Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 1286
After hearing Yu Yin's words, Sun Kewang couldn't help being taken aback, depressed in his heart, Yu Yin is the Minister of the Household Department, since he knew about this situation, why didn't he control it?

Yu Yin seemed to understand his doubts, so he looked at him and explained: "My lord, who manages the Western Regions, may not be clear enough about the affairs of the Central Plains. The lord doesn't know yet. At the beginning of this year, the Ming Dynasty proposed a proposal to expand the army by 20. .”

"Expand the army by 20?" Sun Kewang was startled when he heard the words, and then fell silent again, with a rather ugly expression on his face.

The number of the Ming army was around 50 at first. After the Northern Expedition, Jiang Xiang and some rebels were incorporated, and the number increased to 60. If the army was expanded to 20, there would be 80, which would crush the Kingdom of Jin.

Yu Yin glanced at him, and then said: "The cabinet has decided to expand the army by another [-]. The imperial court needs money, the prince understands now!"

Sun Kewang was silent for a while, then nodded slowly.

"My Great Jin Dynasty has its own national conditions!" Yu Yin sighed.

Sun Kewang slowly sorted out this matter in his mind. The Ming Dynasty expanded its army by 20, and the number of the expanded army alone was already as many as the number of soldiers in the Kingdom of Jin.

The total military strength of the Ming Dynasty is likely to be close to 80, and if the Kingdom of Jin wants to fight against the Ming Dynasty, it needs at least [-]% of the Ming Dynasty's military strength.

When the Ming Dynasty expanded its army, the Jin Kingdom’s court had to follow suit. However, the Jin Kingdom’s finances were not as good as the Ming Dynasty’s, only about one-fifth of the Ming Dynasty’s.

The Kingdom of Jin wanted to expand its army by [-], and the imperial court had no money, so it allowed the folks to change to wheat and cotton.

After Sun Kewang figured it out, he couldn't help frowning, "Yu Butang, I have no objection to the expansion of the army, but is there no other way? With money in this way, and lack of food, isn't it enough to quench thirst with poison? Besides, when the price of food rises, What about the court?"

The court of the Kingdom of Jin had actually thought about these questions a long time ago, so Sun Kewang asked them three times in a row, but Yu Yin's face remained unchanged.

"To tell you the truth, the cabinet has discussed this matter for a long time. There is really no other way, and this matter is not as serious as the prince thought." Yu Yin said: "I can't explain this matter in one or two sentences, I think The prince has been running all the way, and he didn't eat anything, it's just at noon, so I asked someone to prepare some wine and food, and we talked while eating."

"If you don't eat it, Yu Butang should tell me first, so that I can have a clear idea." Sun Kewang was not in the mood, the success or failure of the Kingdom of Jin was also related to his vital interests, so how could he not be worried.

Yu Yin shook his head, but he still asked someone to prepare a few side dishes and a pot of Wu wine, and brought them to the study.

When the servants were ready, Yu Yin asked Sun Kewang to take a seat and filled a glass for him, "The imperial court forbids folk wine making, this pot is my treasure, and Han Xianggong asked someone to get it from the Wu area, and gave me a few jars. I don’t have a chance to drink, so I’ll drink with the prince today.”

Sun Kewang didn't have many friends among the civil servants of the Kingdom of Jin. He was able to get along well with Yu Yin mainly because after working with him, Yu Yin found that Sun Kewang's ability and conduct were not bad, and he didn't care about his background as a bandit. He respects Yu Yin very much, and doesn't put on airs just because he is a prince, so the two became friends.

Sun Kewang had no choice but to go to the table. After Yu Yin filled him a cup, he sat down, looked at his appearance, and said, "Anyway, if the Ming Dynasty expands its army, our Dajin must also expand. This expansion requires For money, the cabinet originally wanted to borrow a sum of money from domestic gentry and businessmen to expand the new army..."

Seeing this, Sun Kewang couldn't help asking: "Then why don't you borrow it?"

Yu Yin smiled wryly, "I borrowed it, but I didn't borrow much."

"Why? Are they not willing?" Sun Kewang's face turned cold. He wanted to say no, so he tried to deal with them, but if this word got out, he might not be able to return to Chang'an in the future.

"As the saying goes, if there is a loan, there must be repayment." Yu Yin shook his head, "It's not that they didn't borrow, but they didn't dare to borrow. Wang Yan was able to borrow money at the beginning because the Ming Dynasty won successive victories on the battlefield and the policy of opening the sea , and the taxes of the Ming Dynasty are increasing every year, and he has the ability to repay them. However, we have lost the market in the Qing Dynasty, and the trade with Yuzi has also been affected recently, and the income has not increased significantly. In addition, the relationship with the Ming Dynasty There are few victories in wars, so the gentry and businessmen are not optimistic about my increase in taxes."

Yu Yin picked up the wine glass and took a sip, "To put it simply, if the imperial court borrows money this year, the tax increase next year will not be enough to repay the debt, and if the loan is needed in the second year, then there is no possibility of repaying it, so borrow Not much money."

Sun Kewang understood that the people were actually not optimistic about the Kingdom of Jin anymore.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but picked up the wine glass on the table and drank it down in one gulp.He has a lot of ways to rule these people, but the Jin Dynasty court controlled by officials and gentry will not let him do that.

