After listening to the praises of the three of them for a while, Zhu Youzhen interrupted them and continued to say to Pang Tianshou: "Another thing is that Shaanxi is vast, adjacent to the Mongolian tribes, and the border is longer than that of other border provinces.

And Shaanxi has Yansui Town, Ningxia Town, Guyuan Town, Gansu Town, and Shaanxi occupies four sides on the nine sides of the Ming Dynasty. It is the ratio of the number of border troops in Shaanxi to the ordinary people, second only to Liaodong Town.

Shaanxi has always been the first line of defense against the grassland peoples entering the hinterland of the Central Plains, so the military and civilians of Shaanxi are brave and endure hardships. In my opinion, Shaanxi is one of the few provinces in our Ming Dynasty that is suitable for conscription.

However, the land in Shaanxi is barren, and the people have little savings, and once they encounter natural disasters, they often become **. If people can't survive, they will naturally rise up. Shaanxi is the source of instability in my Ming Dynasty. ”

Pang Tianshou listened carefully to Chongzhen's explanation, he knew that the emperor spoke so carefully, obviously what he was ordered to do next was the point.

Zhu Youzhen paused for a moment before continuing: "If you want to stabilize the northwest, you must first let Shaanxi settle down. If you want Shaanxi to be stable, you must ensure that the Shaanxi border army does not change.

The Ming army has always focused on the nine sides, and among the nine sides, the Shaanxi and Liaodong soldiers are the top. If there is a rebellion in the mainland, I can transfer the border troops on the nine sides to quell it. However, if the border army in Shaanxi rebelled, it would not be possible to defeat the rebels without calling in the Liaodong soldiers.

However, the Liaodong Army was already unable to deal with Jiannu, and if it was transferred to the interior to quell the rebellion, the forces of Liaodong Town would be dispersed, which would inevitably give Jiannu an opportunity to take advantage of. This is also not a good thing for Daming.

What's more, if the Shaanxi rebellion cannot be quelled for a long time, and Jiannu echoes it in the northeast, then our Ming national strength will be exhausted in the northwest and northeast, and the rebels and Jiannu will be unstoppable.

I want you to go out of Shaanxi, and another task is to stabilize the military morale of the four towns. How to stabilize the morale of the army is nothing more than adequate food and adequate salary. The border army is in arrears of food and wages, and this has become a chronic disease.

The eunuchs of Shaanxi have the power to charge the collection of regional commercial and mining taxes, and I allow you to use this money and grain to cover the arrears of food and wages in the army. I don't ask you to clear up the arrears of the four towns as soon as you leave Shaanxi, but at least we must ensure that there is no arrears of food and wages within this year. ”

Pang Tianshou gritted his teeth and said to the emperor: "The minister must do his best to stabilize the morale of the four towns for Your Majesty, and prepare the food and salary of the four towns." ”

Zhu Youzhen stared at him for a while before continuing: "I know that it is really difficult for Shaanxi Province alone to feed the four border towns.

Therefore, in order to raise enough food, one is to develop border trade, the second is to open mines, the third is to build roads, and the fourth is to build water conservancy.

I won't go into detail about the first two, the Four Seas Commercial Bank will send a steward to accompany you to Shaanxi, and he will naturally tell you how to implement the first and second articles.

Finally, the construction of water conservancy still requires the cooperation of local officials and gentry in Shaanxi, and the imperial court can only be responsible for planning and organizing. I give you the right to impeach any local official who does not cooperate with the construction of water conservancy, and I am your backing.

Third, the construction of roads cannot be completed locally alone, but if the roads are not smooth, then border trade through Shaanxi is an empty word.

Therefore, after you arrive in Shaanxi, you will start to collect information about the geographical environment and the original trade routes in Shaanxi, and I will raise money and food to repair the roads in Shaanxi. The first is the passage between Luoyang, Henan Province and Xi'an, Shaanxi Province. ”

Pang Tianshou was greatly excited, compared to the current eunuch who has no power and has no power, the power of this Shaanxi eunuch is really much greater. He swore to Chongzhen again and again that he was willing to break his bones to do these errands for the emperor.

Regarding Pang Tianshou's excited expression of swearing allegiance, Zhu Youzhen was not moved, and he did not fully believe it.

However, he did not show any suspicion on the surface, but comforted Pang Tianshou a few words, which can be regarded as a recognition of his loyalty.

Zhu Youzhen then said: "If you want to stabilize the morale of the army in the four towns of Shaanxi, it is not enough to pay food and salary on time. Paying food and wages on time is only the responsibility of the imperial court, not a gift.

In the past few months, when I was rectifying the affairs of the Beijing camp, I found that many officers and men in the army had the habit of borrowing debts. Some people are addicted to gambling and prostitution, while others are sick or other reasons.

And the objects of these sergeants' debts are either generals in the army or powerful people in the market, and the debts they borrow are all usurious loans.

Whether it is gambling in the army or usury in the army, it is obviously a factor that disturbs the morale of the army and makes the soldiers centrifuge. Moreover, the armed forces have economic contacts with local tyrants, and they either collude with each other to oppress the people, or they are full of contradictions and local restlessness.

