"Retrial Huang Taiji?"
Chongzhen put down the tea cup, his eyes full of doubts.
Huang Taiji had been interrogated several times since he was captured, but even the black-handed butcher, the best torture expert in Jinyiwei's prison, refused to speak.
"Yuan Aiqing, don't worry, tell me the specifics first, and I'll listen first!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
After Yuan Keli finished speaking, he handed over the account book in his hand.
"Your Majesty, from noon yesterday to now, the properties of the major nobles and royal palaces in Shenyang City have been initially inventoried.
A total of 3.4 million taels of silver, 80,000 taels of gold, antiques, calligraphy and paintings, rare jades, furs, medicinal materials, etc. were confiscated from the homes of the major nobles and slaves. The initial estimate is about 11 million taels, a total of 1,500 taels. About a million taels. "
"These do not include the property outside the inner city gate used to recruit people!"
Listening to Yuan Keli's addition, Chongzhen chuckled: "Now that we've reached this point, these people are still so greedy for money and have their own agendas!"
"Your Majesty, this is normal. After all, we don't know the situation outside, so it's normal to have some back-ups.
Besides, even if Jian Nu wins, will Huang Taiji definitely not give it to them?
At that time, I would just make an excuse and say it was to save their lives. After the victory, Huang Taiji's prestige had greatly increased, and these nobles had no way to do it. "
"That's true!"
Chongzhen nodded and continued: "You continue!"
"The gates outside the inner city have eight million taels of silver, and there are almost six to seven million taels of various antiques, calligraphy, paintings, rare jades, etc., totaling fifteen million taels.
According to the registration, at least 50% of it belongs to the slave-building treasury. "
"As for Jiannu's treasury, there is nothing valuable except ores. Those sergeants carried out Yangguli's orders thoroughly."
"but……"
When Yuan Keli said this, the conversation paused, making Chongzhen stunned.
“However, 1,547,000 taels of silver, antiques, calligraphy and paintings, rare jade jewelry, furs, medicinal materials, etc. were found in the basement under the Han Palace where Nurhachi used to live. Preliminary estimates are that they are worth at least 3 million taels. "
"And...there are six hundred and forty-one thousand two hundred taels of gold."
"The basement of Han Palace? More than 600,000 taels of gold?"
Chongzhen repeated softly, and his expression became serious.
Commonly used among the people are copper coins and broken silver. There are not many whole ingots of silver, let alone gold.
This rare metal must be available in the homes of wealthy merchants and gentry, but definitely not in large quantities.
Even the nobles of the royal palace never exceeded ten thousand taels, and even the Kong family only had three hundred thousand taels.
But the Confucius family has been inherited for nearly two thousand years, and there are so many royal rewards, gifts from various wealthy businessmen and gentry, and their own 'encroachment'.
It had only been fifty years since Nurhachi raised his troops, but he actually had 640,000 taels, and they were still hidden in the basement. No matter how you thought about it, it felt wrong.
"Did you find a gold mine?"
An idea suddenly popped out of Chongzhen's mind, and he muttered to himself: "A gold mine must have been discovered, otherwise it would be unexplainable that Jiannu could accumulate so much gold in just a few decades!"
"Judging from this amount of gold, the gold mine must be quite big!"
Listening to the emperor's words, Yuan Keli's eyes were full of approval: "Your Majesty, I have the same guess. I have seen some of these gold ministers, and they are of average quality.
According to the Ming Dynasty's refining technology, the final estimate would be about 500,000 taels. At that time, I thought it was a problem with Jiannu's smelting technology. After all, their iron smelting technology was average.
But this amount is too much, so I estimate that it is likely that Jiannu discovered a gold mine, and it was a huge one. "
After Yuan Keli finished speaking, Chongzhen became excited.
In fact, there is no reason why they should not be excited. You must know that it has been more than three thousand years since the Xia Dynasty when gold mines were recorded in historical books. Less than a hundred gold mines have been discovered and mined, and the annual output only fluctuates around 10,000 taels.
Remember, only ten thousand taels are handed over for all the gold mines combined, not for a single gold mine.
According to Jiannu's gold reserves, rise time, and consumption, this gold mine can produce at least fifteen thousand taels of pure gold every year, which is terrifying.
Of course, if it is only fifteen thousand taels of gold, which is approximately equivalent to fifteen to two hundred thousand taels of silver, this is nothing to Ming Dynasty.
But for the fast-rising Jiannu, it was a considerable fortune, which could also explain why he was able to do business with the eight major locust merchants.
But the most important thing is that all gold mines must have associated minerals, such as silver, copper, lead, zinc, molybdenum, tungsten, etc., especially molybdenum and tungsten, which are one of the raw materials that can make high-strength steel and alloys.
It may take time to explore the alloy, so don’t rush it, but the most important thing is copper. There is a probability of more than 99% in a gold mine that there will be a copper mine.
He now knew why Yuan Keli wanted to retrial Huang Taiji as soon as he entered the big tent.
"Yuan Aiqing, please guess, if it is really a gold mine, how much copper can it produce?"
"Your Majesty, according to records, the output of associated copper in general gold mines is between 150 and 200 times that of gold.
Based on the annual production of 15,000 taels of gold, it can produce... 225,000 to 300,000 jins of copper. "
hiss……
Listening to Yuan Keli's speculation, Chongzhen's scalp felt numb.
Since the founding of the Central Plains Dynasty, copper cannot be said to be lacking, it is quite scarce.
At this stage, knowing that the performance of copper cannons is better than that of iron cannons, why not use copper? Because of lack of copper.
Why did Taizu make banknotes? A large part of the reason was the lack of copper. At that time, the Chizhou government paid a tribute of 150,000 kilograms of copper, which was written into the history books as a political achievement.
A hundred coins are a catty, and a thousand coins are a guan. A hundred and fifty thousand catties can only be cast into fifteen thousand guan of pure copper coins, and only thirty thousand guan of half-copper coins. Compared with the Ming Dynasty, it is a drop in the bucket. It is no wonder that Lao Zhu issued treasure coins.
Now the output of this gold mine can account for 20% of the Ming Dynasty, how can we not surprise both of them.
However, what Chongzhen wanted was not just what Yuan Keli thought, what he wanted was to make firearms.
Casting cannons is too wasteful, but it is used to make flintlock barrels. Because of the properties of copper, the barrels made can greatly improve accuracy, stability, and range.
With the current research and development of fixed-fill drug tubes and conjoined drug tubes, it may be a little more difficult to create a 38-inch cap, but it can definitely greatly improve performance.
…
The more he thought about it, the more excited Chongzhen became: "Come here, bring Huang Taiji here!"
Half a quarter of an hour later, Li Ruolian personally led Huang Taiji into the tent. After experiencing the palace torture, Huang Taiji's face was white with a dark blue color, and his eyes were full of humiliation.
If eyes could kill, Chongzhen had been stunned by Huang Taiji's eyes countless times.
After giving Chongzhen a hard look, he immediately closed his eyes, as if Chongzhen didn't exist.
Chongzhen leaned on the chair and asked calmly: "Huang Taiji, have you discovered a gold mine?"
The faint voice sounded like a bell blasting in Huang Taiji's mind.
With his eyes closed, Huang Taiji's eyelids trembled a few times, but he was noticed by Chongzhen and Yuan Keli who had been watching.
The two looked at each other and smiled, and that was it.
