Lord of Ming Dynasty

The Minister of the Household Department of the Han Dynasty, and the only remaining official of the highest position in the Qing Dynasty, Mr. Zhou Peigong stood up slowly, "Your Majesty, the Household Department is out of money."

9 Chapter Twenty

Kangxi looked at Zhou Peigong, Zhou Peigong looked at Kangxi, all the ministers and princes looked at Kangxi and Zhou Peigong, and then looked at each other.

It's a headache and there's no money left.

All the gold, silver and jewels that Yanjing could bring out were classified by Kangxi as his property. Antique calligraphy and paintings were actually worthless in this troubled world, but they brought out a lot, but who wants these now?

Just like all princes and nobles regard their own purses as their own, and the public purses as their own, Kangxi is the same. No one is a fool. It seems that the whole world and the Qing Dynasty belong to Kangxi, but Kangxi wanted to raise a large group of people, and the people in the palace could pay for it themselves, but those outside the palace were owned by the public, so there was a difference.

The treasury is empty and the rats run away, and the rats shed tears as they pass by. In fact, although the nobles and officials in the pass are lost, except for Hanchen, everyone still has a lot of family property.

But these will definitely not be given to Kangxi, and Kangxi will not give his own money to the Qing treasury, because if it enters the treasury, it is everyone's money, not his money.

"I allocate 30 taels to the Royal Forest Army, and another 10 taels to the Ministry of War to reorganize soldiers and horses from all over the country. The princes of each family should not be less than 30 taels. It will be used for the preparation and reorganization of the Imperial Guard Army. The surplus will be handed over to the Ministry of War to reorganize other Soldiers and horses are used to pay the servants.

In addition, solicit donations from businessmen and officials from all over the country. In terms of rank, the higher the official position, the more. Each super-rank should not be less than 10 taels; , and so on, the more the officials below donate, the higher the level of promotion, and the donation is based on the stipulated multiple, and if it exceeds ten times, it will be promoted to one level.

Officials’ donations are used for household expenses, and businessmen below donate according to their wealth. The minimum amount should not be less than 3000 taels. If there is no 3000 taels, their shops and property should be offset.

The common people levy a war tax, which shall not be less than ten cash per household.The income is used for local expenditures, and [-]% is handed over to the national treasury.

In addition, envoys were sent to Goguryeo and Japan to ask them to donate and collect local taxes and war taxes at the same time. [-]% of the proceeds were used for their own military expansion, local defense, and expenses, and the remaining [-]% were transported to Shengjing for the Qing Dynasty. into the treasury. "

Kangxi's decision made the Qing Dynasty that was still in chaos even more chaotic from the very beginning. The Han subjects of the Qing Dynasty, which had not yet been stable, were now in dire straits. Countless cruel officials and tax collectors passed by like locusts, and all valuable things They looted and burned all the food and houses, causing 800 million loyal Han people to flee their homes one after another, scattered in the mountains and forests between the white mountains and the black waters, out of the control of the Qing Dynasty.

There are 300 million people who have become horse bandits, bandits, all kinds of beards, locks, endangering the place, plus the harassment of the local green camp soldiers, Han army flags, and Eight Banners old soldiers who have been eliminated, and the remaining 500 million The people were killed from time to time, endured hunger, bought their sons and sold their daughters, and fell into a miserable situation.

The Qing Dynasty was not as good as the Goguryeo people under their rule. Under the protection of the Goguryeo officials, although the tax burden was heavy, the Goguryeo people could still survive, but the people of the Qing Dynasty became more and more difficult. Some people returned to the pass and secretly Some of them defected to the Huaxia Kingdom and became members of the captive camp. They would rather stay in the captive camp and wait for pardon than be killed or tortured to death in the Qing Dynasty.

As a result, the population of the Qing Dynasty further decreased. When some officials of the Qing Dynasty came to their senses, the number of Han people in the Qing Dynasty was less than 700 million. Compared with the Han people, the Mongols, Japanese, Goguryeo people, and the people of the Eight Banners still lived relatively easily. A little bit, not being treated that harshly.

But they are not easy, because they have to face as many as 300 million Han horse bandits, beards, and bandits killing and exploiting. The patrol battalion of the Qing Dynasty colluded with these bandits from time to time to oppress and bloodbath them, which made them panic. of.

Therefore, apart from the first tax of [-] million taels of silver received by the Qing government, Kangxi completed the reorganization and expansion of various troops, and established local patrol battalions, and could no longer collect much tax up.

Kangxi didn't know the actions of these bureaucrats below, or he knew and didn't interfere, because he wanted space and territory from the Russians.

The 30 Russians living in the Far East are rich in meat in his eyes. After the reorganization of soldiers and horses, he sent [-] Mongolian cavalry to find trouble with the Russians, killed them, and drove them back to their towns. [-] Japanese servants, [-] Goguryeo servants, and [-] Qing army cavalry pulled out the Russian strongholds one by one, killed the Russians there, or reorganized them into their own servants.

