Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 323 The army can also make money (Fifth update!)
Liu Kongzhao came to Beijing with a lot of wealth, a total of more than 200 million silver dollars, which is the income of the Ming Navy since Chongzhen for 19 years.

And the 200 million silver dollars were only obtained by Chongzhen Zhu Youjian himself, and part of it had been distributed from Liu Kongzhao to grassroots naval soldiers.

This sum of more than 200 million silver dollars will be directly used as an additional supplement for the construction of naval warships and talents of Zhijiang Shipyard and Daming Shipping Bureau.

Of course, the main cost of naval construction still comes from the treasury revenue operated by the Ministry of Households.

But what the ministers of the DPRK and China did not expect was that the army could make money, not just spend it.

After all, in the consciousness of all civil and military officials in Ming Dynasty, military expenditure has always been a heavy burden of the court no less than the salary of the vassal king.

Almost since orthodoxy, the military spending of Ming Dynasty betting on the nine border towns has become higher and higher, accounting for most of the country's expenditure. After the end of Wanli, the country's finances were unable to make ends meet due to military spending, and even had to levy three rings.

It can be said that the near subjugation of the Ming Dynasty may not have something to do with the high military expenditure.

But no one thought that today's Ming army could still make money.

This made many officials in the imperial court realize that opening the sea and building the navy would have such an effect, and they couldn't help but start to reflect on why the Ming Dynasty didn't do this before, and who hindered the development of the Ming Dynasty in the past.

There is no lack of wise people in the entire empire, especially under the deliberate guidance of Zhu Youjian, more and more people began to realize that the reason why Ming Dynasty had financial difficulties back then was because of the decline of national power, and the national interests were divided by the northern military aristocrats and the southern The reason why the central court has very little wealth under the control of the gentry.

Therefore, even a great Confucianist like Huang Zongxi began to publish articles angrily criticizing the gentry's harm to the country in "Qiuzhi" organized by Liu Rushi, which caused an uproar in the entire academic field of Ming Dynasty.

Many scholars began to write articles to criticize Huang Zongxi's remarks, but some scholars began to publish articles to support Huang Zongxi, such as Zhang Dai, who also began to analyze the extravagant life of scholar-bureaucrats with his narration of his dandy life.

However, these are games between young scholars and disputes on the pen. Zhu Youjian did not let Dongchang manage or let Dongchang perform administrative intervention.

At this time, most of the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River who were really reactionary were silent or their methods became more secretive.

Especially now that the Daming Guards Navy has successfully wiped out many pirate forces and established its absolute control over the Daming Sea, these reactionary Jiangnan gentry with ulterior motives have begun to realize that it is no longer realistic for Ming Dynasty to work with the court. What's more, the imperial court still has the support of the Zheng Group.

Therefore, the reactionary gentry in the south of the Yangtze River shifted their attention to the struggle for power in the imperial court, instead of criticizing the new policy of the imperial court openly.

Zhu Youjian was also aware of this, but he didn't think it was a compromise from the reactionary gentry in the south of the Yangtze River, but was planning a bigger situation and preparing a larger counterattack.

Even if Zhu Youjian himself is the emperor, he dare not relax his vigilance in the slightest now.

There have always been few successful reformers, and even their fate was not very good. Except for Wang Anshi, who was very kind to literati in the Song Dynasty, the rest, such as Shang Yang and Zhang Juzheng, did not end well.

Of course, there is also the matter of the two Ming emperors Zhengde and Tianqi mentioned above.

Even in the original history of Yongzheng in the Manchu Qing Dynasty, there have been rumors that he was assassinated because of reforms.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian knew that even if he was the emperor of Ming Dynasty, as long as he wanted to innovate and touch other people's cheese, he had to be prepared to dance on the tip of a knife.

He also knew that there was no reason to guard against thieves for a thousand days, and it was impossible for him to guard against villains, so now he simply let go of the grudges in his heart and prepared for the possibility of being assassinated.

For him, he was a time traveler anyway, even if he died for a while, it would be nothing more than returning to the afterlife.

Of course, the current Zhu Youjian also knows that he may not be easily assassinated. As more and more people in Ming Dynasty, such as common people, low-level scholars, middle- and low-level landlords, ordinary merchants and soldiers, have received greater distribution of benefits, There are already more and more people who are loyal to him and recognize him in Daming.

Therefore, it is not impossible for Zhu Youjian to choose a few people who will loyally protect him.

What the former vested interests who were isolated, that is, some reactionary officials and gentry in the south of the Yangtze River, are doing nothing more than unnecessary struggles.

Even if Zhu Youjian is really assassinated or leaves this world, it will be difficult for some reactionary officials and gentry in Jiangnan to change the current pattern of interests.

Neither the Guards nor the Zheng Group would agree.

Of course, Zhu Youjian also knew that in order to truly unite a social group, everyone had to benefit, so he didn't really want all the officials and gentry in Jiangnan to suffer.

At least he hasn't said that he wants to clean up the land from the beginning until now, and even absorbed a large number of young children from the gentry class in the south of the Yangtze River into the Guards, making them the vested interests of the military circles of the Ming Dynasty. Willing to cooperate with the imperial court, Zhu Youjian also opened up some officially monopolized industries to them.

And now Zhu Youjian's opening of the sea has a positive effect on the commercial income of many of their officials and gentry, and the taxes they pay are far lower than the income they increased after Zhu Youjian opened the sea and stimulated the economy.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian believes that in time, except for a few reactionary gentry who will still be violently eradicated, more and more children of wealthy and wealthy families will begin to agree with the imperial court's policy.

At that time, the internal conflicts of Ming Dynasty will be further alleviated, especially in the possible future, after Ming Dynasty shifts the way of competing for the growth of domestic interests to war and commercial competition, it will undoubtedly further promote domestic stability.

Of course, it is still too early to say these things. In the era when the Qing court still occupies the northern country, there are still some stubborn gentry in the south of the Yangtze River who hope that the Qing court can dominate the country so that they can continue to control most of the wealth in the world.

Liu Kongzhao excitedly reported to Zhu Youjian the news of the victory of the Ming Navy in destroying the navy. As a person who never thought that he would defeat a large group of pirates, he was indeed very happy at the moment, but Zhu Youjian quickly poured cold water on him :
"Is it worth the excitement to defeat a few bands of pirates?

These pirates are all pirates who were beaten and maimed by the Zheng family back then. They are a group of mobs who only know how to rob houses. I don't think it's strange that you can win. I'd be surprised if you lost.

Maybe you should experience a real naval battle. Now that the Zheng family is embarking on the battle to regain Dongfan Island, you should immediately set off for Fujian to observe it in the name of escorting Hongmaofan prisoners of war and all kinds of shipbuilding, gun-building and cannon-making equipment. Take a look at the sea battle between Xiyangfan and the Zheng family, and learn from them! "

　Today's [-]-word explosion is completed
　　
　
(End of this chapter)