Class in March, go south to make money!
This was not something Zhu Cixi said casually, but he was looking for excuses for the permanent southward relocation of the capital of the Ming Dynasty.
Beijing has been the imperial capital for more than two hundred years! Moreover, it is located in the so-called military power of the Northern Kingdom. Setting up the capital here seems to be conducive to controlling the powerful military force of the world. Only by mastering strong troops can the imperial power be consolidated forever!
So as early as when Emperor Zhu launched the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains, there were calls in the Ming Dynasty for a victory and return of the capital, and the calls were loud!
Not only many of the noble warriors from the north who followed Emperor Zhu southward wanted to return to their familiar city of Beijing after the war. Even many officials from the prosperous hometowns in the southeast advocated returning the capital. Only Zheng Zhilong, Zheng Sen, Zheng Jiangong, and Shen Tingyang represented officials from the Northern and Southern Departments, and a few southern officials such as Huang Zongxi and Luo Dagong advocated making Nanjing and Wuhan the permanent eastern and western capitals of the Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Cixiang was also a little wavered on the issue of whether to return the capital to Beijing, so he did not change Beijing to Peking and still maintained Beijing's status as the capital.
But in the spring of the ninth year of Hongxing, the sky-high bills that were handed over to Emperor Zhu made him realize that the foundation of the Ming Empire was no longer in Beijing, but in Nanjing!
No matter how the dynasty ended in Nanjing in history, Emperor Zhu had no way to move the ruling center of the Ming Dynasty back to Beijing.
Even if the dark clouds of "Jinling King's spirit faded" were hovering over the Celestial Empire, he had no choice but to return to Nanjing.
Because his Celestial Empire is turning into a giant gold-swallowing beast, and there will be many places where he can spend money like water in the future!
"Huang'er, do you really want to return to Nanjing in March?"
In Shuntian Prefecture and Changping Prefecture, Emperor Chongzhen, who had entered the Tianshou Mountain Mausoleum surrounded by thousands of imperial troops and officials, finally couldn't hold it back and told Zhu Cixiang about his return to Nanjing.
Zhu Cixiang's brows were furrowed, as if he was worried. He is mentally calculating the cost of repairing the Twelve Tombs of Tianshou Mountain and the future maintenance costs - another astronomical figure!
The Twelve Tombs of Tianshou Mountain have been in the hands of Dorgon, the "Faqiu Emperor", for so many years. Li Zicheng had set them on fire before, so you can imagine how they were destroyed. The only thing that is gratifying is that Emperor Faqiu Ama still left a glimmer of hope to prevent the Ming Dynasty's late emperors from exposing their corpses to the wilderness - after digging up graves and stealing treasures, they put the corpses back into coffins and left them in the underground palace, and even sent troops Guard the mausoleum area and prevent others from taking advantage of it.
Therefore, although the imperial mausoleum in Tianshou Mountain was severely damaged, it is still there after all!
However, Zhu Cixiang would not thank Dorgon for this, because the mausoleum is still there and the bones of the late emperors are still there. Zhu Cixiang, the "Twenty-Five Filial Piety" Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, had to spend money to rebuild the imperial mausoleum.
Back then, he only promised to rebuild the imperial mausoleum for Zhu Yuanzhang, so why now there are twelve more imperial mausoleums of the late emperors to be built?
Even if one late emperor only spent 500,000, twelve late emperors would cost 6 million! Moreover, after the repairs are completed, money has to be spent to maintain and clean them every year, which is another large fixed expense!
Just thinking about it makes me vomit blood!
While he was feeling depressed, he heard the extravagant Emperor Chongzhen mention his return to the imperial court. At this time, he must be in a bad mood, but he can't look down on Chongzhen. There are a lot of loyal ministers behind him. Everyone knows that Zhu Cihong is filial, so this persona cannot collapse...
"Yes, Father, we have been away from Nanjing for so long, it's time to go back and have a look." Zhu Cixiang smiled, "And we overspent this time on the Northern Expedition! We spent too much money, and we are financially exhausted. We must go back to Nanjing. Go find the money."
give change?
Emperor Chongzhen trembled when he heard these two words - the emperor didn't have much savings in his private pocket!
Zhu Cixiang never thought about emptying Chongzhen's pockets. He was already twenty-five years old, so he still had the nerve to do this? But he still wanted to tell Chongzhen how much the Ming court spent on the Northern Expedition!
Not only for Chongzhen, but also for a group of loyal ministers who followed Emperor Zhu to Mount Tianshou to offer incense and kowtow to the late emperors.
