In all fairness, if you don't take into account Wei Zhongxian's corruption as all the civil and military generals of the Ming Dynasty, he, the great housekeeper of the Ming Dynasty, is still relatively qualified. [Full text reading]

The Emperor of the Apocalypse and his grandfather, the Wanli Emperor, were not the same. In the early years of Wanli, Zhang Juzheng's dictatorship was true, but because of the whip law that treated the symptoms but not the root cause, and objectively harmed the people, although it fundamentally and directly promoted the land annexation in the last years of the Ming Dynasty, which led to the bankruptcy of a large number of peasants, Zhang Juzheng was still his student Emperor Wanli saved a lot of money.

According to the records in the history books, when Zhang Juzheng died, the central inventory of silver in the Ming Dynasty was as high as 12.5 million taels.

For Emperor Wanli, he was entrusted with Zhang Juzheng's blessing, so he did not have to worry about the state of the country's finances like his grandfather, Emperor Jiajing and his grandson, Emperor Tianqi. He could even win three large-scale wars with ease with sufficient state finances.

Of course, just as Emperor Jiajing left a certain amount of money for his grandson by pacifying the Japanese and dredging overseas trade, the Wanli Emperor also realized the open source of state finances by sending eunuchs to serve as tax supervisors, leaving his grandson Emperor Tianqi a lot of family foundation.

Comparatively speaking, the situation faced by the Emperor of the Apocalypse when he ascended the throne was much worse than when his grandfather and father were in the past. Because of the Donglin Party's indiscriminate tossing and turning in the late Wanli and Taichang periods, as well as the early days of the Apocalypse, the country's financial revenue was very sluggish. If it weren't for the family foundation left by Emperor Wanli and the reluctant support of Wei Zhongxian, the war in eastern Liaodong and the war in southwest would have been completely defeated due to the difficulties of national finance.

Therefore, after the Emperor of the Apocalypse, the "former emperor" who did not leave any family background for his younger brother, the problem that Emperor Chongzhen, who has not yet determined the year name, is now facing the most realistic and cruel financial difficulties.

The silver of less than one million taels in the internal area, the silver of about 500,000 taels in the household department, and the sum of about 1.4 million taels of silver are barely enough to fill the big hole in Liaodong for a year.

But the hard part of being a home is that you have to think not only about the present but also about the future. The problem that Zhu Youzhen has to face now is that the 1.4 million taels of silver, in addition to filling the holes in Liaodong, must also be used to help the victims of the disaster in Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, and other places.

This money is clearly not enough.

Moreover, in addition to the military expenses in Liaodong and the relief in the Shanxi region, should the officials' salaries be paid? Should the flooding of the Yellow River be treated? Should the Grand Canal be dredged?

The so-called inappropriate family does not know that firewood and rice are expensive. When Emperor Chongzhen listened to Wei Zhongxian's report on the necessary expenses of the Ming Dynasty every year, he thought that he only had about 1.4 million taels of silver in his hand, and his face became greener and greener.

After a person encounters difficulties, he can see the person's character from the person's reaction.

If he is a person with a strong personality, he will often be more calm and calm in the face of difficulties. Then, he bravely faced this difficulty and worked hard to solve it.

But if a cowardly person encounters difficulties, his first reaction is not to face reality, first, he will want to escape from reality, and second, he will try to shift the responsibility for the problem to others.

Judging from what Zhu Youzhen has done in history, he is not a person with a strong character. When Li Zicheng led the army to attack Beijing, Zhu Youzhen chose to hang himself on the coal mountain, rather than choosing to take his family and ministers to Nanjing to regroup. In fact, if Zhu Youzhen had gone to Nanjing, the lifespan of the small court of the Southern Ming Dynasty might even be extended for a period of time by reducing the infighting on the throne. But Zhu Youzhen didn't do this. He chose to escape and chose suicide.

As a cowardly person, Zhu Youzhen, who had just ascended the throne for only a month, faced the financial crisis of the imperial court, and his first reaction was to spread his anger on Wei Zhongxian. He interrupted Wei Zhongxian, who was still introducing the normal annual expenses of the imperial court, in a trembling and angry tone, and questioned him:

"Brother Huang handed over all the affairs of the country to you, is that how you manage it? You are living up to the emperor's grace! ”

Hearing the emperor's accusation, he immediately knelt on the ground to apologize, which was the instinctive reaction of the eunuchs and eunuchs. When Wei Zhongxian heard Zhu Youzhen's questioning, he immediately knelt on the ground and shouted guilty.

But kneeling on the ground and kowtowing, Wei Zhongxian kept slandering in his heart. Wei Zhongxian, who was a bit of a bachelor, muttered in his heart: "If it weren't for Lao Tzu's tossing and turning over the years, your Zhu family's family would have been unable to survive a long time." That's it, you little rabbit still want to drive Lao Tzu away. Now blame me for the blame! What a wrong! ”

Zhu Youzhen really felt a headache. He stepped down from his throne and walked around with a grunt. Soon, however, Confucian education began to work on him. He remembered that the sage of Kong recorded in it said to evaluate Yan Hui, "Don't be angry, don't be offended." ”

Thinking that the current situation of the Ming Dynasty cannot be the result of one day, and thinking that the current situation of the Ming Dynasty is the mess left by his grandfather Emperor Wanli, his father Emperor Taichang and his brother Emperor Tianqi. Zhu Youzhen's anger towards Wei Zhongxian dissipated.

He first asked Wei Zhongxian to get up, and then asked him a little anxiously: "You have been in charge of the government for the imperial brother for so many years, how did you solve this lack of money?" ”

Wei Zhongxian's current mentality is actually very self-defeating. As an old eunuch who already knew that his final outcome was to retire in Nanjing, his attitude towards the emperor was not very panicked.

For Wei Zhongxian, loyalty is not innate. The Emperor of the Apocalypse trusted him and reused him. Although he had the purpose of using himself as a shield, Wei Zhongxian felt that he could display his ambitions in the position of the head of the Ming Dynasty, which was the kindness of the Emperor of the Apocalypse to him.

That's why he will do his best to repay the Emperor of the Apocalypse, and strive to be the home of the Ming Dynasty, so that the Emperor of the Apocalypse, who likes carpenter work, can save as much as possible.

But the young emperor in front of him, who was impatient but had no responsibility, was very defensive against himself and did not have the slightest trust. Wei Zhongxian felt that he had no obligation to be loyal to Zhu Youzhen. He was ready to mercilessly give the new emperor a big problem.

"Back to the emperor's words. If it weren't for Emperor Daxing's belief in slaves and maids, how would such a waste person as a slave dare to be the home of the Ming Dynasty. However, since the emperor asked the slave and maid, the slave and maid could only report to the emperor truthfully. ”

"It's not a matter of a day or two that the court has no money. But the lack of money in the court does not mean that there is no money in the world. If you want to solve the problem of money, it is nothing more than the word tax. ”

"But the slave maid also has to tell the truth to the emperor, this tax collection thing is not easy to do now. If you collect taxes from the common people, you can't collect more than you can do. ”

"Speaking of which, in recent years, the imperial court has levy additional salaries because of side affairs. If the court collects an extra tael of silver, the officials below will be able to collect ten taels of silver. Whether it is Dongchang or Jinyiwei, it has already been reported, even in the Jiangnan area, there are many ordinary people who make trouble because they can't live their lives. Therefore, if taxes are collected from the people, I am afraid that the affairs of Shaanxi will make a fuss in the whole country. "Time Gate 1619

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Chapter 324 The King of the Fallen Country & The Minister of the Fallen Country 3