"Alas, the treasury of the Ming Dynasty is empty, the use is tight, and silver is used everywhere, so I can save some." Chongzhen sighed.

"With all due respect, Your Majesty, if you want to save money from your mouth for state affairs, it is just a drop in the bucket." Chen Yue persuaded, thinking about the luxury he saw when he raided the Duke of Wei's mansion, and then looking at Chongzhen's bitter appearance, Chen Yue couldn't help but sigh secretly, there is no one who looks like this emperor like this!

Most of the officials in the world are corrupt people, and all the nobles and gentry of the clan are attached to the body of the Ming Dynasty to eat the marrow and drink blood.

"What if not? The people in the north who have raised taxes have been boiling and the people have risen up, and the south can no longer be chaotic, and the only way to do this now is to reduce expenditure, hoping to get through this most difficult time, and then find a way in the future. Chongzhen said.

"Your Majesty, have you ever wondered why my Da Ming is in such a situation?" Chen Yue asked suddenly.

"Why do you say?" Chongzhen looked at Chen Yue with wide eyes, during this period of time, he had reflected deeply, but he couldn't understand why in just a few years, Da Ming actually came to such a field! He can only attribute the reason to the uselessness of the officials and the misuse of the country, the civil officials only know that the party is fighting and talking, and the generals are greedy for life and afraid of death, which makes the thieves bigger!

But since Chen Yue asked like this, Chongzhen wanted to hear what he had to say.

"In the humble opinion of the minister, there is only one reason why my Daming has fallen into the current situation, that is, the financial collapse, that is, there is no money!" Chen Yue said lightly.

"If the Ming Dynasty is rich, it can compensate thousands of victims in the year of famine, so that they will not be displaced, let alone rebel.

If the Ming Dynasty is rich, it can extensively repair military equipment and recruit more elite soldiers, so that there will be no soldiers' food and salary, and their morale will be completely lost.

Sufficient food and sufficient salary, naturally there are elite soldiers who can fight, although there is a rebellion of thieves, it can be pacified in an instant, and it will not make it bigger.

There are hundreds of thousands of elite soldiers guarding the border, repairing the fortress and repairing the border wall.

I have money in the Ming Dynasty, so I can naturally raise 100,000 cavalry, follow the example of Chengzu back then, and expel the Mongolian Manchu Tartars outside the fortress, within the four seas, who dares to disagree? ”

Chen Yue's voice became faster and faster, sonorous and powerful, and there was a faint sound of gold and stone, which made the listeners can't help but be moved.

But it's just a heartbeat.

"To put it lightly, the question is where does the money come from?" Chongzhen frowned and said, although what Chen Yue said made sense, it didn't solve the problem.

"Your Majesty, I have hundreds of millions of people in the Ming Dynasty, millions of acres of arable land, these people are creating wealth all the time, and the wealth they produce every year is worth trillions, but why is the annual tax revenue of the national treasury only two or three million taels, where does the rest of the money go?

Although there are occasional years of famine, the wealth created by the people is not much, but the imperial treasury is empty, and the people are waiting to be fed, where is the silver and grain? Not in the hands of the court and the people, naturally there is a place to go?

That's because I have countless rats in the Ming Dynasty, which are attached to the body of the Ming Dynasty to devour the marrow and suck the blood, and take the wealth that should belong to the people and the court as their own, which makes the treasury empty and the people miserable!

Wechen knows that in the past few days, Master Shi has written a lot of memoranda to impeach Wechen for his reckless behavior and wanton arrest of the nobles headed by Wei Guogong, but if Your Majesty looks at this list, you can understand what Wechen said, and you can understand why Wechen arrested people! ”

Chen Yue said and took out a stack of papers from his arms and handed it to Chongzhen. The reason why Chongzhen gave the imperial meal today Chen Yue naturally knew that he would never chat with himself, but to arrest Xu Jiujue, the Duke of Wei, and give him an explanation, Chen Yue was naturally prepared, this stack of paper was the list of raids on the Duke of Wei's mansion, and most of Xu Jiujue's property was in it.

Han Zanzhou took the list from Chen Yue and handed it over to Chongzhen. Chongzhen picked it up and looked at it casually, his eyes widened wider and wider, and his breathing became short.

"Nearly 3 million taels of gold and silver were confiscated, all kinds of calligraphy, paintings, jewelry, and antiques were worth more than 2 million taels, more than 10,000 stones of grain, and 300,000 acres of land were cultivated in various prefectures and counties. The total value of the wealth of the Duke of Wei was more than 10 million taels, which was the income of the state treasury for five years. The 300,000 acres of cultivated land he owned, but he never paid taxes.

This is just one family of the Duke of Wei, and the other ten or so nobles who have been confiscated may not be as rich as the Duke of Wei, but the combined wealth is no less than that of the Duke of Wei. Chen Yue said lightly.

Chongzhen's face became more and more ugly, and his hand grasped the list tightly, using such a force that his fingers almost scratched the paper.

"Big rat, really big rat!" Chongzhen muttered. He has long known that the nobles are rich, and when he was in Beijing, he once ordered that the nobles donate silver, but the hundreds of nobles in the entire city of Beijing donated more than 100,000 taels of silver. I didn't expect these nobles to be so rich! Where does all this money come from? According to what Chen Yue just said, it is not from the people of the Ming Dynasty to suck the marrow and take the wealth that belongs to the people and the court as their own!

"I have too many privileged people in the Ming Dynasty, and the nobles are only a handful of them, and more are the gentry of merit and fame, who occupy a large amount of land by various means, and never pay taxes when they farm and do business, as long as Your Majesty wants to collect taxes and silver from them, why worry that the treasury is not abundant, why worry about no silver?

And with the silver taels, it can naturally be used to raise soldiers, build soldiers, and have elite soldiers to exterminate thieves and expel the Manchu Tartars! ”

With a vision beyond this era, Chen Yue naturally knows the root of Daming's troubles, now let's see if Chongzhen has the courage to change all this, if there is, then Daming can still be saved!

"But the resistance is too great, now is not the time!" Chongzhen thought about it again and again, although he knew that what Chen Yue said was reasonable, but in this way, it would be tantamount to taking all the civil officials, and it would inevitably be opposed by the entire gentry class, and the court would be in chaos in an instant, and the current Ming Dynasty could not withstand the turmoil. When Zhang Juzheng changed the law back then, he didn't dare to offend the entire gentry class, and now that the strong enemy in the north is on the side, it is not a good opportunity to change the law at all. Although this Chen Yue has some knowledge, he is still too tender in the end! Chongzhen sighed secretly.

However, Chen Yue confiscated more than a dozen nobles on the charge of rebellion, but he got a large amount of gold and silver property, which was enough to spend on the imperial court for several years, which can be said to have made great contributions. At this moment, Chongzhen no longer wanted to blame Chen Yue for this.

Dedicated to getting money for the court and for himself, the emperor, and willing to bear notoriety, where can such a courtier be found?

"Does Aiqing have a way to increase the treasury revenue without causing turmoil in the DPRK?" Chongzhen looked at Chen Yue with earnest eyes.

ps: The third update, which is considered to make up for yesterday's chapter. It's been a long time since I've asked for a subscription.,I hope those who don't subscribe can support it.,Motivation is only when the results are good, isn't it?