C3809 (1/2)

Zai Chun compromised in the end and used his last trump card, which means that he will give the person back to me, and I will not take the money!

Yi Xiao was shocked, all the ministers of the East Warm Pavilion understood. They stared at each other, not daring to believe their own ears!

The contents of the paper were very clear. There were several kinds of treasures in the palace, and the silver taels was estimated to be around 650,000 taels!

This was no small amount of money! Don't underestimate these nobles with imperial authority. The budget approved on the paper was all in the millions or even tens of millions of taels of silver. However, if one were to look at the society at that time, there actually weren't that many wealthy people!

In an agricultural society, the commodity economy was very underdeveloped. A large amount of wealth existed in the form of land, houses, treasures, even people and livestock!

If a family could have money that was worth ten thousand taels of silver, then they were already a middle-class family member of the Great Qing!

In the society of that time, silver was not a necessary currency, and most people used bronze coins!

It was a very ordinary middle-class landowner. Her family had been living together for several hundred mu in two days, with a deep courtyard and a large family with dozens of people living together.

Looking at the modern man like Xiao Letian, the amount of money such a large clan spends every year was definitely not young or young!

But it was wrong. In the era of farming and civilization, self-sufficiency was the main trend!

There was no need to spend money on food. Every year, the output of the fields and the captures of the mountains and plains was enough for food and drink. Spending money to buy food only made up a small portion of the food consumed.

Only visitors or festivals could buy meat, eggs, and poultry!

He was even more frugal with his clothes. Ordinary people would have to sew for three years to make up for it! The custom of weaving earthen cloth is preserved in many villages.

Those who could wear silk and silk were only able to do so because they had once served as an official!

Therefore, the true social wealth of the late Qing was still accumulated on fixed assets, such as land, houses and so on … As for cash, those were things that could only be found in a completely commercialized society.

Forget about local landlords, even a first or second rank official of the imperial government would not have a very high share of cash if you carefully looked at the composition of his assets!

Everyone knew that Prince Kung had the money and power, but to get him to immediately take out 600,000 silver from his family, he didn't have the ability!

The Residence of Crown Prince was a priceless treasure, but there was no way it could be sold! You can manage the imperial manor that the Dao Guang Emperor and Emperor Xian Feng bestowed upon you as much as you want. The farmers there are all your servants, but you can't turn them into silver even if you want to sell them!

The treasures in the mansion were as precious as mountains, even the chopsticks were made of gold and jade, while the ivory and silver were wrapped around the chopsticks. The tea bowls used would all belong to the Northern Song Dynasty!

But these treasures are things that you enjoy everyday, and it's also a one-time investment. You can't buy a teapot from the Song Dynasty, just drink once and you'll smash it!

Treasures and antiques were not the same as consumer goods. If money was stored inside, it would be considered as having a regular deposit book!

Prince Kung's family property was more than just ten million, but it would be hard for him to take out five hundred thousand even if he had cash flow, not to mention six hundred and fifty thousand!

Even someone like Yi Kuang, who liked doing business and was secretly selling Northern Industrial Zones's goods, would only earn a few million gold a year.

If the Duke was already like that, then what about the likes of Bao Yun, Gui Ying, Weng Tonghe and the other ministers? If their family could produce one hundred thousand silver taels, they would be considered rich!

But today, the Tongzhi Emperor had actually made a shocking decision. Six hundred and fifty thousand silver taels were left!

There was a saying in the official's office, Tongzhi had said that the stolen goods would be handed over to the yamen, so the right and left of the money would definitely be given to the yamen's backer!

For example, if the money was given to the Ministry of Revenue, then the main person would naturally be the Minister of Revenue, Bao Yun. If he was corrupt, he would have many ways to get the money and split it up.

The river workers of Jiangnan, the salt roads of Huaihe and Huaihe, the bridges of the canal, the storehouses of the capital … Anyway, he could find ten thousand places to spend the money and spend the six hundred and fifty thousand taels of silver.

Once the accounts were completed, it was unknown how much of it would flow into his pockets!