Brother Zhu Youxiao

"Counting Qi, the number of officials who can be recalled from the overseas feudal clans is 13."

"In addition, Guochao has more than 12 students graduating from prefectural schools this year, more than 14 students from prefectural schools graduating next year, and it is estimated that the number of students from four-year prefectural schools graduating ahead of schedule is [-]. More than a thousand people."

"These many officials total more than 48 people..."

On the 21th day of the twelfth lunar month in the [-]st year of Tianqi, when the time came to the last day of this year, Wu Aheng and Yan Yinshao finally arrived in the capital.

When they arrived, Lu Wenzhao also stood in the hall and talked eloquently about various things about the official school.

If Zhu Youjian wants to be ruthless, he can definitely attack Yanshan on October 22, 34nd year of Tianqi, because even if the students who graduated early are not counted on this day, Zhu Youjian will be able to mobilize [-] reserve officials .

"The matter of graduating early is temporarily put on hold. Among the remaining 34 people, how many of them are related to Yanshan?"

Zhu Youjian questioned Lu Wenzhao in front of many officials in the palace, and Lu Wenzhao did not hide this, and directly responded with a bow:
"About, no fewer than 6 people."

"Sixty thousand..." Wu Aheng and the others couldn't help but frown upon hearing this string of numbers. They didn't expect Yanshan to penetrate so much into government schools and government schools.

"Excluding this group of people, there are still 28 people, right?"

Zhu Youjian asked, then calmly said, "That's enough."

"Your Highness...but overseas we have to send at least 13 officials to maintain the rule of the vassal state..."

Lu Wenzhao couldn't help but speak, but Zhu Youjian said: "Then it will be enough to send these 6 people, plus a large number of grassroots Yanshan officials who will be replaced soon, to the feudal states."

"But now Yanshan still controls the local taxes..." Lu Wenzhao spoke the key point.

Now Yanshan holds Daming's money bag, and the method they have is also very simple, that is, replacing a large number of village officials with Yanshan students,

Daming's taxation has now been replaced by a "currency system", and no longer hand in in kind as before.

Therefore, the current harvest situation of the people is to keep the food eaten by their own family, and then sell the excess food, exchange it from the village officials for coins, and then use the coins to pay taxes.

That is to say, in the financial system of Ming Dynasty, the term "land tax and grain" will never exist, and it will be replaced by "agricultural tax".

After the local village officials have received the agricultural tax, the normal process is that they go to the market town, hand over the tax to the town office of the market town, and the town office deposits the tax in the bank, and then goes to the county office with the tax bill issued by the bank.

After arriving at the county government office, the tax bills of various market towns are now collected and submitted to the government office, which is handed over to the chief envoy, and the chief envoy to the capital.

That is to say, as long as there is no problem with the transportation of the money by the village officials at the grassroots level, there will be no problems in other places. The bank bears all the transportation risks except the taxation of the village-level administrative unit.

The yamen above the town basically cannot receive all taxes except for the local area, do not see much tax money, and have no fire consumption.

All they have to do is to take a bank statement and submit it to the yamen at all levels.

The reason why the Yanshan faction is unscrupulous is because they have mastered the joints of the first layer.

The common people pay their taxes honestly, but if the village officials do not pay their taxes, then the Ming Dynasty’s tax revenue will be stuck, because the tax revenue cannot enter the bank.

This seemingly simple method, if you want to destroy it, generally speaking, there are only three ways.

The first is to replace the officials and let the new officials escort the taxes to the market town bank for storage.

The second is to mobilize the people and let the people arrest the village officials who do not pay taxes, but this result is likely to be the second of the "slave change movement".

The enthusiasm of the people is very high, but things will gradually develop out of control afterwards, which will indirectly lead to national turmoil.

The first kind of Zhu Youjian has to be done, but the second kind of Zhu Youjian is impossible.

However, compared with these two methods, Zhu Youjian prefers to use the third method.

"I have my own solution to the financial problem. In addition, among the currently elected officials, those related to Yanshan are all transferred to various feudal states to serve as grassroots officials."

"The rest will be exchanged with the officials of the Qi State, and all the officials of the Qi State will appoint officials from Huangdian and Changpingcang at the county and town levels."

