There are indeed few emperors who can restrain themselves and not steal money from the people. The important ministers present also sincerely admired that since the emperor ascended the throne, he not only did not take money from the people, but also gritted his teeth and gave the people tax exemptions.
But the problem is that the emperor has already robbed everyone else who can be robbed. Eunuchs, vassal kings, nobles, and monks are all the emperor's key targets for robbery.
We've already robbed everything that should be robbed. If we're short of money again, who will we rob next?
As if he could see through the minds of the ministers, Zhu Qiyu took the initiative to explain: "Don't be nervous, I will not carry out large-scale land reform, and I have no interest in robbing the interests of bureaucrats and gentry.
However, I must carry out the reform of the salt industry. I must carry out the sea ban and voyages to the Western Ocean. Then I must launch foreign wars, obtain wealth from overseas, obtain silver and copper mines from overseas, and then transport them back to mint coins.
If the income from these three areas is done well, it will be enough to fill the treasury. "
When everyone heard the words, they all shouted for the Holy Spirit.
Anyway, everyone has reached a consensus, not to look at slogans but to see actual results. It is only the second year of Jingtai, so everyone has the patience to wait another three to five years.
When the emperor succeeds, it means that everyone supports the emperor because he has a long-term vision and a good eye for the emperor; if he messes up, it is not too late to stand up and remonstrate with the emperor and reset the national policy.
In a word, it was to give the emperor a chance to try it out first.
It took eight years for Emperor Gongrang to take charge of the throne and then abdicate. There is no reason why he shouldn't try it today.
After watching the coin minting process, Zhou Chen led everyone into the bank to watch. The mountains of silver inside almost blinded everyone. As the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, Shen Yi was the first to be unbalanced:
"Da Sikong, you actually have the nerve to ask the Ministry of Husbandry for silver coins. Look at the money in front of you. You are much richer than our Ministry of Husbandry."
When Zhou Chen heard this, he quickly frowned and cried: "Only a small half of the money is our money, most of the silver was given to the Ministry of Industry for casting by the dignitaries in the capital.
These include one million taels from the Prince of Qi's Palace, 200,000 taels from the Ying Gong and Dingguo Palaces each, 100,000 taels each from the An Guogong and Wuding Marquis Palaces, and two million taels from merchants. "
Shen Yi asked curiously: "What merchant has two million taels of silver?"
Zhou Chen replied: "Jietian Tower, Tianxiang Tower, Goddess Pavilion, Lingyu Treasure Pavilion, Mingyu Baibao Pavilion, Suyu Xiuyi Shop..."
Zhu Qiyu waved his hand sheepishly: "I don't need to mention them one by one. The shops in the capital that contain the four characters "天,香,玉,女" in their names are basically opened by my princess."
When everyone heard this, they took a deep breath. Good guy, it turns out that the most profitable shops in the capital are all in the hands of the emperor.
"Hey, I can't help it. You have to understand my difficulties. It takes a lot of money to raise a woman to the point where she will never be bribed with money.
I have not spent the court's money, nor have I spent the internal funds. If I don't buy a few shops, then the emperor will go around begging for food, and it will be shameful for you to follow suit. "
After explaining it like this, the ministers all understood that the emperor's move was really ruthless. You used one hundred and eighty thousand silver to bribe the emperor's concubine and asked her to poison the emperor, and no one even bothered to take a look.
If you take one million taels of silver, maybe someone will be tempted. But for a woman who has lost her husband, even if you are honest and trustworthy after everything is done, if you really give her one million taels, she will not be able to keep it.
So the emperor killed Luca directly for everyone, and it was useless to bribe the concubines with money.
Moreover, in terms of comprehensive status and power, the number one woman in the Ming Dynasty today is Wu Taifei. After Wu Taifei, she is tied for second among the emperor's fifteen favorite concubines.
The emperor's women are all shrewd. Who would be so stupid as to leave the second best woman in the world and rush off to become a helpless traitor?
