prosperous age

Chapter 953 1042 Money Change

"The three people are invited here mainly because the cabinet wants to know the deposit status of the Ministry of War, Ministry of Industry and Ministry of Household Affairs."

In the duty room of the Chief Assistant of the Cabinet, after the clerk brought tea, Wei Guangde spoke first.

Although the three ministers were surprised when they heard that the cabinet asked about the deposits of the three ministries, they all explained the situation one after another.

The account department is the simplest. It directly reports the amount of silver deposited in the warehouse.

That is, Taicang Bank will report to the cabinet every month, so that Zhang Juzheng can grasp the true financial situation of the court.

As for the small warehouse behind the Hubu Yamen, Wang Guoguang did not report it because he did not understand the purpose of the cabinet inquiry.

The money in the small warehouse is the private treasury of the Ministry of Accounts, and it handles some internal accounts. Although the cabinet knows something about it, it does not know the specific situation.

After that, Zhu Heng briefly talked about the financial situation of the Ministry of Industry.

In the Ming Dynasty, the Ministry of Industry "was in charge of the affairs of the world, including mountain harvesting, kiln smelting, planting, tax collection, river canals, and weaving." The scope of its functions was quite wide, and it had four departments under its jurisdiction: The Yu Heng Division "demonstrates the harvesting and cultivation of mountains and rivers", the Dushui Division "demonstrates the affairs of Chuanze, Pichi, bridges, boats and carts, weaving, coupons, and weights and measures", and the Tuntian Division "demonstrates the matters of harvesting and cultivation in Shanze". The matters of planting, harvesting, fuel, husbandry, and tombs."

In order to complete various construction and manufacturing projects, the Ministry of Engineering consumes a large amount of manpower and materials every year.

In the early Ming Dynasty, all kinds of craftsmen and materials were basically provided to the Ministry of Industry in the form of labor and physical goods. Later, with the transition from physical finance to monetary finance, shift craftsmen gradually received silver instead of labor, and all kinds of materials gradually Discount silver.

The main income item "material money" is common to the four companies, while other items vary due to the different responsibilities of the four companies.

The so-called material silver, also known as the material price, refers to the discounted silver taels of natural materials collected by the government, and also refers to the silver taels directly levied by the government in the name of purchasing materials.

Roughly summarized, it can be divided into two categories: the first category has relatively fixed varieties, quantities and application times. Of course, there are those that apply every year and those that apply once every two or three years. According to the literature, the amount is Ban, Suiban, Suipai, etc. basically all fall into this category;

The second category is temporary dispatch based on needs. The variety, quantity and processing time are not fixed. The dispatched dispatch, sitting dispatch, sitting dispatch, miscellaneous dispatch, miscellaneous dispatch, etc. mentioned in the literature basically fall into this category.

Among them, although the first type has changed before and after, it is relatively fixed; the second type has increased from less to more, and some varieties are even accepted every year, showing a fixed trend.

In addition to the materials and silver of the four departments, other external accounts of the Camp and Maintenance Department are classified under the heading of "miscellaneous materials", including materials and manpower, as well as rent-based silver.

Among them, the largest amount and the most widely sourced are craftsman's class silver and brick silver, followed by amaranth silver. In addition, Shuntian and Baoding prefectures also have Weike silver, Weifu silver, Huangmu car price silver, and river pile wood. , grains, base and other silver.

Other external interpretations of Yu Hengsi are divided into two categories: "military uniforms" and "miscellaneous materials". The former includes military weapons, fat jackets, bows, arrows, strings, bags, etc., and the latter includes feathers, tiger skins, leopard and beef tendons, etc. Horns etc.

In addition, Shuntian and Yongping Prefectures have mountain land rental silver, Shoudi Silver, Tieye Minfu Silver, and Jiangban Silver. Zhending Prefecture has vat altar discount silver. Anqing Prefecture, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Huguang have various ranking papers. Fujian has , Zhejiang has class iron and material iron.