Zhu Youjian opened his mouth to focus on the Huangdian and Changping warehouses, and Jin Xuan who heard the words also bowed and said:
"According to the time, at the end of the first month at most, more than 6 Qi officials will arrive in Tianjin one after another."

"The problem now is that the plague in Shanxi is not over yet, and the Jingjia Railway and Jingxi Railway can only be suspended, so the Northwest cannot travel."

"Unless the plague can end in February, all officials may only arrive at the place around the autumn harvest. In this way, the autumn tax will be delayed."

Jin Xuan thought that Zhu Youjian wanted to focus on taxation at the county and town levels, but Zhu Youjian laughed and said:
"With more than 6 people, how can they capture the tax revenue of more than 2000 counties and more than 3 towns?"

"I sent them to prepare to let them sell all the remaining 4000 million yuan of grain in Changping warehouses in various places, and stop buying Changping grains this year."

Zhu Youjian's words were astonishing, which made Li Changgeng, Minister of the Ministry of household affairs, unable to restrain himself from bowing:

"Your Highness, if we sell all the 4000 million shi of grain, if the people encounter a drought, I'm afraid..."

"Just do what I say, don't worry." Zhu Youjian smiled at Li Changgeng to show comfort.

Similarly, Zhu Youjian also looked at the other person sitting in the corner.

"Shen Shilang, I will leave the matter of the Changping granary to you."

Zhu Youjian opened his mouth to speak, which made Shen Tingyang, who had been frowning all the time, hurriedly bowed after hearing the words: "The next official must fulfill his mission."

Shen Tingyang doesn't talk much, but he is too ruthless when he does things.

Entrust him with the matter of Huangdian and Changping Granary, Zhu Youjian is not afraid of being corrupted too much by officials.

As long as there are no problems with Changping warehouse grain and Huangdian taxation, Zhu Youjian only needs to take another step after that, and the methods Yanshan officials rely on will no longer be useful.

But before that, we have to wait for the officials of the various vassal states to be transferred back.

"The steam ship is temporarily on hold, and will not participate in the immigration, and will try its best to transport the officials of the various feudal states back and forth."

"Officials from Leviathan are first sent to the old port by ship, and then escorted by ships from the old port to Leviathan."

Even if the fire is imminent, Zhu Youjian still pays attention to not letting the steam ship be exposed west of Malacca.

Over the years, he has been hiding these technologies of Ming Dynasty, just to make it impossible for the Westerners to stop for the time being, and then suddenly expose them after all the vassals have established themselves in various places.

Foreigners are not allowed to enter the waters east of Malacca, and foreigners in Daming are monitored by Jinyiwei.

These are all means to prevent premature exposure of technology. He has maintained it for more than ten years, so it is naturally impossible to fall short now.

"Uncle and Huanglong, we will take a boat together in February and escort Brother Lang and the others to Xijing City."

Zhu Youjian explained to Wu Aheng who had just returned, and Wu Aheng had already prepared for this, and immediately bowed back to express his understanding after hearing about it.

However, after Wu Aheng agreed, Zhu Youjian's arrangement did not stop, but said to Yan Yinshao and Jin Xuan who were sitting next to him:
"You try to draw their attention to you."

"Students take orders..." Jin Xuan and Yan Yinshao bowed to each other, and Zhu Youjian laughed at himself when he heard the words:

"These tricks were originally used to deal with enemies on the battlefield. I didn't expect that they would be used on my group of students one day."

Zhu Youjian's self-mockery made Jin Xuan and Yan Yinshao bow their heads in shame.

"How are you preparing for the Western Expedition?"

Zhu Youjian asked Man Gui and Sun Yingyuan who were sitting on the side, and the two bowed to each other when they heard the words:

"Your Highness, Suiye City and Shule City are stockpiling 30 shi of grain each, and Xuanchi City in Beiting is also hoarding 15 shi of grain."

"Now we need to wait until the heavy snowfall in the Western Regions stops in February before mobilizing 15 large draft horses and 15 civilian husbands to escort the grain and grass and march westward with the army."

"The army is divided into three routes, using the Congling Corridor, Talas Ancient Road, and Lingbei Waterway as the route for food transportation and expedition."