Therefore, after you leave Shaanxi this time, you will not take care of military affairs or anything, and first sort out the loan situation of the sergeants in this army. ”

Pang Tianshou asked a little uncertainly, "Dare to ask Your Majesty, where should you start to clarify the loan?" Does Your Majesty want to pay back these sergeants? ”

Zhu Youzhen thought for a while and said: "I will ask the governor to send you a few people to set up a debt settlement committee for soldiers in the four towns of Shaanxi, and after registering the debts owed by all the sergeants, the debts will be classified.

All loan sharks who have paid interest more than twice the principal amount are pardoned. It is forbidden to continue to recover from the debtor, and penalties will be imposed on violators.

For debts with a loan amount of less than 10 taels, the interest shall be reassessed and settled at an annual interest rate not exceeding 12%. After deducting the interest already paid, the remainder is paid by the Debt Liquidation Committee.

This part of the payment shall be deducted in instalments from the sergeant's salary, but no interest shall be charged.

For debts of more than 10 taels, after the arrears are reassessed, they will be converted into 30-year public bonds with an annual interest rate of 25%, and the interest will be paid annually and the principal will be repaid after 30 years.

For this part of the sergeants with a huge amount of debts, they will check their family status, investigate the reasons for the debts, and then report them to the palace for debt relief.

All in all, I give you a year or a year and a half to transfer all the debts of the sergeants to the Military Debt Liquidation Committee, and then convert all these debts into 30 years of public debt. ”

Pang Tianshou blinked, and his mind was a little unavoidable. Turning usury into a 30-year public debt, with only 25 percent interest a year, can certainly alleviate the embarrassment of military households in border towns, but what can those money-lending officers and local tycoons do?

He subconsciously asked, "Your Majesty, what if those creditors are not willing to turn their debts into public debts?" Or what if they refuse to borrow from the sergeants in the future? ”

Zhu Youzhen said casually: "I will soon declare that usury is illegal. If these people insist on usury, then they will be punished.

If a moneylender holds a military position, he shall be removed from his military position. It was born from the local gentry, and those who had official positions were removed from official positions, and those who had the status of students were removed from their status.

As long as you can rein in the military hearts of the four towns, some officers and local gentry, can't you still worry about suppressing it? When you investigate the debts of the sergeants, register all the officers in the army who lend money. The transfer of the transfer, the retirement of the retirement.

As for the non-commissioned officers who need to borrow money when they encounter difficulties, originally this year all towns will carry out logistical reforms, and in the future, the logistics department will be responsible for the distribution of non-commissioned officers' salaries. If the sergeant's family encounters difficulties, an advance will be given according to the actual situation. I think it can always be solved, and if you encounter any more problems, you can report to me in detail. ”

When Pang Tianshou was summoned to the Qianqing Palace, he still felt a little uneasy in his heart, but when he left, he already had a beaming look on his face.

After Pang Tianshou left, Zhu Youzhen instructed Wang Chengen, "Let the Social Investigation Institute also arrange a few people to go to Shaanxi, especially for the information of the four towns to be reported in a timely manner." ”

Wang Chengen was quite surprised in his heart, he originally thought that the emperor gave Pang Tianshou such an important task out of trust, but now it seems that this is not the case.

Although his heart fluctuated a little, he accepted the emperor's order without change on his face.

Zhu Youzhen seemed to have a matter on his mind, but soon he remembered something, and asked Lu Qi: "How is the budget for the railway between Xishan Mentougou and the capital calculated?" ”

Lu Qi immediately took out a booklet from his arms, turned a few pages and stopped and said: "Back to Your Majesty, from Mentougou through Shijingshan and then directly to Fucheng Gate, the terrain is the flattest, and the cost of repairing the terrain is also the lowest.

If the railway is built according to this road, it is necessary to build another stone bridge 12 zhang long and 2 zhang wide, which will cost about 10,000 taels of silver, that is, about 14,000 yuan.

From Mentougou to Fucheng Gate, there are about 65 miles. It is necessary to set up five rest stations in Mentougou, Fucheng Gate, Shijingshan, Yangzhuang and Tiancun, totaling 8,000 yuan.

Every 100 meters of railway, that is, two rails, weighs about 4,000 catties, and each catty of cast iron is worth 5 cents per cent..."

"Stop, isn't this pig iron 6 centimeters a catty? How did it become a penny? Zhu Youzhen suddenly said with some displeasure.

"Your Majesty, pig iron cannot be directly used to make rails, it needs to be refined to the extent of building iron before it can be cast into rails that can be used and will not break..."Lu Qi quickly explained.

Zhu You listened for a long time before he understood. The pig iron of the Ming Dynasty was not the kind of cast iron he remembered, but a kind of sponge iron smelted under the condition of insufficient temperature, this kind of iron has too many impurities, and it needs to be refined again before it can be regarded as castable pig iron. The so-called Jiantie and cooked Jiantie are the pig iron in his memory.

As a result, the price of a ton of pig iron is around 30 taels of silver, and the price of pig iron alone has reached 60 taels per 100 meters of railway. Coupled with one-half of the smelting and processing costs, auxiliary materials, and transportation labor, the railway is worth 90 taels per 100 meters.

Then the material cost price of a mile railway is 450 taels, converted into paper money is 630 yuan, plus the labor cost of laying, as well as the cost of leveling the site, the cost of a mile railway is about 1,200 yuan, and the railway from Mentougou to Fuchengmen costs about 80,000 yuan.