Chapter 935: Ah! The Homeland in the North! (Please Subscribe)

Although the Zhu Emperor used lack of funds as an excuse to withdraw the army and return to court, and in doing so wrecked the long-awaited plan to move the capital back to Beijing that all the muddle-headed officials had been craning their necks for, the lack of money was merely an excuse!

How could the Great Ming of today possibly be short of money? Just look at who is serving as Minister of Revenue! That man is known as the richest man in the Great Ming, in fact the richest man in the world, and moreover a self-made Zheng Zhilong who built a fortune worth hundreds of millions from nothing!

With him in Nanjing managing the Ministry of Revenue, how could the Zhu Emperor's Great Ming lack money?

"There is money, there is money, of course there is money! Your Majesty, rest assured, with this subject managing the Ministry of Revenue, the court will never be left poor. In fact, since the northern expedition began, the court's revenues have risen year after year, and the bond-issuance plan drawn up earlier now seems almost superfluous in this subject's view. At present the Ministry of Revenue's accounts still hold over a hundred million, more than enough to meet military needs in the north..."

The man now thumping his chest in the Yanshan Hall of Laoshan Palace and assuring the Zhu Emperor that there was money to spend was, of course, the richest man, Zheng Zhilong.

Zhu Cilang had returned to Laoshan Palace on the twenty-fifth day of the third month, and then issued an edict saying that he was weary from the journey and would rest for a few days while preparing for the triumphal military review on the first day of the fourth month, so the greater and lesser court sessions would remain suspended until formally resuming on the third day of the fourth month.

But however weary he was, his father-in-law still had to be received, so the day after the Zhu Emperor returned to Laoshan Palace, he issued an order summoning Wu Xiang and Zheng Zhilong. Wu Xiang, having been given the lucrative post of Governor of Jiangbei, was in Yangzhou, so he could not arrive quickly. The one who entered the palace for an audience on the twenty-sixth day of the third month was Zheng Zhilong.

"Wait!"

On the second floor of the East Warm Pavilion of Yanshan Hall, in a Chinese-style reception room, the Zhu Emperor opened his mouth and interrupted Zheng Zhilong, who was busy "flaunting his wealth."

The Zhu Emperor of course knew the court had money. Could he, the emperor acclaimed as the greatest money-raiser in the Great Ming's two hundred and sixty-odd years, not know the court had money?

Before the northern expedition had even begun, he had known that the more they fought, the richer they would become! Not only because war stimulates demand, but also because victory in war brings great spoils. Of course, the movable wealth among the spoils was easily dispersed and hard to keep in the hands of the Great Ming court. But land, cities, ports, canals, mines, salt fields, forests, pastureland, and other immovable property had nowhere to hide and nowhere to run.

If the southeast's industry and commerce were not developed, and there were no financial system capable of supporting large-scale real estate transactions, the immovable property gained from the northern expedition could not be converted into cash or mortgaged.

But the industry, commerce, and finance of the Great Ming's southeast were already sufficiently developed, so the immovable property seized in the northern expedition could all be turned into money on the books of the two banks.

Even considering that most of the arable land obtained would be distributed to meritorious officials, the Great Ming court could still obtain wealth in the hundreds of millions from the remaining assets.

So the last thing the Zhu Emperor lacked right now was money!

But this was not the time to flaunt wealth. Right now the Great Ming court had to pretend to be poor—the pillars of the court were the exiled northerners, and they had left their homes only a little over ten years ago. Every one of them was homesick and could hardly wait to move back to Beijing! And although the gentry and wealthy merchants of the southeast had profited handsomely from the Zhu Emperor's rule, they were not necessarily eager for the court to remain in Nanjing forever.

With the court staying in Nanjing, it was not so easy for them to evade taxes!

Even without a financial expert like Zhu Cilang on the throne, even an emperor like Chongzhen, who had grown up deep in the palace and knew little of the outside world, would only have to step out of the Forbidden City in Nanjing and make an incognito visit to the Qinhuai River to know how rich you Jiangnan scoundrel gentry and crooked merchants were.

Why was the Song dynasty so wealthy in history? Was it not because Bianliang itself was the economic center of the Northern Song, while the Jiangnan region around Lin'an was the most prosperous and wealthy region in the entire world during the Southern Song?

If even then no money could be collected, the emperor would have to be a true fool!

"Duke of Quan," Zhu Cilang lowered his voice and looked at Zheng Zhilong with a grave expression, "does Chancellor Wei know we have money? Do the other Grand Secretaries in the Grand Secretariat know the court is dripping with wealth?"

