Seeing Zhang Mingwei smiling and saying nothing, Emperor Chongzhen became a little anxious and quickly explained: "Really, I finally understand what it means to spend money like water! Look..."
As he spoke, he started counting on his fingers and told Zhang Mingwei one by one.
Queen Zhou and Princess Kunxing looked at them, just smiling and saying nothing.
Today's Zhang Mingwei is the God of Wealth of the Ming Empire. It would be strange if His Majesty didn't tell him this!
"Education, infrastructure, and the floods in the south are all big spenders of money. Not to mention the navy, the three major shipyards are building ships day and night. They are all big spenders of money!" Emperor Chongzhen finally lamented. He said, "Also, we have lost a lot of money in the war against the Japanese. We don't know whether the Japanese will surrender. It would be nice to have the 10 million taels in compensation."
At this point, he remembered something and said again: "As for the Satsuma clan's gold mine, I don't know when it can start mining! Sir, how about sending more troops there?"
Zhang Mingwei laughed when he heard this, and immediately said to him: "Your Majesty, there is no rush. If more troops are sent, it will be difficult to provide logistical supplies for the expedition. At that time, military expenses will start to increase exponentially! As long as the second batch of reinforcements reaches the Japanese country safely, , we will definitely gain control of the sea, and the war between Japan and Japan will not last long."
Having said this, he paused and added: "The Japanese country has a lot of gold and silver mines. If they have resisted for a long time, we can increase the amount of compensation."
Zhang Mingwei remembered that in the original history, in the "Treaty of Shimonoseki" signed after the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1894, the Japanese demanded compensation of 300 million taels of silver. It was really a big deal!
There were already photos from the late Qing Dynasty, and the people in the photos lived like Africans. The towns in the photos and videos were all extremely poor.
It is really sad that China used to be a paradise-like country admired by Westerners, but it has fallen to this. One of the very important reasons is that various unequal treaties were signed at the end of the Qing Dynasty, and an unknown amount of silver was paid as compensation. All of this was taken away from the people. Will those Jianlu give out a tael of silver for state affairs? Just like that, the old witch still wants to build her Old Summer Palace!
Thinking of this, Zhang Mingwei sighed in his heart. Fortunately, he had traveled through time, and the tragedy in the original history was no longer there. Today's land of China is undergoing vigorous construction, laying the solid foundation for Ming Dynasty to become the world's most powerful country.
Thinking like this, he said to Emperor Chongzhen: "Although it is true that we spend a lot of money now, there are huge returns. Invest in education, and your Majesty will have a large number of talents available later to enrich the team of building the Ming Dynasty. These are all real benefits to the Ming Dynasty. There are also various infrastructures, etc., which have created employment for many people. If they have work to do, they will make money, and if they make money, they will not go hungry. Today's Ming Dynasty, as long as you work hard, there will be no shortage of opportunities to get rich!"
The role of banks has become increasingly obvious in recent years. After being increasingly accepted by the people of the Ming Dynasty, many people began to borrow money from banks and go to sea in today's infrastructure and business tide.
At this time, it was really when Ming Dynasty started to exert its strength. It was in the preliminary stage and there really weren't too many opportunities. Anyone who goes to sea and is not particularly unlucky or greedy can make money.
Emperor Chongzhen is actually very satisfied with the current situation. If there was any prosperous age in the past, compared with the Ming Dynasty at this time, it would definitely not be called a prosperous age. His was the real prosperous age.
However, when he complained to Zhang Mingwei now, he was not really complaining about spending too much money. He continued to say to Zhang Mingwei: "Look, Sun Qing has been training troops for more than two years, and the early layout is almost the same. We have received several memorials from him, requesting to send troops to Togo. In addition, we also promised Portugal that we would go west this year. These are all places where we spend money purely!"
Hearing this, Zhang Mingwei couldn't help but shook his head and smiled and said: "Your Majesty, don't worry, it may cost money in the short term, but the return will definitely make your Majesty feel at ease. Just talk about Dongwu, where is the largest gem mine in the world, emerald agate Something like that. In addition, the main purpose of heading west, in addition to enfeoffing the vassal kings, is also the most important purpose, which is that in the future, our Ming Dynasty’s products must have a place to dump them!"
For now, industrialization in the Ming Dynasty has just begun. After all, it has only been a few years. Most of these commodities can be digested by Ming Dynasty itself, and a few of them can also be consumed in East Asia.
However, in the future, as time goes by, East Asia alone will definitely not be able to digest Ming products. At this time, the European market will be needed.
Only by ensuring that the Ming Dynasty's commodities can be continuously produced and sold can the Ming Dynasty's economy continue to flourish, and the lives of the people of the Ming Dynasty be better and better!