Other external interpretations of Dushui Division include three categories: first, "hebo forehead sign", including jute, white linen, ramie, copper, iron, tung oil, horn, beef tendon, etc.;

The second is the "miscellaneous levy", the categories are very trivial, including cognac, mulberry, rouge, rosewood, southern jujube, purple elm, coke, list paper, book paper, copper wire, iron wire and iron bars, Sichuan wood. Erzhu, Guangjiao, as well as porter's silver, gatekeeper's silver, chuncao silver, government housing land rental silver, river bank grain rental base silver, etc., each chief secretary and each government directly under the central government only accepts a few of these items;

The third is "weaving solution", including silk, raw silk, yarn, Luo, damask, silk, etc.

The other external explanations of the Tuntian Division are the simplest, with only "Chaifu's discount".

It was so complicated that Zhu Heng spent a long time estimating and explaining it, and finally sorted out the actual bank deposit situation.

After all, it is no longer the early Ming Dynasty, and many things have already been converted into silver and handed over to the Ministry of Works.

It can be said that, if we are to be honest, although the income of the Ministry of Industry is not as high as that of the Ministry of Household Affairs, the level of complexity is even greater.

As for the Ministry of War, it seems to be a military rather than financial management organization, but in fact, the Ministry of War in the Ming Dynasty was also involved in financial management. The revenue it managed mainly included Ma Chai Silver, Zhuang Peng Silver, Ban Jun Silver, Zaoli Silver, and Yi Chuanyin et al.

When Wei Guangde asked about his income at the Hanlin Academy, Lu Bu actually received his salary from the Ministry of War at that time, which was an income and expenditure item of the Ministry of War.

Of course, the main income of the Ministry of War is actually concentrated in its subordinate institutions, Taipu Temple and Changyingku.

It can only be said that Ming Dynasty's Ma Zheng really made money very quickly, and the amount was huge.

Although studies on issues such as ekichuan, firewood, firewood supply, etc. have also touched on these revenues of the Ministry of War, their focus was on the collection of taxes and levies, not on government financial management.

The Arsenal Department is not only the first department among the four departments of the Ministry of War to start to have large-scale silver income, but also the department with the largest silver income among the four departments.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the Department of Arsenal was mainly in charge of "military affairs, martial arts, military weapons, and ceremonial guards, as well as the number of entries and exits, and other miscellaneous redundant tasks." Because the financial system at that time was mainly based on physical labor, the Ministry of War had no silver income.

By the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the Zaoli war under his charge had realized the conversion of silver. Among the Zaoli silver, Chaixin Zaoli and Zhitang Zaoli were the earliest corvee items to be converted into silver. The conversion of silver probably started in the Xuande period.

The reason for this is naturally that officials want to increase their personal income.

For example, for sedan bearers, the court should have arranged for the bearers to perform corvee service, but after the silver was exchanged, the officials themselves arranged the arrangements.

It is estimated that the amount of Chaixinzaoli silver alone reached 256 million taels during Xuande period. With the increase in the number of officials, the amount of silver in the middle and late Ming Dynasty must be even more.

It can be seen that although the nominal taxes in the Ming Dynasty were very low, the miscellaneous taxes were extremely huge.

However, although Zaoli's broken silver was under the control of the Arsenal Department of the Ministry of War, it did not mean that all firewood and Zhitang Zaoli's broken silver had to be sent to the capital's Ministry of War for storage and unified distribution.

The Arsenal Department of the Ministry of War is mainly responsible for distributing firewood and Zhitang soap and silver to civil and military officials in the two capitals. Officials who serve in local areas, such as the Chief Secretary and the Chief Inspector, are centrally stored and distributed by the Chief Secretary. Prefecture and county officials are responsible for the distribution Storage and distribution.

During the Xuande period, there were 4363 officials in the two capitals. In the eight years of Hongzhi, the average per capita allocation was 2.67 firewood servants, each of whom was rated at 12 taels of silver, approximately 139791 taels.

By the Wanli period, there were 3.57 firewood and civil servants per capita, so the estimated total may be even more, about taels.

