Speaking from the heart, although Zhu Dadian's words are not right, they are not completely unreasonable.

It's a pity that Chongzhen's temper is typical of first making a set of governing principles behind closed doors, and then declaring that "principles are above all else, and it is not allowed to seek truth from facts according to the actual situation"-

It is really a last resort, and there must be ministers who are willing to carry the pot of "destroying principles" and behead the blood sacrifice afterwards. In this way, the emperor has always adhered to principles, and it is some traitors who have deceived their superiors and subordinates and adapted to their own circumstances.

And the level of this minister can't be low, don't borrow a cabinet veteran's head to use it, and still want to count on His Majesty Chongzhen, who is "always right", to be accommodating? Dream about you.

Sure enough, after Chongzhen heard Zhu Dadian's words, he was immediately furious.

"Presumptuous! Zhu Dadian! The household department formulates a strategy, and naturally gives priority to saving expenses! Now, in order to train the army to suppress thieves and drive out Jiannu, nearly eight million taels of training salary have been added, if the amount that Shen Qing just said can be realized, the money saved will also be less than half of the training salary!

Could it be that in your eyes, the lives of those Cao Ding are fate, and those people in the world who are overwhelmed by the training and salary are not fate! People are floating in things, so they should find another way out, instead of letting redundant people lie on the court and suck blood! ”

To tell the truth, Chongzhen still didn't feel that there was anything wrong with him abolishing the post station or strict military discipline back then.

We should not deny the reduction of redundant personnel just because the people who eat the financial meal have been downsized and Li Zicheng has become a substitute. Nor can Zhang Xianzhong, who was beaten with a military stick, deny the execution of military discipline because he has a grudge against him and surrenders to the thief.

Zhu Dadian was also in a hurry just now, and now when he heard the emperor say this, he was also bitter in his mouth, knowing that he had said the wrong thing. He asked himself if it was really not for the family's money, but for the hundreds of thousands of people who were supported by finances.

His mind was racing fast, and he finally realized that he had to admit it a little at this moment - if the emperor killed him and could prevent Cao Yun from changing the sea, he would still be able to leave a name in history and be recognized by the history books as a righteous and stubborn minister.

The key is that Chongzhen has killed him now, and he will definitely continue to forcibly push Caoyun to change the sea, then he will die in vain, and he will not be able to change his name in history.

He hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed to apologize: "The minister lost his words for a while, please forgive your majesty, but what the minister said is also for the country, Your Majesty has to force Caoyun to change the sea, at least ask Shen Tingyang to come up with a strategy to settle redundant Caomin!"

If he can't take it out, it will be killing and burying it, and trapping His Majesty in unkindness! Your Majesty has to severely punish the ministers, and the ministers have nothing to say, as long as Your Majesty also severely punishes such thieves who trap the king, the ministers will die without regrets! ”

Zhu Dadian has been tied to the interests of Cao Yun all his life, and he is also enthusiastic at the moment, feeling that as long as he punishes Shen Tingyang, a national thief with bad ancestral laws, he will do it for a life.

Anyway, he is sixty years old, and it won't take long to live, and the other party is just forty, and it won't be a loss to change him! It's best that after both of them are dead, the benefits of the entire interest group of the family and the protégés around them can continue, and the old laws of the country can be stabilized, so it's not a big deal!

The wealth of millions of taels of silver every year can make people so crazy that they will not hesitate to gamble their lives.

Chongzhen couldn't help but be stunned when he heard this, he didn't expect Zhu Dadian to suddenly become so sincere, make such big concessions, and retreat to advance to the point that he was not even afraid of death, and it seemed that he was really a loyal minister.

Chongzhen was inevitably shaken, and felt that he really couldn't kill or bury it, even if he wanted to implement the change, he had to be prepared for more.

He was silent for a long time and turned to Shen Tingyang:

"Shen Qing, you have also heard Zhu Dadian's words, it is indeed not unreasonable, even if some things are right, you must think carefully before doing them. If you insist on changing the transportation to the sea, how many Cao people will lose their jobs and how to resettle them, have you ever thought about it? ”

Shen Tingyang had been watching Zhu Dadian and Chongzhen's performances just now, and seeing that the problem was gradually moving closer to the direction that his son had practiced with him before, he was also nervous and looking forward to it in his heart.

Fortunately, he is compassionate and his son is also thoughtful, and he has prepared for this problem in advance!

Shen Tingyang immediately shook his spirits: "Your Majesty, the minister has calculated that the change of water transportation to the sea will have an impact on the livelihood of many people." Nowadays, the total cost of transportation in the imperial court is more than one or five cents per stone of grain, less than two taels. According to the calculation of the amount of four million stones, after completely changing to sea transportation, three or four million taels can be saved, which is equivalent to half of the salary.

Today, there are about hundreds of thousands of people in the country who rely on Cao Yun. The guard patrol army has seven battalions and guards, each guard has 3,500 people, and a total of 24,000 soldiers are responsible for patrolling the canal, but in fact, as far as the ministers know, there are many empty salaries, and some patrol camp guards, that is less than 2,000 people!

In addition to the civilian husband and patrol soldiers, there are also carrying guards, involving more than 30 guards in Yanhefu County, with a cumulative number of more than 100,000 troops, but in fact there are many empty salaries.

After the Caoyun was changed to the sea, the minister roughly estimated that since he could save forty percent of the cost, according to the equal and rough average estimate of the money and grain consumed by each person, the redundant personnel squeezed out were roughly forty percent. It is mainly concentrated in Linqing, Shandong, and Huai'an, Nanzhili.

