Zhu Gaoxu used to ignore the issue of surplus grain being used as food, but fortunately it is too late now, because the price of grain is low now.

Before Zhu Gaoxu raised his army, the price of grain in the Ming Dynasty was about 2.5 yuan (two hundred and fifty wen) a stone, that is, one tael of silver could buy four stones.

Therefore, as mentioned earlier, it only cost five coins of silver to raise a soldier in the early Ming Dynasty, and the price of grain was indeed low.

This is also the basic grain price in the early Ming Dynasty, in the Ming Dynasty, as long as there are no natural disasters and military chaos, most of the time the grain price is below 500 wen and one stone.

Two turning points in between.

The first turning point was in the 42nd year of Wanli (1614), when the price of grain generally rose to 500 wen and one stone.

After the second turning point was the Apocalypse (1625), when the price of grain began to rise to more than one tael stone.

The advantage of low grain prices is that Zhu Gaoxu has doubled the salary for everyone, so the matter of grain can be discussed.

Hou Hai glanced at each other at this time with Mu Xin, Zheng Xiang and other left-behind generals.

Before Zhu Gaoxu came back, after some discussion, they tried to mention the matter of food between the five guards in Yunnan.

As a result, the generals who stayed behind in the five guards of Yunnan said that it should have been like this a long time ago, (because the grain of the imperial court was counted on their own heads before), the king of Han was too benevolent and righteous, and he would pay us more, and this grain would have to come according to the original of the imperial court.

The tens of thousands of left-behind soldiers in Yunnan will add up to a very frightening amount of food, more than 400,000 yuan a year, which is a very large expenditure for Zhu Gaoxu now.

But when it comes to everyone, it's not much.

Suppose the sergeant was originally paid 5 yuan a month, of which the infantry divided three parts of food, money and salt, and the cavalry also had to add forage and beans, so after apportionment, after removing the money, salt, forage and beans, each person's food was about one stone, and the cavalry was slightly higher.

Suppose a sergeant has ten acres of land, the annual output is less than fifteen stones, one percent of the tax paid, one stone and five stones, and one stone for food, and thirteen stones and five buckets for his own use, then this sergeant has one stone less per month, which really has little impact.

Although most people are insatiable, they have taken two buckets and four liters per mu to more than one stone per mu in the past, and if they know what is good or bad, they will definitely not mind.

"The king, the brothers all support the king and are willing to spend according to the original grain." Zheng Xiang said loudly: "But there is also a problem, to ensure the number of fields of the brothers." ”

Zheng Xiang has been in the guard post all the year round, and he should have seen what happened in the original history, that is, the problem of land annexation and the occupation of a large amount of grain land by officers.

Zhu Gaoxu's tax reform must be carried out, and this problem must be strictly guarded against, and all the sergeants' fields must be firmly in their hands.

Historically, the grain of the imperial court was distributed by the senior officers of the guard, and before and after they arrived in Yingzong, they began to embezzle and occupy privately, and they didn't even have food, so what else did they have to do with the fields? The food obtained by the guards from farming could not even feed their own families, so they simply fled in large numbers and did not belong to military households.

After listening to this, Zhu Gaoxu said helplessly: "This matter is that this king did not think about it, but fortunately you solved it for this king." ”

"But the king has always kept his word—"

"The king has not said anything about food before." Hou Hai said directly.

Not saying it and not giving it are two different things.

Zhu Gaoxu thought about it carefully, as if he hadn't mentioned this before.

It is just right to solve this matter now, because Zhu Gaoxu's soldiers and horses are separated, and tens of thousands of soldiers and horses have been left in the provinces to train in the fields, and most of them are soldiers from the previous imperial court.

Most of the soldiers and horses who followed him to fight outside had not yet begun to settle in the fields, and they would be reassigned to the fields in the future.

Therefore, Hou Hai did not dare to say 100 percent, but 99 percent of ordinary military households would not have an opinion.

If this matter can be corrected, it means that not only does he not have to pay for grain, but he also has a real deal to get the annual tax of 300,000 stone in Yunnan.

One Yunnan is like this, what about other provinces?

One in and one out, millions of stones can be saved.

