I, the Ming Dynasty, can still save me

Chapter 193 Income in the first year of Tianqi (second update)

On February [-]st, in the Wenhua Hall, officials from the six departments and nine ministers of the imperial court came here early in the morning, waiting for the emperor's arrival.

It will take a while for the emperor to come, so they are now gathering together in twos and threes, chatting or discussing things.

"Now Bi Ziyan has turned Jiangnan upside down, and people are angry. Many of my fellow villagers wrote letters crying, saying that he enslaved the squires and demanded the payment of taxes from the previous year and last year.

New emperors have always been exempted from tax arrears when they ascend the throne. Now Bi Ziyan is bewitching the emperor and asking these people to pay back taxes. If they don't pay, they will be forcibly plundered. This is not random. "

"What's this? Even Fang Congzhe, who has become an official in Fangge, is being bullied by his subordinates. I heard that he is required to pay 1000 taels of tax silver, otherwise he will be forcibly collected."

"What kind of decency is this? Where is the majesty of the imperial court? Letters are coming to the capital like snow, asking us to write a petition for impeachment. But now that it looks like this, Your Majesty won't let go."

"Don't worry, Li Sancai from Donglin was also arrested. This Bi Ziyan is really fearless. I heard that Feng Congwu, the imperial censor, also sent a letter to rescue him. Now he has everyone in the court. I’m done offending you.”

In the southeast corner of the Wenhua Hall, several Zhejiang Party officials were whispering about Bi Ziyan's pursuit of arrears. Most of them were from South Zhili or Zhejiang. This matter was closely related to them or their relatives and friends. Naturally, they were very concerned. care.

However, they wrote to Shen Guan many times to no avail and were ignored. In the past few days, they went to Shen Guan many times to find a solution, but they always stayed behind closed doors. They had no choice but to go to Sun Ruyou, the Minister of Rites, who comforted them and asked them to do so. They waited patiently for a few days.

Although I don't know what kind of medicine Fu Chen sells in his gourd, I have no choice but to delay and see the results.

While they were discussing, the cabinet ministers, headed by Liu Yishui, followed by Shen Guan, Han Xu, and Ye Xianggao, walked in. Seeing this, officials from the six ministries and nine ministers saluted.

Today's matter is of great importance. Even the cabinet members have ulterior motives and different ideas. They are all secretly planning to achieve their own goals in this edict confrontation.

Shen Guan followed Liu Yishen and others in and stood in the front row. Although the emperor did not come, they did not chat. However, when he turned back to look at Sun Ruyou, the Minister of Civil Affairs behind him, he nodded secretly.

After receiving Fang Congzhe's letter of complaint, Shen Guan had not thought of a solution. He wrote two memorials to the emperor, saying that Bi Ziyan had gone too far and completely ignored the majesty of the court ministers. How could the chief minister just take office? Being visited by local petty officials demanding tax payment.

But every time he submitted a letter, it was of no use at all, and he gave up. It seemed that he was determined to recover the debt, and he had no choice.

Until news came to Nanzhili that Bi Ziyan had arrested Li Sancai, Ye Xianggao secretly found him, hoping that together they could bring down Bi Ziyan and stop letting him mess around in Nanzhili.At the same time, someone in the palace also secretly found him. After the exchange, Shen Guan immediately gave up the opportunity to impeach Bi Ziyan because he saw hope and severely damaged the hope of the Donglin Party.

"The Holy One is here!"

Outside the Wenhua Hall, Zhu Youxiao's Dragon Boat Festival came slowly and stopped at the entrance of the Wenhua Hall. The officials of the six ministries and nine ministers returned to their posts one after another, quiet and solemn, for fear of being impeached by the censor for the crime of disrespect.

"Long live my emperor!"

"Everyone loves to be flat."

After a brief salute, Zhu Youxiao looked at the people of the six ministries and nine ministers below. This time, the officials of the sixth rank and nine ministers of the six ministries and above, who were equivalent to ministers and above, were all present, plus the specially called Zou Yuanbiao and Zuo Guang. There were two people fighting. Compared to the last time, the number of people was doubled.

I saw Zhu Youxiao nodded to Wei Zhongxian. After Wei Zhongxian understood, he coughed lightly and stepped forward and said:
"Dear ministers, Your Majesty has spoken: I have been worried about state affairs since I became emperor. Fortunately, last year the Palace of Culture issued an edict to discuss the expenses of the imperial court, and achieved a lot. This year, the war in Liaodong was won again, which boosted the imperial court.

But nowadays, the cost of Jiubian is very high. In addition to Liao's salary, it consumes more than 300 million taels of Taicang silver from the imperial court every year, and it continues to increase every year. Although Jiubian has a way to open the center, it has been abandoned for a long time and cannot be used.

Therefore, I want to reinvigorate the method of opening the country and reform the salt policy. However, the salt policy is very important. Half of the Taicang silver in the Ministry of Revenue is tied to it, so it is of great importance. Therefore, I would like to ask for advice from all of you. I would like to hear your suggestions. You can go to the memorial hall and speak freely without incriminating others. "

As soon as Zhu Youxiao arrived, he set the tone of the Wenhua Palace's edict and made it clear that we were only discussing the salt policy and not talking about other matters.

So the courtiers present looked at me and I looked at you.Although they knew that the keynote today was the salt policy, they all knew that as far as the current situation was concerned, the salt policy was already a trivial matter. As long as Bi Ziyan was dealt with, it would be difficult to discuss the salt policy.

Seeing that everyone was looking at each other, Zhu Youxiao did not dare to speak. Now he could only name names.

"Wang Yingjiao, you are the newly appointed Minister of the Ministry of Revenue. Li Ruhua said before that you know a lot about finance. Let's start with this. Tell us how much silver the Ministry of Revenue currently has and what the current situation of the salt tax is like. .”

