After reading the contents of the letter, Fan Jingwen was the first to express his opinion: "I don't think this is a big problem."

"I think it's feasible too!" Minister of Revenue Xie Sanbin was the second to express his opinion.

One of them is the chief minister of the cabinet and the other is the minister of the Ministry of Revenue.

Now the Ming Dynasty’s treasury is short of money, and they are more worried than anyone else.

Although what Zhu Cixiong did was not quite in compliance with the rules, he was able to pay taxes.

There is no need for them to object!

With the support of these two people, Zhu Cixiong's business began to get on track.

The Ministry of Revenue sent an official document to the entire country, inquiring about the number of livestock required in each place.

This task seems simple, but it is actually very tedious and takes a lot of time.

When Chongzhen found out, he just smiled with relief.

He didn't care how Zhu Cizhou's business would develop, whether it made money or lost money.

As long as he could successfully lead the second generation of Mongolian nobles into a corrupt life, his mission would be accomplished.

While Zhu Cizhou was thinking about how to make money, Chongzhen was also thinking about strategies to make money.

On the last day of July, Chongzhen sat in front of the Dragon Desk and began to think.

The theme is just one word: money!

Although Wang Zhixin has been mining, the speed at which he makes money is far behind the speed at which Liaodong spends money.

Military supplies cost money, and pensions are another huge sum of money.

In addition, there is another project that can be said to cost a lot of money: building a fort!

At first, Chongzhen did not agree to build a fort.

But Wang Yongji's letter convinced Chongzhen.

As more and more cities are recovered, the main force of the Ming army will move forward, and the Liaoxi Corridor will inevitably be empty.

The Jiannu or Mongolian cavalry would take the opportunity to attack from behind and cut off the Ming army's food supply.

Although food and fodder can be transported by sea, there is too much uncertainty.

(The most feared thing about sailing at sea is encountering strong winds and waves. Not only is there a risk of the ship sinking, but it will also cause the food and grass to become damp and unusable. Military supplies are the lifeblood of the army. You can spend more money, but the risk must be small. So for the sake of safety, most of the time, land transportation is chosen.)

If you want to deal with the cavalry that comes from behind, you can only send out the cavalry.

The Ming army's cavalry was already stretched thin and unable to look back while looking ahead.

Therefore, building a fort became the only option.

Building a fort requires a lot of money!

The Ming Dynasty is short of money!

The problem has come full circle.

"Fuck it!" Chongzhen slammed the dragon desk with his right hand.

How to make money?

Chongzhen picked up a pen and wrote a big word "money" on the paper.

After thinking for a while, Chongzhen had no clue.

So he tore up the words about money, picked up the pen again and wrote three words on the paper.

Civilians, merchants, and gentry!

The people refer to the common people, the merchants refer to the businessmen, and the gentry refer to the gentry.

Generally speaking, these three types of people constituted the classes of the Ming Dynasty.

If you want to make money, you can only target these three types of people.

First exclude the people!

In history, the Ming Dynasty was short of money, so it reached out to the people.

Increase the three taxes and corvee labor!

As a result, there were refugees everywhere and they destroyed themselves.

Secondly, exclude the gentry.

Wang Zhixin has been mining and has already caused quite a stir. If he attacks the gentry again, he will face a strong counterattack from them.

certainly.

Chongzhen was not afraid of them!

But...there is a war going on in Liaodong.

There must be no chaos within the Ming Dynasty.

Eliminating two of the three options, the only answer can only be the quotient!

Punish the businessman and raid his house?

inappropriate!

Whether it is transporting supplies to the front line, governing Mongolia, or Zhu Cizhou's business, merchants need to participate.

If they were to take action at this time, the Ming court would be the one that would suffer in the end.

How can we get them to hand over the money without punishing them or confiscating their property?

Got it!

Selling official positions!

There are many dynasties in history that sold official positions.

The system of selling official positions began in the Qin Dynasty.

That year, locusts caused a disaster, and Qin Shihuang issued an edict: any common people who pay 1,000 dan of grain can be awarded a higher rank.

By the time of the Han Dynasty, especially during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, the system of selling official positions had become very mature.

In the Qin Dynasty, officials paid for their purchases with grain, while in the Han Dynasty, they paid directly in cash.

In the late Eastern Han Dynasty, Emperor Ling of Han, Liu Hong, even invented IOUs and auctions.

Want to buy an official position but have no money?

no problem!

Write an IOU, sign and seal it, and take office immediately.

In order to become the Grand Marshal, one of the three highest officials in the court, Cao Cao's father spent a total of 100 million yuan on bidding and bribery.

(The three highest officials in the Eastern Han Dynasty were Taiwei, who was in charge of the army; Situ, who was in charge of civil affairs; and Sikong, who was in charge of engineering.)

The practice of selling official positions occurred in the subsequent Jin Dynasty, the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Sui Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty.

Didn’t Chongzhen know the harm of selling official positions?

Of course he knows.

But Chongzhen's selling of official positions was different from theirs.

First of all, Chongzhen only sold honorary positions and not real power.

Without real power, these officials cannot participate in government affairs, disrupt the rule of law and harm the people.

Secondly, officials have no salaries.

Without salaries, there will be no burden on the national finances.

To put it bluntly, it's a reputation.

But the question is, who would spend money to buy a reputation?

Not only are there, but there are a lot of them!

You have to know that there were a lot of people in the Ming Dynasty who were rich but had no official titles, especially those businessmen who were rich enough to rival a country.

At that time, having fame was better than having money.

If you have achieved honors, you can build a mansion, wear silk and satin, and have many wives and concubines.

If you don't have any achievements, no matter how much money you have, you won't be able to spend it openly.

There are restrictions on the size of the house you live in, you can only wear cloth clothes and not silk, and there are also corresponding restrictions on weddings and funerals!

Not to mention having many wives and concubines.

Ordinary male civilians can only take a concubine if they are over 40 and have no children.

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