"Counting the Qi State, the number of officials who can be recalled by the overseas vassals is 136,437."

"In addition, the number of students graduating from the government school this year is more than 76,000, the number of students graduating next year is more than 129,000, and the number of students who are expected to graduate early in the four years is more than 143,000."

"These many officials, in total, are more than 484,000 people......"

On the 30th day of the 21st lunar month of the Apocalypse, when the time came to the last day of the year, Wu Aheng and Yan Yinshao finally arrived in the capital.

At the same time as they arrived, Lu Wenzhao also stood in the hall and talked eloquently about various things about official learning.

If Zhu Youzhen wants to be ruthless, then he can completely make a move against Yanshan on October 20, the 22nd year of the Apocalypse, because on this day, even if he does not count the students who graduated early, Zhu Youzhen will be able to mobilize 340,000 reserve officials.

"The matter of early graduation has been put on hold for the time being, and among the remaining 340,000 people, how many people have something to do with Yanshan."

Zhu Youzhen asked Lu Wenzhao in front of many officials in the palace, and Lu Wenzhao did not hide this, and responded directly:

"About, no less than sixty thousand."

"Sixty thousand ......" Hearing this string of numbers, Wu Aheng and the others couldn't help frowning, they didn't expect Yanshan's penetration into government schools and government schools to be so great.

"Excluding this group of people, there are still 280,000 people, right?"

Zhu Youzhen opened his mouth to ask, and then calmed down: "That's enough." ”

"Your Highness...... But we still have to send out at least 130,000 officials overseas to maintain the rule of the vassal state......"

Lu Wenzhao couldn't help but speak, but Zhu Youzhen said: "Then it is enough to send these 60,000 people, plus a large number of grassroots Yanshan officials who are about to be replaced, to the vassal states." ”

"But now Yanshan still has the ...... of local taxation," Lu Wenzhao said to the point.

Now Yanshan has the money bag of the Ming Dynasty, and the means they have mastered are also very simple, that is, to replace a large number of village officials with Yanshan students.

The Ming Dynasty's taxation has now been replaced by a "monetary system" and is no longer handed over in kind as before.

Therefore, the people now harvest the grain that their families eat, and then sell the surplus grain, exchange it from the village officials, and then use the money to pay taxes.

In other words, in the financial system of the Ming Dynasty, the word "field endowment" will never be used, and it will be replaced by "agricultural tax".

After the local village officials received the agricultural tax, the normal process was for them to go to the market town, hand over the tax to the town yamen of the market town, and then the town yamen would deposit the tax in the bank, and then go to the county government with the tax bill issued by the bank.

After arriving at the county office, the tax list of each market town is now collected and handed over to the government office, and the government office is handed over to the political envoy, and the political envoy is handed over to the capital.

That is to say, as long as there are no problems with the escort of silver by the village officials at the grassroots level, there will be no problems in other places, and the bank bears all the escort risks except for the taxes of the administrative units at the village level.

The yamen above the town basically could not collect all taxes except for the local area, and there was not much tax silver, and there was no fire consumption.

All they have to do is to take a bill issued by the bank and hand it over to the yamen at all levels.

The reason why the Yanshan faction was unscrupulous was because they had mastered the joints of the first layer.

The common people pay taxes honestly, but if the village officials do not pay taxes, then the Ming taxes will have to be stuck, because the taxes cannot enter the bank.

This seemingly simple way, if you want to destroy it, there are generally only three ways.

The first is to change the officials, so that the new officials can escort the taxes to the market town bank for storage.

The second is to mobilize the people and let the people arrest the village officials who do not pay taxes, but this result is likely to be the second "slavery movement".

The enthusiasm of the people is very high, but after that, things will gradually develop out of control, which will indirectly lead to national unrest.

The first kind of Zhu Youjian has to do, and the second kind of Zhu Youjian cannot do it.

However, compared with these two methods, Zhu Youzhen wants to use the third method.

"I have my own way of dealing with the financial problem, and in addition, among the officials currently elected, all those related to Yanshan have been transferred to various vassal states to serve as grassroots officials."

"The rest are transferred to the officials of the Qi State, and the officials of the Qi State have all appointed the Huangdian and Changping officials at the county and town levels."

