Li Huan opened his mouth to ask for three million taels of silver from the Ministry of Revenue, and it seemed that it was only used to eliminate the old and weak and recruit new soldiers. Cheng Yuan, the left minister of the Ministry of Revenue, almost reflexively stood up and said: "
No, three million taels to eliminate the old and the weak is simply impossible, the Ministry of Household Affairs has no money..."
In the past, the imperial court allocated two to three million taels of silver to Jiubian every year, which was quite good. However, now Li Huan asked for three million taels of silver as soon as he opened his mouth.
Cheng Yuan, the minister's minister, reacted fiercely and refused immediately.
How much money does the Ministry of Accounts really need?
Many officials also frowned. In their view, Li Huan actually spent so much money to eliminate the old and weak in the border towns. The investment was too great. Li Huan just said lightly: "Everyone, I am the Ming Dynasty.
There are a total of more than 513,800 border soldiers and horses on the register. Putting aside the part of them who are on empty pay, the actual number is at least 350,000 to 400,000. Even if it is calculated that 30% are old, weak, sick and disabled, this amount
Fan Jiubian wants to eliminate more than 100,000 soldiers." Listening to Li Huan's words, many officials frowned wildly. Although they knew that Jiubian had many soldiers and horses, no one usually cared about Jiubian's number.
How many people and horses.
Now listening to Li Huan's calculation, everyone was naturally shocked. Then Li Huan continued: "More than 100,000 soldiers, not to mention too many, dismissing one person and distributing twenty taels of silver is not too much, right?"
! In this case, we need two to three million taels, or do you mean that your lords are not even willing to give me the money to eliminate our Ming Dynasty soldiers?"
Many people were speechless after hearing Li Huan's calculation.
Of course, it costs money to eliminate the old and the weak. Otherwise, would those soldiers really be so easy to talk to? If they were forcibly eliminated without compensation, who knows what these soldiers who retired from the border towns would do.
So no matter what, if you want to reorganize the border town, this amount of money must be spent.
Looking at Cheng Yuan and others, Li Huan chuckled and said, "Do you still think it costs a lot for Li to ask the Ministry of Household Affairs to allocate three million taels to eliminate the old and weak and recruit new recruits?"
Zhu Houzhao also looked at Wang Yangming and other civil servants.
Under the emperor's gaze, Wang Yangming nodded and said: "Your Majesty, don't worry, the money has been paid by the court!"
Zhu Houzhao nodded with a smile and said, "That's great!"
As he spoke, Zhu Houzhao pondered for a moment and said: "Then repairing the defense of the border town and building armor will definitely require money. This matter requires all the Qing family to worry about." Compared with eliminating the old and weak, repairing the defense of the border town, and building armor will require money.
I'm afraid it will cost more, but with the emperor and Li Huan watching, no matter what the officials in the court think, this sum of money will definitely be paid.
In the past, that was all, they could excuse themselves by saying that the treasury had no money, but now that the treasury is unprecedentedly full, they have no reason to object even if they want to.
Zhu Houzhao coughed lightly and looked at Li Huan, with a bit of curiosity: "Li Qing, you said before that you would spend tens of millions to rebuild the Ming Dynasty's maritime fleet. Isn't this cost too much? I don't know.
Suddenly I understand why the Second Ancestor Renxuan gave up such a huge fleet."
Apparently this was Zhu Houzhao's subconscious emotion when he learned that Li Huan was going to invest so much money in that fleet.
After all, before Li Huan implemented the tax reform, the tax revenue of the imperial court over the years, leaving aside grain and other physical goods, the real tax revenue was actually only four to five million taels.
It can be imagined that with this kind of tax revenue, even if the imperial court wanted to support the opening of the sea, it probably would not have such a large amount of money to support the reconstruction of the fleet.
After all, according to what Li Huan said, if you open your mouth, you will invest tens of millions of taels. Which emperor can bear it?
Even though Li Huan had confiscated hundreds of millions of money from Jiangnan, Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but sigh.
Seemingly seeing the emperor sighing with emotion, a minister nearby smiled and said: "Your Majesty, since rebuilding the Ming Dynasty fleet is very expensive, it is better not to build it or reduce the size of the fleet. After all, our Ming Navy is not useless now."
But before the man could finish his words, Li Huan sneered and said, "Does Mr. Zhou really think that I, the Ming Dynasty Navy, can be used?"
Zhou Ling couldn't help but frowned. He was just a stranger.
The civil servant naturally did not know the situation of the imperial navy, so when faced with Li Huan's question, he would naturally refute it in the past, but now he did not dare to speak wantonly. At this moment, Zhu Fuqing, the Duke of Chengguo, stood aside.
