If I fail to overcome the tribulation, I can only return to the Ming Dynasty and become a prince.

Chapter 341 Financial Expenditure
Regulating the Yellow River is a major event, and Zhu Zhanquan proposed the major project of reopening the Sui Canal, which makes this matter even more important and huge.

Things that could only be handled by the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of Works in the past had to be reported to the emperor and discussed by various ministries.

In order to better discuss this matter, Zhu Zhanjuan also participated in the imperial meeting with Zhu Gaochi through Shui Jing.

"Do you know the plan proposed by King Zheng? Tell me, what do you think?" Zhu Di put down the book in his hand and turned to look at the six ministers waiting aside. Seeing that no one took the initiative to speak, he took the initiative to name them: " Xia Yuanji, your household department should speak first!"

Anything that requires money cannot go around the account department, so Xia Yuanji was already prepared for this, so he said: "Back to the emperor, if we just invest a sum of money every year to repair rivers and let each locality control local floods, this expense will It's not big, and the household department is also very good at doing this.

Even according to what His Royal Highness King Zheng said, dividing a large project into several years and completing a little bit in one year is acceptable to the Ministry of Household Affairs.

But reopening the Sui Canal... This cost is too great. I have calculated that if we use the imperial court's annual income and expenditure last year, if we want to complete such a large project, the imperial court will have to invest at least ten years of taxation to be able to complete it. project. "

Ten years is undoubtedly a long number. For Zhu Di, such a long time is something he is not willing to wait for.

Moreover, it is difficult for the imperial court to persist in investing a huge amount of money into a project for ten years.

There are so many issues involved and involved that even ten years are enough to feed an interest class.

However, Xia Yuanji also added: "This is calculated based on the situation in which the court maintained normal expenditures in previous years and did not increase taxes. As for the Japanese silver and Nanyang's maritime trade income, these parts were not included in it. Let’s make calculations and ask the Emperor for guidance.”

Hearing what Xia Yuanji said, Zhu Di nodded slightly, feeling a little more accepting of what Xia Yuanji said.

After all, it is obvious to all how much silver the imperial court has brought back from Japan this year and how much profit it has gained from maritime trade in Southeast Asia.

It can be said that the income from these two pieces of money is no less than the taxes collected by the court in a year.

Therefore, for today's Yongle Dynasty, large expenditures are not unaffordable, but relatively speaking, a plan is needed. You cannot spend as much as you have. In that case, it is easy to cause financial problems.

"Tell me about the Ministry of Industry. How much money will it cost to reopen the Sui Canal?" Zhu Di knew what Xia Yuanji said and immediately sent an inquiry to the Ministry of Industry.

As the department in charge of imperial engineering construction, building the canal required the Ministry of Household Affairs to provide money and mobilize laborers, while the Ministry of Works needed to provide engineering and technical personnel and the entire project budget.

"Back to the emperor, according to calculations by the Ministry of Industry, it will cost about 5 taels of silver to re-drill one mile of the canal. If it is just dredging and desilting, the relative expenditure will be lower, about 2 taels of silver! According to Tongji Canal and Yongji Canal Based on the conditions of the canal, and considering that some sections of the river are still passable, the overall budget budget given by the Ministry of Industry must be at least 2000 million taels of silver!" Song Li, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, reported an astronomical budget.

Although the project budget in this era was very extensive, the figures given by Song Li also had sufficient theoretical basis. As for the cost of each mile, it was an estimate made by Song Li in accordance with Zhu Zhancheng's requirements for everyone's convenience. Find out how much it would cost to build such a canal.

Moreover, Song Li was as optimistic as possible and kept the figures conservatively. If it were completely reopened, that figure would not be enough even if it included all the fiscal revenue of the Ming Dynasty in the next ten years.

After listening to Song Li's quotation, Zhu Gaochi on the side couldn't help but said with distress: "The Yongji Canal is more than 900 miles long, and the Tongji Canal is more than 1000 li long. It will cost 2000 million taels to repair just one canal. More than enough money!
Perhaps the Sui River can still be used, but it needs to be dredged and reopened, and does not need to be completely reopened, but this expense is still too much for the court!

Even if the project is divided into ten years to be completed as Zhan Yun said, the court still needs to invest at least 400 million taels of money and food every year, and at the same time, it must mobilize more than 20 laborers!