"The Congling Corridor is dominated by the two brothers Li Zicheng and Li Zijing, the commander-in-chief of Shule. They lead four battalions, eight thousand cavalry, four thousand infantry, and thirty thousand civilian husbands."

"The Ancient Talos Road is dominated by Cao Bianjiao, the commander-in-chief of Anxi, and Li Dingguo, the commander-in-chief of Suiye. They led six battalions, [-] cavalry, [-] infantry, and [-] civilian husbands."

"The Lingbei waterway is dominated by Cao Wenzhao, the governor of the Northern Army, followed by Liu Zongmin, Li Guo, and Zu Dashou, who lead four battalions of troops, five thousand cavalry, seven thousand infantry, and forty thousand civilian men."

"In addition to the 75 shi of grain and fodder hoarded in the three cities, Anxi and Beiting provinces are expected to supply about 60 shi."

"The war is expected to start in early April and must end before September. The time is relatively tight."

When Man Gui said this, he couldn't help saying:

"However, according to the previous information, Tiger Rabbit Dun has been scared out of his wits, afraid that he would not dare to fight us directly."

"What needs to be guarded is whether the barbarians entrenched in the eastern part of the West Sea, and whether the Persians and southern captives will take advantage of the fire and invade the land."

"Occupy land?" Zhu Youjian frowned slightly. He had been uncomfortable with Persia and Mughal for a long time.

If they really wanted to invade the territory of Ming Dynasty, then Zhu Youjian had no choice but to include them in the suzerain-vassal system of Ming Dynasty in advance.

"Tell Cao Wenzhao, Cao Bianjiao and Li Zicheng, you don't need to restrain yourself in this battle. If Persia and Nanlu dare to provoke..."

Zhu Youjian leaned forward, and put his hands firmly on the armrests of the chair: "All beheaded!"

"The last general takes orders..." Hearing that Zhu Youjian had given such a large authority, Man Gui couldn't help being a little envious of Cao Wenzhao.

But he also knew that Cao Wenzhao was mainly in the north, and he was also afraid that after he took the lead, he would chase all Lin Danhan's tribes all the way to Eastern Europe.

Therefore, in this battle, Cao Bianjiao and Li Zicheng are relatively safe to take the south and middle roads.

But this lineup, no matter what Zhu Youjian thinks about it, seems to be a reckless lineup. Except for Zu Dashou and Li Dingguo who are relatively safe, the others...

"With the rifle in hand, nothing will happen..."

Zhu Youjian comforted himself, and after realizing that there was nothing wrong, he waved his hand to signal everyone to back down.

Seeing this, everyone got up and bowed one after another, and then slowly exited the Chengyun Hall.

However, after they left, Zhu Youjian recruited Lu Wenzhao, and said to Lu Wenzhao:

"Cao Wenzhao and the others have already left. Now only Li Demao and Zhang Maocai are left in Anxi City. I don't care about He An?"

"Let Zhu Fuju take over Anxi City. You don't need to do anything. Just keep an eye on the two of them."

"Yes!" Lu Wenzhao responded, but he did not leave, but hesitated to Zhu Youjian before saying:

"Your Highness, Long Live, Hong Gechen and Sun Gechen are going to the southwest, Huguang, and Fujian respectively. Shouldn't they send someone to follow?"

"..."

Lu Wenzhao's words made Zhu Youjian silent for a moment. At this juncture, he suddenly transferred someone to Nanjing, which would make people think too much.

"No, just maintain the current situation."

Zhu Youjian doesn't think there will be problems with his brother. Although Wei Liangqing is not capable, it is not a problem to guard a small Nanjing city.

He has already prepared all the arrangements for Daming, and then he just needs to cut off Yanshan's hands and feet step by step.

What he cares more about now is Spain far away in Europe...

"Your Majesty, we can actually discuss it..."

"Are you sure there is no way to keep the colonies in the New World?"

Inside the palace of the Hasburg dynasty in Madrid, when the prime minister whom Felipe IV relied on spoke, Felipe IV knew that the general situation had left him.

The Duke of Olivares, he is a well-known politician throughout the European continent and a minister of King Felipe IV.

As a contemporary politician of the French Cardinal Richelieu, he can be said to be in power after he became the Prime Minister of Spain.