Zhu Youzhen opened his mouth to focus on the imperial store and Chang Ping, and Jin Xuan, who heard the words, also said:

"According to the time, at the end of the first month at most, more than 60,000 Qi officials will be able to arrive in Tianjin one after another."

"The problem now is that the plague in Shanxi is not over, and the Jingjia Railway and the Jingxi Railway can only be suspended, so the northwest cannot be traveled."

"Unless the plague ends in February, all officials will probably have to arrive around the autumn harvest, and the autumn tax will be delayed."

Jin Xuan thought that Zhu Youzhen wanted to focus on taxes at the county and town levels, but Zhu Youzhen smiled and said:

"With just their 60,000 people, how can they grasp the tax revenue of more than 2,000 counties and more than 30,000 towns?"

"I sent them to prepare for them to sell all the remaining 40 million grains in the Changping warehouses in various places, and to stop buying the Changping grain this year."

Zhu Youzhen's words were amazing, which made Li Changgeng, the head of the household, couldn't help but say:

"Your Highness, if you sell all the 40 million stone grain, then once the people encounter a drought, I am afraid that they will ......."

"Just do what I say, don't worry." Zhu Youzhen smiled at Li Changgeng as a sign of appeasement.

Similarly, Zhu Youzhen also looked at the other person sitting in the corner.

"Shen Shilang, the matter of Changping Grain will be handed over to you."

Zhu Youzhen opened his mouth to speak, which made Shen Tingyang, who had been frowning, hurriedly make a gesture when he heard this: "The lower officials will not disgrace their mission." ”

Shen Tingyang doesn't talk much, but he has to be too ruthless to do things.

Handed over the matter of Huangdian and Changping Grain to him, Zhu Youzhen was not afraid of being embezzled too much by officials.

As long as there is no problem with the grain and the tax revenue of the imperial store, then Zhu Youzhen only needs to take one step after that, and the means that the Yanshan officials rely on will no longer be useful.

However, before that, we have to wait for the officials of the various vassal states to be repatriated.

"The steam engine ships were put on hold for the time being, and they did not participate in the emigration, and they made every effort to transport the officials of the various feudal states back and forth."

"The Levian officials were first sent by steamer to the Old Port, and then the Old Port ships escorted them to Levia."

Even though the fire burned his eyebrows, Zhu Youzhen still took care not to expose the steamship west of Malacca.

Over the years, he has been hiding these technologies of the Ming Dynasty, just to make it impossible for Westerners to end it for the time being, and then suddenly expose it after the feudal domains have been firmly established in various places.

Foreigners are not allowed to enter the waters east of Malacca, and foreigners in the territory of Daming are monitored by Jinyiwei.

These are all means to prevent the premature exposure of technology, and he has maintained it for more than ten years, so naturally it is impossible to fall short now.

"Uncle Mother and Huang Long, in February, they will take a boat together and escort Brother Hong'er and them to Xijing City."

Zhu Youzhen explained to Wu Aheng, who had just come back, and Wu Aheng had already prepared for this, and immediately returned the salute after hearing about it, saying that he knew.

However, after Wu Aheng responded, Zhu Youzhen's arrangement did not stop, but said to Yan Yinshao and Jin Xuan, who were sitting next to him:

"You try to get their attention to you."

"The student received the ......" Jin Xuan and Yan Yinshao responded, and Zhu Youzhen also laughed at himself when he heard this:

"These tactics were originally used to deal with the enemy on the battlefield, but I didn't expect that one day they would be used on my group of students."

Zhu Youzhen's self-deprecation made Jin Xuan and Yan Yinshao bow their heads in shame.

"How are you preparing for the expedition to the west?"

Zhu Youzhen asked Man Gui and Sun Yingyuan, who were sitting on the side, and the two also replied when they heard this:

"Your Highness, right now, Broken Leaf City and Shule City are stockpiling 300,000 stones of grain, and Xuanchi City in Beiting is also stockpiling 150,000 stones."

"At present, we need to wait until the heavy snow in the Western Regions stops in February before we can mobilize 150,000 horses and 150,000 people to escort grain and grass to the west with the army."

"The army is divided into three routes, with the Green Ridge Corridor, the Talas Ancient Road, and the Lingbei Water River as the routes for transporting grain and going out."

