The Soul of the Han Dynasty in the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 864
The nobles are all rich and powerful, and the capital invested in "Hanjiang Province" has exceeded 500 million taels. Of course, it is impossible to imagine how difficult 200 million taels is for the Ming court with a population of hundreds of millions.

This was also the eve of the fall of the Ming Dynasty. Chongzhen asked civil and military officials and nobles to pay them, but only received less than 20 taels of silver.

The reason why Li Zicheng's bandit group looted the capital and extorted 7000 million taels of floating wealth.

With the discipline of rogues, it is certainly impossible to "return everything to the public", and the gold and silver treasures in private possession must not be counted.

In feudal dynasties, precious metals have always been used as currency. Due to the surplus in foreign trade and the mining of mineral deposits in Ming Dynasty, the total amount of gold and silver is increasing every year, and will not decrease due to wars.

It's just that in troubled times, the depreciation of gold and silver is too scary, making food ridiculously expensive, which is several times or even dozens of times that of peacetime.

Real estate, land, furniture, antiques, calligraphy and paintings, etc. are so cheap that no one cares about them.

In a vast country, with a capital of hundreds of millions of people, the capital city with a population of one million is a place where high-ranking officials and nobles gather.

The Ming Dynasty was full of wars, and nowhere was safe. The Ming Dynasty was established for more than [-] years. Although the capital was surrounded by enemies many times, it had never been breached by anyone.

Of course, it is impossible for a high-ranking official to think that the final result is that the city will be taken by mere bandits, and of course it will not be done to transfer property outside the capital.

On the contrary, too many high-ranking officials and dignitaries should have brought their savings into the capital to escape the flames of war.

Therefore, there are not many wealthy families in the capital city. This city has precious metals worth hundreds of millions of taels of silver, and its credibility is very high.

Don't be alarmed and look at the data, the 7000 million taels of precious metals that were looted by the thieves actually have to be greatly discounted.

Because the purchasing power of 7000 million taels of silver at that time was probably not as good as the 300 million taels of silver at the time of Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang.

Li Daiwen, the current Minister of the Household Department, was troubled by money and food, and had trouble sleeping and eating. His family knew about his family affairs and sold him as the Minister of the Household Department.

He went out immediately and said:

"Your Majesty, Sichuan, Henan, Zhongdu, Shanxi, and Shaanxi have hardly handed in the autumn Fu this year. The courtiers' salaries have been delayed for half a year. Seeing that the end of the year is approaching, the ministers have not even collected the silver for three months' salaries. There is money to use in Shaanxi."

The cabinet minister Cheng Guoxiang was the former Minister of the Household Department and was familiar with the situation of the Household Department. At this time, he said truthfully:

"Your Majesty, the imperial court's finances are exhausted, and the Ministry of Household Affairs has become unsustainable. It can't even squeeze out 20 taels of silver. How can it be possible to get a huge sum of 200 million."

Emperor Chongzhen, who had been in arrears with officials' salaries and soldiers' salaries for a long time: "Well..." He was really speechless and could only speak empty words.

Seeing that after introducing the topic of money and food, the emperor and the princes of Gungun seemed weak, Zhang Fengyi took the opportunity to say: "Your Majesty, this old minister has a good suggestion that can increase Ming's income."

increase income?The clinkingly poor Chongzhen was very interested.Quickly asked: "What suggestion does Ai Qing have?"

Zhang Fengyi calmly said: "The Qiongzhou Prefecture is remote and there are often indigenous rebellions, and the taxes I get there, Ming Dynasty, are not enough to raise troops to put down the rebellion.

Now the "King of the Hanjiang River" needs the territory of Qiongzhou Prefecture to plant rubber trees. The "Red Banner Army" can deploy two battalions of troops to garrison Qiongzhou Prefecture for military control, and can also pay the imperial court 5 taels of tax silver every year. "

Chongzhen was a little confused when he heard that, and asked: "Plant rubber trees? What are rubber trees? Why do you have to choose to plant them in Qiongzhou Prefecture?

Liaoxi, Shanxi, and "Hanjiang Province" have a lot of fields. Why does the "Hanjiang County King" look far away. "

Zhang Fengyi said: "Your Majesty should have seen bicycles, bicycle tires are not durable nowadays, but rubber trees can produce rubber, using rubber can produce rubber tires that are resistant to water and sunlight.

With rubber tires, the cost of using bicycles will drop by at least [-]% every year, and it will be lighter and faster when riding. "

Daming is full of leaks. It’s no secret that Chongzhen devoted himself to researching bicycles for several days in a row. The courtiers were all curious about this new thing, bicycles, and asked about it one after another.

Within a few days, the civil and military generals of the capital saw guards patrolling on bicycles in the city that never sleeps. There were too many people watching, and many officials tried to ride a few times.

They had already praised the current bicycles, but today they were amazed to learn that the bicycles could be made lighter and more durable.

Chongzhen already knew something about bicycles, and he was very interested in Zhang Fengyi's conversation at this time, saying:

"There is such a magical tree in the world? It's unbelievable! Why did the 'King of the Han River' choose to plant it in Qiongzhou Prefecture?"

"Your Majesty does not know that the rubber tree likes heat and can only survive in the south, and Hainan Island is the first choice for my Ming Dynasty to grow."

It turns out that Chongzhen and the civil and military generals of the Manchu Dynasty all understood.

It turns out that when the "King of the Han River" also turned to the court for help, the first assistant Liu Yuliang of course wanted to ask for more benefits for the court. He said:
"Your Majesty, the veteran thinks that the 'King of the Hanjiang River' planting rubber trees in Qiongzhou Prefecture is beneficial to the country and the people, and should be allowed to act.

The role of the rubber tree is so great, the 'Red Banner Army' will definitely get huge benefits after it is successfully planted in a large area, and the taxes paid to the court should also increase.

It is too little to only give 5 taels of silver every year!The veteran thought that at least 10 taels of tax should be handed over to the court a year. "

Zhang Fengyi hurriedly said: "It takes seven or eight years for a rubber tree to grow to produce rubber, which means that for seven or eight years, there is no return.

The investment is so big, it is expected to raise several million taels of silver, the 'King of the Hanjiang River' is so worried about this, all the generals under his command took out their savings, and even the official saved his own silver for the elderly. Take it out.

All the money invested in the rubber plantation came from the savings of the "Red Banner Army" civilians, generals, and ordinary soldiers. "

The ministers sighed for a while, and Chongzhen couldn't help but widen his eyes. He wondered: "'Hanjiang County King' needs money to invest in rubber plantations, and then you, including the grassroots soldiers, generously donated tens of millions of taels of silver?"

Zhang Fengyi said honestly: "That's exactly the case. The first batch of investment funds of 300 million silver coins has been raised in place, and the source is all private money."

Lost, extremely lost, Chongzhen repeatedly called on the officials to help the border, and for this reason, the civil servants and military generals who gave money were added to the ranks.

However, there were very few responders, and all the courtiers were crying for poverty. It would be considered good if they could get a dozen or two million taels of silver in the end.

The "King of the Hanjiang County" made a call, and he didn't make an official appointment at all to make a wish. He just got 300 million taels of snowflake silver. Isn't this a slap in the face?
(End of this chapter)