I

  Chapter 349 347 [Salt Law Reform]

  Luo Rucai escaped completely, not only giving up Lu'an, but also giving up all the territory.

  Gushi, Shangcheng, Guangzhou, Guangshan, Xixian, Luoshan, Xinyang, these counties were all thrown to Zhao Han. He led the elite old battalion, engulfed a large number of new thieves and civilians, and ran across the Huaihe River to the hinterland of Henan.

  Li Zicheng's main force has already left and gathered at the Shanxi and Henan borders, trying to attack Beizhili with all his strength.

  The situation in the hinterland of Henan is very complicated. There are dozens of rebels, large and small. On the surface, they belonged to Li Zicheng, but secretly attacked and robbed each other. Luo Rucai was going to annex those forces.

   Head-to-head with Zhao Han?

  Luo Rucai's bandit name is "Cao Cao", and he will never fight if he can't fight a tough battle, and he will be like a mad dog when he has to fight.

   "Captain, a letter from the front line."

   There were several letters, one was written by Hu Dinggui.

   This kid admired Lu Xiangsheng very much. In those few pursuit battles, whether to retreat or advance at critical moments was all decided by Lu Xiangsheng.

  Besides, Lu Xiangsheng was very face-saving, so he told Hu Dinggui first, and let Hu Dinggui give orders. As a result, most of the cavalry soldiers thought that Hu Dinggui was directing the battle, but did not realize that Lu Xiangsheng was the one who made the decision.

  The cavalry pursuit is a test of command ability, and Hu Dinggui still seems too young.

  If Lu Xiangsheng hadn't been in charge, Luo Rucai might have killed him in hand-to-hand combat if he was not careful.

  Lu Xiangsheng also wrote a letter back, mainly summarizing the tactics of the dragoons:

  First, the dragoons belonged to the horse-riding musketeer infantry, and they must not use cavalry tactics, and they must not go head-to-head with traditional cavalry. We must always keep a distance from the enemy, and would rather miss the opportunity to ensure our own safety.

  Second, dragoons must have at least 50 soldiers to ensure combat effectiveness, because the number of troops is too small, and the volley of firecrackers has no power at all.

  Third, if the enemy is traditional cavalry, the best shooting distance for dragoons is around 60 paces. If the distance is too far, the hit rate is too low; if the distance is too close, it is easy to be entangled by enemy cavalry.

  Fourth, replace the self-propelled (flintlock) muskets as soon as possible. Matchlock guns seriously affect the combat effectiveness of dragoons.

  Fifth, horse spurs (spurs) can be installed on leather boots, which is more conducive to the control of the dragoons on the horses.

  Lu Xiangsheng definitely has a super talent for commanding. The first time he led the dragoons into battle, he automatically learned what style of play to use.

  When he pursued Luo Rucai, he didn't divide his troops to bite or fight desperately, but always kept a certain distance. The enemy is fast and we are fast, and the enemy is slow and we are slow, which is completely different from the traditional cavalry pursuit.

   It is useless to allocate a small number of troops to fight to death, and it will lose combat effectiveness with one shot.

  Luo Rucai was also very sensible. From the beginning to the end, except for trying to charge for hand-to-hand combat, he never thought about dividing his troops and breaking up the rear. He only has 2,000 cavalry, and after he went out by hundreds of people, it was purely to deliver food. He collapsed after a round of volley, and he would be eaten a little bit instead.

  Smart hunter, cunning prey.

  Zhao Han put down the letter and asked someone to ask Song Yingxing about the development of the flintlock gun.

  Song Yingxing was not in Nanjing, but still stayed in Jiangxi, and wrote back that he was improving the production technology of springs, and at the same time trying to reduce the misfire rate of flintlock guns.

   Percussive flintlock guns existed as early as the middle Wanli period, and have been promoted and used by France. Following the assassination of King Henry IV of France, French generals refused to use flintlocks because of their high rate of misfires.

  Due to the stimulation of the Thirty Years War, Europe has picked up the flintlock again in recent years.

   But improvement must be made. If the misfire rate can be successfully reduced, the flintlock can completely replace the arquebus.

  European countries are improving, and Song Yingxing is also leading people to improve. The research and development process of the East and the West is actually similar.

   In addition, the same is true for dragoons.

