Chapter 643 The common people are safe

Author: Beicheng Erqian

Chapter 643 The common people are safe

"cut!"

"ah……"

In March in Beijing, countless officials were killed amidst the sound of being executed. It made the people in Caishikou feel numb, but it was also very satisfying.

Since Zhu Ciran appointed Lu Yuanqing to investigate Jinyiwei in the first month of this year, corrupt Jinyiwei and implicated officials have been jailed almost every day.

These people saved up for more than three months, and were finally divided into two categories by Zhu Ciran: exile or beheading based on the severity of their crimes.

He did this not because he was kind, but because his uncle spoke up and the land in the river was in urgent need of labor reformers.

In fact, in Zhu Ciran's view, these people should all be beheaded, and their wives and children should be enslaved until death. However, in the face of his uncle's policies, Zhu Ciran mostly chose to obey.

However, in order to vent his hatred, he personally led people to Caishikou, and as a common man watched the heads of these corrupt officials rolling in...

"It would be an advantage for them to embezzle so much money and die like this..."

Looking at the falling heads, Zhu Ciran, who was dressed in Taoist robes, snorted coldly, then turned and left.

However, he did not go back to the palace directly, but took Sun Kewang, Li Yongzhen, and Lu Yuangao to wander around Caishikou.

Zhu Ciran came out this time not only to vent his anger, but also to distract him a bit. Therefore, after venting his anger, what he needed to do was to observe the people's livelihood.

With the severe drought in the north coming to an end in the 23rd year of Tianqi, all provinces in the country are basically in good health except for Zhejiang, South Zhili, Huguang, and some parts of Jiangxi in the south that are suffering from drought.

This kind of health cannot be directly reflected in a short period of time, but it is not difficult to see the situation among the people from the prices of some vegetables.

"How much is a pound of cabbage today?"

"Three catties. If you want nine catties, I can give you one catty. How about that?"

"Then let's get a pound."

"Wouldn't you like some meat?"

"I've been eating too much meat lately and I'm a little tired of it. Let's fast for a few days..."

Zhu Ciran looked like a commoner and asked about prices at some meat and vegetable stalls to buy vegetables. The stall owners at each stall also chatted with him as usual with other customers.

He walked around for half an hour, almost understanding the prices in the capital in recent days, and couldn't help nodding with satisfaction.

Sun Kewang, who was behind him, saw this and whispered beside him: "With the arrival of spring, the prices of vegetables in the north have dropped, but the price of meat is still high."

"However, with the current situation, meat prices are expected to fall in the coming year, and prices may return to the Wanli period."

Sun Kewang's words made Zhu Ciran keep nodding in approval. Although he looked down upon his great-grandfather, it was undeniable that during the middle period of his great-grandfather's reign, the prices among the people were still relatively low.

"Have the handovers been completed at the household department?"

Zhu Ciran said as he walked towards the carriage prepared by Li Yongzhen.

Now that he has understood the living conditions of the people in the capital, he naturally has to go back and deal with unfinished business.

Sun Kewang and the others got into the carriage with him. After sitting down, Lu Yuangao explained:

"In the past two months, numerous gold and silver mansions have been confiscated. Now they have been handed over to the imperial shop for sale. A total of more than 1.35 million taels of silver, more than 7,600 taels of gold, and more than 750,000 arable land have been obtained.

mu."

"The cultivated land has been distributed to the people by the Ministry of Household Affairs and local government offices, and the gold and silver have also been put into the treasury."

After Lu Yuangao finished speaking, Zhu Ciran nodded with satisfaction, and then asked again:

"Have the things done in the past few days been implemented? What is the attitude of the Fifth Army Governor's Office, the Cabinet, and the Sixth Department?"

On February 19, Zhu Ciran followed his uncle's handwriting and removed the Governor's Mansion from the daily court meetings, which completely cut off the possibility of discussions between civil servants and military generals on the same stage.

In the future, almost all actions of the army will only be reported to the emperor through the Fifth Army Governor's Office, and the corresponding money and food consumption will be allocated by the Ministry of Household Affairs, with all the orders from the emperor.

In the original model, although the six ministries and the cabinet could not dictate every action of the Governor's Office, they were required to strictly audit the expenditures of the Governor's Office.

This step itself was decided by Zhu Youjian himself, so Zhu Youjian did not modify this step, but mainly added one...

The content of this article is that the emperor's own handwriting can also directly issue orders, and only need to be audited and calculated afterwards.

After adding this article, the most intuitive impact is the skyrocketing military expenditure...

As the Ming army expanded its territories in the west and south, the military expenditures of the Five Army Governor's Mansion naturally gradually increased.

For example, in Hezhong and Lingbei, although the army has been withdrawn and only more than 40,000 soldiers and horses are left permanently, there are more than 200,000 civilians maintaining the logistics line of these 40,000 soldiers and horses.

Although the train has been repaired to the west of Luntai County (Urumqi), saving a lot of distance and time, the large amount of logistics expenditure is still further squeezing military spending.

When expenditures skyrocket uncontrollably, annual financial expenditure calculations naturally become very ugly.

