Volume 4: Hot! The whole world is a warring state Chapter 718 How to Revitalize the Economy
"Your Highness, I pay my respects to you, Your Highness."
"Hahaha, no need to be polite, everyone." Although it was almost dawn , Zhu Youdong was in high spirits and his face was rosy. He shook the telegram in his hand and said, "Everyone, Cao Wenzhao and others just called and said that the Western bandits have collapsed. Our army has captured the port of Kralang and captured 200,000 enemy troops!"
"ah?"
"Oh my, this is a big win!"
"Your Highness, I congratulate you!"
"Haha, let me congratulate you all, for the Ming Dynasty!"
After everyone excitedly congratulated each other for a while, they finally vented their excitement and slowly took their seats. The venue finally became quiet.
Everyone present couldn't help but be unhappy. Everyone accompanied the emperor all the way south, and the feeling was not very obvious in the north. But after entering Nanzhili, there were abandoned and dilapidated factories everywhere, unemployed workers and bankrupt factory owners everywhere. There were also poor people who returned to the countryside because of unemployment in the city, but were forced to become tenants or even slaves of landlords because of the loss of land - it's only been two years! If the war continues like this, let alone other things, the foundation of the country, the Yellow Book, will be in chaos again.
"My Lords, we have called an emergency meeting tonight. The first thing to do is to deal with the 200,000 prisoners. Because our army is too large in Indochina, the transportation capacity of the Central and Southern Railway has been squeezed to the limit. Now that the war has stopped, although ammunition and other things can be transported south on a large scale, we suddenly have to feed these 200,000 mouths? Cao Wenzhao is very anxious there."
"Your Majesty." The Privy Councilor Yan Siqi, who lost an eye and an arm in the Battle of Malacca and now wears a black eye patch and has a strong pirate style, stood up and said, "It is impolite not to reciprocate. In my opinion, since the Western pirates asked the Ming Dynasty to pay a high price to redeem the captured personnel in the 20th year of Tianqi, today, the Ming Dynasty should return the favor. Let the Western pirates pay a high price to redeem them!"
"This suggestion from the Privy Councilor is good, Your Majesty. I, Cao Sanxi, second it."
Looking at his finance minister, Zhu Youdong smiled slightly: The Central and South Campaign only lasted for two years. But in fact, since the Ming Dynasty began to conquer India in the 13th year of Tianqi (1631), the war has basically never stopped for more than ten years.
If a short-term war can promote economic growth, then such a long-term war will cause a large number of strong and capable people to leave production and join the army, which will also make economic development more and more distorted.
Last year, the fiscal revenue of the Ming Dynasty dropped by 30% from the peak in the 20th year of Tianqi, and this year it is estimated to drop to less than 60% of the 20th year of Tianqi. In the past two years, due to the large-scale expansion of the army, and the full production of military factories and shipyards, the expenditure has been rising steadily, and the financial revenue of the Ming Dynasty has long been in deficit. This situation is the most painful thing in life for Cao Sanxi, who always pursues surplus.
Therefore, finding ways to grow hair to make up for the deficit has been the goal that Cao Sanxi has been pursuing in recent years.
More than two years ago, the Ming Dynasty was defeated in India. In order to supplement military expenses, Philip offered the Ming Dynasty 1,000 double pillars for each soldier. 3,000 double pillars for colonels and lieutenants. 10,000 double pillars for generals. The outrageous price of 100 double pillars for each body of remains. The total price was nearly 90 million.
Zhu Youdong gritted his teeth and accepted the high price. To this end, he not only cleared out all the inheritance left to him by Emperor Wanli, but also paid nearly 20 million yuan himself.
And now, if the Spaniards were asked to pay the same price to redeem it, well, roughly speaking, it would be at least 200 million!
Zhu Youdong didn't know what Spain's fiscal revenue was like, but he roughly estimated that even if it wasn't as good, it shouldn't be much different from Ming Dynasty. The annual surplus was estimated to be about 10 or 20 million. Asking the other party to pay 200 million at once? Philip didn't have an inheritance like himself, so how could he take it out all at once?
However, the price still needs to be quoted. As for whether the other party can't afford it or is unwilling to pay it? Daming can make a big fuss about this matter.
"Your Majesty." Just when Zhu Youdong had basically agreed with Yan Siqi's opinion, the Deputy Privy Councilor Zhao Luejiao stood up and said, "I think it is reasonable to let the Western bandits pay to redeem the captives. But the Western bandits are despicable. They can't win on the frontal battlefield, so they actually sent assassins to assassinate the emperor. Although these assassins did not succeed, the despicableness of the Western bandits can be seen from this. How can we allow such a rebellious bandit to be redeemed without punishment?"
"Prime Minister Zhao Shu, what you said is very good. I second your opinion."
"Your Majesty, I second this motion."
"I second this motion."
"Hmm..." To be honest, Zhu Youdong had never thought of assassinating his opponents since he traveled through time. On the one hand, the Ming Dynasty was large enough for him to always have the upper hand. On the other hand, he had always looked down on assassination.
However, even though he looked down on others, he was still very upset when others came to assassinate him. Therefore, appropriate punishment was still necessary, otherwise others would really treat him as a soft persimmon to be easily bullied.
"How about this, my opinion. Pick out the Castilians from the 200,000 captives and use the eleven-draw method. That is, let every ten Castilian soldiers draw lots, and the one who draws a dead person will be caught and killed. Then tell the remaining soldiers that we are not breaking the rules by doing this, but it is because their king has no bottom line. As compensation, we can let the remaining nine soldiers draw lots again. This time, if the one who draws a living person is killed, we can let them go back home without compensation."
