"Your Majesty, in this case, where should the taxes of Shandong Province come from?"

"Your Majesty, if there is no public land, where should the professional fields of local officials in Shandong come from?"

Gao Hongtu, the governor of Shandong, and Su Guansheng, the governor of Denglai, raised objections to Emperor Zhu's land policy in Shandong at the same time.

Gao Hongtu also said: "Shandong Province has been in war for many years, industry and commerce have withered, and the finances depend on Tian Fu, if they are exempted for five years, how can the officials and sergeants of Shandong Province be maintained?" ”

Su Guansheng said: "All the local officials in all provinces in the world have job fields to make up for the eunuchs, but Shandong does not have job fields, I am afraid that the officials are not fair and do not do things effectively!" ”

After listening to the questions of the two, Zhu Cihong just sighed lightly, and then laughed again: "The imperial court has fallen into the eyes of money in the past few years, and the success or failure of running places is based on profit and loss. The provincial capitals under the direct management of the Cabinet Office are also rich and peaceful. The two lakes of Sijiang (Jiangnan, Jiangbei, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang are collectively referred to as Sijiang), Guangdong and Fujian, and the east and west capitals are all like this. ”

At present, the provinces directly under the jurisdiction of the cabinet office of the Ming Dynasty are Jiangnan, Jiangbei, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Hunan, Hubei, Guangdong, and Fujian. In addition, there are two directly administered prefectures, Yingtian and Wuhan.

The strategic plan made by Zhu Cihong when he was in Beijing was to temporarily abandon the loss-making northern territory and retreat to the profitable southern territory to operate with heart.

Of course, such a practice will attract infamy politically, but under the circumstances of the Qing army's entry into the customs, the rebellion of thieves, the harsh climate in the north, and the continuous famine, if the "profits" of the southern provincial capitals are not fully tapped, what can be used to fill the deficit in the north?

The failure of Emperor Chongzhen, of course, had reasons such as blind command and inability to employ people, as well as natural and man-made disasters, but a very important factor was that the imperial court failed to profit from the great economic prosperity of the south, and even became a victim of the prosperity of the south - the prosperity of the southern economy was largely brought about by the Age of Discovery, and the inflow of as many as hundreds of millions of taels of silver not only brought the prosperity of the southern industry and commerce, but also caused inflation!

In the context of inflation, the taxes taken by the imperial court from the southeast, even if the three salaries are apportioned, are actually declining.

In the northwest, the situation is quite different, although the effects of rising food prices caused by inflation and natural disasters have also been transmitted to the northwest. However, as a result of successive years of famine, the peasants in the northwest have no surplus grain to sell, and rising grain prices are not beneficial to them. At the same time, due to the prosperity of the textile industry in the southeast and the fact that the Ming Dynasty almost did not levy commercial taxes, the cheap and high-quality southeast textiles easily destroyed the "male ploughing and female weaving" in the northwest, making it difficult for the northwest farmers to obtain silver income.

In addition, the northwest has always been an important border town of the Ming Dynasty, with many guards, many gates, and many palaces (the rich southeast has no palaces), a large amount of land has been occupied by the official gentry and clans, and the taxes have all overwhelmed the people at the bottom who are difficult to get silver, and it is very natural for the officials to force the people.

Therefore, fully exploiting the "profits" of the South and making up for the deficit of the North is the only option - in fact, until the 21st century, China will not be the same way? If Shaanxi in the 21st century is to pay eighty percent more taxes than Guangdong, will the people of Shaanxi still be alive?

And before the profits in the south are fully tapped, they can only temporarily abandon the stop loss in the north - although it is not correct, but there is nothing to be done. Because the Ming Dynasty did not have the real right to issue banknotes, nor did it have the ability to issue treasury bonds for financing, there was no way to pass the deficit to the future, but it would be passed down level by level until the lowest soldiers. And the bottom soldiers, as the final bearers of the deficit, are very normal to have a mining collapse.

Of course, if Zhu Cihong is a military genius, he can also copy a few corrupt officials to raise a little silver, and then train 30,000 or 20,000 elite soldiers who can beat the Eight Banners in a very short period of time, and have the ability to crush Dolgon and Duoduo in terms of troop deployment (considering the advantages of the cavalry-based Eight Banners in terms of mobility and battlefield reconnaissance, it is not possible to be a genius military strategist), but he can also stay in the north to kill the Kou......

But Zhu Cihong doesn't have that kind of military ability, and making money is what he is best at. So he is now taking the profits of the south to make up for the losses of the north.

