Forbidden City, Qianqing Palace.

The sleeping palace of the Ming Emperor, the head of the last three palaces, is also the place where the emperors of the Ming Dynasty daily govern.

"This time, more than 132,000 taels of gold and more than 3 million taels of silver ingots were seized from a group of profiteers in Yangzhou, in addition, more than 3,260 hectares of fertile land, more than 1,000 houses and rental shops, a large number of jewels, jade, clothes, books, etc., after the public auction of all the criminal property in Yangzhou, a total of 13,687,453 taels of gold and silver were seized! All silver taels, for the convenience of use, the sons have been poured into silver coins, each silver coin silver nine bronze one, two silver as silver one tael, a total of 30 million silver coins. ”

When Chongzhen saw this, he suddenly burst out laughing, and the people in the eunuch palace on the side looked at the emperor in great surprise. However, seeing that the emperor was happy and smiling, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and they were really worried that the emperor would suddenly lose his mind and go crazy. A few days ago, Empress Zhou's father, Jia Dingbo, entered the palace and cried, saying that as soon as the emperor's newly acquired Yizi Zhennanhou came out of Beijing, he would behave indiscriminately and ask for bribes and so on.

As a result, the emperor, who has always treated Zhou Guozhang very favorably, did not stand on the side of Guozhang this time, but was furious, and wanted to cut Guozhang's title on the spot and put him in prison. In the end, the queen and the crown prince came to intercede, and the emperor did not cut him off his title, but also fined him 100,000 taels of silver, and made him repent behind closed doors.

A fine of 100,000 taels of silver at a time shocked the entire capital. But in the end, the prince honestly handed over the silver and began to think about it behind closed doors.

Chongzhen laughed and laughed, his face full of excitement.

"Where is the silver?" Chongzhen shouted, he knew what Liu Jun did in Yangzhou earlier, in fact, Liu Jun had already asked Chongzhen before he started to take those salt merchants in Yangzhou, and this matter was approved by Chongzhen. In Liu Jun's words, every salt merchant should be killed, but for the sake of stability. Only kill a small part of the unscrupulous profiteers.

But Liu Jun killed thirty-six profiteers in Yangzhou at once and copied out tens of millions of silver, which still greatly shocked Chongzhen. And now, Liu Junmi's fold is clearly written, a full 13 million silver.

The imperial court now spends more than 20 million taels of silver a year, while the treasury Taicang earns less than 3 million taels of silver a year. However, the three salaries and factions increased the rebellion of the displaced people in the Central Plains.

Now that Mei Zhihuan and Li Changgeng are presiding over the cabinet, they have already demanded that the salary and salary training be abolished first. The three salaries of the imperial court. The annual levy of Liao is 7,488,298 taels of silver, the levy of 2,800,000 taels of expulsion, and the levy of more than 7,300,000 taels of silver.

The sum of the three salaries is more than 17.5 million, and if the salaries and training salaries are exempted, then 10 million yuan will be missing. Even if the bandits are basically pacified now, the situation in Liaodong is getting worse and worse, and if there is a decrease of 10 million, it will be difficult to maintain it in the north.

Chongzhen now reluctantly agrees to Mei Zhihuan and them, and from next year onwards, they will be exempted from levying and extorting 2.8 million yuan. However, only half of the salary can be waived. In this way, the imperial court will also reduce the annual income of 6 million next year.

Where did he get six million to make up for this hole, Chongzhen really didn't have any good way.

Now, Liu Jun sent more than 10 million taels of silver at once.

Kill dozens of profiteers. was able to get so much silver, Chongzhen was quite happy.

Chen Xin, a thousand households in Jinyi, knelt in the hall, did not dare to raise his head, and hurriedly replied when he heard the words: "After the country surnamed Ye confiscated the property of the profiteers." On the one hand, they began to sell, and on the other hand, they poured silver coins, and after the first batch of silver coins was minted for one million. Immediately let Weichen personally escort him into Beijing. Now a million silver coins are waiting outside. ”

"Wang Chengen, immediately let people bring in the silver and send it to me, and I will personally inspect it." Chongzhen shouted.

Chen Xin took Wang Chengen to the palace gate to transport a cart of silver into the palace and transported it directly to the Qianqing Palace.

The silver box was opened one by one, full of silver, Chongzhen walked to the silver box excitedly, he stretched out his hand and fished out a handful of silver coins from the silver box, the silver coins made a loud sound, listening to this crisp sound, Chongzhen kept nodding. Finally, he left a silver coin in his hand and looked at it carefully.

This silver coin is shining, round, without a hole in the middle, in the middle of the obverse is a dragon, there is a sun next to the dragon's head, and there is a line of words on the upper edge, the twelfth year of Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty. On the back, there is a round of crescent moon, two lines of words in the middle, two big characters in the middle of one yuan, next to it are four boys, when silver five coins. And on the sides of the silver coin, there are many tooth lines.

