prosperous age

In the Ming capital, in the cabinet, in the Prime Minister's duty room, the atmosphere was extremely depressing.

In addition to the four cabinet ministers present, there were also the Minister of Revenue Zhang Xueyan and the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate Chen Yu. Everyone looked unhappy, and it was obvious that there were great differences of opinion among everyone at this meeting.

Finally, the chief minister Zhang Juzheng spoke up and said, "Last year, the disaster reports from various places have been verified by the Censorate. Regarding this reduction, I think everyone should stop arguing."

Having said that, Zhang Xueyan suddenly looked up at Zhang Juzheng, obviously very dissatisfied with his words.

After the beginning of the year, the Ministry of Revenue came under tremendous pressure. There were projects to be done both inside and outside the imperial city. The wages of the Ministry of Works pale in comparison, and the Ministry of Revenue was completely supported.

The topic of discussion today is the arrears of silver owed to the post stations in Shaanxi, Fujian, Guangdong and other places last year, as well as the corvée silver in Fujian, Shandong and Zhejiang, totaling more than one million taels.

Of course, this was not just one year’s money, but rather the arrears from previous years. The rent owed by Shuntian Prefecture from the second year of Longqing to the sixth year of Wanli had not been paid, totaling 110,000 taels of silver.

The Ministry of Revenue cleared out these unpaid silver with the original intention of the imperial court to issue an order to recover the outstanding silver. Even if there was a disaster at that time, it should have recovered after so many years.

In fact, everyone present knew clearly that the money might have been collected by the local government, but they had excuses and evaded the charge.

The Ministry of Revenue is really at a loss now. It has been trying every possible means to transfer money to cover various expenses. Now it has reached the end of its rope, so clearing the arrears has become its last straw.

In the past, such arrears could be forgiven after a period of time, but now the Ministry of Revenue is in a situation where they cannot forgive them and they have to find a way to get the local governments to pay them.

Even if there is a 50% discount, that is still 500,000 taels of silver, which is enough to repair the palace.

"According to custom, when a disaster strikes a region, the imperial court will reduce or exempt taxes.

The Censorate has also investigated these outstanding silvers and approved the regulations for reduction and exemption, which is why the court has not urged payment for so many years. "

Zhang Juzheng looked directly at Zhang Xueyan. Even though he knew he was unhappy, he still had to say it. "We can't ask the local authorities to collect money just because there is something important going on in the court and it will cause chaos. We can't afford it."

At Zhang Juzheng's words, Wei Guangde, Chen Wei and others beside him nodded slightly.

This is how some things are in the court. Even if they knew about the more than one million taels of silver, much of it was probably gone into the pockets of corrupt officials. But without direct evidence and the court not asking the lower levels to collect the money, they would just assume it didn't exist.

“Actually, I can understand that everyone is a little dissatisfied, but rules are rules.

To completely eradicate these bad policies, the only way is to complete the land survey as soon as possible and set a collection quota for each place, so that we can really make sense of these silvers. "

Zhang Juzheng felt very distressed because he knew that the local authorities liked to create a bunch of miscellaneous taxes and levy them on everyone else.

Ordinary people are confused when paying taxes, and it is easier to fool people when they are checked by higher authorities because the taxes are mixed in with other taxes.

Zhang Juzheng hated these miscellaneous taxes that increased the burden on the people, but there was really no way to eradicate them.

Unless you can bear the situation where local government offices are shut down and closed.

The only solution the cabinet could think of was to implement the Single Whip System and impose fixed taxes.

"Master Prime Minister, how can we break the impasse now? The Ministry of Revenue has less than 100,000 taels of silver on hand, which is really insufficient to cover the expenses."

Zhang Xueyan finally gave in. He had only thought about clearing up the arrears because he had no other choice.

Unexpectedly, less than 30% to 50% of the more than one million taels of silver on the books could be collected. Now the Ministry of Revenue is really at a loss, as it cannot conjure up silver out of thin air.

"Write a note and borrow money from the Changying Treasury."

Zhang Juzheng said it very straightforwardly.

"I haven't repaid the six hundred thousand taels of silver I borrowed at the end of the year, and now I'm borrowing again."

Zhang Xueyan said hesitantly.

Damn, it feels like he, the Minister of Revenue, has become the number one debtor in the Ming Dynasty.

The expenditure in the short term will exceed 500,000 taels, which means that the Ministry of Revenue will have to borrow 1 million taels of silver for this purpose.

If this gets out, who knows how the outside world will portray him as the Minister of Revenue.

"Grand Tutor, don't worry. When Lord Yin's fleet returns, the court will have money.

I believe you have already seen the list from the delegation. A rough estimate is that the delegation earned two million taels of silver from this trip to the West, which is enough to repay the debt.

From Shandai's point of view, the imperial court did not spend a single cent on the wedding ceremony prepared for Your Majesty."

Seeing this, Wei Guangde knew that it was his turn as the deputy assistant to speak, so he immediately interrupted.

