Zhang Tongchang’s words are rough but not rough.
Qin's attack on Annan cost at least one million yuan.
If calculated according to this, his more than 20 sons must be worth tens of millions?
If this rule is followed and subsequent kings follow suit, the financial drain will be immeasurable.
You must know that the princes of the Ming Dynasty usually only had tens of thousands taels for their feudal vassals. King Rurui spent several years working in the household department before he could collect the one hundred thousand taels to go to Hanzhong.
Like King Fu, who had a rich family, he spent 300,000 yuan on his wedding, 280,000 taels on his mansion, and countless other private nuggets, but you must know that these were all rewards from the internal funds of Emperor Wanli.
And what about the court?
It's just a tax worth 40,000 taels.
The cost is very little.
And whether it was the Qin State, the Qi State, or the future Liao State, all the money spent was the court's money, but the emperor's internal funds did not come out.
Good guy, it’s the emperor who makes the profit, and the court who pays the money. It’s a completely loss-making business, who wants to do it?
After hearing this, the emperor was silent for a while, and then looked up out of the window.
The autumn harvest is around the corner, and there seem to be more birds in the capital, hoping to gain some popularity and some food.
The Imperial City is naturally no exception.
However, the trees and flowers are sparse.
"I understand what you mean!"
Zhu Yixi's voice was calm: "By the way, how much food can the court collect this autumn?"
"According to estimates from previous years, the two capitals and twenty-five provinces could collect nearly 50 million silver dollars."
Zhang Tongchang was a little surprised. This was a matter of the Ministry of Finance and had little to do with the Ministry of War.
Nowadays, as the north recovers day by day, taxes are also increasing. Especially after the border areas of Mongolia were included, border trade has become increasingly prosperous.
You know, in Suiyuan, two sheep are worth one silver dollar, but in Beijing, one sheep is worth three dollars.
Not to mention, with the inclusion of Anxi Province, the Silk Road, which had been closed for nearly a thousand years, has no hope of complete recovery, but business in Shaanxi and Gansu is rising day by day.
Therefore, agricultural taxes in the north are gradually decreasing, while commercial taxes are increasing.
Take Shaanxi as an example. The province's grain tax is only 1.5 million yuan, while the commercial tax is as much as 1 million yuan.
After years of development, the national two taxes officially broke through the bottleneck of 80 million that had been lingering for several years last year, the 16th year of Shaowu's reign, and reached 83 million.
It can be said bluntly that after excluding the annual expenses for raising troops, officials, and daily construction, the imperial court can have a balance of 2000 to 30 million yuan every year.
With such a huge surplus, the construction of the vassal state was just a drop in the bucket.
As soon as he finished answering, Zhang Tongchang realized that the court was not short of money and food.
But he still refused to admit defeat and pretended not to know anything.
Seeing his pretense, the emperor shook his head.
If it was just this person, he wouldn't mind it.
But it is obvious that the Minister of War represents a large part of the people within the imperial court.
"Let's do it this way. In the future, the prince's expenses for the feudal clan will come from the internal funds!"
"Your Majesty, Holy Ming——"
Zhang Tongchang hurriedly held up his hands and said impatiently: "It is the behavior of a wise king to distinguish the inside and outside."
The emperor didn't bother to pay attention to him, waved his hand and left.
Obviously, these civil servants are still stingy and greedy.
That's all, I went back to the study, picked up the secret box and looked at it.
I saw that the governor of Shandong made it clear that he requested that a customs be opened in Dengzhou Prefecture or Laizhou Prefecture to promote the development of commercial taxation.
Although customs revenue was under the direct control of the emperor, it had a huge spillover effect and could drive the economic development of a place or even a province.
Indirect taxes cannot be underestimated.
Logically speaking, he, the emperor, should be happy to see the local area enthusiastic about economic development, but Zhu Yixi saw a clue.
Obviously, the people have realized the importance of customs, and at the same time, officials can also guess the horror of customs tax surplus.
Zhu Yixi felt a little headache.
After hiding it for so long, it was finally revealed.
Customs taxes increase every year.
Last year, its tariffs increased to 30 million yuan, which shocked domestic funds.
Therefore, the number of employees in the Yamen of the General Administration of Customs has exceeded a thousand, which is one of the best in the entire Ming Dynasty.
Even, in order to better collect taxes, the eight customs offices almost always have a team of people stationed to prevent robbery.
At this time, Shandong proposed to establish a new customs. For Zhu Yixi, it just scratched an itch.
Although Shandong is rich in products and does not export much, mosquito legs are also meat. It is close to North Korea and Japan, and the Tianjin Port alone is not enough. Dengzhou, Shandong is just right.
