The time is already in the middle of December of the third year of Zhongxing in the Ming Dynasty, and half a month later, with the ringing of the palace bell, an important year for the Ming Dynasty, the fourth year of Zhongxing has arrived!

In the blink of an eye, Zhu Ci has been on the throne for three and a half years, and the Ming Dynasty has also been so fluctuating from Chongzhen's seventeen years of ups and downs that he almost lost the country to today's stability inside and outside the ten provinces of the Southern Ming Dynasty, although only half of the country is left, but with Zhu Ci's efforts in recent years, the national strength is thriving, as far as the current situation is concerned, the national strength of the Ming Dynasty is definitely beyond the Chongzhen period, and even if you count the new weapons that continue to emerge, the current national strength is stronger than the national strength of the Ming Dynasty when it was founded!

Last year, in addition to using troops overseas to drive out the Dutch to recover Taiwan and capture both sides of Malacca and nearly half of the East Indies, it can be regarded as an extremely stable year, a year of good weather, and a year in which ordinary people feel the least pressure.

There was no more forced labor, and the land lease was never restricted to a maximum of 20%, and because of the demise of the rebel forces of the Shi clan such as King Fu and King Lu, hundreds of millions of acres of land were left, and almost every ordinary person could get a part of the land free of charge.

Since the introduction of sweet potato, corn and potato in the second half of the second year of Zhongxing, after two plantings, it has finally been the most comprehensive promotion in the second half of the third year of Zhongxing in the ten provinces.

Due to the extremely high yield of the three crops, the grain output of Zhongxing in the second half of the third year has reached an unprecedented level, and the annual grain output has almost tripled, resulting in the price of grain in the ten provinces has also dropped nearly twice.

Based on the tax rate of 20 taels of the Ming Dynasty, although the price of grain has dropped by nearly two times, the Ming Dynasty was still able to raise more than 34 million taels of grain tax last year.

In terms of customs, due to the complete opening of the sea ban, countless merchants flocked to the sea to do business, and in the same way, countless overseas merchants can finally come to Daming to do business without sneaking, only in the first year of the sea ban, the customs collected 10 million taels of silver in the customs tariff.

In terms of salt tax, because it has been cleaned once, coupled with some strong reforms, nearly 8 million taels of salt tax has also been collected.

Counting other taxes, Daming collected a total of more than 62 million taels of silver in taxes throughout the year.

More than 62 million taels of taxes, this is undoubtedly the highest tax in the history of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Ci Cheng only with half of the country to do, I believe that in the future with the further development of the Ming Dynasty, will continue to break the record every year.

In terms of expenditure, more than 5 million taels of officials and other officials, military spending, counting the navy, Henan's Red Lady Army, Sichuan's Qin Liangyu Army, and the Ming Dynasty's total army of 1.05 million, the entire Zhongxing spent 27 million taels in three years, and all aspects combined, a total of more than 34 million taels, although the cost was huge, but this year, the Ming treasury still had a surplus of more than 28 million taels, exceeding the tax revenue of any year in the Chongzhen period.

At the beginning of the fourth year of Zhongxing, the remaining 610 million 285 taels of the Ming treasury!

Liu Zongzhou, the head of the household, smiled so much that his eyes were about to narrow, throughout the entire Ming Dynasty, there had never been such a surplus in the past dynasties! All this has been realized in the hands of the current emperor.

As soon as the report of the household department was announced on the morning of the first day of the fourth year of Zhongxing, all the civil and military officials in the court were shocked, and they had an extremely unbelievable thought.

In their minds, this should have been possible in the prosperous world, but now it has been done!

"Long live my emperor, long live, long live!"

At this moment, Zhu Ci's prestige in the hearts of the officials increased again!

"All the ministers are exempt!"

After all the officials stood up, Zhu Ci hesitated and said: "From today onwards, I plan to implement free compulsory education for all in the territory of the Ming Dynasty, and order all prefectures and counties to establish a school per 1,000 population for all children of age to read and learn calligraphy!" ”

The so-called education produces talents, education is a century-old plan, and it must not be ignored, Zhu Ciji has long wanted to implement it in the territory of Daming.

"The Emperor Shengming!" For such a thing, naturally none of the ministers will oppose it, after all, this is about the world's scholars, and opposition is equivalent to not allowing the people to read, and they will be drowned in saliva.

Zhu Ci nodded hesitantly, although the treasury of more than 600 million taels of silver is a lot, but education is a bottomless pit, according to the calculation of 70 million people in the ten provinces south of the Ming River, it will require more than 20 million taels of silver every year.

Moreover, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong have not been destroyed, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty has not been expelled, and it will be a matter of one or two years to dominate the world, and the amount of silver that needs to be spent will be countless, and more than 600 million taels of silver may not be able to support a few years!

"There are also two anti-thieves Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, I can no longer tolerate them to continue cholera, taking advantage of last year's bumper harvest, I decided to send Yinglong army into Henan and Sichuan in the near future to exterminate the two thieves!" Zhu Ci staggered with murderous intentions.

The ministers instantly understood that the four years of Zhongxing may be the year when the Ming Dynasty began to dominate the world!

"Emperor Shengming, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong two anti-thieves, disturbing the world, more than ten years caused hundreds of people to die tragically, Chongzhen seventeen years, Li Zicheng captured the city of Beijing, not only the emperor suffered, but also the main reason for the Manchu Tartars to finally enter the customs, must be punished!"

"Not only to punish, but also to catch them, a thousand cuts!"

"Not bad! Those two thieves should be cut with a thousand cuts! ”

Speaking of sending troops to exterminate Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, none of the ministers objected, because they all understood that this was something that the Ming court had to do.

Not only did no one object, but they were all angry, and they seemed to be eager to cut Li Zicheng with a thousand knives!

"Good! You Aiqing are well aware of the righteousness, and I also believe that Ying Longjun will be able to bring the two thieves back! Zhu Ci laughed and said with pride.

In the first early dynasty of the four years of Zhongxing, the Ming Dynasty successively opened two major decisions of free compulsory education for all and dominating the world!

The Ming monarchs and ministers were united, and the war machine was set in motion again.

Since Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong are restrained by the Red Lady and Qin Liangyu's respective 100,000 troops, neither side can help anyone, and they are almost evenly matched, so Zhu Cicheng does not plan to send many troops, only sends a Ying Long army to go, I believe that with the support of a Ying Long army, the Red Lady and Qin Liangyu can exterminate the anti-thieves they are facing!

The two Yinglong armies were the Second Army and the Fifth Army, of which the Second Army stationed in Wuchang entered Sichuan, and the Fifth Army stationed around the city of Nanjing entered Henan!

On the seventeenth day of the first month of the fourth year of Zhongxing, with the two Ying Long armies opening their own, the battle of the Ming Dynasty to dominate the world began!

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