Sun Kewang finished drinking a glass with his head up, put the wine glass heavily on the table, and instead of eating, he asked, "So the imperial court connived at the folks changing their wheat fields to cotton, hoping to obtain money for military expansion through the cloth trade? What about the food?"

In the past few years, the Guanzhong area has recovered well, and basically said goodbye to the food shortage, so they don't feel the shortage of food, but Sun Kewang is in the Western Regions, and he feels that food is particularly valuable. His 50 households still rely on Guanzhong to provide part of the food.

Yu Yin filled it up for him, and then said: "Your Majesty, don't worry too much about the food, I've said it beforehand. Although many people have changed to planting cotton, the imperial court is also trying to promote corn, sweet potatoes, potatoes and other products. Things can be grown on dry land, and the yield per mu is higher than that of wheat, so the food problem will be alleviated, so the prince doesn't have to worry too much."

"Corn corn, sweet potatoes, potatoes? What are those?" Sun Kewang couldn't help but wonder, "Dry land can be planted, and the yield is higher than that of wheat?"

Not long after he went to the Western Regions, he came back to hear strange things. First, he heard that the Mughals had a population of more than 9000 million, which was more than that of Dajin and Ming. wheat.His face was full of doubts.

Yu Yin smiled, "This is a new crop I bought from the Ming Dynasty. The production of sweet potatoes and potatoes has just been obtained, and the production is not sure yet, but corn has already been planted in Yan'an and other places. Local officials responded to the increase. Very good, the yield should be good. With these things, the reduced yield of wheat should be able to make up for some, so the price of grain will not rise too much."

Sun Kewang saw that Yu Yin's words did not seem to be cheating, and there was no need for Yu Yin to lie to him. If this was the case, it would be acceptable for the cabinet to allow the folks to switch to cotton.

Seeing Sun Kewang picking up the wine glass, Yu Yin was playing with it in a daze, so he lifted it up and clinked the glass with him, and then said: "The gentry and the common people are after profit, and cotton farming is profitable, and the emperor can't help it. There are many fields in it. , all belonged to King Yongping, and Han et al. It is impossible to pass the ban on cotton planting in the cabinet. Right now, the imperial court can only properly control it, and then vigorously promote new crops while collecting taxes from the cotton cloth trade to solve the money for military expansion.”

Although the current method can indeed bring a fortune to the Kingdom of Jin, after Sun Kewang heard this, he was still a little disappointed.

Seeing that he was absent-minded, Yu Yin couldn't help asking: "What is the prince thinking about?"

Sun Kewang sighed, accepting Yu Yin's previous statement. He drank the wine in the glass again, and then said: "I want to expand the army of the Ming Dynasty by 20. My Dajin is so passive and is led by the Ming Dynasty." Go ahead, if he expands another 10 people, or restores the million-dollar army in the early Ming Dynasty, what should I do? Can I follow their footsteps and continue to expand the army?"

Sun Kewang's words were on point, and Yu Yin sighed, "I'm afraid that if it continues to expand, Dajin will collapse."

The two were silent for a while. Facing the current Ming Dynasty, it is really difficult for them to have a chance to turn things around.In fact, many people in the Jin Dynasty are not very optimistic about the future prospects of the Jin Dynasty, including Yu Yin, who wrote a letter from the Ministry of Household Affairs, and knows the strength gap between the Jin Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty best.

This time, Sun Kewang picked up the jug by himself, filled it for Yu Yin and himself, and took a sip of the wine. Both of them drank dryly and did not eat food. , is really not the best policy, the court will be dragged down by the Ming Dynasty sooner or later, have the cabinet and the emperor ever thought of any countermeasures to break the situation?"

After all, Sun Kewang is a person who has been exiled twice, so he sees problems very sharply.The current situation is that the Ming Dynasty is getting stronger and stronger, and even if the development of Jin is a little slower, it can be regarded as being continuously opened up.

If this continues, the Kingdom of Jin will definitely not be able to defend Guanzhong, and will inevitably be defeated.If the Kingdom of Jin wants to survive, it has to break the game, and there is a way to fight a bloody path, otherwise it will be slowly consumed to death.

Zhang Xianzhong was also forced by the situation in Sichuan back then, and had to go north to fight against the Qing Dynasty, looking for a way to break the situation. Later, Sun Kewang went north from Yunnan to seize southern Sichuan, also wanting to break the situation.

Although he failed both times, it doesn't mean that there was something wrong with his idea of ​​breaking the game. If he had stayed in Yunnan at the beginning, he would have lingered for a few years at most, and it is estimated that he would have been wiped out by the Ming Dynasty now.

Yu Yin sighed again, "Why didn't I think about it, the imperial court has already united with Dongyu, but there is no other good way. To the east is the Ming army, and the imperial court dare not take any action at all. To the north is Mobei Mongolia Even the imperial court did not dare to move, for fear that if they attack Mobei Mongolia, the Ming Dynasty will go to war with us."

To the east and south of the Kingdom of Jin is the powerful enemy of the Ming Dynasty, which blocks the development of the Kingdom of Jin. Mobei Mongolia in the north can become an annexation target of the Kingdom of Jin, but it is impossible for the Ming Dynasty to allow the Kingdom of Jin to annex Mobei Mongolia. , so the three directions will not work.

As he said that, Yu Yin looked at Sun Kewang, remembered something, and couldn't help asking suddenly: "I don't know why the prince returned to Chang'an this time?"

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(End of this chapter)