A serious accident occurred during the Kongming Lantern test flight. The craftsmen specifically responsible for the incident, Hanchen, Manchen, and the main person in charge, Ganglin, were arrested and jailed on the spot, and were fined.
Dorgon also returned to Prince Rui's Mansion with a dark face.
That night, the Ministry of Punishment came up with preliminary conclusions.
Wu Dahai, the Secretary of the Ministry of Punishment, personally went to Prince Rui's mansion to present the case.
"Master, the main reason for the rupture of the Kongming Lantern has been identified. The quality of the light yarn purchased from Huzhou was not strong enough and could not withstand the pressure and ruptured, which ultimately led to this disaster."
"The quality of the light yarn is not too hard? Isn't that right?"
Dorgon said with a dark face: "This is 100 taels of top-quality gauze!"
In order to build a large enough air force, Dorgon really spent a lot of money this time. He took out a full 1 million taels of silver from the national treasury and purchased 10,000 pieces of gauze from Huzhou under the guise of the Shaanxi trade route.
Dorgon had a big appetite and planned to build hundreds of Kongming lanterns at one time.
In this way, when the next war begins, the sky will be filled with Qing Kongming lanterns, and an all-round attack on the Ming army will be launched from the sky and underground without any blind spots.
However, the reality is cruel.
Now Wu Dahai told him that the quality of the light yarn bought from Huzhou was not very good.
Thinking of this, Dorgon was almost so angry that he vomited blood, because this meant that the 1 million taels of silver spent by the treasury was probably wasted, Gang Lin, this damn silverfish!
"Master, we must have been deceived."
"Lied? Are you saying that the silk merchants in Nanming passed off inferior goods?"
"Yes, I have sent people to seal the warehouse and found that the Hu yarn stored in it will break if you pull it with a little force, and it is not even as tough as ordinary silk."
"Master, this may be someone lining their own pockets."
Hou Fangyu did not hesitate to add insult to injury to Gang Lin.
During this period, Gang Lin suppressed Hou Fangyu frequently.
Now it can be regarded as Hou Fangyu's opportunity to take revenge.
Dorgon snorted coldly and said, "What did Gang Lin say?"
"He denied it," Wu Dahai said, "and said he had no knowledge of the matter."
"Ignorant?" Dorgon sneered, "He was personally responsible for making the Kongming Lantern, and his nephew personally went to Huzhou to buy 10,000 pieces of Huzhou yarn. Now that this happened, he actually said he didn't know?"
After hearing this, Wu Dahai knew what the next trial should be.
Ganglin has offended the emperor's father and the regent this time, and he is afraid that his family will be destroyed.
But Wu Dahai knew better that there was something else that prompted Dorgon to commit murder.
Because of the Huzhou Qingsha incident, even a fool could see that Nan Ming was being tricked.
After sending Wu Dahai away, Dorgon called Ying'erdai, the Minister of Household Affairs, and Fan Wencheng, a bachelor of the Academy of Secretaries. He still wanted to continue building Kongming lanterns and forming an air force.
"Ying'erdai, how much money is left in the Treasury of the Ministry of Revenue?"
"Reporting to the master, there are more than 22 million taels of silver left in the warehouse."
"What did you say?" Dorgon suddenly changed his expression, "Only 22 million taels are left?"
When they first entered the Pass, the Qing army seized more than 60 million taels of silver from the city of Beijing and the puppet troops. Adding in the silver previously stolen, there were more than 70 million taels of silver in Taicang.
How many years have it been just now? You have only spent more than 22 million taels?
"Master Rongzhen." Ying'erdai said helplessly, "After our Qing soldiers entered the pass, they fought several big battles. First was the Battle of Xuzhou, then the Battle of Hetao, and then the Battle of Dagukou and the Battle of Liaodong.
, The gains from these several battles were very little, but the losses of men, horses, money and food were countless, and the money was spent like running water."
Dorgon immediately fell silent, because war requires money.
The Qing soldiers entered the customs five times before, and the reason why they did not lose money was because the amount of property, livestock and people they grabbed was large enough to cover the battle losses.
But after entering the customs, I lost money in several battles.
Especially in the Battle of Xuzhou and the Battle of Liaodong, we lost all our money.
"But that's not right." Dorgon said with an embarrassed expression, "Even if a lot of money was spent on the battles in Xuzhou, Hetao, Dagukou and Liaodong, it wouldn't be as much as 50 million taels, right?"
Dorgon has been in power for so many years, but he still knows a lot about finances.
After entering the customs, the cost of these several major battles was up to 20 million taels.
"Master Mingjian." Ying'erdai said with a bitter smile, "The total cost of Xuzhou and other wars was more than 18 million taels, and the remaining more than 10 million taels were spent on making flintlock guns, red cannons, camel cannons and armor.
, more than 20 million taels were used to purchase grain, tea, silk, cotton, and wine from Nanming and Pseudo-Shun."
"Tea, cotton and wine?" Dorgon's face fell.
There is no way to save more than 10 million taels to make firearms and armor, and there is a high probability that more than 10 million taels will be spent in the future. There is no way to save money to buy food and silk, they must be spent.
But what about tea cotton wine?
Can’t you grow your own tea? Can’t you weave your own cotton?
And wine, can’t I make it myself and have to buy it?
