Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 476 Daming Bank
"Congratulations!"

"Long live your Majesty, long live long live..."

Time flies, and two months pass quietly.

With the sound of singing and singing, the Zhengdan New Year Festival in the second year of Hongxi was held as scheduled.

In the past two months, all the direct descendants, collateral descendants, in-laws and other related people of the Kong family who had dirty butts were basically arrested and brought to justice by the Xichang and Shandong Dusi.

Apart from the constant evasion, the civil servants seemed to have done nothing to substantively stop the move.

Such mobilization ability made Zhu Gaoxu's eyelids sore.

Because of this, Zhu Gaoxu wanted to stimulate them and see if a few short-sighted people would jump out. It happened that southern Yunnan needed a large number of immigrants.

"Before the meeting begins, I would like to talk about what happened after the saint in your eyes."

Wearing the crown robe, Zhu Gaoxu glanced at the ministers behind the crown. The ministers looked at their noses, noses and hearts, and responded silently.

Zhu Gaoxu ended the topic of Confucius' mansion, and Guo Zi quickly changed the topic.

"Everything found during the Confucius Mansion's inspection was published in newspapers to teach the world that a saint is a saint, but the descendants of a saint are not necessarily saints!"

Although Zhu Gaoxu adjusted the thirty-to-one tax during the Zhu Yuanzhang period to ten-to-one tax, due to his vigorous efforts to rectify the administration of officials, the kicking and various hidden miscellaneous taxes during the Hongwu period were completely resolved. Therefore, the burden on the people not only did not increase, but also Reduced a lot.

"Miscellaneous items, commercial taxes, mining taxes, customs duties, salt imports, and tea imports are worth more than 12,270,000 pieces, and various silk and cotton items are worth more than 3,567,000 pieces."

From their perspective, Zhu Gaoxu's move was indeed not very good, and even a bit far-fetched.

For a time, Xia Yuanji and others had mixed feelings, while Zhu Gaoxu put the matter of the Confucius residence on hold: "Okay, let's continue the court meeting!"

You must know that after Lao Zhu accumulated thirty-three years, he could only leave Zhu Yunwen with less than 40 million guan of food and cloth. However, Yongle and Hongxi spent 19 years constantly using troops, and they were able to save more than 70 million guan. Some of them are still real money.

Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu picked up a book on the table and said:

"In addition, all the cultivated land obtained this time will be distributed equally to the people of Shandong, Henan, and Huaibei, and it will also be published in newspapers!"

Zhu Gaoxu took out another memorial, shook it, and read out the contents.

"This is a memorial to the Confucian government for bribing officials."

Zhu Gaoxu doesn't care about reputation, but they don't want Zhu Gaoxu to be slandered.

The wealth accumulation of the Kong family is indeed very rapid. More than twenty families with direct, collateral and in-law relationships have accumulated wealth through various means from the first year of Hongwu to the present.

Zhu Gaoxu slowly read out the results of the inspection of Confucius's house and his in-laws, and the officials were silent.

"Last year, the number of households in the world was 18,242,000 and fifty-five, and the number of people was 92,726,757."

If Zhu Gaoxu remembers correctly, the amount of farmland given to them by Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di should not exceed 100,000 acres, which means that the remaining cultivated land was obtained through other means.

Putting aside everything else, there are few emperors in history who can compete with Zhu Gaoxu just for this method of making money.

Under Zhu Gaoxu's accurate instructions, Guo Zi stood up and started talking about last year's financial situation.

If gold can be freely controlled by the Ministry of Household Affairs, then the accumulated money and food in the national treasury will be more than 70 million yuan. What kind of concept is this?

"The West Factory seized 34,632 taels of gold, 756,782 taels of silver, and 2,592,174 copper coins. Money, one million seven hundred and fifty-six thousand four hundred and twenty-seven coins."

Zhu Gaoxu glanced at the ministers and said in a sonorous tone: "I will find out, I will definitely find out!"

"Last year, the imperial court received 76 million shi in land tax, 625,600 pieces of cloth, more than 2.3 million jins of silk and cotton, and more than 2 million jins of cotton velvet."

"According to the calculations of the Ministry of Revenue, including the seizures, the total value is more than 54.6 million strings of cash."

All these officials were implicated in the confiscation of their homes, and the amount of gold, silver, copper coins and treasure banknotes recovered amounted to more than 800,000 guan. If the mansions, calligraphy and paintings were added together, it would be very easy to exceed one million, not to mention the more than 300,000 acres of farmland. .