"The Green Ridge Corridor is dominated by the two brothers Li Zicheng and Li Zijing, the general soldiers of Shule, who led four battalions, 8,000 cavalry, 4,000 foot soldiers, and 30,000 people."

"The ancient road of Talas is dominated by Cao Bianjiao, the chief soldier of Anxi, and Li Dingguo, the chief soldier of Broken Leaves, leading six battalions, 10,000 cavalry, 8,000 foot soldiers, and 80,000 people."

"The Lingbei Waterway is dominated by Cao Wenzhao, the governor of the Northern Army, and the general soldiers Liu Zongmin, Li Guo, and Zu Dashou are secondary, leading four battalions, 5,000 cavalry, 7,000 foot soldiers, and 40,000 people."

"In addition to the 750,000 stone grain and straw hoarded in the three cities, the two provinces of Anxi and Beiting are expected to supply about 600,000 stones."

"The fighting is not expected to start until early April and must end by September, so the time is tight."

When Man Gui said this, he couldn't help but say:

"However, according to the previous information, Hutudun has been frightened, and I am afraid that he will not dare to fight us directly."

"What needs to be guarded against is the barbarians entrenched in the eastern part of the Western Sea, and whether the Persians and the southern captives will take advantage of the fire to loot and occupy the land."

"Encroachment on land?" Zhu Youzhen frowned slightly, he had been uncomfortable with Persia and the Mughal for a long time.

If they really wanted to invade the territory of the Ming Dynasty, then Zhu Youzhen would have no choice but to include them in the Ming Dynasty domain system in advance.

"Tell Cao Wenzhao that Cao Bianjiao and Li Zicheng don't have to be self-restrained in this battle, if Persia and Nanyu dare to provoke ......"

Zhu Youzhen leaned forward, and put his hands firmly on the gauntlets of the chair: "All cuts!" ”

"The last general orders ......" Hearing that Zhu Youzhen gave such a big authority, Man Gui couldn't help but be a little envious of Cao Wenzhao.

However, he also knew that Cao Wenzhao was mainly in the north, and he was afraid that after he hit the head, he would chase all of Lin Danhan's troops all the way to Eastern Europe.

Therefore, in this battle, those who took the south and middle roads were Cao Bianjiao and Li Zicheng, who were relatively safe.

However, this lineup, no matter how Zhu Youzhen looks at it, seems to be a reckless lineup, except for Zu Dashou and Li Dingguo, who are more stable, the others ......

"With a rifle in hand, nothing will happen......"

Zhu Youzhen comforted himself, and after realizing that there was nothing wrong, he waved his hand and motioned for everyone to retreat.

Seeing this, everyone got up one after another, and then slowly withdrew from the carrier hall.

However, after they left, Zhu Youzhen summoned Lu Wenzhao and said to Lu Wenzhao:

"Cao Wenzhao and they have all left, and now only Li Demao and Zhang Maocai are left in Anxi City, my heart is not He An?"

"Let Zhu Fuju take over Anxi City, don't do anything, let me monitor the two of them."

"Yes!" Lu Wenzhao responded, but he did not leave, but hesitated to Zhu Youzhen before he spoke:

"Your Highness, long live over there, right now that Hong Gechen and Sun Gechen are going to the southwest, Huguang, and Fujian respectively, should they send someone to follow?"

“……”

Lu Wenzhao's words made Zhu Youzhen silent for a moment, at this juncture now, he suddenly transferred someone to Nanjing, which inevitably made people think more.

"No, just keep the situation going."

Zhu Youzhen didn't think that his brother would have problems, and although Wei Liangqing was not capable, it was not a problem to guard a small Nanjing City.

He has already prepared the arrangements on Daming's side, and then he only needs to cut off Yanshan's hands and feet step by step.

Now he is more concerned about Spain, which is far away in Europe......

"Your Majesty, in fact, we can discuss ......"

"Are you sure there's no way to keep the colonies in the New World?"

Inside the Hasburg palace in Madrid, Felipe IV's trusted prime minister spoke up, and Felipe IV knew that the tide was gone.

Duke of Olivares, a well-known statesman throughout the continent and a courtier of King Felipe IV.

As a politician of the same era as Cardinal Richelieu of France, he was arguably in power after becoming prime minister of Spain.

He was keenly aware of Spain's contradictions, and therefore advocated reform, but at the same time caused public resentment.

