Ming Taizi's Total War

Chapter 172 Royal Bank's New Business
But I don't know why, the price of this rice is getting more and more expensive. Although the harvest season has not passed long, the price has already risen by half.

But this happens to be the Jianghuai region that produces the most rice in the world. The rice produced in a year is not an exaggeration to say that it is enough for the whole country to eat for a year.

Only a few 10 people have been purchased and the grain can be halved for a month or two. Why is this really puzzling? Is it true that the people in Jianghuai are very conscious of urgency and hide all the harvested rice? In the home, did not sell.

Logically speaking, it is unlikely, because since Zhang Juzheng carried out reforms and implemented a whipping law, the Ming court did not collect much tax in kind. Farmers, especially farmers who cultivated land, almost all harvested grain first. Sell ​​it to merchants, exchange it for silver, and then hand over the silver to the government.

Although this caused farmers to suffer double exploitation, it also allowed grain to circulate in the commodity market, instead of being hidden in granaries as before.

"Then how much stone rice did you buy?" Zhu Cihong asked.

He thought that if too much was purchased, the increase in grain prices would be a matter of course, which was in line with market laws. If too much was purchased, enough to last for a year or so, then the purchase task could be stopped.

"About 150 million shi." The household servant said to Zhu Cihong embarrassedly.

150 million shimi sounds like a lot, but compared with the consumption capacity of the army, it is not worth mentioning.

Although a person probably only eats ten stones of rice a year, and Zhu Cihuang's army directly under his control has at most 10 people, but these soldiers are not the only ones who consume food in the army.

The people who really consumed the most food were the civilian husbands and auxiliary soldiers, that is, Zhu Cihong could rely on the Yellow River to transport food from the Jianghuai area, otherwise, no matter how much food Zhu Cihong had, most of it would have to be eaten by the civilian husbands who transported the food.

Zhu Cihong has 10 war assistants, so there will be 20 or even more civilians serving the [-] people.

Based on this calculation, the 150 million shi of grain would be consumed by Zhu Cihong's direct army in a few months.

But in fact, these people were far from the only ones who ate Zhu Cihong's food, the officials of the imperial court, the four towns in Jiangbei, the guards of various places, Ningnan Bo Zuo Liangyu, the pirate Zheng Zhilong and so on.

If Zhu Cihong wanted to ensure that the food supply was sufficient and he didn't need to worry about food, he would need five or six million shi.

"What's going on, how did you buy these rice, and the price has risen so much." Zhu Cihong said in shock.

"Weichen, I don't know what's going on." Hubu Shilang said pitifully. He was just a traditional Chinese bureaucrat, not a modern economics talent. How could he understand the cause and effect behind it.

"Your Majesty, our Ministry of War also has something to announce." The Minister of the Ministry of War said to Zhu Cihong when he saw an opportunity.

"Tell me." Zhu Cihong knew that these questions could not be avoided, so he asked him to speak out.

"Tao Ding Jun supervised the construction of ten red cannons, which cost a total of ten thousand taels of silver, and the money has not been settled yet." The Minister of the Ministry of War told Zhu Cihong about his problem.

"Do you still need to find me for such a big matter? Let Wang Fuen allocate funds for you." Zhu Cihong waved his hand, and asked the Minister of the Ministry of War to find Wang Fuen.

Wang Fuen is the chief eunuch of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, so to speak, Zhu Cihong's chief steward, the royal property, and Zhu Cihong's internal money, all of which he handed over to Wang Fuen.

"But Your Majesty, the prince said that he can't afford the money for the time being." The Minister of the Ministry of War said to Zhu Cihong with a mournful face.

"How could it be? Isn't there hundreds of thousands of silver in the internal treasury, and Lijin bureaus from all over the world are sending Lijin here continuously." Zhu Cihong was shocked.

The Lijin Bureau collects [-]% of the value of the goods from passing caravans as taxes. Although it doesn’t look like much, it’s scary if it adds up. Every month, the Lijin Bureau will escort the money to the Ministry of Internal Affairs , this is a considerable income.

Later generations of the Qing Dynasty relied on this system to obtain a large amount of financial resources in the last years of the dynasty, thus continuing their decadent regime.

"But it's still not enough, Your Majesty." Wang Fuen stepped forward and said at this moment.

"When the first emperor was there, including the time when Lord Tianqi was here, he had to spend tens of millions of silver to fight the Tartars and build the anti-peasant army. Now His Majesty has mobilized hundreds of thousands of troops, and the expenses are naturally even greater," Wang Fuen explained. .

War is the most expensive human activity in the world. If there were no Peasant Army and Qing Dynasty in the late Ming Dynasty, no matter how corrupt the imperial court was, it would still be able to survive for decades.

In fact, there was no sign of the end of the world during the Chongzhen Dynasty. Emperor Chongzhen was very diligent. Although he was not very capable and often made things worse, Daming had a mature bureaucratic system after all. The bureaucrats of the Four Books and Five Classics also have a way to put the country on the right track.

But the protracted war has caused too much damage to the country's economy. The peasant army and the Qing army that are growing stronger day by day forced the imperial court to levy three paychecks so that they can afford to train new troops and maintain the largest Army.

For this huge army, the Ming court spends tens of millions of taels of silver every year. This is also because the Ming court is on the defensive and has not launched a large-scale offensive, otherwise the cost will be even more terrifying.

"Let me figure out a way." Zhu Cihong knew that it was time for him to think about new sources of income, otherwise Hongguang Daming's ending would be his own.

"Your Majesty, there is still money from the Ministry of Industry." Just after Zhu Cihong finished speaking, the minister of the Ministry of Industry seemed to be afraid of being forgotten by Zhu Cihong, and took the initiative to say it.

"Cleaning up the canals and the Yellow River, and repairing tank boats cost 20 taels of silver, and forging 15 pieces of knives and guns, and [-] pieces of bird guns cost [-] taels of silver." The minister of the Ministry of Industry reported the money needed by the Ministry of Industry to Zhu Cilang.

"Okay, I got it." Zhu Cihong was speechless, why was everyone silent, now all his sons came to him to ask for money.

But this is all for his great cause of unifying the world, and it is all worth it. No matter how great the pressure is, Zhu Cihong can only bear it alone.

After a rough calculation, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Households, and the Ministry of Industry would have to spend 100 million taels of silver no matter what. Zhu Cihong felt that it was time for him to make that move.

"Wang Fuen, go and call me the president of the Royal Bank. I want to meet him." Because the Royal Bank belongs to the royal assets, it is also managed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs in name, but because of the special nature of the bank, it is actually a bank. Independent of Wang Fuen's House of Internal Affairs.

(End of this chapter)