Open an aircraft carrier to fight against Japan

Shen Wanqing asked, "Where do we get the money from?"

Lin Yuan said: "I plan to start with the Qing court and use their money!"

Shen Wanqing said: "You're stealing meat from wolves, they won't agree."

Lin Yuan smiled and said, "What items do you think are included in the money spent by a country in a year?"

Shen Wanqing smiled and said, "How could I know this!"

Lin Yuan said: "Okay, let's keep it simple, what do you think should be the proportion of military expenditure?"

Shen Wanqing shook her head and said, "I don't know the exact number, but I don't think it will take up too much."

Lin Yuan nodded and said, "That's right, in our era, military spending accounted for no more than 5.00% of the country's fiscal expenditure, but in this era, do you know how much it is? 50.00% five!"

Shen Wanqing exclaimed: "How could there be so many!"

Lin Yuan said: "The Qing court originally had two armed forces, the Eight Banners and the Green Battalion. These forces all took money from the state, especially the Eight Banners. These people have no combat power at all. reserved."

"After the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Uprising, the Green Camp and the Eight Banners had no fighting power at all, so militia groups were established in various places to practice bravery, such as Zeng Guofan's Hunan Army and Li Hongzhang's Huai Army. These people are the main force fighting the Taiping Army, and they also want to get money from the state. , and the annual money is as high as 2000 million taels of silver, while the annual financial expenditure of the Qing government in this era is only more than 8000 million taels."

Shen Wanqing asked: "Are you going to ask the Qing court to stop distributing this money?"

Lin Yuan shook his head and smiled, "How is it possible? There are too many vested interests involved in this money. Let's not touch them for the time being. What I'm eyeing is another money. It accounts for about [-]% of the total, and it is the royal fee."

Lin Yuan went on to say: "People in the imperial palace are provided by special agencies for food and clothing. To give the most common example, they live in the Forbidden City, but they don't drink the water inside. The water they drink , are all transported from Yuquan Mountain in the west of Beijing; the meat they eat is specially raised by the Qingfeng Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs."

"They spent a lot of money when they were alive, and even more money after they died. The first thing every emperor did when he ascended the throne was to build a tomb for himself, and he also had to find a lot of funerary objects, such as Cixi's Dingdong Mausoleum, the construction of the mausoleum alone cost more than 500 million taels of silver."

"As for the funerary objects, there are more, such as the phoenix crown that Cixi wore when she was buried. Such treasures, these are nothing, when all kinds of treasures are put in, pearls and gems will be put in to fill the gaps in the coffin, and the pearls alone will be put in four liters!"

"See, the pearls are put in by Lunsheng. Compared with them, the local tyrants who can show off their wealth the most in our era are just a bunch of paupers!"

The next day, Lin Yuan went to find Cixi, came to the palace to ask, and found out that Cixi was watching a play at this time, Lin Yuan said that he had something important to see Cixi, and asked the little eunuch to report, and the little eunuch told Lin Yuan Put out the best snacks and ask Lin Yuan to wait for a while.

After a while, another minister came in. From his official uniform, Lin Yuan saw that he was just a third-rank official. For ordinary people in this era, being a third-rank official is already very good , but Lin Yuan ignored him, because in terms of rank, he was a dignified first-rank official.

When Lin Yuan saw the minister, the minister also saw Lin Yuan, he walked a few steps and knelt in front of Lin Yuan, and said with a flattering smile: "The official went out today to read the almanac, it said that today is a good time to travel, and there is nothing wrong on the way. I'm still thinking about what good things happened, why the almanac is not accurate, I didn't expect to meet Lord Lin here, it seems that the almanac is really accurate."

Lin Yuan thought to himself: "This minister can really talk." So he asked: "May I ask who you are?"

The minister said: "This is the Minister of the Dongling Mausoleum. His surname is Qian, and his single name is the word 'Su'."

Lin Yuan nodded and said, "Hello, what are you doing here?"

Qian Su said: "The Dongling was built in the sixth year of Tongzhi. It has been more than 20 years. It has been raining heavily these years, so there are many damages in the Dongling. I am here this time to honor the old Buddha." Zhezi, ask Lafayette to rebuild Dongling."

Lin Yuan thought to himself: "It cost nearly 500 million taels of silver to build Dongling, and now it has to be rebuilt. How good is this money spent on national construction!" So Lin Yuan didn't answer.

Qian Su said: "Lord Lin, I have long heard that you are a national scholar, so I want to get closer to you, but I don't dare to do this due to my inferior position, and I also heard that you don't like to receive gifts, so I don't know What to give, today, I will give you this memorial as a gift, and I hope you will take care of me in the future."

Lin Yuan asked curiously: "Can the memorial also be used as a gift?"

Qian Su said: "My lord, you don't know something. Do you know who will be buried in the Eastern Tomb?"

Lin Yuan said, "Isn't it Empress Dowager Cixi?"

Qian Su said: "Not only the Empress Dowager Cixi, but also the Empress Dowager Ci'an. It turns out that the specifications of their tombs are the same, but Lafayette is not reconciled. He has long thought about rebuilding his own tomb. One end, but there is no chance, just wait for now."

"So if the official handed over this paper, Lafayette must be happy. In that case, wouldn't the official road ahead be much smoother? So I will pass this paper to you, and you can talk about it .”

Lin Yuan's heart moved, he nodded and said, "Okay, I agree, how about this, you can still talk about the memorial, and I will support you."

Seeing that Lin Yuan not only did not want his memorial, but also supported him, Qian Su couldn't help but smile. At this moment, the little eunuch came in and said, "Lafayette passed on to the two adults."

When the two came to the inner hall, Cixi knew Qian Su, so she said, "Qian Aiqing is here too? Just right, let's move two chairs."

When Qian Su heard this, he quickly knelt on the ground and said with a smile: "No need, no need, in front of Lafayette, the servant is comfortable even kneeling!" In the Qing Dynasty, Han officials usually called themselves "chen" before the emperor, while Manchu officials He usually called himself a "slave" to show his loyalty. This Qian Su was a Han Chinese, but he also called himself a slave, obviously trying to make himself a Manchu.

Cixi was amused and asked, "What's the matter with you?"

Qian Su said: "The slaves were guarding the Dongling Mausoleum and found that many places in the Dongling Mausoleum were damaged. I hope the Lafayette will issue an order to rebuild it."

When Cixi heard this, she immediately smiled and said, "Okay, that's great! I don't know how much money it will take to rebuild it?"

Qian Su smiled and said: "Of course, the more the better, let's pay 200 million taels of silver first, and if it is not enough, then add it slowly."

Cixi nodded slightly, and said: "Yes, the water transported silver from Jiangsu and Fujian provinces has recently arrived in Beijing and sent to the warehouse of the Ministry of Households. You can give me a letter to get the money."

Qian Su hurriedly kowtowed to thank her, thinking: "Lin Yuan didn't say anything, it seems that the credit belongs to me alone."

Lin Yuan sat comfortably on the chair, but he was thinking in his heart: "This time the railway construction is worth money!"