"Xu Aiqing, I'm going back first. Remember my arrangement and hurry up!"
Chongzhen got on Luan Jia and said again: "I'm waiting for your good news!"
After giving a few instructions, Chongzhen got on the luanjia and headed towards the city.
As soon as Luan Jia came, Chongzhen was in a very happy mood.
I originally came to see the assembly line today, but I didn't expect that the flintlock gun would be successful, let alone construct a flintlock mine. It was a triple blessing.
Especially the flintlock gun, which can comprehensively increase the rate of fire of firearms, thereby improving the overall combat effectiveness.
With tens of thousands of them, he would be able to compete with the cavalry without much cavalry.
It seemed that the three blessings brought good luck. Until the end of October, nothing happened in the whole Ming Dynasty, but the first snow of the year was ushered in.
Standing at the gate of Qianqing Palace, Chongzhen touched the big cloak on his body and chuckled: "I never thought I would be able to wear a marten one day!"
The cloak on his body is a mink fur cloak. The fur is soft, smooth, and warm. In future generations, it will also be an extremely luxurious existence.
Seeing the snow falling more and more, Chongzhen walked towards the outside of Qianqing Palace, but was stopped by Wang Chengen.
"Your Majesty, it's snowing outside and the road is slippery. Please arrange for someone to clean the ground before going out!"
"I just want to step on the snow. If you sweep the snow away, why should I step on it?"
"Can……"
Chongzhen ignored him and stepped out.
Fang Jun and others from the Fang family who were personal guards quickly followed Wang Chengen's signal, staring at Chongzhen's back and tensing up, ready to act as meat pads at any time.
In one night, there was half a foot of snow on the ground, which made a crunching sound when stepped on.
In later generations, due to global warming, he had not seen such heavy snow for many years.
Seeing the snow in the sky, Chongzhen stretched out his hand, and pieces of goose feather snow fell from the sky into his palm. A biting chill came over him instantly, and then the snowflakes turned into water and fell from his fingers.
“If you don’t harvest the wheat, you will see three white crops in October!”
“One snow will leave no trace of insects, and two snows will bring a great harvest in the coming year!”
"Snow water turns into a river, and tens of millions of baskets of food are produced!"
"The sky is full of snow, ice is in the fields, coal is burned and wine is cooked to celebrate the good harvest."
"I hope it snows harder this time!"
…
Chongzhen looked up at the sky, felt the biting coolness on his palms, and murmured peasant proverbs to himself.
The words are full of expectations for next year's harvest.
It's already snowing heavily, but I don't think it's heavy enough. I feel worried that the weather will be cold.
If he has this kind of mentality, why don’t the people of the world also have this kind of mentality?
Snow means that the temperature drops, so wheat will not regret growing rapidly. Secondly, the ice and snow on the ground will freeze the insect eggs to death, and the white snow will help the wheat retain moisture and keep warm, and promote strong growth in the coming year.
Hence these farm sayings about snow and wheat.
I don’t know how long it took, but Wang Chengen’s voice sounded again: “Your Majesty, the Commander of the Imperial Guards wants to see you!”
"Xuan!"
Chongzhen came back to his senses, said something lightly, turned around and walked towards Dongnuan Pavilion. Wang Chengen immediately brought up an exquisite hand warmer.
Touching the warm hand warmer, Chongzhen also marveled at the exquisite design of the ancients. The charcoal inside the hand warmer was hot, but the wall of the hand warmer was not hot. The heat was just right, and it could be placed in the cuff of the hand.
In later generations, they will definitely be considered luxury goods. Hand warmers, hot water bottles, and body-warming patches are all considered little brothers.
After arriving at Dongnuan Pavilion, a sense of warmth surged through his body. Smelling the faint smell of coal, Chongzhen's heart moved.
"My companion, go and tell the maids in the Queen's Palace later that when coal is burning in the room, the doors and windows must not be closed, and the room must be ventilated."
After Wang Chengen responded, Li Ruolian entered Dongnuan Pavilion.
"Your Majesty, I have two things to report!"
Li Ruolian said as he took out a thick book and presented it: "Your Majesty, in the Xungui case, the confiscated family properties have been calculated. Except for the land valuation, the total value of the other items is almost 50 million. two.
There are 245,300 hectares of land, which is nearly 46,000 hectares more than what is stated in the land deed. The error is mainly due to the size of the acres and the number of wealthy businessmen affiliated with Xungui. These fields have all been planted in the autumn.
A total of more than two million taels of grain, etc., a total of nearly 20,000 rare antiques, jades, calligraphy and paintings, etc., equivalent to five million taels of silver, and more than 5,000 shops, manors, restaurants, teahouses, etc., equivalent to more than 33 million taels.
Including the original 15 million taels of cash, the total is nearly 55 million taels! "
Listening to the report, a cold light flashed in Chongzhen's eyes.
Fifty-five million taels, more than fifty distinguished people, an average of one million taels, is that much? It’s really not much!
But for the more than 200,000 hectares of land, all were calculated at seven taels of silver per mu for middle fields, which was 171.5 million taels. Adding more than 50 million taels, the average family had more than 4 million taels.
If you look at it this way, this is really not a small amount.
But compared to the noble family that has existed for two hundred and fifty or sixty years, it seems a bit shabby.
Although the current silver is not much, and although the fields cannot be sold directly, the land can be returned to the people. Use it first and then pay it back. Sooner or later, these fields will be turned into silver and handed over to the warehouse.
There are also those rare jades, antiques, calligraphy and paintings. After he overthrew the Jiannu and Mongolian tribes, and then opened the sea ban, and after the Ming Dynasty opened up internal trade, these were all worth a lot of money.
As the saying goes, buy gold in troubled times and hide antiques in prosperous times.
Xungui fell down, but he was full!
"Your Majesty, what should we do with those gentry and wealthy businessmen?"
"These bastards have a lot of money, but they still dare to engage in tax evasion and tax evasion. They are simply desperate!"
Chongzhen snorted coldly: "The fields were confiscated, the taxes were traced for ten years, and the taxes were recovered tenfold.
Then check to see if any of these wealthy businessmen are officials in the court. Anyone suspected of trading in power, wealth and sex will be dealt with according to Ming law!
Tell them that I only want food and cash, and nothing else. I will give them three months to prepare. If they exceed three months, I will directly confiscate their homes! "
"In addition, all the grain seized from Xungui will be handed over to the Ministry of Household Affairs and stored in the reserve warehouse in the nearest state or county!"
"In a moment, go and inform Sun Chengzong and Bi Ziyan, briefly describe the situation, and ask them to immediately take advantage of three months to renovate the reserve warehouses near these wealthy merchants to ensure that they can store these grains in three months!"
"Your Majesty, don't worry, I promise to squeeze out all the food from these wealthy businessmen!"
As the emperor's absolute confidant, he naturally knew why the emperor only wanted food.
The extra 45,000 hectares will be taxed at four liters per mu. If the tax is traced for ten years and the tax is paid ten times, it will be 18 million shi.
If the imperial court buys grain by itself, transportation and loss will increase by at least 10%. Now the loss will be borne by the wealthy merchants themselves.
After Li Ruolian responded, he whispered: "Your Majesty, the second thing is that according to the distance, Prince Fu will enter Beijing in three days at most!"
"After more than two months of walking, are you finally here?"
Chongzhen was shocked, but then his expression became serious.
King Fu's arrival in Beijing heralds that the biggest crisis since he ascended the throne has just begun!
