Augustus spoke up: "What's so difficult about that? The root of all the Ming Empire's previous problems was that it lost more battles than it won outside the Great Wall, turning it into a bottomless pit that drained the imperial treasury's resources. But now, my Knights Templar are there outside the Great Wall..."
He paused, then added, "With the help of the Second Elder and the Sixth Elder, even if the Tartars have the power of Annihilation to assist them, we will surely be able to quell the Tartars and reduce the Empire's expenses."
The Grand Elder nodded: "I feel much more at ease with the Commander's words."
At this moment, the Fourth Elder said with a worried look, "Although the commander is good at fighting, he has only been here for a short time. The army outside the pass will still need the court to supply food and pay in the short term. Now the empire is full of peasant armies, and money is needed everywhere, but the national treasury is empty."
The Sixth Elder frowned and said, "You are the Minister of Finance. Can't you even handle the financial problems of such a feudal empire?"
“Although it’s a feudal empire, things have changed a bit since our arrival,” the Fourth Elder scratched his head. “Second Brother is in charge of commerce at the Chamber of Commerce, why don’t you come up with some ideas?”
The Second Elder asked calmly, "Besides military expenses, what is the largest expenditure of the imperial court on a daily basis?"
The Fourth Elder had already prepared various documents and files: "Due to the bizarre policies of the Ming Empire, the princes and royal families in various regions were supported but not demoted or allowed to inherit titles, resulting in an increasing number of them. Moreover, they were guarded against and not allowed to take the imperial examinations or become officials. This group of people was like pigs being raised, which could not produce any useful results, but they were like gold-devouring beasts, consuming a large amount of money and grain every year."
"In that case, why not just cut this expense? They're all useless anyway," the Sixth Elder said. They were all just passing through and had no intention of supporting these members of the royal family.
The Fourth Elder shook his head: "I'm afraid that won't work. Directly targeting the imperial clan could easily affect the stability of imperial power, since they are all members of the Zhu family. In the future, the court officials will also impeach them on the grounds that the ancestral laws cannot be changed."
"Secondly, if those local vassal kings also take the opportunity to cause trouble, we will not only have to face the foreign tribes outside the pass and the peasant uprisings inside the pass, but also have to deal with these vassal kings' rebel armies."
The Second Elder, who had been reviewing the files, quickly scanned them with his powerful divine sense: "This is easy. We can issue war bonds using the salt and tea certificates for the next five years as collateral. Both vassal kings and court officials can buy them, and since the bonds are bearer bonds, the emperor won't have to worry about them being accused of corruption to have so much money. To dispel their concerns, we can start by having the Empress's and Consort's fathers, along with us, buy them together. Once we have someone taking the lead, things will go smoothly."
"In order to avoid a strong backlash from the civil service group that came from the imperial examination system, the policy of purchasing official positions was temporarily limited to the inner circle of the princes and their families. They were asked to donate money and grain in the name of protecting the country. Once they reached a certain standard, they could be granted corresponding official positions."
"To prevent the princes from refusing to donate, we should first select a prince who is notorious for his heinous crimes, and raise the banner of 'disobeying ancestral precepts and being disloyal and unjust.' This will not only win the hearts of the subjects but also intimidate the other princes, making them dare not refuse to donate."
"At the same time, overseas colonization companies were established to encourage vassal kings to invest in and form armed caravans to explore and colonize Southeast Asia. As long as a certain share of the land and profits were paid as taxes, the court would recognize their autonomy. With the opportunity to expand their territory and establish their own kingdoms, I believe many vassal kings would be tempted. This would not only reduce the court's expenses but also open up new sources of tax revenue."
"Of course, when an empire reaches its end, corruption will inevitably reach its core. No matter how good a policy is, it will change drastically when it is implemented. This is where the First Elder and Fourth Brother need to keep a close eye on things."
"Once the war bonds and the affairs of the vassal kings are on track, we should have already trained a group of reliable subordinates. At that time, we can deal with the civil service group and solve the problems of land annexation and control of commercial taxes."
"Alternatively, we can contact Zheng Zhilong overseas. As far as I know, they have close ties with Japan and should be able to resolve the issue of silver exports from there."
...
The second elder spoke eloquently and logically, hitting the nail on the head with every point, which drew applause from the crowd.
Zuan secretly marveled at how the Second Elder, who was in charge of the entire Global Chamber of Commerce, possessed insights that were indeed ahead of his time. What was originally an unsolvable problem had become simple under his analysis.
At the same time, he wondered why the Second Elder, who should have been the most suitable person for the position of Finance Minister, had become Wu Sangui instead. Should he remind the First Elder about the possibility of his betrayal?
No, the Grand Elder and I don't get along. He'll definitely suspect that I'm using this to settle personal scores and deliberately slander him. In that case, I'll be at a disadvantage in every situation.
Besides, given his character, he probably wouldn't become a traitor like Wu Sangui in history.
For example, if I were Hong Chengchou now, would I also pledge allegiance to the Manchu Qing dynasty, which represents annihilation?
Thinking of this, he chuckled to himself, dispelling his previous doubts.
Next, the Grand Elder began to assign tasks to each person. Even Zu'an was appointed as the Minister of War and the Governor-General of the military affairs of Shaanxi, Gansu, Yansui, and Ningxia.
In the eyes of the Grand Elder and his entourage, the peasant army was merely a minor ailment, and the empire's most important enemy was still the Manchu Qing, which possessed the power of annihilation.
Once the imperial finances are rebuilt, the three taxes can be abolished, and some tax reduction policies can be implemented. Then, those peasant rebels will naturally have no place to survive.
So they didn't see anything wrong with sending Zaun to deal with some rabble.
Only Zu'an felt a vague unease, wondering if Li Zicheng in this world would grow into the force that swept across the world in history.
However, with so many powerful figures in the Order faction, even Li Zicheng probably wouldn't be able to cause much trouble.
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