"Your Majesty, I have something to report!"
A person walked out of the queue of ministers. Chongzhen glanced at it and saw that the person who spoke was Shi Fenglai, the great scholar of Zhongji Palace.
"Shi Aiqing, please speak!"
"Your Majesty, I have been ordered to select the mausoleum of Emperor Daxing together with the Supervisor of Rites, the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Rites, and the Supervisor of Qintian. It is currently designated as Tanyu Ridge. The mausoleum regulations are based on Faqing Mausoleum. According to the regulations, two million taels of silver are required. Your Majesty, please give me your instructions. Down!"
Chongzhen was stunned for a moment. He had been busy in the past two days when he traveled across time, and he had forgotten about Emperor Tianqi's imperial mausoleum.
He still didn't understand what two million taels of silver meant. Before he could say anything, Guo Yunhou, the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, stood up.
"Your Majesty, the national treasury has less than two million taels of silver, but it is about to be the time for the nine major frontier armies to issue military pay, and there is no way to allocate it."
"Master Guo, you are showing contempt for Emperor Daxing. I ask your Majesty to punish Guo Yunhou for the crime of contempt!"
When Cao Sicheng, the censor of Zuodu, stood up, he was slapped with a big hat.
"Master Cao, what do you mean by saying that? Does it mean that the soldiers on the front line are not good enough? If this word spreads, aren't you afraid of causing dissatisfaction among the soldiers?"
…
"Your Majesty, can you first allocate 1 million taels from internal funds to take action first, and then do other things?"
At the end of everyone's argument, Shi Fenglai actually came up with the idea of using money from within.
Chongzhen was angry in his heart and asked in a deep voice: "Shi Aiqing, how much is rice per stone in Kyoto now?"
Shi Fenglai was confused when he was asked. The report was about the tomb of Emperor Daxing. How could he ask for the price of rice per stone?
How can he, a minister in the cabinet, know how much rice costs per stone?
But when the emperor asked, he had to answer: "It seems to be one tael of silver... I don't know!"
"Cao Aiqing, tell me!"
Cao Sicheng, the censor of Zuodu, was confused: "Your Majesty, it seems to be one tael or one coin."
"Seems like? Humph!"
Chongzhen snorted coldly and said, "Fang Aiqing, tell me!"
The Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs said: "I remember that it was eight coins of silver at the beginning of the year, but I really don't know now."
Chongzhen questioned more than a dozen people in a row. Except for the Minister of Household Affairs, he was questioned all over from the Ministry of Personnel to the Supervisory Office and then to the boss of the General Affairs Department. He focused on the people of the Donglin Party.
At the end of the question, Chongzhen didn't even use his beloved wife, but called him by his first name.
"Guo Yunhou, tell me!"
Guo Yunhou, the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, immediately said: "Your Majesty, as of yesterday, every stone of rice in Kyoto is about 850 to 930 copper coins."
"Wei Zhongxian, tell me!"
When the emperor called his name, Wei Zhongxian came out and said: "Your Majesty, the price of brown rice is 780-850 copper coins per stone, and the price of polished rice is between 900-950 copper coins."
Chongzhen quickly calculated in his mind that one stone in the Ming Dynasty was about 120 kilograms, and one kilogram was about 1.2 kilograms in later generations. When converted, it was about 145 kilograms in later generations.
In other words, one tael of silver can buy about 155 kilograms of rice. In later generations, a kilogram of rice was calculated as 2.5 yuan, and the purchasing power of one tael of silver was 388 yuan.
Building a mausoleum costs 2 million taels of silver, which is 770 million in future generations. How big a project is this?
Artificial materials in later generations were much more expensive than today.
Thinking about it, he knew that there must be a lot of greed involved, but he couldn't tell the ministers about this calculation method.
PS: "Records of the Ming Dynasty" records that in the sixth year of the Apocalypse, that is, 1626, rice was about 0.8 taels of silver per stone. Considering that we have been tortured by party strife for another year, we will increase it a bit. The Internet says that one tael of silver is equivalent to the current 660 -800 yuan, or even higher, that was in other years. For example, in the early years of Hongwu, 0.25 taels of silver per stone, that is, one tael of silver bought 4 stones, which was about 600 kilograms, which is equivalent to 1,200 yuan today.
