After asking Xu De to investigate, Zhang Jing's expression became serious. Obviously, this matter was not small. The Imperial Majesty did not even ask his own Dongchang to investigate. This meant that Cui Fu had gone too far.
"Old Slave understands. I'll go draft the decree now!" Zhang Jing agreed and said quickly.
Looking at Zhang Jing's back as he left, Zhu Yijun sighed. Some things would come eventually.
Jiangnan!
Compared to Beijiang, Zhu Yijun was more worried about Jiangnan. It was too far away. In addition, the local power was too great. It would be difficult to reach out.
Compared to Beijiang, it was nothing more than investing money to train soldiers and then fighting them out.
After adjusting his mood, Zhu Yijun went to Kunning Palace.
There were so many things in the world, and there were so many things in the imperial court. Not everything went as one wished.
As the emperor, he had to adjust his mood. Otherwise, he would not be able to live a good life.
It was going to be the New Year soon. Zhu Yijun could not let his concubines and children see him with a black face!
The imperial court did not know about this matter, so it was fine. Everyone had a peaceful New Year.
Zhu Yijun also took a few days off to accompany his concubines and children for the New Year.
Because of the abundance of money, the concubines also had a good New Year. The rewards given out were a lot more, which made the atmosphere in the palace a lot more relaxed.
The New Year holidays in the Ming Dynasty were quite long. The yamen was closed. Other than the people on duty, there was basically no one else. They also did not work. It was more thorough than in later generations.
It was not until the seventh day of the New Year that the imperial court gradually became lively.
As for officially resuming work, it would have to wait until after the fifteenth day of the first month.
After the fifteenth day of the first month, Zhu Yijun also resumed work, and the Imperial Court Conference was also held.
As Wanli's first Imperial Court Conference in 15 years, there were no major matters. Basically, it was good for everyone.
After the new year, Zhu Yijun received two memorials to the throne. One was from the northwest. Governor Shen Shixing requested that Datong recruit 50,000 soldiers.
In the memorial, Shen Shixing wrote in detail about the number of people in the army, the expenses, and so on. Obviously, he had done a detailed investigation.
However, Zhu Yijun did not want to use so many people. Fifty thousand people would cost more than two million taels of silver every year.
He had the Nine Borders to support, the Capital Camp, the Southern Border, and the garrison troops of other places. If he did it at this price, wouldn't he be finished?
The money that the officials and gentry had to pay for grain was not little, but it was not much either!
If they spent it like that, the income from the national treasury wouldn't even be enough to pay for the soldiers.
This was abnormal and abnormal. Zhu Yijun would never do such a thing.
"The northern border is not stable. Maintaining the military power is also a huge expense!"
Zhu Yijun sighed. Fortunately, he didn't need to add more weapons and armor to Datong Town for the time being. After the great reduction of the army there, the weapons and armor were enough to arm these people.
This time, Zhu Yijun did not make a decision. Instead, he left it to the ministers in the cabinet to discuss.
Originally, it should have been handed over to the commander-in-chief of the five armies. However, the commander-in-chief of the five armies was the representative of the recruitment system, so it was not appropriate for them to participate. In addition, with the goods that the commander-in-chief of the five armies had, Zhu Yijun could not trust them.
Zhang Weixian had gone to Xuan University. He hoped that he would do well this time!
Apart from this matter, there was also the very popular demand for a pay raise in the court.
It seemed that the officials and gentry were too ruthless. All the officials had written to ask for a pay raise. Of course, it could not be ruled out that these people saw the imbalance in the amount of grain that the officials and gentry received. After all, that was their money.
This matter was easy to handle. If the company's profits were good, it was natural to give the employees a pay raise.
The salary of the Daming officials was very low. This was something that Zhu Yijun knew. The Daming officials were divided into nine ranks and eighteen ranks. Their salaries were also divided into eighteen grades.
A first-rank official would receive 1,000 stones of Lu and 300 strings of coins per year. A lower-rank official would receive 60 stones of Lu and 30 strings of coins per year.
The Lu was real, but the salaries were in banknotes. Those things could basically be ignored and were useless.
According to the current price, one stone of Lu was about 600 coins. Although the price of silver and copper occasionally fluctuated, the price of copper had dropped a little since the appearance of the mirror. Now, one tael of silver could be exchanged for about 1,200 coins.
Two stone of Lu could be sold for one tael of silver. Based on this conversion, a first-rank official's annual salary was about 500 taels of silver.
A seventh-rank county magistrate could receive about 45 taels of silver. Of course, this was a year's salary, not a month's.
If it was calculated according to a month, a seventh-rank county magistrate's monthly salary was about a little more than three taels, close to four taels.
If the officials had a family of five, then it would not be a problem to eat. Occasionally, they could even eat meat. However, they could not even buy a piece of silk clothing.
Especially after the court ran out of food, they began to play tricks. They used goods to offset their salaries. In short, they were unscrupulous.
If an official lived with his salary, then the result would be the same as Hai Rui.
Coarse clothes and meat could only be bought on his mother's birthday.
They grew their own vegetables and raised their own chickens. They were not much different from ordinary people.
