As soon as Zhu Cixi finished speaking, the three of them immediately looked straight at the Red Lady. The Red Lady deserved to explain again: "Unexpectedly, Uncle Fu Wang is so concerned about political affairs, so let me explain it to you!"
"No, no, no, your concubine has misunderstood. The little king is not... but..." King Fu quickly shook his head and waved his hands, hesitating for a long time, but he didn't know how to explain it. Cold sweat broke out on his forehead in such anxiety that he finally had to look for help.
Chongzhen and Empress Zhou.
The couple had no choice but to pretend not to see it. There was no other way. The topic was too sensitive. Even if the emperor was her son, Queen Zhou did not want to create a gap between them because of these things.
Not to mention Chongzhen.
"It's okay, Uncle Fuwang, there's no need to be nervous. As the saying goes, family affairs, state affairs, and world affairs matter, so you should care about everything!"
Seeing that the three of them were very nervous, Zhu Cixi could only wave his hands and smile, relaxing the atmosphere, and then glared at the red lady.
The red lady also wanted to scare Prince Fu, but after being glared at by Zhu Cixiang, she had no choice but to laugh, and then began to explain to the three of them.
"Emperor Father and Queen Mother, the main reason why we invested so much money to build official roads in the world this time is because there are too many taxes, and we don't know how to spend them, so we have to use them to build official roads."
"What?"
"Too much money?"
"This... Ying'er, are you kidding me? Since ancient times, how could any imperial court have so much money that they couldn't spend it all?"
The jaws of the three of them almost dropped in shock. Queen Zhou tried to say, but Chongzhen looked embarrassed, feeling uncomfortable in his heart.
"Does the queen know how much taxes were collected by Nanzhili last year?"
"How many?"
Before Queen Zhou could answer, Chongzhen asked.
Everyone, let alone Chongzhen, was curious about last year's taxation in Southern Zhili. However, in order not to irritate the gentry all over the world, only a few people knew about it and it was not made public.
But everyone knows that it will definitely be no less.
"More than 45 million taels, although more than 10 million taels of it are from fines..."
"What?"
"More than 40 million taels? Impossible, absolutely impossible!"
Before the red lady finished speaking, Chongzhen stood up in shock and said excitedly.
After getting excited, he realized that he had lost his composure, and also understood that the red lady would not lie.
But when he thought about the tax collection of more than 40 million taels in Nanzhili Province alone last year, Chongzhen really couldn't keep calm. He almost gritted his teeth and said: "I just heard Ying'er say that the fine alone was more than 10 million taels."
Two, do those wealthy gentry families in Jiangnan really pay double the tax?"
"Look at what my father said, the wealthy gentry are the most shrewd. If they don't pay when the price is doubled, is it possible that they have to wait until the price is five times the price?"
"I mean..."
Chongzhen opened his mouth and wanted to say, don't those gentry and landlords make trouble, but then he thought that things are different now, so he had to stop this embarrassing topic.
Then he said with excitement or emotion, "Nanzhili Province alone can collect nearly 30 million taels of tax money. If you add in Huguang, Guangxi, Fujian and Jiangxi, wouldn't it be tens of millions of taels?"
"With the addition of tariffs, it should be almost enough." The red lady nodded.
The three of them took a breath again, and then Chongzhen glanced at Zhu Cihong and saw that he was minding his own food. After all, he couldn't help but try to say: "Ying'er, even if the government's finances are sufficient, they should save them for emergencies.
How can you squander it so wantonly when you need it? Not to mention that the imperial court now has to support an army of millions, so the annual expenses must be quite a lot!"
"Yes, even ordinary families have to save money, let alone the imperial court." Queen Zhou had no choice but to respond.
In fact, neither Chongzhen nor Empress Zhou wanted to interfere with political affairs anymore, but the 20 million tael infrastructure construction plan proposed by Zhu Cixi was really shocking, so they wanted to ask clearly, otherwise they might not be able to sleep well at night.
Zhu Cixi also understood this, so he didn't pay attention to it and asked the red lady to explain it to the two of them so as not to worry blindly.
As for why he did not explain, it was because he felt that it was necessary to keep a distance between himself and Chongzhen, especially when it came to national affairs.
"Emperor Father, Queen Mother, the imperial court is different from ordinary families. If the tens of thousands of taels of tax money are saved every year instead of spending it, then within a few years, the entire world's wealth will probably be concentrated in the hands of the imperial court. On the contrary, this will
Counterproductive.
Most of the taxes collected by the imperial court were collected from the rich, and all were spent on building officialdom, which required the employment of a large number of ordinary people. This is the same principle as robbing the rich and giving to the poor.
As for the military expenditure, it is true that the annual expenditure is very large, but the money earned by Huangdian every year is enough to make up for the military expenditure."
The Red Lady simply explained to the three of them the principles of a virtuous economic cycle, taking from the people and using it for the people.
But the Red Lady’s own understanding was all about robbing the rich and giving to the poor, so the three of them were confused and only had a simple understanding.
"Father, the best way to run the imperial court's finances is to make ends meet, so I have to spend all the taxes and money I earn every year..."
Seeing that the matchmaker couldn't explain clearly, Zhu Cixiang had no choice but to explain to the two of them what the economic cycle was, so as not to ask questions again in the future.
Sure enough, Zhu Cixiang's explanation was much clearer than that of the Red Lady. This time Chongzhen finally understood. Although he could not understand, under the slightly pleading eyes of Queen Zhou, he finally did not refute, but thought for a while and said: "
Xun'er, if the imperial court spends all its money every year, what should we do if there is a major disaster or war?"
"Haha, doesn't this still have Huang Mei's bank? Then the court can just directly borrow money from the bank." Zhu Cixiang said with a smile.
"Okay, okay, you and your son haven't seen each other for almost two years, so let's talk about Nuer's marriage."
Empress Zhou saw that they had almost understood each other, and the father and son had already had a direct conversation, so she quickly changed the topic, not wanting them to continue.
Obviously, he was really afraid. He was worried that this long-lost scene of father's kindness and son's filial piety would break up because of a word, causing the father and son to be as incompatible as before.
Chongzhen could only sigh and stop mentioning political affairs.
But what Queen Zhou never expected was that father and son would have another disagreement over Princess Kunxing's marriage.
One wants to find a consort for his daughter as soon as possible so as not to show up in public again and cause gossip, but the other feels that it is good for the emperor's sister to be happy and cannot be forced.
"Marriage has always been the order of the parents and the words of the matchmaker..."
"Okay, okay, today's family dinner is over!"
Seeing that the two were about to argue again, Queen Zhou didn't care much. She immediately stood up and announced the end of the banquet, interrupted Chongzhen, and then hurriedly said to the red lady: "Hong'er has drunk too much, Ying'er, help Hong'er back quickly."
palace…"
"Yes, yes, brother, we should discuss Nuo'er's marriage later. It's getting late today."
King Fu also hurriedly stood up to help. This banquet was too dangerous and awkward. He should be beaten to death and would not attend next time.
Zhu Cixiang obviously didn't want to quarrel with Chongzhen again. Anyway, he was the one who made the decision now. There was no need to verbally argue with Chongzhen about winning or losing. He also took the opportunity to get up and excuse himself, and then ran away with the red lady.
"Don't I, as the father, have the right to interfere in my daughter's marriage?"
After the two left, Chongzhen said calmly.
"Alas! Your Majesty, children and grandchildren will have their own blessings. It's not like I don't know that Xun'er has a bad temper, so let's not worry about it."
Empress Zhou could only sigh. Although she was on Chongzhen's side in this matter, she knew that she could not help anyone.