Zhu Youzhen also saw the problem of inflation from the financial expenditure booklet of the Ministry of Households, which is why he went out of Nanjing.

He just looked at the extent to which inflation has affected people's daily lives.

The surge in food prices caused by the massive inflow of silver will exacerbate land annexation and cause more people to leave the land.

However, the industry and commerce of the Ming Dynasty have not yet developed enough to absorb so many people for employment, which will inevitably lead to the continued generation of displaced people, and the financial expenditure cost of the Ming court will also increase.

"It can be seen that it is still right to focus on agriculture and suppress commerce, since the opening of the sea and the development of commerce will lead to a large inflow of silver and the price of grain to soar, it is better to ban the sea to inhibit the development of commerce, Your Majesty, you don't want this commercial tax income, let the people reclaim the land and farm."

As soon as Kou Baimen said this, Zhu Youzhen couldn't help but knock on her white forehead:

"Are you stupid, do you think that if you ban the sea and suppress commerce, people in the world will not do business, the dignitaries and eunuchs and rich businessmen will still make money and profits, and I will open the sea to collect commercial taxes, and I can also control the commercial wealth that occupies two-tenths of the world for the benefit of the people, if I don't levy business taxes, I don't even have this wealth, and my Ming Dynasty can't hold on to it now."

Zhu Youzhen is indeed still only two-thirds of the empire's wealth.

Most of the gross domestic product of the entire Ming Dynasty was still in the hands of the gentry class, which is why Zhu Youzhen's opening of the sea and the collection of commercial taxes were only fiercely opposed by the gentry in Jiangnan and did not cause a nationwide gentry group to revolt.

Because he, Emperor Chongzhen, has never figured out the grain of Zhangtian Mu and the gentry in one.

Because he did not dare to completely offend the entire gentry group, at least not for now.

However, at the moment, if he wants to completely cure the financial problems of the Ming Dynasty and completely let the imperial power override everything, he must distribute the land controlled by the gentry group and even the entire landlord class to the common people, so that the wealth of the empire can be completely controlled in his own hands.

But to do so would be to offend all the landlord class, including the Guards and Jinyi Guards and Dongchang, who were now loyal to him.

Because they also belong to the landlord class.

In the past 17 years of Chongzhen, a large amount of land in Huguang, Henan, Shandong and other places has been barren due to military disasters and natural disasters.

Otherwise, the Guards would not have been so loyal to him, would not have been so convinced of his ideas, and would not have had the will to fight to defend their homeland.

Fortunately, the amount of land in the hands of these guards is still relatively small, and the land of the grassroots soldiers is subject to agricultural taxes, but in order to stabilize the people's hearts, they have not collected agricultural taxes in the first few years after moving south.

In the future, Zhu Youzhen will implement the integration of officials and gentry to pay grain, which will only affect the officers.

Of course, Zhu Youzhen also has one thing to rely on, that is, the soldiers have land, and they are afraid that they will not rebel with the officers again.

Fortunately, the current inflation in the Ming Dynasty has not been serious enough to affect the maintenance of the rule.

The commercial income brought by the increase in commercial taxes and the opening of the sea could allow the imperial court to continue to maintain for a period of time, and the implementation of the integrated payment of grain by the officials and gentry could be carried out step by step, first against the feudal king, and then against the civil official group without the background of the Guard.

In this way, most of the land was controlled by the imperial court, after all, the officers of the Guards were only a small minority, and the land occupied was only a small part, and Zhu Youzhen could adopt a more flexible policy.

"Your Majesty, can we still win this big battle?"

Although the hot tea was cold and the eaves were covered with snow, Kou Baimen was still unsatisfied after listening to Zhu Youzhen's discussion on the future economic crisis of the Ming Dynasty, and couldn't help but ask about the victory or loss of this war.

"Then do you want me and the guards to win, or do you want Hong Chengchou of the Manchu Qing to win?"

Zhu Youzhen asked Kou Baimen with a playful smile, Kou Baimen's boldness gave him a feeling that he was also a descendant, independent and individual.

"Naturally, I hope that Your Majesty and the Guards will win, after all, they are all sons of the Han family, if they are true heroes, who would like to be a slave of the Hu people."

Kou Bai's lips curled, and he said this sentence without thinking about it, and he also made a fist, quite heroic.

"If you are a true hero, who wants to be a slave of the Hu people, if those Wenchen and military generals who eat Junlu have such an awareness as you, why would there be such a scale of Qing army going south again."

Zhu Youzhen stood up and caught a snowflake, he wanted to be clean, the sky may not be empty, the Confucian students in the world are called Qingliu, but there are a few people who are not dirty and shameless.

"However, Your Majesty, many literati have said that this time Your Majesty's Qing army will definitely suffer losses when the guards go south, all because Ruan Dayue and other traitors have flooded the court, causing public resentment to boil," Kou Baimen continued to express his doubts.

Zhu Youzhen couldn't help but sneer: "These civil officials and gentry who have lost their business profits are counting on the Qing army to defeat the guards this time when they go south, either to force me to give them the power of the court, or to surrender the land, the Qing army is not defeated, and their thieves will not die;

But I don't want to think about it, the essence of this war is the war between the common people, the landlords of the Shu nationality, the low-level merchants, etc., and the big bureaucrats in the north and the military aristocracy of Manchuria. ”

"Okay, tea tasting bets on the general trend of the world, and it is a bet with today's saints, it must be a good story", Kou Baimen was also bold, with a pretty smile, and said first: "If there is a great victory, Weichen will dance a sword for His Majesty, if there is no good news but it is a defeat, what is Your Majesty betting?" ”

"Bet on your chance to live in the Forbidden City".

Zhu Youzhen looked at Kou Baimen and suddenly said this, in his opinion, since Kou Baimen cares so much about politics, and is a child of a non-clan family in the rivers and lakes, he is naturally more suitable to serve as an official in the inner court.

But Kou Baimen was stunned for a moment, she thought that Zhu Youzhen was going to gamble on herself as a concubine, otherwise how could she gamble on the opportunity to let herself live in the Forbidden City, she didn't know how to answer for a while, and her face was flushed with shame.

At this time, suddenly a rush of footsteps came: "Jinyi Weidu commanded Wu Mengming to ask to see Your Majesty!" ”

In a moment, Wu Mengming came to Zhu Youzhen's place, but when he saw Kou Baimen here, he shut up again.

"It doesn't matter, if the war in Shandong or Huguang can be said", Zhu Youzhen said this, and Wu Mengming responded: "As Your Majesty said, it is indeed a war in Shandong, the First Corps of the Guards Army defeated the 200,000 troops of the Tan Tai Department of the Qing Army, annihilated 40,000 Qing troops, and captured 80,000!" Tan Taibu has returned to Dongguang City with 80,000 remnants. ”

As soon as Wu Mengming's words fell, Zhu Youzhen smiled at Kou Baimen: "You lost." ”

"Then another day, Weichen will dance a sword for His Majesty", Kou Baimen was slightly disappointed, but quickly covered it with a smile.

(End of chapter)