Xiong Lan couldn't come up with any better way for a while, and Liu Jinge had no idea, seeing this, Deng Ming asked them to go back and think again, anyway, Deng Ming definitely wanted to maintain the credit of the banknotes.

A few days later, Deng Ming convened his henchmen again, and Xiong Lan also had the opportunity to participate this time, although the guards were a little contemptuous of him, but Xiong Lan didn't care.

The first thing to talk about was the economic issue, and seeing that Deng Ming was so embarrassed, some people proposed to use a monopoly method to recover the IOUs that had been issued. Needless to say, all the means of subsistence and production, including farm tools, cloth, and clothing, were produced by the yamen of the prefecture, and no civilians were allowed to buy or sell them on their own, and all these materials had to be paid IOUs.

Before he finished speaking, Ren Tang took the lead in objecting: "Salt and iron are enough, but how can we organize the production of other things?" If the clothes are not enough, then there will be people who will be frozen; If there are not enough farm tools, it will affect production. What if you do too much? ”

"Everybody has to buy it, by head." The guard who proposed the construction was still a little unconvinced.

Ren Tang sneered, and at this time, the others also heard that something was wrong: "Isn't this a disguised tax collection?" Isn't it contrary to the Admiral's intention to collect heavy taxes? ”

"Not only does this problem, we now have limited iron and cloth, and cotton still has to rely on smuggling from Huguang to supply armor and weapons to the army, so we can make a lot of things that can't be used, do we have so much pig iron and cotton to waste?" Ren Tang retorted loudly, turned his head to Deng Ming and said, "This matter is not to be played. ”

Deng Ming felt that this sounded a bit like rationing, and he felt that it was not entirely impossible in a situation where supplies were quite scarce, but it required considerable calculations, and the bureaucracy responsible for execution required experience and efficiency. But whether it is a mathematical talent or an official talent, Deng Ming is currently more lacking than pig iron and cotton.

Zhao Tianba hesitated for a moment, and also expressed his opinion: "Sun Kewang used a similar method to govern Yungui back then......"

According to Zhao Tianba, Sun Kewang once built a large number of workshops, and if the equipment and tools of soldiers and civilians were damaged, they would be sent to the workshop for repair, and the craftsmen would repair them within the specified time; If a household needs something like farm tools, the workshop will also be responsible for the production.

"But Sun Kewang is looking to implement the military tun." Sun Kewang's governance of Yungui is equivalent to an enlarged version of the military tun system, he did provide Xiying with a large amount of military equipment and production tools, but all the output is owned by Xiying, which is completely different from Deng Mingxian's system: "And Sun Kewang and the admiral are also completely different people, whether it is the craftsmen of the workshop or the peasants and soldiers of the tuntian, if he can't meet Sun Kewang's requirements, he will definitely kill people, can the admiral be ruthless and Sun Kewang's heart?" If the required quantity or texture is not good, the penalty ranges from flogging to skinning. Zhao Tianba said: "I doubt that the Admiral can do it. ”

"I can't do it," Deng Ming immediately replied, "You don't have to doubt it, and there are so many people in the capital to kill me now?" After a pause, Deng Ming asked again: "When the Qing army invaded Guizhou, these craftsmen and peasant soldiers should not desperately resist and defend the imperial court to the death, right?" ”

"I don't know about this lowly position." Zhao Tianba shook his head and said, "At that time, the humble position was already in Fengjie. ”

"Hmm." Deng Ming no longer asked, but talked about another topic: "Liu Shuai, they have agreed to my request, agreed to accept 5,000 prisoners of war, and at the same time let their 5,000 auxiliary soldiers retire from the army. ”

When Xiong Lan proposed to exchange prisoners of war for military auxiliaries, Deng Ming was not sure that this was not a good idea, after all, this was an army, and theoretically it should be composed of more reliable people. So when Deng Ming proposed to Liu Yao to exchange personnel, he was worried that the other party would not agree, but he didn't expect Liu Yao and Yang Youcai to think that this mention was quite reasonable. In the eyes of the military generals, it was more dangerous to let these newly captured captives work in the fields, because it was difficult for the people to control and it was easy to engage in private conspiracies; In the army, these auxiliaries were originally coolies, and they were subject to various military regulations. For these auxiliaries, the barracks were more like a large prison, safe as long as the soldiers with weapons were made up of reliable soldiers. After a period of time, it was naturally slowly transformed by means such as the disintegration of guò and the promotion of activists who were oriented to the Ming army.

