Zhu Yijun's most anxious problem is money.

After he became the emperor, he found out that the reason why his father often asked the household department to allocate funds to do this and that was not really insatiable, but that the relationship between the emperor and the household department was so magical.

The household department was eager to pay for all the expenses of the imperial court from the internal treasury, and the emperor was eager to go back to the household department even the money for the concubine to buy rouge gouache.

The reason seems to be that both sides feel that they are poor, while the other is rich.

However, both sides are relatively clear about how much money is in the treasury of the household department, and how much money is in the treasury is only clear to the emperor, and the household department is not clear.

This creates a paradoxical situation, as long as the emperor shouts poverty, the household department resolutely does not believe it; Once the household shouted poverty, the emperor could not believe it.

It stands to reason that this problem can be solved as long as the internal financial disclosure is carried out, but in reality, at least in the current situation, this point is not feasible.

Because the emperor must maintain a certain sense of mystery, the emperor who does not have any sense of mystery will often be unable to control the scene - for example, in the last years of Chongzhen in history, the court knew that the inner treasury was empty, and few ministers of the court took the emperor in their eyes, because everyone knew that the emperor who had no money could not speak well, and he could not adjust anyone, and everyone would disobey the yang and the yin.

In the Wanli Dynasty in the original history, this situation has never occurred, even if Zhu Yijun does not go to court for decades, no courtier dares to resist and disobey. One of the most important reasons is that everyone feels that the treasury is abundant, even extremely abundant - there is a mining tax.

So, why is the emperor's money so powerful? To put it bluntly, it is actually very simple, because once the emperor has any ideas, even if your cabinet does not agree and the household department does not allocate funds, I can directly use the money from the treasury to do things, in fact, it even includes the transfer of troops to fight.

Such a situation is equivalent to the fact that the civil official group may be able to restrict the emperor at the moral level, but at the most critical economic level, it cannot control the emperor at all.

This is the real core of the operation of power.

The emperors of the Ming Dynasty, perhaps their political level was not high enough to theorize these issues, but it does not mean that they did not understand the main points, so how much money the emperor had in his internal treasury would never let the outer court know the details.

However, different emperors will have different styles, such as the style of Emperor Yongle of Chengzu, which always makes the outer court feel that the inner treasury is extremely abundant, so he can ignore the opposition of the outer court...... It's a lot of fun.

Since the outer court did not know how rich the inner court was, it naturally could not afford to stiffen its waist, let alone give birth to the dangerous idea of "restricting imperial power".

And Emperor Longqing's personality is soft, he will not follow Chengzu's example, but will cry poverty with all his heart, saying all day long that I am now so poor that I have to let the household pay for such bad things as buying jewelry for a mere 20,000 taels of silver and making a batch of Spring Palace porcelain.

But the household department is not stupid, they know that the internal money cannot be really so poor, because just the emperor's gold and silver and other taxes, Longqing will not be able to use up, not to mention that there are still a large number of imperial villages, a large number of imperial stores and other income.

In this way, the internal treasury is still abundant in the eyes of the outer court, so although Emperor Longqing's character is soft, as long as he uses Gao Gong, a head assistant with a strong personality and standing in a trench with him, the government will still be stable.

This situation has begun to change a little in the current Wanli eleventh year, and Zhu Yijun is very sensitive to this, because the signs shown by the household department are not quite right - the household department Shangshu began to threaten the emperor with resignation at every turn to withdraw the order.

Although it has been very difficult for the household department in the past year, it has threatened to resign at every turn, but it is the first time since Jiajing, and this situation has not occurred in the Longqing Dynasty.

The main source of the change was that the outer court began to doubt how much money was still in the inner treasury.

There are several factors that contribute to this skeptical mentality, but in the final analysis, there are two people who are most responsible: one is Zhu Yijun himself, and the other is Gao Pragmatic.

In order to establish a glorious image of Xinjun, benevolence, kindness, and sageming, Zhu Yijun has been constantly carrying out various tax exemptions and tax reductions in the past two or three years.