Because of the deep influence of Catholicism within Spain, he could only be forced to get involved in the Thirty Years' War, which led to the near collapse of Spain's finances.

His taxation policy led to a rebellion in the country, and the situation he faces today is more dire than ever.

At this moment, Spain's sea routes have been blocked by the fleets of France, the Netherlands, and Portugal, and the silver of the Americas cannot be transported to Europe.

Although silver in the Americas caused inflation in Spain, Spain could only maintain its rule by quenching its thirst in this way.

Now that the gold and silver of the New World cannot reach Spain, Spain's maritime defense line has collapsed on all fronts, and it seems that only Daming can save Spain.

Olivares knows very well that if they don't achieve this victory, not only the American continent, but perhaps even Portugal and the Netherlands will be completely lost.

The news brought by the diplomats of the Ming Dynasty was very good, sixty million taels of Ming Tongbao worth eighty-four million silver sopes, which was the income that the New World would take ten years to provide to the empire.

Not to mention the fact that this income would enter Spain in the form of trade in goods, which would temporarily suppress prices in Spain back to the pre-war state.

"Arms, ships, food...... These are the keys to the Empire's victory. ”

Olivares persuaded Felipe IV and emphatically stated:

"Now that our fleet has sunk into the sea, Da Ming is willing to exchange these 84 million silver sorpees for supplies to complete the deal with us in the New World."

"You once learned about the Ming Dynasty's Invincible Armada, and the envoys who came to the Ming Dynasty also said that the Ming Dynasty could sell warships with a tonnage of less than two thousand tons to the Empire."

"I've calculated that if we come up with 10 million silver sopies, it will once again build a royal fleet that has always been stronger than the Invincible Armada."

"With the remaining silver sobies, we can also buy enough flintlock pistols to equip 100,000 people, and we can obtain no less than 400 million pounds of wheat from the hands of the Ming Dynasty every year, which can solve the food problem of 20% of the country's population."

"We can continue to obtain this kind of food for twenty-two years, and it will allow the empire to be stable for the next twenty-two years."

Food is a winning weapon in times of war, even in the seventeenth century.

The reason why so many uprisings have broken out in the Spanish Empire itself today is nothing more than inflation and food shortages.

If the Spanish Empire could produce 400 million pounds of wheat a year, it would be enough to bring the price of food to where it was before the Thirty Years' War.

As long as the food problem is solved, Spain can go all out to the outside world, and besides, ......

"The price of this grain is less than half of the price of our domestic grain, and we can use this batch of grain for grain trade, so that the empire can get out of the crisis of financial bankruptcy."

"Gold is beautiful, but it's nothing compared to food and the future of the empire."

Olivares persuaded Felipe IV, who was also moved by his little words.

However, he still has his own stubbornness, and he said solemnly to Olivares: "I need you to push the price of the New World higher. ”

"Of course, my Majesty ......"

When Felipe IV relented, Olivares knew that it would probably work.

"I'm here waiting for your good news." Felipe IV seemed to have aged a lot, and his face turned pale all at once.

Although Olivares felt guilty when he saw this, he also knew that giving up the New World was something he had to do.

Thinking of this, he got up and walked out of the Royal Palace of Madrid and headed for the port of Badasia, east of Madrid.

There, the messengers sent by the Ming were waiting for their response.

It took three days for Olivares to arrive at the port of Badasia, and the 3,000-tonnage Ming warship was found on the port as soon as possible.

He invited the envoy to his temporary residence, and the person entrusted by Yan Yingyuan this time was his fellow countryman and friend Li Quan.

Li Quan and Olivares greeted each other warmly as soon as they met, and the two sides then sat down and began to discuss the affairs of the New World in detail.

"We can sell the New World, but now there are several colonies in the New World that have arable land, houses, people, livestock, and gold mines that have been developed."

"Li, I can tell you that the amount of gold and silver we can mine in the New World every year, converted into your country's currency, is nine million taels of Ming Tongbao."

At the negotiation table, one side always shouts and the other side bargains.

For the New World, if Olivares wants to sell for a good price, he needs to praise his stuff first.

It's a pity that the Spaniards are not good at bragging, and in the face of Li Quan, they only dare to say that the price of gold and silver produced in the New World is nine million taels of Ming Tongbao.

