Buried alive in the Qing Dynasty

The treatment that Zhu Heqi gave to the soldiers was a bit higher than that given by Kang Mazi to the green battalion soldiers. The starting price of the military salary was two taels of silver a month!

The military rations are full and there is a level of meat every day-now the population is small, but the cultivated land has not decreased accordingly.Therefore, the food supply is relatively sufficient, and the meals of the three armies of Ming, Zhou, and Qing are not bad, and the Ming army has no advantage in this regard.

In terms of rewards, compared with the Zhou and Qing armies, the Ming army has its own characteristics.

The reward of the Ming army is a "big gift package", including cash, land, real estate, educational opportunities, official positions and titles, etc.

Among them, the cash is often issued after a battle is over-during the battle, the military exploits of the soldiers will be recorded by the Confucian officials accompanying the army, but they will not be cashed out immediately.If the soldier dies before receiving the silver reward, the silver reward will also be distributed to his family along with the pension money.

Land and real estate are more difficult to obtain than silver, because the rewards that Zhu and Qi used are all official property—according to the new Ming Dynasty’s real estate system, land is divided into three types: clan (village commune) owned, government owned, and privately owned. all forms.

Among them, the land owned by the clan (village community) is collectively owned and its transfer and sale are prohibited in principle, while the government-owned and private land is allowed to be sold and transferred.And official possessions can also be converted into private ownership, and private ownership can also be converted into official possessions... In fact, this is a piece of property.

Therefore, the land and real estate rewarded to meritorious soldiers are still a piece of property, which needs to be taxed according to the law, and does not come with any feudal privileges.

Educational opportunities, land, and real estate are all rewards of the same level for ordinary soldiers, and the merits required are similar.Generally, they are recommended to the Whampoa Military Academy. After completing their studies in the military academy, they will have the opportunity to be promoted to become an official.

There are also opportunities to directly obtain official positions without going through the military academy, but you need to "make up lessons" or take the exam directly in the future, otherwise it will be difficult to get further promotion.

As for the title, of course it is the most rare among all the rewards, and now the new Ming Dynasty has not yet established a complete system of titles, only Duke, Marquis, Bo three and so on.It is rarely granted, and there is no way to say how privileged these titles are?It's just a gift of property.

In a word, Zhu Heyi's new Ming Dynasty has less feudal things and more capitalism... This also matches the economic foundation of the new Ming Dynasty.

"Jianguo, the celebration banquet is being prepared," Yu Chenglong said, "It will definitely satisfy our soldiers. We have prepared more than 200 million taels of silver for the reward, which should be enough!"

In addition, the present Nanjing city is large and empty, and there are not many residents. They are all concentrated on both sides of the Qinhuai River in the inner city, so many white land and houses are empty. "

Most of the more than 200 million taels that Yu Chenglong said were intended to be used to redeem the grave. Now that Zhu Yuanzhang's tomb has been snatched by the Ming army, the money should of course be rewarded to the "grave-saving heroes".

Therefore, the Ming army of the two towns who participated in the Battle of Jiangnan will get a lot of benefits this time!

Nanjing City was originally a metropolis with a population of more than 100 million, but now there are only less than 20 permanent residents left, so it has naturally become very empty.Many of the more remote city walls have become ghost towns after being empty for 20 years!Moreover, a large number of houses there have collapsed and decayed, and there is no way to live there.

"Understood!" Zhu Heqi nodded again, and then waved to one of his guards, who immediately brought him a tall and handsome horse.

Immediately, Zhu Heqi got on his horse neatly, and as soon as he picked up the reins, he rode his horse and rushed to the more than ten thousand soldiers of the Ming army who had been waiting in line for a long time.

"Long live the saint! Long live! Long live!"

When Zhu Heqi raised his hand suddenly, everyone stopped shouting and looked at their Zhu Shengren with burning eyes.

"My lords, I have a piece of good news for everyone. Prime Minister Zhuge's army has captured the southern city of Anqing, and is currently storming the northern city of Anqing... Now, south of the Yangtze River, there is no longer a castle belonging to the Qing Yao! The five provinces in the southeast The land has been completely owned by my new Daming!"

"Long live! Long live! I am invincible tomorrow..."

Zhu Heqi waved again, and the people below were quiet again.