At this time, Emperor Chongzhen was overjoyed when he heard Zhang Mingwei's words. This is what he wanted, to know more minerals from Zhang Mingwei.
Therefore, after hearing this, he said without hesitation: "In that case, I will follow Sun Qing's advice and start sending troops to Dongwu, right?"
"Yes!" Zhang Mingwei nodded after hearing this, "The conquest of Dongwu should be carried out according to the strategy we have set before. It should be a lot easier. In short, only by grasping the hearts of the people and dividing and conquering can we achieve long-term peace and order, and accordingly reduce military expenditures. Our Ming Dynasty With Dongwu as an outlet to the sea and the Portuguese as our guides, it will be much easier to expedition to the west.”
As soon as he heard this, Emperor Chongzhen remembered something again and asked a little worriedly: "Sir, Portugal only has a small area, can it persist?"
At the end of last year, an agreement was reached with the Portuguese. It was considered that if an envoy was sent to Portugal immediately to canonize John IV, it was likely that European countries would besiege Portugal. Therefore, no envoys were sent for the time being.
However, four modified steam paddle-wheel warships were sold to Portugal, as well as a lot of rifled artillery and muskets. However, the Portuguese did not have that much money to bring over, and they agreed that they would transport silver from the Americas to pay for it.
At that time, Zhang Mingwei specifically emphasized the requirement to collect rubber to pay for it.
There is no other reason. Even a fast rubber tree usually takes about five years to produce rubber. Daming only started planting it last year, and the quantity is limited. There is only one land in Dayuan. It will take a few more years to harvest large amounts of rubber every year.
However, rubber is a very important raw material. Whether it is improving steam engines, using telephone lines, submarine cables, etc., they all require rubber. These are the most urgent needs. If the Ming Dynasty cannot wait for the rubber to be harvested by themselves, the only choice is to have the Portuguese transport it from the Americas.
At this time, Zhang Mingwei replied to Emperor Chongzhen: "As long as Portugal does not first announce that they have become a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, they should be able to get through it. At least they were able to get through it originally. With our Ming Dynasty's new warships and guns, their We are stronger than before, so it should be easier."
Whether it is a steam engine or a rifled gun, it is impossible to keep it secret for too long. At this time, it can be sold to Portugal at a good price. More importantly, Ming Dynasty only needs to stay ahead in this technology.
Portugal has obtained steam engines and rifled guns. If they want to have this advantage, they will definitely find ways to keep it secret.
In addition, Portugal had to pay Ming to imitate steam engines and rifled guns because they were protected by Ming's patents. As for other European countries imitating steam engines and rifled guns in the future, as long as the Ming Dynasty's force is strong enough, this is the reason to conquer them!
Hearing that they were going far away, Empress Zhou smiled and said, "You guys, even if you talk about money over a meal, you are all interested in money. Come on, come on, let's all try this sea fish. It tastes very strange."
What she was referring to was shark. Just like eating pork, the taste in fish is indeed quite strange.
As the maritime industry developed in the Ming Dynasty, new things in the sea naturally became available.
Upon hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen smiled, picked up his chopsticks, and was about to nod when he heard Zhang Mingwei smile again and say: "So, I really have something here that I need to talk about quickly!"
"What's the matter?" When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he put down his chopsticks again.
He knew Zhang Mingwei, and if he knew what he said, it must be something important.
After hearing this, Queen Zhou and others looked at Zhang Mingwei curiously, wanting to know what important matter it was.
"Haha, just to prevent people from falling in love with money!" Zhang Mingwei immediately said to them with a smile.
"..."
As soon as these words came out, everyone, including Queen Zhou herself, was speechless.
What Queen Zhou just said was a joke, no one should misunderstand it!
Seeing Emperor Chongzhen shaking his head with a smile and wanting to speak, Zhang Mingwei said to him first: "Your Majesty, I am serious about this matter!"
Emperor Chongzhen was stunned for a moment after hearing these words, and then he heard Zhang Mingwei continue to say to him: "Your Majesty, do you still remember that I told you before that one of the causes of the unrest is the widening gap between rich and poor. Rich people Those who have money are richer, and those who have no money are even less rich. The rich have more and more fields, and more and more common people’s fields are annexed, and social chaos ensues!"
Hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help but become serious, nodded and said: "Yes, Sir did analyze it for me. If I remember correctly, Sir's intention is to tax the rich, the richer they are. The more we have to collect.”
Having said this, he paused and said curiously: "But isn't this matter very difficult to handle? Is it possible that sir, you have come up with a good idea?"
After hearing this, Zhang Mingwei nodded immediately and said: "There is a way. Taizu had already formulated it at the beginning. Now that the Ming Dynasty's economy is booming, everything has a tendency to focus on money. Therefore, it is necessary to start doing it from now on This issue."
