Chapter 38: The Crisis of Fang Xiaoru

Nanjing's approach to manipulation is somewhat different. But it's the same thing.

After all, before, the Ming Dynasty did not buy this process for weapons workshops.

The problem lies in the market and scale.

Under the impetus of He Xi, the two iron factories expanded production on a large scale, and He Xi even did not hesitate to intervene in Hebei's agriculture on a large scale in order to sell iron, and sold a lot of iron and steel farm tools, and used more iron parts in shipbuilding and carpentry.

and some ironware sales, etc.

There was also the use of steam engines, railways. All require a lot of iron.

In short, under the market-oriented mass production, the artillery, guns and other weapons needed in the army are certainly bulk commodities produced by iron factories, but they are equally divided by the cost of other iron tools. In this way, for the same artillery, the purchase price in Beijing is cheaper than in Nanjing.

What's more, because there is such a large market to feed, the profits of these two major iron factories are quite high. The steam engine, in particular, was properly profitable. In this way, the profits of the two major iron works are enough to cover most of the costs of weapons production.

Even if it can't be completely covered, the rest is enough to bear. It's just that I won't pay much money to the top.

But the Taiping Iron Works is different.

In terms of technology, Taiping Iron Works is the cradle of today's iron and steel technology. But only the cradle. Because the way Taiping Iron Works operates is very rotten. Although the scale has expanded somewhat, it is too different from the two major iron factories in Liaodong and Zunhua.

And because there is a stable source of profits, the supply of iron in the southern market, the supply of weapons in the South Seas, and the consumption of weapons in the army. Taiping Iron Works is very satisfied with this stability and has no idea of expanding production capacity at all.

In the face of the sudden expansion of production capacity.

The Taiping Iron Works directly cut off the sale of private iron materials, and the source of profit was suddenly gone. It can only rely on the subsidy of the imperial court, even if it does not talk about the cost, this alone is much heavier than Beijing's. Not to mention, there will be a huge market gap in the south because of the problems of the Taiping Iron Works.

He even let Beijing's iron materials come to the south through various channels to share Beijing's military expenditures.

Not to mention, other expenses.

He Xi gave an average salary of about 20 taels to the non-commissioned officers of the 12 armies, but what is this side of Nanjing?

Nanjing will not have this idea at all, without him, if Nanjing raises the army according to Beijing, even if it has the family background left by Zhu Yuanzhang, it will inevitably go bankrupt, and even Xu Da will not be able to solve this problem.

At most, give more subsidies to the soldiers, up to one stone of grain per month. Three or four taels a year, this is already the sky.

This is also the difference between the health system and Beijing's new military system.

The burden of raising soldiers in the guard post system is in the guard house. The Beijing military system is essentially a conscription system, and the burden is on the Beijing division.

Basically, in a year, the army consumed more than 10 million stone of grain, or even more. Not to mention, the other costs of the war. There are more problems here, and there is one more problem than Beijing, that is, the problem of the people below them.

Beijing is almost a new imperial court, which was created by He Xi and Zhu Xiongying. Two people have absolute authority.

In many things, the people below dare not be sloppy.

Although the system is new and there are many loopholes, everyone has the hope of promotion, or has just been promoted, after all, under He Xi's cabinet and the Privy Council, there are twenty or thirty ministerial-level departments, that is, another twenty or thirty Shangshu.

A lot of people are happy with the position they are in today.

I dare not say that no one is corrupt, but it is far clearer than Nanjing.

When Zhu Yuanzhang was there, under high pressure, the people below did not dare to mess around, after Zhu Yunwen took the throne, in order to buy off the ministers, many things were not so strict, and there would naturally be retaliatory corruption.

Fang Xiaoru himself is not greedy, he even strongly opposed it, and cleaned up a few of them. But compared with Zhu Yuanzhang's clean-up back then, Fang Xiaoru's methods cannot be described as soft-hearted. It can even be said that corruption is encouraged.

Therefore, in this case, in terms of capital utilization, the Nanjing court is far inferior to Beijing

of the Imperial Court.

Because Zhu Yuanzhang left a solid family foundation, many things have not yet been revealed.