"But conquering the world is easy, but governing the world is difficult!" Zhu Heqi continued, "It is even more difficult to cure the prosperous and prosperous Jiangnan... So the lonely family regards this victory over Jiangnan as a battle. The big exam was given to Gujia and Xin Daming by the gentry of the Jiangnan people. Gujia hopes that you can help Gujia to pass the exam together. If I pass the exam, Xindaming will have 300 years of Guozuo! Yours Future generations can also share prosperity with my new Ming Dynasty!

Therefore, the Gu family requires all the gentlemen to maintain discipline and enter Nanjing City as a master of the king!We must let the people in the old capital of Daming know that since my new Daming is here, I will never leave again! "

Entering Nanjing is of course a big test!

However, the difficulty of passing this exam is actually very low, and it is completely incomparable with the rush exam to enter Beijing in history.

Because the current five southeastern provinces of Ming Dynasty are still number one in the world!What's so hard about passing the exam?

But Zhu Heqi wants to get a high score in the exam, he is a top student!When I was young, I never set the goal of "passing", so of course I can't just pass the exam this time, I have to get No.1 no matter what... the world's number one!

It’s actually not that difficult, it’s nothing more than speeding up the upgrading of Daming’s own industry, and at the same time grabbing the overseas zero-dollar market with the Europeans... If the Europeans can’t grab so many, it will be very difficult to test the wool shearing to achieve industrialization of.

Thinking of this, Zhu Heqi waved his arms, pointed at the majestic and majestic city of Nanjing under the distant sunlight, and said loudly: "Tonight, the lonely family and the gentlemen will get drunk...the lonely family still has to personally I will give you a reward, at least ten catties of silver per person!

Let's go into the city!Sing along with Gujia "Love to fight will win"! "

Chapter 425 A New Beginning!

"Three points are destined, seven points depend on hard work, love hard work... will win!"

The song "Fight hard will win" was sung over and over again outside the Hall of Martial Heroes in the Forbidden City in Nanjing. It was the officers and soldiers of the Second Township of the Ming Army who were attending the celebration banquet.

This song "Love to fight will win", which is almost becoming the national anthem of Ming Dynasty, probably reflects their truest mood now!

Because they fought hard, they also won, and they got the fruits of victory - ten catties of silver per person!

The big reward of ten catties of silver per person is just a universal reward for everyone. Those officers and soldiers who have made great achievements can also get land, real estate, educational opportunities and official positions.This is the joy of discipline, big and small!

In addition, the Seventh Town and the naval officers and soldiers who participated in the battle to regain the south of the Yangtze River with Zhu Heqi will also receive a big reward!

Among them, the officers and soldiers of the seventh town did not participate in the most intense battle to annihilate the Jiangnan camp, so the amount of general reward was five catties of silver per person.

And the general reward for naval officers and soldiers is three catties of silver per person... Of course, the reward for sailors who drive the "surging boat" to launch rockets is also ten catties of silver per person!

As for the four towns led by Prime Minister Zhuge, because the progress on the Anqing battlefield was relatively slow and the victories were not too great, the amount of the general reward was also five catties of silver per person--there is not only "martial luck" in war, but also "wealth luck" "There is nothing to be done about bad luck in martial arts and bad luck in wealth.

However, Zhu Heqi is still very willing to give rewards to the meritorious ministers below!

Just these few general rewards alone will cost several million taels!

The grandson of Rensan was afraid that it would be inconvenient for his soldiers to carry ten catties of bank troops to fight, so he kindly exchanged the inconvenient and easy-to-lose silver ingots for them with the registered deposit silver of the official bank of Dongyin Money Factory. certificate.

This registered bank deposit certificate is in duplicate, one is issued to the depositor, and the other is carefully kept by the guys from the Dongyin Money Factory who came with the army.Moreover, the depositor can also remit the "huge sum" of 160 taels directly home... The official bank account of Dongyin Money Factory will also provide low-rate remittance services, which is really considerate.

In addition, if the depositor does not need to spend money for the time being, he can also deposit the silver in the Dongyin Money Factory to earn interest - the annual interest is 5.00%, and 160 taels can have the interest of [-] taels of silver.

This is not a small amount of money. In the countryside of Guangdong, this amount of money is enough for a family of three or four to live frugally for a year.

By the way, this "bank deposit certificate" issued by the official bank account of Dongyin Money Factory is very popular in Guangdong today.

