Please ask me to be the emperor

It is said that after Sun Chuanting and Chen Jitai killed Jin Yiwei, they led their son Sun Shirui and more than a hundred dead soldiers to surrender to King Shun Zhang Shun.

While Zhang Shun arranged for Fatty Zhang to go to Shendao Ridge in the north of Hancheng to persuade Dang Shousu, the "chaotic soldier", and Zhang Rukui, the "Soap Eagle", he led Sun Chuanting, Wang Ding, Wang Zhong and Chen Jitai back to Xi'an.

As soon as they arrived at Xi'an Mansion, Chief of Staff Hong Chengchou, Chief of Staff of Prince Qin's Mansion Lu Weiqi, Queen Li Sanniang and others came out early to welcome him.

After some complicated etiquette, Zhang Shun dismissed everyone, leaving Hong Chengchou, Lu Weiqi and Sun Chuanting alone, accompanied by Chen Jitai.

Zhang Shun then said: "I think this kid from Chongzhen is seeking his own death. I'm afraid the Ming Dynasty won't be able to sustain it for long. I have to make plans early!"

"What?" Chief of Staff Hong Chengchou and Lu Weiqi were shocked when they heard this and couldn't help but look at each other.

"King Shun, we have already agreed to integrate the three sides and four towns of Shaanxi and western Henan before making plans. Why did we change our minds today?" Hong Chengchou frowned when he heard this.

The chief official Lu Weiqi also reminded: "This year's summer grain is almost exhausted, and the collection of autumn grain has just begun."

"Even if the autumn grain amount is higher than the summer grain amount, I'm afraid it will only meet the expenses of the two hundred thousand army."

These two people gave Zhang Shun a heavy blow from a strategic perspective and an economic perspective.

"How are taxes now?" Zhang Shun thought for a while, and instead of talking about strategy, he asked about money and food.

"The summer grain plan is to collect 1.2 million shi, and Zhang Sanbai also transported 300,000 shi via Danshui, which can barely be used until the end of the year." Lu Weiqi heard this and said it as a treasure.

"It's just that of the 1.2 million summer grain, 720,000 shi are actually the acres of land confiscated by the rebels and the cleared farmland."

"At the beginning, the rebel army was short of food and pay, so they had to collect it annually, at 12 dan per mu. We can no longer collect autumn food!"

"However, Zhang Bojing and Li Zicheng are now vigorously clearing out the farmland in Yan'an, Suide and Qingyang. It is estimated that they will be able to collect 400,000 dan early next year, which is an unexpected surprise!"

"In addition, the Qiu Liang of Xi'an Prefecture can still collect fifty or sixty shi, and the other Pingliang and Ningxia can collect 100 or 20 shi, and the total does not exceed 1.2 million shi."

"This... autumn grain is not as good as summer grain!" Zhang Shun couldn't help but sigh.

It turns out that the tax revenue of the Ming Dynasty was basically based on autumn grain and supplemented by summer grain. The ratio of the two was roughly between July 3 and June 4.

It's just that the rebel army was determined to eat grain and used violence to collect all the grains for a whole year. As a result, the amount of autumn grain may not catch up with the amount of summer grain.

"No, no!" Zhang Shun couldn't help but shook his head and said, "Fengxiang, Gongchang, Lintao, Qingyang and Yan'an prefectures all have to pay taxes regardless of their size."

"The above governments can seize the big ones and let go of the small ones, and leave them to subsidize local areas!"

What does "catch the big and let go the small" mean?

It's just that we don't have enough manpower to collect the amount.

But that doesn't matter, just pick up the big ones and collect them.

No matter how much it is levied, it can be used as local food payment or food relief, which is better than transporting people from other places to eat horse chews.

"Okay!" Lu Weiqi nodded after hearing this and made an estimate.

"In this way, we can add more than 100,000 stones, and at least 1.2 million stones can be collected!"

It sounds like this 1.2 million shi of autumn grain is not much, but if you compare it with the collection situation in the Ming Dynasty, you will know that this is already a very good collection result.

