Looking at the court costume dramas, you will find some rules: In the imperial court, what is easier to quarrel? To give someone a promotion, either the emperor has decided long ago, or the hundred officials know it. Whether or not to send troops to fight or not to fight, this matter is nothing but fighting or not, and it will not be a quarrel. Most of the people who can make everyone participate in the civil and military officials and quarrel endlessly are money matters.
In the first episode of the Ming Dynasty, hundreds of officials argue over where to spend the money. There is also such a plot in the Yongzheng Dynasty: the fourth brother Dangting punctured the lie of the eighth brother and told the emperor that there was not much money left in the treasury. Causing the kangxi court to be angry in his old age.
It can be said that finance is the blood of a country. The "Kang Yongqian" of the Qing Dynasty is often talked about, and the Qing Dynasty in this period can be said to be unique in scenery and prosperous. So how much money did these three generations of grandchildren, Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong, leave for the Qing Dynasty?
As a famous and wise monarch in history, Kangxi's achievements during his reign were impressive, but after his death, the amount of money left to the country was not much. First of all, the ancient method used to calculate fiscal revenue is called the "four-pillar inventory", which in layman's terms includes principal, income, expenditure, and balance.
After the death of the Kangxi Emperor, the treasury left more than 8 million taels of silver, which was estimated by a scholar named Kennedy in the United States. Overall, it has improved a lot compared with the 2.48 million taels in the sixth year of the Kangxi Dynasty, and the highest silver deposit in the Kangxi Dynasty was 47.36 million taels in the fifty-eighth year of the Kangxi Dynasty. This is already a good inventory.
During the reign of The Kangxi Dynasty, although there was a stable payment of taxes to the national treasury, the emperor was also honest and honest. However, not long after the establishment of the regime, it is still in the stage of maintaining stability, and money is needed everywhere. We must fight externally and quell chaos internally. It is also necessary to transfer the tax money to the provinces for use. The official's salary was also issued on time without arrears. After deducting these costs, the amount of silver in the treasury is not much.
In his later years, Kangxi had limited energy, relaxed management of officials, and delegated many affairs to ministers and sons, leading to the breeding of corruption and the hoodwinkment of the emperor. Exactly how much money the treasury had, even he himself did not know.
Whether it is personality or circumstances, Yongzheng is different from Kangxi. The Kangxi Emperor ascended the throne at a young age and held great power early, so he appeared confident and accessible in personality, and governing the imperial court was also great. It is embodied in the financial problem, that is, to promote the development of the non-governmental economy, sometimes to reduce taxes, and some arrears are not deeply investigated.
Yongzheng, on the other hand, took the throne in middle age, and for the first half of his life, he was patient and saw the ills of the imperial court from a cold-eyed bystander. In the first few years after ascending the throne, he vigorously investigated and dealt with corruption and tax arrears. Compared with the glorious Kangxi Dynasty, Yongzheng appeared very stable.
Yongzheng's way of governing the country has been very effective. Officials who commit corrupt acts are confiscated, their family property confiscated, and they are returned to the state treasury. Many of the ills of the Kangxi Dynasty were eradicated in one fell swoop in the Yongzheng Dynasty. Not only has the national treasury been enriched, but a solemn atmosphere has also been formed at all levels of the government and the public, which is of great benefit to the governance of the country.
Yongzheng's diligence is well known. He is said to sleep only about 4 hours a day, most of which he spends governing the country. A series of reforms and governance measures have been promulgated. During the Kangxi Dynasty, some readers were exempt from taxation, while Yongzheng was treated equally and all were included in the tax-paying group. Although it seems unseemly in the eyes of readers, it is very useful for practical results.
Not only that, Yongzheng also encouraged farmers to cultivate the land diligently. There are also rewards for good land planting, and official positions can also be awarded and honors can be awarded. The yongzheng emperor's power has contributed to the prosperity of Kangqian. After the death of the Yongzheng Emperor, the silver stored in the national treasury plus the local taxes amounted to more than 60 million taels, laying a rich foundation for the prosperity of Qianlong.
Some people commented that the Qianlong Emperor was very good at his work and was very capable of spending money, like a fully rich second generation. And so it is. His father Yongzheng left him plenty of silver. But in fact, the Qianlong Emperor did not sit on the mountain and eat the sky. According to Kennedy's statistics, during the Qing Dynasty, the highest period of national inventory of silver appeared in the Qianlong Dynasty, and it was in the forty-sixth year of Qianlong.
Although the Yongzheng Emperor had a lot of money in terms of economy, he also spent a lot on military conquests. There are different opinions on whether the silver left behind after his death is 6,000 or more than 30 million taels. However, no matter how much, the highest inventory of 81.82 million taels during the Qianlong period is still a record high.
At the beginning of the Qianlong Emperor's succession, the country had become stable internally. In terms of internal troubles, during the Kangxi period, there were Wu Sangui Aobai and others, and during the Yongzheng period, there was a year of Tang Yao Gong Gao Zhen Lord, and in the Qianlong period, there was no threat inside and outside the government and the public, and the imperial power was concentrated in the hands of Qianlong alone.
According to statistics, during the Qianlong period, the national treasury was always maintained at 30 to 40 million taels of silver, which was relatively abundant. The young and powerful emperor, coupled with a solid family foundation, often did war during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor. PingzunGar, fight back to the ministry, defend Taiwan. Expand the territory of the outside world, send troops to Burma, Vietnam, Nepal.
Even so, Qianlong's treasury was not emptied. The country laid down by the fathers has entered the flywheel effect, and a steady stream of wealth is still pouring into the national treasury. Therefore, in the forty-sixth year of Qianlong, there was even a record of the highest inventory in the history of the Qing Dynasty.
Unfortunately, the glory will finally come to an end. Because Qianlong did not encounter any major setbacks in his life, he was satisfied in his later years. In his later years, the emperor was somewhat incompetent, Kangxi was a little confused, and Qianlong became conceited. He began to be extravagant and wasteful, extravagant, and wantonly squandered the national treasury savings, and also engaged in a closed country, so that the Qing Dynasty gradually fell into decline.
At the time of Qianlong's death, the treasury had only more than 19 million taels of silver, which was far from the glory of the past. However, the Qianlong Emperor was not without plans, and although the treasury was empty, he was very rich. Although Qianlong was extremely fond of Hezhen during his lifetime, and acquiesced in the flow of a huge amount of silver into the Gong Palace, even if Hezhen's pockets were drummed up again, it would eventually be emptied by Qianlong's son Jiaqing.
Governing a big country is like cooking a small fresh, but it is difficult for a woman to cook without rice. All the expenditure of the state, the dispatch of troops to war, must be paid out of the treasury. As the manager of the treasury, how the ruler dispatches and uses it, and how to obtain more, all reflect the respective abilities of the rulers.
Looking at the silver left by the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty to future generations, we can glimpse the rise and fall of a country during the reign of a ruler. It can also be seen that an emperor's governing strategy and character can be seen. The three dynasties of "Kang Yongqian" were the peak of the development of the Qing Dynasty, and the three emperors were different, but all of them had outstanding governance capabilities, which created a great contribution to China at that time.
Kangxi's 8 million taels also write the blue wisps of the road at the beginning of the rise of great powers, while Yongzheng's 60 million taels are the glory medals of a shrewd monarch, and the more than 80 million taels of Qianlong in the forty-six years are the portrayal of the peak of a regime. After Arriving in Jiaqing, the revenue of the national treasury and some new expenses implied the back of a dynasty going downhill.