The income from the Cheqijia Department's bank account is also a major component of the Ministry of War's silver income. The Cheqijia department's bank account includes its subordinate institution, Taipusi Changying Treasury, and the Cheqijia department's own bank account.

Taipu Temple was originally the yamen that supervised horse administration in the Ming Dynasty. The silver in Changying's inventory was actually the price of horses at a discount to silver.

Because the horses released in the southern Zhili area "are too short to be trained and trained, from now on the horses in Jiangnan will be released, and there will be too many of them. Each horse will be charged ten taels of silver, and the horses will be collected and stored. The officials will buy them at any time and foster them for training."

The Yizhuanzhan silver is a relatively large amount of silver income of the Chariot and Driving Department, apart from the horse-priced silver in the Changying Treasury of Taipu Temple.

It comes from the silver earned from the Battle of the Post, specifically including the silver needed for the horses, carriages, boats, grooms, watermen, and decorations required by the post. As long as a post station is set up, this tax will be levied on the surrounding areas.

"So, not counting Taipu Temple's ever-increasing treasury, the imperial court can now take out three million taels of silver?"

Wei Guangde calculated the deposits reported by the three yamen and said.

The Ministry of Households is in charge of finance and has the most silver, with nearly one and a half million taels, followed by the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of War, which also have more than one million taels of silver in deposits.

Zhu Heng, Wan Guoguang and Tan Lun looked at each other, but Wang Guoguang asked again: "Mr. Wei Ge, I wonder if the cabinet asked about this matter, what do you think?" After entering the cabinet, Wei Guangde got to know the bottom of the three yamen. However, the cabinet has yet to reveal its purpose.

If Zhang Juzheng hadn't been there, he wouldn't have said anything.

"I will talk about this later. I still have a question here, that is, the Changying Treasury of Taipu Temple is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War. How much silver is the current horse price every year? Approximately how much silver is Changying's inventory?"

Wei Guangde did not answer Wang Guangguang's words, but looked at Tan Lun and asked.

Tan Lun just frowned slightly, but he could only say: "The price of horse silver during the Longqing period reached a maximum of more than 780,000 taels. In the past two years, due to the decrease in war in the North, the collection has also been reduced to more than 400,000 taels.

As for Changying's silver inventory, it should be more than 12 million taels. "

Although Tan Lun could not easily touch Chang Yingku's money, he still knew the amount of money deposited.

"With fifteen million taels of silver, the court can profit from approximately one and a half to two million taels of silver."

Hearing this, Wei Guangde looked at Zhang Juzheng and Lu Tiaoyang and said.

When the two of them heard this, they both nodded slightly.

When the three people below heard Wei Guangde's words, they couldn't help but widen their eyes.

The imperial court made a profit of two million taels of silver. What does this mean?

Wei Guangde didn't hide it, he took out the money bag directly from his arms, took out three silver coins and three Longqing Tongbao, which were gifts from the palace, and handed them to the three of them, and then gave them what they discussed last night. The son explained it in detail.

Holding the Spanish silver coins in their hands, the three of them looked at them repeatedly. Zhu Heng finally said, "It's really shoddy."

"With the proliferation of private money among the people, it is feasible for the imperial court to reestablish the money law. However, the people may not accept the casting of silver coins."

Wang Guoguang glanced at Zhang Juzheng, and when he saw that he was as stable as a rock, he knew that Zhang Shoufu should have a supportive opinion.

"The imperial court forcibly promoted this matter and made regulations on the fineness of the silver issued by the imperial court. Isn't it convenient to not have to mince silver among the people?

Moreover, this time the Ministry of Industry minted silver coins. In addition to one-tael silver coins, it also minted small one-dollar silver coins to facilitate private transactions.

The imperial court also strictly banned the private minting of copper coins among the people. Money production must be in the hands of the imperial court. Anyone who dared to mint coins privately would have his or her home confiscated and be given a lowly status. "

Of course Wei Guangde knew that there were many hoards of silver in the homes of the private gentry.

If the money law was promulgated this time without the imperial court's monopoly system of issuing silver coins three times and five times, and if these people minted silver coins privately, the court would suffer a lot of losses.

