Regret.

Chongzhen really regretted it this time.

The kind of regret that passed by tens of millions of silver dollars, and the regret that he couldn't pick it up when he saw a gold brick fall in front of him, this kind of strong loss aversion once overshadowed his vigilance and defense against Xujiazhuang, and he didn't have the heart to continue listening, and this cabinet meeting ended in a hurry.

After all the elders left.

Only then did Zhu Youzhen stand up and paced back and forth in the empty palace with his hands behind his back, his face full of confusion.

What to do?

How can I remediate it?

How can we make up for the loss, join the tuyere of colonizing the South Seas, find a way to get a piece of the pie, and not miss this feast of wealth?

Anyway, what is the situation, isn't it just millions of silver dollars, if you miss it, you miss it, a gentleman loves money and takes it in a good way, when did Zhu Youzhen become so obsessed with money?

It can only be said that I don't know how expensive firewood and rice are if I don't know how expensive it is.

Although Daming's financial situation has improved a lot in recent years, it has even set a new record.

Although the Liukou in the Central Plains has been extinguished, the Jiannu in Liaodong have been hit hard, and the Mongols do not dare to come to Koubian again, the military pressure of the Ming Dynasty has been greatly reduced.

Although he has been extremely diligent in his administration in recent years, he has vigorously promoted capable officials and officials, deposed mediocre officials, severely punished corrupt officials, and made a lot of hard work in the governance of officials, and has achieved some results, and canceled the Liaoxiang plus faction (minus three percent, and nine percent), reducing the burden of the people in the world, and winning the hearts of many people.

The situation seems to be improving in all aspects, and Daming Zhongxing seems to see a glimmer of hope and dawn.

But natural disasters are still endless, so numbing that they are numbing.

The ability of the imperial court to solve thorny problems is still extremely weak, hundreds of thousands of silver dollars are thrown down, except for raising a large number of corrupt officials, almost can not solve any problems, only a little better than lying flat completely, in the words of a commentator of the "Oriental Times": The system of the Ming Dynasty, in addition to the unlimited consumption of empty resources, has lost the ability to solve any major problems, stubborn interest groups control everything, they are loyal to the imperial power, but they are unwilling to take out any resources to serve the imperial power, any reform that wants to cut their flesh will end in failure, Unless everything is reversed.

For this comment, Zhu Youzhen is very unconvinced, although it reflects the reality of the situation, but what he said is too uneuphemistic, too ugly, and he is singing about the decline and smearing the Ming Dynasty.

He firmly believes that Daming will definitely be able to get better and can achieve ZTE.

The premise is that you have to have money, and you have to have enough money.

When he spent money to train a powerful new army of 200,000.

When he rectified the rule of officials, he had a group of officials who could be entrusted with important tasks and were relatively honest.

He vigorously promoted reforms, improved people's livelihood, collected commercial taxes to expand the tax base, achieved a balance between fiscal revenue and expenditure, and even let income exceed expenditure, so as to achieve positive accumulation.

In this way, ten or twenty years later, Daming will definitely become a completely different Daming.

It's just that the ideal is very plump, but the reality is extremely skinny.

The 200,000 new army is not visible for the time being, and Cao Huachun is barely allowed to train 50,000, but the annual military expenditure is nearly 2 million, and a large part of the internal money has been hollowed out.

Although the word "frugality" is often talked about, the expenses of the royal family have skyrocketed every year, and last year, just a few more festivals were celebrated, and the expenditure record of 4 million silver dollars, that is, the palace of less than 10,000 people spent an average of more than 10,000 silver dollars.

Add to that the blackmail of civil ministers from time to time.

Last year, there were tens of millions of dollars and grains in the account, but at the end of the year, there were only a few hundred thousand left.

As a result, after the beginning of spring, from January to August, before the autumn tax arrived, the internal treasury was in a state of semi-depletion for a long time, and the life of the imperial palace could only be maintained by the business of the imperial store.

Oh, and there are also deposit interest dividends from Tianxia Tong Bank.

The problem is that Zhu Youzhen spends too much money, the royal family spends more than 4 million a year, which is more than the taxes collected by the Ming treasury in previous years, and he actually uses up his food and drink, so he is embarrassed to say 'thrifty'? It's not an exaggeration to describe it as a poor luxury, right? How long has it been since he wore his dragon robe, which had been patched countless times?

That's right!

Zhu Youzhen admitted that the expenses of the royal family in the past two years have indeed been larger, but it is really not a poverty and luxury, he has been very, very restrained, usually he still eats three dishes and one soup, more vegetarian meat and less meat, very few entertainment activities, and unnecessary expenses are absolutely not approved.

It's just that in the past two years, the price of goods in the capital has risen too seriously, food has generally risen by three or five times, the price of daily necessities has increased by two or three times, and fuel has also risen by one or two times.

Secondly, Xujiazhuang has launched more and more new products, which are endless.