"Great! Your Majesty, this is a great move!"
"Yes, if this happens, the morale of the people and the army of the Western bandits will probably be shaken."
Well, looking at the ministers below cheering for him, Zhu Youdong just shook his head in his heart: Philip, as a time traveler, must also understand the importance of controlling public opinion. As long as Philip is smart enough, he will not let these Casti soldiers who he released make any sound.
But it doesn't matter. Philip may be able to silence these returning soldiers. But anything, once done, will leave traces. He treated the returning veterans like this. Do those who went to carry out his orders really have no knots in their hearts? These things are all left in the future and will play a big role.
"Okay, we just decided on the treatment of the prisoners. But how should we manage these prisoners in a short period of time?"
"Your Majesty." Prime Minister Ma Shiying stood up and said, "I think that before the other side sends the ransom, it would be better to ask them to build roads for us in Indochina. During the Indochina Campaign, our frontline generals generally responded that the roads there were too bad."
"Okay, it's free labor, so why not use it? But what about the food?"
"Your Majesty, now that the Western bandits have almost retreated, we can resume our shipping."
"Ah? Hahaha, that's right. I almost forgot. Okay, let's do it this way. Well, let's leave the matter of the prisoners alone. Next, the two Privy Councilors, what about the northwest?"
"Your Majesty, the telegram from Xinjiang to Beijing has not yet been connected. So the telegram I received from Beijing today was two months ago. Now, General Man's three divisions have led countless militias to drive all the bandits out of Xinjiang. Now, General Man is collecting food and preparing to cross the Pamir Mountains to conquer the Turkmen and Uzbeks who are accomplices to the tigers."
"Hmm..." Zhu Youdong flicked the armrest of the chair with his fingers for a while, and said, "Tell Man Gui that the focus of the court in the future will still be in the southeast. So in the northwest, we just need to cross the Pamirs and clean up the land there, leaving those guys a deep lesson. For the time being, I am not planning to station a large number of troops west of the Pamirs for a long time."
"Yes, I accept your order."
"Well, in this case, the Ming Dynasty and even the vassal states in Southeast Asia have temporarily calmed down. Next, our job is to revive the economy. In fact, a few days ago, when the news of Zhou Yuji's victory in Malacca came, I had already begun to consider this issue. Today, the overall situation has been determined. The Ming Dynasty must temporarily withdraw its fists, properly restore the economy, and solve some domestic problems."
"Your Majesty, what you said is true." The cabinet of the Ming Dynasty, starting with Wen Tiren, was full of pragmatists. Although the Spaniards robbed India and invaded the Indochina Peninsula, severely undermining the reputation of the Ming Dynasty, in the eyes of these cabinet members, getting back their position? This must be done, but not now.
"Your Majesty, we followed you all the way south, and we were shocked by the tragic situation in Southern Zhili. Now, it is indeed time to restore maritime trade and revive the economy. However..." Bank President Li Guojun spread his hands and said, "The bank is extremely short of money recently. We really can't come up with much money to revive the economy."
As the saying goes, antiques are valuable in prosperous times, and gold is valuable in troubled times. The Indochina Campaign lasted only two short years, and the Ming people's previous habit of storing precious metals began again: countless people withdrew their savings from banks and hid the silver dollars in secret places in their homes - this is the nature of the Chinese people.
However, when the people did so, Li Guojun had a headache: It is not difficult to revive the economy, but the difficulty lies in the lack of start-up capital.
But who is Zhu Youdong? As a top student of dialectics, he is the best at finding things that are beneficial to him from unfavorable factors.
"My opinion is that we should take three steps to revive the economy. First, we should open up restrictions on bank establishment and allow private capital to enter the banking industry."
"Your Majesty!" As soon as Zhu Youdong said this, Li Guojun immediately became anxious: Those who are in a monopoly position do not want their monopoly to be broken no matter what the circumstances. This is human instinct.
"Li Qing, listen to me. In recent years, due to the war, the production and consumption of the people have been suppressed, and a large amount of precious metals have been deposited among the people. In order to circulate these precious metals, it is necessary to allow the people to enter the banking industry. After those big bosses opened banks, they would naturally try to induce the people to consume and borrow. With consumption and borrowing, production can be active again. This is something that must be done. Of course, the Royal Bank is the central bank of the Ming Dynasty, and the right to issue currency is still the only one of the Royal Bank. In addition, the deposit and loan quotas must also be stipulated by the Royal Bank. Violators will not be protected by the laws of the Ming Dynasty..."
"Uh, alright, I have no objection."
"Okay, let me move on to the second point. My Lords, before I ascended the throne, Tokugawa and Siam invaded, and I was short of money. What did I do then? Sell steam engine technology! And now, our research on electricity has yielded fruitful results. We can build power plants and then sell electric motor technology, allowing our Ming Dynasty to enter the electricity age. In this way, we can make money once the new technology is sold. After the new technology is widely used, won't tax revenue be able to recover quickly or even exceed the past? Won't the court have money immediately?"
"Third, once the treasury has money, we will immediately launch a nationwide infrastructure plan. I want to lay countless railways, build countless roads, and lay wired telegraphs in every county in my Daming... Through this major infrastructure project, the production and consumption of my Daming will surely be able to achieve a qualitative leap! When the time comes, we will take advantage of this momentum to issue paper money!"