In areas with poor land, taxes are exempted; tax exemption and exemption for disaster-stricken areas; In areas where there is an "anomaly", tax exemption and exemption; In areas where taxes were previously heavy, tax exemptions and exemptions......

Zhu Yijun's administrative methods are probably not as pragmatic as he is, and he does play a role in promoting it here, but his starting point is to "reduce agricultural taxes in risky areas", and instead collect commercial taxes and tariffs from other mercantile areas.

It's just that in any case, the agricultural tax was reduced, and the emperor's gold and silver were also reduced. What's even more "dead" is that Gao Pragmatic also persuaded Zhu Yijun to abolish the Huangzhuang.

The abolition of the Huangzhuang and its replacement were converted into private fields, which was equivalent to increasing the income of the household and reducing the income of the emperor's internal funds. Although the original intention of abolishing the Huangzhuang at that time was mainly to force the nobles to retreat from the field, the nobles of the Jingshi quickly got on the big ship of the high-level and pragmatic Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance, and found a new way to replenish blood, even a little higher than the previous income, and the loss of the emperor's internal money was real.

The household department earned, the nobles did not lose, and the emperor was the only one who suffered.

Then there was the impact of the Monan War, when the household department could not suddenly come up with such a large reward, and as a result, Zhu Yijun put in a large sum of silver.

In this way, under the combination of various advantages and strengths, the outer court naturally doubts how much money is left in the inner treasury.

The reason why Zhu Yijun was very dissatisfied with this provocation from Myanmar and directly expressed to Gao Shishi that he hoped to teach Myanmar a hard lesson was also for this reason - he hoped to use this battle to prove that the internal treasury was still abundant, and some people in the court should not misjudge the situation.

At present, the "new income" that Zhu Yijun can think of is only the Yingkou Salt Farm that Gao Pragmatic took over and rebuilt and expanded, but Gao Pragmatic's time to go to Liaodong was originally short, and it was impossible for Yingkou Salt Farm to provide him with a large sum of money immediately - reconstruction and expansion do not require capital?

So now Zhu Yijun is facing a situation where there is a shortage of money everywhere, and there are signs of sitting on the mountain and eating empty again, who can not be in a hurry?

Emperor Longqing asked Gao Suqing if he was indecided, and Zhu Yijun asked Gao Qiuzhen if he was indecided, so Gao Shishi returned to Beijing with an edict.

Of course, directly using such a reason to summon him back to Beijing will inevitably be a bit face-saving, so the matter of "Chun Yu and the examiner" must be said in advance. And now, Gao Pragmatic is finally going to offer advice on "making money", where is Zhu Yijun still calm?

Gao Shishi's face was as usual, and he said: "The minister's plan may be called borrowing chickens to lay eggs." ”

"Borrowing chickens to lay eggs?" Zhu Yijun was a little puzzled, and asked rhetorically: "What is the solution to this?" ”

But Gao Pragmatic didn't explain directly, but asked: "I don't know what the emperor thinks, if I win this battle, what benefits can we get?" ”

"Benefits?" Zhu Yijun was slightly stunned, and subconsciously said: "What are the benefits of fighting Myanmar?" I don't plan to ask for the miasma of Burma, but I want to talk about the benefits, I think it will be able to calm the border areas of Yunnan for ten years. ”

Gao Shishi shook his head and said with a straight face: "Your Majesty, forgive the ministers for taking the liberty of taking the liberty of the Ming Dynasty, if I start a war and respond to the war in this way, I am afraid that no matter how abundant the treasury is, it will be impoverished sooner or later." ”

Zhu Yijun wasn't angry, just frowned and said, "Then what do you mean?" "135 Chinese

Gao Pragmatic raised his eyebrows slightly and said: "In short, try not to fight a battle that is not beneficial, and if you really have to fight, you must carefully examine the possible benefits contained in it, and then dig it out and use it." ”

Zhu Yijun didn't understand very well, but he didn't ask right away, but thought for a while before asking tentatively: "Just like Li Chengliang beat the Mongolian Tartars, he still has to grab a handful after the fight?" ”

Gao pragmatic almost couldn't help but roll his eyes when he heard it - does this low-level method seem like my style?

