I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 610 Drinking poison to quench thirst
Yan Song was very pleased with the title "Yan Ge Lao". He refused it at first, but after more and more people called him that, he accepted it.
The servants immediately served tea, and the two exchanged pleasantries for a while before quickly getting down to business.
"Lord Yan, I am here today for a reason." Guo Xun suddenly said.

"General Guo, please speak!" Yan Song said calmly. He already knew what Guo Xun was going to say.

"Your Highness has not abandoned me and I have trained elite soldiers for you. I have 200,000 soldiers under my command, all of whom are young and strong. The daily training requires a lot of money and food, but the money and food allocated by the Ministry of Revenue has always been insufficient." Guo Xun said carefully.

"Without enough money and food, we cannot carry out training. If we cannot carry out training, then we cannot train elite soldiers, and I will not be able to report to His Highness, so..." Guo Xun looked at Yan Song with hope.

"So General Guo came here for this matter!" Yan Song sighed.

"I am not trying to make things difficult for the general. I also want to give you enough money and food so that you can train an elite army and conquer the north in one fell swoop. But the reality is that all the government offices are asking me for money and food, but the treasury is empty. I really can't give you any more!" Yan Song continued, pointing at the table full of memorials.

"But." Guo Xun was a little unwilling and continued, "I understand your difficulty, but things in the world must be divided into different levels and priorities."

"War is a major issue for a country, a matter of life and death, a matter of survival or destruction. We must pay close attention to it! The most important thing for the Ming Dynasty right now is military affairs. There are millions of soldiers deployed on the northern front, and the front is only 600 miles away from Nanjing City. Military affairs are related to the life and death of all of us!" Guo Xun said earnestly.

Yan Song sighed deeply and said, "I have also thought of what General Guo can think of, but even a skilled cook cannot cook without rice! If you don't have it, then you don't have it. The money and food that General Guo has received now is the best I have done to provide."

"Is there really nothing more? We have one capital and six provinces!" Guo Xun said earnestly.

"Let me explain it to you in detail," Yan Song said with another sigh.

"Our biggest source of finance is the financial support from the gentry and royal family, but this part of the income has also begun to decrease. Many gentry and royal family members are happy to help with a small amount of money, but they are not happy to ask them to help all the time."

"Then there are the taxes from various places. First, Prince Ning occupied Huguang and Jiangxi, so the taxes from Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan and Sichuan had to go around in a circle before they could reach Nanjing. Moreover, our area of ​​Beijing and six provinces is not peaceful now. Prices are soaring, and the people are suffering. The silver yuan coupons have suddenly lost their value, turning the life savings of many people into a pile of waste paper overnight. Coupled with the chaos of war, these taxes are really impossible to collect!" Yan Song said, shaking his head.

"In fact, even if the taxes can be collected, they will not be enough for the country's use!" Yan Song could not help but say, but he did not continue, because after Zhu Houcong established a government in Nanjing, in order to show the difference between the Nanjing government and the Beijing government and to win the hearts of his supporters, he carried out a series of "rectifying the chaos" actions.

Specifically, it was to abolish all the policies implemented by Zhu Houxuan that were unfavorable to the gentry, royal family and military officers.
In fact, under the promotion of Zhu Houxuan's policies, tax revenues in various places doubled, and in some places even tripled or quadrupled.
The total tax burden in the entire South is still very considerable.

However, under Zhu Houcong's series of "restoring order", the tax revenues of the southern provinces were even lower than before Zhu Houcong's reforms.
Guo Xun was silent. He suddenly said, "I heard that the Ministry of Revenue was responsible for issuing the Gold Yuan Coupons? It was said that the elder suggested to Your Majesty that they issue them?" "General Guo is well-informed. It was I who suggested it." Yan Song smiled. This was something he was very proud of.

Guo Xun was in high spirits and said quickly: "Could you please print more gold yuan notes? Silver yuan notes have become waste paper, causing a serious money shortage among the people. It's a good opportunity to print more. The people will definitely welcome it."

"General Guo is oversimplifying things," Yan Song said, shaking his head.

"Although there is indeed a shortage of money among the people, not just any money will be recognized by the people. Although the gold yuan coupon imitates the silver yuan coupon in every way and has the shadow of the silver yuan coupon everywhere, it is not backed by real gold and silver. The people's recognition of the gold yuan coupon is very low." Yan Song sighed.

"The first time, the Ministry of Revenue printed a total of 50 million yuan worth of gold yuan notes and issued them to various provinces. The gold yuan notes were priced against the silver yuan notes, and the value was set at one yuan of gold yuan notes equal to the value of one yuan of silver yuan notes in the past, which was half a tael of silver! This first batch of 50 million yuan worth of gold yuan notes was worth 25 million taels of silver, which was higher than the annual revenue of the Ming Dynasty in the past. However, the people did not recognize it, because we had enough gold and silver. Finally, under the repeated orders of various government offices, these gold yuan notes were spent. However, because the people did not recognize it, the value of this batch of gold yuan notes was greatly discounted. Although the face value was 50 million taels, when purchasing various materials, the value of the materials purchased was actually less than 10 million taels."

"If we print and issue more gold yuan notes at this time, the price of gold yuan notes will fall sharply. So we can't print any more at this time. We should let the people of Ming Dynasty digest the 50 million gold yuan notes that have flowed into the market before increasing the issuance. It is too hasty now!" Yan Song said lightly.

Yan Song obviously studied the silver dollar notes in depth.
Yan Song was about to say something else when he suddenly heard a cough.
Yan Song and Guo Xun immediately realized who the coughing sounded from, and they bowed and stood in awe, addressing him as Your Highness.
The visitor was none other than Prince Xing Zhu Houcong. He waved to the two of them, then entered the hall and sat down.
"Your Highness, when did you come?" Yan Song asked hurriedly.

"I just arrived a short while ago, and just when you were talking about our income." Zhu Houcong sighed.

"I've always known that your life as the financial steward is not easy, but I didn't expect it to be so difficult," said Zhu Houcong.

Yan Song felt warm at heart after hearing this, "Thank you for your understanding and concern, Your Highness. This is my responsibility."

"I heard what you said just now. I think there is nothing wrong with what General Guo said. Military affairs are the most important thing now. If there are problems in military affairs, it will be meaningless for us to maintain the value of the gold yuan," said Zhu Houcong.

Yan Song was silent. He knew that it was easy to do so, but countless people would lose their families and lives because of it.
But he also knew he had to do it.
"Then let the people suffer a little longer, and I will take the blame!" Yan Song said.

(End of this chapter)