Yang Cong's words woke Xu Jie, Zhang Bangqi and others like the evening drum and morning bell. If the landlords, gentry and officials and families continued to embezzle national taxes, the Ming Dynasty might really embark on the road to destruction.

Of course, they didn't want to see this result, and no one wanted the Ming Dynasty to embark on the road to destruction of the country.

Therefore, they expressed their full support for Zhang Juzheng to implement the One-Whip Method, and at the same time, they took this opportunity to crack down on those landlords, gentry and families of officials who harmed the public and private sectors, so that they could spit out all the embezzled national taxes.

As soon as the new policy was released, there was indeed a big wave of storm among the Ming Dynasty. Many court officials and even local officials submitted memorials, criticizing Zhang Juzheng for various reasons and begging Yongqing to suspend the new policy.

Unfortunately, Yongqing was unmoved at all. Qingliu, led by Zhang Bangqi, Xu Jie and Mao Bowen, also expressed his full support for Zhang Juzheng. The new policy could not be shaken at all with the support of these people.

As for Zhang Juzheng himself, he did even more. He quickly submitted a report to Yongqing, asking Hai Rui and Yang Jisheng to be promoted to the right deputy censor of the Censorate, one responsible for inspecting the eight southwest and southeastern provinces and one capital, and the other responsible for inspecting the implementation of the new policy, but those who disobey or even inaction will be dismissed and investigated.

This was even more amazing. The reform forces led by Zhang Juzheng and the conservative forces led by the family of officials were suddenly in full swing. Both sides were having a lot of fun fighting.

Of course, with the support of Yongqing and Qingliu, the innovative forces led by Zhang Juzheng had a clear advantage from the beginning, and the conservative forces led by the family of officials could only be considered a dying struggle at most.

It was at this time that Yang Cong came to the Qianqing Palace again and formally sought to see Emperor Yongqing.

Yongqing really had nothing to say about this mentor, and it is never an exaggeration to describe it as a way to listen to the rules. If Yang Cong was willing, even if he came to Qianqing Palace every day and asked Yongqing to do everything as he said, Yongqing would probably not have any objection.

Unfortunately, Yang Cong rarely came to see him since Yongqing became emperor. Yang Cong hadn't even come to Qianqing Palace for a few times.

This mentor finally came, and Yongqing was naturally extremely happy. He immediately threw down his brush and ran directly to the door of the imperial study room to welcome Yang Cong in. He personally brought a chair for Yang Cong, asked his mentor to sit down, and then climbed back to the dragon throne and said excitedly: "Mr., you have time to teach students. These days, my head has become too big. Senior brother and the others have fought with those corrupt officials very fiercely. I don't know what to do."

After saying that, he directly picked up a stack of memorials and said as if he offered treasures: "Mr. Master, look, these are all impeachments to the senior brother and the others. Do you think I will stay at home and not ask or scold them directly?"

Seeing this, Yang Cong couldn't help but shake his head and smiled bitterly: "Mr. Zhang, Lord. Xu and Lord. Mao have written the tickets for these memorials? I think these masters are quite fair, and the emperor can just deal with them according to their tickets. I didn't look for the emperor this time for this."

"oh?"

Upon hearing this, Yongqing put down the memorial in disappointment, and then said curiously: "Mr., what are you here to find me?"

Yang Cong pondered for a moment, then asked seriously: "Your Majesty, have you ever thought about why there is so little silver found in Yan Song's mansion?"

The silver found in Yan Song's mansion is actually quite small, several million taels. At this moment, the entire Ming Dynasty can count the assets of several million taels with one hand.

Millions of taels are already very scary, but compared to Yan Song's total corruption, millions of taels are indeed nothing, because other antiques, calligraphy, paintings, land and shops are worth tens of millions of taels.

Yongqing really didn't think about this issue. Just by searching Yan Song's mansion, he made tens of millions of taels of money. He was so excited that he almost went crazy. How could he think about whether it was silver, antique calligraphy and painting, or field shops that he copied out?

He said a little embarrassedly: "I really didn't pay attention to this."

Yang Cong immediately asked: "Your Majesty, do you know how much farmland we have in the Ming Dynasty?"

Upon hearing this, Yongqing hurriedly offered treasures and said, "I know that according to the latest investigation results of Senior Brother Taiyue, our Ming Dynasty has more than 9 million hectares of cultivated land."

Yang Cong nodded slightly, and then calculated seriously: "More than 9 million hectares are more than 900 million acres. Calculated by the average annual output of two stones of grain per mu, that is nearly 2 billion stones, and then calculated by the average price of two stones of grain and one tael of silver, that is nearly one billion taels. Emperor, do you know how much money we have in the Ming Dynasty and how much silver we have now?"

How could Yongqing know about this? Not all the money in the world is in the hands of the court. You must know that even after Zhang Juzheng implemented the one-whip method, the court's tax income was only more than four million taels a year.

He said a little embarrassedly again: "This, I don't know much about this."

Yang Cong continued to say seriously: "It is normal for the emperor to not know it. In fact, I am not very clear. However, I roughly estimated that at this moment, the entire Ming Dynasty's silver will definitely not exceed 300 million taels, and as for the money being made, it will definitely not exceed 100 million tons. In other words, based on the one-two silver, the entire Ming Dynasty's money circulating on the market is less than 400 million taels."

Four hundred million taels!

Yongqing couldn't help but exclaim: "We in Ming Dynasty have so much money?"

When Yang Cong heard this, he shook his head and smiled bitterly: "Master, do you think 400 million taels are too much? You should know that the grain produced by Daming alone is worth about one billion taels every year, as well as tea, porcelain, cloth, iron, salt, etc., and all kinds of goods are worth at least 10 billion taels! If you count the value of land, mines, shops, houses, cattle, sheep, horses, even ships, fire dragon cars and other bulk items, it is estimated that tens of billions of taels will not be able to defeat it."

Tens of billions of taels!

Yongqing couldn't help but say: "Are we so rich in Ming Dynasty?"

Yang Cong nodded slowly and said, "To calculate it seriously, our Ming Dynasty is indeed so rich. However, when it comes to this money, it is useless to just talk about it. There must be enough silver and money circulating on the market to prove the value of these things. Otherwise, it would be fake if everyone just knows that they can't afford to buy it. Just like the antique calligraphy and paintings copied from Yan Song's mansion, the value is indeed more than 10 million taels, but it has to be sold for more than 10 million taels. If it is not sold, it is just a bunch of toys and waste paper."

this?

When Yongqing heard this, he frowned and pondered for a long time, but still couldn't figure out what his mentor Yang Cong meant.

He said with a little shame: "Mr. Teacher, the student is stupid. What do you mean by what you said? The student can't understand."

It's normal not to understand. Not many people have figured out this problem these days.

Yang Cong explained patiently: "Weichen's meaning is actually very simple. Our Ming Dynasty is short of money, and it is quite short of money. Think about it, if 10% of the goods worth tens of billions of dollars are circulated on the market, how much does it cost? That's billions of taels! We don't have that much money at all, so this business is not easy to do, just like those antiques, calligraphy and paintings, without money, this goods are still goods. Many times, everyone can only barter, and doing business like this is quite troublesome."

This means that Daming is short of money?
Chapter completed!