eldest son of Ming dynasty

Chapter 427 Entering Beijing to Fight for Silver
[It should be Chapter 427. This chapter was planned to be arranged at 425 before, but I forgot to change it.]

At the beginning of February of the second year of Zhengde.

Liu Jian, governor of Shandong, came to Beijing. He was the first official in Xinjiang to report to the emperor.

As the former chief, the emperor has always been special to him.

Moreover, the two members of the current cabinet are still very close to him.

Liu Jian still has this slightly special status, which actually reflects that the current cabinet still has a certain status in the emperor's heart.

The main content of the debriefing should include land, population, summer tax, and autumn grain.

As mentioned above, the taxation of the Ming Dynasty was divided into summer tax and autumn grain, of which autumn grain occupied an absolute dominant position, basically reaching 2 to [-]%.And the time to send the capital to the capital is almost February of the next year.So the emperor chose to set the grand court meeting in March.

It is to set aside a month to review the achievements and problems of the past year.

After the court meeting, there will be personnel changes.

Because there will be many people who change, and the officials will make some moves more or less, which cannot be concealed, and the news will spread like wildfire. In addition, there are precedents from last year, so naturally many officials are very concerned.

Naturally, Zhengde's two-year work report is not a simple work report.It's about competing in front of the emperor.

Zhu Houzhao has been putting practice first for ten years. Just like last year, he will not force the provinces to pay more taxes.Because once this view of political achievement is established, it will certainly fill the national treasury, but local officials will definitely use all means to collect food. At that time, it may not be a good policy.

The process of debriefing is actually secondary to listening, mainly because the emperor will intersperse a large number of questions, and once he can't answer... Therefore, this requires every official in the frontier to be familiar with the situation under his rule.

For Shandong,

Liu Jian mainly reported where the 30 Hegongyin received last year was spent, how many canals were repaired, how many water systems were connected, and how the grain harvest was.

According to Zhu Hou, there are about 72.4 hectares of arable land in Shandong Province, and 280 million shi was paid in taxes, a slight increase from last year.

In the Ming Dynasty, Shandong was also a large tax province, and it basically lagged behind the rich Nanzhili. It, Zhejiang, Shaanxi, and Henan were all big provinces that could pay more than 200 million shi in taxes every year.

"...The situation in Shandong is relatively stable, and it is not different from previous years. However, Shandong experienced severe droughts in the 11th and 12th years of Hongzhi. The minister planned that there would be no accidents. In the second year of Zhengde, the preparatory warehouses in various counties would be rebuilt. system."

The preparatory warehouse is also the storage of grain, and it is most likely to have nest cases here.

Zhu Houzhao understood what he meant, "Officials below the prefect, I grant you the right to make decisions on the spot, and prefects and above, you can deal with them together. You only need to tell me a reason in the Shangshu."

"I thank you, Your Majesty. Your Majesty, I still have a merciless request."

"Say."

"In the first year of Zhengde, His Majesty appropriated 30 yuan of silver as funds for river repairs. The ministers mobilized the people in Jinan, Yanzhou, and Qingzhou to dredge the rivers and strengthen the embankments. However, there are many rivers in Shandong, and 30 yuan of silver is really stretched. , The minister only divides the priority, first passes through the blocked river, and first passes through the dry land.

I know that this fund will not come to Shandong this year, but many water conservancy projects in Shandong are on the way. If they don't do it at this time, all previous efforts will be wasted.Moreover, I heard that the national treasury is full, so I wonder if His Majesty can allocate another 30 taels of silver? "

Zhu Houzhao had sent Xie Pi to see it before.

As for Liu Jian, he is quite diligent in his work, and he is not the kind of official who abuses and bullies the people.

As for the money, if it can really be used for people's livelihood, Zhu Houzhao himself has no objection.

"It stands to reason that I shouldn't have said this, otherwise I would only give it to you and not to others. I should say that I am partial. But you are not the only one who sympathizes with the people of the world, and I am the same. I agreed to this money."

Liu Jian was overjoyed, "The emperor is generous and benevolent, and I thank the emperor on behalf of the people of Shandong!"

Zhu Houzhao didn't say anything more, but Liu Jian said, "I heard that the national treasury is full", which made him a little concerned.

It's just that after thinking about it later, he is the old Liu Ge after all, so it's easy to inquire about some situations.

At the same time, key officials from other places outside Shandong have already set off.

Hangzhou.

Mei Kejia met Wang Jia, the governor of Zhejiang and Fujian who was heading north.

In fact, Mei Kejia's identity made it difficult for many people to grasp. As for his background, he was just a businessman. Even if he had an official status, in the political atmosphere of Ming Dynasty, it would be inferior if he was not an official with an imperial examination background.But in terms of status, he holds the Mei Ji in his hand, and in the entire Jiangnan area, there is no one who wants to do business in the sea without selling his face.

Because only he has the boat.

In addition, the two nobles are both his daughters.