"The children of the Confucius family who were not involved moved to Guizhou to settle down. The children of the Confucius family and the officials' relatives who were involved were sent to Che and Longchuan Prefecture in Yunnan."

"Two hundred and forty-six boxes of antique calligraphy and paintings, twelve thousand three hundred and forty-six cattle, horses and livestock..."

"For those who are involved, don't think that you can hide away after you become an official."

Regardless of whether the means of obtaining these acres were clean or not, these things were essentially things that Zhu Gaoxu could use, not to mention that the Confucius Mansion was indeed involved with local officials in Shandong.

Without excessive taxes and the promotion of official schools and hospitals, the population growth of the Ming Dynasty has entered an explosive period.

Zhu Gaoxu glanced at Xia Yuanji and the others from the Sixth Department, and Xia Yuanji and the others sighed in their hearts when they heard this.

"Last year, administrative expenditures were 27.42 million guan, the Sixth Army Governor's Office spent 18.27 million guan, and policy expenditures were 6.8 million guan, totaling more than 52.49 million guan. ”

"Last year, the number of acres of land in the world was 6,867,919 hectares, with an additional 32 acres and six cents left."

"There are 286 houses and villas, 2,436,427 and a half acres of fields, and 776,427 thousand stones, fifty-three pounds and two taels of grain in the barns. "

Seeing their appearance, Zhu Gaoxu put the booklet on the table:
"I remember that with the salary from the Confucius Mansion and the land granted by Emperor Gao and Emperor Taizu, I shouldn't be able to save so much, right?"

Even Emperor Wen of Han could only fall behind, let alone other emperors.

"Guo Zi, the Minister of Household Affairs, has something to report..."

But he is the emperor, and he wants to deprive the Confucius family of everything. No one can stop him, but his actions will only make his reputation among literati worse.

Guo Zi's report made all the officials turn their attention to him, especially the amount of gold that was jaw-dropping.

To put it simply, after the saint Kong, who was regarded as harmless to humans and animals by hundreds of officials, his influence in Shandong was intertwined. In just two months, 65 officials and more than 1,200 officials were found among them. The officials had a close relationship with them, and gifts were exchanged privately.

His words made the ministers nervous. Before they could try to persuade them, Zhu Gaoxu continued to give the order:
"I decree that Kong Yan be deprived of his title of Holy Duke of Jin Yan, and all his property be confiscated and confiscated, and a new Confucius Temple be built."

"Today, there are still more than 3,260,000 coins accumulated in the national treasury and the world's Changping warehouse, and there are 4,256,327 taels and four cents of immovable gold."

Under Guo Zi's report, the population of the Ming Dynasty exceeded 90 million at the end of the first year of Hongxi's reign, which is undoubtedly worthy of praise.

Zhu Gaoxu was very satisfied. In his opinion, this was the true population situation of the Ming Dynasty.

When he invaded Nanjing, he speculated that the population of the Ming Dynasty should be about 80 million.

After eighteen years of policy implementation, the population of Ming Dynasty increased by nearly 13 million. Considering the mortality rate of this era, it is undoubtedly worthy of praise.

"How much was the new population last year?"

Zhu Gaoxu asked Guo Zi, and Guo Zi also said: "Only counting those who gave birth and lived to full term, there are about 1.6 million. The remaining increase is mostly the registered people who returned from Yunnan. "

Guo Zi's words made Zhu Gaoxu nod. You must know that the hospital has not yet been fully deployed. Although the infant mortality rate has dropped, it still cannot meet his standards.

Even so, at the current rate, in about five years, the population of Ming Dynasty will exceed 100 million.

But even so, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but sigh when he thought about it.

It has been fifty-two years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, and the population has only grown from 150 million to more than million, an increase of only about %.

In comparison, in the next fifty years, the population growth rate reached more than 240%.

Although according to the proportion of world population, Ming's population accounts for about 30% of the world's population, compared with the situation envisioned by Zhu Gaoxu, this population is far from enough.

"The salary of doctors in various hospitals has been increased from 20 guan to 30 guan each, and the salary of nurses has been increased from 12 guan to 20 guan. This news will be published."

Zhu Gaoxu issued an order to Guo Zi. Guo Zi bowed his head and said, "Your Majesty, is this too much?"

He sorted out his words and then said: "The imperial dynasty provides more than 30,000 yuan for medical care, and the annual medical treatment fee is only more than 120,000 guan, but the salary expenditure is as high as 560,000 guan."

