Despite the internal factors of corruption, the officials of the household registration department in the Ming Dynasty agreed with some "experts" now, that is, they were overly superstitious about the market and the power of money and tried to solve the food shortage in Liaodong in the late Ming Dynasty by burning money.
Liaodong is now the granary of China, and it was also the granary of Daming before the middle of Ming Dynasty. During the Yongle period of the Ming emperor, there were nearly10.9 million Ming troops in Liaodong, each with 50 mu of land. Nearly 19000 troops, 80% cultivated land and 20% carried out combat tasks. In addition to the soldiers' self-sufficiency, the grain reserve of the military camp reaches nearly 800,000 stones. In addition, the soldiers can store one-third of the grain for later use. After the mid-Ming Dynasty, a lot of land was occupied by powerful people, and a large number of soldiers fled. There was even a scene where 1 12 soldiers were left with only one unlucky ghost, and the food problem began to plague the Liaodong garrison.
After the mid-Ming Dynasty, the Ministry of Housing adopted the policy of distributing grain in Shandong, and even put Shandong's political envoys in charge of the civil affairs and economy of Liaodong (it is not surprising that a large number of Dongjiang soldiers went to Denglai in the late Ming Dynasty). The Ministry of Commerce transports more than 350,000 pieces of cloth (0.3 taels of silver per horse), 654.38+0.3 kilograms of cotton and102,000 taels of silver to buy grain every year through Liaodong, Shandong. According to the food price at that time, it is estimated that silver can buy 402 thousand grain, and the grain produced in Liaodong can barely maintain the needs of the Liaodong garrison. By Chenghua, the military commissariat produced by the Liaodong garrison was only 6.5438+0.6 million stone, while the grain demand of the garrison at that time had risen to 960,000 stone per year. In the years when the Ming government spent money, the food price in Liaodong was like a roller coaster. In these normal years, the grain price in Liaodong is 0. 1.62 to 0.20 per stone. During Chenghua and Jiajing years, the grain price in Liaodong soared to 4 taels of silver per stone or 8 taels per stone. A soldier of the Ming army only earns one or two taels of silver a month, and he can only buy about two or three stones of food in a lean year (Liaodong has a small bucket, each stone is only equivalent to three or four buckets in Shandong), so it is difficult for him to support himself, so the Liaodong garrison runs more and more.
In the ten years of Wanli, the actual number of troops stationed in Liaodong was 83,324, and the total number of horses and horses was 4 1830. The total grain collected in Liaodong in the Ming Dynasty was 279,265,438+0.2 stone, and the money invested by the Ming government in Liaodong was 765,438+0.10.2 million (silver has been converted into various materials). Before the rise of Nurhachi and Toyotomi Hideyoshi's invasion of Korea, the life of Liaodong soldiers was very difficult. In the early years of Wanli, it was suggested that each Liaodong garrison should give 2.5 yuan a monthly discount (one stone of grain can be purchased every month in normal years). Under the premise of Marin's repeated efforts, Emperor Wanli was barely unified. After the Liaodong War broke out, the Ming Dynasty increased the intensity of burning money, which led to the high price of food in Liaodong at 4 Liang per stone all the year round. The visiting team fighting in Liaodong is also a master of burning money. Their average monthly salary reached 3.6 taels of silver, and they had five taels of silver when they sent troops.
Emperor Wanli's unhappy money also increased Liaodong's military expenditure. According to Xiong Tingbi's initial estimate, the extermination of Nuerhachi requires180,000 troops and 90,000 military forces, and the annual military expenditure is 5 million. The stingy emperor Wanli was reluctant to invest this huge military expenditure, and finally at the end of Wanli ushered in an additional investment of nearly12 million yuan per year. After the fall of Guangning and Daling River Warehouse (1.2000 stone), the price of Liaodong soared further, and the huge sum of money further raised the price. In Liaodong, there is even a tragic scene that the rich have a lot of money but can't buy food and can only starve to death.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Liaodong had more money and less food, and even suffered from the Eight Banners Army. They seized huge sums of money in years of war plunder, but found that food was far from enough, so they had to change from a robbery group to a serf-owner group.