Zheng Zhilong was briefly taken aback, then immediately understood the Zhu Emperor's meaning and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, they of course know the court's revenues cover its expenses, but exactly how much money there is, they do not know... Even with the court's account books laid out before them, they would not know where the money is!"

They were all great Confucian scholars steeped in the classics, after all! How would they know the tricks crooked merchants use to cook the books?

And Zheng Zhilong was no fool either. He was not worried about being dismissed as Minister of Revenue—this post was a burden to him, and he would be glad to be rid of it! So he would not pretty up the reports and create pressure for himself.

Thus the "greater than Zhuge Liang" famed chancellor of a generation whom Zhu Cilang employed, Wei Zaode, was a famed chancellor who did not even know that the Grand Secretariat he himself headed had plenty of money... And Zhu Cilang was wicked enough not to tell the famed Chancellor Wei that the court had money.

"That is good," Zhu Cilang said with a smile. "Father-in-law, you must hide the court's money well and not let them find it. We cannot show our wealth; we must pretend to be poor!"

"Pretend to be poor?" Zheng Zhilong thought for a moment, then understood again. "Is Your Majesty worried about the proposal to move the capital north?"

Zheng Zhilong was one of the few high officials who opposed moving the court north, and his reason was not that he was willing to pay more taxes, but that he hoped the court would put more effort into the sea!

With the full unfolding of exchanges between China and the West, Zheng Zhilong, who had always kept his eyes wide open to the world, had completely grasped the importance of the ocean.

In his view, Zhu Cilang had invested far too many resources in the Yellow Sect Mongol territories. If those resources were used at sea to develop the navy, they would already have an "Invincible Armada."

With an "Invincible Armada" as backing, the Zheng family could extend its maritime trade to the Spice Islands, India, and the Ottoman Empire!

That would be a great business with wealth rolling in endlessly!

Zhu Cilang nodded: "In the next ten or twenty years, the argument for moving north will not die out. After all, the homesickness of those who came south is not so easily dissolved. We must wait until their children have grown up in the southeast and truly become part of it; then they will not be able to leave!"

In fact, for many years after Zhu Di moved the capital north, moving south had remained a hot topic at the Great Ming court, and as late as one month before the death of Emperor Renzong, Zhu Gaochi, he had still wanted to move the capital back to Nanjing.

Zhu Cilang paused, then continued: "Does the Ministry of Revenue have any thoughts on the confiscated properties in the north? Should an office be established and a shrewd official dispatched to manage this matter specifically?"

Zheng Zhilong thought for a moment and said: "Your Majesty, the confiscated properties in the north are numerous and indeed must be handled carefully. Handled well, several hundred million can be recovered! But ordinary officials probably cannot manage such a task... This subject does have someone in mind."

"Who?" Zhu Cilang looked at Zheng Zhilong with great interest—he wanted to know upon whom Zheng Zhilong intended to dump this thankless burden.

Zheng Zhilong said: "The Minister of the Northern Seas, Marquis of Chongming, Shen Tingyang!"

This man was the "second richest man in the Great Ming," right behind Zheng Zhilong!

Zheng Zhilong had made his fortune in maritime trade and finance, while this man had benefited from manufacturing. Because of the demand created by the three-year northern expedition war, the great manual workshops of Shanghai Shen Steel, Shanghai Shen Carriages, Shanghai Shen Ships, and Shanghai Shen Medicines had all made profits beyond measure!

Moreover, in order to open his handicraft workshops in Shanghai, Shen Tingyang had purchased large tracts of land within or near the Shanghai commercial port. In recent years land prices in the Shanghai commercial port had risen steadily, and the port itself had expanded again and again, absorbing much of the land nearby, so Shen Tingyang had also made a fortune from the appreciation of the land.

"Shen Tingyang..." Zhu Cilang had in fact also thought of this man, because he was the only one among the Great Ming's super-capitalists who had made large investments in the north and succeeded.

"Is he willing to take this post?" Zhu Cilang asked. "It seems he does not even want to remain Minister of the Northern Seas, does he?"

Shen Tingyang was now a great meritorious official, enfeoffed as the Marquis of Chongming for Overcoming Hardship, and already ranked among the first class of ennobled worthies. Whether or not he held the substantive post of Minister of the Northern Seas would have no adverse effect on the Shen family's commercial activities.

So not long before, he had submitted his resignation, wishing to retire and return home to devote himself to business, and had also suggested abolishing the now-outdated Northern and Southern Seas offices.