Wang Yingjiao may be one of the very few people present who really cares about finance.

Since arriving in Beijing as the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, he has begun to sort out the account books of the Ministry of Revenue, check the treasury banknotes, etc., and actively provide suggestions and suggestions to alleviate the financial crisis. Now that he meets the emperor and asks him, it is really right in his heart. "Your Majesty, since the Wenhua Palace issued an edict last year to levy additional commercial taxes and miscellaneous taxes, and at the same time, your Majesty opened up the internal funds, checked the income, and returned half of the internal funds to Taicang in silver, the current situation in Taicang, the Ministry of Household Affairs It’s much better than before, and there are still 5203 million taels of silver in the warehouse of the Ministry of Revenue.”

This figure was quite different from Zhu Youxiao's calculation. At the same time, he was quite satisfied. He first allocated 200 million yuan from internal funds and received 6107 million taels of stolen money, for a total of 8107 million taels.

In addition to making up for the salary arrears of Jiubian last year, Tianjin Prefecture, Denglai Navy construction and other matters, it is already very good to have so much left.

However, he grabbed this money with real swords and guns. He used it a little bit, but once it was used up, it was gone. After all, he couldn't just ransack his house whenever he was short of money. The key was to look at the annual income.

"Well, if things go like this, the shortage of money in the household department will be greatly alleviated, and things will be much easier to do in the future."

Unexpectedly, as soon as he said this, Wang Yingjiao poured a layer of cold water on him.

"Your Majesty, I'm sorry, this money is far from enough. The Ministry of Revenue only supplemented last year's Jiubian salary arrears, but from the 43rd year of Wanli to the first year of Taichang, the Jiubian salary arrears accumulated up to 170 million and have not been distributed. .Only the three towns of Ningxia, Guyuan and Yansui have [-] million taels of unpaid wages over the years. Almost every year, officers and soldiers who are unpaid make troubles. Some are unable to make a living and even sell their sons and daughters. Therefore, this year, I would like to ask Jiubian to report the arrears of wages over the years. Count and dial."

"In addition, His Majesty's wedding is coming soon. This is a major event and must be spent. Add in the costs of canonization, rewards, etc., and 5203 million taels of silver are already stretched."

Listening to Wang Yingjiao's words, Zhu Youxiao's originally happy mood slowly sank. This is really how much money you have, you can spend it.

However, he doesn't dare to default on Jiubian's wages now. Although he knows that there are a lot of empty wages and corrupt wages, he doesn't dare to save this money now, so he should pay it honestly.

Because there was a person in history who was dissatisfied and blindly reduced the number of troops in the Nine Sides, defaulted on pay, and abolished institutions, which directly left the Nine Sides empty. Huang Taiji was like strolling in a garden. He could come and leave whenever he wanted, so abolished The soldiers were laid off and re-employed. If they couldn't survive, they directly rebelled and overthrew the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, this money must not be saved. If you give it, at least some will be left in the hands of the soldiers, so that they can see the hope of living and remain loyal to the court.If we don't keep putting it off, history will really repeat itself.

"This money must be allocated. The soldiers are working hard for the court. We must not chill their hearts. Give it."

Seeing that Zhu Youxiao can only support this amount of money, he will give it first. When the Beijing camp has the strength, he will slowly rectify it one by one.

"Your Majesty Shengming!"

Zhu Youxiao's words instantly won the approval of the court. Zhu Youxiao smiled bitterly in his heart and said directly:

"What about this year's income?"

Wang Yingjiao had already calculated this year's income and expenditure. He immediately took out a question book from his sleeve, raised it above his head, offered it with both hands, handed it to Wei Zhongxian who took it, and said:
"According to the budget, the imperial court's normal annual income this year is 4206 million taels, which includes three additional payments of 520 million taels, the recovery of 3307 million taels of tax arrears from various places over the years, and the additional commercial and miscellaneous taxes levied last year. One million and two thousand taels.”

"Due to His Majesty's kindness last year, he promised that every year half of the silk floss, silk stock, wax tea, pigments and other items that the imperial court confiscated from the inner treasury of the capital and southern Zhili could be confiscated in the form of silver (converted into silver), escorted to Taicang, and returned to the Ministry of Household Affairs Duzhi. Furthermore, once the rule that half of the income from Guaiguan goes to internal funds was changed, from now on all the income from Guaiguan will go to the household department, and not a cent will go to internal funds.

Therefore, the income earned by the Imperial Household this year was about 420 million taels of silver, and the remaining 6 taels were used for court expenses.

Among the 6 taels of court expenditures, apart from the original materials (that is, the direct payment of grain and other materials), the discounted silver of other materials should be about 5603 taels.

Among them, 520 million taels of Liaodong salary were directly escorted to Liaodong, and the remaining 43 million taels were used for court expenses. "

The income of the Household Department this year was 1000 million taels. The courtiers were very surprised when they heard this. After all, the maximum amount of money entering the Household Department was only about 500 million taels in the past, but it has increased so much this year.

Some court officials came out to congratulate the emperor, saying that it was precisely because of Zhu Youxiao's accession to the throne that the finances were revived, and now the court no longer had to worry about money.

It's just that Zhu Youxiao and many ministers calculated it carefully and found something wrong. The money was actually not much more.

　Second more!

　　Correction, the book first mentioned that the imperial court had 900 million silver income in the first year of Taichang. The author made a mistake in his calculation and forgot to include grain.In fact, last year it was just over 400 million taels.

　　The total amount is 460 and 600 yuan, and those who enter the inner palace are more than 400 million. Those who enter Taicang, in addition to the original color, have more than [-] million ears of silver!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)