At this time, Russia's power in the Far East was not very strong. Because the Far East was cold and life was difficult, there were actually not many Russians, and in terms of weapons and combat, Russia's current military strength and quality were no longer comparable to those of the Qing Dynasty. In comparison, the Qing Dynasty fought the Huaxia Army for nearly 20 years in the age of firearms. The firearms in their hands have already surpassed the small cannons and matchlock guns in the hands of the Russians. At most, they are early flintlock guns. The ones in the box are all single-action and breech-loading rifles from the Huaxia Army.

The Qing people who learned from the war have completely surpassed the soldiers and horses of the Russians who oppressed them in the Far East.

Although the Far East is barren and cold, there are many tall trees in the mountains, which are good wood for building ships, houses, and furniture. The Qing Dynasty who occupied this place quickly cut down a lot of them, and then transported them back to Shengjing to rebuild them. Kangxi couldn't bear the simplicity of Shengjing's Forbidden City anymore, and some Qing merchants secretly sold these timbers to Huaxia merchants in the Ryukyu Kingdom, and Huaxia merchants sold these timbers to Huaxia Naval Division, used to build larger warships.

And this kind of wood is in short supply, and it comes from Australia, Southeast Asia, even the Spaniards, and the British need it, so it became one of the sources of wealth for the Qing Dynasty.

Along with the trade of these timbers, ginseng, velvet antler, ganoderma, tiger skin, tiger bone, and other medicinal materials from Liaodong flowed into the Huaxia Kingdom in a steady stream, and the Qing Dynasty raised a lot of funds in this way.

Compared with the huge land in the past, with tens of millions of people to support, the Qing Dynasty now has a population of only 400 million, a small piece of land, and such income has actually made the Qing Dynasty richer.

As a transit point for Qing trade, the Ryukyu Kingdom’s trade began to prosper again. The Qing supplied these materials. The Spaniards and Zheng Zhi’s Nanyang Kingdom, the second prince’s Xinlu Kingdom, the British, Portuguese, Dutch, and even France Everyone is here.

Hong Tianpao snickered once looking at the white silver and the red Huaxia Yuan. The tax revenue of his kingdom has increased dozens of times this year. Now he has made a profit of 3000 million Huaxia Yuan, making him wake up from his dreams with a smile.

His current population is just over 300 million to just over 400 million. With such a large income, he feels that he should spend some money to replace his naval equipment.

It's too dilapidated, the best warship is actually a new warship of the Huaxia Army ten years ago, and the worst warship, a 25-ton warship, is actually refitted from a Dafu ship of the Huaxia Army 20 years ago. Later, the Huaxia Army retired for [-] years and threw it to the coast guard for patrolling, and later resold it to businessmen for offshore trade. Three years ago, I spent money to buy it back to supplement the navy lost in the battle with the Qing army navy.

Chapter 921 The Contradictory Alliance

Kangxi was accumulating strength outside the pass, preparing to rob Lao Maozi, while Zhang Qiang was building the Huaxia Kingdom inside the pass. Zhang Qiang wanted to move the capital to Yanjing, but one of his decisions made him forget about this decision for at least two or three years.

Yanjing has been burnt to a piece of white ground. Without a few years of purification, there is no possibility of inducing a plague. No capital of that kingdom will be built on the plague.

Therefore, the capital of the Huaxia Kingdom is still in Jinling. As the capital of previous dynasties, Zhang Qiang wanted to move it out a long time ago, but it was impossible. There was no suitable place. Two places are suitable for the capital city, one is Jinling and the other is Yanjing. Under the current situation, he can only wait for a few years, wait for the construction of Yanjing, and wait for nature to clean up the ruins of Yanjing, where will he go.

At this moment, he was looking at the latest intelligence from Nanyang.

According to intelligence, Zheng Jing initiated an organization called the Nanyang Alliance. The alliance includes the Spaniards in Luzon, Zheng Zhi’s Nanyang Kingdom, Zheng Jing’s Australian Kingdom, the Dutch East India Company in Temasek, and the French Expeditionary Corps in Indochina. , the British Governor-General of India, the Portuguese Andaman Island Governor-General, and the second prince's Xinlu Kingdom.

Not to mention the Thais and Westerners: the British, the Spaniards, and the Dutch have many conflicts in trade and attack each other. Let’s say that the Spaniards who have been fighting fiercely on Luzon Island and Zheng Zhi’s Nanyang Kingdom are an inseparable pair. To reconcile the conflict, the two sides have been fighting for seven or eight years, with countless casualties. The Spanish casualties are a large number of indigenous states. Of course, their soldiers, civilians, and expatriates also died and injured, with a total of more than [-] people.

On Zheng Zhi’s side, there were 10,000+ Han Chinese casualties in Nanyang, and several indigenous states attached to Nanyang were exterminated. Zheng Keshuang helped him get the Japanese people and servants from the Huaxia Kingdom, as well as the indigenous people in Southeast Asia. The servants became his Nanyang The backbone of the kingdom's soldiers and horses.

There is no servant army in the Nanyang Kingdom. All the people and soldiers of the Nanyang Kingdom form the army of the Nanyang Kingdom.

Under such an environment, it actually drove the Japanese people and some of the indigenous people in Southeast Asia to flee to the Nanyang Kingdom. Therefore, the Nanyang Kingdom now has 700 million people and nearly 70 soldiers and horses.

