Add Bookmark | Recommend this book | Back to the book page | My bookshelf | Mobile Reading

Free Web Novel,Novel online - All in oicq.net -> Historic -> Xinshun Steel Century

Volume 4 Leviathan Chapter 49 Heartbreak

Previous page        Return to Catalog        Next page

    "Please rest assured, Queen Mother. Mr. Chen is now famous all over the world. How can he be without a beautiful woman to accompany him?" Queen Mother Deng smiled slightly: "In this case, a gentleman will not force others to do anything. Since Mr. Chen really wants to resign, the Ai family will agree to it."  . It¡¯s just that we need to give more rewards, and we can¡¯t let the world say that the imperial court has treated the heroes poorly and hurts the scholars¡¯ desire to serve the country!¡±  I sat down to eat.  Wang Qinian happened to be sitting next to Qi Zhiti, took a few bites, and whispered: "Why do you want to say good things to that Chen Zaixing today?" Qi Zhiti smiled slightly and replied in a low voice: "Why, do you still want to treat him?  Is it disrespectful to the court to lose the integrity of the minister?" Wang Qinian remained silent and did not answer. It was obviously very inappropriate to do this to a meritorious minister at this juncture. If nothing else, even Empress Dowager Deng would not be able to pass the test.  "In this case, why not just buy a good one? Besides, it is not a bad thing for Chen Zaixing to leave the court. At least it will give Mr. Wu in the southwest a little help, right? You are the chief minister, so you can just give in to these small things.  !¡± ¡°Then what do you think we should do?¡± ¡°The Queen Mother has already decided to give you more rewards. I heard that Mr. Chen has made a lot of money in Myanmar over the years, so it¡¯s okay to give him too much money.  It¡¯s not interesting anymore, it¡¯s just a title.¡± ¡°Huh! The court is really tight now!¡± Qi Zhiti didn¡¯t answer, but just smiled.  Both of them are prime ministers, so they naturally understand the current family background of the imperial court. Although Dashun handled the two incidents in the north and south in the past two years very properly and did not let the war be delayed, war is war, as stated in "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu  "The expenses for internal and external expenses, the use of guests, the materials for glue and paint, and the support of chariots and armours, cost a thousand gold a day, and then a hundred thousand troops will raise them." This is definitely not an exaggeration. Some time ago, Dashun raised debts, increased taxes,  Compared with the cost of the two wars, the income of millions of taels of silver increased through fundraising and other methods was like a pile of sugar washed away by the flood, slowly collapsing and disappearing under the water.  In a sense, the Dashun Empire was not the winner of this war. It gained very little in this war, but the foundation of the empire and its fragile financial balance were slowly being eroded.  Compared with the previous dynasty, Dashun's annual income was several times higher, but times have changed, and expenditures have grown faster. The construction of railways, the use of telegraph lines, the new army, navy, and the machine bureau behind it  , factories all require a lot of money expenditure.  These expenditures are like a monster that can never be satisfied, constantly devouring the wealth of the empire.  Now for the chief minister of the empire, the biggest problem is none other than finding new sources of wealth and more wealth to support the continued survival of the empire. Unfortunately, this is what Wang Qinian and others are least good at.  It's not that the Confucian scholars in Dashun are the kind of old antiques who "why talk about profit"? Those who can reach the position of cabinet minister have long been in the official career, and all of them understand the importance of money to an empire. In a certain sense,  It is said that money is the blood of the giant empire. If there is not enough money, no matter how vast the territory of the empire is, how rich the products are, how numerous the army is, and how rich the people are, the empire will only die.  But the problem now is that no matter how hard these smart ministers dig, they find that compared with the empire's expenditure, the income is always so short.  So much so that Hu Keqin, the Minister of the Ministry of Finance, who cried about poverty all day long, half-jokingly and half-seriously said the following during a private banquet: "If this continues, Dashun will probably be like the old shabby settlement."  They usually sold the properties and houses left by their ancestors one by one and mortgaged them to make ends meet. When the sales were almost completed, it was no longer the emperor on the throne who decided national affairs, but the creditors holding the bonds behind them.  . Sometimes I feel that the form of empire is no longer suitable for this country. The reason is very simple: the emperor cannot earn as much as he spends. How can such a business in the world be sustainable for a long time? It is better to let those who can earn more.  Let the guy with a lot of money do this hard work!¡± Of course, Mr. Hu¡¯s somewhat rebellious remarks did not reach the ears of the Queen Mother, but even if the kind and benevolent Queen Mother Deng heard this discussion, I am afraid she would  He would just smile bitterly and not punish Hu Shangshu!  Even though she lives in a deep palace, she also knows how bad Dashun's financial situation is now. The reason for all this is not that Dashun is too poor now, on the contrary, but that Dashun is too rich. It's just money.  Can't collect it.  It has been more than two hundred years since the founding of the People's Republic of China.  The country of Dashun has undergone slow and irreversible changes. Although the power of the country is still in the hands of Confucian officials whose main source is the imperial examination, the source of the Confucian officials is very different.  In our own country, the ratio of northern and southern Jinshi was about 6:4, but with the recovery and development of the economy, the ratio of northern and southern Jinshi gradually became 7:3. By the time of Emperor Zhezong, it actually reached a terrifying 8:2, and just  Gangnam DistrictMore than ten states and counties accounted for 30% of the country's quota of Jinshi for that year.  