After talking about the fake accounts, Emperor Zhu then started asking about more real accounting issues.
"Old Taishan, if we were to start a war in the sixth year of Hongxing and fight for at least ten years, we would need to spend an additional 20 million taels in military expenses every year. Can we afford it financially? How rich are we financially at present? How much potential can we tap? ?”
Zhu Cixiang would not dare to think about pushing and crushing him for a few months. The consensus that Yuan Chonghuan proposed for the five years of Ping Liao in later generations is just bragging!
The Qing Dynasty is much stronger now than it was in the early years of Chongzhen. If you want to crush it for a few months, you are suffering from hysteria. If you only budget a few million taels for a few months, then the war will definitely not be able to go on. .
So Zhu Cixiang’s idea is to fight for ten years and spend at least 200 million!
Two hundred million is too much?
Haha, in history, after the Qing Dynasty entered the customs and transformed from a bandit group to the central government, all the wars were fought with gold and silver! A slightly higher-level war can easily cost tens of millions or hundreds of millions of taels. The White Lotus Sect of Sichuan and Chu even threw away one or two billion taels. The Qing Dynasty headed by Duduo and Azige was in no way better than the White Lotus Sect led by Wang Conger. Awesome, right?
Don’t think that silver during the Qianlong and Jiaqing years is worthless. If we use the most basic rice price to compare, the year-round rice price in Jiangnan during the Qianlong period was 1.5 taels and 1.6 taels of silver per stone. It is a little more expensive than the price of rice in the fourth year of Hongxing, but it may be cheaper than the price in the last years of Chongzhen!
Therefore, if the Ming Dynasty wanted to solve the "Donglu problem" and the "rogue bandit problem", it must first solve the financial problem. It must increase fiscal revenue from the level of 10 million to the level of 100 million. Only then can it support the equal promotion of the Donglu. , The war of rogue pirates!
Of course, if Zhu Cixiang could learn from Dashun and establish a truly effective land military service system, he could use tens of millions of fiscal revenue to push away both the Qing and Shun families.
However, excessive population and booming industry and commerce will have a serious impact on the land military service system - if the land military service system is to be implemented, it will be impossible to prevent officers and soldiers from investing in land management... owning only dozens or hundreds of acres If the small and medium-sized landowners have no other source of income, they will probably start operations.
Running a farm is actually doing business...this is what soldiers do in business!
You cannot allow soldiers to use their income from land management to pay for military service and at the same time strictly prohibit them from doing business.
So all the court can do is suppress business!
Because the more developed the industry, commerce and rich peasant economy are, the more opportunities and challenges the officers and soldiers who obtain land will face.
Whether their business succeeds or fails, it will affect their enthusiasm for joining the army and fighting!
If you succeed in business and become a rich man, you will naturally be unwilling to join the army. And if the business fails, goes bankrupt and is in debt, of course it will be impossible to afford military service.
In addition, there are still many officers and soldiers who cannot control how they spend money - the more developed industry and commerce are, the more places they spend money! There are more and more fraudulent investment projects!
Therefore, many officers and soldiers who received meritorious land from Zhu Cihong a few years ago have now "rented" the land for a long time, and spent the one-time rent lavishly, or invested it in other businesses. What a loss...
Therefore, countries that implemented the land military service system in history often implemented policies that emphasized agriculture and suppressed business!
The Qin Dynasty was strengthened by "farming and war to establish the country." In the early Tang Dynasty, a strict market system was implemented, and officials were even strictly prohibited from entering the east and west markets! Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty even implemented a sea ban and strictly restricted population movement to suppress commerce! The Tokugawa shogunate next door not only banned the sea, but also banned large cars!
And Zhu Cixiang had no way to suppress industry and commerce in the southeast - there was too much population, and if he did not vigorously develop industry and commerce, and did not engage in foreign colonization (colonization must be based on industry and commerce, otherwise the country would not be able to afford the expenses), there would definitely be trouble.
After the great development of industry and commerce, the possibility of Emperor Zhu to implement the land military service system was completely blocked.
Therefore, after he first arrived in Jiangnan and received the "big grant of land" (which had to be granted, otherwise he would not have a basic base), Zhu Cixiang's military and political line returned to national mercenaries. Land granting is only used as an auxiliary reward method, not as a substitute for military expenditures.
