prosperous age

What were the main fiscal expenditures during the Wanli era of the Ming Dynasty?
The largest expenditure is military spending, accounting for more than 40% of the total expenditure, with the bulk of the expenditure going to the border troops.

The second largest expenditure is royal expenses, accounting for about 30% of the total expenditure. Of this, the palace accounts for about 10%, and the remaining 20% ​​is the expenditure on stipends for the royal family.

The third largest expense is officials' salaries, which account for nearly 20% of the total expenditure.

Originally, only 10% was allocated, but after seeing the significant increase in fiscal revenue and expenditure, Wei Guangde passed a resolution to issue stipends to those of honorary and unranked officials, in addition to those of official rank.

Of course, due to the color discount, the actual amount received is only doubled.

With the current fiscal revenue and expenditure of the Ming Dynasty, it can still support it.

Because of this salary increase, and the fact that the salaries of local government officials are paid through public accounts and drawn from local treasury reserves, the pressure on local officials has been greatly reduced.

Imagine a county magistrate who, upon assuming office, has to shoulder the responsibility of feeding dozens of people in his office; the pressure must be immense.

Without resorting to some underhanded tactics, you can't expect to appease your subordinates.

These people were just freeloaders; if the county magistrate couldn't meet their needs, who would be willing to work for him?

Now things are much better. These people's expenses can be directly accounted for and withdrawn from the local reserves, which is equivalent to the imperial court paying their salaries.

Although it was still the county magistrate's money, the pressure was much less. In the past, they would find ways to get the money out of the official seal.

To put it bluntly, if someone discovers and reports it, that's considered embezzlement.

When the imperial edict was officially issued in the second half of the year, Wei Guangde's prestige soared, almost overshadowing that of Grand Secretary Zhang Juzheng.

Even among scholars, Wei Guangde's influence was gradually growing.

After all, most scholars are destined to serve as officials, so an increase in official salaries is naturally a good thing for them.

What truly affected them was the performance evaluation system implemented by Grand Secretary Zhang Juzheng, which shackled them.

Therefore, in their eyes, Wei Guangde, the second-ranking official, was their ally, while Zhang Juzheng, the first-ranking official, seemed to be a complete villain.

Moreover, they will not forget that it was Zhang Juzheng's "Memorial Requesting the Renewal of Old Regulations and the Rectification of Educational Administration to Revitalize Talent" that forced academies of all sizes across the country to close or change their business.

This was absolutely intolerable to them, as scholars.

Zhang Juzheng hoped that this move would eliminate dissent through administrative force and ensure the authority of the reform, but he forgot the criticisms from scholars.

He only saw the dissidents in the literati clamoring loudly in the academies, accusing the court of going against the tide and hindering the reforms, but he overlooked the fact that at this time, all parties were using the academies to recruit talents, directly offending the dead Confucianism, especially the emerging School of Mind.

The School of Mind relied entirely on the control of the education officials to widely establish academies and promote its ideas.

The Wanli Emperor only paid attention to the surge in stipends for members of the imperial family in the cabinet; he didn't care much about anything else.

Knowing that Zonglu would only receive about four million taels of silver a year from now on, and that the figure might be higher in the next few years, he had no choice but to say something, since he had to mention his father and the master's debts.

They can't just refuse to pay with a single sentence, especially since the person asking for the money is a relative.

The young emperor is easily offended and wouldn't do something like denying his promise.

After seeing the young emperor off from the cabinet and onto the heavily concealed imperial carriage, Wei Guangde couldn't help but shrink back his exposed hands.

Winter had already arrived in the capital by then. Although spring was not far off, the weather was still as cold as the Great Cold.

"The weather this year seems even colder than in previous years."

Unable to hold back, Wei Guangde spoke up.

"Yes, the canal is frozen in October. The weather should be warming up by now."

Zhang Siwei also spoke up.

His family is in business, so they pay more attention to the canal, since it is a vital economic artery.