"The expenses incurred by the three vassals of Anbei, Peiping, and Daning to move the town and send troops to Mobei and Horqin are 17.06 million taels. This does not include the cost of the Huaibei vassal to move the town to Daning. If we count This amount is more than 20 million taels! After completing the relocation and deployment of troops, the court will have to provide 5 million taels per year to maintain the operation of the three vassals. In addition, Chahar and Tumut have already received 80 taels. With a reward of more than 10,000 taels, after they capture Mobei, they will still receive 740,000 taels per year.
This is the expenditure in the northeast direction. The one-time expenditure is about 21 million, and the future maintenance costs will be at least 5.7 million per year!
The northwest direction is even more powerful! Liang Guogong suffered a deficit in Anxi, and the court had to make up for his loss by more than three million taels. It would cost ten million taels to move 120 thousand households to Anxi. Anxi and Hexi towns also receive an annual subsidy of 2.5 million.
He paid for it himself when the King of Tang moved the town to Shuofang, but from now on the court would have to subsidize Shuofang 300,000 taels every year.
Beiting also spent more than 500,000 yuan in the Western Regions, and the court had to replenish them. In the future, it would also give 450,000 yuan to the Zhungeer tribe every year. In addition, the imperial court also needed to build new Suiye City, Yining City, Tingzhou and other cities on the site of Beiting Town, which would also cost huge sums of money.
The two generals Shang and Kong and the King of Chongqing had to spend money to go to the plateau. It cost at least millions to prepare tea, invite the king of Dharma, and build temples. Sending 15,000 troops to show sincerity would cost another 500,000. If he and Gu Shihan If he is good at talking, he will be rewarded with two hundred thousand yuan. If he is not good at talking, he will have to spend millions...
Adding these together, the one-time expenditure is 17 to 8 million, and an additional three to four million has to be made up every year. This does not include the cost of building a castle and stationing troops in Beiting! "
Emperor Chongzhen felt his heart cramping when he heard this, "Why so many? The one-time expenditure is nearly 40 million, and another 9 to 10 million will be spent every year! This, this, this... the imperial court really has so many money?"
"Where have we been?" Zhu Cixiang smiled bitterly, "Father, you think we can recover the Central Plains without spending money? The Northern Expedition started in the sixth year of Hongxing, and it has been nine years since Hongxing! Hundreds of thousands of troops have been dispatched for two years and six years. There are more than a month, and as much as 40 to 50 million yuan has been spent! And the recovered land in Henan, Shandong, Shanxi, Hebei (North Zhili), and Shuntianfu (Zhifu) will not be expropriated for three years, so the court has to wait for another three years. Give subsidies to maintain the government of the restored land... The subsidies alone are a huge amount of four to five million per year!"
"This is only hundreds of millions of dollars spent? It costs another 14 to 5 million yuan every year!" Emperor Chongzhen took a breath, "Where did the court get so much money?"
"It's not over yet!" Zhu Cixiang shook his head, "Liaodong has not been recovered yet, and the Anton Protectorate is still strong. The Northern Expedition actually only lasted half a half, and after the remaining half, it is still possible to get 200 million Spend it!”
Zhu Cixiang deliberately raised his voice: "If the imperial court moves back to Beijing, it will definitely not have that much money! Only if you go to Nanjing can you have that much money, because Southeast Asia is prosperous in commerce, all kinds of industries are prosperous, ships can travel around the world, and the world's wealth , half of them gathered here.
Moreover, most of this money was just taken away from the books. What was actually transported to the northern frontier were things, such as grain, armor, weapons, cloth, silk, and various utensils. Nine out of ten of these things come from the Fujian and Guangdong areas of the four rivers and lakes, and most of the vehicles and ships that transport them come from the southeast.
Therefore, the foundation of the country is already in the southeast and not in Yanyun! No matter how brave the Yanyun warriors were, without the muskets, artillery, plate armor, grain, silk cloth, gold and silver from the southeast, they would not be able to become an invincible army. And in today's world, we can no longer just look at the bitter cold places outside the Pass and Saipan and ignore the vast expanse of blue waves in the ocean!
Gold, silver, guns, rice, grain, and horses can all come and go from the sea. The gain or loss of sea power is actually the key to the rise and fall of a country!
I want to build a celestial empire and seek blessings for generations to come. How can I be trapped in the cold and arid land of Yanyun and ignore the prosperity and wealth of the southeast?
The discussion of returning the capital to Beijing can be put to rest! "