"Your Majesty," Zheng Zhilong's dark face showed a slightly embarrassed expression, "in the past two years, the annual income of the imperial court has been more than 100 million, and all the money and food that should be collected have been collected... I'm afraid it won't be easy to collect more.
Now the imperial court can save more than 10 million yuan every year, and the imperial court's reserves still have 50 to 60 million yuan, but that is food for disaster relief and cannot be used easily... If it has to spend an additional 2,000 yuan every year for the next ten years With a military expenditure of 10,000 yuan, there is still a gap of 10 million yuan. If we want to get a little richer, we have to prepare 15 million taels! I'm afraid I'll have to issue a debt note. "
"Is it distributed?" Zhu Cixiang asked knowingly.
Zheng Zhilong also had a suspicion. He thought about it for a while, nodded and said: "Issuing debt is not a problem. The problem is only the interest. If the annual interest is five or six cents, there will not be many people willing to buy it. If it is amortized, ..."
"The maximum annual interest rate is six cents." Zhu Cixiang knew the dangers of loan sharking, and of course he was unwilling to fall into it. "Borrow 15 million a year and pay 150 million in ten years. It cannot be amortized."
"This..." Zheng Zhilong paused, "Actually, it's not that I can't send it out!"
"How to send it?"
Zheng Zhilong said: "It cannot be shared, but it can be tied together."
"Hahaha, I knew you had a solution!" Zhu Cixiang laughed, "What will it be built on? Is it the land of the commercial port? Or is it an empty official title? Or is it mining and logging rights? The number of students returning to the capital?"
You have already thought about co-writing and you still ask me...
Zheng Zhilong had no choice but to smile and say: "Your Majesty, the Ming Ming... your Majesty's idea is that all kinds of combinations are possible. Nowadays, all industries in the country are prosperous, and there are many rich people who have spare money or have saved a lot of rice. The court only needs to find a way Just dig out some of this dead money, but they may not want to use money to make money, so they can only use other benefits to attract them.
Official titles in the imperial court, positions in Beijing schools...perhaps you can also add quotas in primary and secondary schools, all of which can be tied to the sale of debt notes. "
Land in commercial ports, mining and logging rights are used to make profits, and empty official positions can buy peace of mind - these are mainly attractive to ordinary industrial and commercial landowners.
The school quota is used to attract officials and nobles! Today’s primary schools, middle schools and Beijing schools not only provide elite education, but they are also a circle! There are many children of top powerful people inside, who hang out in the circles of power. Who wouldn’t want to squeeze in?
Wouldn't he be happy if you asked someone like Duke Luo, the prefect of Songjiang, to spend 100,000 and 200,000 to buy some bonds, and then let his son and daughter become classmates with the prince and princess?
Of course, Emperor Zhu's credibility has also been established. None of the corrupt officials who donated money to "buy tickets" in Beijing in the early years were investigated for "ticket money" - these people were involved in corruption seventeen years ago in Chongzhen, and Zhu Cihong was the same No criminal liability will be pursued, except for the occupied official and military fields that need to be returned, and the rest will not be asked.
Zhu Cixiang smiled and reminded Zheng Zhilong: "There is one more thing to remember. The bonds sold must be deposited immediately in Maritime Bank and Salt Merchant Bank, and they are not allowed to be circulated and can only be redeemed at maturity."
"Yes, yes," Zheng Zhilong nodded, "otherwise the yield on bonds on the market will definitely rise, making it difficult to issue bonds in the future."
Zhu Cixiang smiled and said: "As long as Lao Taishan can continue to raise military expenses for me, the Northern Expedition will eventually be completed... Even if we fight slower, we will win with all our capital. After all, the Donglu The Eight Banners and Nine Flags are not without cost. As long as they can't grab any spoils, they will be dragged down by us!"
When the general's command skills are not very reliable, Emperor Zhu still has a stupid way to fight for national power!
Because the "underlying asset" of the Beiqing army is land! When the war itself is losing money, the output of the land cannot cover the cost of a long-term war. In this way, the grassroots officers and soldiers of the Beiqing Dynasty will suffer losses or even go bankrupt, and they will become the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty seventeen years ago in Chongzhen...