The Dongyin Money Factory official bank was opened when Zhu Heqi entered Guangzhou. The first manager of the bank account was Zhu Heqi's current attendant Pang Siming and Bei Jiaxin's father, the Portuguese Bello, who also recruited A group of Portuguese and mixed-race Portuguese who used to manage money for the church in Macau acted as the head office, co-organizers, and assistants of the bank, barely supporting a modern government-run bank.

Later, this official bank merged the deposit and loan business of Dongyin Money Factory founded by Eunuch Pang, and at the same time absorbed a number of private investments, changing from 100% government-run to government-private partnership—including Zhu Heqi, Bei Luo, Da Boling, Pang Eunuch, Zhu Tianwang, Zhuge Junshi, Su Yong, Zhao Zhongyi, Zheng Jing, Qiu Hui, Chen Yonghua, Chen Shangchuan, etc., as well as the management and ordinary staff of the bank, all took shares. The ratio also reached about 30.00%.

The Dongyin Money Factory has become a pure "central bank", just minting coins and supervising the banks and banks below.

The gold and silver seized by Zhu Hechi in Macau that belonged to various churches and missionary societies were used as the capital of this modern bank.

After this official bank was set up, all the money from the Guangzhou imperial court, as well as the money from government-run factories in the southeast, northwest, and interior factories, all went to it.The household department of the Guangzhou imperial court does not have a bank, and all the money is stored in the official bank.The salaries of officials, including Zhu Hechi's own, were also distributed through the official bank account.There is no need to carry the money home, just transfer it directly to the joint account opened by him and Qiu Shuzhen in the official bank.

Of course, the official banks that have absorbed a large amount of deposits have to lend out money, but the official bank will not directly lend money to small and medium businessmen. Its main lending targets are large industrial and commercial people, and banks and pawnshops in Guangdong and Fujian provinces... From a certain In a sense, this official bank also undertakes some of the responsibilities of the central bank, which is the so-called "bank of banks".

After nearly three years of development, Dongchang Guanyin now has a principal of 300 million taels, deposits of more than 300 million taels, and various loan balances of more than 1000 million taels... It seems that There are not many, but the role of this official bank in the capitalist road of the new Ming Dynasty cannot be overemphasized!

Because this kind of modern bank can amplify the base currency through repeated deposits, loans and various bills... that is to say, it can create money out of thin air!

For example, the "bank deposit certificates" that Zhu Heqi now issues to officers and soldiers are, in a sense, a created currency.

Every officer and soldier who received 160 taels of bank certificates actually had 160 taels.But as long as they don't take the money out of the bank and hide it at home, then the 160 taels of cash is still in the official bank, and the official bank can release the money.

However, this "release" does not mean moving the money out of the warehouse of the official bank. Usually, it only needs to be transferred directly or to various bills... In this way, the money is just rolling around in the account "Much" is much better.

And with the financial support provided by the official bank account, Zhu Heqi was able to launch this big campaign that cost tens of millions of taels...Of course, not all of the tens of millions of taels were borrowed from the official bank account In the past two years, Zhu Heqi's small court also saved a lot of money, and during the Northern Expedition, many "loyal people" donated military expenses to Zhu Hechi's small court.

Zhu Heqi's soldiers with military discipline like a mountain didn't sleep on the street for nothing!

After their "performance", the money was delivered by themselves... None of the people who can get a big businessman in troubled times is a fool, and none of them is "innocent".If he refuses to take out the money readily, and then Jin Yiwei's Ti rides to the door, then it is not a matter of money.

So they saw that the heavenly soldiers were as disciplined as iron, and the Qing demon fled watching the wind, so they naturally knew who Jiangdong belonged to?Now that I know who Jiangdong is in the world, of course I have to actively repay it.

This time, in order to "redeem Zhu Yuanzhang", the merchants of the six southern provinces donated a small 200 million yuan.And when Zhu Heqi attacked Zhejiang, businessmen in Zhejiang also donated no less than 200 million.

And Zhu Heqi's army captured a lot during the march... Fan Chengmo alone contributed more than 2 taels of gold!

Fan Chengmo was not the only corrupt official caught along the way.

In addition, there are still a large amount of military rations in Zhaobaoshan Camp and Zijin Mountain Camp in Ningbo-according to the original plan, these two camps will last for one to three years.Therefore, the storage of grain in the two places would add up to hundreds of thousands of shi!

With these seizures, the cost that the Guangzhou court really needs to bear is actually not too much.Therefore, what the official bank account gave was actually a financing amount, and it was not much that was actually spent.

