Whether it is ancient or modern, when it comes to where the most money is, the first idea that pops up in many people's heads is "national treasury". Indeed, the national treasury not only holds a country's money, but also a symbol of the country's economic strength.
The state treasury develops with the progress of human society, the improvement of the level of social productive forces, and the emergence of the state, and is an inevitable product of the development of social production to a certain stage. In ancient times, although the emperor was highly powerful, the country and the people were his, of course, money was also his, so that many people thought that the ancient emperor was not short of money. However, the real situation does not seem to be as simple as everyone thinks.
Friends who are familiar with history must be very curious about how much silver is in the national treasury of each dynasty and each generation. Today, we will take the Great Qing Dynasty as an example to unveil this secret for everyone.
In the thirteenth year of Yongzheng, he died after a lifetime of exhaustion, after which he was succeeded by his fourth son, Hongli, who was also known as the Qianlong Emperor. Yongzheng took over the position of grand unification from the plight of Kangxi in his later years, and finally, after thirteen years of hard work, the Qing Dynasty presented a thriving scene. It is said that when Kangxi died, there were only eight million taels of silver in the treasury, and by the time of Yongzheng's death, there were as high as sixty million taels of silver in the treasury.
Moreover, this figure was refreshed again in the early days of Qianlong's reign.
Next, let's take a look at the silver deposits of the Qing Dynasty treasury after Qianlong took over the country!
The highest financial balance of the Central Committee of the Qing Dynasty was the forty-second year of Qianlong, that is, 1777. According to the statistics of the Yellow Book of the Household Department's Silver Treasury, the financial data for this year are: old management, 74.66 million; new receipts, 18.11 million; dismissal, 10.95 million; real, 81.82 million. According to the old pipe, the new collection, the expulsion, and the reality, these four names are combined into the "four pillars". The Four Pillar Inventory is a traditional accounting method of the Great Qing Dynasty, which was founded in the Tang Dynasty and was used until the end of the Qing Dynasty.
In modern accounting terms, the "four pillars" are equivalent to: opening balance, current income, current period expenditure and ending balance.
After the four dynasties of Shunzhi, Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong, for more than a hundred years, the state treasury finally had 80 million taels of silver, and finally, a satisfactory financial report was handed over. But who would have thought that in another seventy years, the silver stored in the treasury would be nothing compared to the current fraction.
So why?
In fact, the biggest "loser" was none other than the Qianlong Emperor himself. In his hands, although he had achieved an unprecedented amount of silver, when Jiaqing took over, there was only less than 20 million amounts of silver left. Then, in the twenty years of qianlong's late reign, where did this silver amount of up to 60 million taels go?
Qianlong's money is mainly spent in three aspects:
Pacify the frontier wars, build large civil engineering gardens, and tour other provinces. In Qianlong's view, if you want to "prosper in the world", you must "rule by culture and martial arts", and places to spend money abound. Therefore, Qianlong boldly implemented "active finance," and the money was gone. Although there was no money in the treasury, Qianlong was very leisurely and self-satisfied, and he called himself the "Perfect Old Man" and said that he was a good emperor who had never been seen in ancient times.
However, Qianlong's "ease" pit his son Jiaqing, and when it was Jiaqing's turn to govern, the money in the treasury had already gone for more than half. Fortunately, the Jiaqing Emperor was able to learn his father's lessons in time, know how to actively manage money, and no longer pursue grandiose.
So, at the time of his death, some of the silver in the treasury was restored, almost thirty million taels.
The Daoguang Emperor inherited his father's will, removed the luxurious life, returned to a simple life, and lived with a tight belt. At one time, it created a good record of 33 million silver inventories in the two countries, and there was hope of recovering the vitality of the Great Qing Dynasty.
However, unfortunately, the Daoguang Emperor was unlucky and was doomed not to be rich for a lifetime. When he was in power, in the face of the Opium War from Britain, a large amount of military expenses and reparations were spent, and in the end, the national treasury was only eight million taels.
When Xianfeng succeeded to the throne, the situation was even worse. Because, as soon as he ascended the throne, he had to face a civil war with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, because the enemy occupied many tax areas at that time, so the national treasury could not collect silver. However, military expenditure is a large expenditure that cannot be ignored, and Xianfeng raises money left and right under such a situation of "filling a big hole". In the end, the national inventory of silver figures was 1.6 million taels, a record low.
Sadly, these million taels are not real money and silver, only book figures. After that, after accurate verification, the real national treasury silver of that year was only 118,709, and even less than a private rich man. Compared with the heyday of the Qianlong period, the gap between the national treasury and silver was as high as eight hundred times, which also made the reputation of the Xianfeng Emperor very bad.
Everyone believes that the Xianfeng Emperor is an incompetent emperor who can live the prosperous Qing Dynasty like this. In fact, he can't be blamed for this.
It is said that when the Xianfeng Emperor was at his worst, he was able to melt all the valuable precious metals in the Forbidden City, even the large copper cylinder used for fire prevention, because these had to be exchanged for money and money to pay the army. It was a very tense and humiliating day, but, in any case, at the time of his death, the treasury still had some silver.
During the Tongzhi years and the Guangxu years, the days were even more miserable, because at that time they had to face various reparations after defeat. At this time, the treasury of the Qing Dynasty had already been hollowed out, and in the end, it was reduced to the point of needing a loan from the bank. Until the Xuan reunification year, because he only worked for three years before abdicating, but the irony is that during this period, even the food expenses of the small imperial court of the imperial palace were subsidized by the national government.
Moreover, Xuantong will also sell some national treasures to subsidize the family.
In fact, judging from the detailed accounts of the treasury of the Great Qing Dynasty, it is consistent with the rise and fall of the emperors of the Great Qing Dynasty. This emperor has the ability, and naturally there are more treasury silver, this emperor has no ability, even the treasury silver is sloppy.
Therefore, the history of the treasury is equivalent to the history of the rise and fall of a dynasty, because silver is the foundation of a country.
In the end, the Qing Dynasty could not escape the fate of collapse.
From the establishment of the Qing Dynasty in 1636, after more than two hundred years of history, it finally went to the road of extinction in 1912.
Resources:
[Records of Emperor Shizong of the Qing Dynasty, Records of Emperor Gaozong of the Qing Dynasty, Political Gains and Losses of Chinese Dynasties: The Qing Dynasty]