Emperor Ming Dynasty

Chapter 911
Zhang Tongchang's words are not harsh.

Qin Guo beat Annan, at least one million yuan.

If calculated according to this, his more than 20 sons must not be tens of millions?
If following this rule, the kings of later generations followed suit, the consumption of finances would be difficult to measure.

And you must know that the princes of the Ming Dynasty were vassals, usually only tens of thousands of taels. King Rurui spent a few years in the household department before he could collect enough 10 taels to go to Hanzhong.

Like King Fu, he had a rich family. He spent 30 yuan for his marriage, 28 taels for his mansion, and countless other private naan, but you must know that these were all rewarded by Emperor Wanli from his internal funds.

And what about the court?

It's just a tax worth 4 taels.

It costs very little.

Whether it is the Qin State, the Qi State, or the future Liao State, all the money is spent by the court, but the emperor's internal money cannot be divided.

Good guy, the emperor is the one who makes the profit, and the imperial court is the one who pays. It's a loss-making business. Who wants to do it?

Hearing this, the emperor remained silent for a while, then raised his eyes and looked out the window.

The autumn harvest is just around the corner, and there seem to be more birds in the capital, wanting to gain popularity and eat some food.

The Imperial City is no exception.

But the trees and flowers are sparse.

"I understand what you mean!"

Zhu Yixi's voice was flat: "By the way, how much food can the court collect this autumn?"

"According to estimates from previous years, the 25 provinces in the two capitals can probably collect nearly 5000 million silver dollars."

Zhang Tongchang was a little surprised. This was a matter for the Ministry of Finance and had little to do with his Ministry of War.

Nowadays, as the north is recovering day by day, taxes are also increasing, especially after the frontier Mongolia area is included, border trade is becoming more and more prosperous.

You know, in Suiyuan, two sheep are worth one silver dollar, while in Beijing, one sheep is worth three yuan.

Not to mention, with the inclusion of Anxi Province, the Silk Road has been closed for nearly a thousand years. Although there is no hope of a complete recovery, businesses in Shaanxi and Gansu are rising day by day.

Therefore, the agricultural tax in the north gradually decreased, and the commercial tax increased.

Take Shaanxi as an example. The province's grain tax is only 150 million yuan, while the commercial tax is as much as 100 million yuan.

After years of development, last year, the 16th year of Shaowu, the national two taxes officially broke through the 8000 million bottleneck that had lingered for several years, reaching 300 million.

It can be said bluntly that, excluding the annual maintenance of the army, officials, and daily construction expenses, the imperial court can have an annual surplus of 3000 to [-] million yuan.

With such a huge surplus, the construction of a vassal state can be described as a drop in the bucket for it.

As soon as he finished answering, Zhang Tongchang realized that the court is not short of money and food.

But he still refused to admit defeat and pretended not to know anything.

Seeing his pretentiousness, the emperor shook his head.

If it's just this one person, he doesn't care.

But it is clear that this minister of the Ministry of War represents a large part of the people's opinion within the imperial court.

"Well, in the future, the prince will use the internal funds to pay for the expenses of the vassal!"

"Your Majesty Shengming—"

Zhang Tongchang hurriedly cupped his hands, and said impatiently: "The inside and the outside are clearly distinguished, this is what Mingjun does."

The emperor ignored him, waved his hand, and left.

Obviously, these civil servants are still stingy and greedy.

That's all, I went back to the study and picked up the secret box to have a look.

I saw that the governor of Shandong clearly stated that he required the establishment of customs in Dengzhou Prefecture or Laizhou Prefecture to promote the development of commercial taxation.

Although the revenue of the customs is under the direct control of the emperor, it has a huge spillover effect and can drive the economic development of a place or even a province.

Indirect taxation should not be underestimated either.

Logically speaking, he, the emperor, should be delighted to see the local enthusiasm for economic development, but Zhu Yixi saw the way.

Apparently, the people have realized the importance of the customs, and at the same time, officials can also guess the horror of the customs tax surplus.

Zhu Yixi felt a little headache.

After hiding it for so long, it was finally revealed.

Customs duties increase every year.

Last year, its tariffs increased to 3000 million yuan, and domestic funds were shaken.

Because of this, the number of employees of the General Administration of Customs also exceeds a thousand, and it is also one of the best in the entire Ming Dynasty.

Even, in order to better collect taxes, the eight major customs offices will almost always be stationed with a team of troops to prevent robbery.

At this time, Shandong proposed to set up a new customs. For Zhu Yixi, it directly scratched the itch.

