On September 15, after a two-week voyage, Zheng Xiang finally commanded the Mingyong to return to the port of Tianjin. Bringing back gold and silver worth more than 200,000 taels of silver at a time is extremely rare even in Tianjin Port, which has been open for more than three years.

After deducting the rewards given to the meritorious soldiers, these rewards will be deposited in the bank accounts of the soldiers, and the remaining gold and silver are equivalent to 1.7 million taels of silver, nearly 2.4 million yuan.

For the central bank, the accounts are not counted like this, they can use the gold and silver to print three times the value of the banknotes, and then use the paper money to pay the rewards and war bills, and the war is now a lucrative business for the banks, and the war has only just begun.

After receiving this batch of gold and silver, Wang Fengyuan, governor of the Central Bank, announced the news at the behest of Zai Chongzhen, adjusting the annual interest rate of 1.3 million yuan of three-year war bonds used for Japan. The annual interest rate of 1 million yuan of overseas bonds was raised from 12% to 24%; The 300,000 yuan domestic issuance of public bonds has been raised from the original annual interest rate of 16% to 32%. and announced the start of the first year's interest payments on public bonds.

Except for a small number of foreign merchants who settled in the Ming Dynasty, most of the bonds were in the hands of Japanese merchants, and a small amount of public bonds were sold in Korea and the Ryukyus. Raising the interest rate on this part of the public debt will not affect the people in the country at all.

However, for the public bonds issued in China, because the three banks had issued tens of millions of bonds before, the gentry and wealthy businessmen who believed in the imperial court and were able to buy bonds in large sums were almost digested, and the rest were gentry and wealthy families who did not believe in the credit of the imperial court.

Although the three banks expressed to Chongzhen that they were willing to underwrite the 300,000 yuan public bonds, Chongzhen did not agree, but suggested that the original 100 yuan denomination of public bonds be split into 5 yuan, 10 yuan, and 20 yuan of small public bonds for sale, and in the end, most of the 300,000 yuan public bonds were subscribed by ordinary citizens in Beijing and Shanghai.

When Wang Fengyuan, on behalf of the bank that issued the public bonds, issued an announcement to raise the interest rate, some citizens who held public bonds went to the bank to receive the interest in doubt. When they received the first year's interest, rumors began to spread among the people that they could get high interest rates for buying bonds.

Like ordinary Chinese hundreds of years later, the people of Daming in this era were always suspicious of the government's announcements, and they were always convinced of the gossip circulating in the market. As a result, the bond market, which was originally only accessible to the gentry and wealthy businessmen, began to be increasingly concerned by ordinary citizens, and even the bond market with the Ming Dynasty became hot.

With the exception of a very small number of people, most people do not understand that the high yield on the war debt means that a country is being plundered by the Ming Dynasty. Of course, these people may not care at all about what is happening to another country, and it is enough for them to know that they are reaping the benefits of war.

Citizens in Beijing and Shanghai began to take an interest in Daming's overseas policies. Because of the high taxes brought by the Liaodong War to the people everywhere, the people of the Ming Dynasty had a general aversion to war, but after these people benefited from the overseas war, some people began to change their attitudes, and they began to see the war as an opportunity to change their lives.

Only one-third of the wealth shipped out of Osaka Castle solved a lot of financial problems for Chongzhen, whether it was for the relief of the earthquake zone in the south, or the water conservancy and road construction in the north, this wealth can be said to have come quite timely. After once again adding an additional 1 million disaster relief funds to Changde and other earthquake areas, Zhu Youzhen's anxiety in the past two months has finally eased a lot.

With the continuous investment of the imperial court, the inner treasury and the private donations, plus this additional allocation of 1 million yuan, the investment in the Hunan earthquake area has exceeded 4 million yuan. Zhu Youzhen himself estimated that even if half of it was embezzled by the officials and gentry, at least 2 million yuan fell on the affected people. As long as production and shelter can be restored before winter, the damage caused by the earthquake will be stopped.

However, the person who has been in a better mood than Chongzhen recently should still be Huang Liji, the first assistant of the Ming Dynasty. When the news of the Changde earthquake came more than a month ago, he was indeed panicked and uneasy. First, he was afraid that others would attack him; Second, although the national treasury has improved in the past two years, it is really beyond its power to help such a large-scale earthquake area.

Although the earthquake occurred after the summer harvest, the victims did not have to worry about food for the time being. However, if the autumn harvest is delayed, this winter will become the biggest problem for the victims. However, if the houses, roads, water conservancy and other facilities destroyed by the earthquake are restored by the victims themselves, it will be a disaster. But relying on the investment of the imperial court made him helpless, and he couldn't make money.

However, when Chongzhen took over the most difficult fundraising problem by himself, the next administrative work such as disaster relief became extremely easy for Huang Liji and the cabinet. The discontent among the people that had gradually spread due to the earthquake quickly disappeared under the timely dispatch of materials and disaster relief measures by the imperial court.

The gentry, who had always been critical of the New Deal, began to change their attitude after seeing the imperial court's more efficient disaster relief methods and ability to raise materials than in the past, and some of the gentry began to change their attitudes, believing that the new policy was not so useless, at least the imperial court's ability to do things had improved.

As for the gentry and businessmen who originally supported the New Deal, they even blew Huang Liji and the members of this cabinet to the sky, believing that Huang Liji should be called a famous minister of the Ming Dynasty since Zhang Jiangling. The turn of public opinion in Shilin has made Huang Liji feel very smooth these days, even if he saw the twists and turns of the poisoning of Qufuyan Holy Father Kong Yin, he no longer felt that the sky was about to fall.