However, the official bank's gains through this war are not only a little interest, but also the world's largest regional market-Jiangdong Market!

In the main hall of the Hall of Martial Arts, dozens of banquet tables have been set up at this time, and those who are eligible to sit and eat here, except for the senior officials who followed Zhu Heqi's Northern Expedition, are those who donated a lot to save Zhu Yuanzhang Jiangdong is a wealthy merchant.

They are now listening to the completely incomprehensible "National Anthem of Ming Dynasty" and drinking the rich "Maojiang-flavored Baijiu", and there is a bank deposit certificate from an official bank in front of each of them... Of course, this is not what Zhu Heqi asked them to go to. To save money in it, Zhu Hechi is not a clerk who pulls deposits for the bank, he is just introducing capitalist financial tools to these Jiangdong businessmen!

Chapter 426 This is a Currency War!

"This official bank account is a good business! Now Guangdong and Fujian want to accept the business issued by the imperial court, rent or buy government-owned properties, and they need to be in Guangzhou, Chaozhou, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, Foshan, and Macau. To open a decent business in such a big city, to transport something long-distance, or to do import and export business, or even to serve as a soldier or an official...you must first open an account in the official bank. It will be issued through the official bank account, and the tax, rent, or payment for buying any property that the merchant has to pay must also be handed in through the official bank account!

In addition, official banks also make a living by absorbing deposits, lending money, remitting banks, exchanging money, issuing bank notes, selling bonds, and interbank lending.

In short, if you want to continue to do business in the future, or become an official, or buy official land to collect rent, you have to open an account with an official bank... If your own family runs a bank and a pawn shop, then you have to open an account in the official bank. The official bank account has been opened.In this way, peers can communicate with each other and adjust positions! "

The one who is talking is of course Zhu Shengren in yellow clothes and yellow scarves... But what he said at the moment does not sound like a saint, but like an evil financial capitalist!

Of course, it wasn't Zhu Hechi's original intention to become an evil financial capitalist, it was just that he had to do it... Although he is just a high school student and not a professional financial person, he still understands finance a little bit.After all, private finance in Chaoshan area is very developed!

And he has also experienced a highly developed financial industry, financial capital can legally rob honest businessmen like him, and an era when various online currencies were created.

He knows the power of finance all too well!

And he also knows that the reason why imperialism can rise is not only the money-grabbing business of Zero Buy, but also the financial business developed together with Zero Buy.

One is to steal money, the other is to change money... When the two are combined, capitalism will naturally rise.

On the other hand, in China, zero-dollar purchases that steal money are not allowed, and they are not very good.And the financial industry that changed money was destroyed twice because of the two disasters of the Song and Yuan Dynasties and the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and had to start from scratch twice.

Therefore, in the era of the Opium Wars, China's financial industry development was far inferior to that of the Song Dynasty, and even the little Japan next door.

Without a well-developed financial industry, capitalism would not be able to develop naturally, and the Westernization Movement also turned into a foreign debt movement...

Now Zhu Heqi’s new Ming Dynasty does not lack industrial capitalists. Most of the world’s porcelain, sugar, silk, and tea are produced on his territory, and Guangdong also has a well-developed iron smelting industry, perfume and pharmaceuticals. The two major industries have also developed under the personal promotion of Zhu Heqi—these two industries are actually the same thing, and the core technology is the extraction of organic chemistry.

In fact, there are large-scale wage labor in these industries. Production is also for sales, and currency is used as a medium of exchange. There are also capitalists (big businessmen) who organize production and operation in order to obtain profits. They have everything that capitalism should have in textbooks!

In Zhu Hechi's view, the reason why China's capitalism sprouted and then died is because there is no... a saint like him to lead it!

"Jianguo, Caomin's surname is Zhang, known as Zhang Wanwan, a silk merchant in Suzhou." A chubby, friendly profiteer stood up and spoke at this time, "Caomin's family has been in touch with Suzhou weaving for generations... Caomin After returning, deposit all the money in the family into the official bank account!"

Zhu Heqi smiled, and then looked at Zhang Wanwan with a kind of creepy eyes.Suzhou weaving is an imperial merchant, not only in the Ming Dynasty, but also in the Qing Dynasty, and it is also the imperial merchant in charge of the Ministry of Internal Affairs!

If this million dollars is sent to Jinyiwei Prison, check it carefully, hehe...

