Why did the emperor rebel?

Chapter 167
Hall of Martial Arts.

After the early court disbanded, there were only two cabinet ministers left, plus Shen Yi, Minister of the Ministry of Households, and Zhang Min, Minister of Industry, left.

It's almost time for everyone to leave.

Only then did Zhu Qiyu ask.

"Shen Qing, there are not too many ministers in the palace now, so you can speak frankly about the state of the treasury."

Shen Yi sighed, knowing that no matter what, he couldn't hide, so he spoke bluntly.

"Your Majesty, I told you that last year I paid all over the country land, taxes, and various discounts. There were a total of 420 million stones of rice and wheat, 930 million coins, and more than 120 million silver."

"In the past few years, the Supreme Emperor has used troops everywhere, and the army has spent a lot of money. Counting the money and food left by the previous emperors, there are still 200 million shi of rice and wheat in the treasury, 700 million precious banknotes, and 93 taels of silver."

Zhu Qiyu was silent. He probably knew the state treasury well, but he didn't expect that it was worse than in his previous life.

No wonder these days, whenever it was time to pay, Shen Yi's old face would wrinkle into a ball.

The treasury is really out of money!
Daming's current taxation is still mainly based on tax in kind, with rice, wheat, silk, silk, and cloth being the main part of taxation.

In addition, tea, cotton, iron, salt and other things are also used for taxation, and finally treasure banknotes and silver taels are used, but they are rarely used.

1000 taels of rice and wheat, according to the current market price of four yuan a shi, is less than 500 million taels.

As for the treasure notes, the current market price of this thing is one thousand to seven, and it is still falling!

In fact, except for some places where taxes are collected in the imperial court, the people have long since used precious banknotes.

Fifty-seven million treasure notes, when converted, are not even 700 taels of silver.

Adding the remaining more than 90 taels of cash, that is to say, all the current property in the treasury is included, which is about 600 million taels.

In the previous life, when Zhu Qiyu was in power, the year was smooth, and the total expenditure of the court for a year, if converted, was more than six million taels.

In other words, the money in the national treasury is barely enough for daily expenses, and extra expenses are out of the question.

Zhu Qiyu frowned, and turned to Zhang Min, the servant of the Ministry of Industry, and asked.

"Zhang Shilang, you are a veteran of the Ministry of Industry. According to your estimation, the construction of the border city wall, plus the rebuilding of Daomaguan, will require a lot of labor and money?"

The Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry is still supervising the army outside, so the Ministry of Industry is the only one among the six departments, and it is still the yamen headed by the servant.

Zhang Min also had a bitter face, and stepped forward.

After the dynasty was dispersed, the emperor left him with the Minister of the Household Department, and he knew what was going on.

The problem is, he can't solve this matter!

"Returning to the emperor, the rebuilding of the border city wall is a small matter. There should be a lot of materials such as stones, sand and soil that were transported from various places before. If it is repaired, it will be barely enough."

Zhang Min's words made Zhu Qiyu frowned.

Because this is actually just whitewashing the peace!

Originally, there were indeed a lot of materials left in each pass, but after the civil engineering battle, the passes were reinforced one after another, and most of those materials had been used.

Most of the materials shipped from various places were used in the reinforcement of the capital's fortifications.

In other words, what Zhang Min said was barely enough, in fact, he just practiced it casually, and it can be seen for the time being.

But even though he was dissatisfied, he also knew that this was a helpless move, so he didn't stop it.

So Zhang Min continued.

"Besides the materials, the biggest problem is the peasants and craftsmen!"

"The artisans are not bad. During the time of the first emperor, the residence of artisans was expanded. There are about 20 shift craftsmen registered in the Ministry of Industry, and about 5000 shift craftsmen."

This is also one of the household registration systems of the Ming Dynasty. In addition to the military households, there are also quite a number of handicraftsmen in the Ming Dynasty, called artisan households, who are responsible for the production of construction, textiles, military weapons, and handicrafts distributed by the imperial court.

The so-called shift craftsmen, as the name suggests, serve in rotation. Basically every year or every three years, depending on the situation, they need to serve for about a month, and the rest of the time is the same as that of private households. As for the shift craftsmen, they are craftsmen who have served in the government for a long time. , not all year round, but about ten days a month, you need to serve the government.

