Yang Hong's perspective was from the perspective of soldiers of the Ming Dynasty.

Xing Wen didn't achieve anything, but Wu really relaxed his military equipment.

This is a fact. Otherwise, how could the Ming army in the Hongwu and Yongle years have experienced changes in civil forts?

Zhu Qiyu looked at Yang Hong's slightly angry eyes. Yang Hong repeatedly mentioned the disasters caused by the Song Dynasty's emphasis on civility and neglect of military affairs, which proved that he was extremely dissatisfied with the promotion of civility and military affairs.

Zhu Qiyu said: "At that time, it was just normal. Now I know that some policies have completely deviated from the right track. What we have to do is to bring them back."

He suddenly changed his tone and said: "Yang Jun picked up a lot of firearms in Tumubao, but the Walas did not take them away. There is such a thing, right?"

Yang Hong nodded. Before the censor mentioned this matter, Zhu Qiyu had already taken precautions and forgave him.

Things had to be prioritized. At that time, the capital of the Ming Dynasty did not know when the destiny was coming. Yang Jun was still willing to organize the people and prepare for the final resistance according to the Xuanfu. He was regarded as a good general of the country.

At that time, the three inner passes were used as boundaries, forming two distinct worlds. Because of the war in the nine states outside the mountains, everyone was in panic. Everyone exclaimed that the Ming Dynasty was about to end. The capital in the mountains was singing and dancing, and many people thought that the Wala people could not invade at all.

When Zhu Qiyu mentioned the matter again, he certainly did not mean to punish Yang Jun again. Forgiveness meant forgiveness.

Zhu Qiyu said to the ministers: "Obviously, the reason why the Walas did not take them away is because firearms are extremely expensive weapons that only wealthy countries can afford."

This is the Salt and Iron Conference, not the impeachment of the Fengtian Palace, nor the formulation of policies by the Wenhua Palace, but a discussion of financial affairs.

Zhu Qiyu said with a smile: "I have often heard that the Tatars and Oara people live in no fixed places all year round and live along the water. In different seasons every year, they migrate like migratory birds."

Although Yang Hong didn't know why His Majesty mentioned this, he still bowed his head and said: "It is indeed true. For example, in Liangcheng, the Mongolians say that they will come here to graze their cattle during the summer camp."

Zhu Qiyu nodded and said: "I have also heard that because of the poor living conditions of the Tatars and Oaras, they have to participate in the war at the age of fourteen or fifteen, and when a tribe migrates, it can reach two to three hundred thousand people during the war.

They bring their own livestock.”

"The Oara people also have great masters. They can obtain a large number of sergeants without even spending any military expenditures."

This world is like this. What is free is often the most expensive. It seems that the Wala people can maintain a huge army without any effort, but as long as they are defeated, the whole family will be in danger.

The means they used to maintain military discipline often forced them to use massacres to maintain military discipline.

Because their purpose of gathering together was to make a fortune and plunder, their journey south was always accompanied by waves of massacres.

Yang Hong nodded and said helplessly: "It is true that their teenage children need to participate in the war. It is true that I have never heard that the Oara people need to pay the sergeants monthly salt and silver to let them fight."

"Of course, except for the Qixue army. Their Qixue army is extremely powerful. They are given one or two and a half yuan of silver per month. They once marched tens of thousands of miles away without being defeated."

All the ministers looked at His Majesty blankly. Why did they talk about the Oaras and Tatars again?

Is this a good special meeting on financial and economic affairs going to be changed into a military meeting?

This was the first time that Zhu Qiyu knew that the grassland troops were also paid, and they were not low. After a year's exchange for silver, there were actually about twenty taels. Of course, the amount was very small.

He suddenly asked: "For the Oara people to get a warrior, it is enough for the tribe to have children, but what about us? Do you know how much a sergeant in the Beijing camp now costs?"

Wang Hu, the ambassador of the Du branch, and Lin Xiu, the money eunuch, each took out a small abacus and began to settle accounts.

Wu Jing stared at this scene dumbfounded. Is this going to be settled directly in front of His Majesty?

Wang Hu quickly stood up from the perspective of the court, finished the calculation, and said with a sigh: "To form a standing army of 200,000 people, at least more than 1.2 million taels of silver are needed. This is the use of money."

The amount of silver required for corvee service is calculated, and the amount of silver required for each sergeant to maintain the Ming Dynasty's camp every year is about fifteen taels of silver."

"Based on the price of rice in the capital, six million dan of grain was needed to maintain the capital's standing stock. However, during the Xuande and Zhengtong years of the Ming Dynasty, the tax revenue coming to the capital was only about 31 million dan."

Lin Xiu scratched his head and said, "I spent more than three million taels of silver just by giving rewards."

"It's a little better now. One silver coin costs seven cents, but we still need more than one million silver coins every year."

"It takes about two million stones to break up grain."

Zhu Qiyu said with a smile: "The population of the Ming Dynasty has increased from more than 30 million during the Hongwu period to more than 60 million now, and the maintenance cost of the Beijing camp has increased from 3 million dan per year during the Yongle period to 8 million dan per year.

Stone and above, this is an inevitable trend of social development."

"But the imperial court's taxes were even lower than during the Hongwu period."

"At that time, the Oara people were dormant, the Tatars were huddled, and the Uliangha people were begging for mercy. Anyone who looked at it would feel that the high cost of the Beijing camp was really too much."