Although Liu Yao and Yang Youcai were not as experienced as He Zhen, they also sounded like they knew a lot of ways to deal with prisoners, and after listening to them, Deng Ming, who was originally a little worried about the safety of the army, turned to sympathize with those prisoners who were about to enlist in the army. However, Deng Ming also knew that he didn't have any capital and couldn't be sympathetic, so he decided not to ask Liu Yao how they planned to govern the army for the time being.

"For the time being, there is no way to solve the military cantonment, and I can't afford to raise such soldiers, so I still have to give the generals cantonment." Now that the military still has more than 11,000 troops, Deng Ming has completely given up the idea of a package solution: "I told them that the land allocated to them cannot conflict with the reclamation of the capital, at least half of them have to go to the vicinity of Dujiangyan to build military cantonments, in addition to reclamation, they also have to help clean up water conservancy." ”

"The captives have all been accepted by Liu Shuai and them, and the 5,000 auxiliary soldiers who are scheduled to be converted to civilian nationality have also been placed in the camp, and I plan to conduct an interview with them before letting them out to open up the wasteland." Deng Ming said that these 5,000 people not only had Liu Yao and Yang Youcai's subordinates, but also people from Jiange, Jiangyou and Mianzhu.

"Interview?" Ren Tang asked curiously.

"Yes, I have some questions in store." Deng Ming took out some papers and distributed them to everyone, and after a long period of hard work, now these guards under his command can finally understand the words on the paper. Among the people here, Xiong Lan is currently the lowest level of education, at least one of the two words does not know, but Deng Ming also gave him one, and Deng Ming will read it to him one by one after a while, and after the meeting, Xiong Lan can also take it back to be helped by Master Qin Xiucai to deepen his memory.

Deng Ming's questions were all about agricultural production, such as asking the auxiliary soldiers how much land they planned to cultivate, what kind of tools they needed, how much seed grain and rations they needed to borrow from the yamen, and what difficulties they had and what kind of help they needed from the yamen.

"Are all 5,000 people going to ask?" Looking at the questions written on the page, Li Xinghan asked with some surprise.

"Yes," Deng replied sternly, "so I can't be busy alone, and I need every literate person to help me ask, and you need to prepare a few pieces of paper to record the number of answers to each question in straight characters, so that I can know in my heart." As for any difficulties and special help needed, you should also write them down as much as possible, and if different people make the same request, you can also record it in orthography, so that I can also know what the auxiliaries need most. ”

"It's going to be okay for the next few days anyway." Deng Ming saw that many people showed fear on their faces, so he encouraged: "Each person is divided into two or three hundred, help me share it." Otherwise, I wouldn't have seen so many people in two months. ”

"I should share my worries for the Admiral." Deng Ming's words made many guards feel obliged.

"Actually, if you ask a skilled farmer, you probably need to know, right? Is it necessary to ask them one by one? Ren Tang still felt that Deng Ming's method seemed to be a little troublesome.

"Although it is a little troublesome, the investigation is the premise of making a plan, knowing yourself and knowing your opponent, you will not be defeated in a hundred battles."

…… Soon the interview began, plus Liu Jinge, Yuan Xiang and Xiong Lan, who was assisted by Qin Xiucai, and they were divided into twenty-four groups. The numbers are from one to twenty-four, and Deng Ming originally mentioned yì to draw lots, but everyone agreed that others could draw lots, but Deng Ming was responsible for anyone who received the number one. After Deng Ming took the No. 1, Zhao Tianba first rolled up the sleeves of his arms, and then said that he would not draw lots, and asked to be in charge of the No. 2 group, seeing his aggressive appearance, Zhou Kaihuang and others weighed their skills and Zhao Qianhu's skills, and finally there was silence, and no one spoke out against it, so that Zhao Tianba got his wish. Xiong Lan was the third to make a request, he took the initiative to grab No. 24, and naturally no one fought with him.

The first auxiliary soldier was brought to Deng Ming's table, and Deng Ming sat on a chair behind the table, and a handful was also placed in front of him.

"You may be seated." Deng Ming pointed to the chair.

