Time flies by like a flash, and in a blink of an eye, it is the golden autumn October of the fifteenth year of Wanli. With the first auspicious snow falling in the Forbidden City, a secret report from the Japanese country was also delivered to the Forbidden City with snowflakes.
Zhu Yijun thus learned that Ishimi Yinshan had been obtained, and that the court had obtained more than 8 million taels of silver this time, plus more than 9 million taels from the treasury confiscated in various Japanese cities, and the two million taels compensated by Sengoku Hidehisa. , a total of nearly 20 million taels.
Zhu Yijun was overjoyed and hurriedly summoned Shen Shixing and other officials in power.
"Sure enough, the chess game is out of the game. Uncle Shuozhou did not disappoint me. He is about to bring back nearly 20 million taels of silver."
Zhu Yijun said and asked Zhang Yue to report the report to the ruling ministers.
Shen Shixing was shocked when he saw it.
Naturally, they would not believe that what Ma Gui said was false. After all, military and political matters were trivial. If Ma Gui and the Japanese governor Xing Jie deceived the emperor on the secret report and harmed the country's affairs, they would undoubtedly be ignoring their own nine clans.
In addition to being shocked, Shen Shixing and others were also pleasantly surprised.
"With these nearly 20 million taels of silver alone, based on the calculation of about 90% of the silver dollar added to the silver, and excluding the road freight and labor costs, it is not a problem to mint 18 million taels of silver dollars. In this way, the 15 million taels invested in the past The two silver dollars can be earned back, even if it counts as interest, it is still earned. Coupled with the recent increase in foreign money income from various places, the money for the imperial treasury can be earned back, and at the same time, the private silver dollar can be returned to what the imperial court needs. situation."
Shen Shixing spoke first.
Zhang Xueyan said at this time: "Your Majesty, since we have this silver, in the opinion of a foolish minister, we should reprimand Taicang and other state treasury for existing silver, distribute it to the market through various projects and welfare charities, and first bring down the price of silver coins. Try to save as many workshops and factories that are not bankrupt but still persisting, and keep some businesses as possible."
Zhu Yijun nodded: "Yes!"
Liu Yingjie also said at this time: "In this case, the foolish minister thinks that we can also order the governors of various regions to send troops to escort the silver coins from various vassal treasury to Beijing and put them into the market to further increase the number of silver coins on the market. After all, wait for the silver to be transported to the capital, and then It will take a year and a half to mint silver coins, but the situation in the entire country means that we cannot wait any longer. If we wait any longer, I don’t know how many industries will close down and how many people will become unemployed."
"In addition, because I knew that sooner or later the imperial court would go to war with Japan, I had already transferred this year's military pay in Dusi, Jizhou, Datong, Xuanfu and other places in Liaodong in advance, in order to avoid the situation where the imperial court deposits money to save people's livelihood today. The release of a large amount of silver coins resulted in insufficient military pay, and as a result, border troops were instigated by traitors and mutinied on the grounds that the military pay had not been paid. Now that I think about it, I don’t have to worry about it anymore. I can also advance the military pay first. If it is distributed continuously, it will not only stabilize the morale of the military and the people, but also stabilize the value of the silver dollar."
"What you said is an old man's advice to seek the country, and it must be accurate!"
Zhu Yijun said with a smile.
The Ming Dynasty's corvee dingyin was a local tax and was not turned over to the central court. This was to facilitate local disaster relief and crisis response, and at the same time reduce transportation consumption.
Therefore, there was still money in vassal treasuries throughout the Ming Dynasty.
However, the local vassals were not all deposited with silver, because Zhu Yijun did not force each place to have a whip, and still allowed the local governor to choose to pay grain instead of service or use silver instead of service based on the actual situation.
But there must still be a lot of people saving money.
Therefore, Liu Yingjie now suggested that the bank deposits in various vassal treasury should be used to rescue the market.
"Your Majesty, in the opinion of my foolish minister, I should conceal the large amount of silver stolen from Japan by the Japanese, so as to help the imperial court defeat the powerful, greatly reduce the disadvantages of the annexation of the country for more than two hundred years, and prolong the prosperous age!"
At this time, Hai Rui, the Minister of Civil Affairs, put forward his own opinion and said: "Because even if the rich and powerful families in the world abide by the law and do not take anything by force, they can still annex the world's wealth, so the government often cannot completely prevent the annexation. We cannot completely divide the property among the people, otherwise there will be bloodshed for thousands of miles, but now is a good opportunity for everyone to be greedy and divide the property among the people."
"I second the proposal!"
