prosperous age

"Alas, I am afraid that if the tax is increased, the court's expenses will also increase."

Zhang Xueyan sighed, not feeling the slightest bit happy about the increase in fiscal revenue.

Obviously, through recently checking the income and expenditure of the Ministry of Revenue in recent years, Zhang Xueyan has realized something, but he is not able to say it out loud.

However, Wei Guangde was a little puzzled.

The revenue from banknotes controlled by the Ministry of Revenue and the revenue from pawnshops near the capital now amount to hundreds of thousands of taels of silver each year.

If this is promoted nationwide, it would not be surprising for the pawnshop to gain an additional one million taels of silver. However, Zhang Xueyan has already shown a hint of concern about the finances.

So, Wei Guangde asked with a smile: "Minister Zhang, what else are you worried about? Why don't you tell us so that we can help you think about it."

“Yes, although I don’t know the situation of the Ministry of Revenue, if the tax system for dental clinics can be re-established, the dental tax collected by the Ministry of Revenue every year will probably not be less.

Minister Zhang, you still have nothing to worry about. The Ministry of Revenue should not be in deficit anymore."

Jiang Zhi also spoke at this time.

"Master Jiang, there is something you don't know.

Even if Lord Wei can see the Ministry of Revenue’s revenue and expenditure every year, he probably can’t figure out the inside story for a while.”

Zhang Xueyan still said with some worry.

"Minister Zhang, feel free to say whatever you want to say. One person is not very smart, two people are not very smart, and three people are very smart. Maybe we can really come up with a solution."

Wei Guangde asked, still smiling.

Zhang Xueyan glanced at Wei Guangde, lowered his head and thought for a moment before saying, "Lord Wei, last year the palace suddenly asked for additional money for the Lantern Festival. Do you think it was a coincidence?"

Hearing this, Wei Guangde was shocked. He had a vague guess, but he was not sure yet, so he asked with a smile: "Isn't it?"

Then, he saw Zhang Xueyan shook his head slightly and said, "I don't think so."

In fact, in the past two years, if there had not been some sudden large expenditures at the end of the year, the Ministry of Revenue would have maintained a barely balanced account at the end of the year, and there would have been no major deficit.'

Hearing Zhang Xueyan say this, Wei Guangde recalled that last year the palace had asked for an extra 200,000 taels of silver, which led to a substantial deficit in the treasury.

Of course, the accounts have postponed this expense to this year.

But in fact, the silver used is still from last year.

Two years earlier, the Ministry of War asked for silver in one year, saying that it was a tribute from Altan Khan and a reward from the imperial court to Altan Khan and his people.

One year earlier, it was Zhang Juzheng who approved the money for disaster relief in Shanxi.

Yes, at the end of the year, a batch of silver was suddenly transferred to Shanxi to relieve the drought in several prefectures in Shanxi.

The imperial court had the power, so naturally it would not let the people suffer from hunger and cold.

"Are you worried that even if the Ministry of Revenue increases the tax revenue from the pawnbrokers, the court will have other expenses and eventually consume this money?"

Wei Guangde whispered his guess.

“The imperial court had no money, and the lower government offices, even the six ministries, knew about it and restrained their spending. Some purchases that could be used or not were naturally cut off, and the idea of ​​starting projects that could be started or not was also abandoned.

However, once the Ministry of Revenue had accumulated silver, they would find various excuses to report to the court and ask for the money to be spent.

Wei Ge Lao changed the Yuanbao currency into Tongbao, which increased the annual income of the Ministry of Revenue by hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.

However, after this method was implemented, it became extremely convenient for the people, so it was easily spread.

However, in the past two years, the amount of money demanded by the imperial court from various departments has also increased dramatically.

Not only did the number of disaster reports from the prefectures and counties increase, but the expenses of rice and salaries for the royal family also increased. Each province requested the Ministry of Revenue to allocate funds, saying that the local finances were empty.

Even the Ministry of Rites had proposed last year to overhaul the Imperial College and the Imperial Examination Halls in the two capitals, and requested hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.

If the imperial court increases its revenue by one tael, people below will request to allocate three taels.

If the dental tax is really increased by one million taels through dental offices, I'm afraid the Ministry of Revenue will receive official letters for several million taels of silver.

As Wei Gelao said before, if the Ministry of Revenue borrows money from Changying Treasury for more than two months, it will have to pay interest, and the Ministry of Revenue dare not ask for it. "

Zhang Xueyan smiled bitterly at this moment.

Zhang Xueyan's words were like a thunderclap to Wei Guangde's ears.

He had really ignored this issue before.

The situation in later generations is actually similar.

Ancient financial ideas had not yet entered the country. It was not until the late Qing Dynasty that the Qing government, under the threat of foreigners' powerful ships and guns, could not afford the huge indemnity and had to try to borrow money from Western banks to pay it.

