Chapter 82 Ghostwriting
The sources of pay for border troops in the Ming Dynasty were very complex. For example, Xuanfu, the channels for obtaining military pay include military camps, civil movements, Kaizhong, Beijing movements, and donations.
The sources of salary are different, the division of labor at all levels is clear, forming a supply chain with clear levels and close connections. Any errors in any chain will lead to insufficient supply of military and food.
If the Ministry of Revenue does not provide full salary, the Ministry of Works does not provide military supplies, and the Ministry of War does not clarify the number of troops. As a result, mutinies are emerging one after another, generals are under high debts, and the conflicts between the supply and pay and pay departments are becoming increasingly acute.
The reason is that it is in a period of great change.
The Ming army changed from a producer to a pure consumer supported by the state. At the same time, in the north, the increase in recruitment of visitors brought about a series of changes in the status of military officers and conflicts between soldiers and generals.
This is a problem that Chen Mu needs to solve urgently.
The coal mine industry can solve the problem for Xuanfu, but it can not solve the root cause. Just like adding taxes, it cannot fundamentally solve the major problem of a sharp increase in the military pay of the border army.
After all, Chen Mu believed that the problem was the sergeant's identity. Taking them from consumers and then back to producers was the key to the military group of the Ming Dynasty, the Weishou Army.
"A silk weaving factory in the Southern Vatican Institute can be revitalized, but not in the north!"
Chen Mu visited the starving and frozen craftsman from the construction site and then went to the Wanquan Defense Line to supervise the guards, and at the same time he went out to the frontier to collect information from the north. When he returned to Xuanfu, he felt very moved.
Shen Jiang must have thought Chen Mu was black, but he also heard what Chen Mu meant. General Zhenshuo was very satisfied with the amount of silver and planned to price this in the future.
The new aide Zhao Shizhen is very studious. In his opinion, everything in the Xuanfu was new. At first, he was afraid that General Zhenshuo's work would not be handled well. Only after he came did he realize that it was not only not difficult, but also very interesting.
Chen Mu arranged five personal soldiers for him, one to take care of his daily life, two who knew how to read and calculate were secretary and deputy, and the other two served as guards, grooms, and letters. His daily work was to follow General Chen here and see where he was novel and interesting everywhere, which was in line with his young people's curiosity.
"The general is in the Southern Warehouse, building a silk weaving factory, and revitalizing it?"
"Drink a few sips of water first, and someone will take paper and pen!" Chen Mu took a few sips of warm water, and then said to Zhao Shizhen: "The current garrison is dead. Let's say that we have a million troops, but what about the actual soldiers? It is normal to have a 40% difference, which is about 600,000 troops in the main army. What is the use of these flag troops and their families to the country?"
"If it is a commoner, the tax and labor they can provide is far inferior to the people; if it is a soldier, the role they can play in the war is far inferior to that of soldiers! It is a pity to eat like a chicken rib and abandon it. I can only watch the corruption of the guard officials. Everyone knows it, but no one can solve it!"
The general's mansion sent paper and pen. Zhao Shizhen was staring at the first person in the court and government office to tell the story of the guard station in his eyes. He was listening carefully without turning his eyes when he saw the paper and pen sent.
The paper is made of five-color powder on it, but the pen is different. It uses a hard charcoal pen commonly used by craftsmen, but the wood chips are a little delicate. It is not that Zhao Shizhen has never seen such a pen, but that he has never seen such a pen grasping in the general's hands.
Chen Mu picked up the pen and wrote and painted on paper, and his handwriting was many times better than his brush. He ignored Zhao Shizhen's novelty and continued: "On the surface, the guards can save some rice and flour taxes to the two capitals in one year, but what about it?"