He keenly discovered the contradictions in Spain, so he advocated reform, but at the same time, he also caused public dissatisfaction.

Due to the deep influence of Catholicism in Spain, he could only be forced to be involved in the 30-year war, which caused Spain's finances to almost collapse.

His taxation policies have led to rebellion at home, and the situation he faces now is more serious than it has ever been in history.

At this moment in Spain, the sea routes have been blocked by the fleets of France, the Netherlands, and Portugal, and silver from the Americas cannot be transported to Europe.

Although American silver has caused Spanish inflation, Spain can only continue to maintain its rule by drinking poison to quench its thirst.

Now the gold and silver from the New World cannot be transported to Spain, and Spain's sea defenses have collapsed. It seems that only Daming can save Spain.

Olivares is very clear that if they do not win this victory, not only the American continent, but perhaps even Portugal and the Netherlands will be completely lost.

The news brought by the diplomats of the Ming Dynasty is very good. There are 400 million two Ming Tongbao worth 6000 million Sopees. This is the income that the New World can provide to the empire in ten years.

Not to mention that this income will enter Spain in the form of trade in goods, which will temporarily suppress prices in Spain back to the pre-war state.

"Arms, ships, food...these are the keys to the empire's victory."

Olivares persuaded Felipe IV, emphatically saying:
"Now that our fleet has sunk into the sea, Da Ming is willing to exchange the 400 million silver Sopees for supplies to complete the New World deal with us."

"You once knew about Da Ming's Armada, and the envoys from Da Ming also said that Da Ming can sell warships with a tonnage of less than [-] tons to the empire."

"I have calculated that if we take out 1000 million silver Sopees, we will once again build the Royal Fleet that has always been stronger than the Armada."

"With the remaining silver sopi, we can also buy enough flintlock troops to equip 10 people, and we can get no less than [-] million pounds of wheat from Daming every year, which can solve the problem of [-]% of the country's population. lack of food."

"We can continue to obtain this kind of food for 22 years, and it can keep the empire stable for the next 22 years."

No matter how old it is, food is a magic weapon in wartime, even in the seventeenth century.

The reason why so many uprisings broke out in the headquarters of the Spanish Empire is nothing more than inflation and food shortages.

If the Spanish Empire could produce 30 million pounds of wheat every year, it would be enough to bring down the domestic food price to the state before the outbreak of the Thirty Years War.

As long as the food problem is resolved, Spain can go all out to the outside world, besides...

"The price of these grains is less than half of our domestic grain prices. We can use this batch of grains for grain trade, and bring the empire out of the crisis of financial bankruptcy."

"Gold is beautiful, but it's nothing compared to food and the future of the empire."

Olivares persuaded Felipe IV, and Felipe IV was also moved by him a little bit.

However, he still has his own stubbornness, and he said seriously to Olivares: "I need you to push the transaction price of Newland even higher."

"Of course, my lord..."

When Felipe IV let go, Olivares knew that this matter might be possible.

"I'm here waiting for your good news." Felipe IV seemed to be a lot older, and his face suddenly turned pale.

Although Olivares felt guilty when he saw this, he also knew that giving up the New World was something he had to do.

Thinking of this, he got up and walked out of the Madrid Palace, heading for the port of Bardesia in the east of Madrid.

There, the envoys sent by Daming were waiting for their response.

It took three days for Olivares to arrive at the port of Bardesia, where he immediately found the [-]-ton Ming warship.

He invited the envoys to come to his temporary residence, and the person who was entrusted by Yan Yingyuan this time was his fellow countryman and good friend Li Quan.

Li Quan and Olivares greeted each other warmly as soon as they met, and then they sat down and began to talk in detail about the New World.

"We can sell the New World, but now several colonies in the New World have arable land, as well as houses, people, livestock, and the gold mines that have been developed."

"Li, I can tell you this, the amount of gold and silver we can mine in the New World every year, converted into your country's currency, is 900 million two Ming Tongbao."

On the negotiating table, one party always shouts the price and the other party bargains.

For the New World, if Olivares wants to sell at a good price, he needs to boast about his own things first.

It's a pity that the Spaniards are not good at bragging. Facing Li Quan, they only dared to say that the price of gold and silver they produced in the New World was 900 million two Mingtongbao.

