"Dong'er, what does it mean to recruit all the vassal kings to come to the capital?"

"Grandfather, the Ming Dynasty was brought down by Emperor Taizu with his body in cloth and a three-foot sword. The so-called righteousness of the country in the past, Taizu of our dynasty was the first. When this country faced a great disaster, the vassal kings from all over the country

Shouldn’t we actively donate money and food to help the court overcome difficulties?”

When Zhu Youdong said this, Wanli looked dazed for a while, and then looked at him as if he was stupid.

What a pity! Due to financial constraints in the Ming Dynasty, it has not been able to fully pay the salaries of princes and clans at all levels for more than a hundred years. In the past, influential clans could also subsidize part of it through salt, but now your great grandson, in addition to a few

Except for the large salt mines, all the salt mines were sold to private individuals. The clan members also lost their income from this area!

Recently, the household and ministerial levels are rich, and the clan members are clamoring for the court to repay their previous debts at once. But your grandson turned a deaf ear and actually wants to take advantage of this disaster to take advantage of them?

How is this possible? These clans are nothing but meat! You really pushed them into a panic. Believe it or not, thousands of them went to Xiaoling Tomb in Nanjing to cry at the grave? What will you do then? Send troops to suppress it.

?

But in Zhu Youdong's view, the titles of generals, lieutenants, etc. in the clan are constantly being downgraded, and they really don't have much money. But princes and princes are hereditary. Moreover, these princes have no hope of official career due to the political power, so they are single-minded.

It's all about making money. Generally speaking, as long as the business is done well and accumulated over hundreds of years, at least those princes who were granted titles since the founding of the People's Republic of China and have continued to this day, there is no prince whose net worth is less than 10 million silver dollars!

Of course, what Ming Dynasty is facing is famine. So at least this year, Zhu Youdong does not want their money. But when it comes to food, which vassal prince does not have tens of thousands of acres or even more fertile land? The Royal Bank of Ming Dynasty combines various departments of state power.

The warehouses of the feudal lord have been gathered together, but the feudal king’s warehouses cannot be controlled. If nothing else, let’s talk about the King of Shu, who is known as the richest among the feudal kings. It is said that his family’s farmland is spread all over Sichuan, and his granaries are also spread across Sichuan.

.

In short, in Zhu Youdong's view, what kind of salary do such a group of rich people get? Is it ridiculous if they don't cut some meat and give it to the country?

"Dong'er, let the vassal kings from all over the country come to Beijing. You can meet them and let them understand the majesty of the prison country earlier. This is okay. But, let them provide money and food? Grandpa is afraid that there will be more complaints by then.

?”

"That's for sure, but my grandson has a way to make them willingly pay for the food!"

"Oh?" Although he has been relegated to the background for many years, Wanli, who likes money, became interested when he heard that he could take things out of the prince's pocket: "What's the plan?"

"Grandpa Huang, for this disaster relief, after we have prepared enough food, my grandson is not going to simply give out porridge or distribute food. Instead, he is going to carry out large-scale work-for-work relief in North China!"

"Relief for work? Well, this grandpa understands that the sages have done similar things in the past. However, this locust plague, I heard from you, is a major disaster that covers the entire five northern provinces. What big projects do you have?

Using 20 million or more workers at the same time?”

"Grandpa Huang, although the number of people affected by the disaster may exceed 20 million, it would be good to have a real strong labor force of 3 to 4 million."

"That's too much. You have it. Huh? What is this?"

"Grandpa Huang, my grandson's Fangshan Laboratory has developed cement six years ago and implemented it in Kuandian Liubao, with very good results. My grandson's original plan was to wait until the steam engine was completely developed.

The power of gunpowder blasting has been further improved before it was widely promoted. But now that we have encountered such a major disaster, it is rare to have so much cheap labor, and it would be really stupid not to take advantage of this opportunity."

"Steam engine?"

"My grandson will accompany Grandpa Huang to Fangshan Laboratory to watch this matter later. Grandpa Huang, my grandson's idea is that taking advantage of the large amount of free labor this year, my Ming Dynasty can use food as wages and hire millions of workers.

Use cement to build roads in North China and Guanzhong! Build roads on a large scale!"

"Well..." Such a grand plan and a series of new terms clearly stunned Wanli. After thinking repeatedly and asking for a long time, he finally figured out what Zhu Youdong was thinking.

Then he supported his belly: "Dong'er, my Ming Dynasty has a criss-crossed water network in the south, which makes it quite convenient for people and property to travel. The official roads in the north are indeed in disrepair. They can be renovated. But this cement road

, according to what you just explained, it is nearly three feet (6 meters) wide and six inches and a half (20 centimeters) thick. And once the cement hardens, it can basically maintain its hardness and integrity no matter whether it is sunny or rainy...

Dong'er, although our Ming Dynasty's finances have improved a lot after your management, we can't bear such trouble. This road is too luxurious!"

Is it luxurious? This is based on the standards set by the lowest grade domestic cement road in the 20th century.

"Grandpa Huang, this is what my grandson thinks. First, the official system in the north of the Ming Dynasty should be repaired. This will help make government orders clear, military dispatch faster, and business transactions more convenient... In short

, building roads will benefit the country.

Secondly, after the road is repaired, my grandson is going to introduce four-wheeled carriages. Well, Grandpa Huang, this four-wheeled carriage looks like this...

Thirdly, many subjects of our Ming Dynasty now privately say that Sun Zi acted too recklessly and dealt with Shen Ke's stubborn illness in Ming Dynasty too quickly and too harshly. However, in Sun Zi's view, Sun Zi has only been in charge of supervising the country in these years.

I, the real Shen Ke of the Ming Dynasty, have been testing the surroundings a few times. Grandpa Huang, the real problem of my Ming Dynasty is that I cannot collect business taxes! Grandpa Huang, the combined annual turnover of many companies under my grandson has exceeded one year.

If the commercial tax can be collected at a ratio of 15%, then Daming Shipping, Mubang Jade, Fangshan Grocery, Daming Pharmaceutical, and Honghe Industrial alone will be able to pay more than 10 million yuan to the country.

Commercial tax. This has caught up with the national salt tax! If commercial tax can be effectively collected across the country, Sun Er estimates that the income of our Ming household department will increase by at least 80 million to 100 million every year!"

"Hiss~~ Then building roads can collect commercial taxes?"

"It cannot be collected directly, but it can be collected in the name of road tolls and road maintenance fees. If businesses want to make money, they can only buy low and sell high. To achieve this, they must move materials from one place to another. Take care of your grandchildren.

After the cement road is repaired, would the merchants rather pay a small fee to use a safe, fast, and large-capacity cement road, or would they rather rely on manpower to climb mountains and ridges and take uninhabited paths? In this way, they will collect commercial taxes in disguise.

And once this hole is opened, it will be much easier for my grandson to legitimately collect commercial taxes in the future."

"I see, you said that to make the feudal princes willingly pay for and provide food is to give them the right to toll on a certain stretch of road, right?"

"That's right! Grandpa Huang, household registration is the foundation of a country. My grandson has spent so much time and effort, and finally made a good start in reorganizing household registration. We must not let all our previous efforts go to waste because of this disaster. So.

, although the time is not yet completely mature, my grandson feels that it is still worth a try."

"Well." After waving to Zhu Youdong to help him stand up, Wanli took a few steps and said, "Dong'er, grandpa thinks this is feasible, so feel free to do it. After the vassal kings from all over the country came to Beijing, grandpa went to greet them in person.

"
Chapter completed!