Maintaining this scale of investment for ten years would be a heavy burden for the court, and it would very likely lead to a recurrence of the old incident of the Red Turban Army in the former Yuan Dynasty!The court must be cautious in this matter!If something goes wrong, the consequences will be disastrous! "

Zhu Gaochi's character may have been influenced by the supervision of the country for many years, and he behaved somewhat conservatively and cautiously.

But from another aspect, it cannot be said that there is anything wrong with Zhu Gaochi's character.

After all, no matter what the benefits of building the canal are, how carefully the court considers it, and how much investment it makes, in this era where engineering construction mainly relies on human and animal power, such a large project must be a huge loss of people's power.

Even if we can plan it well and divide it into ten years to complete the project to reduce the consumption of people's manpower, the same thing will happen.

Therefore, for Zhu Gaochi, who prefers to live in harmony with the people, he really does not want the court to excessively consume people's power, causing people to live in hardship, or even make the people miserable, and finally force the people to rebel.

Lu Zhen, the Minister of Rites on the side, also spoke at this time: "The prince is worried that although the imperial court has good intentions and wants to open up the old Sui Canal to allow economic circulation and improve people's livelihood in Anhui, Henan and other places, such a big The project also consumes a huge amount of people's manpower!

If a slight accident leads to a civil uprising, it will put the cart before the horse for the court!If this money is used to establish education and educate the local people, as long as they can read and read, more talents will be able to serve the court and give back to the local area in the future, and the court's love for them will not be in vain! "

Although Lu Zhen expressed his support for Zhu Gaochi, the meaning behind his words was still thinking about the little Jiujiu in their etiquette department.

Education is under the control of their Ministry of Rites. If the imperial court really invests a lot of money in education, the importance of their Ministry of Rites will be highlighted.

Moreover, Lu Zhen’s suggestion cannot be said to be wrong. The establishment of education is the most standard political correctness for all dynasties, and there is no problem with emotion, reason, public or private.

However, Zhu Zhanquan objected at this time: "Most of the scholars do not work and rely on their families and the court for support. If they are successful in the examination, they will be exempted from paying taxes and not having to serve on assignments. The more such people there are, the heavier the burden on the court will be." !
Moreover, most of them are thinking about passing the imperial examination and becoming an official. If they fail once and then take the exam again the next year, they often waste more than ten years and refuse to give up.

Not to mention there are other sayings like "Everything is inferior, only reading is good", "The book has its own golden house, and the book has its own beauty like jade". Everyone only thinks about what will happen after they are named on the gold list, but they never think about it. What should I do before I pass the exam?Most of these people rely heavily on the support of their parents and family, and even become a drag on the family.

Although establishing education and broadcasting education is a great thing that benefits the country and the people, everything must have a degree!It won’t work if all the people go into business, and it won’t work if all the people go to study!There are still people who farm, weave and guard the borders. "

Establishing education is right in any era, and vigorously cultivating scholars will indeed help the development of national and local people's livelihood.

Even in the past dynasties, the number of local scholars who passed the imperial examination was an important criterion for evaluating whether an official was qualified and promoted.

But everything has a limit. How to popularize compulsory education in the feudal era when productivity was underdeveloped?It can only be said that the country cannot support so many scholars.

Let alone universal compulsory education, even just literacy is an out-of-reach task for feudal society.

The reason is also very simple. The productivity is too low and cannot be supported.

In addition to the most basic expenses for books, pens, and teachers when studying culture in the feudal era, another very important expense was the cost of time.

In the feudal era, a word was often used to describe scholars: "ten years of hard work." Although they studied Confucian classics and their textbooks were only the Four Books and Five Classics, if they wanted to become famous and achieve success in their studies, they would be able to participate in the imperial examinations in ten years. The time is still relatively short.

Those from well-off families who are able to gain enlightenment at the age of five or six and can take part in the Boy Examination by the time they reach their teens are already extraordinary young talents.

Under normal circumstances, you may not have the opportunity to study until you are eight or nine years old, because the Ming Dynasty law stipulates that "anyone above the age of eight and below the age of 15 can enter social studies."

If a top student starts studying at the age of 15, by the time he is successful in his studies, he will be almost 30 years old if he just becomes a scholar, not to mention being a high school scholar.