In this way, Li Quan couldn't help but chuckle in his heart.

Before he came, he had already obtained information from Jin Yiwei that the price of gold and silver mined by Spain in the New World every year was about 600 million taels, the price of Daming Tongbao.

In this regard, King Qi's bottom line is that [-] million two Ming Tong Bao's commodities are used as the purchase price.

Originally, Li Quan was ready to fight a fierce battle, but now the Spaniards only dare to call the price of 900 million two Mingtong treasures per year, so things will be much easier.

"We knew it was worth 900 million taels, so we offered a price of 400 million sopees."

Li Quan's expression was serious, but his heart was filled with joy.

"No! I think you may have misunderstood something." Olivares had never thought about Daming's wealth, so he only dared to call out a price that would allow Spain to get out of its financial difficulties.

"Although the current war is very difficult, we have gone further and further on the road to victory."

"Eighty-four million silver Sopees, this is just the output of the New World in less than seven years."

"If you are sincere, then I hope you can give 20 years of output, 200 million silver Sopees."

At the peak of the Spanish Empire, there was an annual income of 900 million ducats, equivalent to 20 million silver sopees.

Right now, with the anxiety of the 30-year war, Spain's debts have long been piled up despite the rapid renewal of life through East-West trade.

As of today, Spain's debt has exceeded 2000 million ducats, which is equivalent to 5000 million taels of silver and 800 million silver sopees.

Olivares opened his mouth wide, wanting to take more than 5000 million silver Sopees from Daming and Qi Guo, this was obviously just talk.

Li Quan knew this well, he shook his head and said:
"No one can guarantee that each gold and silver mine can produce gold and silver for 20 years, so we are only willing to pay 400 million silver sopees."

"According to what you just said, even if we count the cultivated land, houses and cattle, we are only willing to bid 9000 million silver sopees."

"No! This is too little, and the empire cannot accept it." Hearing Li Quan's words, Olivares couldn't help but feel a little bit drummed, but he still said forcefully:

"We can accept your country's installment payment for 25 years, and reduce the price to 5000 million silver sopees."

In his opinion, Daming is very rich, but no matter how rich it is, it will not exceed the peak of the Spanish Empire by much.

At its peak, Spain's annual income equivalent to silver was only 200 million taels, so Olivares planned to install it in 20 years.

Daming ships about 450 million taels of silver every year, which seems to be a lot.

"This is unacceptable to us, Your Excellency, we are sincerely here to buy the New World. If you are not willing to lower the price, then perhaps in a few months, the Bourbon army will land in the New World."

Li Quan brought France in, and Olivares also knew that Ming had this ability. After all, France relied on blood transfusions from trade with Ming to defeat the Spanish army.

"Two hundred million..."

"No, [-] million! Our country is not rich, but we are willing to pay back in ten years."

Olivares still wanted to bargain a little bit, but Li Quan directly said the nonsense that "the country is not rich".

Olivares didn't know much about Daming's financial revenue, and he didn't even want to imagine that Daming's financial revenue had already reached the stalwart level of 7000 million taels of silver.

In his opinion, it is unlikely that Daming's fiscal revenue will exceed 2000 million taels of silver, and the price of 7000 million sopees is more than [-] million taels of silver.

If Ming is willing to pay 700 million taels of silver every year, it seems that it is not bad for the Spanish Empire.

Can……

"One hundred million silver sopees is still too little. He only has eight years of income from the New World, and it will take at least ten years. Moreover, we hope to purchase your warships and flintlock guns, and resume the saltpeter trade."

Olivares saw impatience from Li Quan's face, so he offered a sincere price.

9000 million taels of silver, 600 million sopees.

"I need to think about it..."

Hearing Olivares' sincere price, Li Quan was already jumping with joy in his heart, but he still had a stern face, pretending to be thinking.

"I can give you three days to think about it."

Olivares was afraid that the price would scare Li Quan away, so that Da Ming would use force to seize the New World, so he took the initiative to give him a step.

Li Quan also readily accepted this, he nodded with a very heavy heart, and then left Olivares' temporary residence.

Seeing the back of Li Quan leaving, Olivares couldn't help but scratched his hair in annoyance:

"Damn it! Is the price I want too high..."