The introduction of money making was not only to unify the money laws, but also to increase the revenue of the court. It was also to pave the way for a whip law that would be implemented nationwide later. Big loopholes must not be left.

"This time the cabinet wants to implement the money law, and the purpose is better than anyone can think of.

The imperial court issued a decree to make copper coins and silver treasures according to unified specifications, not only to expand the imperial court's financial resources and alleviate financial difficulties, but also to promote a whip method in the future."

Next, Zhang Juzheng began to speak, explaining in detail the importance of money production to the Ming Dynasty, especially the fire consumption and miscellaneous taxes levied by local governments on the people.

The imperial court's money making can fundamentally solve the existence of this miscellaneous tax.

After the new currency is implemented across the country, people will no longer be exploited by this tax.

Of course, the six people here actually know that the fire consumption is gone, but the local government will still find new ways to introduce new taxes to make up for this loss.

In fact, reducing taxes is just a nice thing to say, but the effect is extremely limited.

"According to the results of our discussion, the Ministry of Industry must determine the specifications for making money as soon as possible, mint the sample coins as soon as possible, and also measure the fineness of gold, silver, and copper. The money law of the Ming Dynasty will be promulgated according to law.

Roughly speaking, one tael of silver is fixedly exchanged for a thousand pieces of Xiaoping coins. In addition to Xiaoping coins, large coins worth five or ten coins must be minted. Silver treasures are minted with one tael or one coin, and the fineness of the silver treasure is about 80%."

Zhang Juzheng explained everything they discussed last night, and the three ministers listened quietly, not daring to be careless at all.

Since the money law of the Ming Dynasty has existed in name only, the imperial court has basically not interfered, and it has been done in accordance with folk rules.

This is also the main reason for the proliferation of private money among the people. Although the court also mints money, these good money will often be exchanged by large local households as soon as they are issued, and then used to mint private money, and the court can do nothing about the shortage.

In the final analysis, it was because the imperial court did not enact a new money law after the banknote law collapsed.

During the Zhengtong and Jingtai years, there were twists and turns of "the banknote method was blocked and the money ban was repeated", but the collapse of the banknote method was an irreversible trend. After Chenghua, the banknote method completely collapsed.

The banknote method was completely abandoned during the Hongzhi and Zhengde years. By the beginning of the Jiajing period, it was even more so that "the banknotes had not been used for a long time, the money had been greatly blocked, and it was better to use special silver".

"The Ministry of Household Affairs also needs to re-formulate the exchange of Ming money and old money from past dynasties. In principle, we believe that the original regulations should be retained. The real large old money from past dynasties will still be used together with Ming money, and the remaining small money will be used at a 20% discount. ”

Zhang Juzheng continued.

"But how to calculate the discount of silver coins?"

At this time, Wang Guoguang, the Minister of Household Affairs, asked, "According to the current laws of the imperial court, one coin of silver can be converted into 1120 copper coins, and one tael of silver can be converted into coins.

If it were changed to one tael of silver or one thousand coins, it would probably cause confusion. "

Neither Wei Guangde nor Zhang Juzheng paid much attention to the conversion of silver coins. After all, they rarely used copper coins.

However, when Wang Guoguang reminded him, Wei Guangde also remembered that this seemed to be the case.

According to the silver discount set by the Jiajing Dynasty, 1120 Wen is equal to one tael of silver, and one tael is equal to sixteen coins.

In fact, this is also the silver coin discount determined after one coin of silver is exchanged for seventy pence.

After a short discussion, the three finally agreed, in order to maintain continuity, that one penny of silver should be fixed at seventy pence in accordance with the previous decree.

"In the 33rd year of Jiajing reign, Emperor Shizong adopted He Tingyu's advice and allowed the people to use small coins with sixty pence as one cent of silver. This custom must be abolished. This time, the Ministry of Household Affairs must also make careful plans as to whether to issue small coins under the Xiaoping coin. ”

Wei Guangde said.

(End of this chapter)