On the 15th day of March in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, it was Chen hour.
The calligraphy inside the palace was quiet, except for the father and son who were facing each other in silence.
Emperor Zhu Youjian of the Ming Dynasty looked intently at the familiar yet unfamiliar son in front of him, while Zhu Cixiang also opened his eyes wide and stared at the sage emperor Zhu Youjian of the Ming Dynasty in front of him.
I don't know how long it took before I heard Zhu Youjian cough and said, "Are you... still my brother Chun?"
Zhu Cixiang was not too surprised when he heard this. He just smiled and asked, "Are you still my original father?"
Zhu Youjian was stunned for a moment, then looked at his son who was silent for a while, and then said: "Brother Chun, did the ancestors send you here?"
Zhu Cixiang smiled bitterly: "Father, besides our ancestors, who else can be so capable?"
Zhu Youjian nodded and said, "I think so too..."
Zhu Cixi smiled and said, "Father, you were also sent by our ancestors, right?"
When he said this, he felt relieved - it was not the ancestor who came, that's good!
Zhu Youjian was noncommittal, and Zhu Cixiang did not continue to ask... This is obvious. If this Chongzhen was not sent by his ancestors, Ming Dynasty would be closed down now!
"Brother Chun," Zhu Youjian looked at his rebellious son Zhu Cihong, who was gradually entering the state of mind, "I'll ask you again... when did you come?"
"I've been here a long time ago..." Zhu Cixiang said, "I was just a little dazed. I only became fully awake today."
Zhu Youjian had believed his son's story a long time ago, because he had long discovered that something was wrong with Zhu Cixiang... He was born wrong. He had been extremely cunning and cunning since he was a child. He was completely different from the rebellious son in his previous life when he was a child.
Zhu Youjian said again: "But this time I am a rare wise king in history. Li Chuang is a loyal minister. There are only a few remnants of slave thieves. The fate of the Ming Dynasty is almost over. Why did our ancestors send you here? "
Yes, what else are you doing here? The ancestors have already sent me here, and Ming Dynasty has been rescued, so why are you here? Come to pick peaches and be a traitor? it's out of the question! Because my father, the emperor, is the best in the world in martial arts!
Zhu Cixi smiled and asked: "Father, you are so wise, you can't possibly not know where the dangers of the Ming Dynasty will be in the future, right?"
Zhu Youjian is so wise, of course he knows that the future danger of Ming Dynasty will be lack of money!
Still short of money!
Daming in his previous life was actually short of money, but it was a low-level lack of money. For example, the "drifters" who came to the magical and imperial capitals in later generations were short of money to buy a house and settle down, and they were short of millions or tens of millions. Nowadays, Ming Dynasty's money shortage is a high-level money shortage, which is equivalent to a real estate company that owes a lot of debt. Its book assets are tens of billions, but it doesn't know how it still owes a few hundred million to the bank... ..
In his previous life, Zhu Youjian was short of tens of millions. As long as he mastered the skills of confiscating homes, he could do so at will in Beijing.
In this life, Zhu Youjian's loss expansion is simply a bottomless pit of loss. Let alone millions or tens of millions, hundreds of millions are not enough! We can't count on corrupt officials, because officials in the Ming Dynasty were really not that corrupt!
Of course, high-level lack of money will not kill the Ming Dynasty immediately, just like people who are short of hundreds of millions in future generations will definitely be happier than people who are short of several million.
Therefore, no matter how short of money Zhu Youjian is in his life, he can maintain a glorious and prosperous life. Today, there are people inside and outside the Ming Dynasty who are dissatisfied with him, but no one dares to covet his empire.
His enemies can only linger in the mountains in the northeast of the Korean Peninsula, can only tremble on the Japanese islands, can only live in the dense forests of Southeast Asia, and can only issue powerless curses in distant places.
But Zhu Youjian knew that the crisis of lack of money would eventually cause his empire to lose its enterprising spirit, and that a hundred years after he became the great emperor, the Ming Dynasty would once again experience the "Rule of Renxuan", that is, a drastic shrinkage in exchange for A brief period of prosperity and ease.