"Why do you want to mint silver coins?" Chongzhen asked.

Chen Xin hurriedly replied according to the words that Liu Jun confessed to him when he came, "Because of the confiscated money, there are gold, silver, and money, etc., although they are all converted into silver, but the silver is also different, there are large ingots and scattered pieces, and the fineness is also very different." In order to unify and understand, the country surnamed Ye let the capital melt and then minted into silver coins. The fineness of these silver coins is the same, each containing 8 percent silver and 1 percent copper. After this silver coin is minted, there are many conveniences, first, the fineness remains the same, the statistics are clear, and most importantly, it is easy to use. ”

Chongzhen thought about it, then looked down at the silver coin, and it seemed to be true. In the future, if the imperial court uses this kind of silver dollar, then there is no need to worry about the officials below from doing tricks and tricks, so as to avoid those corrupt officials from embezzling through different silver packages of different colors, or falsifying the weight when handling them. Silver coins are not like silver ingots, there are many places that can be faked, and when the military salary is issued, there is no need to cut the large silver into small silver, and there is no need to weigh and divide it.

The country surname also said that in addition to the convenience of use, this minted silver coin also has a great benefit, that is, it can be minted through the coin, there is the benefit of fire consumption. The imperial court issued silver coins, not necessarily sterling silver, silver nine bronze one, although not equal weight pure silver, but because of convenience and credibility, can be accepted by everyone, each minted silver dollar, face value of one yuan, equivalent to five dollars of silver, in fact, it only consumes about four dollars of silver, that half of the silver aside from the cost of coinage and copper money, there can also be fire consumption leftover. ”

Chongzhen pinched the silver coin, the face value was five coins, but in fact it only used four coins and five coins of silver, not even less. This practice is actually not new. As early as the Han and Tang dynasties, officials often issued big money when ten or twenty. Or directly issue iron coins, which is actually the same as Liu Jun's four coins and five silver coins now, giving the money an appreciation and making the value of the coin greater than the value of the coin itself.

This is also somewhat similar to the treasure banknote, but Liu Jun's silver coin is still very different, after all, it is four coins and five real silver, and this kind of silver coin issued by the minting can indeed bring a lot of convenience. Silver coins are used. You don't have to worry about the fineness or the weight, each silver coin is a fixed color and weight, and through the coinage, you can get the benefit of fire.

The people are convenient, and the court is profitable.

However, in this way, it is likely to cause private casting, after all, silver and bronze are profitable.

More than 13 million taels of silver, Liu Jun minted 30 million silver coins and handed them over, calculated. Liu Jun also left 400,000 silver coins, which is considered a cost.

And the imperial court also obtained more than 1.7 million fire consumption at once through coinage.

"Ciye really makes me happy."

"When will the remaining fourteen million silver coins be minted and sent to the Jingshi?" Chongzhen asked.

"Back to Your Majesty, Lord Hou said that all these silver coins will be minted within a month, and they will be sent to Beijing in batches."

"Good!" Chongzhen said loudly with satisfaction.

Chongzhen originally wanted to bring this coinage to the household department, but when he thought of all kinds of corruption in the court now, he dispelled this idea. He can be regarded as having seen through the various ministries of the imperial court, and he is completely rotten to the roots. The ministries and government offices are no longer doing errands with their hearts, but they are all embezzling with the power in their hands, just like opening a store to do business.

The officials of the ministry have the power to choose officials. openly selling officials, even clearly marked the price, from the governor to the county, there is a price. The Ministry of Officials sells civil officials. The military department sells military attachés, and if military generals want to be promoted, they have to go through their path and get money in place. The Ministry of Industry relies on the power of water conservancy projects in its hands. To make money, they have to deduct a sum of money from the construction projects built by the imperial court.

The household department is even more powerful. All the money and grain taxes have passed from their hands, and one has been deducted after one has passed.

The Ministry of Rites was originally an idle yamen, but they also used the power in their hands to embezzle. The number of clans of the Ming Dynasty is now huge, and these clans are not as good as the imperial examinations, they cannot be officials, and they cannot do business, so they can only receive the money drawn by the imperial court in the fiefdom. Although there are also wealthy princes such as King Fu and King Zhou, there are still many clans that are far away and have long been poor. According to the regulations, when a male member of the clan is born, the name must be chosen by the relevant department of the household department, and if the clan does not give money, or the money given is small, then they will not give a name or give an ugly name.

Some impoverished clans in their fifties do not have a big name, and according to the system, they cannot enter the genealogy without a big name, let alone marry a wife, so some impoverished clans in their fifties not only do not have a big name, but also have to be beaten as a single.

