"At that time, the annual income of the household department was one million taels in many years, and in the end it was only a few hundred thousand taels of silver. It is a joke that the Ming Dynasty has a vast territory, and it only earns hundreds of thousands of taels a year. ”

"That little money is not enough to even pay the salaries of officials, let alone disaster relief, exterminate the rebel army and deal with Huang Taiji."

"Once Chongzhen raised money from the ministers, some of the ministers gave dozens of taels, and some gave hundreds of taels. They all cried poor with the emperor, and the queen only raised three thousand taels from Chongzhen's father-in-law. ”

"At that time, the ministers of the Manchu Dynasty and the emperor's father-in-law were all feudal nobles."

"Ironically, after Li Zicheng captured the capital, he arrested those feudal nobles and squeezed out 30 million taels of silver at once."

"Obviously, 30 million taels is not their limit, their limit is at least 100 million."

Chongzhen couldn't come up with the money to exterminate the rebels, and he couldn't pay the military salaries to deal with the Jianzhou Jurchens, so he had to order taxes on the people. According to his words, it was a last resort. ”

"For the sake of the Ming Dynasty, let's take stock of the people first."

However, ninety-nine percent of the taxes and silver levied on the common people went into the pockets of the feudal aristocracy. If there were a hundred taels of silver in taxes, then the emperor would only have one tael of silver. ”

Speaking of this, Qin Yu stopped to drink water.

"Abominable feudal aristocrats!"

"Don't they have the idea of loyalty?"

When the crowd heard this, they were all filled with righteous indignation.

"Wenchen can be killed!" Zhu Yuanzhang said coldly.

"Yes, Chongzhen said the same thing at that time." Qin Yu put down the water glass and said.

"Mr. Qin, those feudal nobles, are they so inhuman?" Zhu Biao couldn't help but ask, "They saw that the people were displaced and starved all over the wilderness, and they still continued to exploit the people?" ”

"Isn't there a kind-hearted person among them, who has the heart of a bodhisattva, and takes out his own food to help the victims?"

"I'm sorry, they're so cold-blooded." Qin Yu said, "Capital, the essence is cold-blooded. The so-called capital I am talking about here is the money, grain and land in the hands of the feudal aristocracy. ”

"Throughout the 5,000-year history of China, there was not a single feudal nobleman who was willing to take out their own food to give to the victims in the year of the catastrophe."

"Everyone, ask yourself, in this case, if you are also rich, are you willing to take out your money and food and give it to those people you don't know for free?"

The crowd was silent for a long time.

"Mr. Qin, is this the so-called innate evil of human nature?" Zhu Yingrao asked.

"Definitely." Qin Yu said, "Giving is love, not giving is duty." ”

"But the issue of human nature is beyond the scope of today's discussion."

"I thought, if I had been in this situation, if I had been rich at the time. I will use my money and food to help the victims. After a while, Zhu Biao suddenly said.

"Me too." Zhu Yingrao said.

"We all will." Zhu Zhang, Zhu Chun, Lu Heidan, Lu Dog Baby, Han Yan'er, Xu Miaojin, Lu Qingqian, etc., all of Qin Yu's students said one after another.

All of them said that they could use their own money and food to help the people.

"Your answer is very gratifying to the teacher." Qin Yu sighed when he heard this, "It seems that under the teacher's education, you have learned to be kind. But it's easy to talk about, but it's another thing to do. ”

"Even many children of feudal aristocrats had such thoughts when they were young, who was not a hot-blooded young man?"

"The reason why you say this is because none of you are feudal aristocrats."

"The education that the feudal aristocracy received from childhood is not the same as the education you receive, they receive a 'noble education'. Their parents will educate them from an early age, openly and secretly, that you are born to be a superior person, superior to ordinary people. ”

"The life or death of the lowly people has nothing to do with you, and you are not the Bodhisattva who saved them, the interests of the family are the most important."

"And the education that ordinary people have received since childhood is the idea of loyalty to the monarch."

"Just imagine, the feudal aristocracy, will they educate their children from an early age to be equal and fraternity?"

"Aren't they stupid to lower their own prices?"

"Uh-huh." The crowd nodded.

Several princes and princesses asked themselves that the education they received since childhood was also an aristocratic education. Song Lian Gaoqi taught them that you are princes, you must understand royal etiquette, and you must respect your identity.

"In addition, capital can also make people cold-blooded."

"Even if there are some kind-hearted rich families, they will feel that the world is like this, even if they take out a little money and food to help the victims, they can't change the overall situation, so they simply don't take it out."

"Not bad."

The crowd agreed.

……

"Getting back to business, let's continue to talk about the ending of Daming." Qin Yu said.

"In the eighth year of Chongzhen, there was a great drought in Xixiang in September, and the water was flooded in the sun, and the houses were all gone. Nine years of drought locusts, ten years of autumn crops are gone, eleven years of summer locusts cover the sky...... Thirteen years and a great drought...... Fourteen years were followed by drought again. ”

"And the plague that runs rampant everywhere, the plague is contagious, and people die."

During the reign of Emperor Chongzhen, there were natural disasters almost every year?

When the crowd heard this, their hearts were horrified.

This descendant of ours, Chongzhen, is too unlucky, right?

"Mr. Qin, is it because Emperor Chongzhen is too mediocre, which has led to continuous natural disasters?" Zhu Biao asked.

"No, the teacher has just said that Chongzhen is working hard, but the elementary school level can't prove Goldbach's conjecture."

"And the teacher has already taught you. Natural disasters are natural phenomena and have nothing to do with the emperor's virtues. Qin Yu said, "Even if the heavens have the ability to reduce disasters, the emperor should be punished, not the people." ”

"So the cause of natural disasters is the climate."

"During the Chongzhen period, it was almost the upper limit of the dynasty's three-hundred-year lifespan. The alternation of cold and warm has come, and the climate change in the Chongzhen period is even more serious, which is the Xiaoice period that only occurs once in 500 years. ”

"Yes, the teacher has taught me."

The crowd nodded.

"It's just that Chongzhen encountered a more powerful Xiaoice River period, which can be regarded as unlucky."

"At that time, Daming was originally a mess, plus his own ability was not good, plus the Xiaoice River period, Daming wanted to continue the national ancestry, it was too difficult."

"Mr. Qin, the Xiaoice River period is so powerful, resulting in natural disasters every year, how should the imperial court face it correctly?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked.

"Only the whole country can work together to resist natural disasters." Qin Yu said.

"The emperor unified the allocation of resources across the country for disaster relief, and the officials worked hard to save the people. Moreover, the country needs to be very rich, with sufficient food reserves, and sufficient gold and silver reserves, so that it can survive in peace. ”

"However, this is an idealized state, and it is impossible to do it in reality, or the difficulty is hellish."