Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 748: Ming Wealth
After Wang Jinwu left, Zhu Shenzhui came to the side of the wall, where there was a huge map of Liaodong.

Looking at the map in front of him with his hands behind his back, Zhu Shenzui frowned and thought seriously.

The terrain of Liaodong is complex, especially the Liaoxi Corridor, which is the main road from Liaodong to the interior. If people in later generations only look at the map, they will wonder why Nurhaci and Huang Taiji always had to attack the Ningjin Defense Line instead of bypassing Ningjin and Shanhaiguan to attack the Ming Dynasty.

This question is actually very simple. The road conditions in later times are completely different from those of today. The reason why the Liaoxi Corridor is called a "corridor" is because there are mountains and ridges in the northwest of the Liaoxi Corridor. The continuous mountains may prevent a small group of troops from crossing, but it is impossible for a large army to march. Moreover, the Eight Banners of the Jiannu were all cavalry troops, and war horses could not climb mountains, which directly blocked the possibility of the Jiannu taking a detour.

Even if Huang Taiji took a detour through Mongolia to attack the Ming Dynasty, it would be the same. Huang Taiji must first go through the northeastern part of Liaodong, then turn back west to enter the Khorchin grassland, and then go west all the way from the Khorchin grassland and then turn south, pass through Inner Khalkha and arrive at Chahar, only then can he attack the northern Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty.

This road takes a long detour, and even a cavalry march would take a long time. Moreover, after the Ji Si Incident and the Battle of the Great Wall, the Ming Dynasty had re-arranged the Jizhou defense line and sent troops to garrison the Xifengkou area. It would be impossible for Huang Taiji to repeat the same trick.

This was also the main reason why Huang Taiji attacked Jinzhou this time. After the last battle at the Great Wall ended in failure, Huang Taiji realized that it was no longer possible to attack the Ming Dynasty through Mongolia. Not only was the Ming army prepared at the Great Wall, but the Tumed tribe was also eyeing them covetously. So he set his sights again on the Liaoxi Corridor.

Moreover, in order to capture Jinzhou, Huang Taiji mobilized a lot of troops this time, and he also put on a posture of besieging the city and attacking the reinforcements, and his intention was very obvious. At this time, it is not impossible to suddenly send reinforcements and rescue Jinzhou with heavy troops, but the cost of doing so is too high.

The current financial problem is still serious. Although the border trade in Shanxi has been opened, it has alleviated the financial situation of the court to a certain extent, but overall it is just a drop in the bucket. The sea trade in Shandong has not officially started yet. Even if the sea trade starts to make a profit, it will be next year at the earliest. The amount of tax revenue increased by the court is not high at the moment. In addition, the taxes from various places in the south have not been paid to the capital yet. Even if they are paid, it is probably far from enough.

Zhu Shencui nominally controlled the Ming Dynasty, but in reality he only controlled a few provinces in the north of the Ming Dynasty. Although the south also obeyed the central government, it kept making small moves in private. Especially in Jiangnan, there were many people who criticized Zhu Shencui. Only a few of these people could be used for his own purposes, and most of them were still watching or speculating.

The taxation center of the Ming Dynasty was in the south, but since the fall of Wei Zhongxian in the Chongzhen period, the taxation in the south has been greatly reduced, almost 70% less than that in the Tianqi period. Emperor Chongzhen did not know what was going on, and did Zhu Shenzhu not know it? It was nothing more than the resistance of the gentry and civil service groups in Jiangnan to the central government, coupled with their own interests, which led to this result.

Zhu Shenzhui was now very clear about the situation in the Ming Dynasty. He did not immediately implement various measures with great fanfare, or force the South to levy commercial taxes, etc. First, Zhu Shenzhui's foundation was not yet stable, and his power was basically in the north, and he could not reach the South for a while. Without strong military suppression, how could the southern gentry and civil service groups obey? Besides, getting money from these people was more uncomfortable than killing them, and it would inevitably cause a strong backlash.

Secondly, the power of the southern gentry and civil servants was extremely large. They had representatives not only in the local area but also in the court. Among them were the Donglin Party, which had always been praised as the clean stream. In addition, the Zhejiang Party and the Chu Party also belonged to the Jiangnan faction. Although they had political struggles with the Donglin Party, they were allies in the face of common interests.

This is the same as the attitude of Wen Tihen and Yang Sichang today. Although the two have defected to Zhu Shenzhui and have been given important positions, they are in the same camp on the issue of the dispute between civil and military officials. This is the reason.

This problem is not as simple as one plus one equals two, nor can it be changed by killing a few people, not to mention that Zhu Shenzhui is only the regent now, it is the same even if he is the emperor. This is the drawback of Ming Dynasty politics. For nearly two hundred years, successive emperors of Ming Dynasty have always wanted to change it but have never succeeded. Even though Emperor Tianqi used Wei Zhongxian as a knife and almost eradicated the entire Donglin Party, he still failed to do so. Because even if the Donglin Party was gone, as long as the gentry and civil service groups existed, this situation would continue.

I just told Wang Jinwu that simply killing people is not enough. Even if these people are killed, another batch will emerge. This is a class issue rather than a personal reason. It is a struggle between the imperial power and the civil service group, including the local areas. It cannot be fundamentally changed.

