In the royal study.
Long Yunfeng sat on a chair. After lunch, he returned to the royal study to read the memorials, clean up the account books, and flip through the account books page by page. His face was even gloomier than a cloudy day that was about to rain.
Long Yunfeng leaned back in his chair after he finished flipping through the pages and reached out his right hand to massage his slightly aching head.
"Great Qin has truly decayed to the bones.”
"The sick officials are exhausted, and the national treasury is empty."
"It looks like it won't be so easy to quickly restore Great Qin's power.”
"The most important thing is that there are no talents yet."
Most of the officials in Great Qin's Imperial Court were from the aristocratic families, and once they reformed, it would affect the interests of many aristocratic families.
Even though Long Yunfeng's ascension to the throne today has shocked all the ministers, if I were to touch their interests, it would probably hinder my reform.
There were many reforms in ancient China, but when their interests were violated, they would stop them at all costs.
Take the Ming Dynasty as an example. Before Zhang Juzheng's reform, the tax revenue of the Ming Dynasty was less than five million taels of silver, which was not even comparable to the Southern Song Dynasty.
Was the country really poor? No, after Li Zicheng entered Henan, he invaded King Fu's estate and raided King Fu's house. The wealth he plundered was actually more than four times that of the national treasury! After Zhang Juzheng's reform, the various taxes were converted into ten million taels of silver.
However, after Zhang Juzheng's death, this whip was quickly overthrown by the joint efforts of the various interest groups.
From then on, the Ming Dynasty no longer had any possibility of reviving.
When the Ming Dynasty was destroyed, the total amount of silver that the Great Shun Army that occupied Beijing found in the Ming Dynasty officials 'residences was as high as 60 to 70 million taels.
In addition to the cellars in other places, scholars estimated that there were at least 200 million taels of silver in the cellars at the end of the Ming Dynasty.
This large amount of silver, calculated in the hundreds of millions of taels, usually hid quietly in the cellars of corrupt officials and rich people.
At that time, the entire Ming Dynasty's silver stock, including the silver accumulated from the Tang, Song, and Yuan Dynasties, the silver produced in the Ming Dynasty, and the silver flowing in from overseas, added up to only about 750 million taels.
The 750 million taels of silver were cast into silverware and jewelry and flowed into Central Asia. It was only a part of the Ming Dynasty's currency.
Not all of this silver currency had entered the market. A large proportion of it was still hoarded and withdrawn from circulation. The result of this was a serious deflation in the economy of the late Ming Dynasty. In the words of the people at that time, it was called " the power of silver has been exhausted."
Did the country really run out of money? No! It was the wealthy merchants, corrupt officials, and gentry who hid the peasants 'silver! Although the people were rich, the country had no money, no ability to organize an army, and no ability to deal with disasters. In such an environment, the Ming Dynasty was plagued by internal and external troubles and died of hatred.
The Ming Dynasty's destruction was a financial collapse, and Great Qin was facing the same predicament as the Ming Dynasty.
There were only two million taels left in the national treasury.
What could this little bit of silver do?
It was not enough to fight a big battle.
It was estimated that even a disaster would not be enough to deal with it.
Ever since Long Yunfeng came to this world, he began to understand the situation of this foreign world. The continent he was in was called Haotian, and there were fourteen vassal states in Haotian. They were Qin, Chu, Qi, Yan, Zhao, Wei, Han, Tang, Ning, Yu, Heng, Liang, Mo, and Chuan.
Among these fourteen vassal states, Ning, Chu, Yan, Chuan, and Tang were the strongest.
The Ning Kingdom was located in the north of the Haotian Continent. It had seven prefectures and thirty-four counties, with a population of about seventy million. The archery formation of the Ning Kingdom shocked all the vassal states.
An arrow formation was a very common offensive formation. However, it was not possible for anyone to maximize the power of this formation. The biggest feature of an arrow formation was that the formation was like an arrow, and the attack was like an arrow. There was only one feature of an arrow: it would not turn back once it left.
There was no turning back. Arrows were meant to attack, and the arrows that were shot were meant to kill. Therefore, arrows were the most offensive weapons, and arrow formations were also the most offensive battle formations. Thus, the Ning Country's arrow formation, together with infantry and cavalry, made the Ning Country's strength rank among the top five of the fourteen vassal kingdoms.
The Chu Country was located in the southeast of the continent. It had eight prefectures and 35 counties, and had a population of over 100 million. The area was densely covered with rivers and rivers, and the transportation was convenient. The Chu Country's economy was developed, and the Chu Country's warships dominated the south.
The Tang Empire was located in the Central Plains. It had seven states and forty-three counties, with a population of more than sixty-seven million. Although it was located in the Central Plains, the Tang Empire's heavy-armored soldiers swept through all the other countries. Moreover, the Tang Empire's technology was advanced, and the Tang Empire's wine was spread all over the continent. Its military equipment was the strongest among the vassal states.
The Yan Country was located in the northwest of the mainland. It had six states and twenty counties, and a population of more than 43 million. Although the Yan Country had many deserts and weak economic strength, the Yan Country's cavalry could defeat the Rong Di people and make them afraid to go south.
Chuan Country was located in the southwest. It had seven states and thirty-seven counties, with a population of more than 70 million. Chuan Country was bordered by the southwest barbarians and was often harassed by them. Therefore, almost the entire country had soldiers. Moreover, Chuan Country often fought with the barbarians and had rich combat experience.
The Qin Country was located in the northeast of the continent, with six states and thirty-two counties, and a population of fifty-four million.
Qin was located in the northeast, but it was in a situation of internal and external troubles. It bordered the Jin Kingdom in the north and Wuwan in the northeast. Almost every year, there would be small-scale battles with the Jin Kingdom and Wuwan.
Every winter, snow accumulated on the frontier, often freezing many cattle and sheep to death. Therefore, they could only attack the border south to snatch food. Moreover, the Qin country was very at odds with the Ning country in the west and the Mo country in the south.
How could he make Great Qin stronger? Long Yunfeng stroked his chin and thought.
If a country wanted to become strong, its people had to be rich. They had to have food, clothes, and houses. As long as they had land, Great Qin would be able to recover in the shortest amount of time.
The high concentration of land had always been the root cause of civil unrest. Land reform was beneficial to alleviate social conflicts and stabilize the country. It was a rare move that benefited the country and the people.
If one wanted to embark on the path of a powerful country, there was a basic point that must be guaranteed. The people could not be too poor. If the people did not have a livelihood, no matter how large the population was and how vast the territory was, the country would never be strong even if it was rich.
The country is based on the people. If the people are rich, the people will be safe, and if the people are safe, the country will be safe. If you want to make the country rich and strong, the people are rich and the country is safe.
Similarly, if one wanted to develop the industry, the people's wealth was also the foundation. The reason why they wanted to implement the reform was to make the country rich and the army strong.
To carry out the reform, the interests of the people must be placed first. If only a small number of interests were valued, the reform would lose its meaning.
The land issue was undoubtedly the most important thing for the people. Carrying out the Land Reforms would allow the majority of the people to get rid of poverty and become rich, giving them a certain purchasing power. Only then would they be able to form a large domestic market, and they would be able to rely on the domestic market to open up foreign markets. This would greatly help with Great Qin's industrialisation.
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。