Peasant Woman's Decreed Life as a Wife

Chapter 2053: Chapter 2050: Salary

“Hmm, I want to give you a surprise.” Chu Heng ultimately did not say directly.

Ye Muyu asked for a while, but seeing him remain tight-lipped, she didn’t insist, “Then I should first arrange for someone to keep an eye on things. Buy more stores if possible; we might need to venture into other businesses in the future.”

The main reason was that she wasn’t sure what Chu Heng’s surprise was, so naturally, she had to prepare both hands.

Seeing Chu Heng raise an eyebrow without saying anything.

Ye Muyu hurriedly bent down and kissed him on the chin, coaxing softly, “Hey, it’s not that I don’t trust you, it’s just that I thought I should take the opportunity, in case there’s another good store to buy?”

With her gentle coaxing, any irritation in Chu Heng vanished.

Ye Muyu continued to find people to buy properties while doing calculations.

The few small shops she bought before, along with the bathhouse, plus renovation, and building the second floor, cost over two thousand taels.

If not for the monthly combined income of roughly five to six thousand taels from the rouge shop, clothing store, bookstore, grain shop, and restaurant, she wouldn’t dare to keep buying properties like this.

At this point, having capital makes doing business much more convenient.

At least she needed money if she wanted to buy a store.

After calculating that they had surplus savings, Ye Muyu boldly instructed others to buy shops.

Early in the morning.

Chu Heng entered the palace.

There was no court assembly today; he entered the palace directly for an audience with the Emperor.

With the prior explanation, Emperor Xuanming no longer refused to see him, and Chu Heng soon met the Emperor in the Imperial Study.

He first handed over the recently collected data.

It was all personally written, with a thick pile.

Emperor Xuanming’s reading speed wasn’t particularly fast. He raised his hand to instruct He Dequan to bring Chu Heng a chair and serve fine tea.

Chu Heng expressed gratitude and then sat down, quietly waiting.

It was two quarters of an hour later that Emperor Xuanming finished reading the contents.

His brow furrowed, not looking very pleased.

Yet Chu Heng understood the reason.

“Emperor, all the information was personally inquired from each soldier, with at least eighty percent reliability,” Chu Heng stood up to report.

Emperor Xuanming knew Chu Heng was meticulous and the data highly credible, which made him feel uneasy.

He tapped the contents with his finger: “In the capital’s camp, a regular soldier receives a monthly salary of eight hundred wen, with eighty pounds of grain?”

“Indeed, besides that, the annual provisions for armor, shoes, etc., in the camp are limited.”

Emperor Xuanming’s face turned grim upon seeing the eight hundred wen, “This salary is too little; if it’s like this in the capital, what about the troops stationed in the Northern Region and other places?”

“According to what I know, soldiers at the border receive a monthly salary of roughly two hundred to four hundred wen, with around fifty pounds of grain per month.”

This is less than the capital’s garrison, and seems somewhat reasonable.

“Although frontier army troops receive some military merit rewards, first-class silver rewards are five taels, second-class silver rewards are three taels, and first-class silver rewards are one tael.”

“But only a few soldiers receive the rewards; most of the frontier army actually sacrifice, which brings us to condolence payments.”

“Generally speaking, when the military camp is abundant, a soldier’s condolence payment is twenty taels.”

“However, most of the time, the military’s wages are lacking, with no silver for condolence payments. This means most soldiers, once they are sacrificed, are just sacrificed. This is also why the common people are unwilling to let their children join the army.”

Essentially, joining the army is like sending someone to their death, and even if they’re not sent to their death, a soldier’s salary is still too little. It should be noted that one acre of land requires over six taels, and building a house is more expensive, requiring at least twenty taels.