prosperous age

In fact, not only Liu Yaohui was puzzled by the court's agreement to the Portuguese people's request for citizenship, but even in the capital, which was known as the place where the news spread the most well, the middle and lower-level officials were also puzzled by the decision made at the Nine Ministers Conference.

Although the terms drawn up by the cabinet were clear—that is, to allow wealthy overseas merchants and technical personnel to obtain citizenship—the rationale behind it remained unclear in an era when the Ming Dynasty held artisans in contempt.

Of course, they could understand that the purpose of attracting wealthy merchants, especially the specific tax revenue and the number of workers employed, was to increase the government's fiscal revenue.

As for the technically skilled people from the outer regions, they couldn't understand the intricacies of it.

As for craftsmen, the Ming Dynasty already has the best craftsmen in the world, so why would it need craftsmen from foreign vassal states?

It shouldn't be necessary, otherwise why would those foreign merchants travel thousands of miles to trade with the Ming Dynasty? This fully demonstrates the superiority of Ming Dynasty products.

Just as the outside world was abuzz with discussion, as the year-end approached, the Ministry of Revenue began distributing salaries and rewards to various government offices and officials. The officials' attention was clearly diverted, and even the eastern expedition was forgotten by them.

In the past two years, with the cabinet issuing a new salary system, officials have begun to receive double salaries, including both rank-based salaries and informal rank-based salaries.

This increased officials' income to some extent, but also increased the burden on the imperial court.

However, despite the significant increase in taxes levied by the imperial court, the officials did not express gratitude, as they believed it was all due.

In any dynasty, officials would never lack money. The salary system established by the founding emperor and the subsequent silver system exploited officials too much.

With their salaries and rewards more than double what they had received in previous years, they naturally wanted to indulge in some spending.

As a result of the officials' retaliatory spending, the capital's commerce flourished. Large quantities of goods were delivered into the city every morning and were quickly snapped up, leading to an increase in market prices.

Officials became incredibly wealthy due to the imperial court's massive profits, which drove up prices, making it less favorable for lower and middle-income earners.

Although their wages have increased slightly, they certainly haven't kept pace with inflation.

Fortunately, this price increase is temporary, and prices will gradually fall as consumption declines after the year-end.

Wei Guangde was well aware of the changes in the market within the cabinet.

"Sir, this is my record of the price changes of major commodities over a recent period."

In the cabinet office, Lu Bu handed Wei Guangde a booklet containing his records of commodity prices.

Wei Guangde put down the memorial in his hand, took the booklet and began to read it.

The document records the price changes of daily necessities over the past month. This was a task assigned to him by Wei Guangde, allowing him to better understand the changes in the Beijing market.

In the Ming Dynasty, no government office actually had the function of statistics. It was usually the officials who needed to collect such data that they would send people to investigate and record it.

As for the data, it is mostly based on recollections and unit prices recorded in official ledgers.

There's too much exaggeration in this; it's not objectively true.

"The price of rice is 28 wen. I remember it used to be 25 wen."

When Wei Guangde saw the latest rice price, he frowned slightly. The price of ten catties of rice had increased by 3 wen in just one week.

Later, the price of pork also rose from 18 wen per catty to 20 wen, while the price of tea leaf tea rose less, by about 10%, while the price of bud tea rose more, from 600 wen per catty to 800 wen.

Upon seeing this, Wei Guangde guessed that it was the officials who were spending money, which directly drove up the price of bud tea.

Moreover, transportation is inconvenient during this season, and it is troublesome to transport tea from surrounding towns to Beijing, which directly drives up the price of bud tea.

Fabric prices also rose significantly. Except for ordinary cotton fabric, which saw a smaller increase, prices still rose by more than 10%, while silk fabric prices increased by more than 20%.

Each bolt of red and yellow fine Hangzhou silk has sold for 1 tael, while each bolt of red and yellow silk costs 1 tael and 5 mace.

Wei Guangde touched his chin; it was fuzzy, and his beard had grown quite long.

He had wanted to shave long ago, as was customary, but unfortunately, it wasn't fashionable these days; everyone grew beards, probably to look more mature and composed.

"We need to tell the Ministry of Revenue to bring the rice price back down and prevent it from rising."

Wei Guangde muttered something under his breath.

As for other items, such as fruits and vegetables, even without a surge in pent-up demand, the prices of fruits and vegetables in Beijing will rise in winter, and everyone is used to it.

Food is the most important thing for the people. As long as grain prices are kept down, people can just buy less of other things if prices rise. In particular, items like silk and tea are for the consumption of officials and gentry. Since they have money, there is no need to restrict them.

Just then, footsteps sounded outside. Wei Guangde didn't look up, but Lu Bu had already looked towards the door and reported to Wei Guangde, "Master, Minister Zhang from the Ministry of Revenue has arrived."

Upon hearing that Zhang Xueyan had arrived, Wei Guangde looked up and said, "Please invite him in."

Lu Bu bowed to Zhang Xueyan at the door and invited him inside.