He coughed and stepped forward and said: "The Ming Dynasty Navy was at its peak during the time of Taizu, with thousands of warships. By the time Emperor Wenzong and the Three Treasure Eunuchs made seven voyages to the Western Ocean, they would often dispatch hundreds of large and small ships. It can be said that at that time I was on the water.
The strength of the navy is the highest in all dynasties. However, as time goes by, and hundreds of years have passed, our Ming Navy has rarely replenished its ships. Many of the ships used were built decades ago. Both the scale and strength are not the same as before.
For example, if we open the sea, our Ming Dynasty Navy may be able to protect our Ming Dynasty caravan in the coastal areas, but the sea is worrying, and we must build new ships to enhance the navy's combat power."
When Zhu Fu spoke, Zhu Houzhao glanced at everyone in the imperial study, nodded slightly and said, "What Duke Cheng Guo said is true."
At this time, Li Huan opened his mouth to explain: "Your Majesty, I have checked the historical data. According to historical records, in the Yongle period of the past, the Sanbao eunuch Zheng Gong made seven voyages to the West and built countless ships. Many of them are still in use today, among which
Especially the Ming Dynasty treasure ships are the most expensive. The cost of building one ship alone is nearly ten thousand taels."
Zhu Houzhao obviously had no specific understanding of this. Hearing that a ship was worth tens of thousands of taels, even Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but be a little surprised. Don't look at the fact that when they discuss politics, the money and food involved can easily reach hundreds of thousands.
It's a million dollars, but in the Ming Dynasty, the value of silver was quite heavy.
A family of four in the private sector does not spend more than ten thousand taels a year. This shows that the cost of building a treasure ship alone is nearly ten thousand taels, which shows how expensive it is.
Li Huan saw the emperor's expression in his eyes, and a detailed introduction about the treasure ship among the Ming Dynasty's ships emerged in his mind.
I heard Li Huan say with emotion: "Your Majesty, do you know that the largest of our Ming Dynasty treasure ships is more than forty feet long and nearly twenty feet wide. It is four stories high and has nine masts on board. It can carry twelve sails and a heavy anchor."
Just to sail the treasure ship, it would take two to three hundred people. The ship is loaded with dozens or hundreds of cannons and nearly a thousand soldiers. It is a complete sea fortress."
To be honest, when Li Huan checked the records about the Ming Dynasty treasure ships, he was really impressed by the hugeness of the Ming treasure ships. If the data were converted into modern data, it would be more than 140 meters long and more than 60 meters wide.
, a behemoth with a displacement of nearly 10,000 tons.
Compared with the Columbus fleet a hundred years later, its largest flagship, the Virgin Mary, had a displacement of only more than a hundred tons. In terms of displacement alone, the Ming treasure ship was almost a hundred times that.
Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but open his eyes wide, and said in shock: "My Ming Dynasty actually has such a huge ship?"
Thanks to the Ming Dynasty's policy of banning the sea, it can be said that the officials above the court paid little attention to the Ming Dynasty Navy. Even the emperor Zhu Houzhao had never been exposed to these, so that the emperor had no regard for his own navy.
Not to mention the size and number of ships owned by the Navy.
Zhu Fu, Duke of Cheng, who was a veteran of several dynasties, heard the emperor's emotion and couldn't help but stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, do you know how large the scale of the Three Treasure Eunuchs' voyages to the West was in the past? There were dozens of such treasure ships alone.
There are more than 200 auxiliary ships, large and small, and the maximum number of soldiers and other personnel can reach more than 30,000."
Zhu Fu said with a look of fascination: "You must know that our dynasty's military achievements reached their peak during the Yongle dynasty. Putting aside other topics, Shan Chen heard what my father said that during the peak period of the Yongle dynasty, our dynasty had 3,800 ships.
Among them, there are 1,350 patrol ships, more than 1,400 warships, 400 large ships and 400 grain transport ships stationed at the Nanjing Xinjiangkou base, 250 of which are ocean-going treasure ships. In addition, there are a large number of law enforcement ships and law enforcement ships that protect the oceans and patrol the rivers.
Herald ship."
While speaking, Zhu Fu said with a bit of pride: "The famous Zheng He fleet is actually just a maritime fleet of our navy. If you really want to talk about it, like Zheng He fleet
Maritime combat fleets, if our government wishes, we can even arm three or four at the same time."
After Zhu Fu finished speaking, everyone in the imperial study looked horrified.
If other people had said this, they would have thought that they were just blowing the air, but don't forget that Zhu Fu, the Duke of Chengguo, had gone through several dynasties, and when he remembered it, it was only ten or twenty years after the Yongle dynasty.