"If the medical and nursing salaries are further increased, the annual expenditure may be close to one million yuan. Your Majesty, please think twice..."

Although the Central Plains has long had policies to benefit the people and social welfare, there has never been an emperor like Zhu Gaoxu who continued to invest more than one million yuan.

"The imperial court obtains gold and silver from overseas, and collects taxes at home with ten taxes per ten. If it does not benefit the people, how can it be called the emperor, and how can it be called its subjects?"

"I have made up my mind on this matter and cannot discuss it any further!"

Zhu Gaoxu was categorical, and Guo Zi had no choice but to retreat when he saw this.

Seeing this, Xia Yuanji, Song Li and other ministers came forward to complain, and the Sixth Army Governor's Office also reported the Jiaozhi Army's conversion of farmland to civilian land.

At present, the Sixth Army Governor's Office has less than 2 million acres of military farmland in its hands, and it is gradually decoupled from finance. This is what Zhu Gaoxu wants to see.

He was not worried that the Sixth Army Governor's Office would depend on the Household Department in the future. After all, apart from land tax, the bulk of the Household Department's income came from overseas mining areas the fastest.

Whenever something happens in these mining areas, the Ministry of Revenue would like to have the Sixth Army Commander's Office fly to the mining areas with wings.

The Ming Dynasty abandoned Jiaozhi, Daning, and Jiugang mainly because of financial problems.

A place like Yunnan where gold, silver and copper mines can be mined would be reluctant to abandon it even if it results in a bloody blow.

This is true in these places, and it is also true in places with mining areas overseas.

Thinking like this, the meeting passed slowly while Zhu Gaoxu was distracted.

Until the end, he could not wait for any civil servants to continue to plead with the Confucius family. It seemed that they really did not dare to bark in front of him, for fear that he would really take a bow and shoot them to death.

With a slight snort in his heart, Zhu Gaoxu stood up and returned to Qianqing Palace amidst the shouts of "Long Live the Mountain".

Zhu Zhanhe can stay until mid-February. After mid-February, he will go south by car, and then change carriages to return to Nanjing to continue his studies.

Although he did not encounter any enemies during this Northern Expedition, Zhu Zhanhe did apply the knowledge in the book to practice, so he began to pay attention to the textbooks that he had scorned in the past.

Zhu Gaoxu estimates that when he returns, he will study hard in the next few years.

Time flies, and in March, more than 30,000 people involved in the Kongfu case were sent to Chefu. The team was huge and stretched for more than ten miles.

All state capitals need to prepare gruel for them to prevent them from starving to death on the way. In addition to their migration, Zhu Gaoxu also ordered migration from Jiangxi, South Zhili, Zhejiang and other places to Yunnan, Jiaozhi, and Ryukyu Prefecture.

Most of the people being relocated were families with insufficient arable land. All people with less than three acres per capita were forcibly relocated.

Such an approach naturally made the relocated people complain, and many of them criticized Zhu Gaoxu for writing history in private.

As he gets older, Zhu Gaoxu starts to care less and less about reputation.

Before, he thought about letting Zhu Di take the blame for him, but as he grew older, he found that it didn't matter whether he took the blame or not, as long as he could do things well.

If all the countries connected to the Ming Dynasty now assimilate them into Han people, then Zhu Gaoxu would rather bear a heavy blame.

Unfortunately, the resources required for migration cannot be conjured out of thin air, and migrating people is not that simple.

Not to mention population, even some policies may not be able to see results quickly, such as the banking policy formulated by Zhu Gaoxu during the Yongle period.

The bank, which was originally scheduled to appear at the end of the 17th year of Yongle's reign, was not officially deployed and opened nationwide until mid-April of the second year of Hongxi's reign.

On the same day that the bank opened, newspapers from all over the country rushed to report on the bank's rules and policies. Among them, the method of depositing locally and withdrawing from another place appeared very early, but in the past it was done by private individuals or business groups. For the first time, the imperial court was involved. .

Therefore, merchants and people did not know whether the imperial bank could be trusted.

However, for Zhu Gaoxu, who is good at shaping public opinion, no one knows better than him how to put the bank on the right track.

First, it was formulated that the salaries of officials in various places should be sent to banks, and officials could collect their salaries by themselves with their passbooks.

The second is to bombard it in newspapers so that all the people can receive is positive news about Daming Bank.