"Your Majesty, that's not what the minister meant...... What's more, even if we really want to fight like this, it can't be that my soldiers will openly rob it, and the impact will be too bad. The reason why we can do this is because Mongolia is our 200-year-old enemy of the Ming Dynasty, but the situation in Myanmar is different. Once the army looted, it was easy to let go and difficult to stop, and when the time came, whether it was to rob Burma or other propaganda divisions, I was afraid that Liu Wei and Deng Zilong would not be able to control it, and when the time came, the various propaganda divisions would leave Germany, and Yunnan would be chaotic in the future. ”

In fact, Gao Shishi's words are already "proportionate", in fact, he originally wanted to say that even if Liu Wei and Deng Zilong's subordinates were "ordered to loot", how much of the property they stolen back could really be handed over to your emperor? Thinking about it too much, it's hard to say how much the two of them can get by themselves, after all, although these two dare to fight, but the style of leading troops is not Qi Jiguang's, and His Majesty will not be so strict.

This point, Liu Wei explained to Gao Pragmatic more than ten years ago: these generals are no better than Qi Jiguang who have always had a backer at the top of the imperial court, they often do not get a full salary, how can Qi Jiguang often ask for a salary, in this case, it is impossible to govern the army more harshly, otherwise the following will be paid at the lightest, and at worst they will mutiny, which is not a joke.

Zhu Yijun didn't think about it so much, and when he saw Gao pragmatically denying it, he asked, "Then how do you borrow chickens to lay eggs?" ”

Gao pragmatically smiled: "The key here is that we first need to make the whole court absolutely sure of one thing: in this battle in Yunnan, my Ming Dynasty will not only win, but will win a big victory, and it will not even drag on for too long." ”

Zhu Yijun was puzzled: "This ...... Is there anything special about it? ”

In fact, he really didn't think that the Ming Dynasty would be defeated, even if the treasury is in an emergency, even if Myanmar is "far away", but Myanmar is just a big toast in the eyes of the Ming court, and Zhu Yijun didn't regard Mang Yingli as a level opponent at all.

But Gao pragmatic is to know that in the original history of the Ming Dynasty, in the Ming and Burmese wars that fought for decades, in fact, suffered a big loss, although the Ming military defeat was not much, but in the end it was attached to some of the Xuan Wei Division basically lost a clean up, the reason for this is still worth pondering.

In the final analysis, on the one hand, the Ming Dynasty was delayed by the three major expeditions and was never able to free up his hands to clean up Myanmar, and on the other hand, there was a problem with the Ming Dynasty's national defense thinking.

And Gao pragmatic now intends to start to solve this problem of national defense thinking.

Gao pragmatic said: "The minister thinks that the way to use troops is most afraid of falling into a stalemate, once it falls into a stalemate, no matter whether it can still win in the end, it is also a way of killing 3,000 enemies and losing 800 yourself." Unless you have to, try not to play a stalemate, and it is better to concentrate your forces and win the battle. ”

Zhu Yijun nodded and said, "I also know this, just like the Great War of Monan." The reason why you are asked to go to Liaodong now is also to accumulate strength, and when the time comes, you can quickly defeat the Tumen, so as not to have many dreams at night - but what does this have to do with raising money now? ”

Gao pragmatic said with a smile: "If the whole court thinks that we can defeat Burma in one battle, then we will have the capital to 'borrow chickens'." ”

Zhu Yijun still didn't understand, frowned and said, "What do you say?" ”

"Make a wish in advance." Gao pragmatic said: "First let out the rumors in the DPRK and China, after defeating Burma this time, we must propose an alliance under the city to Myanmar - well, it is not an alliance or not, that is, to ask for reparations, and ask for a large amount of indemnity as a punishment for Burma." ”

Demands for war reparations are common in the West, but less so in the East, where it is customary to fight until one side is completely defeated.

