Where did the wealth of the Ming Dynasty disappear?
The financial crisis was one of the main problems that plagued the late Ming Dynasty, and was even closely related to the fall of the Ming Dynasty. The tension in Liaodong forced the Ming Dynasty to transfer too much labor and material resources to the local area, resulting in financial overload, but it could only increase the taxes of the common people, and the high taxes caused widespread civil strife, and Li Zicheng eventually buried the Ming Dynasty.
Did the Ming Dynasty really run out of money? This is not the case.
At this time, the Ming Dynasty was in the center of the world's great market, and even if the ban on navigation was strictly enforced, the Ming Dynasty could not prevent itself from becoming a part and center of the world's ** circle. History has shown that the attraction of huge economic interests is often stronger than that of executive orders. The Ming Dynasty had unparalleled products: tea, raw silk, porcelain, etc., which shaped the Ming Dynasty dominated by Guangzhou, Macau, Japan, Manila, Europe, etc., and the large-scale mining of silver mines in Japan and the Americas ensured that there were a large number of them in the world. According to the statistics of Quan Hansheng, between 1570 and 1644, there were about 12.6 billion taels** went to China, and Xie Henai generally estimates that ** of the Americas also went to the Ming Dynasty, which is a very large number in any case.
Paradoxically, 12.6 billion taels of ** came from abroad, which is not counting the ** number of the entire Ming Dynasty.
This begs the question: where did the silver of the Ming Dynasty go?
First, let's talk about feudal lords.
When Zhu Yuanzhang was crowned vassal king for the first time, the number of vassal kings was not large, only 25. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, the number of vassal kings did not increase much, after all, there were not many people who were crowned kings. However, the population of the feudal kings increased dramatically, reaching 157 000 in the 23rd year of Wanli (1595). In the early years of Wanli, the state fiscal expenditure reached 18.5 million taels**, of which more than 5.5 million taels were paid by the clan, accounting for about 30%.
On the other hand, the wealth of feudal lords is also quite considerable, and below we will give some examples of feudal lords.
The richness of the Chengdu Plain is well known, with 70% of the land there belonging to the Shu kings.
When Li Zicheng captured Luoyang and opened King Fu's warehouse, some of the grain stored in the warehouse was moldy and rotten, and strings of copper coins were also rotten and damaged due to too long storage. When Li Zicheng opened Luoyang Manor, thousands of people were empty.
During Li Zicheng's attack on Luoyang, King Kaifeng of Zhou took out one million taels to boost the morale of the defenders of Luoyang and recruited soldiers to participate in the battle.
Today, in Weihui, Henan, you can see the Tomb of King Lu, which is as magnificent and extravagant as the tomb of the Ming emperor, and of course it costs a lot.
Speaking of feudal lords, let's talk about bureaucrats and eunuchs.
The bureaucrats of the Ming Dynasty were not high, but who trusted them when they became officials? After Li Zicheng entered Beijing, he tortured the **, eunuchs and wealthy households in the capital, and got a total of 70 million taels**. Of course, these 70 million taels can't come from Yulu.
It's about. During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, the Ganqing Palace and Kunning Palace needed to be rebuilt due to fire, and He Shengrui, as the director of the Repair Department of the Ministry of Industry, was entrusted with the important task of becoming one of the persons in charge of this project. He Shengrui is an architectural expert who has been responsible for the construction of large-scale imperial projects such as Tailing and Xiangling, and he hopes that there will be excellent talents dedicated to the construction of this project.
On the first day of construction, He Shengrui encountered a problem. The number of workers is more than 100, but there are more than 500 workers on the register. He Shengrui was furious and soon realized that the overseer wanted to make a fortune by inflating the wages of 400 people. This eunuch is also very ruthless, 100 people reported 500 people, which is four false reports.
Not only that, but there was also a great deal of deception in the wages of the workers: the silver in the treasury was distributed to the craftsmen like copper coins; The official exchange rate was 690 cents for two pieces of silver, but the wages of the workers in pairs were 550 cents, from which they deducted 140 cents for two pieces of silver, and the difference, of course, went into the pockets of some people.
