Prince of Chaos

Chapter 42 Chongyang Performance
The household department is really out of money.

According to the research works of American historian Huang Moumou, during the period of Emperor Wanli in the 300th century, the treasury bank in Taicang, the household department, had an annual deficit of more than [-] million taels.

The 300 million taels doesn't sound like much. After all, many rich people spend tens of thousands of taels of silver under the baptism of TV dramas for many years.The emperor's reward is also gold ten thousand taels.

In fact, there were not many rewards from the emperor in the Ming Dynasty. At most, they were rewarded with a few taels of silver or some insignificant items. If the emperor can reward more than 10 taels of silver in a single transaction, it may be a great achievement!

However, in fact, the 300 million taels was an unattainable astronomical figure both at that time and in modern times!Calculated in modern currency values:
One tael of silver is equal to 1000 Wenqian, which can buy 400 catties of rice. In the Ming Dynasty, one catty was equal to a modern catty of two taels, so at that time, one tael could buy 480 catties of modern rice.Modern rice is about 2 to 3 yuan per catty, and if you take 2.5 yuan per catty, one tael of silver at that time was equivalent to about 1200 yuan now if you simply measured the purchasing power based on the price of rice.

Multiplying this number by the deficit of the ether warehouse, one can imagine how big the hole is, especially at that time, the labor cost was only between 60 and 70 yuan a day, and the value of this tael of silver far exceeded the current converted price.

Moreover, in this era, the annual tax of the imperial court is only more than 1000 million taels of silver, and this 300 million taels is nearly one-third of the national income!
When Zhu Changluo overheard Chen Ju telling him that Zhang Cheng suggested that Emperor Wanli open mines to gather wealth, and finally Wanli Emperor compromised into a mine tax, Zhu Changluo sighed, "The one who should come still has to come!"

Chen Ju didn't understand what it meant, so Chen Ju asked, "What does your Highness mean?"

Zhu Changluo said: "It's nothing, I just worry about my father's money. I have to find a way to help my father earn some money."

Chen Ju smiled flatteringly: "The emperor must be very happy to know that His Highness has such filial piety."

Zhu Changluo said: "This is also my duty as a son of man, so my father-in-law should stop boasting."

Then Zhu Changluo asked again: "How is the stage in the Palace of Compassionate Ning?"

Chen Ju said: "Zhang Cheng is watching this matter, and the Ministry of Industry and the Inner Palace Supervisor are working on it. It must be getting better soon."

Zhu Changluo said: "Zhang Cheng is a good father-in-law. His proposal helped the emperor solve his urgent needs, and the holy family must be prosperous now."

Chen Ju was silent for a while, but did not answer.

Zhu Changluo continued: "You and Eunuch Sun had better not get involved in the matter suggested by Zhang Cheng, otherwise the backlash from the court will make you unable to bear it. Although the world seems to belong to the father, it is actually They belong to a group of scholars. The royal father's mining tax was not to compete with the people, but to compete with the literati. The interests of the scholar-officials have been damaged. If they can't threaten the father, they will naturally knock the mountains and shake the tigers and attack the people around the father. People, so don't get involved in this matter."

Chen Ju didn't expect Zhu Changluo to see it so thoroughly, he didn't think about it that way at first.The longer he stayed with Zhu Changluo, the more Chen Ju felt that Zhu Changluo was unfathomable, and he became more loyal to the five-year-old child. Now what Zhu Changluo said to him was sometimes better than the imperial decree of Emperor Wanli. Life is never too much.

Chen Ju said in a low voice: "The old slave has written it down."

Zhu Changluo nodded and said, "Let the musicians rehearse later, and try to complete tomorrow's performance satisfactorily. Now this matter is our top priority."

Chen Ju said: "This old slave will save it."

After Zhu Changluo finished chatting with Chen Ju, he began to think about his next opportunity. Now that the well-known Wanli mining tax has begun to appear, the conflict between Emperor Wanli and the civil officials will naturally become more and more fierce. At that time, he would definitely be used as a gun by the civil officials, and he would disgust Emperor Wanli with all his strength.

