golden scales

Every emperor wants to know how much money he has and how much money the world has.It is obviously impossible to make more accurate economic measurement in this era. Fortunately, Zhu Cihong still vaguely remembers some content of economic history, and knows where to find the data he needs—although these data may not be reliable.

Of course, expressed in more "expert" language, this is called: a confidence index of a certain number.

A confidence index of 80.00% means that there is 80.00% confidence in the data.

Zhu Cihong's trust index for historians and economic historians of later generations is now 60.00%, but the trust index for the data he found is not even [-]%.

"I sent people to check the old files in the palace. From the 25th to the 33rd year of Wanli, the mining tax silver received by Zhu Dang was nearly 300 million taels. That is, an average of more than 20 taels per year." The data reported by Zhu Cihong is indeed true. It is an old file in the palace, so I dare not believe it all. He explained: "This is the time when mine supervisors come out most frequently. Civil officials say that there is no land and people are struggling. So the annual average of [-] taels is already the highest in Wanli so far. The income also includes the eunuchs’ money from the common people, as well as copper and iron ore and other non-silver mines. In any case, what is recovered is silver, and we have the right to treat it as this silver.”

Chongzhen has already been involved in that. He has studied history, but he has not learned such a recent history.And as far as he was concerned, he didn't think his grandfather was a good emperor, not only did he treat his father badly, but he completely failed to fulfill the emperor's responsibilities.Having said that, Emperor Taichang, as his own father, did not treat him very well.

"Suppose my Ming Dynasty can mine 20 taels of silver every year. Of course, the reality is far less than that." Zhu Cihong pointed his finger upwards, meaning to remember the previous words.This valuation is seriously overflowing: "It has been exactly 34 years since the 40th year of Wanli, and the total mined silver is 800 million taels."

Chongzhen understood Zhu Cihong's meaning, and also knew that his annual silver income during the 17 years in power was only 3 to [-] taels, so he shook his head and said, "Your estimate is too high. The mine supervisors sent by the temple are actually drinking poison to quench thirst. But never before or since. Not enough as an example."

However, Zhu Cihong still has a piece of data in the palace, which is the number of silver classes in Yunnan in the eighth year of Wanli, which is less than 6 taels.The Yunnan silver class accounted for 9% of the national silver class, so it can be estimated that the national silver class income was around 30 taels that year.The silver tax rate is one-third, so the large output of the year was about [-] taels—this is considering the reasonable "corruption".Because the eighth year of Wanli was the peak period of Zhang Juzheng's administration, officials were relatively clean, but they could not prevent corruption, false accounts, embezzlement, concealment of property and other bad habits in officialdom.

30 taels is obviously one-third higher than 20 taels, but considering that the silver class in the late Chongzhen Dynasty has shrunk, no silver class income from Yunnan has been received at all after the national change.Therefore, the confidence index is higher with the value of 20.

"Let's take 20 taels for now," Zhu Cihong said, "that's 800 million taels. Does this mean that the whole country only has this little money?"

"Of course not, what about the silver mined before Wanli?" Chongzhen was still very clear about this point.

"Three thousand ninety-four million taels." Zhu Cihong reported an extremely accurate number.

Chongzhen stared wide-eyed.

"This is the minimum number." Zhu Cihong immediately recited the number of silver lessons and silver production in the 23 years from the 15rd year of Hongwu to the 130th year of Zhengde Note 1, and Chongzhen was dumbfounded.

"These are all figures that can be checked by the old records in the palace. It is impossible to estimate the number that cannot be found, the amount of corruption, and the number of private mining." Zhu Cihong said: "Let's double it. The accumulated silver mined in my dynasty is 800 million. Two. This is not the total amount of silver in the world."

"There is also the mining of silver before the Kingdom of China..."

"I don't count him. I only count the big head, and I need to add 800 million taels to the [-] million taels."

"Three hundred million taels! Did this fall from the sky?" Chongzhen cried out.

"It was obtained from overseas, and it was concentrated after the Jiajing Dynasty." Zhu Cihong said: "Because Taixi has a country named Spain. It invaded a wild land, where silver is rich. In addition, Dongying Japan discovered two large silver deposits in the Jiajing Dynasty. Mountains, and also improved the smelting techniques, so the silver production increased greatly. Among the [-] million taels, the silver flowed into our dynasty from Japan accounted for half, almost all of their production.”

Chongzhen finally recovered from the shock, and said, "Where's the money? It all fell into the hands of Shanxi merchants?"

"There are also big merchants from Huihuai, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong and other places." Zhu Cihong said: "These silver flows into our country from the coast. The first to deal with it is the maritime merchants in the three provinces of Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong. They collect porcelain, raw silk, tea and other Chinese goods from the inland. Products, silver flowed into the hinterland of the Central Plains. Northwest merchants Liaodong ginseng, mink fur, Mongolian livestock, fur and other northern goods, took the silver into their arms. Some of them were snatched by Donglu and Mongolian Tatars. Then passed through Zhangjiakou Jin Merchants buy ironware and grain. Well, Liao Town also played the same role as Shanxi merchants back then, mainly selling grain.”

Chongzhen felt dizzy when he heard this, and punched heavily on the armrest, gritting his teeth secretly in pain.

"So Shanxi merchants didn't have much place to use the money except for the extravagant daily necessities such as buying grain from Huguang, Japanese goods, and singing girls from the south of the Yangtze River. So they dug a cellar under the house and put The silver is stored in cellars. Everyone has the same heart, Shanxi merchants do this, and other big merchants will be an exception? So Daming’s 8000 million taels of silver, I don’t know how much of it is hidden in the cellar.”

