Emperor Ming Dynasty

Chapter 1115 Consort
Feudal society belonged to the autocratic rule of the emperor. As long as the emperor valued something, it would definitely be valued.

The cabinet directly manages the Domain Department and is responsible for the development and construction of the domain, and its attitude is evident.

The military supplies during the development of the vassal state, the ministers of state, talents, etc. during construction were also allocated by the cabinet to allow the vassal king to take power as soon as possible and stabilize the vassal state.

Over the years, a process has developed.

Only after Du Yinxi became the chief assistant did he truly feel the huge expenditure.

Take Qin as an example. Two years of marching and fighting cost the court nearly 300 million in money and food. Guangdong and Guangxi endured it for two years, and half of the warehouses in each county were lost.

During the later construction period, the imperial court directly gave him 50 yuan to settle the project.

The Liao Kingdom that followed destroyed most of Anxi's grain reserves; the Qi Kingdom consumed Luzon, the Yue Kingdom was in Liaodong, and the Wei Kingdom that captured the Khmer was still in Lingnan.

After a quick calculation, the average number of vassals was 200 million, which was double the previous estimate of one million.

Fortunately, half of the money was spent, otherwise the court would have been in trouble.

But now we see that the emperor has more than 20 sons, and the number will continue to increase as time goes by. Who can bear this?

Even if it is one city and one country, it is still uncomfortable!
After all, the entire province of Yunnan only has 300 million people a year, while Guizhou only has more than 100 million...

In the whole country, there are eight middle provinces and six rich provinces. Their finances are self-sufficient, and they even have surpluses to turn over to the court.

The remaining poor areas, numbering sixteen, almost rely on financial transfers. Even Guangxi and Yunnan are more or less dependent on them.

To open up territory and expand territory means to keep the finances unchanged and expand expenditures, and the same is true for vassal states, and even the court will not get any benefits.

Naturally, the officials were less enthusiastic.

"As soon as the Xiang Kingdom was established, the imperial court had a foothold in Nanyang. The imperial court could also take advantage of the trend to develop Borneo and use it as a base to expand around."

Zhu Yixi said enthusiastically: "Brunei is a fertile land, and the court will be able to save effort to build two more vassal states."

Du Yinxi had a toothache when he heard it. He wanted to refute the emperor's ambition, but he couldn't say it.

My Majesty, every year the Ministry of Revenue spends 200 million on the vassal state. This is enough to build many miles of river embankments and dredge many ditches?

He dared not speak.

The first assistant position under his buttocks was so comfortable that he didn't want to leave as long as it didn't violate his principles.

"Your Majesty, your Majesty!" Du Yinxi flattered with a smile: "In the past, the Chengzu Dynasty had the Jiugang Propaganda and Comfort Envoy. Now that our country is greatly prosperous, we can set it up again..."

"No, the Dutch are there!"

Zhu Yixi's eyes lit up, and then she shook her head to reject it.

Now the time is not right, the Anglo-Dutch war has not yet been decided, the Dutch East India Company is powerful, and the current Ming Dynasty cannot completely solve it.

You must know that it is now at its peak, with tens of thousands of sailors and hundreds of giant ships, and the three major naval divisions of the Ming Dynasty have been brought together to barely resist.

"Nanyang is so big now, there's no need to mess with it."

"However, after the Xiang Kingdom is established, a navy can be trained locally to guard Nanyang."

"Your Majesty, Xiang is relatively close to Luzon, so we can let the Governor of Luzon take charge of it. Luzon happens to have more finances and taxes..."

Du Yinxi said softly.

Zhu Yixi glanced at him and immediately understood what he meant, and chuckled: "Yes, Lu Song has a lot of money left, and it's time to spend it."

Du Yinxi smiled and said nothing.

In terms of finance, for rich and middle provinces, the land tax is [-]-[-], and the commercial tax is [-]-[-]. It can be said that it is very exploitative, but the residual is still considerable.

For poor provinces, even if the income is [-]/[-], it is still insufficient. The court not only returns all of it, but even subsidizes it.

Unless there are necessary reasons, the court will not care about the local money and food leftover, which can easily break the tacit understanding and political rules.

The most typical example is the Song Dynasty. The whole country had one city, but the local government had nothing except salary money. Even ordinary bandits could not be wiped out.

Therefore, for the court at this time, legally and reasonably consuming local financial surplus is the best choice.

The wealth of Luzon is self-evident. After nearly a hundred years of development by the Spanish, coupled with the favorable geographical location, the annual tax revenue has reached 300 million.

Tobacco, cinchona, sugar, timber, minerals, and hemp are the bulk of its tax revenue.

At the same time, silver from Mexico was exchanged with silk from the Ming Dynasty and spices from Southeast Asia in Luzon. Profits were earned from this transit transaction. This form of transit trade was called "galleon trade" and the profits earned were even greater. It's the big head.