Although the things have not arrived yet, the list has been sent to the capital. Based on this list, we can roughly estimate the gains of this trip to the West.

After hearing what Wei Guangde said, Zhang Xueyan's expression eased a little.

Although this income can be seen, it has not been deposited yet, so it is difficult to explain the situation clearly.

He was not worried about Yin Zhengmao and Yu Dayou making reckless reports. After all, they were things that had not entered Taicang, so Zhang Xueyan habitually ignored their existence.

Now that Wei Guangde had pointed it out, he had no choice but to nod in agreement.

If there had been no trip to the West, the imperial court would have definitely spent a million taels of silver to prepare for the emperor's wedding.

Although the voyage to the West cost hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, if we really do the accounting, the court actually did not lose money, and should have had hundreds of thousands of taels of silver left over.

It's just that this kind of voyage to the West doesn't seem to be done often, unless
At that moment, an idea suddenly popped up in Zhang Xueyan's mind, that is, the Ministry of Revenue should set up a chamber of commerce to specialize in selling the goods piled up in the treasuries of various governments.

However, Zhang Xueyan soon gave up this seemingly promising job because the Single Whip System promoted by the cabinet, in addition to unifying the taxation of various provinces, had another very important purpose, which was to change the taxes in kind into taxes in silver. He did not see that all corvée labor had to be levied in silver.

Therefore, when taxes in kind decrease in the future, even if the Ministry of Revenue sets up such a chamber of commerce, it can only do it a few times to dispose of the physical goods that have been piled up in the treasury, and then it will have nothing to do.

"Master Chief Assistant."

After Wei Guangde persuaded Zhang Xueyan, he turned to Zhang Juzheng and said, "It is not appropriate for the court to write off the arrears of more than one million taels of silver.

I am worried that local governments will continue to follow suit and exaggerate disasters, no matter how big or small, in an attempt to get away with it.”

A trace of worry also appeared on Wei Guangde's face. These arrears would definitely be forgiven after the implementation of the "One Whip Law" across the country.

With the fixed tax rate, it is difficult for local governments to collect unpaid taxes. At most, they can collect taxes from the last two years.

"Shandai, what do you mean?"

Zhang Juzheng looked at Wei Guangde and asked.

"The Censorate will send out censors to review these taxes again. If they are determined to be collected due to disasters, we will directly request an imperial decree to exempt them."

Wei Guangde said.

In the past, the local governments had arrears, and over time, the accounts became a mess. The Ministry of Revenue was in a difficult position as to whether to collect the debts or not, after all, the debts were on the books.

What Wei Guangde had to do now was to verify the disaster and have the inspector of the Censorate submit a report with his approval, and then the court would directly request an order to reduce or exempt taxes and grain.

"This kind of verification is not done in the current year, but in the following year, the imperial inspectors are sent to conduct the verification."

Wei Guangde continued.

Such an arrangement is equivalent to passing the information through the hands of the two inspectors, which can somewhat prevent the local authorities from colluding with the inspectors and concealing or lying about the disaster.

After listening to this, Zhang Juzheng nodded slightly and then looked at Chen Wei. He was the boss of the Censorate. Wei Guangde's opinion was actually to put the blame on the Censorate.

If something goes wrong, the Censorate will be the first to take the blame.

Although the local officials were the instigators, they could have taken the blame after it was approved by the censors of the Censorate.

Chen Wei also had some thoughts in his mind. Although the responsibility fell on the Censorate, if the Censor handled the case normally, nothing would actually happen.

Then, Chen Wei nodded slightly, indicating that the Censorate could accept it.

"Okay, let's draft a rule for this matter and wait for the palace's approval. For the arrears cleared by the Ministry of Revenue, please ask Lord Chen to arrange for the censor to verify and report the facts."

Zhang Juzheng also felt that it was inappropriate to directly reduce taxes and levies based solely on what had been reported previously, as this could easily give rise to corrupt practices among those below him.

He could accept the reduction or exemption as long as it could withstand the scrutiny of the Censorate, and naturally he would have nothing to say.

The matter was settled and the previous tense atmosphere eased.

Just now, the tension was caused by the Ministry of Revenue keeping an eye on these arrears and requesting permission to recover them.

In fact, once a local government reported a disaster, as long as the debts were in arrears, the court would hardly urge collection. This also made local officials develop the habit of reporting small disasters with large amounts.

After the meeting, everyone stood up and prepared to leave. Zhang Juzheng took Zhang Xueyan's hand and told him, "Go back and hand in the memorial as soon as possible after stamping it. The cabinet will send it directly to the palace after receiving it. There is no time to delay.

The two Empress Dowagers are also paying close attention to the preparations for His Majesty's wedding. If we are not careful, it may cause dissatisfaction in the palace."

"Please rest assured, Prime Minister. I know this is a serious matter and I will never take it lightly."

Zhang Xueyan hurriedly bowed and replied.

"That's good. I'll wait in the cabinet for the Ministry of Revenue's memorial to come up."

Zhang Juzheng stroked his beard and smiled.

