Volume 4: Hot! The whole world is a warring state Chapter 604: The Ming Dynasty’s Assets
A month later, before the first State Council meeting in the fourteenth year of Tianqi (1632).
"Meet the three gentlemen."
"Eh? How come the factory manager has time to come to our cabinet today?"
"According to the Emperor's order, come to the Cabinet to make an announcement."
As soon as these words came out, Wen Tiren and the other two looked at each other, bowed quickly and said, "Please give your order, Your Majesty."
"The Emperor said that the 'Operation Plan for India' that the Cabinet handed over to the Imperial Household Department the day before yesterday was completely inconsistent with my opinion. Please ask the three ministers to instruct the Ministry of National Defense and the Privy Council to redo it!"
"The Emperor also said, I intend that this war against India will involve at least 300,000 ground forces, 50,000 marines, and two of the three major fleets. The Ministry of Finance should prepare a budget of at least 30 million for the above forces this year, and then prepare a budget of no less than 20 million every year for the next five years, and be prepared for additional investment or even loans if the war drags on for a long time."
"Hiss~" After Old Wei relayed this, the three prime ministers could no longer hold back. Even Wen Tiren, who was always known for his soft body, could not accept it: "Sir, I want to see the emperor."
"The Emperor had expected that Prime Minister Wen would say this. He asked Prime Minister Wen to come up with a plan according to his opinion at tomorrow's State Council meeting, and then bring this plan to the Emperor."
"Boss, this..."
"Oh, my three lords, I am only delivering your message. I cannot answer your questions."
Wei Zhongxian retreated, leaving the three men with gloomy faces looking at each other.
At the State Council meeting the next day, when Old Wen, who was presiding over the meeting, conveyed Zhu Youdong's intention, the ministers attending the meeting suddenly became angry.
Cao Sanxi, who controlled the finances, of course, reacted the strongest. Even Zhu You (Muxue) and Zhu Youjian, who were princes and held the position of Shangshu, clearly expressed their dissatisfaction.
The country has been thriving these years, why fight a war now? India is so far away, if we really fight, I don't know how much damage we will suffer on the way. They haven't provoked you, and they are not at the side of our Ming Dynasty, so why fight?
At the end of last year, the emperor said he wanted to attack India, and all the ministers were very unhappy. Even Ma Chengzhao, who was in charge of the Privy Council, consciously made a "small" plan to mobilize 100,000 ground troops when formulating the plan: in the eyes of the ministers, mobilizing 100,000 troops was already a great honor for the emperor.
"Everyone, everyone." After knocking the gavel and quieting the meeting, Wen Tiren said, "My dear colleagues, when Wei Zhongxian came to deliver the message , I was also very annoyed. But after thinking about it for a whole night, I feel that the matter is not that simple."
After seeing the officials below turn their attention to him, Wen Tiren continued, "Since the Emperor was enlightened more than 20 years ago, I have been working for the Emperor. Over the years, the Emperor has never acted based on his momentary preferences. Perhaps some things were not understood by the world at the time. But after a period of time, who would not admire the Emperor's foresight?"
"What Minister Wen said is absolutely right."
"So, the emperor wants to mobilize the whole country to attack India. There must be a deep meaning behind this. Although we, as subjects, do not understand it at the moment, as subjects, we must always act in accordance with the emperor's will. What I mean is that we should first make a new plan according to the emperor's requirements, but the plan should explain the difficulties in implementing the emperor's requirements. After handing these things over, the emperor will make a holy judgment. This is the attitude of a subject."
"…Minister Wen is right. I understand."
"Okay, then the first thing we need to do today is to redo the plan according to the emperor's wishes. Um, Grand Tutor, we need money before we fight a war. Do you have enough money?"
Cao Sanxi stood up and said, "Everyone, you all know that last year, the Ming Dynasty began to implement the unified taxation of officials and gentry, so the land tax naturally soared. Last year, the Ministry of Finance received a total of about 290 million yuan from the State Administration of Taxation and banks. Among them, 15% is official salaries and office expenses, 20% is military expenses, 10% is the construction costs of various major projects and the maintenance costs of completed public projects, 10% is the transfer of funds for overseas grain purchases, and 25% is spent on education and medical care. Half of it is gold and silver, half of it is scientific research funds, and half of it is a reserve grain fund and disaster relief... In short, the court had a surplus last year, but it was only half of it, which is about 14.5 million. In fact, the battle plan made by the Privy Council before was based on an additional expenditure of 10 million yuan per year. If the annual military expenditure is increased by 30 million, then there is no doubt that if part of the previous expenditure is not cut, there will be a deficit of more than 10 million yuan every year."
