Ming Dynasty 1627

Chapter 13 It turns out the Ming Dynasty emperors were once so wealthy...

Qianqing Palace.

After finishing a bowl of steaming hot noodles, Zhu Youjian let out a satisfied sigh.

He slammed the large blue-and-white porcelain bowl down on the table with a loud clang.

"Delicious! Changqiu's cooking skills are really good!"

The sharp sound startled Wang Tiqian and Si Zhili, who were quietly eating their rice bowls nearby.

Startled by the emperor's sudden action, the two men simultaneously put down their chopsticks, stood up, bowed, and appeared ready to obey orders at any moment.

Beside the throne, Zhou Yu forced himself to suppress his emotions, but his eyes still curved like crescent moons.

She was delighted, but remained reserved on the surface, saying, "I'm glad Your Majesty likes it. This time, I specially consulted the master chef of the Imperial Kitchen. He said that I am truly a genius when it comes to cooking, and he even gave me a secret family recipe for soup."

Zhu Youjian felt a warm glow in his heart as he looked at her barely concealed smugness. He reached out and very naturally brushed away a small clump of white flour from her cheek.

Zhou Yu's cheeks flushed instantly, as if they were on fire. She quickly lowered her head, picked up her sleeve, and wiped her face from side to side, her heart pounding like a deer.

Zhu Youjian then turned to the two trembling eunuchs and waved his hand gently:

"Alright, you two don't need to be so tense. This was made by Changqiu herself. Eat it all up, and don't leave any."

"I will review the account books myself first, and then I will ask you questions."

"This servant... obeys the decree."

Feeling as if they had been granted a pardon, the two quickly sat back down, picked up their bowls of noodles, and began to wolf down their food quickly and quietly.

Zhu Youjian ignored them and took the top document from the stack of documents presented by Si Zhili, then opened it.

His heart was filled with anticipation.

My dear Apocalypse brother, how much money did you leave me?

However, after watching for only a few minutes, Zhu Youjian felt a chill run down his spine.

Traditional Chinese characters, vertical layout, no punctuation, and numbers are all in uppercase Chinese characters.

Not to mention the so-called "Four Pillars List Method," with its mix of old management, new receipts, dismissals, and actual items, which is dazzling and gives one a headache.

Having grown accustomed to the clear and concise tables and Arabic numerals of later generations, Zhu Youjian simply could not tolerate this cryptic method of bookkeeping.

He suppressed his impatience and flipped through a few more pages, only to find them filled with densely packed, tiny characters. Finally, he completely lost patience.

"Snapped!"

With a muffled thud, Zhu Youjian closed the heavy ledger.

He looked up and saw that Wang Tiqian and Si Zhili had finished eating their noodles sometime earlier and were standing respectfully to the side, not daring to make a sound.

On the contrary, Zhou Yu was whispering something to the palace maid, a smile on his face.

“Shu Zhili,” Zhu Youjian called out.

"This servant is here." Si Zhili quickly stepped forward, bowing her head even lower.

"How is the handover of the internal transport warehouse going?"

"Your Majesty, the archives and ledgers have all been handed over, and I have also reviewed them. However... the actual items in the storeroom have not yet been counted and the accounts checked." Si Zhili answered cautiously, his voice trembling.

Zhu Youjian nodded, not caring about such trivial matters, and asked directly, "Tell me directly, how much silver is left in my private treasury?"

Si Zhili's body trembled violently, and he bowed and said, "Your Majesty, the total amount of silver in the Inner Treasury accounts is 1,437,523 taels and 4 mace."

Zhu Youjian thought he had misheard, and his voice involuntarily rose a few decibels: "How much? How could it be so little?"

“One million four hundred and thirty thousand…” Si Zhili repeated it again, his voice now barely audible.

Zhu Youjian was completely stunned.

The mighty Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, who possessed the wealth of the entire world and was the Son of Heaven, had only such a small amount of money left in his private treasury?
A strong sense of absurdity welled up inside him, and for a moment he didn't know what to say, whether to be angry or to laugh.

Seeing the emperor's ever-changing expression, Si Zhili was so frightened that cold sweat poured down his forehead, and his legs went weak, almost causing him to kneel down.

He was just a newly promoted official from the Prince Xin's mansion, and in the past he was just a bureaucrat in the mansion. He was so nervous and uneasy that he couldn't say a word.

Zhu Youjian's gaze passed over him and landed on the silent figure behind him.

Wang Tiqian. Wang Tiqian immediately felt the emperor's gaze, and sighed inwardly, knowing he couldn't escape it.

He stepped out from behind Si Zhili, knelt on the ground, and said in a solemn and respectful tone:

"Your Majesty, regarding the matter of the imperial treasury, this old servant... knows a thing or two, and may be able to clear up Your Majesty's doubts."

"Speak." Zhu Youjian's voice was unreadable.

"Yes." Wang Tiqian composed himself, organized his thoughts, and slowly said:
"When Emperor Shenzong (Wanli) passed away, the imperial treasury still had nearly 40 million taels of silver, which was quite abundant."