So Zhu Yijun heard a little novelty, and suddenly asked in a ghostly way: "Let them get out of the New Year's coins?" ”

Belch...... Your statement seems to be similar, the word New Year's coin, but it is very Chinese, the difference is only that this time we collect New Year's coins.

Gao Shishi coughed dryly and said, "It's somewhat similar." ”

Who knew that Zhu Yijun shook his head and said: "That's not very good, it's obviously our business, once we ask for money, it will be ...... Seems ......"

Gao Pragmatic understood, this damn Heavenly Empire's thinking is really terrible, it's all in this situation, do you still want to face and don't want money? No, you Zhu Yijun should have asked for money and shamelessness in the original history, why can't you see it now?

Zhu Yijun in the original history, someone reported that some wealthy businessmen did not follow the color system of the imperial court, and wore red and other color clothes, hoping that the emperor would take the court seriously.

As a result, Zhu Yijun replied with a sentence that almost killed hundreds of officials, to the effect that if these people are willing to pay, let alone red, even if it is bright yellow, I can allow them to wear it - but that will cost more.

Such an emperor still has an attitude that his face is bigger than his money? It seems that I am indeed guilty, and the crime is that the guilt is to make the Ming Dynasty's finances much richer than in history, and you have not been able to experience the embarrassment of suffocating a good man with a penny.

But Gao Pragmatic was not afraid that Zhu Yijun would not take the bait, he said: "What if Myanmar is allowed to give 200,000 taels of coins or equivalent materials every year for ten or even twenty years?" ”

Zhu Yijun sat up straight all of a sudden, his eyes widened: "Pragmatic, are you joking?" Can Burma get so much silver? ”

Gao pragmatic said: "Myanmar has been dominant in Tiannan for many years, and this family should have a little bit of money, even if they don't have so much silver, they can use other things to offset it." The minister heard that Burma produces jade, precious stones, and gold mines, and as for teak, black wood, red sandalwood, pineapple and other precious woods, it is even more...... It's all silver. ”

As soon as Zhu Yijun heard this, he immediately forgot about the face of the Heavenly Empire, and said with blazing eyes: "In this way, this Myanmar is not useless...... However, this time is not right, the old coins have to be won after the victory, but at the moment, our trouble is that the army has difficulty pulling out the silver. ”

Gao pragmatic smiled: "That's why the minister just said just now that the court must be completely convinced that this battle will be won." ”

"What's the relationship between the two?" Zhu Yijun never understood the truth of this.

Gao pragmatically said: "Since everyone thinks that they can win, with the benevolence of the emperor, they might as well let everyone make a small fortune here...... We can issue some special 'treasure banknotes', such as the 'Dian War Treasure Banknotes', each denomination is one tael of silver, the first phase of the quantitative issuance of 200,000 taels, after the end of the Dian War, the imperial court obtained the Burmese New Year's coin, and then recycled this batch of treasure banknotes with one tael or even one tael or two coins......"

"This, this...... This is indeed borrowing chickens to lay eggs. Zhu Yijun was stunned for a long time, and said with his hand on his forehead: "I have to think about it, I have to think about it......"

But he didn't "think about it", so he suddenly asked a little nervously: "Pragmatism, do you think someone will change this treasure banknote?" The treasure money has long been almost the same as waste paper, and I am worried that no one will want it at all, so I ...... it."

Well, you're trying to say that if you can't sell these bonds in the guise of treasure money, your face will be almost the same as waste paper?

Gao pragmatically smiled and said: "The emperor can rest assured that the world is bustling for profit, and the world is bustling for profit, in the situation of winning the battle, it is impossible for no one to sit at home and earn one or two percent for nothing." Take 10,000 steps back and say, if no one really wants it, the minister will come to the bottom - the 200,000 taels are covered by my Jinghua family. ”

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PS: Gao pragmatic wants to engage in war bonds, and he has leaked some signs before, but this time he finally found an opportunity, hehe~