There is a surplus of one million left every year. After excluding the money for raising soldiers and officials, there is at least three to four hundred thousand left.

For the imperial court, it must find a way to use up part of it reasonably to prevent it from becoming too big.

After all, if a place becomes bigger, it starts with finances.

"The Nanyang Navy is set up in Luzon, with 5000 people under its jurisdiction. It is under the jurisdiction of the Governor of Luzon. It can be regarded as the fourth largest navy in the Ming Dynasty."

Bohai, East China Sea, Nanhai, Nanyang, each has a size of about [-], and the total is [-].

In this day and age, crushing pirates and protecting the sea is simply a piece of cake.

"Your Majesty, your Majesty!" Du Yinxi said with a smile and cupped his hands.

A few days later, with snowflakes falling one after another, it was time for the Zhengdan Dynasty.

Vassals, ministers, chieftains, etc. at home and abroad held court meetings one after another to express their loyalty to the Ming Emperor.

For Zhu Yixi, who had been an emperor for many years, he was tired of such complicated etiquette, which was considered a kind of torture.

The gifts offered by various countries are all the same, mainly to show respect.

At this time, what caught Zhu Yixi's attention the most was Sun Zhenghao, the heir apparent of Burma. He was fifteen or sixteen years old, well-groomed, polite, and looked quite outstanding.

The next day, Zhu Yixi once again received the Burmese prince in the palace.

"Foreign ministers, please pay homage to His Majesty the Emperor!"

Sun Zhenghao saluted solemnly, very old-fashioned.

Zhu Yixi was satisfied with this.

Of course, it’s not just the son-in-law, but also the joy of having a successor in Myanmar.

As a clan member, Zhu Yixi actually didn't have much hatred for Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong. On the contrary, the actions of these two people provided him with a lot of help.

Huguang was taken from the hands of these two people, and even successfully took over Sichuan through Zhang Xianzhong.

From a historical perspective, it can only be said that Sun Kewang was short-sighted and overly ambitious. He was mediocre in leading troops and fighting, but he was quite good at running an army.

Historically, the camp system was established based on Yunnan and Guizhou.

The so-called camp system divides the military and civilian fields in Yunnan into various camps, and the camps are managed by personnel sent by the Great Western Army.

When the land tax was collected, the total amount was ten cents, [-]% of the harvest went to the cultivators, and [-]% went to the Daxi Army. The Daxi Army then allocated [-]% of its [-]% to the landowners, that is, the landlords.

That is 541 mode.

This collection model bypasses the middle class of landlords and directly connects with cultivators. Since the tax amount is share-sharing, farmers' enthusiasm for production generally increases, and the landlords are not exterminated, which reduces resistance.

This directly led to a three-year bumper harvest in Yunnan, which was rare even in the Ming Dynasty.

This is why the Daxi Army was able to resist the Qing Dynasty for more than ten years, while the Shun Army in Kuidong had little success. A stable base was too important.Theoretically speaking, this kind of farm system has the aftertaste of the equalization of land system, but it cannot withstand corruption and the system needs to be implemented.

What is surprising is that after Sun Kewang entered Yunnan, he followed the advice and stopped robbing the people but collected taxes, strengthened military discipline, and even began to combat official corruption.

It can be said that the reason why Wu Sangui dared to rebel later was thanks to the foundation laid by Sun Kewang.

Zhu Yixi had a long-term vision, and he deeply realized that the camp system would inevitably be like the military household system in the Ming Dynasty in the future, with the land being divided up.

Because it is the officer class who guards the camp, they are greedy and there is no supervision, so it is inevitable that things will start but end.

Now relying on Sun Kewang's ability, Myanmar is currently very stable, but the second generation succession is in danger.

It is even more difficult for the second generation of the dynasty to successfully take over.

The existence of Sun's Burma was quite beneficial to the Ming Dynasty and could expand the court's influence in South Asia.

"Yeah!" Zhu Yixi praised: "I heard that you were smart since you were a child, but now that I see it, it's true!"

Sun Zhenghao became humble.

Outside the curtain, several women looked at the Burmese prince through gaps.

The 16-year-old Princess Guangping held a fan and secretly looked at the prince.

Princess Guangping was the princess of Yongshou County of the Qin Dynasty. In order to marry the crown prince of Burma, she was named a princess and became the adopted daughter of the emperor.

Queen Sun Xueniang looked at her shy adopted daughter and said, "Why, have you ever caught her eyes?"

Princess Guangping said softly: "Your Majesty, I am one year older than him..."

"What does this mean? Women are more caring when they are older."

Sun Xueniang smiled and then took his hand: "Since you have taken a fancy to him, it must be successful."

"Don't be afraid. I will give you a good dowry when the time comes. The Ming Dynasty will support you. Who dares to bully you?"

