Zhao Jun has a bold idea.
He actually didn't expect that he would gain so much from going to sea this time.
In addition to so many productivity-improving crops, they actually brought back more than three million taels of gold and silver.
There was very little silver in the Song Dynasty, unlike the Ming and Qing Dynasties, which had more than one billion silver reserves.
Therefore, although the official quota is that one guan is equal to 1 tael of silver, since the official 1 guan is 770 wen, it often takes more than 1,000 wen to exchange for one tael of silver, so the actual ratio is higher.
In other words, if these more than three million taels of silver were converted into Song Dynasty copper coins, they would probably be worth more than five million taels, equivalent to one-fifteenth of the Song Dynasty's fiscal revenue last year.
It doesn't seem like much, and it cost more than one million guan, and it took five years to earn more than 5 million guan, which is equivalent to an annual income of 800,000 guan.
But a shipping company in Guangzhou only collected more than 1.5 million yuan in taxes after working hard for a year.
The generals and nobles are currently eating the free pay of more than 200,000 soldiers. Since the salaries of upper-class soldiers and lower-class soldiers are different, calculating the average of 30 guan per person per year, they have raked in 6 million guan in a year.
The problem is that these 6 million guan are not eaten by one family, but by the descendants of dozens of founding generals of the Song Dynasty. It would be good if each family can have tens of thousands of guan and hundreds of thousands.
The profits from the ocean are much greater than this huge profit.
Zhao Jun had never thought that the ocean could be so profitable. From the perspective of the imperial court, he felt that crops such as sweet potatoes, corn, and potatoes were more useful.
But from the perspective of the public and other people, the white silver and the golden gold are what attracts the eye.
If these people are fooled into going to sea, wouldn't the problem be solved?
Therefore, Zhao Jun suddenly felt enlightened. The return of Chen Haizhong's ocean-going fleet opened up a new way of thinking for him.
really.
In the new era of the future, when the world is saturated, the avenues for advancement are blocked, and screws are hammered in factories. No matter how hard you work, you can only be at the same level as your parents. Ordinary people have no avenues for advancement at all.
But in this era where the whole world is a blue ocean, Europe, Southeast Asia, Central Asia, North America, South America, Australia, and Africa are full of opportunities to make money.
Inside the Chongzheng Hall.
It was completely dark outside.
Since noon today, everyone has been listening to Chen Haizhong talk about overseas affairs, and only now have we started talking about government affairs.
Zhao Jun looked around at everyone and told everyone that he had a new idea.
Yan Shu asked curiously: "Hanlong, what do you think?"
"Actually, I haven't told you about this."
Zhao Jun looked at everyone and said, "Originally, I wanted to officially start solving the three-redundant problem, but I was afraid that you would object, so I suppressed it for now. I didn't expect that I might be able to solve this problem smoothly."
"That's what you said."
Lu Yijian rolled his eyes anxiously. It was not that the scholar-bureaucrats in the imperial court did not want to solve the three-redundant problem, otherwise no one would have raised it and found a solution.
It’s just that they all know that the interest groups that are offended in this way are really too big, so it has always been a thorny problem that is difficult to deal with.
If it can be solved, of course it would be best.
Everyone looked at him curiously, only to see Zhao Jun calmly say: "That's it, I originally planned to forcefully disarmament, eliminate officials, inventory the number of troops, and simplify the official team, but these problems are full of difficulties."
"You also know that the three-redundancy problem has always been a cancer rooted in the history of the Northern and Southern Song Dynasty for more than 300 years. It has deeply affected the lifeblood of the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties, seriously ruined the imperial government's finances, and became the three-way lock in the Song Dynasty. A heavy chain on the heads of the imperial court and the people of the Song Dynasty."
"If this problem is not solved, it will only continue to bring a burden to the court in this era when the cake is not so easy to grow. Even now that I have made the cake a little bigger, if Sanrong does not solve it as soon as possible, It will slow down progress.”
"For example, the current annual revenue of the imperial court is 70 million guan, of which 50 million guan has to pay for the military expenses of 1.2 million people, including salaries, horses, weapons and equipment, etc., then the money available to the court is There is less than 20 million yuan, and it has to be used to fill redundant expenses and redundant officials."
"In this case, the court will not be able to build canals or build schools this year, society will not develop, and we will not move forward. Even if I make the cake bigger and the fiscal revenue next year becomes 100 million, how much money can I have at my disposal? How many canals can be built and how many schools can be built?”
"So you should also understand this issue. Only by solving the three redundant problems and reducing military expenditures and official expenses will we have enough money to do other things, increase investment in education, economy, construction, scientific research, etc., and the country will To become better.”
"I believe you agree with me on this point."
At the end, Zhao Jun looked at everyone and asked.