Now, Mei Ji seems to have become an imperial merchant, and he, Mei Kejia, also seems to have the respect of an important minister.

In this way, Wang Jia came to Hangzhou to see him.

However, Wang Jia has a stubborn temper and has never been a person who clings to the powerful.
He didn't come here to sell the face of the country's father, he came here for the sea trade surplus.

At the end of the 18th year of Hongzhi, the emperor resolutely opened the sea against all opinions. For a whole year, most of the people along the coast of Zhejiang and Fujian were involved in maritime trade. .

Among them, Meiji is the most powerful. In June and September this year, 6 large ships with 9 materials were dispatched to sea. It can be said that the momentum is huge and spectacular.

In order to fill these ships, Meiji's "downstream suppliers" are almost all over Zhejiang, and the largest shop of Ningbo Shipping Division is operated by Meiji.

In comparison, Fujian and Quanzhou Bosi also had some large merchants, but the scale was obviously smaller than that of Ningbo.

Wang Jia was placed in the southeast by the emperor to stabilize the situation in Kaihai, so how could Mei Ji, who plays an important role in Ningbo, not come?

Don't say that Mei Ji's money has nothing to do with him. After all, Mei Ji does business in the territory he manages. When reporting on his work, he mentioned how much money he needs to release to Beijing, which is also one of the core issues.

In addition,

After the establishment of the Shibo Department, the imperial court successively improved the taxation, inspection, approval and other mechanisms.

So this year the imperial court's silver in the southeast is mainly three yuan.

The first is the original land tax in Zhejiang and Fujian provinces.

In this regard, Zhejiang has more, and the summer tax and autumn grain add up to nearly 280 million shi, while Fujian has less, about 90 shi.

He, the governor of Fujian, knows this well. This year Zhejiang and Fujian have no major disasters throughout the province, and the officials of the two provinces, besides him, are Wang Qiong, Mao Ji, Fengxi, Zhang Li, Wang Shouren...

With the joint efforts of so many people, the land tax in Zhejiang has also increased. Last year it was 250 million shi, and this year it has increased by 30.

It's not easy.

Probably there are also factors that corrupt officials and clans in Zhejiang killed more.

There is little movement in Fujian, and it can also hand in 85 shi in previous years.

However, Fujian has always been an indisputable land for military strategists. The annual income of the Ming Dynasty is 800 million shi, and it is not easy to achieve significant results in this place where the land tax is less than 100 million every day.

The second is the tariffs collected by the municipal ship divisions in various places.

According to the memorandum given to the emperor by the Yamen of the governor of Zhejiang and Fujian, in order to encourage merchants to go to sea in the early days of opening the sea, the tax collection ratios of the shipping departments in the three cities were all low. Some people in the court suggested that two out of ten would be 20%.

Zhu Houzhao did not agree with this ratio. He still agreed with the Governor's Yamen's opinion to support marine trade with low taxes, so the tax was finally set at 25 per cent.

Moreover, from the very beginning, the imperial court rejected the policy of "taxing out multiple sources", that is, collecting taxes on ships, people, and goods separately. Such a variety of names is really not conducive to management.

Therefore, in a unified manner, the Shipping Departments of the three cities only collect taxes in kind on goods going to sea.

This year is the first year. Even though the enthusiasm of the people is high, the goods shipped by the three city shipyards are only more than 700 million taels. The merchants make a lot of profits, but the court’s customs revenue is only more than 20 taels.

Basically, it is kept in the local area and used for some administrative expenses and salary distribution in the three places of the Shibo Department.

The part that is handed over is mainly the tariffs levied on imported goods from overseas, but Ming Dynasty is a small-scale peasant economy. Unless you sail over here and set up cannons, it is not easy to sell goods here, so it can basically be ignored. bad.

The main court didn't care much either,

Because the big part of the court's profits is not on this.

But in the government-run shops such as Meiji and Hangzhou Manufacturing Bureau.

That is the third point: surplus in maritime trade.

In fact, the so-called merchants make a lot of profits, and more than [-]% of them are the profits of the "Imperial Merchants".

Wang Jia knew the approximate number. Meiji and the Weaving Bureau shipped 240 million taels of silver to the emperor last year, and this year it is likely to double, and there is still one ship that has not returned.There are accounts to check. Although it is inevitable that corruption and self-enrichment are inevitable, today's emperor is not easy to cheat. Last year, the number that did not open the sea, if it does not double this year, can you do business?

The benefits of sea trade are astonishing. No wonder Emperor Gaozong of Song Dynasty left a saying that "the profits of the market are the greatest", and it is no wonder that the emperor desperately wanted to do this.

In addition, the case of Lianghuai saltworks shocked the whole country.

In today's imperial court, the interests of the people gathered... are too much.

Going further north from Hangzhou, you can take the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal by water.

Wang Jia took Wang Shouren and the two magistrates recommended by the emperor to stand on the bow of the boat and watched the officials carry the silver onto the boat box by box.