This also led to the officials in Daming not living off their salaries. They had a lot of gray income.
However, now that the authority to collect taxes had been taken away by the Tax Department, their income had decreased by a lot.
The local officials might have other ways, but some officials from the government offices had no way.
Especially the capital's officials. It was not easy to live in the capital!
Moreover, they did not have houses like the local officials. They had front offices and back residences. The court did not have dormitories for them.
Most of the officials would rely on selling calligraphy to earn some money or support from their families. Some imperial messengers from poor families would even sell memorials to memorials. Give them money, and then they would help them impeach the person they wanted to impeach. In short, think of all kinds of ways to earn money.
Although there was some cultivation silver, it was still not enough!
It would have been fine if the court had no money, but now that they had collected so much money, they had to raise their salaries!
Therefore, this time's salary increase was the fiercest. Zhu Yijun had no choice but to raise the officials' salaries.
However, in Zhu Yijun's view, the salaries could be raised, but he could not pay for it himself. He had to find someone to pay for the increase.
With something to do, it was necessary to hold a court meeting. Therefore, the first court meeting in Wanli's fifteen years was held under such circumstances.
Compared to the last court meeting before the new year, the atmosphere of this court meeting was much more serious.
Zhu Yijun swept his expressionless gaze across the officials' faces, then said, "Let's begin!"
The court meeting was basically presided over by the First Secretary of the Cabinet, and Zhu Yijun listened on the side. Of course, most of the time, Zhu Yijun would not just listen. This time, he did not plan to participate. It was good to let them discuss among themselves.
Shen Shixing saw that Zhu Yijun did not speak, and he was very surprised. This was not the Emperor's style.
What was wrong with him today?
However, Shen Shixing also knew that this wasn't the time for him to be in a daze. He cleared his throat and said, "Today's court meeting will mainly discuss two things. Everyone should know what they are, so let's talk about the first one."
"Regarding the recruitment of soldiers for Datong Town, what does everyone think?" After Shen Shixing said this, his gaze swept across the faces of the officials.
Minister of War Wu Dui saw that everyone was looking at him. This matter was indeed related to the Ministry of War, so Wu Dui spoke first. "This old man feels that 50,000 is appropriate. Any less and it will not be enough to defend the Datong Line."
After saying this, Wu Dui shut his mouth and did not speak. His meaning was very clear. He felt that 50,000 people was not bad.
As soon as he finished speaking, the officials all had different expressions. Minister of Revenue Zhang Xueyan spoke at this time. "Of course, I feel that the more the better, but we also have to consider the actual situation. Recruiting soldiers is different from stationing soldiers.
"Not to mention other things, just the annual expenses for rations and soldiers' salaries are almost two million taels of silver.
Although the income of the court has increased, the expenses are also great!
If Datong Town already has so many expenses, what about other places? "
"Xuan Prefecture?
Yulin?
Taiyuan?
What about Gansu's Guyuan? "
"This official feels that 50,000 is more than enough. In addition, there are no battles in the northwest at the moment, and there is no need to fear Wala. The northwest is stable, and it is a waste of money and rations to raise so many soldiers.
Why don't we cut it down to 30,000 and reduce the expenses by half? "
"In addition, the quality of an army is more important than quantity. Everyone can see for themselves that the recruitment of elite soldiers is an elite."
With these two people saying this, both sides had their own viewpoints. Now it was time to see who everyone supported.
Everyone had their own ideas, and all of them could stand. One was from the actual situation. The problem of money and rations was a big problem.
The other was from the border. Without enough soldiers, it was not enough to guard the defensive line and also not enough to deter thieves.
In this matter, the officials present were not deeply involved, so they were happy to express their stance. In any case, there was nothing wrong with what they said, and they could also show their sincerity. Therefore, basically everyone spoke up, and there were people who supported everyone.
Now that things had come to this, all that was left was to respectfully await the emperor's judgment.
Zhu Yijun thought for a moment, then said, "Thirty-six thousand men, train them according to the Che Battalion's standards!"
In reality, this matter was also a headache for Zhu Yijun. They couldn't afford to raise too many soldiers, and if they raised too few, it would be useless.
However, Zhu Yijun added, "If there are too few people, then let's replenish their equipment!"
"Give the Datong Army eighty percent of their equipment according to the capital's standards!
Send an edict to Ceng Shengwu, tell him to reduce the number of forts and garrisons, and focus on cavalry patrols. They can be further away and learn to survive in the plains. "
Daming could completely give up on defense in the northwest, and it wouldn't be too difficult to leave the plains.
The officials didn't say anything else when they heard this. Although they would have to spend more money according to the capital's standards, it was still a lot less than their future stipends.
Besides, the Datong Army was already well-equipped, and the only thing they lacked was some firearms.
The Armament Department's forging speed was very fast that day, and the capital's army was almost fully equipped. They couldn't possibly be idle!
As for the Che Battalion, Zhu Yijun had done a detailed study. In this era, this kind of equipment was already the best. Unless there was a qualitative leap in equipment and they became an all-firearms unit, there was no way to make a qualitative change.