The total number is about 11,000 patrol soldiers, 60,000 guards and more than 500,000 people. Among this part of the people, the patrol soldiers and the guards transported the army, which were fully supported by the imperial court throughout the year. 500,000 people's husbands are also living in the leisure season to subsidize the family, and the busy season is used by the imperial court. Therefore, these 600,000 people can only make a living on only three or four million taels of silver. ”

Shen Tingyang analyzed the money he could save and the number of people to be resettled in one breath. Although no specific solution has been discussed, at least the problem is clearly investigated.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, if 600,000 people were full-time full-time to serve Caoyun, then of course three or four million taels would not be enough.

That's five cents a month for each person. These people are still strong laborers, and they also have to support the weak women and children, and the five dollars of silver are not enough for the whole family to eat.

In addition, Shen Tingyang's remarks also defined the geographical scope of the problem to be solved very clearly - mainly Linqing and Huai'an, and other places will not be affected.

Chongzhen didn't understand the principle at first, and asked again, and Shen Tingyang also analyzed it in depth and said it very clearly: Tongzhou and Yangzhou, the other two major gathering places of Cao people, can be easily digested.

Tongzhou, as the last receiving place for grain, had the smallest impact. Even if the terminal loading and unloading facilities are upgraded and the production efficiency is improved, the extra people can be moved to Tianjinwei, and the relocation distance is not far and the cost is not high.

After the sea change, the labor force needed in Tianjin has increased, and it is just necessary for Tongzhou people to fill the gap.

The situation in Yangzhou is slightly more complicated than that in Tongzhou, but it can also be solved, and the Jiangnan region will also create a new labor gap because of the change of transportation to the sea, which is clearly arranged.

After figuring out these points, Chongzhen was in a big mood: This Shen Aiqing is still very cautious about things! This is not very clear about the long-term consequences that you may cause, and it has solved at least half of it!

Shen Tingyang saw that the emperor was happy, and hurriedly continued to strike while the iron was hot: "Your Majesty, not to mention the 600,000 people in Linqing and Huai'an, it is not something to be solved at once. Now that the number of ministers' fleets is insufficient, it will take time for other maritime merchants to be used by the imperial court.

This year, it can only involve 20% of the total transportation capacity, and the remaining 80% still have to go through the canal. After that, if everything goes well, it can be increased by 20% per year, so it will take five years to complete this reform step by step.

The amount of silver that could be saved for the imperial court in these five years increased by 800,000 taels per year, and only reached 4 million taels after five years. The redundant personnel that need to be arranged is only 1120,000 per year, and it will take five years to squeeze out all of these 600,000 people.

After careful calculation, it is enough to arrange a way out for more than 50,000 laborers in the vicinity of Linqing and Huai'an every year. If it is difficult to find a way out in the local area, some people can also be immigrated. ”

Shen Tingyang's account was very detailed, and Chongzhen was already willing to do it when he heard this.

Moreover, when Shen Tingyang was planning, Shen Shuren obviously did not tell him the prophetic foresight of history, so Shen Tingyang calculated according to the progress of "completely completing the reform in five years", and he did not know that Chongzhen was going to die in less than four years.

But in any case, even if the reform cannot be completely completed, it is a good thing to save 800,000 to 3 million taels a year in the next four years.

The money saved can train more soldiers and reduce the burden on more people, even if the emperor dies.

The more Chongzhen thought about it, the more excited he became, and he couldn't help but ask the bottom of the matter and think about some more details: "Shen Qing, what else?" Let's talk quickly, how to settle the 50,000 strong laborers in Linqing and Huai'an every year, have you ever thought about it? ”

Shen Tingyang glanced at his son, who was working as a clerk next to him, and said with confidence: "The minister has also thought of some methods. First of all, the canal patrol soldiers can be directly turned into local thieves and soldiers, and now Yang Ge Lao is fighting in the provinces of the Central Plains, and there is a lack of troops, and these people can fight after strict training and control.

The garrison can be transferred to the south and Tianjin to be responsible for the construction of the port, although it also costs money, but after this money is spent, it can really leave better wharves and machinery, unlike the annual grain transportation, after the transportation of any physical goods.

The last ordinary seasonal migrants can move most of the people away, and the remaining small number of people can also solve some of the problems by cultivating the tenant land vacated by the emigrants. They were originally idle farm workers to subsidize their families, as long as there were fewer people and more fields, they could grow a few acres on the ground.

The part that has been relocated is also the largest part, and it should not exceed 30,000 or 40,000 per province per year. In recent years, the minister, together with the dog and some enlightened gentry in the south of the Yangtze River, has planned and dealt with the famine, and has come up with some ways to make the existing acres and mulberry gardens more intensively cultivated, absorb more labor, and have a higher total output, which should be able to absorb 60,000 or 70,000 people a year. ”

As he spoke, Shen Tingyang took out some drawings prepared in advance and explained to Chongzhen the method of "building mulberry fish ponds in prefectures and counties with developed sericulture industries".

In places where mulberry and silkworms can only be grown, a little more land preparation excavation work, especially the use of natural resources in areas with more swampy wetlands, can increase the yield of the field and produce more fish. Even if you don't put feed, one acre of fish pond can naturally produce dozens of catties to hundreds of catties of fish a year.

Historically, mulberry fish ponds appeared in the late Qing Dynasty and modern times, not in Suzhou, but in Guangdong. But Shen Shuren has now opened some technical hangings in advance, so that the fields per unit area can be more productive and absorb more labor, and it is no problem to start in Suzhou first.