Dominate the Country

YN Zhaotong Prefecture, this is the first place in the entire YN territory to surrender to the Fu Han Army. There is no way, it is really that the terrain of Zhaotong Prefecture is too tricky. It is located in the northeast corner of YN Province, at the junction of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan provinces, like a peninsula extending into the "sea", completely surrounded by SC and GZ. It would be unfair if it didn't surrender early.

As the key point of YN, Zhaotong is an important gateway from YN Province to SCGZ provinces, an important channel for Central Plains culture to enter YN, a treasure land known as Little Kunming, and is known as "the key to southern Yunnan and the throat of western Sichuan"!

One day in early June, a large circle of people gathered at the door of the Ministry of Finance of Zhaotong Prefecture, because this day was the first day that the Fu Han Army, which had occupied Zhaotong for two months, paid salaries to its officials. Since the Fu Han Army seized Zhaotong Prefecture, there was no peaceful day in the first month. Those officials who surrendered were arrested every now and then, demoted, fined, dismissed, or thrown into prison. In the following month, a large number of outsiders poured in, and the local officials asked around and found out that they were students from the three branches of the Political College in Chengdu, ZQ, and Guiyang. They were the direct descendants of the new dynasty. Then there were officials of various levels transferred from SCGZ, and another month passed in this hustle and bustle. Now the overall situation in Zhaotong has stabilized, and the middle and high-level positions of various agencies have also stabilized. It can be said that chaos is far away from Zhaotong. The sudden salary payment of the Finance Bureau is a very direct proof.

The rookies who graduated from school or the officials transferred from outside were all mentally prepared for the "salary" of the Fu Han Army. They knew what salary the new dynasty promised, and that was what salary it was.

But those managers who stayed in office were shocked.

——There was really no deduction at all. The rice and flour distributed were all first-rate goods, pork and mutton were fresh, poultry and fish were alive and kicking, and there were also silver dollars of good quality.

Although the latter had been chosen by many officials to exchange for land. But when the salary was paid, an official in Zhaotong Prefecture still spent more than 700 silver dollars. Because the salaries of the Xunyou Courts and the rural work teams in various places were also settled in Zhaotong Prefecture.

When those shiny little silver cakes were handed out, the first action of many people was to count them several times, and then put their money bags in their pockets and left quickly. There were also a few people who loved to get stuck in a rut, so they went to the bulletin board on the side, looked at the regulations on it, and compared it with the signature slip in their hands to receive their salaries. There were also pencils and papers, tables and chairs, and even abacus next to it. If you have any doubts, you can calculate it yourself.

"Next..." A 40-year-old official weighed the silver dollars, silver dimes and copper coins in his hand, and felt that something was wrong. But before he could ask, someone patted his back and shouted, "... Excuse me, Brother Feng, please give way..."

The business hall of the Ministry of Finance originally had four windows, and two more were added today, all of which were crowded with people. No one would give way to money, and it was safest to get it as soon as possible.

Some people like this 40-year-old official received coins, and some exchanged all the coins or part of them for land. What they received was a land deed with a seal. With this land deed, he could choose to farm by himself, or wait for the military cooperative in the area where the land was located to "take" the land. Once the agreement was signed, he could sit and wait to get the money.

As the situation has developed to the present, the objects of the military cooperative are no longer limited to soldiers, but are open to all people in society, including landlords from all over the country.

Now all the people here, regardless of their official positions, age or age, received their salaries at this time, and their faces were full of sincere joy.

Yes, they finally got the money. This shows that the great shock in Zhaotong has stopped, and it shows that they are now really officials of the new dynasty. Compared with the money they got, the meaning of the latter is more attractive to these people.

The magistrate of Shaotong Prefecture, Zheng Da Laoye of En A County Yamen, stood in front of the bulletin board, reading the notice on the bulletin board of the Ministry of Finance over and over again. For more than two months, Zheng En has been accustomed to the simplified characters of the Fu Han Army, as well as their rules of horizontal rows when they should be arranged vertically, and from left to right when they should be written from right to left. After figuring out the rules, their documents are still quite simple and easy to understand.

They are all plain words, without any literary talent, and even old farmers who can't read a word can understand them.

However, the content of this document really made Zheng En unbelievable-he never cared about silver, how could a scholar lose his dignity for copper smell? And it is precisely because of his perseverance that he is the only official above the seventh rank in the entire Shaotong Prefecture City who has come to this day safely.

But now the silver in his hand forced him to read the content carefully. It's really a bit too much!

Now Chen Han's officials have no legal advisors, no official long-serving servants, and no longer need to send ice and charcoal silver to the superiors. The silver they receive every month seems to be much less than the original maintenance silver, but in fact it is much more.

With Zheng En's original income, his annual regular salary is 45 taels, plus 400 taels of maintenance silver, and other income, the incorruptible Zheng En Zheng Da Lao Ye can have 600 taels of silver a year. And he has four long-serving servants, five legal advisors, plus the annual ice and charcoal tribute, 600 taels of silver seems to be much more than now, but in fact it is very difficult.