Zhu Cihong showed a smug smile and said, "Fortunately, the imperial court now has silver...... I earned 6.55 million taels last year, and I can bear the deficit of Shandong!

I invite you to come over today, just to discuss how to make good use of the 6.55 million taels of silver! ”

What the? 6.55 million taels to Shandong?

Emperor Hongxing's handwriting is really big!

The ministers present were all shocked by Zhu Cihong's words.

That's 6.55 million taels of silver!

And it was disbursed in full, and there was no arrears, and there was no ministry fee—the money was not taken out of the treasury of the household department at all, but was transferred directly from the accounts opened by the household department in two banks.

"Your Majesty, these 6.55 million taels will be given to Shandong?" Shandong Governor Gao Hongtu was still a little uncertain, so he asked.

Zhu Cihong said with a smile: "The 6.55 million taels of silver are all spent in Shandong Province, of course, they can't all be at the disposal of the Shandong Governor Yamen." ”

"That's nature, that's ......nature," Gao Hongtu said with great joy, "and the Yamen of Shandong Governor can't spend so much." ”

Zhu Cihong said again: "Now that we have taken the Jinzhou Wei in southern Liaoning, we can open the yamen of the governor of Liaodong...... Liaodong can also arrange a deficit of three or four million. In the first year of Hongxing, we are ready to lose 10 million in Shandong and Liaodong!

In addition, most of the Nanyang and Runing prefectures in Henan are also in the hands of the imperial court, and the yamen of the governor of Henan can be set up...... is also ready to lose 2 million! ”

Chen Rui, the head of the household, was already wrinkled, and his face was embarrassed, "Your Majesty, this is 12 million taels!" Last year, the tax and silver revenue of the household department was only more than 13 million...... And this year's budget has been prepared, and the surplus is only three or four million, even if you add last year's 655 taels, it is only a thousand taels, and there is still a difference of more than 200 yuan!

In addition, Wu Sangui and Dai Wangfu both sent people south to ask for money, and Ma Shiying in Sichuan also sent people to ask the imperial court for money. Wu Sangui and the acting king both owe a lot of usury, and they both want the court to help them. Ma Shiying, because of Zhang Xianzhong's remaining troops entering Sichuan, the pressure increased sharply, and it was difficult to cope, and he urgently needed the imperial court to send troops and pay salaries......"

It's not easy for him to do this household department, he is a scholar, and the reports of the household department look hard, and finally make a little surplus, and people from all walks of life who want money will come to the door, and even Emperor Hongxing is big-hearted......

Zhu Cihong glanced at Chen Rui and laughed: "Mr. Chen doesn't have to be embarrassed, when I return to Nanjing, let Mr. go out of the town of Zhejiang, and hand over the stalls in the household department to others to clean up!" ”

Chen Rui breathed a sigh of relief, when the governor of Zhejiang is indeed more comfortable than the household book, I don't know which unlucky guy will come to fill this gap?

Zhu Cihong then said: "I originally planned to attract Dolgon's main force to Shandong, and then land at Dagukou...... Unexpectedly, Dolgon took the initiative to withdraw from the army. Moreover, Wu Sangui was defeated by the rest of Zhang Xianzhong's army, and he was temporarily unable to go east, and the acting king also ran to Yulin. It seems that the Northern Expedition of the Five Routes can only end here. It's time for me to win and return to the court! ”

Can he be considered a "victory"? The ministers present were beating drums in their hearts, of course they didn't dare to say it, and they had to pretend to be beaming one by one.

Zhu Cihong also has a victor's smile. Of course he won—and he'll definitely leave a mark on history in the future!

"Before I return to the dynasty, Shandong and Liaodong provinces still have to have some arrangements." Zhu Cihong said, "Let's talk about Shandong today, Shandong can no longer run one province and two governments, and it is enough to set up a governor's yamen...... As the governor, I want Gao Hongtu Gao Qing to take the position! Su Guansheng and Su Qing have another important task.

In addition to one governor's yamen, Dengzhou also had to place two more governors' yamen, one was the governor's Shandong and Liaodong military affairs yamen; One is the Governor Beiyang Yamen...... The governor of Shanliao was served by Shi Kefa, and the governor of Beiyang was still held by Shen Tingyang.

In addition, I also planned to set up a Shandong Tuntian Yamen, with Zuo Maodi Zuoqing as the minister of Tuntian, in charge of the affairs of Tuntian in the eleven counties of Luxi Prefecture. How to spend Shandong's 6.55 million, a few of you will discuss it first and make a budget for me. ”