Zhang Wanwan's calves trembled a little after being stared at by Zhu Heqi.Although he paid 10 taels of silver to "rescue Zhu Yuanzhang", but before Kangxi, in order to please Kangxi, so that he would not slaughter Suzhou when he was about to run away, he also took the lead in leading Suzhou gentry and wealthy merchants to sponsor Kangxi 10 taels of silver. Plus one hundred thousand catties of sugar.

Of course he didn't know that white sugar could be used to make bombs. He just heard from the officials of Suzhou Weaving that "banner people love sugar the most, and they are worried that they will run out of sugar after retreating from the north." It's very white, and I gave it to Kangxi to eat on the road... Giving it to Kangxi to eat candy is also an enemy!

Just when cold sweat was breaking out on Zhang Wanwan's forehead, Zhu Heqi suddenly said, "Zhang Wanwan, I heard that silk could be used as currency in the early years?"

"Yes, yes," Zhang Wanwan breathed out, and replied with a smile, "Reporting to Jian Guo, there is a saying in the "Shuowen Jiezi" of the Han Dynasty that 'goods are wealth; currency is silk'... …But since silver has flowed into China in large quantities, silk has not been used as money. After all, it is more convenient to buy things with silver than with silk.”

In fact, it is not very convenient to use silver. In Ming and Qing Dynasties, because the financial industry was underdeveloped, and the imperial court did not think about minting silver coins.Therefore, ordinary people can only use silver bullion to trade, because the silver bullion varies in size, and it has to be cut and smelted when trading.

Therefore, Zhu Heqi has been letting Dongyin Money Factory mint silver dollars for the past two years, and plans to abolish the two reforms after swallowing Jiangnan-the reason why they want to do it after capturing Jiangnan is because the abolition of the two reforms is actually going on. A currency war!

Without the support of bulk trade products such as silk, porcelain, and tea from Jiangnan (including Jiangxi), Zhu Heqi had no way to replace silver bullions with silver dollars issued by Dongyin Money Factory and become an international currency.

Once Zhu Heqi turns the Dongchang silver dollar into an international currency, then Daming's financial capital will have the ability to manipulate the world currency.

To achieve this, Zhu and Qi need to use silk, porcelain, tea, sugar, cotton yarn and other bulk commodities to link with silver dollars to make them have an effect similar to petrodollars.

In this way, the silver standard can defeat the gold standard, and China, which has the most silver in the world and is also the world's largest commodity exporter, can naturally dominate the world's currency system!

"How much is the white silk in Jiangnan now?" Zhu Heqi asked again.

"Eight to nine renminbi a catty," Zhang Wanwan said, "It's cheaper, and seven renminbi may be bought..." He sighed again, "Since the Qing demon slaughtered Jiangnan, the production of raw silk The sudden drop, the price of silk has doubled!"

Zhu Heqi nodded silently, and asked again: "Is there a trading place that can set a fair price for Baisi?"

He's thinking about the exchange again.

If you want to link raw silk to silver dollars, then there must be an exchange to promote this matter!

In addition, sugar, tea, white rice, flour, cotton yarn, and even Foshan crucible steel can all be priced through the exchange.

If these things are all linked to silver dollars and silver dollars are used as the medium of exchange, then the status of Daming silver dollars will have a foundation.

Thinking of this, Zhu Heqi said to Zhang Wanwan: "Zhang Wanwan, later on, go and gather the big merchants under Suzhou Weaving for a meeting in Nanjing.

Gujia will also let the big silk merchants and machine operators under Jiangning Weaving and Hangzhou Weaving come to Nanjing together, and everyone will discuss how to run this exchange.

In addition, we can gather the wisdom of all families to open a school of silk and cloth, and study together how to raise silkworms, how to grow cotton, how to reel silk, how to spin yarn, how to weave cloth, how to dye... Silk and cotton cloth in the south of the Yangtze River, There is a lot to do! "

There is so much that can be done in the textile industry!

Moreover, the textile industry is still a labor-intensive industry. Once it develops, it will require a lot of labor.

Today's China has a small population, and Zhu Heqi has a maximum of more than 2000 million people in the "semi-Beijing and four provinces". If the textile industry really rises, it will definitely encounter the problem of labor shortage.

Only when there is a shortage of labor, will the machine industry have a chance to develop!

The Industrial Revolution is coming!

Otherwise, the cost of using machines is higher than that of using labor, so how can machines develop?