At this time in the Qianqing Palace, the young emperor Zhu Yijun finished today's classes. He returned to the harem but did not practice calligraphy. Instead, he did the homework assigned by the lecturer every day.

It seems that only Master Wei would not assign him these tasks, except to practice a few calligraphy pieces or copy and recite texts every day.

But today, the little emperor was a little restless again.

Yes, in fact, this situation has been going on for quite some time.

The reason, of course, is because of the upcoming wedding.

He chose the queen himself. In fact, he was very satisfied with his choice and even secretly went to Chuxiu Palace to see her.

Although he was discovered by his mother and scolded, the little emperor found it very interesting.

As for the eunuchs accompanying him being beaten with a stick, he didn't think it was a big deal.

The master has been scolded, so it’s no big deal for a servant like you to be beaten with a stick.

"Your Majesty, it's time to write."

Seeing that the little emperor was distracted, the eunuch beside him whispered a reminder.

The lecturers of the Ming Dynasty were very powerful. If the little emperor could not complete his homework on time, they would not dare to punish him, but they would dare to punish the eunuchs.

Well, now that I'm working for the emperor, I have to be prepared to be beaten and scolded.

At least before the emperor takes power, don't expect to have a good life.

"it is good."

Suppressing his emotions, Zhu Yijun returned to his desk, picked up his pen and began to write.

However, the closer it got to the wedding, the harder it was for the little emperor to calm down, and he finally made it to the evening.

Today's homework is all done, and the little emperor can finally relax for a while.

After returning from kneeling in the Ciqing Palace and the Cining Palace, Zhu Yijun had people prepare two side dishes and a pot of wine, and he drank by himself.

Now that the emperor had grown up, he was allowed to drink for the first time at the age of sixteen.

I came back from outside today and my feet hurt again, so drinking a little wine helped me sleep. As long as I fell asleep, my feet wouldn't hurt anymore.

However, after drinking half a pot of wine, the little emperor no longer felt drunk as usual, and he felt more energetic.

In a trance, Zhu Yijun saw the eunuchs and palace maids serving on the side. Without thinking too much, he stretched out his hand and pointed to a palace maid, saying: "You, sing a little song for me."

"Ah, but this slave can't do that."

The palace maid who was named hurriedly explained.

After being selected into the palace, these people were taught court etiquette, so how could they sing?

Even if they knew how to sing these songs, they were just folk songs in the countryside, and they would not dare to sing them in front of the emperor.

"Why, you dare not listen to me?"

Zhu Yijun felt that he was not drunk and was very sober, but in fact he was drunk.

A drunk person does not think he is drunk.

The palace maid refused to sing as she was told, but the little emperor's stubborn character came out and he forced her to sing.

At this time, in Zhu Yijun's eyes, the little palace maid was just like the officials of the previous dynasty, who bullied him because of his young age and refused to obey his orders.

Yes, the little emperor could feel that his words were not as effective as his mother's. It was unworthy for him to be the emperor, the so-called ruler of a country.

But until now, he has not felt the joy of being a king.

The more he thought about it, the angrier he got. The angrier he got, the more he thought about it. The little emperor's gaze fell on other people.

In an instant, all the eunuchs and palace maids who were stared at by the emperor knelt on the ground, not daring to raise their heads, for fear of being called by the emperor to sing a song.

These young eunuchs and palace maids selected by Feng Bao to serve the emperor were all honest, otherwise they would not have been able to work here.

It’s not necessarily true that they can’t sing, but they really don’t dare to sing.

Forget about the palace maids, those eunuchs and chamberlains all tell dirty jokes and seasonal songs in private, and they have never heard or sung them.

But in the Qianqing Palace, I really didn’t dare to sing it.

If I sing, I’m afraid I’ll lose my life.

The eunuchs and palace maids refused to sing, but the little emperor forced them to sing, and they dared not say a word.

Finally, the little emperor got angry and ordered his men to drag out and chop off the palace maid he had named. The eunuchs and palace maids nearby were so frightened that they could only kowtow and beg for mercy.

Finally, perhaps the little emperor had had enough of the fuss and sobered up a little. Seeing the eunuchs and palace maids kneeling on the ground, he found a way out for himself.

"Since you don't want to chop off my head, I'll just shave my hair instead."

Zhu Yijun ordered the eunuchs around him to cut the palace maid's hair as a punishment for her disobedience.

In Zhu Yijun's eyes, this was just a trivial matter, so he didn't take it seriously.

After enough noise, it’s getting late.

The little emperor gradually felt sleepy and went to the back to rest under the eunuch's care.

The eunuchs and palace maids in the palace then got up from the ground and cleaned up the mess.

The matter in the Qianqing Palace seemed insignificant, but it was still known to Feng Bao and Empress Dowager Li.

Naturally, they had spies here, otherwise how would they have known that the little emperor had gone to Chuxiu Palace.

Feng Bao just frowned, but Empress Dowager Li was different. As the ruler of a country, how could she do such a ridiculous thing? (End of this chapter)