I, the Ming Dynasty, can still save me

Chapter 201 Salt Tax Reform (First Update)
"Well, this matter is of great importance. Don't take it lightly. If you have any questions, please come to the cabinet or me at any time."

After saying this, the most important proposal of the entire edict team was finalized. The next topic to be discussed was the salt tax.

This matter actually involves a wide range of things. Since Zhu Youxiao issued the edict, many salt merchants and dignitaries involved believed it to be true. They felt that the imperial court might really want to abolish the Gangfa salt policy and re-implement the Kaizhong method, so they all looked for people. Submit a letter to secretly obstruct this matter.

Unexpectedly, Zhu Youxiao was Xiangzhuang's sword dance with the intention of Peigong. He wanted to reform the salt policy of the Jiangzhong Law and directly adopted Wang Yingjiao's proposal.

That is to change the original lineage salt merchant system from lineage to election every five or ten years. Each time you choose, you have to pay a deposit and pay taxes on time. This only damages the interests of individual lineage salt merchants, those in the middle and lower classes. When the salt merchants see the opportunity to squeeze in, they will be happy and grateful to the court.

At that time, Zhu Youxiao asked the cabinet to discuss the matter after seeing it, so it was almost finalized and promulgated. However, there was one more thing that had to be determined in the Wenhua Palace, which was the amount of the deposit.

"Your Majesty, I have calculated before that there are 45 salt merchants in Yangzhou, each with a profit of no less than 10 taels per year. Now the quotas of these 45 salt merchants are divided into 25 quotas for large salt merchants, and the remaining two The ten salt merchants were split into twenty medium salt merchants and thirty small salt merchants, a total of 75.

Starting from this year, there will be a period of five years. To become a salt merchant, one must not only look at his ability to sell salt, but also pay a deposit. The quota for a large salt merchant is 20 taels, the quota for a medium salt merchant is 13 taels, and the quota for a small salt merchant is 8 Ten thousand taels.This amount of money is not worth mentioning compared to the profits of salt merchants, but it will be a huge benefit to the court in the future. "

Zhu Youxiao secretly calculated that the court would collect 1000 million taels of deposits from salt merchants every five years, which was equivalent to an increase of 200 million taels in revenue a year.

If this amount is apportioned to each salt merchant, it will not be large. It will only damage the interests of some large salt merchants and allow more small salt merchants to participate.

It's just that salt merchants are not fools. Since they paid this money to the court, they naturally have to collect it from the people. By then, they are afraid that the price of salt will rise.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youxiao was helpless. He had no choice. In the end, he could only suffer the people.

"Your Majesty, this amount is too big. Many salt merchants will be dissatisfied by then, the price of salt will skyrocket, and smugglers of salt will become prevalent."

Although Liu Yishen also wanted to take this money, 1000 million, and he would not be able to do anything after the court got it, but he was afraid that it would cause social unrest. The Jiangnan gentry was not satisfied in the first place, and now they want to reform the salt system, so that If these salt merchants pay more, they will definitely become more dissatisfied with the court.

But Wang Yingjiao was very insistent on this matter.

"What the chief minister said is wrong. These salt merchants have made a profit of 10 taels every year. Did they give any of it to the court? No! Instead, they made too much money, and they wanted to spend money from the beginning. Yangzhou Shouma, Qinhuai Competing for glory, the children of the salt merchants are ignorant and incompetent, relying on the favor given by the court to spend wantonly. Rather than doing this, it is better to start competition. "

"Besides, even if these salt merchants don't want to do it now, it doesn't matter. There were a lot of people in the Ming Dynasty who wanted to do it but couldn't do it. As for the soaring price of salt, the price of salt in our dynasty is much lower than that of the previous dynasty. Even if A slight price increase will not affect people's livelihood. Even if there are complaints, they will not resent the court. Instead, they will curse the salt merchants. This is much better than Liao's tax levy. I want to ask, which one is better, cutting the salt merchants or increasing taxes on the people? People with a discerning eye You can tell by looking at it.”

On this issue, Wang Yingjiao didn't give Liu Yisui any face and directly refuted it. However, what he said was reasonable. What Donglin people resented the most was raising taxes on the people. Instead, they levied commercial taxes and miscellaneous taxes. It doesn’t matter if you wait.

Now the reform of the salt policy is exactly what they want. They have long heard about the wealth of the salt merchants, and now they have no choice but to exploit the salt merchants and benefit the world.

Therefore, Zou Yuanbiao and others also stood up to support Wang Yingjiao's measures, and Liu Yishui no longer objected after seeing this.

"Then it will be settled, and the cabinet will issue a document then. However, this year's bidding quota involves a huge amount of money. If it is just managed according to the original salt patrol censor, it will naturally not work. In my opinion , every five years, the Ministry of Household Affairs will set up a special salt department to take charge of the bidding, and the Minister of Household Affairs will also be in charge of salt administration."

Everyone looked at each other. The functions of this household department are getting bigger and bigger. In the future, the position of this household department will be the top priority. However, this suggestion is indeed reasonable. After all, 1000 million taels in five years. If only the local salt inspector is responsible , then I don’t know how to collude secretly.

"The minister obeys the order!"

"The salt policy is inherently complicated, but it is closely related to the imperial court's revenue and expenditure. All ministers must pay attention to it. This is the first year of the implementation of the new salt policy. Wang Yingjiao, as the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, you have a heavy burden. You must do a good job. Live and act.”

Wang Yingjiao immediately bowed his head. He himself also knew that he had a heavy burden, but compared with this, what he valued more was whether his lifelong ambition could be realized. As the head of the household department, he would have such an opportunity, so that The imperial court's expansion of tens of millions of financial resources made him feel heroic and secretly determined to accomplish this.