Faintly hearing some private sounds, Sun Zhenghao seemed to understand something and immediately turned his head to look over.

Unfortunately, nothing can be seen.

"How?" After Sun Zhenghao left, Zhu Yixi looked at Sun Xueniang and Princess Guangping coming out and said with a smile:
"She's not bad looking, I can't bear to offend Guangping."

"My appearance is fine, but I don't know what's going on inside?"

Sun Xueniang asked.

"Of course not!" Looking at her immature and expectant adopted daughter, Zhu Yixi said seriously:

"I sent people to investigate. Among Sun Kewang's sons, this one is the most virtuous, so he was appointed as the heir apparent."

"After you get married, he will naturally not dare to bully you, but you should not act arrogantly because of your status. After all, we are thousands of miles apart..."

Guangping responded shyly.

Zhu Yixi sighed in her heart.

Although the marriage was beneficial to the country, years of thinking about it made him feel a bit humiliated.

But as a politician, emotions should be ignored.

After all, since ancient times, it is normal for kings to be ruthless and unjust, and they will do whatever it takes for the sake of imperial power and the world.

At this time, Sun Zhenghao left the palace and wandered around the streets of Beijing in a carriage.

Different from the narrowness of Xinjing, the city of Beijing has no defensive function at all. People gather inside and outside the city, and a large number of houses live under the city wall.

"So many people!" Sun Zhenghao sighed as he breathed hotly: "Isn't there a million people?"

"Your Majesty, it should be over." The man beside him said.

He is the royal envoy in Beijing, and his full name is Myanmar's Tributary Minister to the Ming Dynasty. Due to the importance of the Ming Dynasty, this official position in Myanmar is second only to the prime minister.

At the same time, he is stationed in Beijing all year round, and the exchanges between the two countries rely on his people, and he has also gained a lot of benefits. He is a plump and noble person.

Sun Zhenghao understood that this person was the prime minister's reserve.

"As far as I know, there are a large number of Beijing-based families, no less than 40 to [-], and most of them live in outer cities."

"When you come to Beijing, you have to go to the theater street to take a look. There are [-] or [-] theaters of different sizes. There are no less than three to five thousand people listening to the opera every day."

Zhou Shan smiled and said, "Would you like to take a look?"

"Okay!" Sun Zhenghao smiled and arrived at the Chang'an Theater a moment later.

"Your Majesty, this is the theater built by King Liao back then. It has the largest number of plays and is also the latest. Everyone in the capital likes to watch it, young and old!"

Looking around, the street outside the window is divided into two, with clear lines. You can go right and left, and there are pedestrian paths on the side, which do not interfere with each other. Therefore, the carriage can move very fast, with almost no obstruction.

Although the new capital city was built according to the Ming style, it was actually built according to the Kunming city, and its role as a fortress was greater than that of civil affairs.

And the capacity is only about [-], which is a huge gap.

At the entrance of the theater, a notice board reads: This afternoon, "Xue Pinggui and Wang Baochuan"

The evening show is "The Legend of White Snake".

"I have long heard that the theater is extraordinary, but I never thought it would be unexpectedly wonderful!"

Stepping up the stairs and looking at the tables, chairs, and the simple table decorations and carvings in the space are all amazing.

In Burma, this was only a matter of great aristocracy, but in the Ming Dynasty it was a place for opera.

As soon as I stepped onto the third floor, I saw several scholars behind me dressed in exotic clothes, perhaps from Korea or Japan, speaking inaudible words, which made people even more curious.

"This is?"

"Your Majesty, this seems to be a Korean." Zhou Shan whispered:

"The 22nd year of Shaowu was the year of great competition. Scholars from all over the Ming Dynasty, including all vassal states, came to participate in the examination and selection."

"I heard that the number of people participating this year is estimated to be more than 8000."

"8000 people!" Sun Zhenghao exclaimed: "All the scholars in Myanmar don't know if there can be [-]."

Most of the Han people in Myanmar migrated from Yunnan and were the core of the Sun family. There were few scholars, which naturally caused a headache.

And throughout the Ming Dynasty, how prosperous the talents were!
"You think, can I lure some scholars from the Ming Dynasty to Burma?"

Sun Zhenghao said eagerly.

"My lord, it's very difficult!" Zhou Shan shook his head and said, "Even if we go to a vassal state, the closest ones are Qin and Qi. They will not go to Burma over the distance..."

"But since you married Princess Guangping, it will be much easier to relocate ordinary people, and they will not be blocked..."

Hearing this, Sun Zhenghao's eyes immediately lit up: "Yes, I am the Prince Consort!"

Having said that, Sun Zhenghao's eyes were focused on the table of Koreans, his eyes deep:
The hereditary system of imperial examinations in North Korea is very serious. I don’t know how many scholars and middle-class people are in poverty. They don’t have enough to eat. They are lured to Burma, and they are better than the natives...

(End of this chapter)