Chen Mu mentions education at the beginning of the letter.

But the argument is extremely practical, and education is neither for the sake of educating the people of the old school that scholars talk about, nor is it very new school of hope for the equality of all beings.

It is to tell the emperor bluntly, need, the Ming Empire needs more people with knowledge, there are many people with knowledge in the world, and there will be more and more, but it is not enough, it is far from it.

These people are not enough to be officials, military generals, and businessmen, and they cannot meet the current needs.

Chen Mu gave two examples, the first is the steel output of the Ming Dynasty, which was pushed forward by steam locomotives and railroad tracks, and told the emperor very easily and easily the reason why he thought it was insufficient, and the times and productivity had changed the supply and demand relationship between the world and intellectuals.

He proposed that the second example was the emperor's heart for the strongest soldier in the world, the Beiyang Banner Army.

There is no doubt about the combat effectiveness of the Beiyang Banner Army, which is at the cost of the best training and training method of this era and the extremely large amount of time spent and extremely long, although it is the best, it is not scientific.

The most scientific way to train troops is to gradually balance the game between costs and benefits. There is a tradition of military training in the Greater China Circle, but this does not mean that the world is like this, but Chen Mu didn't know it when he sent troops, he thought that all the troops were trained in the world.

But in fact, Portugal does not train soldiers, England does not train soldiers, the Netherlands does not train soldiers, most countries in the world do not train soldiers, they don't even have a standing army, what kind of soldiers do they train? Can a knight count as a soldier?

Spain and France trained soldiers, Philip II's recruits were trained for less than three months, and the French royal courtiers of Valois were an entirely knightly army, and their concept was similar to that of the Mamluk and Ottoman guards, which could be equated with training.

The other units all grew up in the flames of war, and in the process of being recruited, put into battle, and disbanded again and again, and then recruited, re-enlisted, and then disbanded, forming troops with a slight military quality, and the best of them became mercenaries, specializing in killing.

The military service of the Beiyang Flag Army is five years, and the training time will take one and a half years, which is equivalent to only three and a half years of use, and it looks like the first phase is about to be retired.

What do they spend the most time on training? It is the study of knowledge, including military regulations, weapon parameters, tactical strategy, cartographic technology, hydrogeography and other subjects, almost all of them have to learn in the martial arts, but it is only superficial.

Involving literacy, mathematics, geography, physics, medicine, and even a little bit of chemistry, the bannermen could not hear the explosion of gunpowder and think that a god had been born.

So they need a year and a half to learn a lot in training.

The emperor looked at the letters, lit the lamp in the Qinghua Garden Palace at night, and he was counting the accounts of the household department, because Chen Mu said that he estimated that the overseas income now accounts for one-third or more of the imperial court's annual income, and the reason why the Ming Dynasty has enough overseas benefits is that the Ming Dynasty is on this warship, and it will be difficult to go down.

Continuous investment, continuous output, once the investment stops, the next blow of the collapse of overseas interests will make Daming unable to bear it.

Wan Li Ye inherited the genes from his grandfather at this point, of course, he was not as good as the ascending Daojun Emperor who also served as the head of the household department, but the data in his brain was not good enough to pretend to be more than the household servant.

He clearly remembered that this year, the imperial court's annual income was 87 million taels of silver, of which 24 million taels were exchanged for the customs tariffs and the capital transportation of the three military offices.

Dramatically varied.

This data seems to account for one-third of Daming's overseas interests, but in fact it has accounted for one-third, even half.

It is not because these properties circulate within the country, but because of the suggestion that Chen Mu gave to Zhang Juzheng and Hubu Shangshu Wang Guoguang before leaving Beijing - the central bank.

The income of the Ming Dynasty was very high before, and there were 30 million taels of silver in a year, but only two or three million taels were recorded in the household department, and the expenditure was only four or five million taels, because there was no intermediary co-ordination agency.

Normally, part of the income of a county shall be withheld for personal use, and the remainder shall be handed over to a certain prefecture; The income of a certain government shall be retained for its own use, and the remainder shall be handed over to the province; The income of a certain province is retained for its own use, and the rest is sent to the household department; The household department records the accounts, and then arranges the expenses of the imperial court: the appropriation for disaster relief in place A, the appropriation for water control in place B, the appropriation for fighting wars outside the country, the appropriation for military expenses at border passes, and so on.