The rice paper is a pattern forked, with official titles such as flag army, small flag, general flag, hundreds of households, and thousands of households written: "The layers of exploitation are emphasized, and the private rooms are more important than offices. Only half of the fields are generally cultivated in one bathroom, and not all these fields can be cultivated. In the Nanyang Guard, I have seen military fields being drawn into the sea; in Wanquan, I have seen military fields being drawn outside the Great Wall, haha."
"It's not that it's not good to draw outside the Great Wall. Is it a good thing to be under the world? But it's the same as the censors' words. Just listen. The flag army dares not go out to farm, which is useless. What is the result of exploitation?" Chen Mu paused heavily on the paper and said: "A family of four gives away rice in a month. The flag army does not have enough rice and grain to support their families. What do they use to supply the army?"
"The court always said that a commander cannot do without soldiers. This group of people will raise three or five hundred soldiers, as if they can fight. Everyone will not be able to do anything about it and turn a blind eye. But in fact, the commander of a guard should have 5,600 elite soldiers!"
Zhao Shizhen nodded. He was also inspired by Chen Mu's aggressive mentality. This was the purpose of him and Chen Mu coming to Xuanfu. As the saying goes, scholars travel to Mu, few people simply do things for the master of Mu. They also use this process to learn, hone themselves, and use the principles learned in the books of sages to see the details.
At this point, Zhao Shizhen was absolutely satisfied with Chen Mu, the master of the curtain. He could learn a lot. Although this general was a bit wasteful, what a good paper! He just took a charcoal pen and wrote and painted.
"Ming Gong wanted to revive the Guards, the main priority was silver. Now that the silver is available, how should we start?"
"Just as Chen Mu said at the beginning, a silk weaving factory in the south can solve the problem, but not the north." Chen Mu raised his hand and smiled, "So there must be a Wanquan Army Weapon Bureau. The military Weapon Bureau has a wool spinning factory that makes military uniforms and quilts, a gun cannon factory that makes bird gun cannons, an armor factory that makes knife spears and armor tools, and a military horse farm that trains and trains horses to tame horses."
"The wool mill's quilts can make profits for Dusi. In addition to supplying cotton coats and quilts for Dusi quilts, it can also knit wool, wool sweaters, and then sell them outside; what's wrong with the gun cannon factory?"
When Chen Mu talked about the wool spinning factory, he saw Zhao Shizhen's desire to speak but stopped, and then asked. Zhao Shizhen asked a little embarrassedly: "General, where does that wool come from?"
"Do you think I can spit out wool? I must have it from outside the border, so I have to go find Altan."
"The gun cannon and armor factory need iron, and it needs to have subordinate iron and steelmaking plants. So the craftsmen who called this time were experts in making furnaces and making iron and steelmaking. In addition to them, there were brick makers and brick kilns. Jingdezhen porcelain workers knew how to resist fire and how to increase furnace temperature. They used their skills to craft iron and stir-fry steel."
This alone is not very good, but if you save the lathe, it will be different in processing.
"After supplying this to military use, we can also make some money for civilian use. This money can feed back to the horse farm. Horses are money-consuming things, but they must be done. In the future, we still expect to improve the breed of horses for me. There are tall horses in the West, which can tow heavy artillery."
Zhao Shizhen was ready to hear that Chen Mu had so many things to do now. It was obvious that he was at the right time. General Chen said that these would never be meaningless to show off, and that there would always be great responsibilities on him.
As a result, General Chen waved his hand and choked Zhao Shizhen back.
"You can't help with these things!"
That's right, General Chen is just a meaningless show of showing off, and he sorts out his own ideas by showing off.
"But there is another thing now, and you really need to do it." Chen Mu smiled at the disappointed Zhao Shizhen and said, "I want to write a letter to the cabinet and the emperor to set up a martial arts lecture hall in Wanquandu Department, train the generals above the small flag and below the commander. The handbook has been written, so you can copy it."
Zhao Shizhen looked at Chen Mu with his eyebrows drooping... and said that he was not writing for you if he asked me to come!
Chapter completed!