Chapter 17 Heavy snow in the south of the Yangtze River for forty years

Just when Li Shi's operation in North Korea was a complete failure, Zhu Qizhen was also feeling the chill of winter.

There was a lot of snow today.

South of the Yangtze River, and even in the northern part of Zhejiang, it has been snowing for forty years, from the wax moon to the first month, and it does not stop.

The sea froze and spread along the coastline all the way to Ningbo.

Although Zhu Qizhen was in the warm pavilion, he also felt a chill to his bones. In previous years, there may have been a little snow in Jiangnan, but it was only light snow, even sleet, and there had never been such a heavy snowfall.

The crops that want to come for the winter must freeze to death countless times, and there are many kinds of rice in the south, which are not as frost-resistant as wheat. Not to mention, the people in Jiangnan suddenly encountered such a severe cold, and there are even poor people who don't know that they will freeze to death under the heavy snow.

Although Wang Zhi had already reported that he had already left Nanjing, he had already left Nanjing to inspect the prefectures of Song, Su, Chang, Zhen, Hu, Hangzhou, Jia, and Shao, and although he had already made it clear, the magistrates of the prefectures and counties had already begun to act. The people have been resettled in advance, but there are still countless houses damaged by heavy snow.

This is also normal, not to mention that some dilapidated houses can not withstand the backlog of heavy snow, just the southern house and the northern house are structurally different, many houses in the construction, did not consider the function of snow prevention, if a day or two days of heavy snow, it is estimated that it can withstand it.

But the 40 days of snowfall were even more appalling than the 2008 snowstorm, and the response of the government was not as good as that of later generations.

Even though Wang Zhi was a first-class capable minister, Zhu Qizhen gave Wang Zhi full power.

But Zhu Qizhen can still imagine what the situation in Jiangnan will be like now.

And what worries Zhu Qizhen even more is not the current snow disaster, but now that after the snow disaster, the harvest brought by the snow disaster is all double-cropping rice in the south, and in such a cold winter, where can there be a harvest of late rice.

Now the area south of the Yangtze River is the core of the Ming economy, accounting for nearly one-third of the imperial court's taxes.

The money and grain advanced by Wang Zhi today is the tax that Jiangnan will pay tomorrow.

Next year's financial situation is not optimistic.

What worries Zhu Qizhen even more is that this does not seem to be a good sign.

The nineteenth year of orthodoxy has just arrived, and there is such a heavy snowfall, which seems to indicate that the nineteenth year of orthodoxy will not be easy.

All of Zhu Qizhen's plans have the possibility of stillbirth.

It's just that Zhu Qizhen has no choice, he can't do anything, or what he can do, he has already done. I can only wait, waiting for the specific disaster relief situation after the heavy snow in Jiangnan.

At the beginning of February, the spring flowers bloomed, and the snow disaster situation was also alleviated, which made Zhu Qizhen feel a little more relieved

。 News of Li Shi also came.

Zhu Qizhen was not surprised by such a situation.

He did not dispose of it at all, but as before, the lower part of the discussion.

The news spread immediately.

Xu Youzhen immediately went on "Please Attack North Korea with the Orthodox Outline", and for a while, there were many discussions.

At this point, Zhu Qizhen held the first imperial meeting. Convene the Cabinet, the Six Ministries, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and the Governor's Office of the Five Armies to discuss the matter in the Wuying Palace.

At the beginning of the meeting, Liu Qiu took a clear stand against the invasion of North Korea, he said loudly: "Taizu takes North Korea as a country that is not conquered, this one can be cut down, since the orthodoxy ten years later, disasters have occurred repeatedly, this winter Jiangnan has been snowing for more than a month, and now I don't know how many people have starved, Your Majesty is so unexpected, how can Your Majesty bear to use troops outside?" These two can not be cut down, the tile spur also first and I have a feud, into the tile thorn called Khan, the ambition is obvious, the minister is afraid that within a day or two, that is, the pass to the south, the enemy is current, can not take care of other things, these three can not be lawful, there are these three can not be fell, but also advise His Majesty to conquer Korea, will be a villain, please punish it to thank the world. ”

Zhu Qizhen nodded and said, "What Mr. Liu said is extremely true, but why is it so over?" ”

This sentence stopped Liu Qiu.

How's it going?

If you ignore it, it will be a big loss of the dignity of the court, after all, if you don't ask from the beginning, it's just fine, but what is the result of sending envoys? was slapped in the face by Li Yao.

