Chongzhen Chat Group

After exiting the chat group, Emperor Chongzhen thought about North Korea. In the final analysis, it was still a food war. Whether it was the original intention of Jianlu to enter North Korea, the reason why North Korea resisted Jianlu, or the reason why Lu Xiangsheng had to fight, food was the key word.

At present, domestically, there is actually a food war going on. To solve the civil unrest in the northwest, we need to have enough food to enable the people in the northwest to survive. The same is true in the land of Gyeonggi, there must be food. There are also disasters in various places, which are actually caused by food shortages.

However, we are still in the Little Ice Age and will last for more than ten years. Abnormal weather conditions have a huge impact on reduced grain production. It is conceivable that there will always be food shortages in the future.

Thinking of this, Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help but wonder about the situation in Nanyang and how many countries could transport food! Haha, if we don't give food, believe it or not, I will launch a war for food and grab it first. At least we won't let the country rebel on a large scale because of the lack of food!

Thinking like this, Emperor Chongzhen naturally thought of Shaanxi, the hardest-hit area. The money promised to Yang He, the governor of the three sides, should be allocated.

Now there are almost 30 million taels of silver in the Treasury of the Ministry of Household Affairs. Cao Huachun also robbed the Ma family from Suzhou and related people from the prefect and county magistrate, etc., and they also have almost 10 million taels.

Thinking of this, Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help but sigh to himself. Compared with the great smugglers like Fan Yongdou, the great salt merchants of the Ming Dynasty had even more wealth. It is really enviable!

In the current national treasury, it seems that the amount of money will be the largest in many years, but there are also many places to use it! At least 30 million taels of this amount will become the share capital of China Construction Bank. This is a chicken that lays golden eggs. The more money, the better. I hope to use banks as a financial tool to comprehensively promote the internal affairs of the Ming Dynasty. But I can only give 30 million taels. The remaining money must be saved urgently.

Thinking of the word "emergency", Emperor Chongzhen's head hurt again. As far as Shaanxi is concerned, disaster relief is relatively easy. Just follow the previous agreement, give money, purchase grain in the surrounding area, use it intensively, and gather the efforts of the victims to build water conservancy infrastructure.

But what about the pay for the border troops! Should we give money or food? This problem is actually a difficult one.

At the very beginning, in addition to being self-sufficient, the frontier army was only given food by the imperial court. However, because the journey was long and dangerous, it consumed too much money, so it was later changed to a discount of silver, that is, the silver was directly distributed.

However, in the ninth year of Jiajing, many officials, such as officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs, Zhang Lian, the Minister of Finance, and Wang Qiong, the Chief Controller, reported to Zhang Runshen, Chen Kan and others who were involved in the matter. , the officers and soldiers cannot be practical, and the method of breaking silver must be abolished.

Even more radical is the fact that Emperor Chongzhen just met Mao Yuanyi a few days ago. This man is worthy of being the person who wrote the "Military Bei Zhi" and has a good military theory. When talking about this issue that day, Mao Yuanyi radically believed that the method of breaking silver was the culprit of the Shaanxi frontier army's serious shortage of military pay, which caused many problems for the soldiers.

Emperor Chongzhen remembered clearly that at that time Mao Yuanyi excitedly wrote: "In addition to the methods of storing land at the border, such as opening farmland, leaving salt, promoting the democratic movement, and collecting strict warehouses, there is also a method of breaking silver. Feng Qing, the Minister of Household Affairs during Zhengde Period, According to the report, the grain and grass in Xi'an, Yansui, Qingyang and other prefectures are all levied in silver taels. If the husband pays three coins and one stone for food, he will give it three liang and one stone, but the silver is not edible. After all, the food must be as expensive as four taels and five cents. Two, that is, not four, two, or five taels, but the dead are dressed in gold and jade, so the person who created the figurines should be chased and prodded!"

Emperor Chongzhen did not quite agree with his view. As far as the nature of the collection is concerned, there are many inconveniences and disadvantages such as repaying oxcarts, releasing laborers, confiscating warehouses, and making things difficult for collectors. Looking at the historical process, it is also a historical trend to change physical goods to monetary payments. Zhang Juzheng's whipping method is undoubtedly in line with the trend of history.

But in the year of famine, Mao Yuanyi was not wrong. This is a contradiction, Emperor Chongzhen thought, and couldn't help but feel a headache. In the final analysis, the productivity of Ming Dynasty was still underdeveloped!

With this thought in mind, Emperor Chongzhen was not in the mood for work and walked out of the hall.

"Your Majesty, it's cold outside, but..." Gao Shiyue, the eunuch on duty, respectfully advised.

Emperor Chongzhen shook his head and faced the cold wind blowing in his face and said: "It doesn't matter, if you give him a cold, his mind will be clearer!"

As soon as Gao Shiyue heard this, he knew that His Majesty had encountered a problem. He hesitated for a while, but finally did not speak. He just asked his men to bring a cloak and put it on the emperor.

Emperor Chongzhen ignored him and was thinking about Shaanxi. He just walked slowly and slowly arrived at the Imperial Garden.

Standing by the frozen lake, looking at the Imperial Garden under the severe cold, I felt lifeless, what a damn weather!

Emperor Chongzhen was sighing when suddenly the sound of soft footsteps came from a distant path, and the voices of two palace ladies came at the same time.

"Sister, just give your hand stove to my sister. My sister's hands are almost frozen!"

"Who makes you lazy? You don't know...ah, you still want to rob me! You damn girl, do you think my sister can't beat you..."

While they were making a noise, the two palace maids walked out of the path and suddenly saw the emperor standing there. When the eunuch Gao Shiyue next to them stared at them coldly, they were frightened and quickly knelt down on the ground to apologize. There was a hand stove. It fell to the side and rolled around for a while, but it wasn't broken at all.

Emperor Chongzhen naturally wouldn't blame others for such a trivial matter. Just as he was about to signal his body, his eyes staring at the hand stove suddenly stopped moving.

"You two cheap maids, who taught you to make such a noise and think this is where..." Gao Shiyue shouted with a cold face.

The two palace maids were lying there, shaking a little, obviously very scared.

Suddenly, Emperor Chongzhen strode forward. His unusual behavior made Gao Shiyue unable to react and had to shut up.

Emperor Chongzhen stepped forward, picked up the hand stove, and felt warm in his hand. Then he looked at the two palace ladies and said with a smile, "Get up, it's no big deal!"

"..." Gao Shiyue was slightly speechless upon hearing this. The emperor had said so, so he had no choice but to follow, "You still don't thank me!"

After hearing this, the two palace maids quickly thanked him and stood up, but they were still very nervous and lowered their heads and did not dare to look at the emperor.

Emperor Chongzhen smiled, reached out and handed the stove back to the older palace maid, and then said with a smile: "I don't like it to be too serious in the palace. As long as it is within the scope of the palace regulations, it is a good thing to have fun. Go down, today. Don’t take things to heart.”

Gao Shiyue was speechless again, but when she thought about it, it seemed that the emperor had changed a lot since December last year, and it would not be surprising to have another change like this.

Just as he was thinking about it, he saw Emperor Chongzhen smiling and saying to him: "Inform the ministers of the cabinet and the Minister of War to be at the Wenhua Hall immediately!"

Next chapter is in the afternoon.