However, this is just a temporary solution.

Borrowing money, paying indemnities, repaying principal and interest were like a shackle that weighed heavily on the Qing court.

Previously, Wei Guangde was considering whether to introduce the concept of "national debt" to alleviate the financial difficulties through short-term loans when the Ministry of Revenue was unable to make short-term financial turnover.

But after hearing what Zhang Xueyan said, Wei Guangde suddenly realized that if he really introduced the "loan consumption" financial scam into the Ming Dynasty, it would be a disaster rather than a blessing.

With the money loaned by the court, the officials below would probably follow their own conscience and try their best to put the money into their own pockets. Even if the court had mountains of gold and silver, it would not be able to withstand the tossing.

In other words, an increase in the court's revenue may not necessarily be a good thing.

If the increase in revenue follows the previous model, it would actually mean that the court is robbing the people of the world of their money.

However, only a fixed amount of this money will still be used for the people, and the additional amount will simply be pocketed by officials.

Yes, it is true that the Ming Dynasty court spent a lot of money on river engineering and water conservancy every year, and all prefectures and counties across the country did their best to provide relief to disaster-stricken people. However, there was only so much silver, and I am afraid that some of it would fall into the hands of the people, while most of the rest would be embezzled by officials.

But this has been the case in every dynasty, and Wei Guangde had long since let it go.

If he were still an ordinary citizen, he would naturally be extremely ashamed of this.

But when he changed his allegiance and became a member of this interest group, his position had changed quietly without him noticing.

Therefore, he was able to face everything calmly without any ripples in his heart.

Because he knew very well that this drawback could not be changed unless all the scholars in the world really became saints who "established their minds for heaven and earth, established their mission for the people, inherited the unique knowledge of the past sages, and brought peace to the world for all generations."

Faith is exactly what Chinese people lack the most.

Ever since Chen Sheng and Wu Guang shouted the slogan "Are kings, princes, generals, and ministers born of different species?", the Chinese people's faith has collapsed. The scholars only care about their own interests and try their best to squeeze up and get to the pinnacle of power.

In the past, clans were powerful and most common people would only bow down for a few pieces of silver, while the clans controlled the power.

However, after the Tang Dynasty, with the Huang Chao Uprising, the power of the clans and aristocratic families was wiped out, and the world became the world of scholars, and they still ruled the country in the same way as the clans and aristocratic families.

Class barriers are established to control the spread of knowledge. Although there are occasionally lucky people, or people with natural talents who break through this barrier and join the power class, they are a minority after all, and they are more like typical examples pushed by the ruling class, with the purpose of more smoothly controlling the people.

As long as you have talent, you can succeed.

If you are poor, it's because you have no ability.

In fact, their faith has collapsed long ago. They are only keen on the present and do not care about the interests of the country and the nation.

However, this collapse of faith was effectively concealed by traditional culture. This is why scholars in all dynasties have regarded Confucianism as a classic and have been tirelessly passing on "propriety, righteousness, integrity and shame."

That is nothing more than a fig leaf for interest groups.

But there are very few people who can really do it. Perhaps only those who are called saints can truly restrain their nature.

Of course, hundreds of years later, some people did do it, and most people at that time had their own beliefs.

However, this environment only existed for a few decades.

Wei Guangde realized that he had been too naive in the past, thinking that by bringing a large wave of wealth to the Ming Dynasty, he might be able to change history and alter the fate of the Han people.

But now after hearing Zhang Xueyan's words, Wei Guangde suddenly realized that if he really wanted to change the course of China's history, the most direct way was to start opening his mind.

The real explosion in the West actually began after the West incorporated universal education into national policy.

At that time, most civilians in the West were able to receive basic education, which enlightened them and enabled them not only to participate in economic life as skilled workers, but also to prevent those in power from driving them around at will.

Because they already have their own ideas.

Their past experiences also meant that after these people entered the power class, they would not be like the current scholars in the Ming Dynasty who only knew how to indulge in pleasure. After crossing the single-plank bridge, they would quickly be assimilated by their colleagues.

Because their roots are not clean.

Only by opening up channels for civilians to enter government offices, which later generations called "breaking class stratification", can the administrative environment be slightly improved.

Although some of these civilians will inevitably be polluted, the vast majority will still stick to their original intentions.

Maybe it’s because of insufficient power or because of a lack of conscience.

Anyway, Wei Guangde had already regarded the imperial examination system as a scourge at this time. Although he was also a beneficiary of the imperial examination system, the imperial examination system was the real shackles that locked the development of Chinese society.

"The Ministry of Revenue can consider the matter of the pawnshop first, and the Ministry of Works can borrow the money from the Changying Treasury first, and put the interest issue on hold for the time being."