"This, this ......" The auxiliary soldiers knew that the person in front of him was the highest official in Chengdu, and it was said that he was still a nobleman of the heavenly family, and Deng Ming's request made him feel at a loss. In the past two days, the lucky ones who were able to leave the military were all overjoyed, and they were also told that from now on they would have the status of the same Xiucai, and they were not allowed to kneel down when they saw the officials, and they had to call themselves "I", otherwise they would deliberately insult the reputation of the imperial court -- Admiral Deng said that insulting the meritorious name of the imperial court was a very serious crime, and the punishment for this would be so severe that they could not imagine.

"Do you want to humiliate the court's fame?" Seeing that the other party didn't dare to sit opposite him, Deng Ming put on a straight face and offered a magic weapon that had been tried and tested many times.

Shut down

"Little ...... I don't dare. The auxiliaries hurriedly sat down, carefully leaning against the edge of their chairs.

"Now that you have the fame of Tongxiucai, you are a scholar." Deng Ming didn't start asking questions immediately, but asked the other party to sit down first: "I, China, the Son of Heaven and the scholars rule the world together, so the scholars can sit opposite the officials, and they must sit upright, so that they will not lose their identity as scholars." ”

"Really?" This auxiliary soldier had no concept of this, he firmly remembered Deng Ming's words, straightened his posture, and sat firmly in his chair.

"Okay, let's get started." Seeing that the other party was seated, Deng Ming picked up the pen and began to ask.

After asking all the questions, Deng Ming repeated the questions and answers to this auxiliary, and after confirming that they were correct, Deng Ming smiled at him: "I may not be able to fully meet your request, because the stock of the capital is limited now, but I will try my best to do it, and in ten days, I will probably issue a list and allocate what you need." Also, in addition to your fame with Xiucai, you will also enjoy the treatment of 20 acres of Tongju people within three years, and the court will thank you for your many years of service. ”

After saying that, Deng Ming handed the printed tax exemption voucher for three years to the other party, a subsidy of two stone rice per year, and it was only three years, Deng Ming knew that there were very few things, but he couldn't take out more things for the time being. But no matter how much, Deng Ming felt that it was necessary to show this attitude towards veterans, and perhaps in the future, as the shape improved, Chengdu could give more compensation.

"Thank you." Tong Xiucai stood up with a happy face and carefully carried the voucher into his arms.

"When your land is registered with the Yamen, the Yamen will indicate that you should be exempt from protection fees for three years; But they may be wrong, and if someone still collects an IOU from you, you can refuse to pay it with this proof; But even if you lose it, you are not afraid, you can still appeal to the criminal officer Yamen, in short, you don't need to pay protection fees for three years if you have 20 acres of land. After speaking, Deng Mingchong nodded, and told the other party that he could go, and after choosing the wasteland, he could go to the yamen to register and make a record.

…… The No. 1 that Lu Huan received, the soldier in charge of maintaining order took him to the first group, and after the few people in front of him in the same group came out, they all had an expression on their faces that were like a dream.

"The Admiral and I are talking face to face."

"I didn't lie to you, did I?" The guy who came out first hadn't left yet, and since he came out of the tent, he had been shouting loudly around the crowd, repeating the etiquette of scholars that Deng Ming had told him.

"I'm going to line this too!" Many people in the No. 2 team were red-eyed and crowded over to the No. 1 team, and many people from the other teams also made noise when they saw this, and they all wanted to come to the No. 1 team.

The soldiers who maintained order shouted loudly and drove those who came to the queue back to the original queue, and a person who squeezed in front of Lu Huan struggled and refused to leave, but in the end he was forcibly pushed back to the second team by the soldiers.

"It's really bad luck," the auxiliary soldier complained sadly after being pulled away, he felt that even if he didn't have the opportunity to see Deng Ming, even if he could say a few words to heroes like Zhou Kaihuang and Li Xinghan, who were famous all over the world: "As far as our group is the most unlucky, I haven't heard of this Zhao Qianhu at all." ”

"The court thanks me for my many years of service." A man came out of the tent with words still in his mouth.

"Next!"

The soldier shouted at Lu Huan, Lu Huan held the sign with "One" written on it, walked forward and handed it to the soldier, and walked into the camp tent under the envious eyes of many people next to him.

There was a table in the tent, and the soldier he brought in pointed to the very edge, "Go over." ”

Walking in front of Deng Ming, Lu Huan sat down tremblingly, although he was also an auxiliary soldier, he had never been in charge of Tuntian before, and he had been carrying water by the brine well, carrying water, or doing some work to collect firewood and boil salt.

Because he was not very familiar with farm work, Lu Huan always had to think for a long time to answer Deng Ming's question, and he seemed completely uncertain when answering.