Once this kind of "simply" governance appeared, the Ming Dynasty was already on the road to decline.
In today's Zhu Youjian's view, the crisis that the Ming Dynasty has encountered since the end of Wanli is actually the inevitable result of the contraction of national policies that began in the "Reign of Renxuan".
The shrinkage of the Ming Dynasty freed up the land for the enemies of the Ming Dynasty to recuperate and develop. At the same time, it also lost the land needed by future generations... In Chongzhen's view, there must be more and more future generations, so the current use of The land that cannot be touched will be put to use when the population of future generations becomes prosperous.
If these "reserve lands" are lost, it seems that the pressure on garrisoning and management will be reduced in the short term, and the finances will be better, but what will happen when future generations have to farm the land? Without land for them to grow, they would have to live a hard life as tenants and poor peasants. If there was some kind of catastrophic disaster, wouldn't they have to rebel?
Therefore, Zhu Youjian's current policy is to occupy as much territory as possible... Regardless of whether it is useful or not, occupy it first!
Moreover, if we want to occupy it for real, we cannot pretend to occupy it. We must allow a large number of relocated "refugee military households" to take root, sprout, and spread. Only in this way can we firmly occupy the territory.
But if you want to do this, the cost will be huge!
First of all, you have to spend money to recruit and relocate military households. Whether they are military households under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War or military households led by feudal princes, you have to spend money! Now there is no shortage of poor people in the Ming Dynasty, so recruitment is not a problem, but after recruiting them, they have to take care of their food for a period of time. They have to pay travel expenses to move them. After they move to the place, they have to pay for food and help them settle down.
Secondly, it costs a lot of money to arm and train these military households! Since they are called military households, they must be organized into groups, armed and trained... Moreover, the places where these military households are going are not peaceful, so they cannot fight! Therefore, every military household must have a gun, everyone must hold a spear, and they must participate in military training!
Thirdly, the Ming court had to establish local governments or feudal states to govern these military households... This would cost a lot of money! Moreover, in order to maintain control over these local political powers and feudal states, the imperial court had to send some troops to garrison there. Strongholds or ports must be built along the way to ensure smooth transportation.
Finally, in order to seize territory and protect the territory it seized, the Ming court had to deploy troops abroad for a long time... and it also had to maintain troops on multiple battlefields at the same time. For example, the current Ming Dynasty has established five major governor-general regions: Nanyang, Burma, East Asia, Western Regions, and Northeast China. Each governor-general has jurisdiction over at least tens of thousands of troops, and the annual military expenditures are astronomical!
In short, Zhu Youjian, the great emperor, now manages a large company that is expanding blindly, with a lot of exaggerated-looking projects in his hands, but each of these projects requires a large amount of investment to be completed. And Zhu Youjian's big company simply can't afford that much money to invest...
What's worse is that Zhu Youjian has no idea how these big projects can be profitable?
And in his opinion, it is impossible for these projects to be profitable... But the traitor in his previous life played a bigger game than him and made a lot of money!
Therefore, Zhu Youjian has been looking forward to the treasonous son for the past two years to take on the responsibility of making money for the country as soon as possible!
In fact, since the 16th year of Chongzhen, he has allowed Nizi to participate in the management and operation of Yumajian Huangzhuang. Nizi also showed some genius, but he could not compare with the "awakened version" Nizi in his previous life.
Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian said to Zhu Cihong: "Since my ancestors sent you to make money for me...then where do you plan to start? When can you make 100 million for me? Half a year? Or a year?" "
One hundred million!
Zhu Cixi rolled his eyelids and said with a wry smile: "Father, I cannot turn stone into gold..."
What? No way? Zhu Youjian's face darkened a little!
Zhu Cixiang said slowly at this time: "But if you want to borrow 100 million from my son, one year, just give it to my son for one year."
"Borrow?" Zhu Youjian frowned and smiled, "That's okay, but I won't pay it back. You will find a way to pay it back after you ascend the throne!"