Although Shandong is rich in products and there are not many exports, mosquito legs are also meat. It is close to North Korea and Japan. Tianjin Port alone is not enough. Dengzhou, Shandong is just right.

Thinking in this way, the emperor's fingers could not help but slid across the Shandong area, and then pointed to Liaodong.

In a sense, the benefits of opening a port in Liaodong are also quite large.

Liaodong has a vast land and sparse population, and is rich in grain and products. Whether it is North Korea or Japan, the demand for grain is quite large.

Especially when the imperial court is rich in food, exporting as much as possible is beneficial to agricultural development.

After all, due to the climate in the Northeast, it is impossible to grow cash crops like cotton, and rice and corn can only be the best choices.

In this case, an appropriate amount of export will stimulate the agricultural development of Liaodong, and the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

At the same time, the use of grain exports can also affect the economies of North Korea and Japan and achieve some goals.

"Jinzhou Prefecture (Dalian) can serve as customs."

Make up your mind.

The emperor smiled.

He didn't have many demands. The two customs could bring him 200 million yuan a year, which was enough.

The top ten customs offices are Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Ningbo, Hangzhou, Songjiang, Tianjin, Nanjing, Zhangzhou, Dengzhou and Jinzhou.

Almost all of Great Ming's seas and territories were included.

Of course, if Taiwan and Luzon are included, there are twelve places.

At this time, Jiangsu, Yangzhou Prefecture, Shaobohukou.

Thousands of peasants, sweating like rain, are digging the land when the autumn wind is picking up.

A large number of sand and stones piled up like a mountain.

A canal connects Gaoyou Lake and flows from north to south to the Yangtze River, which is more than [-] miles long.

Manpower was used, accumulating millions.

Originally, it took one year, but due to factors such as weather and lack of labor, it took more than two years, which can be described as hard work.

As for the consumption of money and food, it reached a huge amount of 100 million.

Of course, the most important thing is that Yu Jackie felt sorry for the poverty of the people in the Huaihai area, so he didn't dare to recruit corvee on a large scale.

At the same time, he was afraid of destroying local agricultural production, so he did not use money to dig rivers on a large scale.

The reason is that when this artificial canal, which is hundreds of miles long, is about to be completed, the lives of the people in the entire northern Jiangsu area have not been disrupted at all.

On the contrary, due to the limited employment of the imperial court, many families were much more relaxed and their lives were improved.

The governors and envoys from Jiangsu and Anhui provinces, under the leadership of the minister of the Ministry of Industry, witnessed the success of the canal.

On this day, the sky was clear and the breeze was blowing. Thousands of people surrounded the mouth of the river and began to discuss.

Everyone is praising the role of this flood discharge river, and at the same time, Yu Chenglong, who presided over this matter, is also full of praise.

This flood discharge river is about 320 miles long and more than ten feet wide. It spans several prefectures and will bring the floodwater from Gaojiayan all the way to the Yangtze River.

In other words, let the Huaihe River and the Yangtze River share another estuary, allowing two independent water systems to communicate.

In a sense, the Huaihe River has become a tributary of the Yangtze River.

The Yellow River occupies the waterway of the Huaihe River, which shares the waterway with the Yangtze River.

The amount of water in the Huaihe River is not worth mentioning to the Yangtze River, and the downstream impact is minimal.

In this way, the Jianghuai area saves effort, no longer worrying about flooding, destroying fields, or submerging Huai'an and Yangzhou.

The errands of overhauling dams and patrolling day and night will also be avoided.

The cost savings are hard to quantify.

"Yu Hedu, on behalf of Zhou Jiaqiao's three thousand households, I would like to thank you for your great kindness——"

When Jackie Chan's carriage arrived at the flood outlet, the news came from nowhere, which immediately caused an uproar.

The common people were repairing their carriages, all of them looked excited.

There was even an old man in his 70s and [-]s who knelt down in front of the carriage, his clothes wet with tears.

"Originally I had five sons, one was washed away by the flood, two died of exhaustion while repairing the embankment, one went to join the army and disappeared, and the last one would have died in the flood if it hadn't been for Yu Hedu."

These words are very contagious, and many people feel the same way, with tears in their eyes.

His gray hair trembled.The wrinkles on his face were enough to crush a mosquito to death, and there were tears in his cloudy eyes.

Beside him, a man in his thirties was also kneeling, but he was holding a five or six-year-old child and kneeling together.

At this time, the carriage stopped, and Yu Chenglong hurried out, regardless of the old man's clothes being dirty, he helped him up himself: "Old man, is it due to me alone?"