Thinking like this, the emperor couldn't help but move his finger across the Shandong area, and then pointed to Liaodong.
In a sense, the benefits of opening a port in Liaodong are quite great.
Liaodong is vast and sparsely populated, and is rich in food and products. Whether it is North Korea or Japan, the demand for food is quite large.
Especially when the imperial court is rich in food, exporting as much as possible is beneficial to agricultural development.
After all, due to the climate in the Northeast, it is impossible to grow cash crops like cotton, so rice and corn can only be the best choices.
In this case, a moderate amount of exports will stimulate agricultural development in Liaodong, and the benefits outweigh the disadvantages.
At the same time, using grain exports can also affect the economies of North Korea and Japan and achieve certain goals.
"Jinzhou Prefecture (Dalian) can serve as a customs office."
Make up your mind.
The emperor showed a smile.
His requirements are not much. The two customs offices can bring him two million yuan a year, which is enough.
The top ten customs are Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Ningbo, Hangzhou, Songjiang, Tianjin, Nanjing, Zhangzhou, Dengzhou and Jinzhou.
Almost all of the Ming Dynasty's thousands of miles of sea territory was included in it.
Of course, if Taiwan Prefecture and Luzon Prefecture are also included, there are twelve places.
At this time, Jiangsu, Yangzhou Prefecture, Shaobohukou.
Thousands of civilians were sweating profusely digging the soil as the autumn wind began to rise.
A large number of sand, soil and rocks piled up like mountains.
A canal connects Gaoyou Lake and the Yangtze River flowing from north to south, which is more than 300 miles long.
Labor was used, totaling millions.
It originally took one year, but due to factors such as weather and lack of labor, it took more than two years. It can be said to be a lot of hard work.
As for the money and food consumed, it reached a million dollars.
Of course, the most important reason was that Yu Chenglong felt sorry for the poverty of the people in the Huaihai area and did not dare to recruit corvees on a large scale.
At the same time, he was afraid of damaging local agricultural production, so he dug rivers on a large scale without the help of money.
However, when this artificial canal, which is hundreds of miles long, is about to be completed, the lives of the people in the entire northern Jiangsu area are not disrupted at all.
On the contrary, because of the limited employment provided by the imperial court, many families became much more relaxed and their lives improved.
Governors, chief envoys and other senior officials from Jiangsu and Anhui provinces, under the leadership of the Minister of Industry, witnessed the success of the canal.
On that day, the sky was clear and the breeze was blowing. Thousands of people gathered around the mouth of the river and started talking.
Everyone is praising the role of this flood discharge river, and at the same time they are also praising Yu Chenglong who presided over this matter.
This flood discharge river is about 320 miles long and more than ten feet wide. It spans several prefectures and will bring the floodwaters from Gaojiayan directly to the Yangtze River.
In other words, the Huaihe River and the Yangtze River share an estuary and allow the two independent water systems to communicate.
In a sense, the Huaihe River has become a tributary of the Yangtze River.
The Yellow River occupies the Huaihe River waterway, and the Huaihe River and the Yangtze River share the waterway.
This small amount of water in the Huaihe River is not worth mentioning to the Yangtze River, and the impact on the downstream is minimal.
In this way, the Jianghuai region saves energy and no longer worries about flooding, destroying fields, or submerging Huai'an and Yangzhou.
The errands of overhauling the embankment and day and night patrols will also be eliminated.
The cost savings are difficult to measure.
"Yu Hedu, on behalf of the three thousand families of Zhoujiaqiao, I would like to thank you for your great kindness -"
When Jackie Chan's carriage arrived at the flood outlet, the news came out from nowhere, and it immediately caused an uproar.
The common people repaired the carriage, and everyone looked excited.
There was even an old man in his sixties or seventies who knelt down in front of the carriage and wet his clothes with tears.
"I originally had five sons. One of them was washed away by the flood, two died of exhaustion building the river embankment, one went to join the army and disappeared, and the last one might have died in the flood if he hadn't been the governor of the river."
These words were extremely contagious, and many people felt the same and had tears in their eyes.
His gray hair was trembling. The wrinkles on his face were enough to crush mosquitoes, and his cloudy eyes were filled with tears.
Next to him, a man in his thirties was also kneeling, but he was holding a child of five or six years old and kneeling together.
At this time, the carriage stopped, and Yu Chenglong hurried out. Regardless of the old man's dirty clothes, he personally helped him up: "Old man, how can this be my own contribution?"
