Volume 2: Soaring! The Overlord of the Region Chapter 279: The Grandson's Disaster Relief Plan (Part 2)
"Dong'er, what does it mean to invite the princes of the whole country to come to Beijing?"
"Grandpa Emperor, the Ming Dynasty was conquered by Emperor Taizu, a commoner with a three-foot-long sword. It is said that among all dynasties, Emperor Taizu was the first to gain the throne legitimately. When the country is facing a great disaster, shouldn't the princes of various places donate money and grain enthusiastically to help the court overcome the difficulties?"
When Zhu Youdong said this, Wanli looked dazed for a moment, and then looked at him stupidly.
God have mercy on you! Due to the tight financial situation of the Ming Dynasty, it has not paid the full salary of the princes and the royal family at all levels for more than a hundred years. In the past, the royal family with great influence could still subsidize part of it through salt, but now your Highness the Crown Prince has sold all the salt mines to private individuals except for a few large salt mines. The royal family has no income from this!
The Ministry of Revenue has been extremely rich recently, and the royal family members have been clamoring for the court to pay off all previous debts at once. But your Royal Highness turned a deaf ear to them and even wanted to take advantage of this disaster to cut some flesh from them?
How is this possible? These royal family members are all vulnerable! If you really push them to the limit, do you believe that they will collectively go to the Xiaoling Mausoleum in Nanjing to cry at the grave? What will you do then? Send out troops to suppress them?
But in Zhu Youdong's opinion, the titles of generals and lieutenants in the royal family were constantly downgraded, and they really didn't have much money. But the princes and dukes were hereditary. Moreover, since these princes had no hope of political power and official career, they were all focused on making money. Generally speaking, as long as they managed well, after hundreds of years of accumulation, at least those princes who were conferred at the founding of the country and have continued to this day, none of them had a net worth of less than 10 million silver dollars!
Of course, the Ming Dynasty is facing a famine. So at least this year, Zhu Youdong doesn't want their money. But when it comes to food, which vassal king doesn't have tens of thousands of acres or even more of fertile land? The Ming Royal Bank has gathered the warehouses of various departments of the state power together, but it can't manage the warehouses of the vassal kings. Let's talk about the Shu King, who is known as the richest among the vassal kings. It is said that his family's fertile land is spread all over Sichuan, and granaries are also spread all over Sichuan.
In short, in Zhu Youdong's opinion, what kind of salary should such a group of rich people get? Is it reasonable not to give some meat to the country?
"Dong'er, let the princes of the country come to Beijing, and you meet them, so that they can understand the majesty of the regent earlier. This is fine. But, let them pay money and food? Grandpa is afraid that there will be more complaints at that time, right?"
"That's for sure, but I have a way to make them willingly give out food!"
"Oh?" Although he had retired to the background for many years, Wanli, who loved money, became interested when he heard that he could take things out of the princes' pockets: "What's the plan?"
"Grandpa Emperor, for this disaster relief, after collecting enough food, your grandson will not simply distribute porridge or food. Instead, he will carry out large-scale work-for-relief in North China!"
"Work-for-relief? Yes, Grandpa understands this. Those ancient sages have done similar things before. However, this locust plague, from what I have heard, is a major disaster covering the entire five northern provinces. Do you have any major projects that can mobilize 20 million or even more workers at the same time?"
"Grandpa Emperor, although the number of people affected by the disaster may exceed 20 million, it would be good to have 3 to 4 million strong laborers."
"That's too much. You have, eh? What is this?"
"Grandpa Emperor, my grandson's Fangshan Laboratory developed cement six years ago and put it into practical use in Kuandian Liubao, with very good results. My grandson originally planned to wait until the steam engine was fully developed and the explosive power of gunpowder was further improved before widely promoting it. But now that we have encountered such a disaster, it is rare to have so much cheap labor. It would be really stupid not to take advantage of this opportunity to use it."
"Steam engine?"
"I will accompany you to Fangshan Laboratory to watch this later. Grandpa, I have an idea. While there is a lot of free labor this year, we can use grain as wages to hire millions of workers and use cement to build roads in North China and Guanzhong! Large-scale road construction!"
"Hmm..." Such a grand plan and a series of new terms obviously stunned Wanli. After thinking and asking for a long time, he finally figured out Zhu Youdong's idea.
Then he held his belly and said, "Dong'er, the southern part of our Ming Dynasty has a crisscross network of waterways, and the flow of people, money and goods is quite convenient. The official roads in the north are indeed in disrepair over the years, and they can be repaired. But this cement road, from what you just explained, is nearly three zhang (6 meters) wide and six and a half inches (20 centimeters) thick. Moreover, once the cement hardens, it can basically maintain its hardness and integrity regardless of whether it is sunny or rainy... Dong'er, although our Ming Dynasty's finances have improved a lot after your renovation, it can't withstand such a fuss. This road is too luxurious!"
Luxurious? This is based on the standards of the lowest grade cement roads in China in the 20th century.
"Grandpa Emperor, this is what your grandson thinks . First, the official roads in the north of our Ming Dynasty should indeed be repaired. This will help government orders to be communicated, military dispatches to be faster, and trade to be more convenient... In short, building roads is good for the country.
Second, after the road is repaired, my grandson plans to push a four-wheeled carriage. Uh, Grandpa Emperor, this four-wheeled carriage looks like this...
Third, many of my subjects in the Ming Dynasty are now privately saying that my grandson is acting rashly and treating the Ming Dynasty's chronic disease too hastily and too harshly. But in my grandson's view, during these years of regent, I have only tried a few times around the real chronic disease of the Ming Dynasty. Grandpa Royal, the real problem of the Ming Dynasty is that we can't collect commercial taxes! Grandpa Royal, the annual turnover of the many companies under my grandson's command has exceeded 100 million yuan. If commercial taxes can be collected at a rate of 15%, the five companies of Daming Haimao, Mubang Jade, Fangshan Grocery, Daming Pharmaceutical, and Honghe Industry alone can pay more than 10 million yuan in commercial taxes to the country. This is catching up with the national salt tax! If commercial taxes can be effectively collected nationwide, my grandson estimates that the annual income of the Ministry of Revenue of the Ming Dynasty will increase by at least 80 to 100 million yuan!"
"Hiss~~So building roads can help collect commercial taxes?"
"We can't collect it directly, but we can collect it in the name of road tolls or road maintenance fees. Merchants want to make money by buying low and selling high, and to achieve this, they must allow materials to move from one place to another. When my grandson's cement road is built, would merchants rather pay a small fee to use the safe, fast, and large- capacity cement road, or rely purely on manpower to cross mountains and ridges and take uninhabited roads? In this way, it is a disguised form of collecting business taxes. And once this loophole is opened, it will be much easier for my grandson to collect business taxes legitimately in the future."
"I see. You said that to make the princes willingly pay money and provide grain is to give them the right to collect tolls on a certain section of the road, right?"
"That's right! Grandpa Emperor, household registration is the foundation of a country. I have spent so much time and effort, and finally made a good start in reorganizing the household registration. We must not let this disaster ruin all our efforts. Therefore, although the time is not yet fully ripe, I think it is still worth a try."
"Yes." After waving his hand and signaling Zhu Youdong to help him up, Wanli paced a few steps and said, "Dong'er, if Grandpa thinks this is feasible, just go ahead and do it. After the princes from all over the country come to Beijing, Grandpa will go and greet them personally."
"Yes, grandson thanks Grandpa!"
