I heard Zhang Mingwei say to Emperor Chongzhen: "The silver mined by our Ming Dynasty is limited, and most of it comes from the Wa Kingdom and Xiyi. After a large amount of silver taels, there was the practice of converting all taxes into silver. I won't talk about the benefits of this approach. The disadvantage is that if the silver is not enough to support the use of the Ming Dynasty, it will be a great disaster! ”

Emperor Chongzhen frowned when he heard this, and when he was about to ask, Zhang Mingwei had already taken the lead and said: "As far as the Ming Dynasty is concerned, the distribution of silver is also uneven. Because most of the silver flows from overseas, it is mostly in the coastal areas. In the northwest and other places, there is less silver. However, the imperial court stipulated that taxes must be collected in silver. Let's take a simple example! ”

"For a family, it would have been enough to pay one stone of rice to the government. However, because the imperial court did not accept rice, it asked for silver instead. Then the family had to sell the rice first and exchange it for silver. However, the harvest season is almost the same, and selling rice together will inevitably cause rice to be cheap. Those who originally paid one stone of rice may have to sell one and a half stones to pay the court taxes. ”

"This situation, if there is less silver in the northwest and other places, it is even more prominent, because silver is scarce and expensive, and a family may need to pay twice as much rice as the original to pay the imperial court taxes!"

Speaking of this, Zhang Mingwei said solemnly: "Northwest and other places are already poor, but they have to pay more taxes, how many people will be forced to go hungry?" The civil upheaval in the northwest is serious, and this is one of the reasons why it is very important. ”

This angle was something that these people in the court, including Emperor Chongzhen, had not thought of.

For a long time, they believed that the people in the northwest were in turmoil, and that was because of natural disasters.

But now, according to Xingguo Gong's statement, it does seem to make sense. This realization shocked them.

Zhang Mingwei didn't finish speaking, and continued: "If the silver is used for circulation, then it's fine. But it is impossible for ordinary people to have silver in their homes. All the money is in the hands of the rich. In ordinary times, they do not buy and sell silver, but mostly hide it in their homes and do not circulate it. As a result, there is even less silver on the market. This means that the price of silver will be more expensive! This situation exacerbates the previous phenomenon! ”

When Du Yinxi heard this, he said: "It seems that the silver price of my Ming Dynasty is indeed less than that of the northwest region in the proportion of copper coins exchanged for copper coins along the coast!" ”

When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he turned his head to look at him, but did not speak, and his face became a little grim.

Zhang Mingwei glanced at them and continued: "Since the end of Wanli, the Xiyi countries have begun to fight large-scale wars, essentially fighting for hegemony on their side, just like our previous Spring and Autumn Warring States. Spain, one of the former hegemons, was already in decline, and once the war began, it needed a lot of money to support it. Therefore, their king ordered that all the silver from abroad be shipped to Spain. As a result, the amount of silver flowing into my Ming Dynasty decreased dramatically. ”

Speaking of this, he pointed to the east and said: "There is also the Wa Kingdom, now that the Tokugawa Shogunate is in power, it has also blocked Wajima, and the trade with my Ming Dynasty has also been reduced. The amount of silver flowing into my Ming Dynasty from the Wa Kingdom has also decreased dramatically! ”

After a pause, Zhang Mingwei sighed and said: "The main import channels of the two major silver have been broken, which makes Daming's silver even more scarce, and the price of silver is higher. As I said earlier, it has greatly hurt ordinary people. When a large number of ordinary people cannot afford to pay their taxes, it contributes to the power of natural disasters. If you add to this the corruption of the officials, the people will have no way to live......"

Speaking of which, he will not say anything, because these people present have already experienced what it is like for the people to have no way to live.

After Zhang Mingwei finished speaking, the scene was very quiet, and everyone was seriously thinking about his words.

This angle, this point of view, they really have never heard of!

After a long time, Emperor Chongzhen said with emotion: "It is really not easy to let the people live and work in peace and contentment and live a good life!" ”

"Yes, it's just a matter of silver, and there are so many inside things in it!" Zuo Maodi, the left capital of the Imperial Palace, also echoed, "It's really an eye-opener to hear it today!" ”

Du Yinxi looked at Xingguo Gong and said with great admiration: "Guo Gong is really so knowledgeable, he even knows the affairs of the Wa Kingdom and even Xiyi clearly. The ancients were cloudy, and the manpower was sometimes poor, but this is not suitable for the Guogong side. I don't know how Guogong knows so much? ”

When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he turned his head and glanced at Gu Yinxi.

Of course, he knew that Zhang Mingwei's knowledge was the knowledge of later generations. It's not surprising that so much is known!

Thinking so, he turned his head to look at Zhang Mingwei again, wondering how Zhang Mingwei would answer Du Yinxi.