"There are sage kings above, cabinet ministers and colleagues in the middle, and countless river workers and officials below. Moreover, people from many prefectures in Jiangsu have worked hard to build this flood discharge river. This flood discharge river is a joint effort by everyone. I am not ashamed of it."
Dare to do it."
These words were beautifully said and won a lot of applause.
The old man stood up tremblingly. He was not confused and continued: "I, an old man, have lived for decades. Since the Wanli year, I have never heard of a good official like you."
"The only one who can compare is Hai Qingtian back then. My father often said that if I can see you again today, my life will not be in vain."
Yu Chenglong shook his head and said nothing more.
Seeing that the old man's clothes were disheveled and mostly shabby, he couldn't bear it. He took out two silver coins from his arms and stuffed them into his hands: "Go and buy some clothes for your grandchildren!"
After saying this, he got into the carriage.
The government officials then began to drive away the people blocking the road, keeping the official road open.
Sitting on the carriage, Yu Chenglong was a little lost.
Lifting the corner of the car curtain, the crowd outside was so thick that it was almost invisible. People looked excited and were thinking about days without disasters in the future.
The Huaihe River and the Yellow River have really caused great harm to the people in northern Jiangsu and Huaihai.
In the distance, Sun Jiang, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, and other senior officials looked at the besieged Yu Chenglong and couldn't help but feel sad.
"Yu Chenglong became the supervisor of river work, and he did a good job."
Sun Jiang sighed.
The governor of Jiangsu echoed: "Who says it's not the case? The construction period of one and a half years became two and a half years, and the flood discharge river was basically dug during the slack farming period. This is great for the people."
"Don't delay farming, and don't delay making money."
Sun Jiang could hear the sour taste. He glanced at him sideways and said, "This is approved by the imperial court. This kind of matter should be done slowly rather than urgently. How could the entire northern Jiangsu be harmed just to build this river?"
!”
"Compared to the people, what is money and food?"
"What Shao Sikong said is true." The governor of Anhui agreed: "Governor Yu He did a good thing."
"When he supervised the river work, he handled it fairly and gave no discount on monthly salary. He ate thick rice and occasionally meat. People in Fengyang Prefecture also often went to work as river workers."
"By digging this river, I don't know how many people like river engineering and benefit from it."
Sun Jiang smiled slightly and said: "This news has reached the capital a long time ago. Who among the elders doesn't know that Yu Qingguan is here?"
"He works strictly and treats the people well. When the river is completed, Yu Chenglong will be promoted."
Several people present were moved by this, with a bit of admiration and envy on their faces.
Soon, Yu Chenglong crossed the crowd and came to the front of everyone.
He was sensible and quickly apologized.
Sun Jiang helped him up and said with a smile: "You will personally supervise and repair the river smoothly. The people will have no complaints. What does it matter if you are late?"
"Besides, we would love to be surrounded by the gratitude of our fathers and common people!"
These words actually relaxed the atmosphere a lot.
The group of people stood on the high ground and looked down at the flood discharge river.
The flood discharge river runs in opposite directions from north to south and from south to north, saving time.
As a transfer station, it is Shaobo Lake.
The floods from Hongze Lake will flow to Shaobo Lake through a series of lakes, while the river channels in Zhenjiang have already been dug, and willows have even been planted on the dams.
These two river sections will be connected here.
At this time, the river workers were carefully digging the dam of Shaobo Lake to connect it with the river ten feet away.
More than a thousand people attended the event from morning to noon.
Everyone stared at it tirelessly, for fear of missing the crucial moment.
"Boom——"
"It's open, the river is open -"
A shout spread, and everyone stretched their heads and looked at the mouth of the lake.
I saw that the last piece of earth wall was no more than a foot thick.
A group of workers, carrying a pointed stick that was more than ten feet tall, stood on the river embankment and kept beating the earth wall like a city gate beater.
The shouts are endless.
Soon, some water flowed out and soaked the earth wall. The workers fled immediately and stared at it carefully.
What everyone could see with the naked eye was a loach in the yellow muddy water, which quickly turned into a yellow dragon and a carp rolling around, breaking through the earth wall, and then going straight into the wide river.
A water dragon ran from north to south, its speed was extremely astonishing, and the onlookers were amazed.
Even the senior officials were shocked.
Sun Jiang, the assistant minister, sighed: "We have been waiting all morning and finally saw such a scene. It is considered a worthwhile trip."
Yu Chenglong also calmed down his shock, and felt happy for the people.
"Yu Hedu, let's go back to Beijing together. His Majesty will receive you personally."
These words aroused everyone's attention and jealousy.