After receiving Huang Liji's report, Zhu Youzhen personally rushed to the Wenhua Hall to discuss with the cabinet the handling of the case of the poisoning of Kong Yinzhi by Yansheng Gong. After Zhu Youzhen finished reading the recital, he threw it on the conference table, frowned and said to the ministers: "The Qufu County Decree said that when the Yansheng Gong held a festival on August 27, he was poisoned at the banquet that night, and died before the third watch that night. Ladies and gentlemen, tell me how this case should be handled. ”

Since hearing the news, Shi Feng was still confused, and when he heard the emperor's question, he couldn't help but say: "But it is said that on the birthday of the master, except for the officials in Shandong, they are all members of the Confucian Mansion. If you want to poison Yan Shenggong, unless you are a member of the Confucian Mansion, how can anyone else approach Yan Shenggong? ”

Guo Yunhou also said with an ugly face: "Yan Shenggong was poisoned in public, and it was his own people who did it, which has never happened. If it spreads, how will the people of the world view the Yan Shenggong clan and the imperial court? ”

Zhang Ruitu looked at the expressions of his colleagues on the left and right, and couldn't help but say: "The minister thinks that this case cannot be tried publicly, so as not to hurt the face of the master and ruin the customs of the land of etiquette and music. It is better to declare that Yan Sheng Gong ate unclean food and died violently, and the imperial court sent another imperial historian to mourn Yan Sheng Gong, and by the way, secretly investigate this case..."

Seeing that except for Qian Qianyi, who went to the south for disaster relief, was not there, and the other ministers supported covering up the case of Yan Shenggong in order to maintain the reputation of the imperial court and the Confucian Mansion, Zhu Youzhen was a little unhappy.

"Isn't it appropriate for you gentlemen to say that? Anyway, the Holy Duke of Yan is also the duke of the imperial court, and the preferential treatment he enjoys is not even comparable to that of the ordinary princes, and even this Qufu County Order has always been the guarantee of the Yan Sheng Gong, and the Kong clan is appointed as a higher grade than the Qipin County Order elsewhere.

Yan Shenggong, who has such a valuable status, is now poisoned by someone for no reason, why don't you gentlemen rush to catch the real culprit, but want to hide that they died of a violent illness? ”

The other ministers immediately looked at Huang Liji, as if waiting for him to come forward and explain to the emperor why. Huang Liji, who didn't want to say more, had to open his mouth to explain to the emperor under the gaze of his colleagues: "Your Majesty, the poisoning of Yan Shenggong is naturally not trivial, and the imperial court must investigate it to the end."

However, the Yansheng Mansion is the sect of the world's lineage, if this matter leaks out, it will inevitably attract the attention of the people in the world, and the personnel who will handle the case will not only not be able to focus entirely on investigating the case, but may also be interfered with by Shilin's accusations, if the murderer cannot be found for a long time, I am afraid that these pressures will eventually be transferred to the head of the imperial court..."

Under Huang Liji's persuasion, Chongzhen reluctantly agreed to the cabinet's suggestion not to disclose the true cause of Yan Shenggong's death and conduct a closed form of investigation.

The cabinet also proposed that Zhang Shenyan, the right attendant of the Criminal Department, and Gao Hongtu, the left servant, go to investigate the real cause of Yan Shenggong's death, Zhu Youzhen only thought about it for a moment, and then agreed to the cabinet candidate, but he added an investigation candidate, that is, Tian Ergeng will also join the investigation.

After this emergency meeting, Huang Liji and Guo Yunhou did not leave immediately, they kept the emperor and reported to him about the economic development from the first year of Chongzhen to the fourth year of Chongzhen.

Although the statistical bureaus in all counties across the country have not yet been fully established, a relatively complete statistical system has been established in the most economically developed areas of the Ming Dynasty. Coupled with the increasingly well-organized customs department, the economic data of the most developed areas of the Ming Dynasty have been collected more comprehensively.

Judging from these figures, the economic development of these regions is tending to be on the good side, and even the disasters that have occurred from time to time in the north in the past two years have not had any bad impact on the economy of these regions.

What makes Chongzhen more pleased is that the canning industry, canning industry, machinery manufacturing industry, marine fishing industry, shipbuilding industry, kerosene, railway, coal and iron industry and other emerging industries have almost solved the employment of 1.5 million people in the past four years. This does not include the increase in employment in traditional industries such as textiles, silk manufacturing, tea making and porcelain manufacturing. A large number of peasants who have lost their land are being converted at an unprecedented rate

Guo Yunhou finally concluded to Chongzhen: "The canned food industry is the fastest growing industry, whether it is canned fruits and vegetables, or canned seafood and poultry, it is a hot product in short supply for ocean voyages. Moreover, the northern regions, including Liaodong, Korea, Japan, and even further north in Vladivostok and the lower reaches of the Heilongjiang River, are very fond of all kinds of canned fruits.

So far this year, the efficiency of each worker in producing canned food has increased from 2 and a half tons a year to about 5 tons a year. According to our estimates, the total production of canned food this year is about 100,000 tons, but the supply of canned food is still in short supply. The main factors restricting the production of canned food are the insufficient production capacity of tinplate, iron cans and glass cans, as well as the insufficient supply of sugar, spices and fuel..."

Zhu Youzhen looked at Guo Yunhou and asked, "Then what does the household department have to suggest about this?" ”

Guo Yunhou looked the emperor in the eye and said, "We need more sugarcane fields and spices from Southeast Asia to expand our investment in coal production." Taiwan should be brought under the formal jurisdiction of the imperial court, and Borneo, Natuna, and other places should also set up offices, and the imperial court should have the power to send personnel to inspect the administrative conditions of the overseas inspection offices and town guard offices..."