Wei Guangde felt a headache and he had to think about it carefully.

Because he thought of one thing. Before, Zhang Juzheng wanted to rectify the style of study and reminded the provincial governors to strictly prohibit the establishment of academies.

Speaking of academies, Wei Guangde thought of later schools, where countless students were "enlightened", grew up, and became pillars of the country.

If one wants to open an institution like the schools of later generations, it will eventually be under the management of the Education Commission. Can one try to open schools like the schools of later generations during Zhang Juzheng's reform this time, so that education can benefit the common people and knowledge will no longer be controlled by the literati?

Jiang Zhi realized from Wei Guangde's silence that he must be thinking about other things, so he didn't want to disturb him and simply got up and said goodbye. Anyway, the matter of the Ministry of Works had been resolved, and the Ministry of Revenue would find a way to raise the money.

As for what Wei Guangde had thought of, he would naturally discuss it with them privately later.

Although Zhang Xueyan didn't understand what was going on, he knew from the man's expressions that he should leave.

Anyway, the Ministry of Revenue's troubles have been barely resolved, so we'll use the silver from the Changying Treasury first.

As for the tooth tax, I will think about it when I go back and make sure it is complete before communicating with Zhang Juzheng.

He now also felt that it was a bit abrupt to mention this matter in front of Wei Guangde, even though Wei Guangde was the original instigator of this matter.

After everyone left, Wei Guangde did not go back to handle official business, but sat there thinking about how to use reforms to improve education and run schools for future generations.

At that time, the Ming Dynasty actually had similar schools, namely the county schools and prefectural schools established by various prefectures and counties under the management of the Education Commission.

However, these academies only admit students who have passed the provincial and academy examinations in the imperial examinations, and one has to be the best among them to be successfully admitted to the official schools.

Others can only study in private schools.

The tuition fees for studying in a private school are beyond the reach of ordinary families.

Many families with little wealth just want to send their children there to learn to read and write and arithmetic. If they don't have talent, they will find a job as soon as possible and will not continue their studies.

This is actually human nature. If you are not good at studying, you won’t waste your family money.

This also determines that studying is only a privilege for a few people and only for families with little wealth. For most families, there is no hope at all, and the vast majority of children are still blocked from going to school.

What Wei Guangde wanted to do was to gather these children into schools and implement the Ming Dynasty version of compulsory education?

If the government gathered teachers together to run schools, like in later generations, with two sessions a year and charging a small amount of copper coins for each session, perhaps more families would send their children to school to learn to read and write, and thus develop their wisdom and understanding.

This may be true. The Chinese people's admiration for scholars is also ingrained in their blood.

If they could send their children to school with only a few coins, most Chinese people would be willing to do so, as long as they can afford it.

In later generations, education spending has become one of the important expenditures for every household in society.

It's very costly, but everyone still enjoys doing it.

Next comes the matter of the government, the issue of how to run a school.

Scholars from all over the country were not allowed to become officials, but they were given official titles of eighth or ninth rank and allowed to serve as teachers in schools.

They set up private schools at home, but the purpose was not to make money.

The government appoints them and pays them salaries. With a stable income, they naturally will not refuse, and the problem of teachers is solved.

As for school buildings, they are not difficult to get these days.

It is not difficult to find a piece of official land around the prefecture or county to build a house. However, if all expenses are to be paid by the local government, there will be many problems. Therefore, the Ministry of Education Supervisor, the Ministry of Revenue or the Ministry of Rites will provide the corresponding expenses.

As for how the court would get this money, Wei Guangde had already thought about it. Didn't Zhang Xueyan say that all the government departments should get their hands on the additional tax silver from the court?

I will make arrangements now. Most of the money from the dental tax will be used to build school buildings and teachers' salaries, so they don't have to worry about it.

Let the vast majority of the people in the Ming Dynasty have the opportunity to read and write, and those with talent will not be buried.

The most important thing is to expand the size of the "literati" so that people with ulterior motives cannot easily incite scholars.

At this stage, it is a pipe dream to want to establish a profession for future generations. At most, we can establish a few subjects such as arithmetic in addition to the Four Books and Five Classics.

Those old scholars shouldn't object to spreading the sacred teachings more widely, right?

The idea of ​​inheriting the unique knowledge of the sages actually originated from the period of a hundred schools of thought. Each school was trying hard to spread its own ideas. One was to attract people who were already educated to join their school. The other was to build schools to help more people learn, become educated people, and support their ideas.

However, after Confucianism became the only doctrine respected, such dissemination became more symbolic rather than truly valued.

The effectiveness of officials in education has become measured by how many Jinshi and Juren emerged from the area under their governance, rather than how many children they have sent to school.

It's time for some changes. (End of this chapter)