"In this way, the minister will retire."

Du Yinxi was about to turn around and leave, but was stopped by Chongzhen again.

"Block, and stay." Chongzhen beckoned, "I forgot about one more thing. ”

Du Yinxi hurriedly turned around and threw himself to the ground, waiting for Chongzhen to come and ask him.

Chongzhen said: "Is it still smooth for Tuntian in Xuzhou? Are there any difficulties? ”

Chongzhen, the leader, was really incompetent enough, but he only gave Du Yinxi the title of Tuntian Yushi, and in addition, he didn't even give a single official, nor did he give a penny of funds.

It's only now that more than a month has passed, and I just remembered to ask.

"Nope." Plug Yinxi shook his head and said, "It's going well, and I didn't encounter difficulties." ”

In fact, Plug Yinxi's Tuntian in Xuzhou was not as smooth as he said, and he still encountered a lot of difficulties in the middle, but they were all solved by Plug Yinxi, so he didn't want to say more.

Plug Yinxi is such an upright character.

I don't want to show my achievements and I don't want to complain when I encounter difficulties.

Unless he encounters a difficulty that he really can't solve, he will find someone for help.

For example, the problem of Cao Liang, this is beyond his ability, and he can only find Chongzhen.

Du Yinxi didn't want to say more, so Chongzhen could only ask himself: "I will say it directly, how many acres of barren land have you cultivated so far?" ”

Xuzhou was also hit by wars, and most of the fertile land was deserted.

When Chongzhen first arrived in Xuzhou, he could hardly see a single crop.

Du Yinxi said without thinking: "Most of the wasteland in Xuzhou has been restored, and the specific number of acres has not been counted, but the minister's rough estimate should be four million mu. ”

"Four million acres?" Chongzhen couldn't help but be stunned when he heard this.

To be honest, this was really a bit unexpected by him.

According to 4 million mu, even if one mu produces 1.5 stones, this year's autumn grain will also be 6 million stones!

And it is Tuntian, and the field rent of Tuntian is neither 3 liters 3 in 5 spoons per mu of private land, nor is it 5 liters of 3 in 5 spoons of official fields, but half of it is directly levied, that is, 3 million stones!

Thinking of this, Chongzhen couldn't help but want to say I'll go! That's awesome, isn't it?

It seems that Plug Yinxi's ability is stronger than he imagined, a real capable official!

In this way, when the grain comes down this autumn, there will be no need to worry about the military rations.

Du Yinxi guessed what Chongzhen was thinking, and hurriedly said: "The saint doesn't know, in order to solve the problem of seeds, the minister had to borrow grain seeds from the gentry of Xuzhou and neighboring states and counties, so after the autumn grain comes down, a considerable part of it needs to be repaid, and then subtract the income of the displaced people and the rice of the officials, and the final balance is estimated to be about 2 million stones." ”

"Gentleman?" Chongzhen's face instantly became gloomy.

Plugging Yinxi's words touched a sensitive nerve in Chongzhen.

Chongzhen said: "Thieves have been ravaging the Central Plains for so long, and the Jin gentry in Xuzhou still survived?" ”

"Yes, and there are hundreds." Du Yinxi said, "I heard that after the imperial court recovered Xuzhou, these gentlemen came back one after another. ”

"These gentlemen have a lot of ability to save their lives."

Chongzhen snorted and said, "They must have asked you for a good barren field, right?" ”

"Begged." "But it is impossible for the ministers to return it to them, not only will they not be given this year, but they will also need to pay additional land rent to the court next year and the year after." ”

Chongzhen paced back and forth for a few steps, and suddenly said, "Blocking Qing, I will hand over the same mission to you." ”

Du Yinxi threw himself to the ground again, and said respectfully: "Please show the saint." ”

"You carefully check these gentry in Xuzhou, and if you have time, you can also check the gentry in the entire Central Plains." Chongzhen said pointedly, "Let's see if they are connected with the thieves?" ”

Du Yinxi raised his head suddenly and looked at Chongzhen with some shock.

From the expression of Plug Yinxi, Chongzhen knew that he already understood.

"How?" Chongzhen stared at Plug Yinxi's eyes and said, "Plug Qing thinks it's inappropriate?" ”

"Holy Lord, it's really inappropriate, it's really inappropriate!" Facing Chongzhen's eyes, Du Yinxi said fearlessly, "The minister heard that the king does not compete with the people for profit, and this move of the saint is really against the way of the king." ”

Chongzhen was not angry, and said calmly: "Okay, then I ask you now, do you know how many taels of silver were spent on the reward and salary of the border army of the ten towns in Xia Town this month?" ”

"The minister has heard about it." Plug Yinxi said, "A total of 600,000 taels." ”

Chongzhen said: "Then I will ask you now, with the current border army of 28 towns in Xuzhou, can you stop the army of Jiannu?" ”

"I can't." Du Yinxi said without thinking, "If you want to hold the Huanghuai defense line, you need at least more than 400,000 border troops, and there can be no problems on the side of the thieves, otherwise Jiannu can go down to Shaanxi first, then through Huguang, and then down the Yangtze River to Nanjing, Zuo Liangyu, who guards Wuchang, is afraid that it will be difficult to resist." ”

Chongzhen said: "Then I will ask you again, how much money do 400,000 border troops need every month?" ”

Plug Yinxi: "According to the standard of Jizhen, the salary needs 800,000 taels per month, and the war salary needs 2.4 million taels, if there is a big war, and then there are a large number of kills or a large number of casualties, the expenditure is very likely to climb to 3 million or even 4 million taels!" ”

When he said this number, Du Yinxi himself was also taken aback, because it was too exaggerated.

