"Tong Xiang, you are too worried. Bei Zhi is just a 'plan' to sell it, and it hasn't been sold yet. This time I went to Beijing, Bei Zhi wanted to ask the emperor for decree..." Old Man Fei said.

"Please give me an order? Fei Aiqing, do you think I will allow you to go against the rules of your ancestors?" Kangxi did not look angry like Tong Guowei, nor did he show any good expression on his face.

"Your Majesty, I have read a book recently. I didn't remember much of the other content, but I remembered a sentence..." The stubbornness and conservatism of the Qing Dynasty were almost more than any dynasty in history. If you want to change this situation, the best time was of course at the beginning of its founding. However, in the early days of the founding of the Qing Dynasty, it was always in war. The result of the discord between Manchu and Han was that it made the Qing rulers at that time more stubborn and more conservative, and did not suppress the Han people. The difficulty of changing was unimaginable. After that, I wanted to change.

The policies of the Qing Dynasty were the most suitable. Kangxi's achievements gave him absolute authority throughout the Qing Dynasty, and he himself was also well-versed in Chinese and Western learning. The most important thing is that the Kangxi Dynasty was a period when the various policies of the Qing Dynasty were basically determined. If Kangxi could be motivated at this time, it would have a great promoting effect on China's future development. What is more important here is... Now is the birthday of Xiaozhuang. Even if Kangxi was unhappy after listening to Old Man Fei's advice, he would never be more serious. At most, he would just be an official of Old Man Fei.

"What's the matter?"

"'The world changes and the times change, and the changes are appropriate'..."

"Lüshi Chunqiu - Chajin"?..." Kangxi was a little surprised, and then sighed slightly: "I really couldn't imagine that there are fewer people who can read this book now... Ferdinand, it seems that you still like reading. Not bad, I am a Manchu, it's rare that you are like you..."

"Emperor," Tong Guowei didn't know what "Lüshi Chunqiu" was, but he felt that he was becoming more and more disliked when watching Old Man Fei, so he said with a strong tone: "Your Majesty, Ferdinand wants to do business, which is clearly dissatisfied with the laws of his ancestors. You should punish him for his 'great disrespect'!"

"Haha..." Kangxi suddenly wanted to laugh. He suddenly remembered an interesting thing, that is, although he was a Manchu, Old Man Fei and his companions always followed Minister Man in the study without dealing with him. From the beginning, Mingzhu received Soetu, and now Tong Guowei, this is often the case. On the contrary, they have always had a good relationship with the Han ministers. Not only Zhang Tingyu has a good impression of them, but even Gao Shiqi is the same...

"Emperor, everything must have a reason... Lord Fei is not a reckless person, so there must be a reason to say this. Moreover, he did not take action first and then report, but went to Beijing to ask for an order. It can be seen that he also cared about the emperor and the Eight Banners' ancestral system. Therefore, I think, you should ask him the reason..." Seeing Kangxi looking at him, Gao Shiqi was wrong for a moment, so he had to insert his mouth and talk about the Eight Banners' affairs together as a Han minister.

"Yes, Gao Shiqi is right. I am not a proficient person. Fei Aiqing. If you have a reason, just tell me. If you say it well, I can forgive you for your sin of "disrespect". However, if you don't say it well, then I will not care about your past contributions..." Kangxi said.

"Abide by the order." Old Man Fei bowed and continued, "Master, before telling the reasons, can you let me analyze and calculate it for you?"

"Analysis and calculation? OK, it's up to you..." Kangxi said generously.

"Your Majesty, before you speak, I would like to ask, how many people are there in the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty?" Old Man Fei asked first.

"Haha, you should ask Tong Guowei this. He is in charge of the Ministry of Internal Affairs now, and he knows the most about this..." Kangxi said.

"This," you can ask. Although Tong Guowei was dissatisfied with Old Man Fei, he was also secretly proud, because he was really clear about this: "Mr. Fei...the Eight Banners, in the capital, there are a total of 696,681 people, plus the Eight Banners stationed in various places, there are no less than one million people, and..."

"And this is not the idle bannermen who have not been able to enter the military, right? Tong Xiang?" asked Old Man Fei.

"No. The Eight Banners of the Gyeonggi, including the soldiers of the Eight Banners of the Forbidden Brigade and the idle bannermen, had a total of 696,681 people..." Tong Guowei corrected.

"Where are the idle bannermen from all over the world?"

"Idle Banners from all over the country? Master Fei, you are wrong." Tong Guowei smiled and said, "In the 23rd year of the reign of Emperor Kangxi, in order to prevent the bravery of our Eight Banners from being affected by the people of various places and declined, the emperor had issued an imperial edict. Anyone who stationed the Eight Banners soldiers in various places, who died, their families must return to Beijing and cannot stay in various places. Therefore, the number of people in the Eight Banners in the capital was even better than that of Manchus." (The Qing Dynasty entered the pass by 100,000. It was only 30 years after the reign of Emperor Kangxi, but it only entered the pass forty or fifty years. After two generations, the total population was only 500,000.)

"That's right, that's why Fei was negligent," Ferdinand was surprised. Unexpectedly, Kangxi would do this. No wonder the Eight Banners were corrupted so much later. They couldn't even find an outstanding person. They didn't even have any outstanding people left Beijing. Most of them had never been affected by the outside world. Isn't it more dangerous in the bustling and lively dyeing vat in the capital, which is more dangerous than in other places?... Kangxi's move really opened a "good" road for his descendants. But this is also good, and it also established a good relationship for the Eight Banners' children in the future. Many people knew in the capital. When they became officials, they would be harder in the backstage, and then the corruption became more and more serious...

