Chapter 147

Zhu Gaochi was a man who was used to living a hard life, and he couldn't bear to see Mr. Zhu Di spending money lavishly.

Zhu Di looked at his fat son with a single sentence on his face.

I'm Yongle, hurry up and make money!

Zhu Gaochi swallowed a mouthful of saliva and replied: "Father, the court really doesn't have that much money now!"

Zhu Gaoxu shouted loudly: "Boss, where do we start with this? Didn't the court charge a large sum of money for selling salt a few days ago?"

King Zhao also responded: "That's right, I heard there are hundreds of millions of taels of silver!"

"No, not that many!" Zhu Gaochi quickly denied.

"How many are there?" King Han looked at the boss curiously.

Zhu Di knew his silly son very well, and Zhu Gaochi's expression didn't look like he was pretending.

He hurriedly asked: "What's going on? Has all that large sum of money been spent?"

Zhu Gaochi grimaced and explained: "It's not like we've spent everything, but we really can't come up with the five million taels of military expenses!"

Zhu Gaochi took out his fat fingers and began to gradually count every expense.

"After returning from the great victory in the Northern Expedition, my father, Emperor Longyan, was very happy. In addition, the court made a lot of money from transporting salt, so he rewarded the three armies!"

"The personnel who went out to fight and guard the border were all generously rewarded, and the pensions for the soldiers who died were also extremely high."

"This time, nearly three million taels of silver were spent, and the food consumed during the expedition was worth about one million taels at a discount."

"Isn't this only about four million?" Zhu Gaoxu said.

Zhu Gaochi rolled his eyes at his uneducated brother.

Chapter 156 The Arrogant Japanese Slave

"Second brother, you really don't know how to be a family member. You don't know that firewood, rice, oil and salt are expensive!" Zhu Gaochi complained.

"This silver is collected to ensure the smooth transportation of salt. Several million taels of silver must be reserved to ensure that the people of the entire Ming Dynasty can eat refined salt."

Zhu Di nodded after hearing this.

Since it can benefit the Ming Dynasty, naturally we cannot be stingy in this regard.

"The disasters in Kaifeng and Henan, the drought in Lu, and the construction of dams on rivers...these old things that the court couldn't do without money must be done, right? Which one of them doesn't require hundreds of thousands of taels? Even nearly one million taels of silver?" Zhu Gaochi asked.

Zhu Di naturally nodded again and again.

It's a matter of great importance to people's livelihood, and it needs to be done.

"The consumption of many new iron ships in the shipyard under the Purchasing and Commercial Department..."

"Will you wait a moment?" Zhu Di quickly interrupted Zhu Gaochi.

He asked with disbelief on his face: "Does the court still have to spend money to buy a ship from a shipyard?"

"Ah?" Zhu Gaochi also asked with a ghostly look on his face: "Father, how can there be any reason in this world to buy things without paying for them? You can't let those shipbuilding craftsmen not eat or drink, right? Who would be willing to build ships if you do this? Woolen cloth?"

"This..." Zhu Di was a little confused.

Isn't the shipyard a shop owned by their old Zhu family?

Why did he, Zhu Di, use the boat and put money in it?

Don’t shipyards make money?

"Isn't this shipyard profitable?" Zhu Di asked.

Zhu Gaochi thought for a moment and said: "Based on the financial situation submitted by Zhanji, the shipyard does not make money."

Zhu Gaochi seemed to have remembered something and explained: "Zhan Kan once said this, some shops must be managed and operated by the imperial court. Their existence is not purely to make money, but more to ensure that the people of the Ming Dynasty live a better life. "

Zhu Di nodded. It seemed that the money could not be moved.

Zhu Gaochi waved his hand: "Besides, there are all kinds of miscellaneous things that need to be dealt with."

Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Hongwu has set the annual expenses of the court.

Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to create a system that would be passed down for centuries.

Among them, taxation strictly stipulates that the number of agricultural tax is 27 million shi of grain!

These figures were not imagined by Zhu Yuanzhang, but were calculated based on the approximate amount of money each year.