That's a month's expense, but how much does it cost to pay for that year? If you don't do anything, you will need 9.6 million taels!

Chongzhen was also secretly frightened when he heard this, and at the same time strengthened his determination to reduce the recruitment, 400,000 recruits would never be able to raise it, and at this stage, it would not even be able to raise 200,000.

"Blocking Qing, then I will ask you again." Chongzhen said solemnly, "Where did so much money come from?" ”

Plug Yinxi's mouth snorted, and he wanted to say that he would open up sources and reduce expenditure, but he swallowed back when the words came to his mouth, because such a big gap could never be solved by simply opening up sources and reducing expenditure.

The Ming Dynasty's regular tax, Ding tax, forced labor plus three salaries, a year is 20 million taels, now half of the land north of the Yellow River has been lost, although the south of the Yangtze River is still in the land, but the tax will definitely be reduced, coupled with natural disasters and man-made disasters and officials at all levels to fill their pockets, this year's tax can be half of the good.

In other words, all the taxes paid in a year may not be enough to maintain the Huanghuai defense line.

In this case, how can we open up sources and reduce expenditures? I can't afford to open up sources and reduce expenditure.

Seeing that Du Yinxi was asked by himself, Chongzhen said quietly: "Du Qing, let me tell you a story, there was a year when the Xin'an River in Zhejiang was flooded. ”

"If the upstream counties of Jiande and Chun'an destroy the dam and discharge the flood, then it will be Jiande and Chun'an counties that will be submerged."

"But if Jiande and Chun'an counties refuse to destroy the dam and discharge the flood, then the richest Hangzhou will be flooded, and the loss will be ten times greater at the national level!"

"If you were the governor of Zhejiang, what would you choose?"

Du Yinxi showed a bitter look on his face and said: "The ministers will choose to drown the two counties of Jiande and Chun'an. ”

"So, do you understand?" Chongzhen sighed, "As the Son of Heaven, I am the father of the Li Shu of the world, and all the Li Shu of the world are my people, as the saying goes, the palms of my hands and the backs of my hands are full of meat, and I am actually very difficult. ”

After a long pause, he asked, "Isn't there any other better way?" ”

Chongzhen said that there is a better way, of course, but it is impossible to achieve results in a short period of time.

And there is no need to say this to Du Yinxi, he can't understand it, and there is a high probability that it will attract opposition.

No matter how honest and honest he is, he is a civil official after all, and the ranking of farmers and businessmen and the idea of valuing agriculture and suppressing business have long been integrated into their bone marrow, which is difficult to change.

So as long as you emphasize the matter of the northern gentry with Gu Yinxi.

"Blocking Qing, as long as you have a better countermeasure, I will immediately change my course." Chongzhen said solemnly.

"So, the minister understands." Du Yinxi said, "The minister will definitely handle the errand assigned by the saint properly." ”

Hearing this, Chongzhen breathed a sigh of relief, with the words of Plug Yinxi, he didn't need to worry about the preliminary preparations for this matter, the only thing he had to do now was to prepare to harvest the fruits of victory.

At this time, Du Yinxi suddenly said again: "Shengshang, although the minister has temporarily recruited some officials in Xuzhou, but these officials are already extremely difficult to deal with Tuntian, and if you go to investigate the gentry in Xuzhou and even the surrounding states and counties, this manpower is far from enough, so can you transfer some people to the minister?" ”

Chongzhen said: "There are no officials, but there is one army." ”

"The army will do the same." Du Yinxi said without thinking, "Three hundred people are enough." ”

"I'll give you 2,600 men!" Chongzhen directly transferred Jin Xuan's 2600 cavalry to Plug Yinxi, anyway, Kim Hyun has nothing serious to do now, just to assist Plug Yinxi in investigating the gentry.

Speaking of this, Chongzhen beckoned to Lu Jiude again.

Lu Jiude hurriedly collapsed and stepped to Chongzhen.

Chongzhen said: "You bring my message and let Jin Xuan fully assist Du Qing in his affairs, and then you will also stay by Du Qing's side, and you don't have to go to Nanjing for the time being." ”

"The old slave obeys." Lu Jiude received the command and left with Du Yinxi.

Seriously, Lu Jiude is now eager to leave Chongzhen's side.

Accompanying the king is like accompanying the tiger, not to mention that he also has a past of supporting the king of Fu.

Don't look at the saint now seems to have become much more generous than before, but when it comes to the issue of the heir to the throne, Lu Jiude feels that the saint may not be generous, so it's better not to be in front of the king.

Chongzhen said to Wang Chengen again: "Wang Daban, let the sailor dock." ”

After receiving Chongzhen's command, Zheng Hongkui quickly commanded the naval warship to dock and put the sampan down.

Chongzhen took Zhu Cihong and Zhu Cijiong ashore, thought for a while, and asked Wang Chengen to call Fu Shan and the four other southern escapees to the shore, and then joined Hu Guozhu's eight hundred Yiding and went straight to Shanyang by land.

Chongzhen originally planned to take the waterway to return to Nanjing, but now that there is a problem with the grain, he can only rush over by land as soon as possible, otherwise more than 800,000 displaced people in Xuzhou will run out of food.

Sometimes, Chongzhen really feels like a firefighter.

Since crossing over to the Ming Dynasty, I haven't even had the time to catch my breath.