Zhang Mingwei smiled after hearing this: "Don't forget, I am still the commander of the Jinyi Guard." ”

As soon as he heard this, Du Yinxi immediately remembered that when there was a war against the Japanese during the Wanli period, Jinyiwei had news from the Japanese country.

Thinking about it like this, he thought that it was the reason why the secret agents of the Jinyi Guard who were distributed all over the country told the news to the Jinyi Guard's commander here.

After Zhang Mingwei answered him, he turned his head to look at Emperor Chongzhen and said: "Your Majesty, the currency system is not innovative, if you want to prosper in the Ming Dynasty, you will get twice the result with half the effort!" ”

I had already heard it so clearly, how could Emperor Chongzhen not want to innovate, so he hurriedly said: "This matter is indeed very important, how about Mr. give me a piece of music and discuss it in detail?" ”

Zhang Mingwei listened, nodded and said: "No problem, but the matter of currency innovation, it is best to keep it secret first, and wait for this train to appear first, and there are many things that need to be prepared." ”

For these requests of his, Emperor Chongzhen certainly would not have an opinion.

At this time, it was a little late, so he did not stay in the academy for long, and led his ministers back to the palace.

………………

After Emperor Chongzhen left, the crowd of onlookers speculated about what was going on inside the wall.

On the second day, news came out that Xingguo Gong had built a "Maxima".

This news naturally caused a sensation among the people of Beijing, and they all wanted to see what the Maxima that would make abnormal noises and smoke looked like?

Under their expectations, the imperial court officials and soldiers brought thousands of bareheaded men, and began to start construction on a large scale from Tongzhou to Jingshi.

Needless to say, these are all captives, mostly Han Chinese and Koreans, who have shaved off their money rat tails, so they are all bald.

Their task was to build two railways from Tongzhou to Jingshi.

Originally, in this era, the imperial court could levy conscription and force the people to build railways.

But since there are prisoners to use, naturally there is no need to waste people's power.

Manpower is sufficient, and with Zhang Mingwei's personal participation, there is naturally no shortage of materials.

Sleepers, rails, sand and gravel, all of them were hard work, and under the rush of thousands of prisoners, within half a month, the construction of the railway was completed.

From Chaoyangmen of Jingshi to Tongzhou, it is a total of forty miles. This road comes from an ordinary official road. When it rains, it will be muddy and affect traffic.

In the original history, it was necessary to start building stone roads in the seventh year of Yongzheng to solve the problem of roads affecting traffic in rainy days.

And in this plane, because of the disclosure of cement, businessmen have already raised funds and built a cement road.

The reason why I feel so emotionally is also because at this time in Tongzhou, all the goods from the south will be disembarked in Tongzhou and then transported to Beijing by land.

This forty-mile road can be said to be one of the busiest roads in the Ming Dynasty. Under the muddy roads, the interests of businessmen were seriously affected. The appearance of cement roads is also reasonable.

After the railway was repaired and the prisoners were withdrawn, everyone knew that they were going to see the long-awaited "Maxima". As a result, many people came out to see this section of the road without incident.

However, because there were soldiers from the Five Cities Terracotta Division patrolling this road, they couldn't get close, and they just watched from outside the cordon.

For this railway, it is paved with gravel, and there are sleepers and rails on it, this kind of thing they have never seen before, they are all very curious, and at the same time guessing what the "Maxima" looks like, they are also a little regretful, where is the steel thrown for?

After another ten days or so, the railway stations in Tongzhou and Jingshi were also completed, in fact, it was just some of the most basic buildings.

In order to achieve the greatest shocking effect, the first steam locomotive of the Ming Dynasty was transferred to the Tongzhou Railway Station at night under martial law.

A total of ten carriage-sized carriages were hung, all loaded with grain.

After everything was ready, the imperial court issued an announcement, which was scheduled to run on October 1, the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, and the first Ming train.

After the people of Jingshi heard the news, it naturally became the hottest topic. When I arrived the day before, many anxious rich people rushed to Tongzhou, wanting to be the first to see what this "Maxima" was like the next day!

On this day, Tongzhou's inns and houses were full.

On the Tongzhou River, boats that were originally limited to 10 days after arriving in Tongzhou were also allowed to stay until after October 1. As a result, the Tongzhou River was almost covered with boats.

In this era of lack of entertainment, it is said that many people can't sleep with excitement to witness the never-before-seen "Maxima", which is said to be a "Maxima" that eats coal.

On the morning of October 1, the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, Zhang Mingwei led all the people of the steam unit, including the most important craftsmen, a total of 48 people, to the Tongzhou Railway Station on horseback or carriage.

Zhang Mingwei came to unveil it, and on the Jingshi side, Emperor Chongzhen took Empress Zhou and waited for the arrival of the train at the Jingshi Railway Station at the scheduled time to witness the first train of the Ming Dynasty.

Under the watchful eye, the Duke of Xingguo and Princess Kunxing stepped forward, one person and one corner, and uncovered the red cloth covering the steam locomotive.