Chongzhen: I am the king of prosperous times

"Yuan Fu, can you explain to Your Majesty about reducing some of the military expenditures during this summoning?" Bi Ziyan walked towards the Qianqing Palace with a serious expression, and said to Xu Guangqi who was walking by.

"One Liaodong, one North Korea, the regional wars and conflicts that have occurred have affected part of the current situation, although the above-mentioned large army did not use the food and salaries allocated by the country.

But some people in the DPRK have many opinions on this.

Especially in some places in the south of the Yangtze River, when serious disasters occurred, even if the imperial court allocates food and salaries for disaster relief, it must be calculated carefully.

If part of the military expenditure can be reduced and used for special disaster relief expenses, it will relieve a lot of pressure on the treasury, and frequent foreign wars will be a bad thing for the government and the people. "

"I'm afraid it's hard to explain this matter to His Majesty."

Xu Guangqi frowned, and said as he walked: "The military expenditure proposed by the Military Aircraft Department was not used in foreign wars. The wars and conflicts in Liaodong and North Korea you mentioned have always been covered by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. .

Under such circumstances, it is obviously unrealistic to advise His Majesty to reduce some military expenditures.

What's more, this matter, Benfu feels that His Majesty is doing the right thing. Since the outbreak of foreign wars, a number of industrial fields have grown around Liaodong, Beizhili, Shandong and other places.

Especially the smelting industry, how rapid is the development momentum, and how many bankrupt groups have been resettled?
If we want to solve the financial pressure on the treasury, the root cause lies in the reform of taxation. For example, Sun Chuanting’s trial of dividing the income into the mu, Chen Qiyu’s trial of combining officials and gentry with food and errands, and the Ministry of Household’s ongoing reform of the salt administration are all conducive to improvement. financial pressure. "

"I understand the truth."

Bi Ziyan said: "Including the current opposition voices among the government and the opposition, in a sense, it is against these tax reforms.

The reason why Benfu wants to do this is to alleviate some conflicts and avoid some people who are obsessed with tax reform. Otherwise, if you want to do this well, many problems will arise during the period. "

The implementation of the reform has solved some problems, but at the same time, some problems have been exposed. The conflict between old and new contradictions has always been in a process of pulling each other.

Especially in the field of finance, although some new policies that were tried out could effectively alleviate the financial pressure on Daming, they caused more groups to suffer losses.

The leader is the privileged group.

Officials, dignitaries, merchants, landlords and other groups are almost all included. Those involved in emerging industries are better. They can balance their dissatisfaction through the dividends they earn, and even make many groups willing to follow the promotion. After all, the money earned by the New Deal is much higher than the output of a single land, which also led to the emergence of a group of factory owners of different sizes in the northern provinces of the Ming Dynasty.

However, under the rule of the northern provinces, there are still a large number of conservatives, and not everyone can accept new affairs and new industries.

Conservative, in the current Ming Dynasty, is still the mainstream thought.

The Ming Dynasty was simply too huge, and the implementation of any new policy would not achieve corresponding results without a long period of precipitation.

"I am waiting to meet your Majesty."

"Excuse me."

Inside the East Nuan Pavilion, Emperor Chongzhen put down his imperial pen, looked at Xu Guangqi and Bi Ziyan who had rushed over, and thought about how to proceed with the Huguang investigation.

"You two gentlemen, take a look at these memorials."

Emperor Chongzhen pointed to a stack of memorials and said to Xu Guangqi and the others: "This is what Li Banghua, Governor of Huguang, has found out since he took office in Huguang.

Shocking.

I really didn't expect that the land annexation under Huguang's rule would be so severe.

Among them, the most egregious ones belong to the vassal branches in various places in Huguang. For their own self-interest, they dared to occupy the official land, and even seized the land of the local people. "

This?
Xu Guangqi and Bi Ziyan heard the words, you look at me, I look at you, showing different expressions.

speak up.

It has been several years since Li Banghua took office as governor of Huguang. Originally, according to Emperor Chongzhen's idea, he wanted to find out the problems and maladministration under his administration as soon as possible. A lot of things didn't work out effectively.

In the past few years under Huguang's rule, one disaster and one bandit suppression are enough to give Li Banghua a headache.

Faced with such a special situation, Emperor Chongzhen did not issue an order to urge him. Instead, he asked Li Banghua to solve the existing problems, actively expand the Huguang Disaster Relief Office, recruit and train a group of scholars, and secretly investigate the existing problems and maladministration in Huguang.

The East Nuan Pavilion is very quiet.

Xu Guangqi, Bi Ziyan and the others, after receiving the memorabilia handed over by Wang Chengen, looked at each one in detail, and their faces became more and more ugly.

"The Qing family thinks... if the imperial court wants to investigate Huguang, how should this matter be carried out? Or should it be investigated?" Emperor Chongzhen threw out the problem and looked at Xu Guangqi and the others.

Huguang has a different status in Daming.

"Your Majesty, I thought I wanted to investigate!"

Bi Ziyan stepped forward, bowed and saluted, and said, "The financial pressure is still very severe in the current state. If you sit back and watch these problems and bad governance, you will continue to be entrenched under the rule of Huguang.

That problem will only increase.

However, to investigate Huguang, we must pay attention to methods and methods, and we must gradually expand it to ensure the stability of Huguang. After all, once there is chaos in Huguang, it will affect many places. "

"My minister agrees."

Xu Guangqi followed closely and said, "Your Majesty, I feel that what the imperial court should do is to first investigate the suzerains and vassals in various places under the rule of Huguang, and imitate what Sun Chuanting did in Henan.

Check the official land occupied by the Huguang vassals over the years.

When the matter has achieved initial results, the Metropolitan Procuratorate will send an inspector to inspect the prefectures and counties in Huguang to strictly investigate fire consumption, taxation, disaster relief, etc..."

Listening to what Xu Guangqi and Bi Ziyan said, Emperor Chongzhen showed a satisfied smile.

Although the atmosphere of Ming Dynasty has not yet fully recovered, under the previous reform, it has turned around, which is a good sign.

"What the Qing family said is what I think."

Emperor Chongzhen said: "I plan to let the cabinet, the Ministry of Household Affairs, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and other departments form a joint inspection to specialize in the investigation of Huguang.

Li Banghua, governor of Huguang, assisted the court in advancing the investigation.

This matter cannot be done overnight, and I am not in a hurry. I have summoned the two noble families today to discuss a plan, draw up a memorial, and submit it to the imperial court as soon as possible. "

"The ministers obey the order."

Xu Guangqi and Bi Ziyan bowed immediately.

The reform of the Ming Dynasty must be a progressive process. What Emperor Chongzhen has to do is to grasp the general direction, and the ministers in the court can do their duties well.

Under the premise of ensuring the stability of the situation, the process of gradually eliminating the malpractice and cancer may be slow, but Emperor Chongzhen has enough patience and time. After all, there are too many historical accounts owed by the Ming Dynasty in the past. , It is an unrealistic process to want to become a fat man with one bite.

Whether it is dealing with suzerains or vassals, whether it is dealing with civil servants, or other groups, in the final analysis, civil servants are good at it. After all, the main theme of the dynasty is stability, and these things are obviously the best of civil servants.