"Well, this money doesn't seem to be enough. Grand Minister of Agriculture, what about you? Do you have enough food?"
"To answer Prime Minister Wen, last year, the cultivated land area in the Ming Dynasty reached 1.05 billion mu, but due to the impact of the Little Ice Age, the cultivated land affected reached 290 million mu, of which 132 million mu was completely lost. According to the calculations of the Ministry of Agriculture, the actual grain output in the Ming Dynasty last year was 1 for rice, 0.9 for wheat, 0.7 for millet, 0.7 for beans, and 0.6 for potatoes... This is about 1.84 billion shi. According to the current population of 180 million in the Ming Dynasty, the per capita grain ration is 10 shi.
At a glance, each person can get 600 kilograms of grain per year, which is enough for everyone. But in fact, this number is impossible to achieve, because these grains are lost during harvesting, shelling, drying, and transportation. Some of the grains are used to make wine, and some are kept for seeds. In addition, although the court does not directly collect grain as land tax, the land tax actually exists. In addition, there is the profit of grain merchants... In fact, the Ministry of Agriculture spent nearly 30 million silver dollars last year to purchase more than 60 million shi of grain from neighboring vassal states to ensure the stability of grain prices across the country.
If the imperial court wants to mobilize hundreds of thousands of troops for an expedition, then it goes without saying that either the Ministry of Finance will increase funding to facilitate our purchase of more food, or we will activate the strategic grain reserve. Otherwise, food prices will inevitably rise. "
"Yes." Nodding silently, Wen Tiren turned to the Privy Council and said, "Prime Minister, if the 300,000-man army moves, there will be no field army in the country, right?"
"That's right." Ma Chengzhao stood up and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, in the past ten years, the army has only had 300,000 standing troops. If we send out 300,000 troops for an expedition according to the emperor's wishes, then all the army with field combat capabilities in the country must be dispatched. However, the 500,000 armed police force of our Ming Dynasty is still in the formation stage, and only about 120,000 were built last year. This amount of force cannot guarantee domestic stability. You know, now in Xinjiang, Mongolia, the Snow Region, and Nanyang alone, the Privy Council has deployed six divisions, 90,000 people! The 100,000 expeditionary force plan previously made by the Privy Council and the Ministry of National Defense has drained all the mobile forces that can be mobilized except the Guard Division!"
"So, if we are going to launch an expedition of 300,000 troops, the Army must be forming new divisions, right?"
"That's right."
"Okay, then I'd like to trouble the Privy Council and the Ministry of National Defense to calculate how much the military expenditure will increase if ten new army divisions are to be formed."
"This is not difficult. I can tell Prime Minister Wen right now. The annual expenses of a fully staffed army division, including salaries, training expenses, food and clothing, etc., are basically stable at around 800,000 yuan. For ten army divisions, the court will spend an additional 8 million yuan per year. However, this is only the price in peacetime. If a war really breaks out, the cost of munitions, pensions for fallen soldiers, and resettlement of the wounded may exceed 1 million or even 1.5 million yuan."
"Where's the navy? Commander Yu?"
The one-armed Yu Zigao stood up and said, "The navy currently has three fleets, with a total of five 5,000-ton ironclad ships, ten 3,000-ton ironclad ships, ten ironclad transport ships, and sixty 1,200-ton sailing warships. The three fleets maintain daily training on weekdays, and the total annual expenditure is about 12 million yuan. But just like the army, if a real war breaks out, the cost of building new warships, maintaining damaged warships, and providing pensions and resettlement for soldiers may double..."
"I understand your opinions. Then, follow the emperor's wishes and formulate a plan for an expeditionary force of 300,000. However, please note that the difficulties and the burden on the finances should be included in this plan in detail."
"I will obey your orders."
…
“Hua~Hua~”
Inside the Qianqing Palace, Zhu Youdong flipped through the India attack plan that was hastily prepared by the cabinet. The more he read, the more his brows furrowed. Finally, he simply threw the thick plan to the ground.
Wen Tiren, this bastard, is trying to back me down!
But after throwing the things, he still sighed and picked up the report.
Because he knew in his heart that the court officials were right to be soft on him: the country was really not ready at that time.
But then again, how many things in the world happen only after you are fully prepared? If everything has to be fully prepared before it starts, then no matter whether it is a person or a country, life will be difficult.
Therefore, although the Ming Dynasty still needs a few more years of hard work, since the threat from India has suddenly increased, it must be eliminated with lightning speed!
"Square."
"The servant is here."
"Go and take a good inventory of my inner treasury with Wang Chengen to see how much wealth I have."