Faced with Dorgon's question, Ying'erdai replied: "Tea is mostly produced in the south and cannot be grown in the north, so it can only be bought from Nanming. Cotton cloth was originally woven in the Qing Dynasty, but since the beginning of last year
, a large amount of cheap cotton cloth from Nanming was continuously imported into the Qing Dynasty, causing the cotton farmers and weavers in the Qing Dynasty to lose their money. After that, few people planted cotton and weaved cotton cloth, so they could only buy large quantities from Nanming.
"
"The wines are similar. In the beginning, I also made wine in Daqing."
"But since last year, a large amount of cheap wine has been imported from Nanming to Daqing."
"My brewery in Qing Dynasty was unprofitable, and I rarely made wine after that."
"By the way, the iron materials needed by the Military War Bureau to make firearms are also bought from Huguang."
After a pause, he continued: "So now we have to spend a lot of money every year to buy cotton, wine, tea and even iron materials from Nanming, and the cost is getting more and more every year. Last year, these items were
A total of more than 6 million taels were spent, but more than 5 million taels were spent in the first half of this year."
"What?" Dorgon's expression changed suddenly, "Doesn't this mean that it costs tens of millions of taels a year?"
Hou Fangyu next to him also changed his expression. The Qing Dynasty actually sent so much money to Nanming every year? Why? If this continues, won’t the Qing Dynasty become poorer and poorer, and Nanming become richer and richer?
Ying'erdai smiled bitterly and said, "I'm afraid it will be more than ten million."
Because the expenses are increasing every month and even more at the end of the year.
"How can this be possible? This is absolutely not possible." Dorgon said angrily.
Ying Erdai was silent, this was something he couldn't stop.
Even Dorgon had to think twice before he could stop this.
The reason is also very simple. These luxury goods were bought for the enjoyment of the powerful in the Qing Dynasty.
Most of them are bought in the name of the country and then distributed in the name of rewards.
To put it bluntly, it was used to win people's hearts. Otherwise, why would the Qing dignitaries support Dorgon?
If the rewards of these luxury goods were stopped, the powerful officials of the Qing Dynasty would definitely be unhappy. In this way, the foundation of Dorgon's rule would be shaken, and the Qing Dynasty might be shaken.
This time, Dorgon was also unable to get off the tiger.
Stop buying luxury goods, the Qing Dynasty's powerful people were not happy.
But if we don’t stop, the treasury can last for another two years at most.
What to do after two years? Is life over yet?
Seeing Dorgon in such pain, Cao Eryu couldn't help but feel like a knife was cutting through his heart.
At that moment, Cao Eryu offered advice: "Master, didn't Nanming abolish silver and use silver notes instead? To put it bluntly, a silver note is just a piece of paper. It's cheap. The Qing Dynasty can forge large quantities of silver notes. With silver notes, it's not worth it."
You can buy mosaic, cotton, silk, wine and other goods in large quantities from Nanming? You don’t have to spend any money.”
"That's easy to say." Dorgon said angrily.
"The eight great imperial merchants have tried it a long time ago, and there is no way it can be faked."
The eight major Shanxi merchants really tried it, and ended up hiring a lot of people to go in.
In comparison, Hou Fangyu's suggestions are more reliable than Cao Eryu's.
Hou Fangyu said: "Master, tea, silk, cotton, and wine, especially Ming wine, I'm afraid we can only buy it from Nanming, and we can only buy more and not less. However, the continued outflow of money is also a big problem. We must find a way to balance the income."
It’s good to support them, otherwise the Qing treasury will be empty in less than two years.”
Dorgon said: "Xiao Houzi, what can you do?"
Hou Fangyu said: "The only way is to take the special products that we have in the Qing Dynasty but not in the Nanming Dynasty, such as dongzhu, ginseng, horses, camels and furs. These goods are not available in the Nanming Dynasty."
"We can sell these goods to Nanming at a high price."
After a pause, he added: "This will balance the income and expenditure."
"Well, this is a good idea." Dorgon immediately said to Ying'erdai, "Pass on my decree and ask the Fan family and other eight imperial merchants to increase the prices of Dongzhu, ginseng, horses, camels, furs and other goods."
"Hey." Ying Erdai responded respectfully, "I will do it now."
…
Jianu's actions were quickly reported to the Ming Dynasty General Chamber of Commerce.
"Have the prices of all Jiannu's goods increased?" Kang Wanwan asked.
"Yes, everything has gone up." Zhang Han said, "Dongzhu has gone up, ginseng has gone up, horses, camels, cattle, sheep and furs have all gone up. I guess the treasury of the slaves is about to be emptied."
"It's great, the day has finally come."
Kang Baiwan was overjoyed when he heard this: "Let's go to face the saint."
At that moment, Kang Wanwan took Zhang Han straight to the Imperial College.
However, when he arrived at the Imperial Academy, he was told that Chongzhen had gone to the Qingliang Mountain Palace.
Kang Wanwan and Zhang Han went straight to Qingliang Mountain again, but as soon as they got off the car, they heard bursts of cheers from the direction of Qingliang Mountain Palace, shouting "Long live the Lord!"
Kang Wanwan and Zhang Han reacted immediately.
"Could it be that Concubine Ran gave birth to the prince?"
"The birth of the prince is such a great joy."
The two of them entered the palace excitedly, already thinking of words to congratulate.
However, after entering the palace, the eunuch told Concubine Ran that she had given birth to a princess.
Kang and Wanwan immediately lost their enthusiasm. In the Ming Dynasty, the status of a princess was completely incomparable to that of a prince. It could be said that there was a world of difference.