The booklet had already been placed on the side of the desk by Wei Guangde. He then got up, walked around the desk, and said to Zhang Xueyan with a smile, "Brother Ziyu, come, please sit down."

He led Zhang Xueyan to sit down in the reception area, where Lu Bu had already brought two cups of tea on a tray.

"Your Excellency, I have come to deliver this year's accounting records."

As he spoke, Zhang Xueyan took out a thick booklet from his sleeve, which recorded the Ministry of Revenue's major expenditures this year.

"Have the accounting records from the Ministry of Works and other government offices been sent yet?"

Zhang Xueyan spoke first.

In the past, the Ministry of Revenue would also conduct a year-end review of the year's income and expenditure, which would then be compiled into a year's financial revenue and expenditure record, known as the "Accounting Record".

However, these accounting records were originally kept on file by the department itself and did not need to be submitted to the cabinet.

They can simply select the data needed by the cabinet or the palace from this booklet and quickly submit it.

However, after Wei Guangde was promoted to Grand Secretary this year, he brought up the Accounting Records to the Cabinet. He not only required the Ministry of Revenue to make an extra copy after completing the compilation and send it to the Cabinet for reference, but also required other government departments to compile accounting records and send them to the Cabinet.

This is also why Zhang Xueyan asked this question. He had keenly sensed that Wei Guangde's next policy was likely to change the existing fiscal and tax system of the Ming Dynasty.

“They are not as good as the Ministry of Revenue. They have to compile the ‘Accounting Records’ every year, and it may take some time to complete it,” Wei Guangde said with a chuckle.

The Ministry of Revenue was a professional body, and its accounting records were compiled with a clear purpose, so they were very detailed and scientific. While other government offices also had similar accounting records and statistics, they were still somewhat lacking in detailed classification.

This time, Wei Guangde compared the statistical ledgers of several government departments and chose the Ministry of Revenue's "Accounting Records" as the standard template. Other government departments compiled their year-end summaries according to the Ministry of Revenue's template.

"Your Excellency, you ordered all government offices to compile accounting records, is that correct?"

Zhang Xueyan had been in contact with Wei Guangde for a long time. Although he had only officially joined Wei Guangde's side for half a year, he had truly cooperated fully during that time and considered himself a staunch confidant of Chief Minister Wei. Therefore, under these circumstances, he directly asked the question.

Although he didn't say it clearly, he reached out and made a grasping motion, which actually said everything he wanted to say.

Upon seeing this, Wei Guangde nodded slightly, glanced subconsciously at the door of the duty room, and then said, "Now the imperial court's fiscal revenue is divided among various government departments."

As far as I know, the Ministry of Revenue was short of silver before, but other government offices had a surplus of more than 200,000 taels of silver.

Such a fragmented fiscal system is not conducive to the imperial court concentrating funds for various tasks.

Wei Guangde began to explain.

Without a credit system, the Ming court often had to pay money before it could get things done. Without money, nothing could be done, and even if only a portion was allocated, it still required funds to pave the way.

Although the Ministry of Revenue is in much better shape now and not as strained as before, Wei Guangde still felt that the scattered fiscal revenue was detrimental to the administration of the court.

To centralize financial power and have it managed by a specialized government office, while also overseeing the spending of other government offices, was Wei Guangde's next reform goal.

In the Ming Dynasty, although there was a Ministry of Revenue to manage the purse strings, it did not actually manage all of the Ming Dynasty's fiscal revenue.

The fiscal revenue of the Ming Dynasty was very complex. Local governments set up treasuries to store the taxes collected, such as grain, goods, or silver.

After taxes were collected from various regions, they needed to be transported to the large warehouses in the two capitals. At this point, it was necessary to distinguish which warehouses belonged to the state and were public property, namely the Ministry of Revenue, which belonged to the emperor's private warehouses, namely the Imperial Treasury, commonly known as the Golden Flower Silver Treasury, as well as taxes from other government offices.

Generally speaking, most of the national taxes, such as land income and corvée labor income, belonged to the Ministry of Revenue, while a small portion of the corvée labor income belonged to the Ministry of Works.

In addition, the Ministry of Works' revenue mainly came from the silver equivalent of materials and labor dispatched to various regions, as well as revenue from bamboo and timber. The Ministry of War's revenue mainly came from the firewood and salary of officials in the capital, which were stored in the Ministry of War's Armory and distributed to officials in the capital by the Ministry of War. The Taipusi's revenue mainly came from the silver equivalent of horses dispatched to various regions, and so on.

This is not all. In fact, each of the six ministries had its own tax revenue, it's just a matter of how much.

To give a simple example, Songjiang Prefecture is currently a major contributor to the imperial court's finances. Due to the policies of Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, the eight prefectures in Jiangnan bear an excessive burden of taxes and corvée labor. Moreover, due to the opening of the sea route, Songjiang Prefecture's fiscal revenue has increased significantly in recent years, and it pays the most taxes and corvée labor to the capital every year.

The government offices in the capital would take a share of the taxes and corvée labor collected from Songjiang Prefecture, including silver and goods.