The craftsmen of Daming were scattered all over the country, not all of them were in the capital. Zhu Qiyu vaguely remembered that there were about 8000 craftsmen near Beizhili.

Only 3000 of them are shift workers, and the remaining 5000 are all shift workers.

"I roughly estimate that to rebuild Daomaguan, about [-] craftsmen will be needed. For other passes, [-] to [-] craftsmen will be needed depending on the situation. As for the people, it is estimated that more than [-] craftsmen will be needed to rebuild Daomaguan, and the passes will be reinforced. , Each place needs about a thousand people.”

Looking at the expressionless face of the Son of Heaven, Wang Yonghe bit the bullet and said.

"It's easy to say that civilian husbands can be recruited on the spot, but in Zhili, the capital of our capital, there are only more than [-] people in the class."

"And these people need to be responsible for the construction, weaving, and military affairs of the official uniforms distributed in various places. If they are recruited from various places, one will delay the time, and the other is that this year is approaching, and they may waste people and money."

That's the biggest problem.

The household registration system of the Ming Dynasty, whether it is a military household or a craftsman household, is based on needs.

In other words, keep as many people as you need, and there is very little room for moving around.

The [-] full-time master craftsmen in the Ming Dynasty are not only distributed in various places, but more importantly, they are responsible for the daily affairs of the local government.

It's impossible to let them put down their work and go to the frontier to build the city.

As for shift craftsmen, they can be recruited, but the problem is that the recruitment of shift craftsmen is not at a fixed time every year, but in rotation.

In other words, at the same time, the number of shift craftsmen in service is about one-tenth of the total.

If they are all recruited now, then it is not appropriate to recruit again in the next year. As a result, many ongoing projects will inevitably be stranded.

What's more, as Zhang Min said, to rebuild Daomaguan, it is not enough to gather all the craftsmen in Beizhili.

However, if it is necessary to recruit from other places, the New Year is approaching. I am afraid that not many craftsmen are willing to leave their hometowns, and there will be a considerable delay.

What's more, recruiting from other places is also a matter of treating the symptoms, not the root cause.

Zhu Qiyu knew in his heart that in the past two years, there have been frequent floods in various places, and there are many places that need craftsmen, so we can't always borrow here and there.

After pondering for a moment, Zhu Qiyu asked.

"When I was inspecting the city defense, I saw many craftsmen building houses and working in the capital. Are they also craftsmen?"

Without thinking too much, Zhang Min replied directly.

"That's not true. The craftsmen under the Ministry of Industry are just craftsmen who work for the imperial court. In fact, there are many craftsmen among the people. What do you think, Your Majesty?"

Hearing Xiange, he knew the elegant meaning. When the Ministry of Industry was short of manpower, it also recruited craftsmen from the people, so Zhang Min immediately guessed what the emperor was thinking.

Zhu Qiyu nodded slightly and said.

"The Ministry of Industry first issued a collection order to select some of the available artisan households, and ordered the Ministry of Households to allocate money. The remaining craftsmen were collected from the people in the border passes. Now it is the midwinter season, and there is no need for farming. The people The craftsmen among them should be able to be called to work."

"As for the civilian husbands who are called this time, they will also be allocated silver taels and given remuneration. The local officials must be strictly ordered not to add labor without authorization."

After the emperor's voice fell, Zhang Min on the side also heaved a sigh of relief.

In the final analysis, this matter is nothing more than a matter of money. As long as the emperor is willing to allocate money and recruit craftsmen from the people, the Ministry of Industry is good at it.

As for where to get the money, that is the matter of the Ministry of Households, and has nothing to do with his minister of the Ministry of Industry.

But just as he was about to open his mouth to take orders, he heard the voice of the Son of Heaven sound again.

"After the war, it was the Ministry of Industry's fault that craftsmen did not make enough calls. Later, you should make a statement and discuss it with the Ministry of Industry. How to prevent this from happening again in the future."

"Besides, since this time it is possible to collect money from the people, whether this matter can be included in the regular system, and how to include it, after discussing it later, send me a memorial."

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(End of this chapter)