Liu Qiu couldn't say anything to back down.

Shi Heng sneered and said, "What do I think Lord Liu has a high opinion? However, the talk of Confucianism, North Korea regards the imperial court as nothing, if it is not severely punished and set an example, I am afraid that in the future, the imperial court will still have that subordinate congress to listen? ”

"It's just a trivial matter, if it's a big thing, won't the court be inaudible?"

Then Shi Heng said loudly: "The minister please be the vanguard to attack Korea, when the minister was in Haixi, he saw the Korean armament, but Er'er, as long as His Majesty gives an order, within a few months, he will break through Seoul." ”

"Your Majesty," Liu Dingzhi said: "What Lord Liu said is extremely true, not to mention anything else, just talking about money and grain, the Beijing camp consumes six million taels of silver every year, and the nine-sided salary is also in the millions, and two-thirds of the salt tax in the world is in the army, and after the sixteenth year of orthodoxy, tens of millions of stones of grain are consumed every year for disaster relief, and the money and grain are reduced and exempted in various places, and it is more than eight million stones, and as little as three million stones, which is already a quota set by Taizu, and nearly 30 million stones of grain tax, which can be retained, very few. And the world's expenditures, in addition to military expenses and disaster relief, there are still hundreds of officials, palace expenses, vassal kings, water conservancy projects, and nine-sided cities, which are not in the regular branch, but in a separate list. ”

"The amount varies from year to year, but at the most time, the appropriation is no less than the military expenditure."

"Taicang Silver Warehouse, Beijing Warehouse, and even the Inner Carrier Warehouse, there is no balance,

And the conquest of Korea, the cost is not a few, after all, Korea is a country of thousands of miles, if you move troops, at least 100,000 people, orthodox fourteen years of war, the imperial court from May to the end of October, on average, the monthly consumption is more than 1.2 million taels, this is not counting the reward and bereavement. ”

"Even according to the Marquis of Montenegro, the military expenditure on breaking through Seoul in June will be at least 10 million, but now only the inner carrier depot has this amount. This year, there is heavy snow in the south of the Yangtze River, the climate is not usual, I don't know what will happen in the future, and the money from the inner carrier treasury must not be used for war. ”

"Your Majesty, please."

Zhu Qizhen also knows that climate is a complex system. In many cases, if there is an abnormality in one place, there is something wrong below, and if there has not been such a heavy snowfall in previous years, the possibility of a disaster year in the future is much higher than in ordinary times.

Liu Dingzhi may not know Zhu Qizhen's thoughts, but he wants to explain that the fragile finances of the Ming Dynasty really can't withstand a big war.

Money is never enough.

No matter how much they earn every month, they all have a common problem, that is, they don't have enough money.

Now Zhu Qizhen is also facing the same problem.

Before the salt tax reform and the opening of the sea, the imperial court only had two or three million taels of silver every year, in addition to the grain tax. Naturally it is not enough. After Zhou Chen reformed the salt tax, he changed all kinds of miscellaneous income into silver and increased coinage, whether it was silver coins or copper coins.

The peak of the imperial court's income was in the fourteenth year of orthodoxy, and in addition to the grain tax, the income was nearly 30 million taels.

Of course, there is no way to do it, after all, the hole was too big at that time, so I could only grit my teeth and find a way to scrape the money, and the normal income was around 15 million taels or yuan per year.

However, in Zhu Qizhen's reform of the military camp, there is a considerable expense, that is, the Beijing camp is as much as 6 million taels per year, and it is estimated that if Zhu Qizhen reforms all the nine sides of the conscription system, the Ming Dynasty will spend at least 10 million taels on military spending.

If there is to be a war, even more.

If the weather is favorable, saving two or three years will probably save one year's military spending. But today, under the situation of disaster after disaster.

Zhu Qizhen couldn't save money at all.

This seems to be an eternal problem that Zhu Qizhen has to face.

Wang Ji coughed and said, "Your Majesty, what Scholar Liu said is extremely true. Money and food are on the one hand, and the tile spur side is also a problem, Jinyiwei reported, Jurchen Wuzhiwei, Wuliang Ha Sanwei, and even the people of the Xiao'er Jinjin family, have connected with Jinyiwei, with the intention of rebellion, and the minister thinks that the internal struggle of the tile spur is not over yet, but is about to enter the second half. ”

"At this critical time, the imperial court must also maintain the ability to intervene at any time, otherwise no matter who wins in the end, for the imperial court, it will be a great opportunity to miss in vain."