In the East Palace, teams of officials transported donation boxes filled with money back one after another. In the huge hall, hundreds of accountants were busy calculating the total amount of today's donations.
Liu Jin accompanied Zhu Houzhao as he looked at the piles of silver, banknotes, copper coins, broken silver, etc. in the hall in front of him, with a smile on his face. Although the Ming Dynasty did not have much money at this time, this did not mean that the Ming Dynasty
There is no money. On the contrary, Ming Dynasty truly hid wealth among the people, and the people were very wealthy.
This is just the first day of fundraising. Looking at the mountains of silver, copper coins, and banknotes piled up in the hall in front of you, and looking at the people around you who are busy counting, you know that the Ming Dynasty is actually very rich. It is definitely the richest in the world in this era.
The richest country.
"How many have been counted now?"
Zhu Houzhao looked at the mountains of money in front of him, and he was very excited. Of course, he was not excited because he saw so much money, but because through his own fundraising, he could help the front line and participate in this event.
In the midst of a grand war involving a whole nation.
"Returning to Your Highness, the large donations that have been counted so far total more than five million taels."
The person in charge of this matter at the Prince's Palace in the East Palace was Wang Shouren's father, Wang Hua, and he replied very respectfully.
"Great~"
"Including our donations, plus the donations from the ministers of the DPRK and China, the total amount is more than fifteen million taels of silver. Even if we pile up the money, these Tatars will be piled to death."
After hearing this, Zhu Houzhao also shouted excitedly.
Then he couldn't help but frowned, thought for a moment and said, "How should such a huge amount of money be used?"
"This money has been donated by everyone to fight this war. How to use the money wisely is the most important thing. We must not betray everyone's trust in us."
After hearing Zhu Houzhao's words, Wang Hua and Liu Jin looked at each other and couldn't help but nodded. Zhu Houzhao, as a fundraiser, we are willing to donate to you because of you, the new prince, and let you decide this.
Naturally, the use of this amount of funds must be done by new talents who are worthy of everyone.
"Your Highness, we might as well transfer this money to the Ministry of Revenue, which will allocate and use it uniformly."
Wang Hua thought for a while and suggested to Zhu Houzhao that this suggestion was quite satisfactory. The Ministry of Households was in charge of money, the Ministry of War was in charge of the army, and the court decided on the use of these funds. As a prince, Zhu Houzhao deserved everyone's trust.
"No~"
When Liu Jin heard this, he quickly shook his head and said.
Just kidding, hand it over to the Ministry of Finance for use. Looking at the stingy Zhou Jing, if he can use the fifteen million taels of silver in his hands to use it for fighting, it would be good. The remaining one thousand two
A million taels of silver would probably end up rusting in the treasury.
The three million taels of silver spent were used to make weapons and armor, to buy grain and grass, etc., coupled with layers of exploitation and corruption, in the end, not even one million taels may be used for the war.
At that time, it was okay to win this battle, but if we lost this battle, would you keep the money to eat?
Liu Jin knew very well the urinary nature of these civil servants, and they must not let them use this money.
"Old Liu, do you have any good ideas?"
Zhu Houzhao looked at Liu Jin. Liu Jin was always resourceful and full of ideas, and he could always think of something ingenious.
"This money cannot be handed over to the Ministry of Revenue for the following reasons. First, these funds are donated by everyone to fight this battle that determines the life and death of the country. They are earmarked funds. If
If it is handed over to the Ministry of Revenue for use, it is very likely that most of the money will be withheld by the Ministry of Revenue and will not be used for this war."
"Second, these funds are collected in your name, Your Highness. Everyone donates enthusiastically. This shows that Your Highness has high prestige and everyone in Ming Dynasty trusts You."
"Your Highness, you must not let down everyone's trust and expectations for you. It is simple and convenient to leave it to the Ministry of Finance to use, but it will make everyone feel that Your Highness is perfunctory and not responsible for the whole process."
"So this money cannot be handed over to the Ministry of Finance for use, but must be arranged and used by Your Highness. Only in this way can we live up to everyone's trust in Your Highness. Also, this is the first time Your Highness has used His Highness's money."
When I show my abilities to the whole world in name."
"Third, if it is given to the Ministry of Revenue for use, it is inevitable that there will be deductions and interceptions at all levels. Maybe only a few million taels of the fifteen million donation will be used for the war. It would be okay if the war is won.
If we lose the war, then everyone in our Ming Dynasty will lose confidence."
