New Han Dynasty 1834

Chapter 116 Spoils of War

After the two armies of the Great Han American Military Command in Mexico completely took control of the Guanajuato mining area, Li Anbang and Wu Kang, along with generals such as Zhang Zongyu, visited the city's mint.

Standing in front of a warehouse storing newly minted silver, Zhang Zongyu looked at the mountain of crates piled up before him. Knowing they were all filled with Mexican "Eagle Dollars," he couldn't contain his excitement and exclaimed, "This Mexican silver is fucking amazing! We've captured several mints and warehouses along the way, and the silver coins we've seized must amount to several million, right?"

Upon hearing this, Li Anbang casually asked the adjutant beside him, "So far, how much silver and money have been seized in total? Has the amount been accurately calculated?"

The soldier solemnly reported the data he knew: "Due to the large number of silver coins captured, there is currently no accurate data on manual counting."

"Only approximate data estimated by weighing is available."

"The total number of silver coins seized from various mints and treasuries should already exceed six million."

"In the warehouses of the mint and silver mine, there are still a large number of smelted silver ingots waiting to be used, which amount to more than five million ingots."

"However, the silver seized from silver mines and mints is not the largest part of the silver seized so far; most of the silver comes from the cities."

"After the army conquered various cities, the total amount of silver coins seized from the treasuries and the homes of fleeing bandits was estimated to exceed 33 million."

"Mexican silver coins are slightly smaller than our Han Dynasty silver coins. After adding up all the silver coins and silver ingots and converting them, the total amount of silver seized exceeds forty million strings of cash."

"This is already several times more than the total amount of customs duties received by the imperial court in a year —"

Zhang Zongyu was even more surprised when he heard these reports: "This Mexico is really damn rich, really forty million strings of cash."

"The total number of Imperial Guards participating in this battle is only 20,000. If we calculate based on the previous ratio—"

"Even ordinary soldiers should be able to get several hundred strings of cash, right?"

When the Han army participated in wars, the spoils of war captured on the battlefield were usually distributed among the emperor's private treasury, the participating troops, and the support personnel.

First, 30% was handed over to the emperor's private treasury, mainly for rewarding those who had rendered meritorious service in non-war-related matters.

Then four-tenths were distributed to the generals and soldiers who directly participated in the battle.

Finally, three-tenths were allocated to naval officers and soldiers, maintenance technicians, and military militia who directly supported the war effort.

Besides the portion directly handed over to the emperor's private treasury, the portion belonging to the participating troops and support personnel was further divided into two main parts before being allocated to individuals.

Part of the distribution was based on merit, and the other part was divided equally among everyone.

Ensure that those who make contributions receive a larger share, but all participants will receive a reward.

The Han Dynasty is still a rather purely classical military empire, rather than a modern European-style nation.

The emperor granted land to all militia members, who then served the emperor, effectively making it a conscription system.

Therefore, the army does not pay soldiers separately in peacetime, but soldiers do not need to buy their own food.

All soldiers on duty were provided with rations by their respective militia garrisons.

After participating in the war, rewards were distributed based on actual gains.

Naval fleets and state-owned vessels are also considered to be "in service" when they go out on patrol, training or transport missions every year.

All the shipbuilding and repair craftsmen, all the timber harvesting and processing craftsmen, and all the craftsmen in the supporting factories were also in a state of "service".

The garrison where they were stationed would provide rations. Craftsmen who directly supported the war could wait to share the spoils of war, while craftsmen who did not directly support the war would receive subsidies from the imperial court on a regular basis.

In theory, no one has the concept of "wages" or "military pay".

In theory, everything the imperial court needed was produced by the guard posts and institutions under its administration.

In this system, commercial activities account for a very small proportion; only a very small number of specialty products may need to be purchased from the market.

For items with slightly higher demand, the imperial court would arrange for the garrisons to produce them.

Apart from commercial taxes, including customs duties, which were mainly collected in cash, most of the local taxes were still collected in kind.

The vast majority of the imperial court's expenditures were recorded directly in terms of the value of the goods rather than in silver.

There is no concept of debt in this system for the time being. Even if you don't get much spoils from a war, you will only get less reward money.

Once arable land is harvested, it can be distributed to the soldiers as spoils of war.

Therefore, it will not collapse like the modern militaristic states with high interest rates, where the war's harvest cannot cover the interest payments.

Li Anbang listened to Zhang Zongyu's remarks and smiled happily, saying, "It should be true. According to the Mexican court's accounts, the silver they produce each year is worth tens of millions of strings of cash."

"And their court's annual tax revenue is over 20 million strings of cash."

"So it's normal that we searched the country thoroughly and seized tens of millions of silver coins."

Zhang Zongyu shook his head repeatedly, filled with joy and amazement: "Mexico is truly a wonderful place! Why didn't I think of coming here before?!"

At this point, Wu Kang put forward some ideas: "Although other silver coins were seized in large quantities, they were basically one-off deals. This silver mine is the most important."

"After Mexico belongs to the Han Dynasty, it will bring in tens of millions of strings of cash every year."

The soldier standing nearby couldn't help but remind him, "General Wu is right. Silver mines are indeed a long-term industry, but the judgment is also wrong."

"Although silver mines can produce tens of millions of strings of silver coins every year, when calculating the revenue, all expenses incurred in the mining, smelting, and casting processes must be deducted."

Wu Kang, however, clearly had his own ideas: "The accounting should indeed be done this way, but we also need to know that this is all new silver from the mine, not silver circulating in the market."

"This place produces ten million strings of silver every year, all of which are put into use by the people of our Han Dynasty."

