, according to the normal consumption calculation, 300,000 taels of silver is unlikely to maintain all the expenses of the Guanning Iron Cavalry. (A good event for pie in the sky, cool mobile phones are waiting for you!) Follow the ~ point / Chinese network public account (WeChat add friends - add public account - enter qdread can be), participate now! Everyone has a prize, now pay attention to the qdread WeChat public account! ）