Wang Xijue then said something.
"I also second the proposal!"
Shen Shixing also echoed.
"I also second the proposal!"
…
For a time, all the ruling ministers agreed.
Because it is not their family that is being cheated anyway, and this will not only help the country solve the annexation problem but also weaken the power of other powerful people, so why not do it?
"Then let Haiqing tell you what to do. All news will be reported after I give my permission."
Zhu Yijun therefore said something.
"According to the order!"
As a result, with the nearly 20 million taels of silver stolen from Dongyi as a basis, the imperial court continued to increase investment in infrastructure construction and welfare and charity.
More silver dollars began to flow into the market.
No matter how much high-quality assets the powerful bureaucrats sell at low prices, they still can't hold back the flood of silver dollars flooding into the market. As a result, the price of silver coins has really stopped rising, and many powerful bureaucrats are also quite depressed.
“The land is almost sold out, so why hasn’t the price of silver dollars changed much?”
"My more than 100 stores have almost sold out, so why is there not much increase in sales?"
Many powerful bureaucrats felt strange.
soon.
Yang Yuting discovered the clues when he was auditing the Household Department. He learned that the cabinet had originally asked the Household Department to take out all the silver coins from the treasury, and was still adjusting the silver coins from the vassal treasury and issuing them in advance. Because of this, he was angry and impeached Wang Lin, the Minister of Household Affairs, for corrupting the country's finances, wanting to disrupt the country, and committing treacherous acts.
Zhu Yijun directly chose not to report this.
Yang Yuting's report also let Gu Xiancheng know the clues of the matter through his friends in the General Affairs Department, and he couldn't help but said: "No wonder, this is the last struggle of the traitors such as Shenwu County! We can't give up at this time, we should continue to hoard money .”
As he spoke, Gu Xiancheng said to Gu Yuncheng: "Sell all the remaining fields by our Taihu Lake, even for one tael of silver per acre!"
"good!"
Gu Yuncheng agreed. Nowadays, rich people all over the world are hoarding money and selling land, so he doesn't feel that what his brother did is wrong.
Like the Gu family, many powerful bureaucrats of the old party are still insisting on selling high-quality assets, convinced that the court is fighting against the odds.
As the news spread that silver coins from various vassals were being escorted to Beijing, they became convinced that the government was being held on by force.
Gu Xiancheng even smiled at Gu Yuncheng, Wang Zhixiang and others because of this and said: "In this case, it is certain that at least next year, not only will the national treasury be out of money, but even the vassal treasury will be out of money. In that case, Shenwu County and others will be imprisoned sooner or later. , if there are big foreign and internal troubles again, His Majesty will not even think about cleaning up the New Party, and then it will be time for us to divide the New Party."
"Maybe they have other methods, such as getting a lot of silver by bullying the barbarians outside."
Wang Zhixiang mentioned another possibility at this time.
Gu Xiancheng was not completely lost in the fight, so he pondered for a moment and said: "It is possible, let's hold on until the end of the year. If after the new year, the court can still stabilize the price of silver coins, then we will just Being able to stop! It shows that Shenwu County and others are really capable."
"However, we can't just insist during this period. We must vigorously impeach them for their disorderly government. After all, the advantage now is on our side. It is the rule that is violated by the government! For example, all national funds below the red line are used to embezzle Daxing projects. , wantonly misappropriating the vassal treasury, regardless of the local area, we can all be impeached, and there is no reason for His Majesty not to allow us to supervise the government just because we are serving the country and the people."
Shen Shixing and other ruling ministers also had a small gathering in the courtyard of the official residence on this day, and talked about the current situation of many powerful and powerful bureaucrats selling off their assets at a low price.
Shen Shixing couldn't help but laugh and said: "I didn't expect the evil people in the world to hate us so much. They hate us so much that they lose all their benevolence and wisdom."
"After all, if all our homes are ransacked, the gains will be quite a lot."
Qi Jiguang said with a smile.
"Now it seems that Your Majesty must have known that the Japanese country had the Great Silver Mountain. No wonder Your Majesty always stays overnight to review the Japanese memorials."
Wang Xijue said something at this time.
Zhang Xueyan said: "It seems that Your Majesty really knows God's will, and God's will is really the Holy Will."
"yes!"
Shen Shixing responded with a smile and said: "However, they don't know that the imperial court has a trump card, and many ordinary people don't know it either. In order to avoid the spread of panic and real unrest, I will ask His Majesty to report the Japanese war at the end of the year. Please spread the news so that everyone can have a good New Year."
Everyone nodded.
(End of chapter)