"That's why I said that it was just normal at that time."

Promoting culture and military affairs is a big topic, and will be discussed at every salt and iron meeting.

Yang Hong thought about the problem from the perspective of the military; Zhu Qiyu thought about the problem from the perspective of the monarch or national expenditure.

The Ming Dynasty was really too poor.

In fact, at the beginning of the dynasty, the cost of obtaining sergeants was relatively low. Whether it was the military garrison during the Hongwu period, the Beiya army during the Yongle period, or the later Beijing camp, it was not expensive. However, as time went by, the social changes

With development, this cost becomes even higher.

This has been the case in all dynasties.

When the country was founded, it could devour the world and expand its borders, but as time went by, it could no longer sustain it.

There are many factors involved, and financial affairs cannot support it, but it is only one aspect of it.

Zhu Qiyu added another sentence: "Of course, everything in the world is not entirely a matter of financial affairs. For example, Yu Shaobao mobilized the preparation army to prepare the Japanese army to enter Beijing, and more than 200,000 troops entered Beijing. How much did it cost to set up?

Paper government order ear."

The ministers were silent for a long time. His Majesty thought about the problem and always stood at a very high angle. The impact of this perspective on the ministers was extremely impressive. They had never thought about the reason for this.

At that time, it was just commonplace, and how many government decrees were mentioned that would be considered extremely stupid by later generations? What were the reasons behind them?

"Your Majesty, you are holy." Hu Bi bowed his head and said.

He repeatedly lamented that because he was a witness, he could never think about the problem from the perspective of a bystander, and instead fell into a dead end.

It was obviously right at the time, so why is it wrong now?

He often fell into self-doubt and self-denial.

Just as he said that he was honest and immoral that day, he firmly supports it today and opposes it the day after tomorrow.

Hu Xi said this sincerely.

"Your Majesty, Holy..."

Zhu Qiyu interrupted the concurrence of the ministers and said with a smile: "From a purely financial perspective, training a large number of volunteer regiments can effectively reduce the cost of acquiring sergeants for the Ming army. It is actually very economical."

"When a volunteer trainee joins the Beijing camp and joins the army, his training cost is far less than that of a civilian who joins the army. So everyone asks whether we should train a volunteer trainee, and it is still necessary."

"Allowing the family members of the sergeants in the Beijing Camp to participate in the Farm Law and use the land to pay the sergeants is also a helpless move to reduce the court's expenses."

"Everyone asked whether we should establish a farm law in the Hetao area. It is also necessary. We can quickly obtain a large number of sergeants to resist the Oara people's coveting of the Hetao area."

Jin Lian's eyes lit up. Facts have proved how important it is to have a Beijing camp that can win wars, but how expensive it is to maintain a Beijing camp that can win wars.

The inevitability of the existence of Beijing Camp has put a very real question in front of everyone: Where does such a large amount of expenditure come from?

How to maintain volunteer training at the lowest cost has become a headache for the household department.

Jin Lian, the Minister of Household Affairs, shouted loudly: "Your Majesty is wise!"

Your Majesty who can save money is a sage!

Zhu Qiyu looked at the ministers and said with a smile: "Do you still have any questions about the management of the Hetao area?"

"I plan to build it and block it in the south of the Yangtze River, instead of turning it into a hell on earth. I am not one of his family members. They can oppress the people unscrupulously, but I can't."

"I am the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and they are the subjects of the Ming Dynasty."

"Even from the perspective of the most philistine financial affairs, labor is the only criterion for measuring value, so the people who are responsible for labor are the most precious wealth."

"No matter how much we invest now, they will repay Ming Dynasty a hundred times or a thousand times in the future."

Shi Pu, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, said very puzzledly: "Your Majesty, there is little iron in Hetao. If this is to build a water conservancy project, the agricultural tools and tools required are not a small amount. Will they all be transported from the capital?"

Blocking Jiangnan cannot be built by just shouting slogans, it requires the support of steel!

Not just a will of steel, but real steel.

If there is no steel, no iron, no agricultural implements, no tools, it is all in vain.

Zhu Qiyu nodded with great satisfaction, and the Ministry of Industry finally showed its initiative.

He said with a smile: "Kuai Xiang, the general manager of Shijing Factory, will have to work hard again. When Dongshoujiang City is captured, he will prepare to go to Shengzhou (today's Ordos) to build a new coal and iron factory. Just call it Changsheng Factory."

."

"Shengzhou Changsheng Factory."

“The reason why the Oara people want to occupy the Hetao is not only that they have a large number of pastures in the Hetao that need to be managed, but they also need a large number of coal fields in Shengzhou for their winter heating. They need it in Shengzhou.

open-pit coal yard.”

"The Craftsman College of Shijing Factory is responsible for providing all support to Changsheng Factory, whether it is craftsmen or tools, it must provide a part."

"Still have any questions?"

Shi Pu shook his head. For the Ministry of Industry, it was as if their good days had suddenly come.

In the past, the Ministry of Industry, which was the last of the Six Ministries, could do very little. Although it was ranked as the Sixth Ministry, even things like supervising the royal tombs were done by relatives such as Zhao Hui and Sun Zhong.

The left and right are just making money, who is making money, not making money?

But now that there is a plan, they have a plan. They just need to follow the plan and they will have a lot to do. Shijing Factory is just a small test.
To be continued...