  Dragoons have appeared in a few countries in Europe. And the war horses are similar to the Datong cavalry, they are all low-quality horses that have been eliminated, and the real good horses are used to form traditional cavalry.

  Even the establishment is similar. The number of European dragoons in a regiment is around 1,000-1,500, and that of Datong dragoons is 2,000.

  Charging, fighting, riding and archery... Dragoons don't know these things.

  It is to ride a horse and run away, then dismount and shoot, continue to shoot if there is no danger, and immediately ride a horse and run away in case of danger.

  The only exception is the Swedish dragoons, where musketeers are combined with dragoons, and cuirassiers are combined with unarmored cavalry. So there appeared a strange cavalry equipped with light armor and cavalry swords, who could charge into battle on horseback and shoot muskets on horseback. This thing can no longer be regarded as a dragoon, it can be regarded as a light armored musketeer.

  The birth of the Swedish multifunctional light armored cavalry is not because the Swedes are good at fighting, but because they are...poor!

  Sweden has no money to build too many cavalry units, and can only use one type of cavalry as several types.

  What Lu Xiangsheng said in his letter, Zhao Han could only temporarily improve the riding boots, that is, add spurs to the cavalry boots.

   There were also spurs in ancient China, and the "police" in "Riding the horse gallops" is the spur.

   As for the flintlock, keep improving it.

   It’s not that it can’t be made now, but the misfiring rate is too high.

  The firing rate of the matchlock gun exceeds 70%, and the firing rate of the flintlock gun is less than 20%...

  …

  The direction of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

  Zhang Tieniu led troops to land in Tongzhou (Nantong). Before the siege began, the defender sent envoys, saying that he wanted to negotiate in Nanjing.

  As long as Zhao Han agrees to their request, the rebels in the Jianghuai salt-producing area are willing to surrender.

  Zhang Tieniu did not dare to neglect, and immediately sent the envoy to Nanjing.

  The insurgents here, a small part of them are salt lords, and most of them are stove households. If too many kitchen households are killed in war, who will cook the salt in the future? After the Zaohu uprising, the price of salt has skyrocketed in the past six months.

   There were several envoys of the Salt Army, and the leader was Tian Yang.

   "Kowtow to Zhao Tianwang, long live, long live, long live!" Tian Yang led the crowd to kneel and shout in unison.

   "Get up and talk." Zhao Han laughed.

   To be sent as envoys by Yanxiao and Yanhu, it is naturally impossible to be a cowardly person. Kneeling down and shouting long live when they meet is nothing more than putting a high hat on Zhao Han in exchange for Zhao Han's sympathy.

   "Thank you King Zhao!"

   After these people got up, Zhao Han asked: "What requests do you have, please tell them one by one."

  Tian Yang said: "Please Zhao Tianwang resume the normal salt class!"

   "This request surprised me." Zhao Han couldn't help laughing.

  Ming Chengyuan system, the common people are organized into kitchen households, each household is calculated to cook salt, and a certain amount of salt is handed over to the government every year. The salt that needs to be handed in is called the salt class, also known as "foreign salt".

  As time went by, some kitchen households became rich, or colluded with officials to form bullies among the kitchen households. They seized the means of production of the rest of the kitchen households, and the kitchen households that lost their production materials continued to pay lessons to the government, which caused a large number of kitchen households to flee.

  In addition, the salt outside the salt class is also called "surplus salt".

  In the beginning, surplus salt could only be purchased by the government, and then merchants could buy it. The government and merchants often lowered the price, which led to the kitchen households being forced to sell the surplus salt at a low price, which also caused a large number of kitchen households to flee.

  The salt class and surplus salt system are very unfavorable to the stove households, so they secretly sell private salt.

  In order to stop the flood of private salt, by the end of the Wanli period, the distinction between quota salt and surplus salt had been canceled, and kitchen households were allowed to pay the salt class directly with silver.

   As a result, the stove household became even worse!

  Government, merchants jointly exploit, where does the kitchen household get the money to pay the salt class?

   In the mid-Ming Dynasty, it was regarded as the "salt-receiving class" of evil governance. Now at the end of the Ming Dynasty, after the kitchen households rebelled, they actually asked Zhao Han to restore it.