Although maritime transport has been accepted by most merchants, the Ming Dynasty still has a vast inland area, and these areas can only rely on land and river transport to maintain transportation. Maritime transport can only solve the problem of long-distance north-south transportation, such as grain and other bulk goods.

"Should we inform the canal transport authorities and the river authorities that the ice jams might affect the canal transport?"

Shen Shixing spoke up.

"Local officials along the river need to be informed that the impact of ice jams on the dikes is still very strong, and a slight oversight could lead to a dam collapse."

If this weather causes flooding, I can't even imagine the consequences.

Zhang Juzheng spoke decisively.

If it's true that in summer floods, those who can swim might survive, but in this season's floods, almost no one who falls into the water will survive; they'll freeze to death.

"Come on, let's go inside and warm up by the fire. Let's not stay outside in the wind."

Wei Guangde glanced at Zhang Juzheng, whose face was somewhat pale, and pulled him inside.

"Yep."

Zhang Siwei and Shen Shixing echoed their sentiments, and Zhang Xueyan and the others followed them back to their duty room.

Inside the Grand Secretary's office, several braziers were placed together. As soon as the curtain was lifted and the room was entered, a wave of heat rushed out, quickly dispelling the chill around him.

The clerk helped Zhang Juzheng take off his cloak, and Wei Guangde also took off his own cloak and draped it over a chair. He plopped down near the brazier, warmed his hands with it, and then said to Zhang Ke who came over, "The first thing to do when we get back to the Ministry of War is to ask the Military Affairs Department about the situation at the various fire stations in the city."

"Yes, I'll make that trip myself in a bit."

Zhang Ke nodded, indicating that he did have that much sense of responsibility.

Since the fifth year of the Wanli reign, when Wei Guangde first ordered the county governments of Wanping and Daxing to set up heating stations in various parts of the city to provide free heating for families in the city who could not afford to buy firewood, the seventh year of the Wanli reign directly assigned the task to the Military Affairs Department, with the city patrol censor overseeing the matter.

Sufficient black coal must be purchased before October each year to ensure that several heating points can provide shelter for officials and civilians seeking refuge from the cold throughout the winter.

This matter has been rolled out to all the prefectures and counties in the northern part of the Ming Dynasty since last year, but the results are still unknown.

In previous years, thousands of people froze to death in the prefectures and counties of Beizhili during winter. In the past two years, the number of reported deaths has decreased significantly. Most of the deaths are still occurring in the countryside, while people in the city at least know to go to heated places to avoid the cold.

"call"

Zhang Juzheng, who was standing nearby, drank a bowl of ginseng soup and warmed himself by the fire for a while. He then let out a long breath and said to Wei Guangde, "Shandai, do you have any more old ginseng? I've run out of some in my residence."

"Uncle, do you think it's good for the teacher to take a rest? Drinking ginseng soup isn't a good idea either."

Ginseng does indeed replenish vital energy, but one cannot rely solely on it.

Wei Guangde offered a reminder, but then added, "I don't have much of anything else at home, but I have plenty of ginseng. I'll have someone deliver it to your residence later."

Wei Guangde initially monopolized the ginseng trade within the Great Wall through Liaodong merchants.

Now, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong is Qi Jiguang. The transactions between him and the Jurchens are nominally between merchants from various places and the Jurchens, but in reality, it is his disciples, Wei Guangde, who are trading ginseng with the Jurchens on a large scale.

Other merchants might be able to manage small quantities, but large quantities would never be able to be transported out of Liaodong territory.

Even Zhang Juzheng had to consult Wei Guangde to obtain ginseng, which meant that the palace received ginseng from Liaodong every year and did not need to specifically ask Grand Secretary Wei to purchase it.

"Hehe, then thank you very much for the loan."

Zhang Juzheng cupped his hands in greeting and smiled, saying, "There's no need for such formalities between us."

Wei Guangde smiled and shook his head, saying...