Moreover, this number will not bring enough oppression to the common people.

But the ideal is very full, and the reality is very skinny.

Various things in this world are not static, but accidents are very likely to occur at any time!

For example, there is a rebellion in the south, a disaster in the east, a war in the west, and a city wall is being built in the north...

Various unexpected circumstances may cause the court's actual expenditure to far exceed the original policy.

This was not obvious in the Hongwu Dynasty.

The reason why it is not obvious is because the garrison system ensures that soldiers will not consume too much of the court's finances.

Officials' money is strictly restricted.

Although officials are still corrupt, at least they are not so blatant.

In addition, Zhu Yuanzhang often ransacked homes and exterminated clans. Officials' homes were confiscated and their property was confiscated.

As the emperor's confidant, Jin Yiwei naturally didn't have the guts to engage in corruption.

The most important point is that Zhu Yuanzhang himself is not a person who likes to toss.

The Northern Expedition under his command also had sufficient talents, and they did not spend so much money on the Northern Expedition as Zhu Di did at this time.

And the population has not returned to its peak.

For various reasons, the financial problems of the Hongwu Dynasty were not serious.

There is flooding in some places, simple! Just avoid it. Anyway, there are few people, few honors, and the court can collect taxes.

Many hidden dangers that already existed have never been exposed to thunderstorms.

But in the 12th year of Yongle, it was a different story!

The population had basically reached the peak of the land's carrying capacity.

It was not the time for the population to migrate at will.

At this time, the problems of floods and droughts became very serious.

In fact, these problems should have been solved long ago, but the court had no money before, so many problems could only be solved with poison or even ignored.

"Report! The Minister of Rites wants to see you!" said the eunuch outside the door.

"Huh? What is the Minister of Rites asking for an audience at this time?" Zhu Di said.

The Minister of Rites, Lu Zhen, hurried in from outside.

"Your Majesty! Urgent report from the East China Sea! The Japanese invaders took the lead in attacking our Ming fleet! After a fierce battle, the Japanese invaders have been repelled!" The Minister of Rites handed the envelope in his hand to Zhu Di.

Zhu Di snorted coldly.

"Bold Japanese invaders!"

In fact, Zhu Gaochi, the King of Han and the King of Zhao also felt very puzzled.

How could this Japanese invader be so bold?

"Lu Shangshu? Why are the Japanese so bold? How dare they attack the Ming Dynasty?"

The King of Han and the King of Zhao also cast their curious eyes on Lu Zhen.

Lu Zhen glanced at Zhu Di, who nodded and asked Lu Zhen to explain.

Because... Zhu Di didn't know the specific facts.

He only knew that the Japanese seemed to have defeated the Yuan Dynasty.

Although Zhu Di and Zhu Gaochi had learned a little history, they didn't learn much about the detailed history of the previous dynasty.

As the department responsible for managing diplomatic relations with foreign countries, the Ministry of Rites naturally understood the tricks involved, and actually recorded the major events of various countries.

"Your Majesty, the biggest reason why the Japanese are so arrogant and rampant is the previous dynasty."

"Kublai Khan, the founder of the Yuan Dynasty, sent troops to conquer the Japanese twice after he entered the Central Plains."

"In the first expedition to Japan, 40,000 Yuan soldiers successively occupied two islands of the Japanese, and they had the upper hand, but later the ship carrying supplies was blown away by a strange gale, and the commander was injured later."

"The first expedition to Japan ended in failure."

"The second expedition to Japan had two armies, totaling 140,000 Yuan soldiers, but after landing on the island of Japanese, there was another strange gale, which destroyed more than half of the army's military supplies and manpower."

"The second expedition to Japan failed again."

"From then on, the Japanese began to despise the Central Plains."

"It was not until Emperor Taizu ascended the throne, swept across the world, and unified the world! The Japanese sent envoys to surrender."

"Now it seems that the Japanese may have the intention of rebellion again!"

The Minister of Rites briefly explained the reasons why the Japanese were so ordinary and so confident.