Chapter 22 The Financially Strenuous Prince Yu
Chapter 22 The Financially Strenuous Prince Yu
At noon, Zhu Zaigui warmly invited Gao Gong to have lunch with him, but Gao Gong still refused. Finally, he left the palace after Zhu Zaigui reluctantly saw him off.
After seeing off Li Shizhen and Gao Gong, Zhu Zaigui was in a good mood. He turned around and said to Meng Chong, "Is there beef for lunch today?"
Unexpectedly, Meng Chong immediately complained, "Your Majesty, there is beef today, but there will be no more in the future."
Zhu Zaiqi was stunned and asked, "Why?"
Meng Chong said aggrievedly, "Because the prince gave all the money to Doctor Li, we have no money left in our house."
When Zhu Zaigui heard this, he was shocked!
Is this still the Prince's Palace of the Ming Dynasty? How come the whole pot was taken away for just one thousand taels of silver?
Zhu Zaigui said with a dark face: "Did you embezzle my money?"
Meng Chong immediately cried out in grievance, "Your Majesty, who dares to embezzle the palace's expenses? We really don't have much money left. Although the Ministry of Revenue and the Imperial Palace have allocated a lot of silver, there are hundreds of mouths to feed in the palace, and dozens of taels of silver are consumed every day. Now, Your Majesty has generously rewarded Doctor Li with a thousand taels of silver, and we really have no money."
Zhu Zaigui was also stunned. He never expected that he would still be so poor even though he became a prince of the Ming Dynasty.
You have to know that according to Zhu Zaigui's understanding of the Ming Dynasty royal family before he traveled through time, except for those pitiful distant relatives with low titles, the rest of the princes, dukes, etc. lived a more comfortable life than each other.
Not only did they own a large amount of land and property, but they also did not have to pay taxes and were provided with food by the imperial court. Their lives were even more comfortable than those of pigs.
Why do I suddenly feel tight on money when it comes to me?
Is it possible that my title of Prince of the Ming Dynasty is fake?
Zhu Zaigui asked, "Don't I have any royal farms and shops under my name?"
Meng Chong replied, "Yes, we do, but they are all in the suburbs of Beijing. All the good land has been taken by others. The imperial farm that the emperor has bestowed on us is barely enough to make a living. As for the shops, we don't have much business either. We just do our job every day and can't make much money."
"what?!"
Zhu Zaigui couldn't believe that Meng Chong would say that. Could it be that the Prince of the Ming Dynasty was so miserable?
But in fact, it is not the case. The miserable ones are princes like him who have been granted titles but have not yet been granted fiefdoms. They do not have formal fiefdoms, so their current industries and lands in the capital are almost all temporary. Therefore, their daily expenses still need supplies from the Ministry of Revenue and the Imperial Palace, and they live a life of dependence on others.
When the emperor is in a good mood, he will remember and give more rewards. When he is in a bad mood, he will forget and there will be nothing.
Moreover, there are many personal connections in Beijing, so naturally there are many places where money needs to be spent.
If any duke or marquis has a happy event or a death, which prince in Beijing who has not yet established a fiefdom would not show some concern?
This is a considerable expense.
As for the income of the palace itself, it was even more dismal.
Because the palace's own industries are all temporary, it is difficult to expect the subordinates who are in charge of the temporary industries to be dedicated to their work.
After all, there is no reward for doing a good job, and no punishment for doing a bad job, so lying down is inevitable.
Zhu Zaigui said in disbelief: "Is there no good news at all?"
Meng Chong replied aggrievedly: "No."
Zhu Zaigui couldn't help but sigh, "Am I a worker chosen by heaven? Do I have to work hard in the Ming Dynasty?"
After Zhu Zaigui finished sighing, he said to Meng Chong: "First, you should take inventory of all the fields and shops under the name of the palace. I want to understand the family's financial situation first."