But both Ding Xian and Qi De illustrate a problem, that is, Nanjing's finances have a huge problem. It's just that this problem is still hidden in the future.

Zhu Yunwen wanted to understand this, and he had already made up his mind. Just to solve this problem, it is necessary to meet Fang Xiaoru.

Zhu Yunwen said, "Come on, go and ask Fang Shoufu."

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Fang Xiaoru was mentally prepared for Zhu Yunwen's summons.

When Zhu Yunwen asked Fang Xiaoru about his finances, Fang Xiaoru said, "Your Majesty will not summon you, but the ministers will also ask for it. Is there one thing Your Majesty knows?"

Zhu Yunwen said, "What's the matter?"

Fang Xiaoru said: "Beijing's debt is about 130 million yuan."

Zhu Yunwen didn't believe it at first, but seeing what Fang Xiaoru said, it didn't seem to be a joke, and said, "Is this true?"

Zhu Yunwen knew what the concept of 130 million yuan was, and the gold, silver, banknotes, grain, and other reserves in Nanjing City today may not have this figure, and it sounds like the sum of the two or three years of finance during the Hongwu period. But Zhu Yuanzhang left Zhu Yunwen with so much family background.

After all, Zhu Yuanzhang was able to save some money without tossing in the last few years.

Before that, the cost was huge every year. Otherwise, there will be no large-scale over-issuance of currency.

As soon as 130 million yuan came out, Zhu Yunwen's heart was in crisis all of a sudden.

After all, before that, Zhu Yunwen knew that there would be financial problems in the future, because he had been unable to make ends meet. But the imperial court still has savings, and there is no problem in supporting it for a year or two. At least Beijing's finances are tighter.

But now it's different, and if that's true, it means that the two sides are not much different financially.

Fang Xiaoru said, "The minister also hopes that it is fake. But it's almost impossible to be fake."

Zhu Yunwen said angrily, "How is this possible, how can anyone be willing to lend money to a traitor, or such a large amount? Are there so many rich people in the world?"

Fang Xiaoru said: "Your Majesty, He Xi is a holy hand of gold, and he has a way to get money, and the ministers also admire it very much, but now is not the time to say this, how should the court deal with it."

Fang Xiaoru didn't want to put more effort into this matter.

Because he knows, as Zhu Yunwen said, where are there so many rich people in the world? In the environment of the Ming Dynasty, the powerful people are naturally rich, and the rich and the powerful are highly overlapped. That is, the richest people in the world, and the most powerful people in the world, are probably a group of people.

Who are these people? Which ones are in Nanjing?

Fang Xiaoru knew, but he didn't dare to say it, and he didn't want to say it.

It's a hassle to say it.

I naturally ignore it and get straight to the point.

Zhu Yunwen is not a fool, on the contrary, he is very smart, and naturally he can see that Fang Xiaoru is deliberately avoiding this question, all kinds of thoughts are surging into his heart, and he has already vaguely speculated, and secretly said in his heart: "Damn, I won't let go of any of these people."

It's just that he knows that he can only say such words in his heart, and it is useless to say them with his mouth. You can't do it when you say it, but it makes people look down on it.

Zhu Yunwen can only write down these things and settle accounts in the future. He said, "Shousuke, how should we deal with the situation?"

He didn't expect that he was going to talk to Fang Xiaoru about the financial crisis, but he didn't want Fang Xiaoru to say it in advance.

Fang Xiaoru said: "The minister noticed that since the beginning of the war, although the north and the south have been divided, the same banknotes have been used, and the banknotes are printed in Beijing. The minister thought that the treasure money had learned from the past, and what He Xi was going to do in Beijing was already very clear."

Zhu Yunwen was stunned for a moment and said, "He wants to over-issue currency? Is the value of banknotes fluctuating now?"

Fang Xiaoru said; "Except for some irregularities in food prices, there has been no fluctuation. However, he thought that he was unique in the world in the way of money, and even some theories and ideas in this regard

, all of which he proposed. Just because we can't notice it doesn't mean He Xi didn't do it." Look at the book

"Yes, please make plans for your majesty."

Zhu Yunwen said, "What kind of plans should I make?"