"No wonder I have so much silver in Ming Dynasty, but I have no silver at all!" Chongzhen said bitterly.

"Father, the key is not in the cellar, but in my Daming's tax revenue." Zhu Cihong said: "My Ming Dynasty is based on agriculture, and the revenue of the government depends entirely on agricultural taxes. And the father came from the path of silver walking that my son-in-law just described. Look, can any step go to the hands of the peasants?"

"Buy food from Huguang?"

"The land in Huguang is owned by vassals and powerful landlords. What kind of money can real farmers get? It would be good if they can pay enough land taxes. Not only that, I am a small and medium-sized landlord with two to three hundred acres of land in Ming Dynasty who can afford long-term labor They have no money. His family also has to work in the fields, and they can only eat white rice during festivals or busy farming seasons." Zhu Cihong said.

Chongzhen thought about it, and suddenly a thought flew into his head, but he still couldn't grasp it.Finally, as if lightning had struck, Chongzhen saw four large characters in the darkness: "One whip!"

"A whip method converts real objects into cash to pay taxes. It seems to be convenient for national statistics and collection, and it also enriches the national treasury, but farmers really don't have silver in their hands!" Zhu Cilang sighed: "Therefore, there is a censor who said that Shanxi Fengnian would sell his wife This may not be groundless. Because the imperial court only collects silver, farmers have to sell their harvest to get cash. But before the harvest, the price of grain must be lowered by the merchants. Therefore, the harvest is not even enough to pay for the cultivation The young crop money I borrowed from time to time."

Chongzhen was sweating profusely when he heard it, and two blushes appeared on his face: "In Song Dynasty, Wang Anshi used the green seedling method, is it feasible for me?"

Zhu Cihong shook his head: "The green seedling method used by Wang Anshi was originally a method of collecting money in the late Tang Dynasty. Facts have also proved that although the idea is good, it is not easy to implement. The officials who collected money released usury loans in this way, which actually harmed the people."

"So you can't do well as an official in the Eastern Palace?" Chongzhen couldn't help asking, even losing his political sensitivity: in legal terms, an official in the Eastern Palace is just a small group of personal assistants of the crown prince.All magistrates are officials ordered by the imperial court.

"Knowledge is easier than practice, it takes more than ten years to do the best." Zhu Cihong said: "Father, let's not go astray. The key point is to talk about money."

"That's right, I just said that the common people don't have silver in their hands. Think about it quickly, how can the common people have silver to use, and the court can collect taxes!"

— Do you think I know everything?I also have to prepare in private for a long time before I can talk eloquently in front of you and pretend to know everything!

"Father," Zhu Cihong said with a smile, "what we want to talk about is how much money Zhangjiakou has."

Chongzhen did not get the answer he wanted, but he was indeed very interested in this question.

"The cash seized now is only the first batch. Twenty-five million taels. Because the officers and soldiers are not bandits, let alone Eastern captives. There is no possibility of massacres and ransacking of homes, or tyrannical acts such as fighting rice for lives, so Zhou Yuji also needs Time to take things slowly." Zhu Cihong said: "According to the current speculation, the entire Zhangjiakou should have three thousand five million taels of silver."

Zhu Cihong only thought that Shanxi Merchants had not obtained the status of imperial merchants now, so they did not dominate the two big salt fields of Changlu and Hedong in the original historical time and space.They also did not monopolize the wild ginseng market in Wusuli, Suifen and other places, so the family property may not be as rich as in the original historical time and space.

However, Zhu Cihong overlooked one point. After Qianlong crossed the river and demolished the bridge to confiscate Zhangjiakou, Shanxi merchants still held huge sums of money, so much so that they controlled the circulation of more than [-] million taels of silver in the late Qing Dynasty.Moreover, when the Fan family rebelled in Kangxiping Junggar tribe.Responsible for transshipment of grain and grass, the price was only one-third of the official transshipment price of the Qing court, saving hundreds of millions of silver for the treasury, but he suffered great losses.

From this, we can also see Fan's confidence that he was able to undertake the logistics transfer task of the war of destroying the country with his own strength.

On May 25th, Zhu Cihong received the final harvest report sent by Zhou Yuji. The entire Zhangjiakou was dismantled into groups of cold data, but it made people's blood boil.

"In the battle to restore Zhangjiakou, 33 households of Tonglu's family were captured, and the chief culprits were all punished. All the rest of the family members were distributed to the Jiaofang Secretary and the labor camp. The stolen money was collected..." Zhu Cihong paused deliberately after reading this.

Chongzhen's eyes burst out with scorching gaze, as if he wanted to melt his son.

"The stolen money is now four thousand and four million taels!"

Chongzhen was dizzy immediately, and was so happy that he almost passed out.

——One-eighth of the world's silver is actually in Zhangjiakou!

——One-eighth of all the silver in the world belongs to me!

——Since the ancestors founded the country, who has seen such a large sum of money!

——Wait a minute, a group of businessmen can have so much money, whose world is this Ming?

Chongzhen suddenly fell from the clouds into the abyss, speechless and unable to utter a single word. (To be continued..)

ps: Note: The number of silver courses in the Ming Dynasty quoted in the article is still controversial, and it is roughly the same value. Please don’t take it seriously.For the amount of silver that flowed into China after the ninth year of Jiajing, 5000 million taels is the lowest estimate, and the more mainstream one seems to be 70.00 million taels. Xiaotang uses the well-founded figure of [-] million taels, with a confidence index of [-]%.hehe.

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