"Your Majesty, the Ming army has been victorious in consecutive battles. Under the publicity of the Ming Dynasty Daily, the patriotic enthusiasm of the people of the Ming Dynasty is very high, and they have enthusiastically signed up to join the army.

The number of troops and reserves has now exceeded one million. If it continues, it will greatly consume the national treasury. Should we stop recruiting new soldiers?"

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, refugees were everywhere. In order to deal with peasant uprisings and border raids, the government drained the treasury so much that even rats starved to death.

In addition, many soldiers were in arrears with their military pay, which was one of the reasons why the Ming army was not very effective. Lu Xiangsheng knew this very well.

He believed that there was no need to recruit so many troops, otherwise the national treasury might be depleted and the Ming Dynasty would have to live a miserable life again.

Zhu Cixiang shook his head:

"No, continue to recruit new soldiers and be sure to train them well. Money is not a problem. The Ming Dynasty has been fighting for the past two years. If the treasury is empty, you will know by asking the Minister of Household Affairs."

Hearing this, the Minister of Hubu hurriedly stepped forward and said:

"Don't worry, sir. I am definitely the happiest among all the officials of the Ministry of Household Affairs of the Ming Dynasty. Do you know how much money the Ming Dynasty's treasury has now? To tell you the truth, there are more than 90 million taels, of which the dragon coins amount to more than 3,000.

Ten thousand pieces..."

Lu Xiangsheng looked at Zuo Maogeng in disbelief:

"How is this possible? The Ming Dynasty's treasury has never exceeded 30 million taels, and it has been fighting recently, consuming tens of millions of taels, right?"

Zuo Maogeng chuckled:

"Lord Lu, early wars indeed consumed the treasury and almost brought down the Ming Dynasty. After Emperor Shenwu succeeded to the throne, the situation has changed drastically. Now the Ming Dynasty makes money by fighting wars.

My Emperor, Ming Ming, this battle with Japan alone has added 30 million taels of silver to the national treasury, and it also owns a large silver mine, which is estimated to be able to mine 20 million taels of silver. From now on, the Ming Dynasty will no longer have to worry about silver..."

What the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue said is true. Although the currency in circulation in the Ming Dynasty was dragon coins, dragon coins were made of silver, and silver was dragon coins!

It was the first time for most of the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty to hear that war could be so profitable.

When they heard this, they raised their fists in the air and wanted to go to the battlefield...

Seeing the enthusiasm of the ministers, Zhu Cixiang smiled slightly:

"Fighting is the duty of military commanders. Civil servants are responsible for managing the country. If the Ming army wins the battle, you all have merit and you will be rewarded..."

Silver is a good thing, it can be made into dragon coins, and it can also make civil servants fall to their knees with excitement and shout:

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

"Long live my holy emperor! Long live! Long live!"

…

Nowadays, few officials in the Ming Dynasty dare to commit corruption. Although their official reputation has increased a lot, who wouldn't want to earn more dragon coins!

Today's anti-corruption campaign in the Ming Dynasty is different from that in the Hongwu Dynasty. Through the propaganda of the Ming Dynasty Daily, it is now very transparent and the people know which taxes should be paid and which ones should not be paid.

If an official forcibly collects more taxes, as long as a citizen reports it, he will be immediately dismissed from office, or even beheaded.

Today, the official memorial was very enthusiastic. Many officials, big and small, enthusiastically submitted the memorial. Zhu Cihong personally handled the major matters, and Sun Chuanting, the chief minister of the cabinet, handled the minor matters.

…

Compared with before, the capital has changed a lot, it is more prosperous and lively, and the atmosphere and environment have also completely changed.

In the past, the streets were full of garbage and horse manure, which gave off an unpleasant smell.

After the invention of cement, Zhu Cixiang planned to build toilets on Jingshi Street and set up a sanitation department. Sanitation workers would clean the streets every day.

Anyone who urinates or defecates on the street will almost always be punished. Anyone who pulls horse dung on the street must clean it up themselves.

Otherwise, the streets will be swept for three days, and those who refuse to obey will be fined fifty dragon coins. The order is implemented very strictly, completely changing the appearance of the streets and alleys of the capital.

Now the streets and alleys of the capital are very clean and tidy, and there is no longer any mess like before.

Many cement roads have been built between various provincial cities in the Ming Dynasty, and cement and gravel were laid on the original official roads.

The main roads in many cities and towns have also changed. The cinders produced by coal burning in winter are basically spread on the muddy dirt roads, and the road surface conditions have been improved.

For the convenience of pedestrians, large horse-drawn carriages travel between urban and rural areas every day, which are equivalent to urban and rural buses in later generations.

The construction of the Heroes Monument has been completed. Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, basically all the recorded soldiers who died in battle have been engraved on it.

Some generals who were unjustly killed in the previous dynasty were also rehabilitated by Zhu Cixiang, and their names were also engraved on the monument, such as Lan Yu and others.

…

Qianqing Palace

Zhu Cixiang was watching a song and dance performance. The performers were all palace dancers, and three of their teachers Qin Huai's Eight Beauties were also among them.

After realizing that the Ming Dynasty was powerful, some small countries with no ambitions came to Beijing to pay tribute, all hoping to become vassals of the Ming Dynasty and thus receive the protection of the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, there are also small countries that are not afraid of the Ming Dynasty, such as Myanmar and Annan.

Some small countries in Southeast Asia became colonies of Western powers at this time, and they did not continue to maintain vassal relations with the Ming Dynasty.

The business of the Royal Chamber of Commerce is also growing. Not only does it control many monopoly industries in the Ming Dynasty, but maritime trade is also booming.

Except for the Netherlands, which was sanctioned by the Ming Dynasty, other countries have trade relations with the Royal Chamber of Commerce.

Now the number of Royal Chamber of Commerce cargo ships has reached nearly 10,000. The taxes paid last year accounted for almost 20% of the revenue of the national treasury.

In addition to paying taxes to the treasury, there were also dividends on shares, and the remaining profits went into Emperor Shenwu's internal funds. At this time, Zhu Cihong himself didn't know how much gold and silver the internal funds contained.

The Ming Dynasty stopped trading with the Dutch and violently attacked the Dutch fleet within its sphere of influence, causing the Netherlands to suffer huge losses.

The rabbit was angry and bit people. In order to retaliate against the Ming Dynasty, the Dutch began to look for opportunities to attack the Ming Dynasty's trade fleet.

The Strait of Malacca is still under the control of the Dutch, but they will not openly attack Ming merchant ships in the Strait of Malacca.

Once they attack the Ming Dynasty fleet in the Strait of Malacca, it may lead to an all-out war between them and the Ming Dynasty.

They currently cannot trade with the Ming Dynasty, but they can obtain Ming Dynasty products from other countries.

Once the Ming Dynasty fleet is attacked in Malacca, it may cause a series of reactions, which will be even more detrimental to the Dutch.

The best way is to disguise their warships as pirate ships and rob Ming merchant ships in the name of pirates.
Chapter completed!