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

Chapter 611 Politically Incorrect

"Yan Qing is indeed my loyal and faithful minister!" Zhu Houcong finally showed a happy smile.

"I just want to share your worries." Yan Song said hurriedly. In fact, he knew in his heart that today's matter was not that simple. Guo Xun would definitely not walk around the palace by himself. When he came to Wenyuan Pavilion, there must be someone directing and instructing him. As for who this person was, it was very obvious.

"Then, Mr. Yan, how many gold yuan notes do you think should be issued this time?" Zhu Houcong asked casually.

Yan Song thought quickly, then quietly observed Zhu Houcong's expression and said, "I think we can issue an additional 100 million yuan this time."

In fact, Yan Song only wanted to issue an additional 50 million yuan at first, but seeing Zhu Houcong's attitude, he ruthlessly doubled it. However, seeing Zhu Houcong's current attitude, it seems that he is not particularly satisfied.
"I heard that there were several hundred million yuan worth of silver yuan notes circulating in Jiangnan before. Now the silver yuan notes have become waste paper and the people have no money to use. I have seen memorials that many places have started to barter, which is extremely inconvenient. We should be concerned about the people's urgent needs and meet their needs for money." Zhu Houcong said lightly.

Yan Song sighed in his heart, this master is a smart and thoughtful person, this master wants to issue more gold yuan coupons, but does not want to bear too much blame, so he has been hinting at him in words.
Yan Song knew that he could not resist Zhu Houcong's request, because Zhu Houcong was the foundation of his future success, and now he could only bear the infamy for Zhu Houcong.
"Your Highness is right. Let's issue 150 million yuan," Yan Song said quickly. He thought that 150 million yuan, plus the previous 50 million yuan, a total of 200 million yuan was not a small amount.
After Yan Song finished speaking, he went to observe Zhu Houcong's expression, but Zhu Houcong's expression remained the same as before.
Yan Song's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly said, "I just made a slip of the tongue. I just wanted to say that we would issue an additional 200 million yuan."

Zhu Houcong then smiled and nodded without saying anything more.

"I feel relieved to have Yan Qing in charge of the finances!" Zhu Houcong sighed.

Guo Xun also smiled and said, "Minister Yan is really the Xiao He of this dynasty."

This made the smile on Zhu Houcong's face even more obvious.
Yan Song also smiled. Seeing that Zhu Houcong was in a good mood, he made up his mind and said directly: "I think that financial matters cannot rely solely on gold yuan coupons. Gold yuan coupons can only be one source of income. We also need to explore other sources of income."

Yan Song had been working hard on the economy recently, so he naturally knew what the consequences would be if so many gold yuan coupons entered the market. What he could do now was to distribute the additional 200 million yuan of gold yuan coupons in a dispersed manner and try to get more supplies back to the Nanjing government.
He also understood that the gold yuan would depreciate rapidly and eventually lose its function of making money, so he wanted to persuade Zhu Houcong to open up other sources of income.
The smile on Zhu Houcong's face disappeared. He pondered for a while and said, "I know that Mr. Yan is speaking from a mature perspective. I wonder if Mr. Yan has any suggestions. Please speak freely."

"Gold Yuan Coupons can only solve temporary difficulties. If we want to maintain the finances, we still need more donations from the gentry!" Yan Song said carefully.

After hearing Yan Song's words, Zhu Houcong's expression became even gloomier.
Zhu Houcong actually saw it clearly. He knew that these gold yuan coupons would only benefit ordinary people, and would definitely not benefit the well-informed aristocratic families.
Moreover, compared to ordinary people, the aristocratic families control the vast majority of the world's surplus wealth and resources, and these resources are exactly what the Nanjing government needs most.
Moreover, the Nanjing government was established by the gentry together. In order to maintain the survival of the Nanjing government, the gentry should have actively contributed to the government.
This was indeed the case at the beginning. At that time, the Nanjing government was advancing by leaps and bounds, and good news came one after another. Naturally, the gentry worked hard to help with the military expenditures. But now that the war has entered a stalemate, the gentry have become less active. Instead, they have started to quarrel over some things, and the quarrels have become more and more intense.
The reason for the quarrel among the gentry is very simple. It can be summed up in one sentence: What is worrying is not the lack of wealth but the inequality of wealth!

First of all, the Nanjing government's expenditure is a huge number, because it has to maintain an army of one million. The provinces controlled by the Nanjing government are mainly agricultural, and it is relatively difficult for an agricultural society to maintain an army of one million.

Moreover, this million-strong army still needs a lot of training to catch up with the Guards.
In short, the gentry donated a large amount of supplies to the Nanjing government every month.

Soon, some people couldn't bear it anymore. The amount of donated materials every month was too much, and some gentry families couldn't afford it.
Compared to this, there is another thing that hits the gentry even harder: there is no specific standard for "helping with military expenses" or "donating", and it all depends on one's own conscience.
The result was that the Nanjing government received less and less "aid" from the gentry.
The reason for this is very simple. Someone donated money every month and found that someone with greater power than him donated less money than him.
This made him unbearable. Why were everyone contributing to the military expenditure and fighting for the country, but when it came time to contribute to the military expenditure, there were different levels of contribution, and these levels were divided very roughly, without any solid basis, which gave some people room for arbitrage.
If that's the case, then what's the point of giving so much in monthly subsidies? Why does he pay so little and I pay so much?
So they started arguing fiercely because they couldn't come up with a standard.
In fact, for the Nanjing government, the best standard for the gentry to contribute to the military expenditure was the size of the land owned by each gentry family.
After all, the South is dominated by agriculture, and the size of each family's land area can largely reflect its financial strength, which is also a relatively fair approach.
Moreover, the yellow book of land clearing is still there, and it is clear at a glance how much land each family owns. This can be said to be the most convenient and fair way to distribute the amount of "aid".
But the bad thing is that now no one can propose the idea of ​​providing financial assistance based on the size of land owned.

Because this is the biggest political incorrectness here in the South.
The story begins with a series of policies by Zhu Houxuan. The starting point of Zhu Houxuan's reform policies at that time was to stipulate the obligations of gentry based on the land area, such as the land tax per mu and the officials and gentry serving as officials and paying taxes together.
Many people see these policies as evidence and a symbolic event of the Northern government's persecution of Southern gentry.
This was one of the main reasons that prompted the gentry to launch the Jingnan Rebellion.
(End of this chapter)