If you still haven't made some achievements to show your value, then no matter how you try to argue that you have no intention of being crown prince, Emperor Wanli will not believe it.Because the officials of the foreign dynasty would support themselves and oppose the Wanli Emperor, wouldn't this put themselves at the gunpoint of the Wanli Emperor?Even if Emperor Wanli had to admit defeat in the end, the prince would definitely not do well, and history would even repeat itself.

Zhu Changluo has never been a person who just sits and waits to die. Now he has to find a way to plan ahead.

The next day, the Double Ninth Festival.

There were lanterns and festoons in the Palace of Compassion and Ning, and the square in front of the Palace of Compassion and Ning was filled with chrysanthemums.Zhu Changluo looked at the yellow chrysanthemums and white chrysanthemums all over the ground, and the corners of his mouth twitched. What kind of aesthetics is this?A grand festival was made like a funeral scene.

But Zhu Changluo didn't dare to say this, nor did he dare to show such an expression.After all, the current aesthetics and customs are different from those hundreds of years later.

At this time, chrysanthemum was just a kind of flower, and it also represented a kind of noble sentiment.It is also the sustenance of Tao Yuanming's pastoral life that scholars envy.The future chrysanthemum will be more than just a flower.

Empress Dowager Li sat in the middle, surrounded by noble ladies from the capital and court officials, they surrounded Empress Dowager Li and said auspicious words, and were happy with her.

But the most they talked about was the plot of "Dream of Red Mansions". As the protagonist of the Double Ninth Festival, Queen Mother Li naturally had the most say.

Empress Dowager Li said: "The Aijia is almost torn through this book, and I feel sorry for poor sister Lin and Bao Yu'er. I really don't know what happened to this pair of enemies. This time Aijia also prepares for you Aijia asked people to connect the chapters of "A Dream of Red Mansions", from the first to the current 45 chapters. Later, each person will have a copy. Let's all study the matter of Bao Yuer and Sister Lin carefully. "

The imperial wives who sat on the side followed what Queen Mother Li had said and said with great joy: "I thank the Queen Mother for your kindness. I have been reading it all the time. I feel sorry for the people in the book. Why are there so many twists and turns."

At this time, the program prepared for Queen Mother Li also started.

The first play was called "Shou Tao". A group of children jumped and jumped on the stage to the beat of the drums. Finally, a huge birthday peach was presented to Queen Mother Li.

Empress Dowager Li looked happily, and said directly: "Reward!"

Then there were several traditional acrobatics and opera performances. Empress Dowager Li and a group of imperial wives watched lively, and there would be a round of applause from time to time!
Finally came Chen Ju's finale.

Chen Ju brought a group of dozens of musicians to the stage. Empress Dowager Li looked at it with novelty and asked Emperor Wanli next to him: "Emperor, what program is this?"

Emperor Wanli said: "This is a new piece of music that Chang Luo and Chen Ju rehearsed together. I haven't heard it before. I heard from Chang Luo that this piece is based on the score of funeral flowers."

Mrs. Li later became interested.Now in the entire Forbidden City, who doesn't know that Queen Mother Li is a fan of "Dream of Red Mansions", and now someone has composed the tune, so everyone should listen to it no matter what.

Chen Ju on the stage led the musicians to salute the Empress Dowager Li, and then returned to their seats, ready to start playing.

Standing on the podium in the middle, Chen Ju began to wave his baton towards the flute musicians.

A melodious and high-pitched flute sounded from the stage, followed by an erhu song.

All the people in the audience were shocked by this unique music performance. They all stopped their movements, stared at the stage intently, and listened attentively to the euphemistic and sad words of the erhu.

Zhu Changluo looked at the faces of all the people present who were caught in the song of burying flowers, and he knew that the performance was over!With this performance as a foreshadowing, he can ask Queen Mother Li to act coquettishly and find something to do.

　Chapter 2 arrives!
　　Ask for tickets and collect!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)