Even though the Ming Dynasty in the 23rd year of the Apocalypse relied on printing banknotes to accumulate more than 130 million taels of silver, the national debt needed to be repaid, and the silver for various projects, the salaries of hundreds of officials, the military pay, and the reward silver were not

Small amount.

According to Zhu Youjian's original plan, the Ming Dynasty should reduce military expenditures and then try to achieve a balance of payments on the basis of ensuring industrialization.

However, with the further expansion of the territory, the administrative establishment could only be further expanded, thus increasing the expenditure of the court.

Hezhong and Lingbei are good places, but they currently cannot provide any financial support to the Ming Dynasty.

In fact, this is a drawback left over from Zhu Youjian’s time in power.

Zhu Youjian wanted to destroy and disintegrate all countries that could threaten the Ming Dynasty in his lifetime, or drag them into the quagmire of regional wars.

But here comes the problem...

Under the influence of Zhu Youjian, everyone, whether officials or military generals, wanted to work hard and quickly, and did not want to delay, so the ministries of the Ming Dynasty also spent money lavishly.

Now, although Zhu Youjian allowed Ming Dynasty to increase its annual income from 26 million taels in the first year of Tianqi to 92 million taels, he also created a financial system that can continuously increase annual income as long as it operates normally.

But in contrast, that little increase was simply not enough to satisfy the extravagant spending of court officials.

Develop industry and commerce, reform land taxation, issue national bonds, mint coins, create technology...

In just twenty-four years, Zhu Youjian has actually done everything he can and should do.

It is precisely in the face of so many measures that fiscal revenue can be doubled, but this also shows that there is not much fiscal space that can be tapped under the current environment.

"My uncle is right. The method of eating and eating grains has been almost exhausted, and the methods of reducing expenditure are also exhausted."

"It's just a new source of money. How will it appear..."

In the carriage, Zhu Ciran looked at the "General Map of Kunyu of the Ming Dynasty" on the table in front of him, and couldn't help but murmur to himself.

When he said this, Zhu Youxiao was also asking Zhu Youjian this question.

"The imperial court supports so many people. If there are no new financial resources, I am afraid it will still not be able to change the situation of financial distress."

Zhu Youxiao's voice rang out, but the place where it rang was not on the sea or Ningbo, but in the Huagai Hall of the Forbidden City in Nanjing City, Yingtian Prefecture.

The appearance of this sentence made Zhu Youjian, who was sitting opposite Zhu Youxiao in the Huagai Hall, also fall into deep thought.

It's not that he doesn't know what to say, but he is thinking about how to explain it clearly to his brother.

From Zhu Youxiao's words, it is not difficult to tell that he has mastered a lot of economic terms and knowledge.

However, vocabulary and knowledge are only theoretical things, how to practice them is the problem.

Although Zhu Youxiao learned about the relationship between technology and emerging industries from his younger brother, and also knew that technology was the primary productive force, the problem was that he only knew it.

What he needs now is for his brother to give him a solution to the problem.

Since Zhu Youxiao ruled this country, he has increasingly felt the difficulty of governing the country.

Many of Ming's problems were largely solved not by him, but by his younger brother.

His methods, especially the economic and military ones, are jaw-dropping, and many of his arrangements even give people the feeling of being prepared for a rainy day and predicting the future.

"As the same saying goes, focus on emerging industries and create new demands."

Zhu Youjian spoke calmly, and clearly stated some things that the Military Academy was studying:

"Although the internal combustion engine is still far away, once a breakthrough is made, the internal combustion engine will soon be transformed into cars, motorcycles, airplanes, ships, and trains..."

"But how much money can these things create?" Zhu Youxiao frowned and said:

"The trains and ships between China and North Korea have been running for many years, but there is still a long way to go before they can make their money back. The railways are even at a loss every year."

"The important thing is not the train, but the car..." Zhu Youjian shook his head and explained the car. When he said that a car is a private train that does not use rails, Zhu Youxiao was immediately full of curiosity.

"If the internal combustion engine can appear and be used in automobiles, then with the deepening of research, Ming Dynasty will get a huge tax source."

"I have said that people's needs are upward. After they have enough food and clothing, what they pursue is travel and housing."

"This can also be seen from the annual bicycle sales."

"Once the country is able to develop cars, cars will gradually enter people's lives."

"An internal combustion engine currently being tested by the Armed Forces Academy is estimated to cost fifty taels of silver, while the cost of a car is seventy taels of silver."

"That is, the cost of a car is at least fifty-seven taels, and if the court can create a profit of ten taels per car, then based on the people's income after the disaster, a family can purchase a car in only two years

.”

"There are more than 30 million households in the Ming Dynasty. As long as every household owns a car, it can create a fiscal revenue of 300 million taels."

"Besides, the gasoline used in cars is the country's long-term financial source."

"Earning one penny per kilogram of gasoline means that each car can earn more than ten pence. This tax money is long-term and considerable."

"More importantly, the job demands derived from cars are much greater than those from bicycles."

"Compared with bicycles that use human power, cars that use mechanical power and can travel hundreds of miles a day and carry thousands of kilograms of cargo are the biggest travel tools for people in the Ming Dynasty who have no worries about food and clothing."

Zhu Youjian used automobiles as a representative of new industries and briefly talked about the financial resources that Ming Dynasty would gain once automobiles appeared.
To be continued...