Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 385 About Land and Grain Prices

The rustling snowflakes shattered on the stone bridge outside the eaves, and fell into the emerald green river with a ding-dong sound.

Kou Baimen's beautiful figure was reflected in the river water, and her white wrist touched her hair from time to time, Zhu Youjian could see that she was a little embarrassed.

Kou Baimen really didn't know what to say, she just wanted to break up a topic and get to know the emperor in front of her better.

Why did this emperor, who looked like a cluster of short beards under his chin, and watery eyes between his brows, be able to defeat the Qing army after moving south suddenly, and create 60 elites in just a few seconds, which made her admire all day long? All the young scholars are willing to be their soldiers.

Kou Baimen is very curious, but he also knows that the emperor Zhu Youjian in front of him has made many big cases at the same time. Qian Qianyi is so famous in the south of the Yangtze River. Thousands of scholars from the Duan Literature Society are secretly called butchers by today's literati.

Because of this, Kou Baimen was a little scared. She didn't know if the topic she just brought up unintentionally was a little rash.

"Your Majesty forgive me, I didn't mean to question His Majesty, I didn't dare, I just, just."

"It's just that I don't know how to talk." Zhu Youjian took Kou Baimen's words, and he could see that Kou Baimenyu's blushing face must have been frightened by him, and he couldn't help looking at the water. The reflected self, although he has eyebrows and sword eyes, is not vicious.

"This is also in the Ming Dynasty. Those who are allowed to talk about state affairs, even those who have read a few books, are concerned about state affairs. It seems that this is not enough to show that they are different. Although I say that the punishment is a bit harsh, it is not prohibited. You don’t have to be afraid of ordinary people talking about politics. Asking me in person is better than talking about me behind my back. Talking about politics is a good thing, and it’s also the difference between Ming Dynasty and Jiannu, but just don’t be taken advantage of by some villains That's fine, you have to think for yourself."

Zhu Youjian smiled slightly at Kou Baimen as he spoke, and took a sip of tea: "The tea is not bad."

Kou Baimen was very surprised, surprised that the emperor in front of him spoke very kindly and smiled sincerely, without any teasing in his words, his thinking seemed to be very clear, but there was a sense of mystery, as if he could see what he couldn't see The place is ordinary, under the firm gaze, even though she, Kou Baimen, has seen countless dignitaries from famous families, she can't help but be fascinated by it.

As long as people focus on one thing, there is something moving. Kou Baimen looked at Zhu Youjian in the same way at this time. She always felt that the emperor in front of her, who could make countless heads fall to the ground with a wave of his hand, was focusing on something. He will spend all the wealth in the south of the Yangtze River, but he will not build palaces or emperor's tombs, and will spend his money on the army, strange skills and prostitution, as well as the common people.

"Your Majesty's praise", Kou Baimen smiled, and let the snowflakes fall on the purple sand pot and evaporate with the heat.

"Just now you asked me why I came out of the Forbidden City to chat with the common people of the army, but you don't know from the mouths of these common people that I can learn about the crisis in the future of our Ming Dynasty. Be prepared for danger in times of peace. It's hard, I can tell you what I have gained these days."

Zhu Youjian became interested for a while, thinking that Kou Baimen was a Jianghu person who had no clan and no interest group behind him, so he started talking: "From the voices of the people, I know that in recent years, whether it is wheat or rice. Production has dropped by half a percent, and at the same time, food prices have risen by [-] percent, do you know what that means?"

Kou Baimen was a little dazed, she hadn't paid attention to these things, and she didn't know what these things had to do with the great government of the court.

"It means inflation. You may not know what inflation is, but you should know that today's Daming is surrounded by seas. The prosperity of commerce far surpasses that of Long Wan. Silver flows into my Daming like water, plus a large number of weaving workshops With the emergence of other workshops, changing rice into mulberry and changing fields into workshops will inevitably lead to a decline in grain production, and the emergence of cheap silver and expensive grain, do you think this will be a good thing?"

Zhu Youjian has indeed been paying attention to the economic changes in Ming Dynasty. The financial system has always been the worst system in Ming Dynasty, and it is also the most fundamental reason that led to the demise of Ming Dynasty. Really solve the financial and economic problems of Ming Dynasty, because Ming Dynasty is still an empire dominated by farming civilization, and the main economic industry of the empire is still agriculture.

It is equivalent to Zhu Youjian now controlling commercial wealth by increasing commercial taxes, but in fact he only controls 20.00% of the wealth of the empire.

Most of the remaining 70.00% is still in the grain produced in the farmland.

There are still a few percent in Zheng's hands.

It is mainly agriculture, and whoever owns the most land means whoever controls the most wealth of the empire.

Kou Baimen shook his head instinctively: "Silver can't be eaten, but grain can be eaten. If silver is cheap and food is expensive, it is naturally not a good thing. Then the people will not be able to eat food, and if they can't afford food, they will starve to death. There will be unrest."

"It's not just that the people can't afford to eat food, I can't afford to support soldiers either. There are hundreds of thousands of troops, hundreds of thousands of officials, hundreds of thousands of students, and people engaged in commerce and handicrafts. They all need to eat. If food is expensive, the cost of court expenditure will be high;

During the Hongwu period, there were more than 470 million stones of rice and wheat obtained from the summer tax, and more than 4702 million stones of rice in autumn grain; The Ministry spent a total of 460 million silver dollars to buy 5000 million shi rice. According to the exchange rate between silver dollars and silver, and according to the grain price in the Tianqi period, these 2000 million silver dollars could have bought 20 million shi rice, which is a full 3000 million shi less!The population is increasing year by year, but the amount of grain collected is decreasing year by year. If things go on like this, the imperial court will have no way to support the army and the people with the existing taxes, and once a major disaster occurs, there will be no food to relieve. "

When Zhu Youjian said this, Kou Baimen also frowned: "According to what your majesty said, it seems to be quite scary, but the food is expensive, and the common people will not grow more food by themselves, so they can buy it at a good price. , should increase income."

"Think about whose hands most of the land in the world is in. If the price of food has risen, who is the real beneficiary of the increase."

As Zhu Youjian spoke, he looked at Kou Baimen, and Kou Baimen said casually: "The feudal king, the gentry, and you, Your Majesty, and these guards."

After Kou Baimen finished speaking, he couldn't help opening his mouth.

"That's right, the land is in their hands. The most important ones are the gentry and the vassals. Every time the food is raised, they will get an extra profit, and the land annexation will be accelerated, and the landless people will If the increase is [-]%, the more people without land, the fewer people will be farming, the less food will be produced, and the more expensive the food will be.”

When Zhu Youjian said this, Kou Baimen realized that so many things can be seen from the price of grain, but behind the surface of the prosperity of the south of the Yangtze River, there is such a big crisis hidden. It is no wonder that His Majesty has been talking to Shilin They recklessly took the confiscated land to Huangzhuang and distributed it to the refugees, but only gave the refugees the right to use it but not the right to purchase it, in order to let more land be in the hands of the common people.

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(End of this chapter)