The six parts are like this, and Kedao is even better. The Ming Dynasty all said that the official of science and Taoism was a rag, that is, to wipe others clean, but he was dirty. There is a saying in officialdom that the county officials who pay the most bribes are the officials, and the ones who receive the most gifts are the officials.

In addition, the factory guards and the ministers, which is not the case, are rotten to the root from top to bottom. But Chongzhen was powerless in the face of this. After thinking about it, if the affairs of this coinage were handed over to the Ministry of Households or the Ministry of Works, in the end, it might turn this beneficial matter into a smoke.

At that time, Chongzhen did not trust the six ministries, and sent out two ministries of eunuchs and prime ministers he trusted, but in the end, it turned out that not only did this attract all the officials to attack, but also the eunuchs did not have such professional ability.

It's better to hand over the matter of minting coins to Liu Jun, just because Liu Jun first thought of this method of minting coins, and can mint more than 30 million silver coins in just two or three months, it is worth handing over this matter to him.

Looking at the silver, Chongzhen felt very happy.

Before Liu Jun left Beijing, he told himself that he would raise 5 million taels of loans within a year by issuing bonds, but now he has already obtained 15 million taels of silver in less than a month after leaving Beijing, and he still does not have to pay it back.

Up and down the Manchu Dynasty, there are so many officials, why don't there be such a capable minister as Liu Jun.

On the contrary, these people not only do not know how to do things, but only embezzle, and even people like Liu Jun who can do things will be impeached by them. Chongzhen remembered that a few days ago, the Heavenly Emperor entered the palace to attack Liu Jun, and even some officials attacked Liu Jun and made a fuss about him accepting Liu Jun as a righteous son, saying that Liu Jun was a fortunate minister and a traitor.

These incompetent guys, except for biting like mad dogs, what else can they do?

"Put all these coins in the inner treasury." Chongzhen did not send the silver to the treasury, but collected it into the inner treasury. But he didn't want to treat the money as private money, he just didn't trust the officials of the household department. These silvers were connected with the millions of taels of silver that Liu Jun had gotten for him before, and Chongzhen put them into his inner treasury.

When the court is in need, Mei Zhihuan can bring it up to him, and he will withdraw the money after consideration, so as not to squander and embezzle these hard-won money indiscriminately by those corrupt officials, and he must personally check the money.

The next day, Zhennanhou had another piece delivered.

Liu Jun's recital has a special purpose of Chongzhen, which can be sent directly to the imperial front without going through the cabinet and the general political department. Chongzhen carefully read the folds that Liu Junxin had sent and reported a few things to the emperor.

First, Liu Jun has set up several customs offices in Yangzhou, Nanjing and other places, and established two city shipping divisions in Hebei and Nanzhili, and everything is going smoothly.

Then another important news was reported, Liu Jun met with Zheng Zhilong in Nanjing, and made excellent progress. Liu Jun requested that Zheng's soldiers and horses be organized into two naval fleets in the East China Sea and the South China Sea, and that a group of generals be transferred from Zheng's subordinates to form the Yangtze River Naval Fleet and the Beihai Naval Division Fleet respectively. In fact, the Yangtze River Naval Division Fleet is a reorganization of the various battalions under the command of the former Admiral Caojiang, while the Beihai Fleet is a new fleet to transport the new army from the two lakes to cross the sea and attack Liao next year.

Therefore, Liu Jun recommended Zheng Zhilong, the commander-in-chief of Taiwan, to the post of admiral of coastal defense military affairs, and attached the table the officers of the four fleets to ensure the promotion of famous officers, each fleet has a deputy commander-in-chief, two staff generals, four guerrillas, eight commanders, 16 garrisons, 32 thousands, 64 generals, and a total of 128 hundred generals.

Liu Jun explained in the recital that the Zheng family now has more than 30,000 men and horses in the southeast sea, and they are also merchants, soldiers and thieves, so the imperial court might as well give it a formation. And giving those leaders official positions and transferring them to the four fleets actually helped to weaken and control the Zheng clan.

Of course, what satisfied Chongzhen the most was Liu Jun's proposal to organize four naval fleets, which did not require additional money and food expenditure from the imperial court. The money and food expenses of the four sailors will be paid by the municipal shipping department and the customs revenue. The revenues of the Municipal Shipping Department and the Customs Department will be divided into three, one part for the supply of the army, the naval division and other local armies, the other part for the local governors to be transferred, and the other part to be handed over to the imperial court.

Since there is no need for the court to pay, everything is easy to do, Chongzhen agreed without hesitation. Although the Fourth Fleet suddenly increased by more than a thousand martial arts, it was nothing compared to controlling the powerful sea force of the Zheng Clan.

Finally, Liu Jun requested in the chapter that in order to facilitate the issuance of bonds, a new bank should be set up and branches should be opened in various places, and the imperial court was asked for approval. After Chongzhen read it, he also approved it. (To be continued......)

PS: Thank you for the tip!