Liu Kongzhao entered Beijing with a huge fortune, totaling more than 2 million silver dollars, which was the income of the Ming Navy since Chongzhen 19 years ago. Product-Book-Net . v o d t . c o m

The two million silver dollars were only obtained by Chongzhen Zhu Youzhen himself, and part of them had been distributed to the navy soldiers from Liu Kongzhao to the grassroots level.

This amount of more than 2 million silver dollars will be directly used as an additional supplement to the construction costs of naval warships and talents of Zhijiang Shipyard and Daming Shipbuilding Bureau.

Of course, the main cost of naval construction still comes from the treasury revenue operated by the household department.

However, what the ministers did not expect was that the army could make money, not just spend money.

After all, in the consciousness of all military officials in the Ming Dynasty, military spending has always been a heavy burden on the court that is no less than that of the vassal king.

Almost since the orthodoxy, the Ming Dynasty has invested more and more in the military spending of the nine border towns, accounting for most of the national expenditure, and after the end of Wanli, it is because of the military spending that the national finance has reached the point of making ends meet, and even has to levy three rings.

It can be said that the Ming Dynasty's almost demise is not related to the high military spending.

But no one thought that today's Ming army could still make money.

This made many officials in the imperial court begin to realize that the original opening of the sea and the construction of the navy would have such an effect, and they couldn't help but start to reflect on why the Ming Dynasty did not do this before, and who hindered the development of the Ming Dynasty in the past.

There was no shortage of wise people throughout the empire, especially under the deliberate guidance of Zhu Youzhen, more and more people began to realize that the financial difficulties of the Ming Dynasty were due to the decline of state power, and the national interests were controlled by the military aristocracy in the north and the gentry in the south, so that the central court had very little wealth.

Therefore, even a great Confucian like Huang Zongxi began to issue a chapter angrily criticizing the gentry for harming the country in the "Seeking Knowledge" hosted by Liu Ru, which caused an uproar in the entire Ming academic field.

Many scholars began to criticize Huang Zongxi's remarks, but some scholars began to send Austrian aid to Huang Zongxi, and famous children such as Zhang Dai also began to analyze the extravagance of the scholar's life with their own narratives of the life of the scholars.

However, these are all games and pen disputes between young scholars, and Zhu Youzhen did not let the East Factory manage or let the East Factory intervene administratively.

For the truly reactionary Jiangnan gentry, most of them were silent at this time, or their methods became more secretive.

Especially after the Ming Guards Navy successfully exterminated many pirate forces and established its absolute control over the Daming Sea, these reactionary squires in Jiangnan with ulterior motives began to realize that it was no longer realistic for the Ming Dynasty to work with the imperial court, not to mention that the imperial court now has the support of the Zheng group.

As a result, the reactionary squires in Jiangnan turned their attention to the struggle for power in the imperial court, and no longer openly criticized the new policies of the imperial court.

Zhu Youzhen was also aware of this, but he did not think that this was a compromise by the reactionary squires in Jiangnan, but was plotting a bigger situation and preparing for a larger-scale counterattack.

Even if Zhu Youzhen himself was the emperor, he didn't dare to relax his vigilance in the slightest now.

There have been few successful reformers, and even the fate is not very good, except for the Song Dynasty, which is very good to people, Wang Anshi is better, and the rest such as Shang Ying and Zhang Juzheng have not had a very good end.

Of course, there is also the aforementioned matter of the two Ming emperors, Zhengde and Tianqi.

Even in the original historical Manchu Qing Dynasty, Yongzheng was always rumored to be assassinated because of reform.

Therefore, Zhu Youzhen knew that even if he was the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, as long as he wanted to innovate and move people's cheese, he had to be prepared to dance on the tip of the knife.

He also knew that there had never been a thousand days to prevent thieves, and it was impossible for him to guard against villains, so he simply let go of the mustard in his heart now and was ready to be assassinated.

For him, he is a time-traveler anyway, and even if he dies for a while, it is a big deal to return to the afterlife.

Of course, the current Zhu Youzhen also knows that he may not be easily assassinated, as more and more people in the Ming Dynasty, such as the common people, the low-level scholars, the lower-class landlords, and ordinary merchants and soldiers, have been given greater benefit distribution, and there are more and more people who are loyal to him and recognize him in the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, it is not impossible for Zhu Youzhen to choose a few people who will loyally protect him.

The isolated vested interests of the former Jiangnan, that is, some reactionary officials and gentry in Jiangnan, are now doing more than a futile struggle.

Even if Zhu Youzhen is really assassinated or leaves this world, it will be difficult for some reactionary officials and gentry in Jiangnan to change the current pattern of interests.

Neither the Guards nor the Zheng Group would agree.

Of course, Zhu Youzhen also knew that if a social collective was to be truly united, everyone had to benefit, so he didn't really want all the officials and gentry in Jiangnan to suffer.

At least he didn't say that he wanted to clear the acres of land at the beginning, and even absorbed a large number of young children of the Jiangnan official gentry class into the Guards, making them vested interests in the Ming military circles, and even some official gentry families as long as they were willing to cooperate with the imperial court, Zhu Youzhen also opened up some official monopoly industries for them to operate.

Moreover, Zhu Youzhen's opening of the sea now has a positive effect on the commercial income of many of their official and gentry strata, and the taxes they pay are far lower than the profits they have increased after Zhu Youzhen opened the sea and stimulated the economy.

Therefore, Zhu Youzhen believed that in time, except for a very small number of reactionary gentry who would still be violently eradicated, more and more children of wealthy families would begin to agree with the policies of the imperial court.

At that time, the internal contradictions of the Ming Dynasty will be further alleviated, especially in the possible future, after the Ming Dynasty shifts the way of competition for the growth of domestic interests to war and commerce, it will undoubtedly further promote domestic stability.

Of course, it is still too early to say this, in the era when the Qing court still occupies the northern country, there are still some stubborn gentry in the south of the Yangtze River who hope that the Qing court can dominate the country, so that they can continue to control most of the wealth in the world.

Liu Kongzhao was very excited to tell Zhu Youzhen the news of the victory of the Ming Navy to exterminate the navy, as he never thought that he would defeat a large number of pirates, he was indeed overjoyed at the moment, but Zhu Youzhen quickly poured a basin of cold water on him:

"Worth so much excitement about defeating a few pirates?

These pirates are all pirates who were crippled by the Zheng family back then, they are all a rabble who can only rob homes and houses, you can win, I don't think it's strange, if you lose, I think it's strange.

You may want to see the real naval battle, now that the Zheng family is embarking on the war to recover Dongfan Island, you immediately set off to Fujian, in the name of escorting Hongmaofan prisoners of war and all kinds of shipbuilding, guns and artillery equipment, to have a good look, to see this Western Fan and the Zheng family's naval battle, and learn from others! ”

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