The road to assassinating the emperor is currently blocked, but assassinating Emperor Gongrang is easy. There are hundreds of people and concubines coming and going in the entire Chonghua Palace, and there are too many loopholes.
Thinking of this, the ministers all understood that the emperor was just talking about his favorite concubine, but in fact he was implying that the emperor, the crown prince, and the concubine Xuandiao could die at any time. You'd better be honest and don't talk about it. I'm pissed off.
If you insist on forcing me, I can also give you the possession of the Great Emperor of Wuxuanmiao, a wise god. Are you still fresh in your memory of the story of the King of Han?
It's hard to blame these talented Jinshi gentlemen who fought out from thousands of troops. Zhu Qiyu warned them in such a roundabout way, but they still understood.
After watching Baoyuan Bureau, it was still early, so Zhu Qiyu took the ministers to the outer city of Beijing.
The Gunpowder Bureau and Wang Gong Factory, which produced dangerous goods, were placed in the southeast corner of Beijing's outer city by Zhu Qiyu. Before the city was built, the area had dense water networks and crisscrossed rivers, making it naturally suitable for preventing fires.
Zhu Qiyu would definitely not be stupid enough to inspect the Gunpowder Bureau and Wang Gong Factory. The famous Apocalypse Explosion in later generations was caused by Wang Gongchang.
It would be great fun if the ministers suddenly enlightened and had a big explosion in Jingtai while they were on inspection.
The reason why these factories were placed in the southeast corner of the outer city was because I basically had no chance to get close to that area.
Not far from the New Gunpowder Bureau and Wang Gong Factory, there are the Temple of Heaven and the Temple of Mountains and Rivers. The problem is that I won’t go. If I want to offer sacrifices, I can just let the British Duke do it on my behalf. Besides, according to the current power of gunpowder, it would be difficult to affect the Temple of Heaven if it exploded.
Zhu Qiyu mainly took the ministers to inspect the six military craftsmen Qianhu Station in the outer city. These military craftsmen who originally belonged to Jinyiwei were separated by Zhu Qiyu and assigned to the jurisdiction of Tiancewei.
Jinyiwei was further split and reduced. Zhu Qiyu's plan was to turn Jinyiwei into a tool purely responsible for investigation and torture.
As for defending the emperor and making ordnance, that's not necessary.
His own role model had already explored this problem personally. Jiajing stubbornly believed that the Jin Yiwei could protect the emperor. He did not change his original intention for decades, and he was burned by fire for most of his life. The results of the experiment are already very clear, so there is no need for me to risk my life and argue.
Wang Wen and others were surprised to find that these military craftsmen were not doing "business" but were instead studying things like crossbows and hidden weapons.
Seeing everyone's confusion, Zhu Qiyu explained with a smile: "Annan is not easy to fight. In the mountains and jungles, firearms are not so easy to use.
First, it rains all the time in that place. How will you use your firearm then? Not as useful as a crossbow.
Second, people will set up various traps and simple mechanisms in mountains and jungles. When the time comes, when you are walking, you step into a big pit. The bottom of the pit is covered with dense spikes. If you fall in, you will become a hedgehog.
Anyway, there are all kinds of weird traps that you can encounter at any time.
Third, when you get to the level ground and the armies are ready to fight, you still have to face the enemy's war elephant. If someone rides an elephant to fight, can you on horseback hit them?
At that point the cannon is very slow to move and adjust its angle, and you end up relying on the crossbow.
In short, we need to specially build ordnance according to Annan's characteristics and arm our expeditionary force in a targeted manner.
The Ming army must not suffer the humiliating defeat of the Xuande Dynasty again.
If it were defeated again, who among the vassal states in the south would think highly of the Ming Dynasty. "
Wang Wen quickly flattered: "Your Majesty is still far-sighted and has long been preparing a perfect strategy to regain Annan."
(End of chapter)