"There is a sage on the top, there are cabinet ministers and colleagues, and there are countless river workers and subordinate officials. Moreover, the people of Jiangsu provinces have worked hard. This flood discharge river is the joint work of everyone. I am ashamed of myself." Dare to do it."

These words were beautifully spoken and won a lot of applause.

The old man trembled, and he was not confused, and continued: "I, an old man, have lived for decades. Since the Wanli year, I have never heard of a good official like you."

"The only thing that can be compared is Hai Qingtian back then. My father often said, I can see you today, and this life is not in vain."

Yu Chenglong shook his head and said nothing.

Seeing the old man's clothes were disheveled and mostly worn out, he couldn't bear it. He took out two silver coins from his pocket and stuffed them in his hand: "Go and buy some clothes for your grandchildren to wear!"

After saying that, he got into the carriage.

The yamen servants then began to drive away the people blocking the way, keeping the official roads open.

Sitting in the carriage, Yu Chenglong was a little lost.

Lifting the corner of the car curtain, the crowds outside are so dense that you can hardly see the side. People look excited, and they are all imagining the days without disasters in the future.

The Huaihe River and the Yellow River have really harmed the people in northern Jiangsu and Huaihai.

In the distance, Sun Jiang, the servant of the Ministry of Industry, and other high-ranking officials looked at Yu Chenglong who was besieged, and couldn't help feeling deeply.

"Yu Chenglong has become the supervisor of the river works, and he has done a good job."

Sun Jiang sighed.

The governor of Jiangsu echoed, "Who says it's not? The one-and-a-half-year construction period has become two and a half years. Basically, the flood discharge river is dug during the slack season. This is great for the people."

"No delay in farming, nor delay in making money."

Sun Jiang heard the sour taste, he glanced sideways at him and said: "This is the approval of the court, this kind of thing is better than rushing, how could the whole northern Jiangsu be destroyed for the sake of building this river?" !"

"Compared with the common people, what is money and food?"

"What Shao Sikong said is true." Governor of Anhui agreed, "Governor Yu He has done a good thing."

"When supervising the river work, he handles it impartially. The monthly salary is not discounted. The rice he eats is thick, and occasionally there is meat. The people of Fengyang Mansion often do river work."

"Digging this river, I don't know how many people like the river workers and benefit from it."

Sun Jiang smiled slightly, and said: "This kind of news has spread to the capital long ago. Does anyone in the pavilion know that he is an upright official?"

"Do things strictly and treat the people very kindly. When the river is completed, Yu Chenglong will also be promoted."

Several people present were moved by it, with admiration and envy on their faces.

Soon, Yu Chenglong got through the crowd and came in front of them.

He was sensible and quickly apologized.

Sun Jiang helped him up, and said with a smile: "You supervise it yourself, and the river will be repaired smoothly, and the people will have nothing to complain about, so what if you are late?"

"Besides, to be besieged by the gratitude of our fathers and the common people, how many of us would like to do so!"

These words eased the atmosphere a lot.

A group of people stood on the high ground, looking down at the flood discharge river.

The flood discharge river runs from north to south, and from south to north, the two run in opposite directions, saving time.

As a transit point, it is Shaobo Lake.

The flood from Hongze Lake will flow to Shaobo Lake through a series of lakes, while the river channel in Zhenjiang has already been dug, and willows have even been planted on the embankments.

The two sections of the river will be connected here.

At this time, the river workers are carefully digging the embankment of Shaobo Lake to connect it with the river ten feet away.

More than a thousand people, from morning to noon.

Everyone stared tirelessly, for fear of missing the critical moment.

"Boom—"

"It's cleared, the river is cleared—"

As the shout spread, everyone stretched their heads and looked at the mouth of the lake.

I saw that the last piece of earth wall was no more than a foot thick.

A group of workers stood on the river embankment carrying a sharp stick more than ten feet long, beating on the earth wall like a Chengcheng gate.

The yelling was endless.

Soon, some water flowed out, soaking the earthen wall, and the workers fled immediately after entering, staring at it seriously.

In the yellow muddy water that everyone could see, there was a loach that quickly turned into a yellow dragon, a carp rolled, broke through the earth wall, and then went straight into the wide river.

A water dragon ran from north to south, and its speed was extremely astonishing, which amazed the onlookers.

Even the senior officials were shocked.

The waiter Sun Jiang sighed: "We waited all morning, and finally saw such a scene, it's a worthwhile trip."

Yu Chenglong also suppressed his shock, and his heart jumped for joy, happy for the people.

"Yu Hedu, let's go back to Beijing together, His Majesty wants to meet you in person."

These words aroused everyone's attention and envy.

(End of this chapter)