In the sixteenth year of Chongzhen's reign, the Ming imperial treasury is empty, and the state coffers are so bare a mouse could run through them.
Having transmigrated into the body of Crown Prince Zhu Cilang, I have barely opened my eyes when I hear my father, the Chongzhen Emperor, roar in the Qianqing Palace:
“The court has no money! The capital has no troops! What am I supposed to use to defend this empire?!”
I look at the nobles in court, all wailing about being broke, then at the gentry in Jiangnan, rolling in wealth, and finally toward the rebel army sharpening its blades outside the city and the Jurchen eyeing us hungrily from beyond the passes. Quietly, I “borrow” a little silver from my father's private treasury.
Open up maritime trade, build workshops, take control of the salt and iron industries, and overhaul the Grand Canal;
cut off corrupt officials' stipends, train a new army, root out parasites, and forge firearms!
At first, Chongzhen comes after this spendthrift crown prince with his sword raised.
But when Li Zicheng's army reaches the capital, the crown prince brings out a hundred thousand new troops, a million shi of grain, and tens of millions of taels in silver, then points at the city walls and grins:
“Father, was the silver I borrowed enough to save you?”
“If it wasn't...”
“Then let's borrow the fortunes of the realm's wealthy merchants and gentry too, and save this dying Ming Dynasty!”
The era of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties can be used to fill in the gaps in historical knowledge. I just finished reading it and it feels good. I feel that it is an unsystematic historical text about group portraits. It should be an online IQ article. After reading it, the opening chapter should introduce the party struggle game in the Southern Ming Dynasty and the main story line of the resistance to the Qing Dynasty and the restoration of the Ming Dynasty. The tripartite tripartite of the Ming Dynasty, Dashun, and the Qing Dynasty. In my impression, in this dynasty, the capital of the Ming Dynasty was besieged, the central government was on the verge of collapse, and the capital of Nanjing still existed, but the party struggle was fierce; Li Zicheng had just taken Shanxi, and his army was at the city, and the momentum was strong but the foundation was unstable; Dorgon led the Qing army to gather in Shanhaiguan, eyeing the Central Plains, and was ready to enter the customs to compete at any time...