The first is the inner treasury. The inner transport treasury collects more than 200,000 taels of gold-flowered silver from the tax revenue of Songjiang Prefecture every year. In addition to the more than 80,000 taels of silver set by Emperor Taizu, there are also more than 100,000 taels of silver collected from customs duties.

In addition, the grains, rice, and cloth consumed by the imperial court were also of considerable value.

These goods were all included in the taxes and corvée labor levied locally.

Next is the Ministry of Revenue. The Ministry of Revenue's treasury receives a fixed amount of more than 50,000 taels of silver in taxes and corvée labor from Songjiang Prefecture, including salt tax, household registration silver, official silver, and various other taxes. Customs duties of more than 300,000 taels also go directly into the treasury.

In addition, the Jingtong Granary also collected grain taxes from Songjiang Prefecture, and the Ministry of Revenue also collected a separate fee from Songjiang Prefecture for its own expenses. This was a fixed income included in the land tax, which was actually the Ministry of Revenue's own slush fund to support its various expenditures.

The inner court and the Ministry of Revenue plundered most of Songjiang Prefecture's fiscal revenue, leaving only the money from other government offices.

For example, the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, which was in charge of the imperial court's food and sacrificial offerings, also had to collect the raw materials and silver from Songjiang Prefecture. The silver amounted to about 10,000 taels of silver each year. This was the income of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, which was recorded separately and was not under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Revenue.

The tax silver collected by the Ministry of Works in Songjiang Prefecture was mainly for materials, which was allocated to Songjiang Prefecture for purchasing materials such as gold, silver, copper, and iron. It also had to cover the Ministry of Works' materials, including bows and arrows, axes, bricks, military weapons, padded coats, leather and gold, silk, etc. This part was worth more than 30,000 taels of silver.

Then there's the Ministry of Rites. The Ministry of Rites' budget mainly consisted of livestock feed and medicine, which should be considered expenditures of the Ministry of Rites and items collected on behalf of the Imperial Hospital.

Other departments, such as the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Personnel, also devised various pretexts to levy fees on Songjiang Prefecture. These fees were previously distributed among land and corvée labor.

These are not all the taxes and corvée labor borne by the people of Songjiang Prefecture, because the local government also needs to maintain its operations, so there is an additional large sum of tax silver.

The exorbitant taxes and levies in ancient times were mainly various tax items set up by different government departments in order to maintain their operation.

When local authorities received documents from the ministries and temples, they distributed these taxes among the land and corvée labor, and also shared their own expenses.

Later generations said that the Ming Dynasty had the lightest taxes, but this only refers to the national tax, which was indeed the lightest. However, the taxes and corvée labor borne by the people were no less than those of previous dynasties, and were even heavier.

Of course, due to the opening of the sea, Songjiang Prefecture's commerce flourished, and with Wei Guangde's deliberate guidance, some of the increased taxes began to be allocated to commercial taxes.

Especially after the quotas for land tax and corvée labor were set in various regions, these taxes, which were originally distributed among the people, could now be distributed to commercial taxes because they could not exceed the land tax set by the cabinet.

Previously, Matsue Prefecture even planned to impose additional tariffs on the customs duties collected in the port area.

However, merchants engaged in maritime trade were not so easy to deal with, so half a month after the document was sent from Songjiang Prefecture, the news reached the capital.

Therefore, the officials of the six ministries issued a document to Songjiang Prefecture, which was rare for them to do so in unison, prohibiting them from levying additional tariffs on ships traveling to and from the sea. They were required to collect tariffs in accordance with the tariffs set by the imperial court and were not allowed to impose additional levies.

The document was also sent to Tianjin, Yuegang and Guangzhou prefectures.

Well, this is the effect Wei Guangde wanted: to gradually shift the court's tax revenue to the commercial sector, slowly and painstakingly cutting away at its core.

In cases where officials and businessmen are in cahoots, do officials not react?
Yes, there are some, but it's impossible for all officials to have businesses in the four open ports. Only some of them have investments, so when faced with the interests of the vast majority, these few can only suffer losses.

Moreover, Wei Guangde, as the biggest capitalist in the court, took the lead in willingly bearing this part of the loss, so what could others say?
It must be said that Wei Guangde, the biggest capitalist in the Ming Dynasty, often caused damage to his own businesses, which indeed silenced many people's criticisms.

Although many officials called him an idiot behind his back, his act of taking the lead in sharing the country's burdens also won him a lot of goodwill, including within the palace.

“I have a plan to transfer all tax revenue, except for that of the Court of Imperial Stud, to the Ministry of Revenue, with the Ministry of Revenue disbursing all expenditures of the various government offices according to the documents, and the Censorate auditing them.”

With no outsiders in the duty room, Wei Guangde quietly voiced his idea for a major overhaul of the Ming Dynasty's fiscal and taxation system.

The Taipusi (Imperial Stud) was a very special institution, responsible for the Ming Dynasty's war reserve funds. Wei Guangde did not think it should be touched; in fact, it truly could not be touched.

But other government offices... (End of Chapter)