The materials required for the project are also an important cost.
The copper needed for the project had to be extracted from the inner treasury, which was the responsibility of the eunuchs, who could not get the copper without money. Sheng Rui didn't want to pay a bribe, so he asked a copper merchant to buy copper of the same quality. The copper merchant calculates that if he goes all the way to the south to buy, he will not only lose money, but also miss the deadline. The staff of the Ministry of Industry were worried that they would miss the deadline, so they bought this privately"Favors"。After paying the money, they quickly and smoothly received the copper.
Local businessmen are also aware of the situation. Timber merchant Wang Tianjun and others bribed senior ** with a large amount of money to approve the purchase of 160,000 large logs. Since this is the raw material for the renovation of the palace, the transportation process at customs is very smooth. In this way, Wang Tianjun and others smuggled tens of millions of pieces of wood, and the profits were immeasurable. The 160,000 logs in the contract also evaded taxes 3More than 20,000 yuan, a total profit of 60,000 taels. Of course, no one dared to share Wang Tianjun's profits, and most of them went into the pockets of ** and eunuchs.
Building a house with tiles is traditionally done with official tiles, but the official tiles produced now have long been a tool for eunuchs to make a fortune, and the quality is not competitive, even inferior to the clay tiles. The official tiles are black and ugly, 1 minute and 4 cents per piece; The tiles produced by the people are white and hard, and each piece is only 3 cents. He Shengrui strongly advocated the use of earthen tiles. For this alone, he saved Rp 2000.
Ho Seng Swee saved 720,000 taels for the entire project**.
But shockingly, Ho Seng Swee was fired after the project was completed. The charges are:"Swindling"Or**. He Shengrui hopes that the state will save 720,000 taels**, which means that some people have earned 720,000 taels less, so these people naturally unite and hope that He Shengrui will pull out this thorn.
There are four famous gardens in China: the Summer Palace, the Chengde Summer Resort, the Humble Administrator's Garden and the Lingering Garden. The Summer Palace and Chengde Summer Resort are royal gardens, not to mention the landscape, and the Humble Administrator's Garden and the Lingering Garden built by retired bureaucrats in the Ming Dynasty are also very interesting. The stone troughs and water stones of Chinese gardens are as vast as a sea of smoke, and their cost is not something that can be borne by the meager wages of civil servants.
Ye Xianggao served as the prime minister of two dynasties. He was an upright man and was highly regarded by the Wanli Emperor and the Emperor of the Apocalypse. During his tenure, Ye Xianggao did many things that were considered a good style among the bureaucrats. His garden in his hometown of Fujian, known as Shuzhuang Garden, is elegant and fashionable, and is still a famous tourist attraction.
Ding Kuichu once served as the head of the household department and was officially in charge of money. When the Qing army invaded, Ding Kuichu selected valuable family property, discarded a large number of low-value family property, and sent soldiers to carry the family property, in order to ensure that these soldiers would not hesitate, he sent seventeen honorary servants overnight, so that those soldiers who did not have wives could contribute to enjoying the powerful soldiers. However, Ding Kuichu carried too much wealth, so he thought of surrendering to the Qing army, and was killed. When the Qing army counted his property, they found that there were only 800,000 taels**. What is this concept? At that time, the list of indemnities negotiated between Huang Taiji and Chongzhen required 10,000 taels per year, that is to say, Ding Kuichu's ** could meet Huang Taiji's requirements for 80 years.
During the reign of Emperor Wanli, Ma Tang, the governor of Shandong, made 1.3 million taels in seven years, what is this concept? Emperor Wanli's wedding cost a total of 70,000 taels of silver, and Ma Tang's ** may be 18 times that of Wanli's wedding, but it is still exceeded.
Zhou Kui, Chongzhen's old man Li Zicheng entered Beijing, and after torture, 530,000 taels were searched from his home**, what is this concept? At that time, the annual income of Liaodong soldiers was about 180,000, the wealth of Zhou Kui's family can be equivalent to the annual salary of 30,000 soldiers.
Han Feizi said:"Heresy, the death of the country"。That's true!