When Kangxi died, there were only 8 million taels of silver in the Qing treasury, while when Yongzheng died, there were 60 million taels of silver in the Qing treasury, which was refreshed again in the Qianlong Dynasty. Let's take a look at the silver storage in the national treasury after the long dynasty.
The year with the highest central fiscal balance in Qing Dynasty was forty-two years of Qianlong (1777). According to the statistics of the Yellow Book of the Ministry of Finance, this year's financial data are: the old management, 74.66 million; New income, 18 1 1 ten thousand; Expelled,10.95 million; Actually, it is 8 1.82 million.
According to the four names of old management, new collection, expulsion and reality, the "four pillars" are synthesized. Four-column inventory system is a traditional accounting method in Qing dynasty, which was founded in Tang dynasty and used until the end of Qing dynasty. In modern accounting terms, the four columns are equivalent to the beginning balance, current income, current expenditure and ending balance respectively.
After four dynasties of Shunzhi, Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong, it took 100 years to save more than 80 million yuan and hand over a beautiful financial report. Who would have thought that more than 70 years later, the real silver in the national treasury is not as good as the original fraction. Let's see how it was defeated.
The biggest black sheep is none other than Emperor Qianlong himself. In his hands, although the highest actual deposit amount was obtained, by the third year of Jiaqing (1798), only19 million was left. But after 20 years, 62 million silver is gone. Where did all the money go?
The frontier war, the construction of famous gardens, the patrolling in other provinces, and the literary martial arts necessary for the so-called "prosperous times" cost money everywhere. Qianlong boldly implemented "active finance", and this is how the money was lost.
With the money gone, Emperor Qianlong was quite comfortable, calling himself a "perfect old man" and thinking that he had never passed. His son, Emperor Jiaqing, was not happy at all. He can only learn a lesson, manage his finances steadily, and stop pursuing prosperous scenery. When he died, he finally pulled back a game and left 27 million Liang when he left office.
Daoguang, who succeeded to the throne, inherited his father's ambition, advocated frugality but not luxury, and tightened his belt to live. Three years later, he made up for it for another three years, and once created a score of 33 million and two thousand, which was quite promising for his recovery.
Helpless, Daoguang Emperor was unlucky, unlucky and destined to have money. Suddenly, it was in line with international standards and met with the Opium War. Military spending and reparations are huge, which eventually leads to huge losses. After thirty years of Daoguang (1850), only eight million and two thousand silver remained in the national treasury.
However, when Xianfeng ascended the throne, it was even worse. When he first ascended the throne, there was a civil war with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and taxes in enemy-occupied areas could not be raised, but the expenses of local troops could not be less. Therefore, in the third year of Xianfeng (1853), the actual number in this column was 1696897, a record low.
Worst of all, however, this 1.69 million is not real money, but only book data. After auditing, the inventory of real gold and silver in that year was only 1 18709. Such a little money is not as good as a rich folk, and it is eight hundred times worse than the prosperous Qianlong dynasty. This also makes people happy to be emperors. At that time, if there was an exit mechanism, I bet 50 cents that Emperor Xianfeng would really choose to resign.
As a last resort, Emperor Xianfeng melted all the valuable heavy metals in the Forbidden City, even the big copper tanks for fire prevention, and all the proceeds were sent to the front to serve as military pay. This kind of life is really stressful. Fortunately, his life was finally saved, and there were some scattered silver in the treasury.
In Tongzhi and Guangxu, the days are even tighter. All kinds of compensation for defeat came one after another, and the Qing treasury was empty, and it was reduced to the situation of lending to banks in various countries. When Xuan Tong arrived, the emperor abdicated after only three years. Even the living expenses of the palace and the small court were given by the government of the Republic of China. In order to supplement his family, he secretly did some business of reselling national treasures.
To put it bluntly, the details of the Qing treasury are the history of the rise and fall of a dynasty, and silver is the foundation of the country.