So for many Yongle Dynasty things
, what Zhu Fu said has extremely high credibility.
Moreover, if you really want to investigate such things, it is not difficult to tell the truth. After all, it has only been nearly a hundred years. It is completely possible to find out how big the Ming Navy was at that time.
Li Huan took a deep breath and saluted the emperor: "Your Majesty, our ancestors can have such courage, let alone us!"
Zhu Houzhao's blood boiled for a moment, and he said with great excitement: "Build, it must be built, I want to build a maritime fleet that can traverse the sea and be invincible."
To be honest, Zhu Houzhao was really stimulated. It was fine if he didn't understand it. But now that Zhu Houzhao had understood how glorious the Ming Navy had been in the past, how could he, the emperor, remain indifferent.
If it is really limited by the court's financial problems, then that's fine, but now the court has abundant finances. If he has no intention to build a maritime fleet, it would be very inconsistent with Zhu Houzhao's temperament of liking military affairs.
.
Zhu Houzhao looked at Li Huan and said with some hope: "Li Qing, tell me how many ships you want to build, and whether you can surpass the heyday of Emperor Wenzong."
Li Huan took a deep breath and said: "Your Majesty, I estimate that if the Ming Dynasty treasure ship is built, a ship will be equipped with cannons, blunderbuss, gunpowder, and even the armor and other weapons needed by the soldiers. A ship will require a lot of personnel, weapons, etc."
It cost as much as 30,000 to 40,000 taels of silver."
Li Huan then said: "A fleet needs dozens of treasure ships, and then supplemented by hundreds of other large and small ships such as supply ships, troop transports, and reconnaissance ships. The amount of money required is by no means a small amount."
Hearing what Li Huan said, Zhu Houzhao breathed a sigh of relief and said: "If you calculate it this way, it will cost millions of taels to build a fleet, which is not expensive."
The civil servants on the side couldn't help grinning after hearing this. A fleet cost millions of taels. If this is not expensive, then what is expensive?
The emperor didn't even think about it. If in the past, almost half of the tax revenue of the next year was spent to build a fleet, it would be strange if they could agree.
But when you think about the nearly 20 million taels of gold and silver that Li Huan now has in his hands, and compare it with the money spent to build a fleet, it doesn't seem so scary.
As soon as the thoughts came up in their minds, many people quickly shook their heads to drive out the strange thoughts that arose in their hearts. What the hell, when did they feel that the cost of millions of taels was running out?
I saw a bright light flashing in the emperor's eyes, and he waved his hand and said: "In that case, let's build two fleets first. I want the Ming Dynasty's sea area to be peaceful from now on."
In the sixth year of Zhengde in the Ming Dynasty, after the New Year, the people of the Ming Dynasty clearly felt the difference in this year.
Especially the people in the prefectures adjacent to the Yellow River, Huaihe River and other large rivers saw the notice posted by the court asking for money to recruit laborers. For the first time, they discovered that for serving the court, the court would actually send them money and food. This was simply unbelievable.
It has never happened before. In addition to these places, local governments also took advantage of the slack season to use the money allocated from above to recruit people to repair water conservancy facilities.
It can be said that the water conservancy facilities, official roads and other infrastructure in many places have been abandoned for more than ten or twenty years and have become decorations. However, this time the imperial court clearly made up its mind and not only sent hundreds of inspection patrols.
Shi, even dispatched Jin Yiwei to patrol local areas, and fully inspected whether officials in various places were lazy in administration, corrupt and bribery-free.
While countless people began to carry out infrastructure construction such as water conservancy and official road repairs in almost half of the Ming Dynasty, nine municipal shipping departments set up by the imperial court in Ningbo, Guangzhou, Quanzhou, and Huating, which are adjacent to the coastal areas, also began to perform their duties.
its responsibilities.
Among them, Ningbo, Guangzhou, Quanzhou and other places had their own municipal shipping departments. Although they were later dismissed, they still had a foundation, so they completed the reset of the municipal shipping departments in a very short period of time. As for Huating, Qingdao, etc.
In several other municipalities, they were building agencies and offices at the same time.
As the imperial court issued a decree to open up the sea and promote maritime trade, the southeastern coastal areas were shaken.
March of the sixth year of Zhengde
Li Huan led dozens of officials from the Ministry of Works and officials from the Ministry of Works and the Royal House of Internal Affairs.
The outgoing master craftsman arrived in Nanjing by boat.
On the ferry, Duke Xu of Wei State, Feng Tai, the eunuch left behind in Nanjing, and dozens of Nanjing dignitaries and officials all appeared on the pier to greet them. [Those who have monthly passes, please buy them.]