As soon as Zhu Gaochu returned to Yunnan, Hou Hai and the others solved a potential problem for Zhu Gaochu and further laid the foundation for the national tax reform in the future.

As far as Zhu Gaoxu was concerned, in the last few years, the two things that were most important were to use land and grain to win over ordinary sergeants, and to use money and official positions to win over middle and high-ranking military generals.

"The soldiers can't suffer, and the generals can't suffer, you can add it up and think of a way, and the final tax reform must satisfy all the brothers in the army." Zhu Gaoxu finally said deliberately.

In December, Zhu Gaoxu came to Quang Nam Province to see the newly built white sugar factory here, and he recruited the inventor of white sugar, a craftsman surnamed Mao.

The wife of the wool craftsman helps in the brown sugar factory, and usually makes brown sugar, but always knew that Hanwang was trying to find a way to make white sugar.

Craftsman Mao said that one day he made yellow muddy water at home to build a wall, and the eldest son played a prank and put the yellow muddy water in a water bag and wanted to give it to his younger son to drink.

The youngest son didn't come back, and his mother-in-law thought it was drinking water and took it to the sugar factory.

In the work of the sugar factory, there is a procedure to put brown sugar in the waon to make lumps.

The mother-in-law was resting at the time, took out the water and drank it, pounced, and squirted out at that time, but she didn't expect that the water bag was filled with yellow muddy water.

The yellow muddy water was sprayed by her on Vaon, causing a change in the brown sugar, and white sugar suddenly appeared.

Originally, the yellow mud water drenching method that appeared in the middle of the Ming Dynasty was produced about 100 years in advance.

Zhu Gaoxu laughed when he heard it, or, the original history of inventing the yellow mud water drenching method was also so careless, pouring the yellow mud water on the clumped brown sugar.

"Reward, reward." Zhu Gaoxu immediately shouted: "1,000 taels of gold and silver, 100 acres of grain fields, and silver is counted as three grades of officials every month." ”

"Thank you, thank you, King." The craftsman surnamed Mao was also overjoyed.

The little craftsman got the silver of the third-grade official.

All the civil and military officials around the scene felt that this was what he deserved.

Because the white sugar he invented will bring a steady stream of wealth to the king, and even to the future Ming Dynasty.

——

"You are not a good son, dare to kill your father? Qin Wei didn't dare. Zhu Di looked at Zhu Gaoxu in horror.

At this moment, he was standing tremblingly in the Fengtian Palace, surrounded by Zhu Gaoxu's soldiers and horses.

"Tang Gaozu didn't say to Qin Wei that the son of the world has many diseases, and Gao Xu is reluctant." Zhu Gaoxu was furious: "Has Li Yuan fooled Li Shimin?" ”

"You treat me as a fool again and again, I don't kill you, heaven is intolerable."

flutter, Zhu Gaoxu did not hesitate to stab Zhu Di into the heart.

"Ah" Zhu Di sat up on the bed violently, in the winter, his body and forehead were actually full of sweat.

"Your Majesty." There was a sound outside, followed by hurried footsteps.

Zhu Di's face was blue and pale, he took a deep breath, and tried his best to calm his angry and uneasy heart: "Hou Xian, what time is it now?" ”

"Three watches." Hou Xian whispered.

It's time to get up on the third watch, the emperor won't be lazy to sleep, especially in this situation.

"Change my clothes." As soon as Zhu Di spoke, Hou Xian turned around and waved his hand into the distance, and the palace maids and little eunuchs outside the main hall ran in with various things.

Hou Xian also stood on the side weakly, because Zhu Di seemed to have nightmares recently, and he would wake up in the middle of the night, and Hou Xian didn't dare to sleep, and he wanted to come in at any time.

Looking at Zhu Di's face, Hou Xian also shook his head secretly, since the defeat in Sichuan, His Majesty's sleep has not slept peacefully.

Although His Majesty never opened the imperial case again, he couldn't even sleep well, and Hou Xian knew that His Majesty was very worried.

He was thinking about his thoughts, when suddenly he saw someone outside watching him.

He turned his head slightly, but it was the eunuch Haishou.