The last step is to organize a large number of people to go to the bank to deposit and withdraw money, so that the passing people know that the bank can deposit and withdraw money normally, and even specially mobilize the army to pretend to be ordinary people and withdraw money in large quantities from other places.

Under Zhu Gaoxu's set of methods, some merchants finally started to save money in banks, but the amount of money that ordinary people had was not much, and many people did not dare to try it easily.

But it doesn’t matter. As long as the social atmosphere starts to move toward depositing money in banks, people will naturally save money. What’s more, in order to let people save money, Zhu Gaoxu also started to play with the national debt he envisioned...

"Selling newspapers, Da Ming Bank issues Northeast, Northwest, and Beijing railway treasury bonds, with an annual interest of five cents. If you deposit one, you will get fifty cents, if you deposit ten cents, you will get five hundred cents, and if you deposit one hundred cents, you will get five cents!"

"Selling newspapers and selling newspapers..."

In June, even if the sun is high in the sky, there are still many people in the streets and alleys carrying cloth bags and holding newspapers and shouting.

Most of them are above the age of 12, and they are basically students who have graduated from primary school.

Just as Zhu Gaoxu envisioned, after the promotion of Daming Primary School, the problem that needs to be faced is the shortage of manpower positions.

After all, Ming Dynasty was a country that had just begun its industrial revolution, and the number of workers it needed was not as large as imagined.

Under such circumstances, the first thing many graduating students face after graduation is how to support themselves.

Some choose to go home and work in the fields, while others choose to work in the city.

Accountant, waiter...most of these positions have been filled, while hundreds of thousands of students continue to graduate every year in the Ming Dynasty.

Because of this, selling newspapers has become one of their means of survival.

As long as someone buys the newspaper, they are willing to read the newspaper to these people.

A newspaper costs one penny, and a person with good eloquence can sell more than forty copies a day, while a person with poor eloquence can sell seven or eight copies.

It has been three or four years since newspapers entered people's lives, and people have become accustomed to getting news from newspapers.

Once a habit is formed, it is difficult to resist the temptation brought by the habit.

Newspaper offices in various places also began to spread to prefectures and counties. Many counties already had their own newspapers and county newspapers.

Because of Zhu Gaoxu's will, apart from confidential information, all counties had to provide other information to the newspaper, which would be reviewed and published by the newspaper's editor-in-chief.

After the news about the national debt came out, many people came to the bank to inquire, but only for inquiries, and few people would buy it.

After all, after buying treasury bonds, the money cannot be refunded within a year. For many people, it is difficult to accept that a sum of money cannot be moved for a year. However, Zhu Gaoxu does not expect that many people will buy treasury bonds after they are put into the market. .

What he wants is a gradual process. As long as someone buys it and as long as that person gets the principal and interest, the snowball of national debt will get bigger and bigger among the people.

As long as the court controls this rate, there will be no such thing as being unable to pay the interest.

"In the past four months, in addition to the official salary accounts opened by the imperial court in the 2,400 local banks, there were only 26,437 private accounts opened, with deposits of more than 586,000 yuan, but The mobilization is relatively frequent, with the daily mobilization scale being around 20,000 guan.”

"In addition, after a month of publicity, the three types of railway treasury bonds only sold 64,000 bonds..."

In July, Guo Zi in Wuying Hall felt bitter in his mouth and didn't know how to evaluate the bank's situation.

“How much does it cost to run a bank?”

Sitting opposite Guo Zi, Zhu Gaoxu lowered his head as he processed the memorial and asked questions without raising his head. His words were very relaxed, which made Guo Zi relax a little.

"Almost half a million dollars a year." Guo Zi responded to Zhu Gaoxu, who nodded and said:

"You don't need to put too much pressure on me. If I dare to open a bank, it means that he can solve some problems of the court."

"The imperial court has been continuously minting money into the market since the fifth year of Yongle. In total, it has minted 70 to 80 million yuan in these years."

"Coupled with the continuous influx of overseas silver and copper coins, the private sector has actually begun to shift from semi-physical and semi-currency transactions to complete currency transactions."

"Now because banks have just come out, many people don't understand it and don't support it. Even the people in the imperial court quickly took out the money after receiving their salaries and took it home to save it."

"But over time, they will learn that the bank is trustworthy."

As he spoke, Zhu Gaoxu continued to Guo Zi: "Next month I will start publishing newspapers to make public the fact that the imperial court deposited more than 4 million taels of gold and more than 10 million taels of silver into the bank."