For example, toilet paper, sanitary napkins, sofa-style furniture, and Simmons beds from the year before last.

Last year's gramophone, sewing machine, thermos.

This year, new products such as hand-cranked washing machines, hand-cranked generators + rechargeable flashlights, windproof and rainproof jackets, wool tweed windbreakers and other new products have been launched, and it is difficult not to buy them.

There are also many products that you are used to in your daily life and cannot go back to the past, such as soap and toilet paper, which are the reasons for the increase in expenses.

There is even a feeling that the more money you earn, the more you spend.

Lack of money.

Zhu Youzhen felt that he was still extremely short of money.

You have to find a way to make more money.

But the people at the bottom have long been exhausted.

It is impossible for the nobles, landlords, gentry and other classes to pay taxes obediently.

If you want to increase your income, you still have to continue to cooperate with Xu Jiazhuang, even if he is very reluctant in his heart, but this is the only way.

After thinking about it, Zhu Youzhen called Wang Chengen, the eunuch with the palm print, and asked him to find Qi Chunnian, invite him to the palace once, and say that there is something to discuss.

"Holy Lord, is it for the purpose of colonizing the South Seas?"

Wang Chengen saw Zhu Youzhen's thoughts at once, and secretly sighed: Qi represents a confident and thoughtful person, a few days ago, Qi Chunnian invited him to dinner, and said that His Majesty would take the initiative to invite him into the palace in two days, at that time Wang Chengen felt that he was bragging, but he didn't expect to be guessed by him.

"Ahem~"

Zhu Youzhen coughed embarrassedly twice and said, "You just go and invite him into the palace, what nonsense?" ”

"Yes, Holy."

……

Afternoon.

The old place is inside the East Warm Pavilion.

The weather was quite hot, when Qi Chunnian, who was dressed in a T-shirt + cropped pants, and wore a pair of sunglasses, and had his cockscomb head straightened up, appeared in front of Zhu Youzhen.

The corners of Zhu Youzhen's eyes twitched, and he said with a very unpleasant feeling: "Representative Qi, may I ask if you take the initiative to see this time, do you have anything to discuss?" ”

"Your Majesty, it's not that you want to see me, so you asked Wang Zhangyin to find me, why did I take the initiative to ask to see me?"

Qi Chunnian rolled his eyes and said without giving face.

"Is there such a thing? Companion, did I ask you to ask for a representative? Zhu Youzhen glared at Wang Chengen.

Wang Chengen had no choice but to kneel, put down the black cauldron, and said: "Your Majesty, it was our family who made their own decisions and invited Representative Qi over and asked Your Majesty to surrender!" ”

"Hmph, my time is precious, who can see it if they want to? You dare to deceive me like this, you are getting bolder and bigger. Zhu Youzhen said with a serious face.

"Damn it!" Wang Chengen was lying even lower.

"Your Majesty, if you don't want to see Qi, forget it, why waste time, I'll go back." Qi Chunnian stood up, turned around and was about to leave.

"Wait!"

Zhu Youzhen had to stop him: "Since we are here, let's talk, I happen to be quite interested in Xujiazhuang's colonization of Nanyang, why don't we talk about it?" ”

"Sooner on."

Qi Chunnian immediately turned around and sat back on the chair, cocked Erlang's legs, and muttered: "Your Majesty is still too insincere, if you want to cooperate and make money, just say it, why be so arrogant." ”

These words made the corners of Zhu Youzhen's eyes twitch again, but he pretended not to hear it behind his ears.

Wang Chengen was also relieved, got up from the ground, and stood beside the emperor to serve.

"Representative Qi, this land of the South Seas is really full of fertile soil and countless resources, can you make a fortune by just opening it up?" Zhu Youzhen was too lazy to pretend, and went straight to the point and asked the questions he was most interested in.

"Your Majesty, the Nanyang region is innumerable, the degree of development is very low, most of it is barbaric, it is extremely difficult for individuals to survive, there is fertile land, but people need to reclaim it; There are indeed countless resources, but they also need to be developed...... In fact, there is not much special about the land of Nanyang, just warm and rainy, very suitable for the development of agriculture, but there is no one, everything is empty talk, only people first and then can bring everything, this is always our Xujiazhuang development concept, Your Majesty do not make a mistake in order. ”

Qi Chunnian said with a serious face.

"It makes sense, I've been taught."

Zhu Youzhen had to say: "If I also find a way to organize tens of thousands of people to go to Nanyang to open up and establish a few royal estates, I don't know if it can be done, is it cost-effective?" ”

"It's difficult, there is a high probability of losing all your money."