"I said before that the main discussion today is about finance and taxation. Now the finance and taxation of the imperial court are unified under the Ministry of Household Affairs, and the new salt tax law has been reformed. I just don't know what other finance and taxation suggestions you have."

Everyone looked at each other in silence. Some people actually wanted to make suggestions, but after seeing the two measures that the emperor just agreed to, they began to choose to shut up, not wanting to let the emperor bother them any more.

Seeing the silence of the ministers, Zhu Youxiao also knew that they did not want to raise their opinions anymore, so they did not mention it, but Zhu Youxiao wanted to.

"Since your ministers have no objections, I will propose a measure." After speaking, Zhu Youxiao looked around at the ministers in the audience and said calmly.

"Since the time of the Emperor, although major affairs in the court were decided by the Emperor, many trivial matters were still decided by the cabinet or the six ministries. However, during the time of the Emperor, there were many vacancies in the six ministries and even the cabinet, and there was no supervision over the use of court funds. And since I succeeded to the throne, The war is raging and the court is spending a lot of money, spending more than tens of millions every year."

"Although today the power of finance and taxation belongs to the Ministry of Household Affairs, and in the future, it will be unified and assessed by the Ministry of Household Affairs, but I feel that it is necessary to check the previous use of court funds, so I decided to set up the post of Huikaofu, whose personnel will be appointed by the Metropolitan Procuratorate. The Censor, the Accountant of the Household Department, and the Supervisor of Ceremonies jointly serve."

Liu Yishen looked confused at this time. It seemed that the emperor wanted to check the accounts, but what exactly was the Huikao government doing?

"Your Majesty, I wonder who the main responsibilities of the Kaofu are?"

Zhu Youxiao had already had an idea.

"The Huikao Office has three main responsibilities: first, to provide opinions on whether the military supplies and grain expenditures of various provinces should be written off; second, to review the money and grain expenditures of central departments and determine whether the write-off is allowed; and third, to deal with false reports during write-offs. Anyone who pretends to be a false claimant or commits fraud for personal gain has the right to be strictly investigated and impeached based on the facts."

Financial matters are nothing more than increasing revenue and reducing expenditure. Now Zhu Youxiao has done a lot to increase revenue, and the next step is to reduce expenditure.

Zhu Youxiao did a pretty good job of just saving money, reducing the expenses in the palace and saving his own expenses.

But as for the court's expenses, he did not dare to dismantle institutions as arbitrarily as the God of War of Meishan, for fear of cutting out Li Zicheng.

So I came up with the idea of ​​Huikaofu.

This college examination office was actually where Zhu Youxue studied under Yongzheng. To put it bluntly, it was an institution that reviewed state financial expenditures. Its main function was to check accounts and audit the account books. It was an important measure and effective means taken by Yongzheng to rectify the administration, fill the treasury, and stabilize the imperial power. .

Zhu Youxiao wanted to learn from him. Since people can't be laid off at will, he should set up a college entrance examination office to check the country's account books to see if there is any corruption or false expenses. Then he can rectify it and recover the stolen money. .

Moreover, the Ministry of Revenue now controls all the fiscal revenue of the imperial court, of which a lot of expenses are spent. The establishment of the Huikao Office is also a supervision and restriction of the Ministry of Revenue, so that people in the Ministry of Revenue should not be allowed to take advantage of the loopholes without restraint and lawlessness.

“This National College Examination Office is not affiliated with the Six Ministries and Nine Ministers, but is located under the Cabinet. It is directly under the jurisdiction of the Chief Assistant of the Cabinet. It independently handles the review of money and food sales, and is directly responsible to me.

All central agencies must perform supervisory functions and conduct routine audits on the money and food sales of all central agencies, regardless of whether there are any problems.Conduct research and review of all archival materials and relevant facts on money and grain memorial matters, correct errors and abuses, expose violations, make evaluations, and make concrete impeachments. "

Hearing this, Liu Yishen felt relieved. It seems that the emperor did this just to review financial information, and placed it under the cabinet and was responsible for himself. This will undoubtedly increase the cabinet's control over the six ministries. In fact, it is also a control over the Ministry of Household Affairs. Checks and balances, so the cabinet had no choice but to agree.

"I have nothing wrong with you, but there are many accounts in the imperial court. If you check them one by one, it will be time-consuming, labor-intensive, and wasteful."

Although he agreed, Liu Yishen still raised his concerns. Zhu Youxiao was not worried. He shook his head and said:

"I am not afraid of time and effort, but I am afraid that someone in the court will cheat secretly and waste the court's money and food. Therefore, the supervision and assessment also serve as a warning."

Seeing the emperor's opinion, the ministers could only bend down and agree.

Thus the Tianqi Dynasty's second Wenhua Palace imperial edict ended. Compared with the first imperial edict, the methods used in the second edict were more severe. The Donglin Practical Sect won a complete victory, and Liu Yishen's position as chief assistant was consolidated. , two assistant ministers Dai Zui were at home, three ministers were reprimanded, many ministers were dismissed, the Ministry of Household and Salt Administration reforms were successfully implemented, and the Ming court gained 1000 million taels more income.

Everything has advantages and disadvantages. Reform will not benefit everyone. For those who have been harmed by the reform, dissatisfaction with the court and the emperor is slowly increasing.

But Zhu Youxiao didn't care, because he knew in his heart that as long as he kept getting stronger and winning, it would be useless no matter how dissatisfied these people were.

Instead of worrying about these things, he cared more about what he had to do in front of him.

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(End of this chapter)