"The total amount of silver in the private sector will increase, and the imperial court should be able to collect more silver more easily in the future."

Wu Kang meant that the silver produced by the Mexican silver mine was equivalent to newly printed money.

The combination of a silver mine and a mint is equivalent to a modern money printing plant; continuous operation means continuous money printing.

Other regular tax revenues are all old money, a portion of the money already in circulation.

However, Wu Kang had not yet thought about the inflation problem caused by the continuous printing of money.

Because sustained, stable, and small-scale inflation is inherently beneficial and can stimulate the activity of the commodity economy.

The military advisor opposite thought for a moment and then nodded: "General Wu is right. The new money and the old money are indeed different and cannot be generalized."

"In the past, the imperial court and private merchants would bring Han Dynasty products such as silk, porcelain, and tea to exchange for silver with white mine owners in Mexico."

"From now on, this silver mine will belong to the imperial court. The imperial court only needs to pay the miners a reward to directly obtain the same amount of silver to mint coins as before."

"This adds up to a significant amount of extra revenue —"

Hearing the suggestion to join the army, Wu Kang nodded in agreement. Then, he said to Li Anbang with some urgency, "Mexico is a great place, it's really full of silver mines, but we don't have enough manpower."

"Controlling the current land and population is already becoming increasingly difficult."

"I think we should send more people over as soon as possible."

"I think we should transfer 20,000 militiamen from the Gulf of America and the Gulf of California."

"The main task is to manage the silver mine and restore production as soon as possible."

"We should ask the court again to arrange for more immigrants to come over as soon as possible and settle this land!"

"Those Western barbarians from Britain, France, and the United States will most likely not give up easily, so we need to be prepared to deal with them."

"There shouldn't be any problem with food; the indigenous people have already killed or driven away hundreds of thousands of white people."

"Even if we send hundreds of thousands of people here, we won't lack food."

Li Anbang nodded slightly, quite seriously: "Old Wu is right. What we need most right now is manpower."

"For the next period of time, we will stay here."

"Reorganize the existing army and let the soldiers get a good rest."

"Let's all discuss what we should do next."

"Then write a report and send it back."

"The main fighting in Mexico has basically ended, and it is indeed time to write a special report."

Upon hearing Li Anbang's instructions, Wu Kang and the others bowed and accepted the order, saying, "Your subordinates obey."

Li Anbang, accompanied by his generals and military advisors, chatted as they toured the Guanajuato Mint.

They then went to the former governor's residence in Guanajuato to begin discussing and drafting a report for the emperor.

The Han Dynasty's mainland and the Americas were worlds apart, and a round trip would take half a year.

Therefore, summaries and reports must be detailed and accurate, and should be written as close to the critical time points as possible.

For example, now that the army has basically taken over the core areas of Mexico, it's a good time to report back and claim credit.

The specific content is usually discussed by military commanders and enlisted soldiers together on how to write it.

The draft was written by the soldiers, then reviewed by the generals, who made revisions and additions before finalizing and sending it out.

It will definitely take many days to complete a report.

Li Anbang and his men set up camp in Guanajuato, where they reorganized the army and discussed writing reports.

Three days later, three messengers rode to Guanajuato and, led by a guard, went to the room where Li Anbang lived in the former governor's mansion. They reported good news: "Reporting to the general, General Guan Tianpei, the Earl of Shanyang, has led the three major fleets of the East Sea, South Sea, and West Sea, as well as the transport fleet, totaling more than 300 ships, to Jiaozhou Bay."

"They sent a total of 50,000 pairs of second-generation militia members this time."

"Upon learning from Jiaozhou Bay that the general had led his troops to conquer Mexico, he sent someone to inquire about how to settle this new batch of militiamen and whether to send some of them to Mexico."

Upon hearing the word "50,000 militia households," Li Anbang immediately stood up: "What did you say! All three fleets are here! A total of 50,000 militia households! How could this be?!"

The communications officer relayed the navy's explanation: "It seems that the imperial court has made a comprehensive adjustment to the traditional sailing route planning this year."

"In the future, all the sailing warships of the major fleets, as well as all the sailing transport ships, will be used together."

"Every spring and summer we come to America together, and in autumn and winter we go down to Southeast Asia together."

"Although the fleet has grown larger, it only comes once a year now."

"We probably won't build any more traditional sailing ships in the future; all new ships will be steamships."

"Steamships do not require special attention to the season and wind direction, so they are used separately."

After confirming the news, Li Anbang was very happy: "This is really great. Now that Mexico has achieved many victories, we are just short of people to control it."

"Now that 50,000 militia members have arrived at once, it has really solved our urgent problem."

Overjoyed, Li Anbang immediately wrote a response: "Immediately arrange for someone to go back and report to General Guan, so that he can send all 50,000 immigrant households to Mexico."

"Someone, go and summon Wu Kang, Zhang Zongyu, and all the officers of the American military headquarters immediately."

"The subsequent battle plan and the report to the imperial court need to be discussed again."

1

In fact, the 50,000 immigrants this year can be considered a steady increase.

According to the past practice of the Han Dynasty, when organizing immigrants to develop a new place, if a good harvest can be achieved quickly in the early stages, then if there is sufficient transportation capacity, the number of immigrants sent can be doubled every two years.

The land reclaimed in two years and the new grain produced and accumulated in two years are just enough to support another doubling of the new immigrants.

For example, over three or four years, Hanchang sent an average of 50,000 people over the years.

This year, we should have sent 50,000 couples, which is 100,000 people.

This is roughly the maximum transport capacity of all traditional sailing ships currently under the control of the Han Dynasty.

From now on, we'll have to rely on steam-powered sailboats.