The nobles are rich and wealthy, and the capital invested in the "Hanjiang Province" has exceeded five million taels of silver, of course, they can't imagine how difficult two million taels of silver is for the Ming court, which has a population of hundreds of millions.

This is also the eve of the death of the Ming Dynasty, Chongzhen asked for civil and military officials, honors and nobles, and only got less than 200,000 taels of silver.

And Li Zicheng's bandit group ransacked Jingshi and extorted 70 million taels of floating wealth.

With the discipline of the rogue, it is certainly impossible to "return everything seized to the public", and the gold and silver treasures in private possession will certainly not be counted.

In the feudal dynasty, precious metals have always been used as currency, and the Ming Dynasty has increased the total amount of gold and silver every year because of the surplus of foreign trade and the mining of mineral deposits, and will not be reduced because of war.

It's just that in troubled times, the depreciation of gold and silver is too scary, making food ridiculously expensive, several times or even dozens of times that of the peaceful years.

Real estate, land, furniture, antiques, calligraphy and paintings, etc. are so cheap that no one cares.

It is a big country, the capital of hundreds of millions of people, and the capital with a population of one million is a place where high-ranking officials and nobles gather.

The Ming Dynasty is full of smoke, everywhere is not safe, the Ming Dynasty has been established for more than 200 years, although the Beijing division has been repeatedly surrounded by the enemy, but it has never been broken by anyone.

Of course, it is impossible for the dignitaries and nobles to think that the final result is that the city is seized by the gangsters, and of course they will not do it to transfer their property outside the capital.

On the contrary, too many high-ranking officials and nobles with a head start should have entered the capital with their savings to escape the war.

Therefore, the families of the wealthy in the capital do not know how many, and the city has hundreds of millions of taels of precious metals in silver, and the credibility is very high.

Don't be shocked and the data, the precious metal that was looted by the thieves for 70 million taels of silver is actually greatly discounted.

Because the purchasing power of 70 million taels of silver at that time was probably not as good as the two or three million taels of silver at the time of Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang.

The current head of the household department, Li Zhiwen, was troubled by money and food and could not sleep well, and his own family knew about his own family affairs, so he sold his book of the household department, and it was impossible for the household department to squeeze out two million taels of silver in a year.

He immediately went out of the class and said:

"Your Majesty, Sichuan, Henan, Zhongdu, Shanxi, and Shaanxi have almost not handed in the autumn endowment this year, and the courtiers' salaries have been delayed for half a year.

Cabinet minister Cheng Guoxiang is the former secretary of the household department, familiar with the situation of the household department, at this time to seek truth from facts:

"Your Majesty, the imperial court's finances are exhausted, and the household department is already unsustainable, and it is not even able to squeeze out 200,000 taels of silver, how can it be possible to get a huge sum of 2 million."

Emperor Chongzhen, who has been in arrears for a long time and arrears of soldiers' salaries: "Hmm......" He was really speechless, and could only speak falsely.

Seeing that after introducing the topic of money and grain, the emperor and the princes of Gon looked weak, Zhang Fengyi wasted no time in saying: "Your Majesty, the old minister has a good suggestion that can increase the income of the Ming Dynasty. ”

Increase revenue? Chongzhen, who was so poor that he was very interested. Hurriedly asked, "What do you suggest?" ”

Zhang Fengyi said unhurriedly: "Qiongzhou Mansion is deserted and there are often indigenous rebellions, and the taxes I get there are not enough to raise troops to quell the rebellion."

Now the 'King of Hanjiang County' needs the Qiongzhou Mansion to plant rubber trees, and the 'Red Banner Army' can send two battalions of men and horses to garrison the Qiongzhou Mansion for military management, and can also pay the imperial court 50,000 taels of tax and silver every year. ”

Chongzhen was a little stunned when he heard this, and asked, "Planting rubber trees?" What is a rubber tree? Why do you have to choose to grow in Qiongzhou?

There are many acres of land in western Liaoning, Shanxi, and 'Hanjiang Province', so why is the 'King of Hanjiang County' willing to seek the near and far. ”

Zhang Fengyi said: "Your Majesty should have seen bicycles, and now the tires of bicycles are too undurable, but rubber trees can produce rubber, and rubber can be used to produce rubber tires that are resistant to water and sun."

With rubber tires, the cost of using a bicycle will drop by at least 30% every year, and it will be lighter and faster when riding. ”

Daming is leaking everywhere, a few days ago Chongzhen spent a few days on the study of bicycles is no secret, courtiers are curious about the new thing of bicycles, have inquired.

Within a few days, the civilian and military generals of the Beijing Division met the guards patrolling on bicycles in the city that never sleeps, and too many people were watching, and many officials tried to ride a few times.

They had already praised the current bikes, and today they were amazed to learn that they could be lighter and more durable.

Chongzhen already knew something about bicycles, and was very interested in Zhang Fengyi's conversation at this time, and said:

"Is there such an amazing tree in the world? Incredible! Why did the 'King of Hanjiang County' choose to go to Qiongzhou Mansion to plant? ”

"Your Majesty doesn't know, the rubber tree likes heat, and it can only survive in the south, and Hainan Island, a suitable place for planting in my Ming Dynasty, is the first choice."

I see, Chongzhen and the civil and military generals of the Manchu Dynasty both understood.

It turned out that the 'King of Hanjiang County' also had to turn to the imperial court for help, and of course Liu Yuliang, the first assistant, wanted more benefits for the imperial court, he said:

"Your Majesty, the old minister thinks that the 'King of Hanjiang County' planting rubber trees in Tuntian, Qiongzhou Mansion, is beneficial to the country and the people, and should be allowed to play.

The role of rubber trees is so great, the 'Red Flag Army' will definitely be able to obtain huge profits after the successful large-scale planting, and the taxes paid to the imperial court should also rise.

Giving only 50,000 taels of silver a year is too little! The old minister thought that he should pay at least 100,000 taels of taxes to the imperial court a year. ”

Zhang Fengyi hurriedly said: "Rubber trees need to grow for seven or eight years before they can produce rubber, which means that seven or eight years only pay and there is no return."

How big the investment is, it is expected to raise millions of taels of silver, and the 'King of Hanjiang County' is so worried about it, and the generals under his command have taken out their savings when they see this, and even the official has taken out the silver that he kept for the elderly.

The money invested in the rubber plantation came from the savings of the civilian military generals and ordinary soldiers of the "Red Banner Army", and it was almost time to smash the pot and sell iron. ”

The ministers sighed for a while, Chongzhen's eyes couldn't help but widen, and he wondered: "The 'King of Hanjiang County' needs silver to invest in the rubber plantation, and then you, including the grassroots soldiers, have generously contributed tens of millions of taels of silver?" ”

Zhang Fengyi said truthfully: "That's right, the first batch of three million silver coins has been raised, and the sources are all private funds. ”

Lost, extremely lost, Chongzhen repeatedly called on the ministers to relieve the salary and help the side, and for this reason, the civil and military generals who also gave silver were added to the officials.

But there were very few responders, and the courtiers were crying poor one by one, and it would be good to get more than 100,000 taels of silver in the end.

The "King of Hanjiang County" made a call, and there was no official wish at all, and three million taels of snowflake silver fluttered in his hand, isn't this a slap in the face?