If the Ming Dynasty's own tax collection standards were followed, the entire Shaanxi Province would only cost 17.8 million shi per year.

Not to mention the miscellaneous facts, but the rebel army collected 2.4 million shi successively during the severe famine in Yansui, which was an amount that Chongzhen could not even imagine.

However, is this amount of food and salary enough?

Far from enough!

In order to deal with the rebels, Yang Sichang once calculated that he would mobilize 120,000 troops and consume 2,628,000 taels of silver in food and wages.

Although the rebel army relied on food as its mainstay, and the efficiency of food and salary utilization was far higher than that of officers and soldiers, based on the monthly salary of one soldier per soldier, they would still need to eat 240 shi of food in a year.

"How is the situation in Henan Prefecture?" Zhang Shun frowned and thought to himself: Sure enough, the original plan is still sound.

Now that Xi'an Prefecture and Yulin Town have been stabilized, the disaster in Yan'an Prefecture has also been relieved.

If we send officials to other prefectures next year, we can collect thirty or fifty more stones.

If we wait for the rebel rule to be stable, recruit more civil servants, and measure the fields, it is estimated that we can collect three million dan in one year.

It's a pity that time waits for no one, so he had to make plans early.

"Henan Prefecture's quota is 481,000 shi, Ruzhou's quota is 147,000 shi, and Nanyang Prefecture's quota is 114,000 shi." Lu Weiqi couldn't help but calculate after hearing this.

"The total amount is only 742,000 dan. Among them, drought, military disaster and lack of manpower were unable to collect, which caused a lot of losses."

"Fortunately, Li Baihu brought sweet potatoes, corn and other products, which increased production a lot. Adding the acres of land in the palace, the tax collection is only one million shi per year."

"I really don't know the amount of other grain purchases. Based on my calculations, Nanyang, Yuzhou and Luoyang each have a million dan in case of emergency!"

"King Shun, what is going on?" Hong Chengchou saw that Zhang Shun couldn't get to the point for a long time, so he couldn't help but asked again anxiously.

"I'll have to ask him about this after all!" Zhang Shun pointed at Sun Chuanting after hearing this.

"Me?" Sun Chuanting couldn't help being surprised.

After he took refuge with Zhang Shun, before he could offer any advice, he was dragged all the way to Xi'an by the King of Qin. He has not yet recovered from his confusion.

"Tell everyone about Shanxi!" Zhang Shun reminded.

"Easy to talk about, easy to talk about!" Sun Chuanting couldn't help but coughed dryly and briefly told everyone his experience.

"No, this doesn't have anything to do with it, does it?" Even Hong Chengchou was confused at this moment.

"It is gratifying that Sun Chuanting has joined the rebel army, but what does it have to do with our large-scale use of troops? Isn't King Shun planning to capture Datong to rescue the Sun family members?"

"What's this mess?" Zhang Shun almost got angry at them when he heard this.

"Since Mr. Sun is here, the Ming government and the public do not dare to touch his family members casually. I still have this reputation!"

"We've been talking for a long time, but your feelings haven't turned around yet!"

"Our rebel army is not only competing with the Ming Dynasty, but also competing with the Hou Jin Dynasty in Liaodong!"

"Now the Ming Dynasty is like an old black bear. I occupy the front, and the golden tiger looks behind."

"Therefore, unless we can refuse the queen's money and enjoy the Ming Dynasty alone, we can only think about it in the long term."

"Unexpectedly, Chongzhen's son was foolish and reckless, and he destroyed the 'Optimus Prime' and the 'Great Wall'. I'm afraid that if I turn around, the Ming Dynasty will be defeated in one attack, and the officers and soldiers of the four towns of Jiliao will surrender to the enemy. By then, I will die without a burial place!"

"This... this can't be done, right?" Everyone couldn't help but look at each other after hearing this.

Especially Sun Chuanting was even more confused. Who are the "Optimus Prime" and the "Great Wall" of the Ming Dynasty?