The Spaniards were not to be outdone. The Spanish governor recruited homeless people, beggars, thieves, and women from Europe and the West to the East, and then formed them into mercenaries to fight for them. At the same time, they hired mercenaries with high salaries to come to Luzon Island.

Originally, there were only more than 1 Spaniards and the army. After the efforts of the current governor in the past seven or eight years, the population from the West has now increased to 10,000+ people, 3 regular troops, 5 mercenaries, and mature soldiers from the West. The system is already good at pioneering, and the advantages of scientific and technological progress make the Spanish soldiers and horses still have dozens of times more combat power than their troops. The Nanyang Kingdom cannot fight against it and can only take a defensive position.

What's more, the Spaniards still have nearly 2000 million native allies.

Casually organized, there are hundreds of thousands of native cannon fodder. Maybe they can't beat the Nanyang Kingdom on the frontal battlefield, but in the usual small-scale battles, the natives' familiar terrain, good at escaping, and elusive combat methods still cause Nanyang Kingdom a headache. A large number of their soldiers and horses are used to guard cities, villages, patrol, and capture those aboriginal enemies who have infiltrated.

There are only 20 soldiers and horses that can be used for attack.

Considering the updating of weapons, training of soldiers, and financial support, Zheng Zhi of the Nanyang Kingdom lost the support of the Huaxia Kingdom, so he was absolutely unable to train with the Spaniards. Sometimes Zheng Zhi regretted it, why did he fight against the Huaxia Kingdom?If he hadn't participated in the rebellion of the Huaxia Kingdom, and hadn't gotten involved with the Taixi people, he might have been able to get the support of the Huaxia Kingdom, and he would have unified Luzon Island long ago. 60.00% of the five people are all rebels against themselves, and they can still suppress the rebellion in just over half a year, and the fight is getting stronger.

Now 80.00% of Zheng Zhi's weapons and equipment are eliminated by the Ryukyu Kingdom, and most of the money is earned by doing business with the Ryukyu Kingdom.

With the support of the Nanyang Han family, he would have died long ago.

However, after Feng Xin, the representative of Zheng Jingpai, came, he understood that no matter what, the ultimate goal of the Huaxia Kingdom is to destroy them, not to make them kings who can be equal to the Huaxia Kingdom. The land under their feet is actually for the Huaxia Kingdom. The guards, once the Huaxia Kingdom is free, they will be unlucky, so he did not hesitate to join Zheng Jing, the alliance formed by the brothers he killed.

But he still had an extra defense against this brother. Who knew that his brother didn't take advantage of the alliance to annex the Nanyang Kingdom and kill himself?My brother can do it.

Zheng Jing sent envoys to various places to communicate, and at the same time prepared for war. The envoys first talked about business and trade, which would allow them to make a fortune first. For the Taixi people, they went to get some benefits first. Then talk about opening up trade, ports, and letting Thai and Westerners come to their land to do business, gather popularity and wealth for Australia, which is sparsely populated and vast, and then talk about alliances and cooperation.

But while doing this, Zheng Jing mobilized troops, mainly navy, while attacking the island of Papua New Guinea, wanting to recapture the island that is the closest home to Nanyang, while sending more fleets to attack New Zealand's second Prince, the second prince who fought first suffered heavy losses. I can hold on, because my place is nearly 1000 nautical miles away from New Zealand to the Huaxia Kingdom, and to Nanyang. Whether it is population, supplies, or business, it is richer than New Zealand. consumption together.

For a time, gunpowder smoke was everywhere in the sea area of ​​nearly [-] nautical miles, and the sound of guns was rumbling. Both Zheng Jing and Hong Hongxiu were holding on, and it depended on who would subdue the other first.

For this war, Zheng Jing gritted his teeth and bought a hundred [-]-ton Dutch armed merchant ships from the Dutch who had a good relationship with him. The ocean-going merchant ships used by the Dutch merchants themselves.

Although the operation is much more complicated than the simple old ships of the Huaxia Army and requires more manpower, Zheng Jing still bought them. So many Southeast Asian indigenous people and Japanese people can be recruited casually. In the temptation of money and casual robbery Next, [-] sailors were immediately recruited.

Leaving 75 old-fashioned thousand-ton warships purchased by the Huaxia Army Navy after many years of use, 150 six-hundred-ton warships, and all other warships were dispatched to attack the new Lu State in two batches.

This is the second prince's new name for his kingdom.

And the second prince also knew that he must have stabbed Zheng Jing in the heart when he took down Papua New Guinea. There was a possibility of World War I, so he then sent Hong Wenyi to Papua New Guinea to sit in command, and himself to sit in New Zealand to mobilize all sea forces to fight Zheng Jing decisively.

On the other hand, the trade war between the Spaniards and the British and the Dutch was also in full swing, and sometimes they broke into the sea patrolled by the Kingdom of China and fought endlessly. In order to compete for the trade in the Far East, it can be said that the two sides did not stop for a moment. Maybe the governors of both sides can sit together to drink tea leisurely, talk about women, and joke around, but the generals below have already blushed and thick necks and started fighting each other.