"Fang Zhenghua, send someone to ask questions on the street. Go back quickly. I'm waiting here."
Fang Zhenghua responded and left the Huangji Hall from behind.
Chongzhen stood up from the dragon chair and stood on the ninth floor platform, staring coldly at the ministers below. It took a full quarter of an hour before Chongzhen spoke.
"Do you think I'm making a fuss out of a molehill?"
"I don't dare!"
Seeing the crowd of ministers kneeling down in darkness, Chongzhen ran away.
"Do you think that when you say this, I don't know that you are secretly cursing me in your heart?"
"You are shouting every day that you will die for the Ming Dynasty, but see for yourselves, you don't even know how much a pound of food you eat every day is.
Do you think that you are important ministers of the imperial court, and these things that the common people should be concerned about have nothing to do with you?
What the people are most concerned about, whether they can have enough to eat three meals a day, is food. "
"Official officials, let me ask you, if magistrates and counties in various places do not know the food prices in their own counties, how can they focus on thinking about the people?"
“Ministry of Industry, if you don’t know the price of food, how can you recruit people to work?
Do you think that the national projects are dispatched from various places anyway, so you can pay as much as you want? Have you considered the sacrifices and gains of a common person? "
"Ministry of Rites, you are in charge of the scholars in the world. These people are shouting saints every day. They don't know the farming season, their limbs are not working hard, and they don't know the grain. They don't know the sufferings of the people. How can you talk about benefiting the people?"
"Ministry of Revenue, you are in charge of the world's money, food, and economic lifeline. If you can't even figure out the price of food, how can you arrange transportation?
If a natural disaster occurs somewhere, how can you quickly arrange a disaster relief plan? Do you decide by patting your head? "
"There are also the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of War. Do you think it has nothing to do with you?"
"The current salary of the frontier army is 18 taels of silver per year. Can the current 18 taels of silver be compared with the 18 taels of silver ten years ago? How can the soldiers protect their homes and the country wholeheartedly if their families do not have enough to eat?"
…
"Fan Wenzhenggong of the Northern Song Dynasty once said, worry about the worries of the world first, and be happy when the world is happy. If you live high in the temple, worry about the people. Look at you, you don't even know the price of food. What kind of people are you worried about? "
"Think about why my great ancestor rebelled? Or was it because he wanted to have food to eat and survive!"
"Do you have to wait until one day when slaves from outside lead their troops to enter the pass and plunder wantonly, countless compatriots are killed, and the people inside revolt and do things that please their relatives and enemies?"
"We have to wait until one day when the city of Beijing is destroyed and you are all killed by the enemy. Do you want to be a minister who subjugates the country, and I will be a king who subjugates the country?
If one day comes, I will fight to the death and kill all nine of your tribes before I die! "
Chongzhen caught the ministers and cursed them angrily. Although what he said was a bit idealistic and far-fetched, it did not prevent him from criticizing them.
Why Brother Li went on a rampage two years later and summoned millions of soldiers in a short period of time was not because the people didn't have enough to eat.
Who would risk being beheaded to rebel if they could have enough to eat?
What does who the emperor have to do with them?
To be fed, clothed, and loved.
Why did he come and not arrange for anyone to kill Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, the two rebels who swept the northwest of the Ming Dynasty a few years later?
The famine problem cannot be solved. Kill these two and countless others will stand up.
"Your Majesty, we have investigated a total of 12 rice mills, and the prices obtained are consistent with the prices stated by Mr. Guo, the Secretary of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and Mr. Wei, the Admiral of the East Factory. Here is the guarantee signed by the owner of the rice mill!"
In just a short time, the people sent by Fang Zhenghua came back.
Chongzhen looked at the list presented and nodded secretly. Sure enough, he saw the right person.
The list marked the four directions of Kyoto, three in each direction, the location of the store, the last name of the owner, the price of brown rice and polished rice, and at the bottom there was the fingerprint of the rice shop owner.
"Do you have anything to say? I'll give you a chance to refute!"