This is of course not an accidental phenomenon. The huge economic gap between the north and the south determines that the south has a more literate population and a better education. It will naturally have a greater advantage in the imperial examination. This is indeed the case for Wuyue in Jiangnan, the most economically prosperous country.  Although some people in the court were worried about this and requested various means to limit the number of Jinshi scholars in the south and maintain a certain political balance, in the face of the large number of ministers from the south in the court, their actions failed without exception.  In Zhezong's later years, there was a situation where "the cabinet was all occupied by Wu Yin". This made the old and frail Emperor Zhezong quite annoyed, and he famously said, "Wu'er is frivolous and ruins our country's affairs!"  Under such a situation, it is obviously very difficult to increase the country's revenue by increasing taxes on wealthy areas. Although the imperial court has tried to increase taxes on the south, especially the Jiangnan area several times in the past century, it has resolutely safeguarded local interests.  Under the obstruction of the southern ministers, all failed without exception. Those industrial and commercial giants held huge amounts of money in their hands, employed millions of workers, and had amazing power.  As Qin Jihong, a famous minister during Emperor Zhezong's time, wrote in a memorial: "The customs of the people in the south of the Yangtze River are frivolous and do not value savings. Those who wear rich and embroidered clothes will not have enough food for ten months. The surnames of Jiaxing Liu, Yixing Wu, Huating and Chen  There are more than millions of people in Wu and Yue who depend on him. If his family is destroyed, millions of people will suddenly lose their jobs. If there are followers of Chen and Wu, I will be afraid that half of the south of the Yangtze River will not be owned by the imperial court!  , the imperial court has basically given up the attempt to restore fiscal balance by increasing industrial and commercial taxes in the Jiangnan area, and basically used traditional tax methods such as money lending, wine tax, and salt tax to make up for the state. However, these methods have one or another sequelae, such as wine tax and salt tax.  The consumption tax will increase the living pressure of ordinary people and increase the sales of illegal salt and liquor. It should not be too heavy, so the problem of insufficient national funds will become more and more serious. And money lending requires paying a lot of interest, which will be counterproductive in the long run.  Increased the burden on the court.  Compared with many other ancient countries at the same time, Dashun was very lucky. Its long distance from Europe determined that the greedy European powers could only invest very limited power in it. Its huge size allowed it to undertake military modernization.  The huge amount of money required gave Dashun enough military power to resist the invasion of foreign powers. The huge progress in military technology brought about by modernization only widened the military gap between Dashun and the surrounding traditional vassal states.  Therefore, in a sense, the first industrial revolution in the 19th century not only did not weaken, but greatly strengthened Dashun's traditional strategic position in East Asia.  But this impact was not one-sided. While huge technological progress enhanced the empire's military power, it also weakened the empire's financial and social foundation. A large number of bankrupt farmers entered the cities and became workers, and production achieved great development.  , but the massive wealth that grew was concentrated in the hands of emerging factory owners and bankers, while the government received little.  These rising classes, armed with vast wealth and influence, were smug and ready to reshape the country according to their own wishes, while the rulers of the empire were hesitant about which path to choose.  As Gillings wrote in a letter to Balfour: "The Dashun Empire is a giant, but a giant with a body of steel and legs of clay. His fragile ankles and knees are being crushed by the heavy upper body.  He will be broken into pieces if he is pushed hard. "Although most people in the court were confused about Chen Zaixing's intention to resign, there was still one person who guessed the answer.  , the reason is not that this person is smarter than everyone else, but because this person is a woman, a woman who has feelings for Chen Zaixing.  Although women do not surpass men in wisdom, sometimes women have amazing intuitions that allow them to directly reach the other side of reality through many fogs.  For example, this time, Jiang Qingyue guessed the real answer the moment she heard the news about Chen Zaixing's resignation.  "It must be because of that woman, the Princess Regent of Myanmar, that he resigned!" Jiang Qingyue clenched her fists in pain, biting her lips with her teeth, but the pain caused was compared to the feeling in her heart  , simply not worth mentioning. When she thought of that man leaving her for another woman, she felt as if there was an invisible beast biting in her chest. At this time, she felt that she was a woman, not a guard.  Immortal, stick to the pen and carry out the purpose.  "Your Majesty, Your Majesty!" A voice woke up Jiang Qingyue, and a person beside him whispered: "Your lip is broken and blood is flowing out. Wipe it quickly!" Jiang Qingyue finally realized,  Feeling the sting on her lips, she quickly wiped away the blood with her handkerchief, turned around and smiled gratefully at the man holding the pen. At this time, she heard the shrill singing voice of the female official in her ears, and she knew that the court meeting was over.  .  Jiang Qingyue lowered her head slightly in the direction of Queen Mother Deng's throne as required by etiquette, her mouth filled with the bitter taste of blood.??Taste.  "Very good, Resurrection, this time we are even!" I continue to implore all book friends to go to the Genesis Station to collect it. After the import is completed, the book will continue to be serialized on the station.  The link is as follows: http:\/\/chuangshi.  qq.  com\/read\/book\/161817890.  html
Didn't finish reading? Add this book to your favoritesI'm a member and bookmarked this chapterCopy the address of this book and recommend it to your friends for pointsChapter error? Click here to report