Such words made Li Quan can't help but snicker in his heart.

Before he came, he had already received information from Jin Yiwei that the price of gold and silver mined by Spain in the New World every year was about six million taels of Daming Tongbao.

In this regard, King Qi's bottom line is 100 million taels of Ming Tongbao's commodity goods as the purchase price.

Originally, Li Quan was ready to fight a vicious war, but now the Spaniards only dare to shout the price of 9 million taels of Ming Tongbao per year, and it will be a lot easier to deal with.

"We knew it was worth nine million taels, so we offered a price of eighty-four million silver sopees."

Li Quan's expression was grim, but his heart was happy.

"Nope! I think you may have misunderstood something. "Olivares never thought about Ming's wealth, so he only dared to shout a price that would allow Spain to get out of its financial predicament.

"Although we are very difficult in the current war, we have gone further and further on the road to victory."

"Eighty-four million silver sopes, that's just less than seven years of output in the New World."

"If you are sincere, then I would like you to give you twenty years of output, two hundred and fifty-two million silver sopies."

At the height of the Spanish Empire, there were nine million ducats of gold annually, which is equivalent to 1,020,000 silver sorpees.

Now, with the Thirty Years' War raging and the East-West trade rushing to survive, Spain is already heavily indebted.

As of today, Spain's debt has exceeded 120 million ducats, which is equivalent to 150 million taels of silver and 100.8 million silver sopés.

The lion of Olivares opened his mouth widely, wanting to take more than 250 million silver sorpes from the hands of Da Ming and Qi Guo, which was obviously just talking.

Li Quan knew this, he shook his head and said:

"No one can guarantee that every gold and silver mine will produce gold and silver for twenty years, so we are only willing to pay 84 million silver sopies."

"According to what you just said, even if we count the cultivated land, houses, and cattle, then we are only willing to bid 90 million silver sopees."

"Nope! This is too little for the empire to accept. When Olivares heard Li Quan's words, he couldn't help but beat a little drum in his heart, but he still said strongly:

"We can accept your country's payment in twenty-five instalments, and reduce the price to 250 million silver sopees."

In his opinion, the Ming Dynasty was very rich, but no matter how rich he was, it would not exceed the peak of the Spanish Empire.

At its peak, Spain's annual income was only 12 million taels of silver, so Olivares was ready to pay for 20 years.

The Ming Dynasty ships about 4.5 million taels of silver every year, which seems to be a lot.

"This is unacceptable, Your Excellency, the Duke, we have come to buy the New World sincerely, and if you are not willing to reduce the price, then perhaps in a few months, the Bourbon army will land in the New World."

Li Quan brought France in, and Olivares also knew that Daming had this ability, after all, now France was relying on trade and blood transfusion with Daming to defeat the Spanish army.

"200 million ......"

"No, 100 million! Our country is not rich, but we are willing to repay it in ten years. ”

Olivares still wanted to bargain a little, but Li Quan directly said the nonsense that "the country is not rich".

Olivares didn't know much about Da Ming's financial revenue, and he didn't even imagine that Da Ming's financial revenue had already reached the level of 70 million taels of silver.

In his opinion, it should be unlikely that Daming's financial income will exceed 20 million taels of silver, and the price of 100 million silver sorpees is more than 70 million taels of silver.

If the Ming were willing to pay seven million taels of silver a year, it would not seem bad for the Spanish Empire.

Can......

"100,000,000,000 silver sorbees is still too little, he only has eight years' income in the New World, and it will take at least ten years, and we hope to procure your warships and flintlock guns, and resume the saltpeter trade."

Olivares saw the impatience on Li Quan's face, so he offered a sincere price.

ninety million taels of silver, and one hundred and twenty-six million silver sopes.

"I need to think about ......"

Hearing Olivares' sincerity, Li Quan's heart was already jumping up with joy, but he still had a stern face and looked like he was about to think.

"I can give you three days to think about it."

Olivares was afraid that the price would scare Li Quan away, so that the Ming Dynasty used force to seize the New World, so he took the initiative to give a step.

Li Quan gladly accepted this, nodded with a very heavy heart, and then left Olivares' temporary residence.

Looking at the back of Li Quan leaving, Olivares couldn't help but scratch his hair with some annoyance:

"Damn! Am I asking for too much price......"