"Money is small, but the confidence and pride of the people of Ming Dynasty cannot be lost!"
Liu Jin thought for a while and said three reasons in one breath. Each reason made Zhu Houzhao and Wang Hua couldn't help but nod.
"Yes, it is true that this money cannot be handed over to the Ministry of Accounts. It must be arranged and used by me. But how should this money be used so that it can be used to the best advantage?"
Zhu Houzhao nodded solemnly, thought for a while and asked again.
"It's very simple. First of all, we can publish the list of donations through the Tomorrow Morning Post and list all the important large-amount donations. This can be regarded as a recognition of individuals and organizations who actively donate. Secondly, it can also stimulate everyone to continue donating.
Of course, the most important thing is also the meaning of openness and transparency.”
"Tell everyone how much money we have raised in total, and then publish how the funds are used. After the war is over, we will make a detailed list and tell everyone where the money donated by everyone has been used. In this way
By doing so, we will not let down everyone’s trust and support for you, Your Highness.”
Liu Jin explained some systems and concepts of donations in later generations. Many public welfare funds in later generations have done very well in this regard. How much money was donated in total and where it was used were clearly listed for donors.
Clearly know that your money is indeed used where it should be used.
"Well, that's how it should be~"
After hearing this, Zhu Houzhao nodded in agreement. For him, he had plenty of money, and he was the most powerful person in the Ming Dynasty. He would not even think about withholding donations.
"As for the use of this fund, we can actually use the simplest and most effective method to stimulate the frontline soldiers to work hard to win this war."
Then Liu Jin thought for a while and spoke slowly.
When Zhu Houzhao and Wang Hua heard this, they quickly pricked up their ears and listened carefully.
"His Royal Highness can set up a special war working group to arrange the use of this fund."
"In the final analysis, this money has one purpose, and that is to use it to win this war. All core points must be used around this point."
"So we can use a very simple method. For example, for the soldiers who died in this war, we will pay a pension of two hundred taels of silver for each soldier killed, and for each Tatar killed, we will reward one hundred taels of silver."
"This is for ordinary soldiers, because generals play a decisive role in war, so we can also reward these generals accordingly. Take the three-pronged army as an example, if each army kills 10,000 Tatars, then
We will use 200,000 taels of silver to reward the commanders along the way and the thousand households, hundreds of households, etc. at all levels below. The more enemies you kill, the greater the reward will be."
"Your Highness only needs to send someone to the front line to collect relevant data and make statistics. After the war is over, we will uniformly distribute this reward."
"As the saying goes, money can make devils grind. With fifteen million taels of silver, we can kill all these Tatars even if we use silver to smash them."
"And this is just a donation from the Beijing-Tianjin area. This donation can be spread to the entire Ming Dynasty, and more money can be raised by then. If there is excess after the war, His Highness can also set up a special war fund to use it.
To compensate soldiers who died in foreign wars and to reward generals and soldiers who fought bravely against the enemy."
"This war gene can also be used for investment and management. For example, depositing it into the First Bank of Ming Dynasty can make money, but this is only the simplest investment method."
"You can use the name of the war fund to invest and open factories, and all the proceeds will be included in it and used specifically to support foreign wars."
Liu Jin said everything he wanted to say in one breath.
This is naturally a system and method based on later generations, and it is also the most effective method that Liu Jin came up with in this era.
It is difficult to defeat the grassland people, but it is easy to do things if you have money. There is no need to worry about weapons and armor. The court has the funds to buy and build them, so how to mobilize the courage and confidence of the soldiers participating in the war is very important.
Talking about ideals, talking about dreams, drawing a pie, etc. will not work. For these soldiers of the Ming army, the most useful thing is money.
Because the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty who participated in the war this time, whether they were border troops or military households, were at the bottom of the Ming Dynasty and the poorest existence. For them, it is useless to talk to them about national justice.
They can fight whenever they can, but if they can't fight, they will most likely fall apart as soon as they encounter the prairie people, so there must be something that can make them fight desperately.
And this thing is silver. Only silver can make them kill the enemy with red eyes, regardless of life and death. If you kill a Tatar, you will be rewarded with one hundred taels of silver. If you die, you will receive two hundred taels of silver as a pension to your family.
In addition, if you kill the enemy and win the battle, not only the soldiers will be rewarded, but the generals and commanders in charge will also be given huge rewards. This can stimulate everyone to kill the enemy with red eyes. The more you kill, the greater the reward.
There is a lot of money, and the money is easy to get. I believe no one can resist the huge temptation of money.