"Is there anything else you need help with?" Deng Ming asked.

"Well, actually, I want to ask, the yamen needs workers who don't need to boil salt." Lu Huan mustered up the courage to ask, "I have been making salt all these years, and I am not very familiar with farm work. ”

Deng Ming stopped his pen and glanced at Lu Huan seriously: "Don't you know how to do farm work?" ”

"No, no, it will be a little, but if the yamen wants to make salt, I can do it." Lu Huan was a little scared, for fear that Deng Ming would send him back to the army because of this, and while secretly hating why he had to do something more, he hurriedly said: "I am very diligent, and if you don't understand, you can ask your neighbors." ”

"Well, yes, your situation shouldn't be unique, maybe I should start an agronomy and let someone with experience teach you." Deng Ming asked, "What do you think?" ”

"Yes, great, thank you, Admiral." Lu Huan hurriedly replied, after learning that he could leave the barracks, although Lu Huan was happy, he was still a little worse than the others, and the other auxiliaries had long dreamed of owning their own land one day, and now they were finally going to make their dreams come true; But Lu Huan felt a little afraid, although it was good to have his own property, he was afraid that he didn't know how to plant, and if he didn't have a harvest, he would starve.

"Well, I made a note of it." Deng Ming wrote a row of words on a piece of paper, picked up a tax-free voucher like the other and handed it to Lu Huan: "You take this first, I will find a way for you, within ten days, you will come to the yamen again, and there will be a list prepared for your situation at that time." ”

"Thank you, Admiral." Lu Huan put away his credentials and stood up, he had already learned about the interview procedure from the people in front of him, and knew that this was the end of the conversation.

"The court thanks you for your many years of service."

…… After three busy days, Deng Ming finished all the interview work, and after sorting out the materials for a few more days, Deng Ming once again summoned all his confidants to discuss.

There was nothing to say about assisting the retired soldiers in clearing the wasteland, and Deng Ming decided that in addition to leaving some war food, the rest should be used to help the auxiliary soldiers engage in production: "Now I am very poor, so I can't give food and farm tools in vain, I can only lend them money, but I don't charge interest and rent, and I can do this for the veterans for the time being." ”

Although there are not many people, there are some people who are very similar to Lu Huan's situation, they are not good at farm work, but have some other crafts.

"I decided to adopt a monopoly system, not only salt and iron, but all qiē must be monopolized." Without immediately talking about how to help these people, Deng Ming made another decision.

Ren Tang was taken aback, and was about to open his mouth to stop it, but after thinking about it, he felt that Deng Ming must have a later text, so he swallowed the words back into his stomach.

Sure enough, it was not as expected.

"Because every qiē has to be monopolized, any work that privately manufactures and sells farm tools and salt is smuggling and is prohibited. But if anyone is willing to pay a certain amount of IOU to the yamen, I will give them permission to produce and sell. Deng Ming took Lu Huan as an example: "For example, if Lu Huan pays an IOU of 100 yuan to the yamen, in order to thank him for forgiving me such a large debt, I will allow him to make salt; If he pays another hundred dollars, I will allow him to sell salt as a thank you. ”

"Just two stones of grain? Salt production and salt sales are allowed, and there is no limit to the quantity? "Ren Tang quit again, but this time not because there are too many, but because there are too few.

Deng Ming was about to speak, but when he saw Xiong Lan, who had always been good at figuring out the intentions of the leadership, he had a sense on his face, so he asked, "Does Xiong Guerrilla have any ideas?" ”

"If the humble position is not mistaken, this is not a salt tax, but a monopoly license, and the price can be set again in the future."

"Yes." Deng Ming laughed.

"As for how much he sells, the yamen will have to collect additional taxes." Xiong Lan thought for a while: "But there is more, if he boils salt, he needs tools, and he also needs a storefront to sell salt, which is a lot of money." ”

"I can build the storefront, rent it to him after it is built, and lend him the tools, and collect rent for this, just give me an IOU."

"Then where did he get so many IOUs?" Although Xiong Lan didn't make a careful calculation, she knew that it was indispensable when she heard it: "You can make a lot of money by selling salt well, but he has no capital now, and his companions in the army were not rich before, right?" Will there be money to help him? ”

"I can lend it to him, and that's the other thing I'm going to tell you today, I'm going to set up a structure for lending IOUs, well, let's call it a bank."