Qi Chunnian said bluntly: "First of all, there must be a ship, it must be a large sea ship, costing tens of thousands of taels, building a small fleet has to be millions of taels, and then carrying immigrants to the South Seas, two or three months to arrive, the probability of encountering wind and waves is 20%, the probability of disease and epidemic on the ship is 20%, and after arriving at the destination, the probability of being infected with various diseases is 50...... It may only be half a year later, all the old and weak migrants will die of illness, and the survival rate is less than 50%, and the specific development work, the construction of infrastructure, the purchase of livestock and farm tools, and the upfront living expenses are not a small amount. ”

"Take the sugarcane manor established by Xujiazhuang in Taiwan as an example, the average investment of each sugarcane manor is about 1.5 million silver dollars, which is still the result of a large reduction in cost under the large-scale development model.

"What if you cooperate with Xujiazhuang?"

Zhu Youzhen had to give up his plan to rely on himself, and asked: "Didn't you say before that you would cooperate with the royal family to jointly develop Nanyang?" I thought about it carefully, and felt that your conditions were good, and you could cooperate, in the name of the Ming royal family, I allowed you to borrow it, and you can also give a few letters of the holy decree to support colonization, as long as you can help build a few royal estates in the land of Nanyang, and then give it to the royal family for free. ”

"But His Majesty decisively refused at that time."

Qi Chunnian rolled his eyes: "At this time and that time, everyone is an adult, the best cooperation period has passed, and now His Majesty wants to take this ride, but it is not so cheap, and you have to pay a little cost." ”

"What else to pay? I sent a holy decree to announce that Xujiazhuang has unlimited development rights in Nanyang, isn't this worth hundreds of millions of taels of silver, and can't it be worth a few manors? Zhu Youzhen said with a dark face, a little annoyed and angry.

"There may have been before, but now there is no holy decree, Xujiazhuang is in Nanyang, and His Majesty has issued ten or one hundred holy decrees to support it, which is also the icing on the cake."

"What if I don't support it in the Holy Decree, but instead ask the Nanyang countries to rise up and resist?"

"This may have a certain destructive effect, but it is of little significance, of course, if Your Majesty really wants to get a piece of the pie, I have a very preferential cooperation plan here, I wonder if Your Majesty is willing to listen to it?" Qi Chun Nian Road.

"You say."

"Overseas royal estates, enclosing 30,000 acres of land, Xujiazhuang provides construction services at cost price, infrastructure costs 1 million silver yuan, free immigration transportation, free material transportation, free use of ports, parity to provide miracle medicine, to help solve public security problems...... Your Majesty, this is really the cost price, compared to you trying to find a way to build a royal manor, saving millions, you should see the sincerity of Xujiazhuang. ”

"Do you mean that if I invest 1 million silver dollars, I can get an overseas royal estate, and this is still the cost price?"

"Yes."

"This ......" Zhu Youzhen frowned, one million silver dollars, he gritted his teeth and squeezed it, he could barely squeeze out about one million silver dollars every year, and it was used to build a royal manor, ten in ten years, and twenty in twenty years.

But it's too slow, it's still too slow, and the overhead is too big.

What's more, he still has to govern this huge Ming Empire, and it costs money in all aspects, and it is very difficult to squeeze out millions of silver dollars every year, and the ministers and officials will also have countless objections, and they may not be able to squeeze out money every year.

Seeing that the emperor's brows were tightly locked, he was extremely entangled and hesitant.

Qi Chunnian spoke again: "Your Majesty, I have a second plan here, so that you don't need to pay much money to build a lot of royal estates." ”

"You say, you say it quickly!" Zhu Youzhen hurriedly said.

"We can in the name of His Royal Highness the Prince, in Nanyang to establish a number of prince's manors, this kind of manor does not have to be very large, immigrants of 3,000, enclosure of 10,000 acres of land, located between or adjacent to the Xu family manor, by the protection of the Xu family manor, you can enjoy all kinds of convenience, as for the construction cost of the prince's manor, it will never exceed 300,000 silver dollars, and the maximum cost of building one every year is 300,000 silver dollars."

Qi Chunnian said: "As for the source of funds, the prince's growth fund allocates 150,000 yuan every year, and the queen and the mother's family behind it find a way to raise 50,000 yuan, and can share the dividends, Your Majesty as a father takes out 30,000 yuan, and after making a profit, I will also get dividends, as the prince's teacher, I am also willing to take out 20,000 silver dollars to support the establishment of the prince's manor." ”

"In addition to the prince's manor, the second prince and the third prince in the palace, as well as the eldest princess and the second princess, can mobilize the relatives behind them to help raise money to establish the prince's manor and the princess's manor, so that when they grow up, they can live a rich and privileged life only by relying on the income brought by the overseas manor, and they don't even have to arrange fiefs for them...... This is a good thing to kill many birds with one stone, Your Majesty! ”

Listen to Qi Chunnian.

lit up.

Zhu Youzhen's eyes suddenly lit up.

But frowning again, teacher? This Qi Chun Nian, when did he become the prince's teacher?

As for the plan of "Prince Manor", whether he should agree to it or not, he fell into thought and thought about it carefully, even if he was so moved that he couldn't wait to agree immediately.