On the night of October 28, the 19th year of Chongzhen, in Chenghua Palace in the Forbidden City.

After severely punishing Concubine Chen, Chongzhen walked to the door and picked up a cigarette.

He lit it with a candle, took a light sip, and then threw it on the ground with a look of disgust.

The smell of this thing is too strong and he can't get used to it at all.

Wang Chengen hurriedly picked up the cigarette, carefully extinguished it and put it in his pocket.

Don’t underestimate this cigarette. Many people want to buy it but can’t.

In particular, cheap cigarettes without filters were highly sought after by the people of Beijing as soon as they came out.

Under this trend, from kings and nobles to ordinary people, everyone has an increasing interest in and demand for cigarettes.

Rich people smoke this to follow the trend and fit in, while ordinary people smoke to relieve fatigue.

Although the purposes are different, they both boosted cigarette sales.

"Your Majesty, are we going to Concubine Lu's place tonight?" Wang Chengen asked in a low voice.

"Let's do it another day. I suddenly remembered something and will go to Kunning Palace later."

"I'll send someone to deliver the letter right away." Wang Chengen stood up and walked to the door of the palace, whispering a few words to a eunuch.

As soon as the eunuch left, another eunuch raised his right hand and ran, shouting, "Your Majesty, announce the news from Datang, a great victory on the grassland!"

Chongzhen excitedly ordered Wang Chengen: "Quick, bring it here and read it to me."

Wang Chengen reached out to take the newspaper, opened it and read it quickly.

After listening to the contents of the Tangbao, Chongzhen breathed a sigh of relief.

This victory has two more important strategic significances.

The first is to tell the Mongols that the Ming army not only has cavalry, but also a large number of elite cavalry!

If you fight, then fight!

If you don't want to fight, you can send envoys to pay tribute and submit to the Ming Dynasty as soon as possible.

The second strategic significance is to increase the confidence of the military and civilians internally, to flex muscles externally, and to deter the Jiannu from acting rashly.

Develop quickly after the shock!

Now the Ming Dynasty urgently needs a stable environment for development.

Natural disasters and wars have led to a series of problems such as population loss, public security chaos, destruction of houses, roads, bridges and farmland, and production interruption.

These problems cannot be solved overnight.

In that era of low productivity, it would take at least three or four years, or even more than ten years, to completely solve these problems.

As for when we can recover to the pre-war level, it depends on whether God wills it.

The next morning, Chongzhen got up and exercised, rubbing his sore waist.

After doing a set of radio gymnastics, Chongzhen washed up and went to court.

In the court, all the ministers first congratulated the great victory, and then the Ministry of War began to reward the meritorious officials.

However, before rewarding the meritorious service, Wang Jiayan raised another question: "Your Majesty, Qin Liangyu, the governor of Sichuan, Huguang, Yunnan and Guizhou, sent another official document, saying that the rebels were dead, Guanzhong was settled, and the surrendered generals had no intention of rebelling again. The Sichuan army has been fighting outside for many years and is homesick. Qin Liangyu himself is too old to fight, so he requested to retire and return home, and asked Your Majesty to allow the Sichuan army to return to Sichuan."

"Qin Liangyu..." Chongzhen's eyes became moist as he silently recited this name.

This 70-year-old woman has done a lot for the Ming Dynasty.

He fought against Yang Yinglong in the Battle of Bozhou, the Jiannu in Liaodong, went to Beijing to rescue the emperor, participated in the She'an Rebellion, and fought fierce battles with bandits in Henan, Huguang, Sichuan, Guanzhong and other places.

Now she wants to retire and return home, how can I not agree?

Chongzhen stared at Wang Jiayan and asked, "What does the Ministry of War mean?"

Wang Jiayan went over the words he had prepared in advance and said, "The Ministry of War means that Qin Liangyu can retire and return home, and the Sichuan Army can also return to Sichuan to reunite with their families, but not all together, but in batches."

"The Sichuan Army had more than 105,000 troops in Guanzhong. The first batch of 55,000 troops were withdrawn, leaving 50,000 behind."

"Before the Mid-Autumn Festival next year, we will withdraw the second batch of 20,000 people, leaving 30,000 behind."

"Another 20,000 people will be withdrawn before the end of next year, leaving 10,000 behind."

"The last batch of 10,000 people will be withdrawn before the end of next year."

Chongzhen first nodded and then shook his head.

The Ministry of War's method seemed to be able to both stabilize the situation in Guanzhong and take care of the soldiers' emotions.

But this was not the result he wanted.

"Minister Wang," Chongzhen said.

"I'm here!" Wang Jiayan bowed.

"You can't make the decision on this matter alone. Go and discuss it with the Ministry of Revenue." After saying this, Chongzhen sat on the dragon throne and closed his eyes to rest.

Wang Jiayan was stunned.

He didn't understand why this matter had to be discussed with the Ministry of Revenue?

Although the withdrawal of troops required the Ministry of Revenue to coordinate the marching money and food, it was just a routine matter and did not require discussion, let alone discussion in the court.

The Minister of Revenue Fang Yuegong smiled and bowed to Wang Jiayan: "Minister Wang, your majesty is talking about the relocation of the people (immigrants)."

"Ah?" Wang Jiayan opened his mouth subconsciously.

Fang Yuegong went on to say: "The situation in many places now is similar to that in the early years of Hongwu, especially in Guanzhong and Henan, which have been through wars for a long time and are deserted. If no one cultivates the land, it will be abandoned, and it will be impossible to collect rent and taxes. Therefore, the top priority is to relocate the people to these places and let them farm and have children."

"The larger the population, the more land there is to cultivate, and the more taxes the court has to collect."

"Then...what does it have to do with the Ministry of War?" Wang Jiayan didn't react for a short time and asked again.

Fang Yuegong smiled again and said, "Your Majesty means to find a way to keep some of the Sichuan troops in Guanzhong. With them, we can prevent the bandits from rebelling again, and fill the local population so that farming can be resumed as soon as possible."

Wang Jiayan suddenly realized: "So that's how it is. Shame on me, shame on me!"

Next, the court began to discuss this issue.

In fact, there is nothing much to discuss. It is nothing more than retaining people in the form of military settlements.

There are three forms of military settlements:

One is guarding the fields.

The troops were engaged in both farming and guarding, taking into account both farming and fighting.

The second is to station troops.

A number of people were selected from the army to engage in farming and cultivation.

The third is the military household system of the Ming Dynasty.

Each household sent one person to join the army, and his family could cultivate military land. Farmers did not have to pay land rent and taxes, but they had to pay the lijia regular service and other miscellaneous taxes (some taxes were theoretically exempt, but in practice they did not follow the theory, so the miscellaneous taxes borne by military households in the middle and late Ming Dynasty were particularly high, which led to military households escaping from the military register.)