Just after the fifth day of the New Year's Day, the large-scale mobilization of the Ming army began. Shandong's two armies, the Yanshuo and Fashuo armies, moved southward and were stationed in Fujian and Guangdong, and were unified under the newly established Guangzhou Military Region, with the commander-in-chief of the military region being Zheng Wang Liu Tichun and the deputy commander being Ma Weixing, the Duke of Xuguo.

In addition to the mobilization of the formation system, the armies of the Dangshuo, Zhengshuo, Extinction, Poshuo, Suppression, and Elimination of the Shuo in the north are also actively recruiting and supplementing the soldiers in the north, and the replaced soldiers in the south will be merged into the Southwest Military Region, which will first increase the troops in Yunnan and the occupied areas of Annam, and then turn to the Yunnan-Burma border after defeating the Zheng clan in Annam, and prepare for the next military offensive.

The naval division was divided into two, one part continued to stay in the Bohai Sea to cooperate with the military campaign against the Manchus; The other went south to Guangzhou, preparing to attack the Zheng clan in Annam with the 6th Army in Guangzhou.

According to the military strength of the Zheng clan in Annan, Dingtian can only recruit 60,000 or 70,000 people, and if you look at the number of standing troops, it is only around 30,000 or 40,000. One army, plus the naval division, plus the military strength of the occupied area of Annam, plus the troops of the two provinces of Mae and He, it was more than enough to take the Zheng clan.

Such a large-scale military mobilization was largely due to the fact that the imperial court was short of money and food, and nearly 100,000 people returned to the south to eat, which not only greatly reduced the transportation pressure, but also reduced the loss of transportation. At the same time, after defeating the Zheng clan in Annam, the next step is to seek Luzon, and to invade Burma, the war in the south is no less than that in the north.

Even so, in the three northern military regions, the Beijing Military Region, the Northeast Military Region, and the Xi'an Military Region, there were still 3560,000 Ming troops after they were fully loaded. According to the population at that time, the Ming Dynasty was nearly 100 people to raise a soldier, as long as the distribution is proper and everyone contributes, this is not a limit that is difficult to guarantee. On the contrary, as the area of arable land increases, the climate warms up day by day. There will also be less pressure on the population.

In fact, Zhu Yongxing has not used the method of increasing taxes to maintain the operation of the imperial court and the progress of the war. Borrowing is the most used means, followed by donations, and plunder. This has made the imperial court have been operating in debt, and Chairman Zhu Da is nominally the largest debtor.

But will the government go bankrupt as a result? In Zhu Yongxing's opinion, it will not be, at least after repeated calculations by the household department. It was concluded that it was able to maintain. With such a judgment, Zhu Yongxing put down the idea of making paper money for the time being.

China is the homeland of paper money, and Jiaozi, which was produced in the Northern Song Dynasty (1o23), is the world's earliest paper money, more than 600 years earlier than Europe. However, by the middle of the Ming Dynasty, Chinese paper money had already died out. Why is China's banknotes, which were once at the forefront of the world, gradually declining?

The simple reason is that paper money is a credit symbol, and it has value only if it represents the credit of money. It can be circulated, which can greatly facilitate and promote the development of the market economy. And once credit is lost, it becomes a piece of waste paper. The rise of Jiaozi is the result of China's market economy and commercial credit exhibition. The decline of Huizi and other ancient Chinese banknotes was also the result of the government's destructive plundering of monetary credit.

In a feudal society, the government was highly centralized and lacked a mechanism of supervision and restraint had a strong state apparatus and the strength to force social acceptance. It is this power that allows it to be free from the constraints of the market and not to value its own credit so much. In this absence of external constraints, if there is no self-restraint. It is easy for the government to embark on the path of wanton abuse of power, thereby destroying its own credit, destroying the paper money system, and destroying the budding development of Chinese capitalism.

The exhibition of history in the Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties proves this. The paper money of the imperial court is a good thing, no capital, as long as a few words are printed on a piece of paper, you can use it as real money, in exchange for real wealth, and you don't have to carry the infamy. It's really a good deal! Therefore, the printing press was fully operational, providing the emperors with countless banknotes that they could squander at will, and with it, of course, the demise of hyperinflation and discredited banknotes.

For now. Has the credibility of the government reached the point where it was convincing the people? In this regard, Zhu Yongxing is cautious. At least he will have more confidence when the government has repaid all the bonds on time and fulfilled all the promises.

Therefore, despite the opposition of some courtiers, Zhu Yongxing was still stubborn, ordered the poll tax of Yunnan Province to be exempted, and began to make preparations for the repayment of the first phase of the war debt. This is a previous commitment, and it is also a way to maintain and guarantee the credibility of the government. It seems to be a loss of income, but it has long-term benefits as a result. In the future, if there is a need for borrowing again, the government will be able to open its mouth, and the people will be willing to help.

Yin eats grain, well, this is the state now, in Zhu Yongxing's words, it is called "debt management", and there are also some benefits. For example, in terms of government spending and investment, it is necessary to be cautious in order to improve the effectiveness of use and avoid extravagance and waste.

As for the abolition of the poll tax, it was calculated according to the period of recovery, that is, when the area was under the rule of the Ming Dynasty, and it was reduced year by year, and it was no longer levied after four years. This may seem a little strange, for example, Yunnan Province was the earliest to recover and contributed the most, but it was also the fastest and best to rebuild. At the same time, because of the stimulation of the war, the prosperity of the people was also quite high. It is incomprehensible that such a province has abolished the poll tax, while the Northland has only delayed it.

In fact, if we analyze the various roles played by the levy of a poll tax, we may be able to understand such a policy.

It is undeniable that the poll tax was the main factor limiting population growth in ancient times, and if a family could not afford the cost of having a large number of children, they had to choose to have fewer children, or even if they were born, they could not afford to raise them and starved to death or died of disease. In other words, if you have the ability, you will have more children and raise more, and if you don't have the ability, you will have fewer children or not raise them, and the phenomenon of drowning female babies in ancient times has to do with the poll tax.

Therefore, the abolition of the poll tax in Yunnan Province is due to the economic situation of the province, and the people can postpone the payment, but it is not exempted. At the same time, for the imperial court, the use of poll tax to restrict the movement of a part of the population was also quite necessary for the restoration and reconstruction. The current Chinese society is far from reaching the point where it needs a large floating population and needs to shake the foundation of "settlement".

Four years later, how could the Northland be restored to self-sufficiency, and then the abolition of the poll tax would not only encourage childbearing, but also strengthen population mobility, promote the development of industry and commerce, and gradually change the state of agrarian society. (To be continued!)

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