Now he can get 35 silver dollars a month, plus a series of rice, meat, oil, salt, and cloth, about 40 silver dollars. The total income has dropped by 40% compared to the Qing Dynasty [360 taels of silver], but the 480 silver dollars a year can be used entirely for his family, unlike before, when 60% to 70% of the annual income had to be spent on outsiders.

This small 500 silver dollars, even if a part of it is given back to the clan, is more than enough to support the family and buy property.

"Oh, that's not right. Double salary in December! There are also benefits and bonuses..."

Not only are there benefits during the New Year, but there are a row of festivals from the Lantern Festival to the Double Ninth Festival, which indicate that officials of all levels should give gifts during the festivals, but because they don't know everyone's preferences, except for the necessary part, such as the Lantern Festival, the rest are all converted into silver money for distribution.

"A rare event in the history of the world. Not only do the superiors not want to show respect during festivals, but they also give benefits to the subordinates..." Zheng En discovered for the first time that the Xin Dynasty was so generous in official salaries. Although he was a fifth-rank official as the magistrate of En'an, he was comparing the fifth rank of the Xin Dynasty with the seventh rank of the Qing Dynasty, and it was the seventh rank in the poor place of YN. The same official position in the Qing Dynasty had different silvers for maintaining integrity in different places. In the rich Jiangnan area, the seventh-rank magistrate could also receive thousands of taels of silver a year. I just don't know if the Xin Dynasty is like this too? But such a salary has already stunned him. This is a normal and regular income, there is no problem at all.

After that, there are a lot of living subsidies of various names, covering everything from food, clothing, housing and transportation!

Zheng En pulled over an abacus and counted it carefully. His income this year was not much different from the original six hundred taels of silver in the Qing Dynasty!

Zheng En quickly estimated the number of officials in En A County. There was a county magistrate of the fifth rank, three deputy county magistrates of the sixth rank, a bunch of seventh rank bureau chiefs and township officials. The eighth and ninth ranks were not considered officials in the new dynasty. The newly-entered civil servants were of the ninth rank. There were also section chiefs and section chiefs in the bureau, which were of the eighth rank. As for official positions, the new dynasty did not recognize them at all, and all of them were referred to as civil servants. On the contrary, there were section chiefs and section chiefs in the provincial and ministerial bureaus, but they were all the sixth, seventh, or even fifth rank officials.

Zheng En roughly calculated the annual salary expenditure of the entire En A County, and the huge number suddenly made his head a little dizzy. Now the new dynasty still has countless acres of land to support it, but there is always a number of acres of land in the world, and one day it will be squandered by the court. You must know that in addition to officials, there is also the huge army. By that time, the pure fiscal expenditure of the country in one year will be an astronomical figure, higher than the annual income of the Qing Dynasty.

"The country will no longer be a country, the country will no longer be a country..." He himself didn't know when, his forehead was already full of cold sweat.

After returning to the county government, Zheng En immediately informed the county's financial bureau to make a systematic rectification of the county's financial expenditure this month. As a result, the report was delivered to Zheng En in the afternoon. Because next month, the salary payment of En A County should be the responsibility of the Finance Bureau of En A County.

Zheng En looked at the system data statistics made by the County Finance Bureau, and blood rushed to his head in an instant. The white skin was as red as blood, and the ears were red. Everyone in the En A County government heard the thunder-like roar of their master very clearly.

However, for most officials, they don't care how much salary will put on the national finances. It would be better if everyone's salary was tripled or five times higher. Many civil servants who received their salaries on the same day, the first thing most of them did after get off work was to go straight to the market.

Therefore, on that day, 70% to 80% of the meat shops in Zhaotong City were completely sold out, and at least half of the restaurants were full!

If the uncles had money in their hands, it would be a waste if they didn't go to cut some meat and buy a few feet of cloth for their wives and children to reward the whole family.

It was on this day that silver dollars, silver dimes, copper coins, and copper dimes officially poured into Zhaotong Prefecture on a large scale.

For most people, the silver dollar is like two silver coins, and one silver dollar is one two silver coins. However, the emergence of three-level subsidiary coins, silver dimes, copper coins, and copper dimes, is much more convenient than the original monetary system with only silver and copper coins. Of course, when the Qing Dynasty suppressed the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, it also played with big coins that were worth ten or a hundred. But this thing itself is only one coin, and you insist on using it as a hundred coins. Isn't this completely oppressing and plundering the people?

The new monetary system is full of weight and is also decimal, which is very easy to convert. Chen Ming is also planning to issue paper money in the future, so of course he has to lay a good foundation for metal coins.

