The ministers who accepted the task found that the former Ming Palace needed more than 969,400 silver every year by consulting the account books left by the former dynasty, and this money has now been used as reimbursement; Guanglu Temple, which was in charge of court meals before the Ming Dynasty, used more than 242,000 taels of silver every year, but now it only uses more than 30,000 taels. In the past, the Ming Palace Museum used12.8 million Jin of fine charcoal every winter, but now it only uses more than one million Jin. The concubines in the former Ming Dynasty spent more than 28,200 taels of money on bedding, cars and carpets every year. Until the Qing dynasty, there were dozens of boxes of embroidered shoes left in the warehouse of the former Ming dynasty, all of which were decorated with jewels and extremely gorgeous. These expenses are all saved now.
In addition, after checking, there were 786 temples built in the pre-Ming period. Whether it is the base site or the courtyard wall, the wood used is superior nanmu, while the brick is a tribute brick specially fired in Linqing, Shandong Province, which is transported to the capital by water. Even the drainage ditch in the palace is made of a whole boulder, and the diameter of the sewage pipe is several feet thick. In order to prevent rust, they are all made of raw copper. In the Qing dynasty, if there was no need to build houses, the number of palaces was less than three-tenths of that of the previous Ming dynasty; Even if you build a house, the materials used are ordinary bricks and pine, and you will never spend money indiscriminately.
Ministers naturally pay tribute to these intuitive data comparisons, thinking that the arrogance of the former dynasty led to the collapse of the people's hearts, but it is natural for the current dynasty to promote advantages and eliminate disadvantages, and to be clean and honest, so that trillions of people will change their minds and replace the former dynasty.
Seeing that the strike method adopted has achieved results, Kangxi was afraid that people would forget it after a long time and would not forget to consolidate the results. In the forty-ninth year of Kangxi (17 10), when replying to the letter presented by the university students, Kangxi brought up the old story again: "What you heard before the Ming Dynasty was often written on paper. This dynasty once accepted the eunuchs of Emperor Wanli, so I knew everything about the previous dynasty like the back of my hand. The cost of the past day can cover the cost of today's year. For example, Qiangong uses 402,000 yuan of powder every year, and millions of silver are used for food and clothing. These expenses were cancelled when my father arrived; In addition, there are 9,000 ladies-in-waiting and prisoners/kloc-0,000,000 in the front palace, so the food supply problem is very serious, and people starve to death every day. Now there are only four or five hundred people in the palace. "
Kangxi, who was still unfinished, wrote to the Ministry of Finance and admonished: "The country should save money and grain, otherwise it will lead to insufficient funds. There is still room for saving the amount of silver grain and the cost of river work exempted every year. In the past, Guanglu Temple and Catering Palace in the Ming Dynasty cost one million taels of silver every year, but now it only costs 100,000 taels. In the past, the Ministry of Industry of the Ming Dynasty spent two million taels of silver to build a house every year, but now it only costs two or three hundred thousand taels. Only by working hard to reduce expenses will it be beneficial. " Officials who received the Oracle naturally praised the dynasty in unison, praising it for saving money and loving the people, and biting off the hand that feeds them, making it a prosperous time for the people to live and work in peace and contentment.