Based on the lifespan of ancient people, this is basically half a life wasted.

Therefore, even in the era of Zhu Yuanzhang, he ordered that every fifty households in prefectures, prefectures, and counties should set up a social school to enroll private children between the ages of eight and 15. The education penetration rate in the Ming Dynasty was not a very high number.

It is normal for only one or two people in a village to be literate.

Of course, the Ming Dynasty established the most education in history. In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the number of people who were literate and hyphenated greatly increased, and the popularity of education far exceeded that of previous dynasties. But this is a story for another day.

As far as the current situation is concerned, there is indeed nothing wrong with Zhu Zhanqi's sentence of "can't afford it".

Just like supporting a college student in later generations requires a family to spend more than ten years, supporting a serious scholar in the Ming Dynasty also requires a family, or even an entire family, to spend a lot of effort and energy.

If millions of taels of money were invested in running schools, it would indeed be possible to cultivate a large number of scholars and talents. However, most of these scholars would study Confucian classics such as the Four Books and Five Classics, and they would not learn more about science and culture like later generations. Knowledge, it is almost impossible to expect them to be able to improve social development and engage in scientific research.

Moreover, scholars are noble, and it is impossible for them to hold a hoe and plow the fields with the hand that has been holding the pen all year round. There are already very few people who can cultivate and read and pass down the family, let alone cultivate the long acres.

Therefore, before social productivity reaches a certain stage, it is not very realistic to popularize education.

However, after pointing out the current situation of scholars today, Zhu Zhanquan also added: "A large number of scholars who study for fame is not a good thing for the country, but the court can indeed increase investment in social studies. , so that the people can read and understand and understand things. If the Ministry of Rites increases investment in this aspect, I will support it and be willing to spend 20 taels of silver every year to support this matter."

Zhu Zhanjuan's words made Lu Zhen speechless. After all, setting up education and encouraging people to teach and farm are equally important things. You can't just say that all the people should go to school and no one should cultivate the land, right?
So Lu Zhen had no choice but to shut his mouth and say no more.

After Zhu Zhanquan settled Lu Zhen, he turned to his father, the prince, and said: "Dad, it is indeed very expensive to dig the canal, but after the two canals are opened, how much revenue can it bring to the court every year?" Have you passed?"

Zhu Gaochi had certainly considered the question of how much revenue the canal's construction could bring. He also knew that if the canal could be dredged again, allowing Kaifeng, Luoyang and other places to regain the prosperity of the Tang and Northern Song Dynasties, it would be great for the court. A huge political achievement, but he was still worried about the court's financial expenditure.

"I understand what you are saying, Zhanjun, but if the court really reopens the Sui Canal, it means that the court will not be able to make any other big moves in the next ten years. Even any natural or man-made disasters will make the court unable to make ends meet. , and there is no money for a large-scale war!" Zhu Gaochi is somewhat similar to the older generation in later generations who always want to save money just in case. It's not that they don't understand the benefits of investment, but they prefer to choose safety.

Faced with Zhu Gaochi's attitude, Zhu Zhanqi felt a little funny, but he could also express his understanding.

But he then asked Xia Yuanji: "Xia Shangshu, what you just said was based on the normal fiscal revenue of the imperial court in previous years, right? The 200 million taels of silver flowing from the Japanese country to the Ming Dynasty every year, as well as the household income after the imperial court lifted the sea ban, You haven’t included the taxes collected by the Ministry of Shipping from the Shipping Department, and the money earned by the imperial court from its own Nanyang maritime trade, right?”

Zhu Zhanchun's words made Xia Yuanji look proud. He really didn't take into account what Zhu Zhanchun said just now.

It's not that Xia Yuanji deliberately ignored these, but there was no accurate figure for the money. To be on the safe side, Xia Yuanji did not calculate these incomes that he considered not fixed.

But now when Zhu Zhankun asked, Xia Yuanji didn't hide it, and immediately said: "According to the estimates of the Ministry of Household Affairs, the Japanese country can now bring about 200 million taels of silver revenue to the court every year. The annual tax revenue of the Shipping Department , plus operating income should be 1000 million taels, which is about half of the imperial court’s annual tax revenue.”

(End of this chapter)