One silver dollar is equal to ten silver dimes, equal to one hundred copper yuan, equal to one thousand copper dimes, and small copper dimes are like copper coins in the past. The Fu Han Army cannot produce so much copper to cast copper yuan and copper dimes, but Chen Han has a lot of iron. The current copper yuan and copper dimes are copper-iron alloys.

At least one obvious benefit of this currency in circulation is that it reduces fire consumption. Although some "small" problems have arisen from time to time during the entire circulation period, they were quickly resolved.

China has been counterfeiting currency [copper coins] since ancient times, whether it is official inferior money or inferior money made by the people themselves, it is a "stubborn disease" that has not changed for thousands of years.

Because China has less copper and less silver, and ultimately less gold. Moreover, as the overlord of the entire East, China's copper coins are popular in all directions, and countries in the entire Greater China Cultural Circle are using China's copper coins. In ancient times, the word "money shortage" did not mean that people were going bankrupt, but that there was no currency on the market. This currency is not just copper coins, but sometimes silver.

The Fuhan Army minted silver coins, which was very profitable. Some local criminals immediately saw the huge profits, but they did not have large hydraulic coin presses. Soon some people turned their attention to copper coins. At first, Chen Han's copper coins were based on the old-fashioned copper-lead-tin alloy, but soon several major cases of counterfeit coins were discovered in the local area. It was because of the pressure that the Mint thought of copper-iron alloys, and the coins they produced were of good quality.

The Fuhan Army relied on its convenience in iron materials and relatively advanced technology to curb counterfeiting in the field of copper coins. Let many lawbreakers, the more fake copper coins they make, the more they will pay. Because they want to mint coins, they use the mother's money sanding method. Counterfeiters usually only engrave one mother coin, rather than a whole box of foundry molds. The thickness of the coins produced varies due to deformation. Moreover, the coin blanks made by the sand casting method are often tree-shaped when taken out from the sand mold and need to be processed and polished. The minted coin blanks were strung on the same square rod and rotated and polished at the same time. The file marks left on the edge of the coin were not straight lines, but arc-shaped, parallel to the edge of the money. The counterfeiter only filed the blanks. You only need to file repeatedly to make the edge of the money smooth. The filing marks forming the edge of the money are messy or linear, which can be seen by a discerning person at a glance.

But none of these methods can be used on the copper coins of the Fuhan Army, because the copper coins of the Fuhan Army are copper plates, not Brother Kong Fang.

And there is a very obvious difference between machine pressing and manual polishing.

The counterfeit currency cases that Chen Han needs to face now are all focused on gold and silver coins. That is the new struggle.

In July, the newly established "Zhaotong Daily" published an article signed by Zheng En. The article focused on the salary expenditure of officials and the army and discussed the bad impact of this matter. Unfortunately, the influence of Zhaotong Daily is too small, and this article did not cause a big sensation in society! Zheng En came into someone's eyes because of this.

Within the Zhaotong Mansion, I don’t know how many people cursed Zheng En for a while, saying that he was ‘a dog meddling in other people’s affairs’ and ‘he was not in his position to pursue his own affairs’.

…

It is also July, SH Nanjing, Fuzhou, Ningbo, Xiamen, Guangzhou, etc., countless people's eyes are focused on the Ryukyu Kingdom in the east. The Southeast Navy marches eastward to Ryukyu, and effortlessly stationed the Satsuma Domain in Ryukyu. One to two hundred soldiers from each island were sent to prisoner-of-war camps, and then they once marched to the Osumi Strait. Although they retreated in the end, they did not actually reach Kagoshima, let alone enter Kagoshima Bay, and when they retreated, they also left the Satsuma soldiers in their early 100s who had been captured in Ryukyu on Tanegashima. As for the number that is still missing, those are the people who are already dead. But the scene of countless warships coming up from the sea and covering the sea was talked about by all the RB people who saw the Southeast Fleet!

After receiving the news, Shimazu Shigehiro took a boat directly and ran back to Kagoshima from Edo Bay as if he had stepped on the tail of a mouse.

At that time, the Fuhan Army's Southeast Navy had already retreated. It's just that although the Southeast Navy returned Tanegashima and Yakushima to the Satsuma Domain, the crucial Amami Oshima Island was firmly controlled by the Southeast Navy.

Shimazu Shigehao immediately sent his retainer to communicate. Before the retainer could ask for Amami Oshima, he was told by the Southeast Navy that Amami Oshima was land belonging to the Ryukyu Kingdom, and it would be the Ryukyu Kingdom that would control this place from now on.

Shimazu Shigehao wanted to spit out a mouthful of blood. He erected a target with a map of China in his courtyard and shot it with a bow and arrow every day. Because Amami Oshima is rich in brown sugar, which is one of the most important financial resources of the Satsuma Domain.

On the other hand, Shimazu Shigego even sent people to Edo to cry out. He had never shown such meekness to the Tokugawa shogunate in more than 100 years that he was a member of RB and a daimyo under the shogunate. The general wants to make the decision for Satsuma...