He paused, secretly glancing at the emperor's expression, before continuing:
"However, in the 48th year of the Wanli reign, due to the defeat at Sarhu, Liaodong was in danger. Emperor Guangzong ascended the throne and immediately allocated more than nine million taels of silver to fund the army."

"After the late emperor ascended the throne, he suffered defeats in Liaoshen and Guangning. In order to rebuild the army and repair the city defenses, he allocated more than 10 million taels of silver."

"In the years that followed, the daily expenses of the palace, the new salary for the Liao affairs, the reconstruction of the three main halls, the establishment of the three kingdoms, and the conferment of titles on princesses and imperial concubines... all cost a great deal of money."

"Therefore... therefore, today, only a little over a million taels remain."

Zhu Youjian astutely grasped the key point: "In just two short years, the 48th year of the Wanli reign and the first year of the Tianqi reign, nearly 20 million taels of imperial funds were spent on the Liaodong affair?"

"Yes." Wang Tiqian lowered his head even further.

"The imperial court has suffered successive defeats, and the cities and troops need to be rebuilt. It is only right to spend money on this."

Zhu Youjian was truly puzzled and couldn't help but press for answers.

"Even so, nearly 20 million taels of imperial funds over two years is still too much. At present, the annual salary in Liaodong is only 5.2 million taels."

"The reconstruction of troops and the garrisoning of cities, along with the Liaodong military tax over the past two years, doesn't that mean that our Great Ming Dynasty spent nearly 30 million taels of silver on military expenses in Liaodong in just two years?"

Wang Tiqian felt a chill run down his spine, and cold sweat instantly soaked his back.

He had not expected that this new emperor, who had previously lived idly in the palace, was known by everyone as being kind, benevolent, and filial.

Now that he has just ascended the throne, is he so insightful that he can see the whole world?

He lowered his head, his voice hoarse: "Your Majesty is wise. Several years after the late emperor ascended the throne... he also sensed that something was wrong and questioned him many times, but... but he could not find out the reason."

The reason is unclear.

Zhu Youjian sneered inwardly.

What a perfect example of "not knowing why"!
He could almost imagine how that snowflake-like amount of silver flowed out of the national treasury.

It passed through the hands of eunuchs, civil officials, minor clerks, and border generals, being exploited at every turn, before finally ending up in the hands of the poor and weak soldiers and laborers.

But when that time really comes, what percentage will actually be implemented? Eighty percent? Or fifty percent?
Damn, it can't only be 30%, right?
Zhu Youjian sighed inwardly. The saying that politics is achieved through bribery and punishment is perverted by power is a true reflection of the officialdom in the late Ming Dynasty.

Construction projects and border defenses are the two things that consume the most money and grain, feeding countless bloodsucking parasites!
Unfortunately, he traveled back in time to the Chongzhen Emperor's era, not the Tianqi Emperor's.

Now that things have come to this, and two emperors have died in succession, there is no way to trace the cause, and thinking about it is of no use.

He took a deep breath, calmed himself down, and changed the subject: "So, how is the income from the imperial treasury now?"

　This chapter marks the beginning of the gradual unveiling of the reform process.

　　Reform inevitably involves various types of data.

　　Examples include yield per mu, income, population, and military troop quotas.

　　I can find some data, but I can't find some. I will explain which ones are speculations, but the overall data will be reasonable and accurate.

　　[Historical Materials in this Chapter]

　　1. Regarding the stock and annual disbursements of the imperial treasury in this chapter, please refer to the papers “On the Issue of Imperial Treasury Silver After the Fall of the Ming Dynasty” and “Wartime Financial Operations of the Ministry of Revenue in the Late Ming Dynasty—Focusing on the Incident of Jisi”.

　　2. I've included a bonus stamp containing illustrations of the imperial treasury expenditures from the first year of the Taichang reign to the seventh year of the Tianqi reign, placed at the end of the next chapter. Please note that due to the loss of the Ming Veritable Records in the fourth year of the Tianqi reign, the amount for that year is abnormally low, only 6000 taels. This is not true.

　　[This chapter's deduction]

　　1. Regarding the amount of the imperial treasury when Chongzhen ascended the throne, we refer to the previous papers on the one hand, and on the other hand, we refer to the statement in the "Records of Chongzhen" that "Emperor Xizong reigned for seven years, and Emperor Shenzong's more than forty years of accumulation were completely wiped out."

　　2. On the other hand, after Chongzhen ascended the throne, the Ministry of Works requested 1 million taels of silver to repair the Tianqi Mausoleum, but he couldn't provide it and only gave 500,000 taels. He also requested the payment of back wages, but it wasn't much, only 100,000 or 100,000 taels. It's clear that he really didn't have much money—doesn't everyone think that Chongzhen was as stingy as Wanli?

　　3. It wasn't until October 1st, when he confiscated the eunuch faction's property, that he had some money, but he quickly spent it all.

　　4. In short, Emperor Chongzhen's imperial treasury was truly impoverished, to the point that he desperately inquired where the money had gone. Alas, poor child. If you had been born during the Wanli era, you might have been a restorer of the dynasty.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)