Just then, Zhang Ke suddenly said, "We had previously discussed the court and local governments repaying the debts owed to the imperial lords, but the Ministry of War also has a debt to settle. I don't know what to do."

"Don't mention asking the court for money. If it's the Ministry of War that owes the court, then you should talk to Minister Zhang about it."

Wei Guangde was about to say no, but then thought better of it and pointed to Zhang Xueyan of the Ministry of Revenue.

"This really is money owed by the Ministry of War, that's it."

Zhang Ke looked conflicted, clearly indicating that the Ministry of War simply didn't have the money to repay the debt and was trying to renege on it.

If it were the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Justice, or the Ministry of Personnel, Wei Guangde wouldn't pay much attention. But since it was the Ministry of War, he would ask for clarification and try to smooth things over.

"The Ministry of War's funds are all reported and listed for expenditure, so how could there be a debt?"

"Owe money and receive money are two different things and should not be confused," Wei Guangde said strangely.

"I only learned this a few days ago. During the Jiajing reign, there were many cases where military households in coastal garrisons such as Shandong did not have enough money to pay their wages. There were also cases where garrisons on expeditions borrowed funds from local authorities to prepare for deployment. All of these were recorded in the accounts."

During the Jiajing period of the Japanese pirate raids, Shandong was also attacked by Japanese pirates several times, resulting in the deaths of many people.

When the number of men in the garrisons decreased, replacements were needed. However, if there were no able-bodied men in the families, they could not be enlisted in the camp. If they were not enlisted, the military commissioner would not pay them their wages. But the garrisons could not ignore these military households, so they had to provide them with some resettlement allowance. Therefore, the garrisons had to borrow money from the local government.

Another issue is the mobilization allowance. The military command should have paid the money, but it was often delayed or forgotten. In any case, there was no money, or the money was available but no one knew where it went. Since the mobilization allowance was not repaid, it became a debt relationship between the military and the local government.

In the past two years, Zhang Ke has been reorganizing the garrisons, and he has discovered quite a few such debts.

This year, we've reorganized all the military garrisons in mainland China and sorted out their debts.

Regardless of whether the garrison soldiers can fight or not, the debts are there, and there are defenses to maintain; there's no room for faking it.

"how many?"

Wei Guangde hesitated for a moment before asking the question.

"More than 500,000 taels, most of which were accumulated debts from the coastal garrisons during their years of fighting against Japanese pirates."

Zhang Ke said.

Wei Guangde glanced at Zhang Juzheng, then said to Zhang Ke, "Let the Censorate investigate this matter first. If it is true, then the Ministry of War should report it to the Ministry of Revenue and see how to handle it."

These expenses should all have been paid from local reserves; the Ministry of Revenue probably doesn't even know about them.

The system of transporting and retaining tax silver in the Ming Dynasty was a core component of the fiscal system, originally intended to facilitate revenue and expenditure.

The term "transportation" refers to the regular and fixed-quota delivery of taxes from various prefectures, states, and counties to central or border warehouses in accordance with central regulations. It is divided into two parts: "transportation to the central government" and "transportation to the nine border regions," involving central and border expenditures such as grain, military supplies, etc.

Retention refers to the portion of taxes that local governments retain for regular expenditures, including military expenses, officials' salaries, and office expenses.

The tax silver being transported was mostly embezzled by officials in the capital through fraudulent means, while the local reserves were withdrawn under various pretexts, provided that basic expenses were covered first.

The Ministry of Revenue's ledgers, or rather, the Taicang branch, have records of every transaction of silver entering and leaving the country, so there are naturally no errors or omissions.

Because the amount of silver was exactly the same, only a small portion of what was taken out would be deducted and put into the Ministry of Revenue's slush fund.

But when it comes to the local level, it's hard to say what will happen to the remaining parts.

Wei Guangde dared not suggest that the Ministry of War submit a memorial to exempt him from the punishment, but he could use this opportunity to have the Censorate investigate. This would be a good chance to arrest a few typical corrupt officials and punish them, which would also help to purify the officialdom.