What Zhu Shenzhu can do now is to win over a group of people through the control of the north, and then use the north to suppress the south, and then slowly make plans. At present, the border trade in Shanxi, including the sea trade that is about to begin in Shandong, is quite effective, and it has also exerted a certain amount of pressure on the south, but this is far from enough. Only by completely suppressing the power of the southern gentry, including the civil officials, and completely changing the situation, can Zhu Shenzhu truly control the world. This will take a long time, not one or two years, but now there is a beginning, as long as it is implemented step by step, Zhu Shenzhu believes that it will be effective.

In addition, it is also a fact that the Ming Dynasty's treasury is empty and it is facing financial difficulties. According to Chen Xinjia's suggestion, using his method to reinforce Liaodong and lift the siege of Jinzhou is too costly. Moreover, it is not only a problem of money and food, but also the problem of mobilizing troops. Now the various bandit groups have not been completely eliminated. What will happen if we mobilize troops to the Liaodong battlefield at this time even if we lift the siege of Jinzhou?
For the sake of Jinzhou, Zhu Shenzhu spared the bandits in the Central Plains. If he gave them a chance to breathe, they would surely revive and cause great trouble. Moreover, everyone knew how destructive the bandits were. This would be a loss. If he had a choice, Zhu Shenzhu would rather Jinzhou fall into the hands of Huang Taiji than have troubles happen in the Central Plains. He knew which was more important.

But Jinzhou had to be saved. If Zhu Shenzhui did not save Jinzhou and watched Jinzhou fall and Zu Dashou surrendered to Huang Taiji, it would be a serious blow to his prestige and status. The war between the Ming Dynasty and the Jiannu had gone through four generations of emperors since Wanli, but the Liaodong issue had never been resolved. This had become a headache for the Ming Dynasty. It was impossible for the civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty to sit back and watch Liaodong suffer another disastrous defeat, or even the serious consequences of the loss of Jinzhou.

Moreover, once Zhu Shencui did this, the military generals of the Ming Dynasty would inevitably feel grief-stricken, causing the generals at all levels who had already defected to Zhu Shencui to become disloyal, which would affect Zhu Shencui's control over the Ming Dynasty, including the stability of his position.

From this point of view, Liaodong and Jinzhou must be saved, and troops must be sent even at great risk. However, Zhu Shenzhu was reluctant to send troops according to Chen Xinjia's method. The court could hardly afford it, not only because of the mobilization of troops, but more importantly, the Ming Dynasty had no money.

Is the Ming Dynasty really poor? Of course not. The Ming Dynasty was the richest in the world. From a global perspective, the Ming Dynasty still ranks first in wealth. From the opening of the Longqing Port to the present, the amount of silver flowing into the Ming Dynasty from all over the world has reached 3.53 million taels.

What does this mean? In other words, in just over 500 years, the amount of silver that flowed into the Ming Dynasty through foreign trade was as high as million taels per year. During this period, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands and other countries were in the era of great navigation. European countries gained a lot of wealth in overseas colonies through great navigation. In particular, Spain had a huge amount of silver because it occupied the Mexican region of the American continent. However, most of their wealth actually flowed into the Ming Dynasty. Through various trade means, they used silver to exchange for materials from the Ming Dynasty, and then transported them to Europe for profit.

This is only the silver income from overseas trade, not including the benefits generated by the Ming Dynasty's own economy. From this point of view, the Ming Dynasty was not short of money, but where did the money go? In fact, the answer is very simple. Most of the silver went into the pockets of the civil service group and local gentry, while the court made very little profit from it.

As recorded in history, after Li Zicheng entered the capital, he tortured and extorted hundreds of officials in the capital, and in less than a month, he actually got a huge fortune of 7000 million taels. This shows the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty, but this prosperity was not the prosperity of the court, but the prosperity of the privileged class, including the civil service group, the gentry group, and the noble group.

The Ming treasury was indeed short of money. Even if Zhu Shenzhui took over the inner treasury after entering Beijing, and added the large amount of wealth he already had, it was far from enough to subsidize the entire court. If he followed Chen Xinjia's suggestion to rescue Liaodong this time, he would have to spend at least 1.5 million taels of money and grain. Such a large expenditure would not be worth it even if Zhu Shenzhui paid for it out of his own pocket. Moreover, the northwestern provinces had just reduced taxes, and this money was originally very useful. If he used this money, Zhu Shenzhui would not have enough money.

There are many reasons why the Ming Dynasty economy has led to such a situation. In addition to the reasons of local gentry and civil service groups, there is another fundamental problem, which is related to Zhang Juzheng at the time.

Zhang Juzheng was the biggest reformer since the Ming Dynasty, because his appearance led to the subsequent New Deal. After Zhang Juzheng implemented the New Deal, the Ming Dynasty's finances did improve significantly. In just over a decade, the Ming Dynasty showed a thriving scene. Later generations also praised Zhang Juzheng's reforms. Some people even suggested that if there was no Zhang Juzheng's New Deal, the Ming Dynasty would not have been able to revive, let alone continue for decades.

Zhu Shenzhui, influenced by later generations, had always viewed Zhang Juzheng's reforms in this way. However, as time went by, especially after he took charge of the government, Zhu Shenzhui discovered that Zhang Juzheng's reforms were not all good things. On the surface, his reforms did promote the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty, and made the Ming Dynasty's finances improve rapidly. It also accumulated a large amount of money and grain for the court, which gave Emperor Wanli the confidence to launch the three major expeditions, thus creating the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty.

But the biggest drawback of the problem has also caused serious consequences today. Leaving aside other things, just the measures of Zhang Juzheng's reform to deduct silver and abolish treasure notes have far-reaching impact.

(End of this chapter)