Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 386

Zhu Youjian also saw the problem of inflation from the fiscal expenditure booklet of the Ministry of Household Affairs, which is why he wanted to leave Nanjing.

He just looked at the extent to which inflation has affected people's daily lives.

The soaring food prices caused by the massive inflow of silver will intensify the degree of land annexation and cause more people to leave the land.

However, the industry and commerce of the Ming Dynasty were not developed enough to absorb so many people's employment, which would inevitably lead to the continued generation of refugees, and the fiscal expenditure cost of the Ming court would also increase.

"It can be seen that emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce is still right. Since the opening of the sea and the development of commerce will lead to a large inflow of silver and soaring food prices, it is better to ban the sea and suppress the development of commerce. Your Majesty, you don't want this commercial tax revenue, so that the people can cultivate wasteland and farm. .”

When Kou Baimen said this, Zhu Youjian couldn't help but tapped her in vain on the forehead:
"Are you stupid? Do you think that people in the world will stop doing business by banning the sea and suppressing commerce? The high-ranking officials and rich merchants can still make money and make profits. I open the sea to collect business taxes, and I can still occupy tenth of the world. Er's commercial wealth is in the hands of the people for the benefit of the people, if there is no commercial tax, even this wealth will not be there, and my Ming Dynasty will not be able to persist until now."

It is true that Zhu Youjian only holds two or three tenths of the wealth of the empire.

Most of the gross national product of the entire Ming Dynasty was still in the hands of the gentry class, which is why Zhu Youjian's opening of the sea and the collection of commercial taxes were only met with fierce opposition from the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River, but did not cause resistance from the national gentry group.

Because he, Emperor Chongzhen, never figured out how Zhang Tianmu and the officials and gentry paid for food together.

Because he didn't dare to completely offend the entire gentry group, at least not yet.

But right now, if he wanted to completely eradicate Daming's financial problems and completely let the imperial power override everything else, he had to distribute the land controlled by the gentry group and even the entire landlord class to the common people, so that the empire's wealth could be completely controlled in his own hands.

But doing so would offend all the landlord class, including the Guards, Jinyiwei and Dongchang who are now loyal to him.

Because they also belong to the landlord class.

Since Chongzhen 17 years ago, due to military disasters and natural disasters, a large amount of land in Huguang, Henan, Shandong and other places has been barren. Zhu Youjian removed part of the land and provided it to the refugees in Huangzhuang, and most of it was actually distributed to the guards. Army officers and soldiers, and even let them, these demobilized officers and soldiers, serve as local grassroots.

Otherwise, the guards would not be so loyal to him, nor would they be so convinced of his ideas, nor would they have the determination to fight to defend their homeland.

Fortunately, the amount of land held by these guards is still relatively small, and the land of grassroots soldiers is subject to agricultural tax. It is just to stabilize the people's hearts, and the agricultural tax has not been collected in the first few years after the southward migration.

In the future, Zhu Youjian will implement the integration of officials and gentry, which will only affect the officers.

Of course, Zhu Youjian still has one thing to rely on, that is, if the soldiers have land, I am afraid that they will not rebel with the officers.

Fortunately, Ming's current inflation has not been serious enough to affect the maintenance of the rule.

The commercial income brought by the tax increase and the opening of the sea can continue to maintain the court for a period of time, and the integration of officials and gentry can be implemented step by step, first attacking the occupying vassal kings, and then attacking the civil official group without the background of the Guards.

In this way, most of the land is controlled by the imperial court. After all, the officers of the Guards are only a small number of people, and the land they occupy is only a small part. Zhu Youjian can adopt a more flexible policy.

"Your Majesty, can we still win this battle?"

Although the hot tea was cold and the eaves were covered with snow, Kou Baimen was still unsatisfied after listening to Zhu Youjian's discussion about the future economic crisis of Ming Dynasty, and couldn't help asking about the victory or defeat of this war.

"Then do you want Zhen and the Guards to win, or do you want Hong Chengchou of the Qing Dynasty to win?"

Zhu Youjian asked Kou Baimen with a playful smile. Kou Baimen's boldness made him feel like he was a descendant, independent and individual.

"Naturally, I hope that His Majesty and the Guards will win. After all, they are all sons of the Han family. If they are real heroes, who would want to be slaves of the barbarians."

The gatekeeper Kou Bai curled his lips, said this sentence without thinking, and punched a fist, quite heroic.

"If you are a real hero, who would want to be a slave of the barbarians? If those civil servants and generals who eat the king's salary have your awareness, why would such a large-scale Qing army go south again."

Zhu Youjian stood up and caught a snowflake, He Zengjie wanted to be clean, the sky may not be empty, Confucian scholars in the world are called Qingliu, but there are a few people who are not dirty and shameless.

"However, Your Majesty, many literati said that Your Majesty's Qing army must suffer losses this time, because Ruan Dayue and other traitors flooded the court and caused public resentment." Kou Baimen continued to express his doubts.

Zhu Youjian couldn't help sneering: "These civil servants and gentry who have lost their business interests are all counting on the Qing army going south to defeat the Guards. They will either force me to give them the power of the court, or they will surrender the land. Invincible, they will never die;

But don’t even think about it, the essence of this war is the war between the common people, common landlords, low-level merchants, etc., and the northern bureaucrats and Manchurian military aristocrats. Now that we are promoting businesses to support the people and reduce taxes, when the people’s hearts are most stable, how can the people’s resentment boil? Said, so, do you dare to make a bet with me, if my prediction is not bad, there will be a big victory from Shandong or Huguang soon. "

"Okay, tasting tea to bet on the general trend of the world, and betting against the current sage, must be a good story." Kou Baimen was also bold, with a pretty smile on his face, and said first: "If there is a great victory, the humble minister will Dance the sword for His Majesty, if the result is not successful, it will be a failure, what is your Majesty betting on?"

"Bet on your chance to live in the Forbidden City".

Zhu Youjian looked at Kou Baimen and said suddenly, in his opinion, since Kou Baimen cares so much about politics and is a child of a non-clan aristocratic family, he is naturally more suitable to be an official of the inner court.

But Kou Baimen was stunned for a moment, she thought that Zhu Youjian was going to bet on accepting herself as a concubine, otherwise how could she bet on her chance to live in the Forbidden City, she didn't know how to answer for a moment, she blushed with shame.

At this time, there was a sudden rush of footsteps: "The Commander of Jinyiwei, Wu Mengming, begged to see His Majesty!"

After a while, Wu Mengming came to Zhu Youjian's place, but when he saw Kou Baimen here, he shut his mouth again.

"It doesn't matter, if the war in Shandong or Huguang can be told," Zhu Youjian said, Wu Mengming responded: "As your majesty said, it was indeed a war in Shandong. The First Guards Corps defeated the Qing The 20 troops of the Tan Tai Army wiped out [-] Qing troops and took [-] prisoners! The Tan Tai Department has returned to Dongguang City with [-] remnants."

As soon as Wu Mengming finished speaking, Zhu Youjian smiled at Kou Baimen: "You lost."

"Then my minister will perform a sword dance for His Majesty some other day." Kou Baimen was a little disappointed, but quickly covered it up with a smile.

(End of this chapter)