That's not true.

It is a county's income of 5,000 taels, and the county's expenses such as officials' salaries, reception expenses, county post stations, and express delivery shops are retained, which is normal.

Then a township was assigned to the county for water control this year, and the officials were sent directly to the Yamen of Cao Canal Road; The state government is apportioned for something, and the official is sent directly to the state capital; The military affairs of a certain thousand households and a certain guard are apportioned, and the servants are sent directly to the guards; The clan is apportioned, or sent directly to the palace; The apportionment of the battalion soldiers was directly sent to the cantonment battalion;

Kill more than half at once, and the rest will not only be sent to the household department, but also the military department, the transportation warehouse, the inner library, the Taifu Temple, the Dali Temple, and the Ministry of Industry...... All of them have to be sent, just this county, all of them are sent by him.

In the end, the household department entered the account of a certain county to pay taxes, two hundred taels.

During the Chengping period, it was good to do this, except that there was a large loss and a small amount of accounting, but the relative central expenditure was also small; But in the war-torn period, when the roads are not smooth, can the court still collect the money? If you can't collect it, no one can transport it in, and if you drop a chain, the car won't be able to pedal.

Now with the bank as a transit agency, no one has to go to the county to apportion, all the money is sent to the provincial household bank, the bank is not open to the people, only the tax is recorded, the annual province spent and retained silver are all sent by telegram to the Beijing Division of the household department for filing, the household department is summarized and then sent to the cabinet, the imperial court specially set aside a cabinet old approval of this note.

In the end, the household department sent the approved strips back quickly, and the bank could allocate funds, and all the other banks were sent to Beijing in two parts.

As a result, taxes have increased dramatically, but the same expenses have also increased, but in fact, except for shipping, the money is still the same money, and it has not changed.

But this is definitely less than before, in the past, as soon as the localities communicated with each other, the silver taels they wanted were apportioned, but now there is no cabinet note, no one can approve the money, and the local palace directly does not dare to ask for money.

Since the clans of the three feudatories in Shanxi were uprooted by the Wanli Emperor and sent to India, the clans of the world have stopped, trembling and panicking.

Except for the founding Taizu and Chengzu, even the martial arts sect who went to the battlefield in person may not be as high as Wanli Ye.

Chen Mu meant that the emperor understood very well that the imperial court needed more excellent soldiers with lower costs, and completing basic learning before enlisting in the army was the best way to become an excellent soldier.

In the letter, Chen Mu suggested to the emperor about the basic education of the Ming Empire: "After the first batch of Beiyang Banner Army is retired, there should be two to three thousand flag soldiers who will no longer continue their military service and will return to China to be resettled. ”

"These retired veterans have seen the world overseas, and more importantly, they have sweated and shed blood for the empire, and they are extremely loyal to His Majesty and have a very high patriotic spirit, and they are the best primary school teachers in Chen's eyes."

"Assign them at least one child to support a primary school in the township, and there should be 2,000 to 3,000 such primary schools in Daming, and every year 3 to 50,000 bare-bottomed children over the age of five who run crazy under the farm tree will be enrolled in school for five years, and when the primary school education is over, they can help the family to farm or continue their education, and there will be no delay in farming."

"The number of primary schools is expanding at a rate of more than 2,000 per year, eventually bringing the number of children enrolled to 300,000 to 500,000 per year."

"After such a preliminary education, they have a preliminary understanding of the world, a good understanding ability and physical fitness, and can enter various professional universities in the private sector to study or continue to study literature, and those who study literature can be more easily integrated than others."

"Those who serve in the military can quickly understand military orders, quickly learn how to use various weapons, accept commands, understand logistics calculations, understand maps, and know how to transmit messages within a month."

"Migrant workers, entering the production line of any factory, can be familiar with the work process, proficient in operating and maintaining the machine, and produce suitable equipment within one month."

"Your Majesty does not have to look for a way out for the children of the dignitaries and the landlords and gentry, they have too many ways out; Let the most ordinary people in the world, the descendants of the people who can't even be called ordinary, get the opportunity to change their fate, they have been the cornerstone of the empire for generations, and they should have the opportunity to ascend to the hall. ”