This is obviously a commonplace question. Whether everyone agrees or not, the truth is this and there is no way to refute it.
Therefore, Lu Yijian, Wang Zeng, Yan Shu, Fan Zhongyan and others also said: "Yes, it is like this."
"Of course we agree with you, but the problem is here, what can we do?"
"Please tell me what you think first."
everyone said.
"Then let me talk about disarmament first. What difficulties will we encounter in this?"
Zhao Jun said: "The first difficulty is naturally that as vested interests, they will not give up these interests easily."
"If these generals and nobles broke the law, it would be easy to say that if we have someone to act as a villain, such as Lao Fan, we can directly find the crime and deal with them. This problem will naturally be solved."
"but"
He smiled bitterly and said: "You also know that this matter is actually the behavior of my ancestor who deceived his grandson. He released his military power with a glass of wine and raised the generals like pigs. They would only be sent when there was a war. This made The general does not know the soldiers and the soldiers do not know the general.”
"This is the benefit that the imperial court gave them completely. If the imperial court takes it away by force, it will obviously have a great impact on the royal family."
"The problem of restlessness in the harem alone is not easy to solve."
"So I have always been cautious about this issue. It has been delayed for seven or eight years without a solution. The main reason is that there has never been a particularly good solution."
"Before, I planned to let them buy shares in some companies, or jointly build steel plants, build corps, etc."
“But it’s hard to see short-term benefits from these things, and they may not necessarily agree.”
"But now"
As he spoke, Zhao Jun looked at everyone, pointed in the direction of the door, smiled slightly and said: "Isn't the profit from this voyage rich?"
It seems that the founding generals of the Northern Song Dynasty were not very well-known. Compared with Liu Bang, Li Shimin, Zhu Yuanzhang and other founding heroes who conquered the world, future generations may only know Cao Bin and Pan Mei at most.
Pan Mei came here because of her notoriety. Except for those who specialize in history or those who are fans of Song Dynasty history, no one knows who the other characters are.
Are these people incompetent?
of course not.
In fact, there were many powerful generals in the early Northern Song Dynasty, such as Wang Shenqi, Shi Shouxin, Gao Huaide, Murong Yanzhao, etc., who were all famous generals.
Then why is it unknown to later generations?
Because Zhao Kuangyin himself inherited the Later Zhou Dynasty from Zhou Shizong Chai Rong, the first Ming emperor of the Five Dynasties. By this time, the national power of the Later Zhou Dynasty was very strong, and it would not be difficult to eliminate the remaining separatist forces.
Secondly, Zhao Kuangyin released his military power with a drink of wine. These founding generals retired quickly after barely fighting for a few years, and all of them became rich men.
As a result, the generals in the early Northern Song Dynasty were not well-known.
Zhao Kuangyin's method of solving them is actually very simple, that is, giving them a luxurious life.
This makes it legal for generals to do business with their nobles, eat empty wages, drink soldiers' blood, occupy land, own farms, hold privileges, and even let hundreds or thousands of soldiers work as slaves for them.
To put it simply, the royal family acquiesces or even condones them in doing this.
Of course.
It is still easy for the royal family to fall out.
Acquiescence is acquiescence. Once the imperial power wants to take these things away, it will be difficult for the generals who have already had their military power taken away to resist.
But one thing is more embarrassing. The royal family of the Song Dynasty actually had a deep entanglement with the noble generals.
For example, queens often come from high-ranking military aristocratic families, only a handful of them come from high-ranking civil servant families, and there are only a handful of queens from civilian backgrounds.
In addition, although the noble generals do not directly command the army, the second and third generations often serve as middle and lower-level officers of the third division. Once a war breaks out, these people will be sent to the front line to lead the army in combat.
Historically, in the Northwest Army during Renzong's reign, most of the middle and lower-level officers, and even the middle- and high-level generals, came from noble families, such as Cao Cong was Cao Binzi, Ge Huaimin was Ge Bazi, Gao Jixuan was Gao Qiongzi, Wang Kai was Wang Quanbin's great-grandson, and Liu Hu Proton for Liu Wen and so on.
Although these people did not have direct military power in normal times, they had a certain influence on the army. In addition, the Song Dynasty royal family itself gave them great privileges and was deeply tied to their interests, making the two sides in a mutually beneficial situation.
That's why Zhao Juncai said that dealing with the problem of redundant troops was a blow to himself. Unless it was absolutely necessary, he really didn't want to have a head-on conflict with Jiangmen Xungui. That would involve too many problems, and even his wife would be implicated.
But these people control the army, make the soldiers work as slaves for them, do business in the army, let the army help transport goods to the border for sale, and live on empty pay and drink the blood of the soldiers. They have become a worm in the country.