Meng Chong didn't know what Zhu Zaigui wanted to do with all this, so he replied, "Yes, I'll do it right away."
Just as Meng Chong was about to turn around to do the task assigned by Zhu Zai'ao, Zhu Zai'ao stopped Meng Chong again and said, "Cook for me first. I'm hungry. Remember to stir-fry the beef with green onions. This way it will be fragrant."
Meng Chong sighed and hurried to the kitchen of the palace to prepare lunch for Zhu Zaigui.
At this time, Zhu Zaigui was sitting alone in the front hall of the palace, with his chin supported by one hand, thinking about how to make money.
Although he is only a thirteen-year-old child now, the soul within his body is not.
At the very least, I have knowledge that is five hundred years ahead of my time. If I can show off one or two of these knowledge, I will never have to worry about food and drink for the rest of my life.
But the problem lies here. Although Zhu Zaiqi knows a lot about the future and has seen a lot of future technologies, it is not easy for him to choose something that can make money quickly. After all, many technologies require thresholds, and Zhu Zaiqi has only seen and used them. As for how to manufacture them, this is also a difficult problem.
The current financial situation in Prince Yu's Mansion does not allow Zhu Zaigui much opportunity to trial and error.
Once the royal palace’s assets are really emptied, they will either have to shamelessly ask the Ministry of Revenue to borrow money, or shamelessly ask Jiajing to borrow money.
But Jiajing himself was a bottomless pit of money. In order to cultivate immortality, he almost disregarded the national finances and kept squeezing the country's financial potential to pave the way for his own cultivation.
But can a mortal become an immortal?
Therefore, for Zhu Zaigui, Jiajing's way of exhausting the national finances to cultivate immortality was simply an unimaginable and crazy act.
It’s just that they are the ones in charge now, and I have to live a dependent life, so naturally I can’t stand up and accuse Emperor Jiajing of wrongdoing.
Therefore, now Zhu Zaigui can only rely on himself.
But how to make money?
Zhu Zaigui found it difficult to stay.
Making perfume, soap?
Obviously, this approach is not feasible. Not to mention the process of making perfume and soap, given the status and position of women in the Ming Dynasty, it is impossible for them to go out on the streets and go shopping as often as shown in later TV dramas.
Moreover, many prominent families also have their own servants, and they are self-sufficient in many daily necessities.
Therefore, even if Zhu Zaigui invented perfume and soap, it would not be possible for people to flock to buy them as portrayed in brainless TV dramas.
The biggest probability is that in the end, everything will be a mess and you will lose everything.
So the path of making perfume and soap is not feasible.
In this case, we have to think about what items are popular in this era but cannot be mass-produced.
Zhu Zaigui focused his thoughts on this area.
Just as Zhu Zaigui was thinking hard, Meng Chong finally prepared the stir-fried beef with green onions according to Zhu Zaigui's instructions.
"Your Majesty, it's time for dinner."
Zhu Zaigui said "oh" and stood up.
As Zhu Zaigui walked towards the small restaurant, he asked thoughtfully, "Meng Daban, what do you like most?"
When Meng Chong heard that Zhu Zaigui actually took the initiative to care about what he liked, tears of emotion welled up in his eyes.
"I just want the prince to be well and healthy."
When Zhu Zaigui heard Meng Chong's disgusting words, he suddenly felt a chill.
Zhu Zaigui said disdainfully: "Who asked you this? I am asking what you like to eat or use the most."
Meng Chong glanced at Zhu Zaigui awkwardly, then replied: "I like to eat sweet things, and I have no shortage of them."
"Sweet?"
When Zhu Zaigui heard this, a flash of inspiration suddenly came to his mind. He remembered a money-making idea from a novel he had read before traveling through time.
Zhu Zaigui's mood suddenly became better, and he praised Meng Chong: "It's good to like sweet food, it's really good to like sweet food! Follow me in the future, and I will let you have endless sweets!"
(End of this chapter)