The little eunuch Haishou is a Korean, and he had a good relationship with Huang Yan when he was in Yanwangfu, and after Huang Yan followed Zhu Gaosui, Haishou turned his head and took refuge in Hou Xian.

Hou Xian doesn't like him, but he always has to use some people around him, Haishou does a good job, and he is also recognized.

Hou Xian thought to himself about the third watch in the middle of the night, what is it called now?

He hesitated slightly, slowly retreated, and came to the outside of the hall.

"Father-in-law Hou, the commander of the Jinyi Guard asks Ji Gang to see you."

"So late?" Hou Xian's eyes widened, how did he get in?

"Ji Gang has His Majesty's secret decree, saying that he is doing something important, and His Majesty said that he can come in and meet His Majesty at any time."

"Got it." Hou Xian thought about it and entered the hall again.

A group of palace maids are helping Zhu Di put on a dragon robe.

"Your Majesty, the commander of the Jinyi Guard, Ji Gang asked to see him, saying that he had something important to do."

"Ji Gang is here?" Zhu Di was stunned at first, and then overjoyed.

He asked Ji Gang to do something, and said that no matter how late it was, no matter what time it was, he would come over and report as soon as possible.

That is to contact Jiaozhi Chen Xu and Li Bin.

Looks like there's news?

"Quick." Zhu Di was excited, and when he said the two words of the fast transmission, his voice trembled a little.

The uneasiness caused by the recent successive fiascos of the imperial court is reflected in these two words.

After a while, Ji Gang ran in with a crawl, pretending to be in a hurry and positive.

Zhu Di saw it in his eyes and was actually very happy.

This dog thing, knowing that this matter is very important, even crawled over, hehe.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty-" Before Ji Gang finished speaking, Zhu Di hurriedly waved his hand: "You all go out." ”

Including Hou Xian, everyone else left the hall one after another.

"Did you contact Chen Xu and Li Bin?" Zhu Di asked excitedly.

"Your Majesty." Ji Gang also said excitedly.

It turned out that someone was going to enter the Jingshi City tonight, saying that it was Jinyiwei from other places, who came from the seaside, and went all the way to the Jingshi, and there was something important.

At that time, the city gate guards naturally did not let go, and later called Ji Gang over, and Ji Gang said that there was a secret decree of the emperor, so he was released.

You must know that the Jingshi City Gate cannot be opened at night, and it takes a lot of procedures to open the door.

In the Ming Dynasty, there was a box lock for each city gate, and after closing the city gate every night, the Governor of the Five Armies would send someone to the thirteen city gates to collect the city gate box lock key, and return the city gates the next day.

For this matter, Ji Gang ran to the governor of the five armies overnight, and the governor of the left army on duty was at the house of Xu Cheng, the governor of the left army, and only after taking out the emperor's secret decree did he get permission to use a basket to hang people up.

The Jinyiwei of Hangzhou brought over a Zhejiang businessman.

The merchant met Luo Haishan in Cochin, and Luo Haishan promised 1,000 taels of silver and asked him to take Luo Haishan and another Jinyi guard to Angkor.

After arriving, Luo Haishan said that there was no money, and asked another Jinyi guard to give the waist card to the businessman, at that time Luo Haishan told him that the two went to find a friend to get the money, if they didn't come back for three days, let him go back to Hangzhou, find a shopkeeper surnamed Ji to get the money.

After Luo Haishan and the others went, they naturally didn't return for three days.

The merchant went to Hangzhou to find someone, and then he was taken to the capital.

Luo Haishan also asked him to bring the words back.

"What?" Zhu Di's expression became more and more serious, he was quite happy just now, the person with the brocade guard didn't come back?

"Luo Haishan told the businessman, let's go to shopkeeper Chen, if we don't come back, find shopkeeper Ji to get money."

At that time, the merchant didn't know that Ji Gang was the commander of the Jinyi Guard, but when he found out later, he didn't dare to ask for money.

"This-" Zhu Di was full of joy just now, but he didn't expect to wait for this sentence.

Jinyi Wei Luo Haishan didn't come back for three days? But he went to find Chen Xu.

Other words?

"Chen Xu, how dare you bear -—— -——" Zhu Di's face was extremely ugly.

(End of chapter)