Despite thinking so in his heart, Ferdinand was not a failure to come to Kangxi this time, so he then asked Tong Guowei: "Why don't you know how much money these bannermen pay each year?"

"Hmm?...The Eight Banners of the Banners of the Forbidden Brigade, the horse soldiers paid 4 taels of silver per month, and the annual salary was 46 hu of rice (23 shi); the infantry paid 3 taels of silver per month, and the annual salary was 22 hu of rice (11 shi), and there was another food when sending troops."

"How many people are there in the Eight Banners of the Forbidden Brigade?" Old Man Fei asked again.

"Your Majesty!" Zhang Tingyu suddenly spoke out when he heard Old Man Fei's question.

"What?" Kangxi asked.

"Your Majesty, I have something to discuss with Lord Gao, please leave for the time being." Zhang Tingyu said.

"Is there anything wrong? Haha, I know what you mean. The number of people in the Eight Banners in the forbidden brigade is confidential, you don't want to hear it. However, you and Shiqi are both my close and important ministers. I didn't let you know it before because of the system. Would I deliberately hide it from you? What Fei Aiqing wants to say, I already understand something. This is exactly the question I have been thinking about. Although you are not a bannerman, you are also my close and important ministers, and you have extraordinary knowledge. You are here to advise me... Let's listen together." Kangxi said.

"Since that's the case, I will follow the order." Zhang Tingyu and Gao Shiqi raised their eyebrows, and the other twitched their ears, and stood still.

"Tong Guowei, tell Fei Aiqing how many people are there in the Eight Banners of the Forbidden Brigade." Kangxi saw Zhang Tingyu and Gao Shiqi standing still, and ordered Tong Guowei.

"The slaves obey the order... Lord Fei, the Eight Banners soldiers of the forbidden brigade have a total of 90,000..."

"...90,000!" Old Man Fei and Yu Zhong and Ma De looked at each other with a little surprised. Although the purpose of this was to attract Kangxi's attention, he did not expect Kangxi to react so dullly. In their expectation, Kangxi would get angry, blame them, and even punish them a little. The reason why they said these words was because Kangxi would not punish them severely during his birthday. However, since the current situation is better than expected, there is no reason not to say anything more. Maybe it can really pave a better way for the future.

"Ninety thousand bans! Even if each flag soldier pays three taels of silver every month, that month is 270,000 taels, and more than three million taels of silver a year, this is not counted as the money used to buy rice. In other words, the total annual salary of the Eight Banners' Banners is more than four million taels." At this time, the idle bannermen only divided the fields by the Qing court, but did not take the money, so Old Man Fei did not count the money they had to spend.

"Four million taels, plus the banners in various places, it costs about five or six million taels. In the 33rd year of the reign of Emperor Kangxi, the total income of the court was 41 million taels. Tong Xiang, I wonder how much money do you think you will need to develop as this way, after the Eight Banners' Banners reach two million, three million, or even tens of millions?" Old Man Fei mentioned the population issue calmly.

"Ferdinand, don't exaggerate!" Tong Guowei said, and at this moment, he broke out in a cold sweat.

"Speaking about danger? Tong Xiang, if this is even alarmist, wouldn't another account be even more terrible?" Yu Zhong interrupted. According to the plan, all these words were originally spoken by Old Man Fei alone. In this way, even if he is guilty, he would only blame him. It was just enough for Old Man Fei to relax and serve as counselors for Yu and Ma. However, now that Ma De has created Chen Huang and his gang, Yu Zhong can't stand the loneliness.

"Oh? There is still a tent? Yuzhong, tell me." Kangxi said without any expression on his face.

"The emperor, as far as I know, within 293 miles of the capital, the imperial court allocated land to the scattered bannermen of the Eight Banners, a total of 180,000 hectares, that is, 18 million acres. If, according to what Mr. Fei said before, the number of bannermen of our Qing Dynasty in the future will reach tens of millions, then how much land should we allocate to them? As I know, the banner fields do not need to be paid taxes."

Yu Zhong said.

"Haha, this account is indeed even more terrifying... Tingyu, how much land is there in our Qing Dynasty?" Kangxi asked Zhang Tingyu. He knew that there would be no result in asking Tong Guowei, so he went straight to the main person.

"When I returned to the emperor, according to statistics from the 24th year of Kangxi, our Qing Dynasty had a total of more than 60 million mu of land. Now another ten years have passed, and the imperial court encouraged land reclamation in various places, the country's land should be about 650 million mu." Zhang Tingyu replied.

"There are 50 million acres more..." Kangxi nodded and did not say anything.

"Your Majesty, the land of the Qing Dynasty is not infinite, there will always be a time to be reclaimed. However, people have to be passed on for generations..." Old Man Fei said again.

"Haha, I know what you mean..." Kangxi smiled and said to old man Fei and the other two: "I'll meet you today. You'll be very satisfied with me. Let's go back first... I'll summon you to another day."

"Ah? Oh... I'm going to take my leave!" Why didn't I say anything halfway? How uncomfortable it makes me feel? Old man Fei and the other two were worried by Kangxi's move again. They didn't know the result, but they were in a secret heart. However, Kangxi was the emperor, and they had no choice but to leave the study room and then the palace.
Chapter completed!