Even though I know it won't be very effective, I still want to give people a reminder.

If the imperial court approves it directly and cancels the debt, who knows what will happen next.

The struggle over the proportion of goods to be shipped out and those to be retained has always been a major point of contention between the imperial court and local authorities.

Local governments naturally want to retain as much silver as possible and transport as little silver as possible, while the imperial court, with its huge expenditures, naturally needs to transport more silver.

Anti-corruption is also a sharp sword that the central government uses to control local governments.

During the chaos at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court gradually lost control over the local areas. The transportation and retention of goods were basically decided by the local governments, and the imperial court's influence was greatly reduced. This forced the emperor to raise money by constantly increasing taxes.

The local governments also received a large share of the money from the tax increases. This is why, even if the imperial court didn't collect an extra tael of silver, the people often had to pay several or even more taels.

The matter was pushed to the Censorate for investigation, and the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Revenue naturally had little to do with the subsequent events.

Even if there is such a thing, it's at most a case of lax supervision, which is ultimately the responsibility of the local authorities.

However, Wei Guangde had another idea in mind when he thought about the transportation and preservation.

"The Taxation Department under the Ministry of Revenue has achieved remarkable results in the past year, collecting a considerable amount of tax revenue."

Wei Guangde casually remarked to Zhang Xueyan, seemingly without intention.

"The main reason is the significant increase in the exchange of silver at brokerage firms, which greatly supplemented local fiscal revenue."

Zhang Xueyan, unaware of Wei Guangde's thoughts, gave a vague reply.

"Does the Ministry of Revenue have any opinions on the vertical management of the Taxation Department, such as whether it is good or bad?"

The Tax Bureau, originally part of the local finance system of the Ming Dynasty, was mainly responsible for collecting taxes from government shops. Later, it was gradually merged into the unified management of the prefectural and county governments.

This transformation began in the early Ming Dynasty. With the adjustment of the fiscal system, its functions expanded to include the tax collection and administration of natural resources such as mountains, rivers, and fishponds.

In other words, the Taxation Bureau was originally a centrally administered agency, but it was later transferred to local administration and given the additional authority to levy resource taxes.

In recent years, Wei Guangde separated the brokerage firms from the prefectural government offices, transferred them to the tax office to collect the exchange fees, and then brought them back under the control of the imperial court and the Ministry of Revenue.

Wei Guangde now wanted to hear the Ministry of Revenue's attitude towards the Tax Administration. If it was good, he intended to merge the local treasuries or local government treasuries into the Imperial Granary, which would then be managed by the imperial court and no longer handed over to the local governments.

Afterwards, local government offices were only responsible for managing local affairs, and the powers and responsibilities of taxation and storage were completely stripped away and transferred to the imperial court.

In later generations, with advanced communication and the internet age, the central government can intervene in almost every aspect of local affairs, whereas in ancient times, there were some obstacles.

Therefore, Wei Guangde first needed to see the attitude of the Ministry of Revenue and whether they were interested in taking over.

"This"

Zhang Xueyan pondered for a moment before saying, "Although it is a bit troublesome, because the responsibilities are singular, it can still be managed effectively and will not lead to mistakes."

Furthermore, the Tax Bureau was divided into North and South, with only the North Tax Bureau directly under the Ministry of Revenue, so it could still manage.

The Southern Tax Bureau was managed by the Ministry of Revenue in Nanjing and supervised by Hai Rui, the Vice Minister of Revenue and the Commissioner of Taxation.

To be honest, Wei Guangde wasn't entirely comfortable entrusting the task to someone else.

In later generations, Hai Rui was perceived as impartial and selfless in handling cases, but in reality, he was a master of finance and taxation, skilled in arithmetic, and was initially transferred to the capital as a principal officer in the Ministry of Revenue.

Wei Guangde simply nodded slightly and did not continue speaking.

Later, they consulted Zhang Juzheng, but this matter had offended the local authorities. (End of Chapter)