  Over the years, Zhao Han summoned many merchants and scholars, and at the same time discussed repeatedly with Pang Chunlai, Li Banghua and others. We have been discussing how to reform the salt law, but after countless discussions, no one proposed to restore the "normal class".

  Just because no one considers the problem from the perspective of the stove owner!

  Zhao Han asked: "Why do you want to resume the normal class (salt in kind), isn't it good to pay the money directly?"

  Tian Yang said: "Government and businessmen keep the prices low, and the kitchen households can't make ends meet by selling salt. If you pay money to pay the tax, the kitchen households will have very little left, and they will not have enough to eat."

   "Listening to you, it seems that you have read a book?" Zhao Han asked.

  Tian arched his hands and said: "I am the second son in the family, and my father and brother sell private salt for a living, so they have money to study since childhood."

  Zhao Han asked again: "Since you are a private salt dealer, why do you speak for the stove household?"

Tian Yang replied: "The private salt business is not easy to do. Since the reform of the salt law in the Wanli Dynasty, the government and businessmen have taken the lead in selling private salt. If there is 10% of table salt on the market, 70% of the private salt and 30% of the official salt. Private salt Among them, half are from officials and merchants. The big salt lords are fine, and the small private salt dealers, how can they compete with merchants?"

   Well, 70% of the table salt circulating in the market at the end of the Ming Dynasty was private salt, and half of it was sold by the government and merchants.

  How did Emperor Chongzhen collect salt tax?

   But what's even more weird is that the Chongzhen Dynasty collected the most salt tax in the entire Ming Dynasty! Forcibly collected, ordered each saltworks, how much must be handed over.

   Zhao Han has already formulated a policy here, because Guangdong also produces salt, and intends to transplant Guangdong's new salt law.

Zhao Han said to these salt army envoys: "First, I will abolish the Zao registration, and there will be no Zao households in the future; According to the region, the salt farms were turned into salt-making factories, and the kitchen households were turned into salt cookers."

  Tian Yang was stunned. After careful consideration, he asked, "Who owns the salt factory? Is it owned by the government? Or by merchants? So what if the factory exploits workers?"

Zhao Han explained: "The land of the salt farm is owned by the government and leased to franchised merchants. Merchants build their own factories, make their own equipment, and be responsible for their own profits and losses, but the period is only 30 years. After 30 years, the land of the salt farm will be leased again. As for For salt cookers, the government will set a minimum monthly salary. If the workers are not satisfied with the treatment, they can leave at any time to find other livelihoods. I will not tie you up to death in the saltworks.”

   "Workers don't have to pay the regular class, nor do they have to pay the salt class money?" Tian Yang asked.

   "No need." Zhao Han shook his head.

  Tian Yang asked again: "The franchised merchants open salt factories, can we salt soldiers do the same?"

  Zhao Han said with a smile: "I will give you three franchise quotas, and you will allocate them yourself. You can also have multiple joint ventures to jointly own a franchise quota."

  Although the salt factory is privatized, the land of the salt factory is in the hands of the government, and salt cannot be boiled without a suitable land. Even if salt can be boiled, the cost will rise sharply, which means that the government can still control the salt industry.

   If the exploitation of workers is excessive, or if tax evasion is found, the penalty should be fined and the prison should be sent to prison. The 30-year period is up, and there is no need to get a franchise license in the future.

  In addition, the salt introduction system was abolished and changed to a salt monopoly system, with monopoly dealers in each region.

  Once it is discovered that the monopoly is evading taxes, it will be dealt with as a sale of private salt.

  The factory, transshipment, and retail of table salt must be registered and reported in every link, so as to strengthen the government's control over table salt.

  Although there are still loopholes to exploit, it is more advanced than the salt introduction system. Because the Yanyin system is too rigid, it leads to two evil results: one is that Yanyin becomes futures; the other is that illegal salt is flooding everywhere.

  Really, Yanyin became a piece of futures paper in the middle of Ming Dynasty.

   It is not the salt merchants who make the most money, but the dignitaries who speculate in salt futures, or the financial dealers who are related to the dignitaries.

   Zhao Han set out his own conditions, especially the three quotas for opening factories, and the rebel army in the Jianghuai salt area quickly surrendered. Before surrendering, there was an internal strife, nothing more than a fight for three concessions.

  (end of this chapter)