"In addition, after the end of this year, I will also announce that the military salary settlement will also be decentralized in the form of banks and passbooks."

"Now overseas, Xuanweisi and officialdoms such as Luzon, Ceylon, Jiugang, Kunlunzhou, Mugudushu, Horumos, and Bangkara are already building banks and have reserved a certain amount of new money."

"You don't have to worry too much about the bank. Within three years, I can guarantee that there will be at least 20 million yuan in fixed savings in the bank."

"What you have to do now is keep an eye on the railway construction at the Ministry of Industry."

"As long as the Beijing-Beijing Railway and the Northeast Railway are completed, relying on the Yangtze River and Wenzhou River, banks can completely rely on railways and waterways to transport any amount of money to various banks in the two capitals within two months."

Zhu Gaoxu comforted Guo Zi. Upon seeing this, Guo Zi also stood up and bowed, and left Qianqing Palace uneasily.

Shortly after he left, Huang Fu from the Ministry of Industry came to the door.

After Zhu Gaoxu announced that he had entered the palace, he directly handed over a map and a booklet.

"Your Majesty, this is the survey route and cost of the Northwest Railway."

"Among them, the Northwest Railway has also divided the railway from Zhangjiakou to Dingxiang, Jiuyuan and Wuyuan counties, with a mileage of more than 1,065 miles, a cost of 3.8 million yuan, and a construction period of four years."

"As for the Northwest Railway, the total length is 5,432 miles, of which the Longshan section and the Guazhou-Hami section are the most difficult to construct."

"The former is due to geographical difficulties, and the latter is due to shortage of manpower. We need to pay high wages to recruit workers from Gansu, Suzhou and other provinces."

"The 400-mile railway in the Longshan section, with current technology, I'm afraid..."

Huang Fu showed hesitation, but Zhu Gaoxu had already been prepared when he heard this. He nodded and said:
"Don't worry, I've already been prepared."

"I'm afraid it can't be built." Huang Fu calmed down and told the result. Zhu Gaoxu also sighed after hearing the words:

"I have already guessed it. Can the section from Lanzhou to Hami be built?"

"This paragraph..." Huang Fu looked embarrassed, and Zhu Gaoxu raised his hand to stop him:
"You can tell me which paragraphs are still unavailable."

"Actually, the entire section from Fengxiang to Wuwei is not possible, but from Wuwei Xiu to Hami it is."

Huang Fu bowed his head and replied, and Zhu Gaoxu raised his forehead after hearing the words: "If these two sections fail, it will be difficult to realize the Southwest Railway."

"I am ashamed..." Huang Fu looked ashamed, Zhu Gaoxu shook his head and said:

"This has nothing to do with you. The court's cement is not strong enough, and the steel technology is not up to par. Even if you want to build it, you are powerless. This is a matter for Taixue."

Having said this, Zhu Gaoxu also said with satisfaction:
"Although I can't pass the customs, it's good to be able to reach Fengxiang."

"But looking at it this way, the Northwest Railway will probably become the Gansu Railway, and the mileage and cost will also be reduced, right?"

He asked Huang Fu, Huang Fu nodded: "It is 2,400 miles from Beijing to Fengxiang, the cost is more than 13 million yuan, and the construction period is ten years."

"It is 1,700 miles from Wuwei in Liangzhou Prefecture to Hami in Hami Prefecture. The cost is 8.6 million yuan. The construction period is also ten years due to manpower issues."

Huang Fu looked at Zhu Gaoxu anxiously, but Zhu Gaoxu nodded after hearing this: "It's still acceptable. According to the original plan, including the Loop section, the construction of the three sections of the railway will start at the same time next year."

"Don't worry about money and food. The construction period is so long. The imperial court will find a way. All you have to do is build these three railways."

"In addition, the railways in the northwest are so difficult, let alone the southwest."

"You send people to survey the southwest to see where the railway can be built. Show me the drawings. Just draw them up before the Beijing-Beijing railway is completed."

After Zhu Gaoxu finished speaking, Huang Fu also bowed and said: "I accept the order to retire..."

Seeing that Zhu Gaoxu did not stop him, Huang Fu bowed and left Wuying Hall.

Looking at his back, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but sigh: "It seems that I will never be able to enjoy taking the railway to the Western Regions in my lifetime."

While sighing, Zhu Gaoxu's back appeared in Zhu Gaoxu's mind, and a smile couldn't help but appear on his lips:

"You better be able to accomplish what I want to do..."

(End of this chapter)