The royal family of the Song Dynasty wanted to win over them to maintain the stability of their imperial power, but Zhao Jun also wanted to solve the problem of redundant troops and make the Song Dynasty stronger. In this case, different positions would naturally occur.
Although Zhao Jun had tried to solve this problem many times before, there was no particularly good solution, especially since his wife's family was involved, which made it even more difficult.
After all, this matter is the tacit approval of the royal family and the privilege granted to them by the court. It is easy to put this thing out but difficult to take it back.
So Zhao Jun actually has a headache.
Including the selection of elite personnel, it was also to prevent accidents from happening, and in the end they were forced to clean up.
But he never expected that the profits Chen Haizhong would bring back would be quite high.
And it has already caused waves in Bianliang. It is estimated that by tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, the whole Bianliang will be talking about the news that Chen Haizhong and the others have found the New World and brought back countless gold and silver.
This profit is much higher than eating empty wages and drinking soldiers' blood, not to mention that the powerful generals can also mobilize hundreds or even thousands of soldiers to serve as their slaves.
If you trick them into going there, you can not only expand overseas, but also solve the three redundancies. It can be said to be a good thing that kills two birds with one stone.
"Does Hanlong mean to officially open up America?"
As a supporter of the pioneers, Lu Yijian was overjoyed. His younger brother is in business, so he is naturally more interested in this matter, and the profits are too high.
"Wrong. I support the powerful and wealthy businessmen to develop, but I don't support the common people."
Zhao Jun shook his head: "The cost of development is still too high now. It is impossible for ordinary people to afford it. Only those with wealth can go."
"I see."
Yan Shu suddenly realized: "A trip overseas costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. Can the imperial court unite those noble generals and help them go overseas to run America at the cost of giving up their military interests?"
"Exactly."
Zhao Jun praised: "I don't believe they wouldn't be tempted by such a high profit. But firstly, they didn't have a navigation map, and secondly, they were not familiar with the conditions along the route. If they want this profit, they can either find Chen Haizhong or the survivors." Sailors, but why are these sailors controlled by the imperial court?"
"Um."
Everyone pondered.
Yan Shu thought: "So this is an exchange of interests. The imperial court can let those sailors help them go overseas, but they must also no longer eat empty wages, no longer be responsible for arms sales, and no longer have a certain private army?"
Zhao Jun nodded and said: "Yes, if you want to obtain higher benefits, you will naturally have to pay some price, otherwise why would the court help you?"
Not surprisingly, everyone in Bianliang will know about this tomorrow.
If the newspapers and Di Daily publicized it more, it is estimated that the entire Song Dynasty would soon know the news that Chen Haizhong had brought back more than three million taels of silver.
If the imperial court had added fuel to the flames, sold the maps drawn, and allowed sailors who had already had experience to serve as guides, it is estimated that in the next few years, the entire Song Dynasty would have set off a craze for sailing to the sea.
But there is a big difference between reality and ideals. In the ideal distant place, there is gold and silver wealth everywhere. A trip on a boat can turn a poor boy into a millionaire in an instant, and directly cross the class to realize the dream of life.
But the reality is that with a coastline of more than 10,000 kilometers, even if it is not as dangerous as crossing the Pacific Ocean, it is still full of difficulties. Ordinary people simply do not have the ability and cost to complete this task.
The situation is different for generals and wealthy merchants. They have money and can hire more ships, more sailors, and buy more goods.
Even if there are risks on the road, if a rich man invests 500,000 yuan and hires more than 20 large ships and more than 3,000 sailors, these more than 20 large ships will not be wiped out at the same time.
Even if only half of it goes to North America, the money you bring back can be earned several times.
So again, the rich are much more risk-resistant than ordinary people. For the court, this matter can expand foreign trade and collect taxes and business taxes. Secondly, it can also expand the route and stabilize this route.
Last but not least, deceiving the generals and nobles can also solve the three redundancy problems, free up a large amount of fiscal expenditure, and ease the pressure on the national treasury.
If you achieve multiple things with one stone, the court will make a lot of money.
I had a bold idea. Last month, I updated an average of about 9,700 words per day, almost 10,000 words per day, which caused me serious mental internal stress. Moreover, the plot was sometimes sparse, and the word count was lowered for the sake of lower word count. So I want to relax a little this month and polish the plot. For example, yesterday I updated 2 chapters with 8,000 words, and today I updated with 4,000 words. There are two updates every 15 days, and one update every 15 days. I have calculated that even if I only maintain 8,000 words and 4,000 words, it will be 180,000 words a month. And it is impossible to maintain it, usually more than 8,000 or 4,000 words, and often a chapter is 5,000-6,000 words, so even so, 200,000 words a month and an average of 7,000 words a day are more than enough.
Let me take a break, please.
(End of chapter)
