Zhu Yuanzhang, who had been closing his eyes to rest, heard Chu Ze vowing to utter the strategy of subjugating the country.
His eyes that had been closed suddenly opened.
And for a moment, Chu Ze even felt that the air around him seemed to be solidifying.
A fierce murderous aura cut across his face like a steel knife.
Just for a moment, Chu Ze's back was wet with cold sweat.
He was already prepared to die, but he actually felt scared!
"Do you know what the consequences of what you are saying now will be?"
Zhu Yuanzhang's voice was extremely cold at this time, and even the bodies of Prince Zhu Biao and King Yan Zhu Di were trembling slightly because of his powerful aura.
Especially Yan King Zhu Di, his legs seemed to be trembling at this time.
However, even so, Chu Ze still stood upright after coming back to his senses.
"Your Majesty, my soul has returned to this era, which is what we will call later generations after time travel. I have no memories of the past."
"This is actually one of the reasons why I want to die. Of course, the main reason is that if there is another chance later, I can continue talking."
"However, I can still make some general guesses. They are nothing more than the Yi Tribe, the Zhujiu Tribe, and the like."
"But doesn't Your Majesty not want to hear why I said that?"
"If these few words are true, it will bring great luck to the Ming Dynasty for fifty years. Does your Majesty feel that you are at a loss?"
After looking down on life and death at this time, Chu Ze also found that he was becoming more and more calm.
Zhu Yuanzhang, who was on the throne, looked at Chu Ze whose expression returned to normal, and his eyes gradually softened.
Of course, this didn't mean that he was at peace.
Simply because his city is too deep.
It's hard to tell what he's thinking.
"Tell me about it, we are really interested now."
After getting Zhu Yuanzhang's approval, Chu Ze didn't talk nonsense.
If he can say one more word now, then he can earn one more word.
He even looked at Yan King Zhu Di and Prince Zhu Biao beside him.
I am still thinking in my mind whether I should mess with their mentality before they die.
In this time travel, I hurriedly exited the scene before doing anything. Thinking about it, it seems a bit of a loss.
At least, it seems like a good idea to do something to prove that you've been there.
"Your Majesty, if my memory is correct, in peacetime, one stone of rice costs one tael, and a prince would need 50,000 taels of rice per year."
"After that, there are miscellaneous expenses such as silk and satin, cloth, silk, salt, tea, cotton, etc., totaling 20,000 taels."
"But Your Majesty has set the ancestral motto that the prince's title is hereditary, the prince's position is passed down from generation to generation, and the prince's heirs are reduced to the title of county king!"
"The county prince's treatment is six thousand dan per year, which is equivalent to six thousand taels. Including other sundries, it is converted to eight thousand taels."
"Your Highness, I wonder if there is any error in the data I obtained?"
What Chu Ze said before was indeed meant for Zhu Yuanzhang.
But for the last question, he was directed at Zhu Biao.
Anyone with a discerning eye can see that Lao Zhu is a reasonable person.
But in his eyes, reason is always only on his side.
In fact, Chu Ze didn't really want to talk to him.
On the contrary, Prince Zhu Biao is much easier to talk to.
After Zhu Biao heard Chu Ze's question, he nodded subconsciously, but then shook his head.
Then, he added with a slight frown.
"It's not just these expenses. According to the rules set by the emperor, princes and kings need to have maids and eunuchs to take care of their daily lives. Then there is also this part of the expenses, which must also be taken into account."
When he heard Chu Ze starting to settle accounts, Zhu Biao actually started to have a bad premonition in his heart.
However, he didn't know where this premonition came from.
So when Chu Ze posed the question to him, he unexpectedly cooperated with Chu Ze's words.
"Yeah, I really forgot about this..."
After Chu Ze heard Zhu Biao mention this, he nodded as if he suddenly understood.
Seeing his behavior, Zhu Yuanzhang snorted with some displeasure.
However, under Zhu Yuanzhang's gaze, Chu Ze uttered this sentence again without any haste.
"If you include the palace maids and eunuchs, then you have to include the loss of population. We'll settle this later."
"Since the prince said there is no problem, let's continue."
"Today, Emperor Taizu has a total of 26 children. That is, twenty-five princes. The annual expenditure required for these twenty-five princes is about 1.75 million taels."
"Below the princes, there are also county princes... We don't exaggerate the county princes. Each prince has ten children, which is quite few. You know, Liu Sheng, King of Zhongshan in the Han Dynasty, had more than 100 sons. .”
"It's enough to have a base of 250 county princes."
This number is quite auspicious...
I originally thought that when this number was mentioned, Lao Zhu and his son would have some bad expressions.
But obviously, this meme is not popular in today's era.
Chu Ze, who was a little disappointed, continued to settle the accounts.
"Each county king will consume eight thousand taels according to the previous calculation. That is, two million taels."
"Based on this calculation, in one year, Ming Dynasty will need to consume 3.75 million taels of fiscal revenue just to support these princes and princes."
"Moreover, this is only the first generation of princes and county kings."
"If we still calculate according to the proportion just now, the hereditary prince will still count as an expense of 1,750,000 taels."
"When the first generation of county kings grew up, the second generation of county kings began to be born. Each county king still counts as having ten children."
"In the previous generation, there were 250 county kings, ten each, and 2,500 county kings were born."
"Then there will be the third generation. Under the three generations, we count the 250 county princes of the first generation to have a collective funeral, and the number is defined as 2,500."
"Then, from these 2,050 county kings, ten new county kings were born, and then 25,000 county kings were born."
"The fourth generation, 250,000 county kings were born."
"Even if we have 250,000 fourth-generation princes who need to be supported by the court...the annual cost will be close to 200,000 taels of silver!"
"I'm not very clear about the fiscal revenue of the imperial court in this era. I wonder how many thousand taels of revenue the Ming Dynasty has in a year?"
"..."
After Chu Ze finished speaking, he did not wait for the answer he imagined.
At this time, the entire imperial study became completely silent.
When Chu Ze raised his head, what he saw was the father and son of the old Zhu family who were flexing their fingers and sweating on their foreheads.