In order to protect the silver, they had two warships at the front and rear of their ship.

It can be said to be a relatively large fleet.

"In the past, it was said that the finance and taxation of the southeast was half the world, but in the future, I'm afraid it will be said that the benefits of sea trade are half the world."

The officials behind Wang Jia sighed with emotion.

No wonder, they have already counted dozens of boxes.

"Boss Mei's entry of these money into Beijing may cause quite a stir."

Mei Kejia didn't care, "Why should the hall worry? Didn't last year also have nothing?"

Wang Jia shook his head, "It's different. There was no such thing as His Majesty rushing to spend money last year."

……

……

After Liu Jian left the palace, he still didn't go to other people's doors, and he didn't let others go easily.

Except for the two old friends Li Dongyang and Xie Qian.After all, after a year, they rarely meet each other.

So just like last year, Li and Xie came to Liu Jian's residence, had a cup of hot tea, and talked about life, which was considered a pleasure.

"In the first year of Zhengde, there were disasters in Huguang and Sichuan, and civil unrest in Guangxi, but His Majesty and the imperial court responded to it, which is considered to have done everything possible. In addition, the peace of the world can be regarded as the prosperity of the country and the people's peace. Moreover, this year the treasury and internal funds are all in good order. Enrichment, His Majesty has issued several decrees to urge the Shaofu to speed up the progress of the project, so it can be seen that some money will be spent."

Li Dongyang's words almost set the tone for this year's court meeting.

In fact, it's not his decision, everyone else thinks so.

But Liu Jian was a little silent. Maybe he used to say Guotai Minan, but when he went to Shandong and went to various counties, he saw that under Guotai Minan, there were actually people who sold their children and daughters, and their families were destroyed.

The so-called good year is just to barely satisfy one's hunger.

Since Huguang and Sichuan were hit by disasters, it was indeed a scabies disease for Ming Dynasty, but for the people there, it was a catastrophe.

"Xixian, what's wrong with you?"

Both Li Dongyang and Xie Qian noticed something strange about him.

"No..." Liu Jian lowered his eyebrows, "I was just thinking, most of the time, maybe His Majesty is right."

"what for?"

"Yesterday, I proposed to His Majesty to allocate another 30 taels of funds for river repair in Shandong, and His Majesty agreed."

"Oh?"

Li Dongyang and Xie Qian were also slightly surprised.

The main reason is that there was a dispute over which province this money was given to last year.

At that time, people were hindered by Liu Xixian's name as a veteran of the four dynasties.If His Majesty gives it to him, then it will be given to him.

But this year it will be returned to...

"In this way, it's not 30 taels." Neither Xie Qian nor Li Dongyang were stupid, "Maybe more than 100 million taels."

Otherwise, how can we pass it?
To put it bluntly, other provinces basically give whatever they ask for.

How could Liu Jian not know?
But half of those things in Shandong, he had to speak up.Or, before speaking, he also felt that there was little hope, so he didn't think too much about it.

Who knew the emperor agreed.

Only then did Liu Jian sigh with emotion, "Your Majesty puts the people first and loves the people like a son, but sometimes it is a bit fierce, but after all, he is a young emperor. So I was thinking just now, maybe it was my obsession to argue with Your Majesty in the past. "

"Your Majesty... is indeed a benevolent monarch."

"But I also heard that some people wanted to change the three-year repayment to two years after they learned that the treasury was full. Especially after the Yongsheb tribe surrendered, some people in the court felt that the Tatars were nothing more than that, so why wait any longer A year?"

Xie Qian's words made it difficult for Li Dongyang and Liu Jian to show their faces.

Li Dongyang continued: "What Yu Qiao and I mean is that the cabinet will advise His Majesty to follow the three-year plan and not make changes. Otherwise, no matter how much money there is, it will only be exhausted overnight. At that time , I want to wait until the next time such a situation happens again, I don’t know when it will be.”

"Actually, His Majesty will arrange it." Liu Jian was not in a hurry.

"I'm afraid that there will be some aggressive people in the DPRK, and His Majesty is eager to repeat the same..."

"What did Mr. Yang Ge say?"

Xie Qian replied: "He will not enter Beijing until about seven days later. You can also listen to his opinions at that time. If the re-entry is changed to two years, the most direct impact will be the orderly exit of the people and herdsmen."

This is not difficult to understand. If there are not enough horses in a short period of time, the time for maintaining people and herding must be extended.

But in fact, we don't suffer from scarcity but from inequality.Some places will withdraw and some places will not, which in itself is likely to cause conflicts, so each place can only promise when to withdraw, and can this kind of promise be easily extended?
===
This chapter is four thousand today, right?

The new plot started, I feel a little sluggish, the state is average, I take it easy.I even wanted to ask for leave, but I saw a person saying that my update was like peeing.

?

? ?
(End of this chapter)