I, the Ming Dynasty, can still save me

Chapter 439 Benefits of New Tariffs

"Bi Aiqing, you and I haven't seen each other for more than a year."

Zhu Youxiao asked the two of them to take their seats, while looking at Bi Ziyan and asking himself.

"What your Majesty said is true. I remember that when the Imperial Palace of Culture issued the edict a year ago, Your Majesty approved my request and ordered me to be appointed the Governor of Southern Zhili.

After that, he specially summoned me in Qianqing Palace and gave me many instructions and encouragements. I have always remembered them in my heart. It has been more than a year since I came here. "

Listening to Bi Ziyan's reply, Zhu Youxiao couldn't help but nodded and said with emotion:
"Yes, last year we had serious tax arrears in Southern Zhili. You denounced the disadvantages and suggested that I take over the power of the Nanjing Ministry of Household Affairs to Beijing. You personally went to Southern Zhili to recover the tax arrears, reform the salt tax, and punish corruption. Credit. It doesn’t mean it’s not high, I take it all into consideration.”

Just by talking about these things, Zhu Youxiao knew how difficult it was for Bi Ziyan to go to Nanzhili to do things.

But he is also very satisfied now. Bi Ziyan is as smart and capable as ever in history.

Even though he offended so many people in Nanzhili, he was not afraid and still accomplished these things. How could he not like such a minister.

"Eating the emperor's salary and doing the emperor's work are all the duties of a minister. However, I understand in my heart that the main reason why Cheng can do such a thing is that your majesty has defied all opinions and firmly supported the humble minister. Otherwise, it will only be the impeachment of the local magistrate. Even the question book can drown me."

Zhu Youxiao couldn't help laughing when he heard this. Bi Ziyan was indeed right.

Since he became the governor of Southern Zhili, the subject of impeachment has never stopped.But Zhu Youxiao is very self-aware and knows that since he wants to reuse someone, he must not be afraid of rumors and protect him unconditionally.

But we must not imitate Emperor Chongzhen, who was shaken as soon as he heard about the impeachment, killed ministers at every turn, and ended up with no one available to him.

"So what about impeachment? What I need are people who can do practical things. As long as they are loyal to the emperor and the country, why would I care about mere rumors?"

As Zhu Youxiao spoke, he signaled to He Ning. Upon hearing this, He Ning immediately stepped forward and said to Bi Ziyan:
"The Governor of Southern Zhili, Bi Zi, strictly obeys the decree!"

Bi Ziyan was stunned when he heard this, quickly got up and stepped forward, knelt down and said:

"I will accept the order with strict self-discipline!"

"The Emperor's Oral Order: Since Bi Ziyan succeeded me as the Governor of Nanzhili, he has shared many worries for me. He is honest and capable, not afraid of the powerful, punishes rape and eliminates evil. As a result, the national treasury is full and the court's expenses are sufficient. He can be called my humeral minister.

As a special gift, he was given a bullfighting uniform, a gilt jade belt, two Ruyi jade, 3000 taels of silver, and a hundred pieces of brocade. "

Bi Ziyan, who was at the head, immediately kowtowed repeatedly upon seeing this, and then shouted:

"Thank you, Emperor, for your kindness!"

Listening to the emperor's instructions, Wang Yingjiao on the side was not surprised at all, and he could predict that this was just the beginning, and he guessed that the emperor was already considering promoting Bi Ziyan.

After all, even if other merits are not counted, just the fact that Bi Ziyan was in charge of the salt tax reform and successfully collected a deposit of 1000 million taels from salt merchants was enough to be treated differently by the emperor, not to mention his other merits.

"Your Majesty treats me too kindly, and I have nothing to repay!"

After Bi Ziyan listened to the imperial edict, he then became grateful to the emperor who looked at him.In his opinion, these are just his duties. Such achievements are all due to the support of the emperor. Now that the emperor loves him so much, he is very touched.

"Haha, if you love me, don't be humble. You have been of great benefit to the court in Nanzhili, and I can't reward you enough."

Zhu Youxiao waved his hand and asked Bi Ziyan to stand up. While comforting him, he looked at Wang Yingjiao aside.

"I don't know how many people are grateful for the tens of millions of taels of silver you brought this time. It also made Wang Aiqing, the chief financial and tax steward, breathe a sigh of relief."

When Wang Yingjiao saw the emperor saying this, he also smiled at Bi Ziyan and said:
"What your Majesty said is true. Now the imperial court needs money everywhere, including disaster relief and counterinsurgency. These 1000 million taels have been of great help to the Ministry of Revenue."

"That's true. Otherwise, if we don't have enough money by then, Wang Aiqing might ask me for it again."

As soon as Zhu Youxiao said this, everyone laughed.

Although the emperor said so, Wang Yingjiao also knew that the emperor was very generous. The money the court needed would be spent and given as needed, and he never searched for it.

For disaster relief in Liaodong and Shandong and to suppress rebellion in the southwest, the emperor allocated a total of more than 200 million taels from within, which was not a small amount.

"Your Majesty, please rest assured that this money has been registered by the Ministry of Revenue. Now that the Ministry of Revenue's treasury is full, we will definitely not ask for it from your Majesty again. Moreover, these 1000 million taels are official silver and are of excellent quality.

I have already discussed with Xu Shangshu that since Baoquan Bureau has begun to produce new coins on a large scale, it would be better to melt all the 1000 million taels into silver coins first. "Zhu Youxiao knew what Wang Yingjiao had planned as soon as he heard this.

According to previous estimates, minus raw materials and labor costs, the current profit from silver coin manufacturing is about [-]%.

If Wang Yingjiao does this, the Ministry of Household Affairs will get an additional 80 taels, which is a lot of money. It will cover the expenses of the Beijing camp for more than a year.

"You can turn stones into gold, but this is good. It can not only introduce new coins, but also increase revenue for the court. I think this method will work in time."

Zhu Youxiao nodded immediately and agreed to the matter.

Since the decision to reform the currency, Baoquan Bureau has been separated out and jointly managed by the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Household Affairs.And now it has set up branches in Beijing, Nanjing and Jingzhou and started to mint money on a large scale.

According to Zhu Youxiao's plan, all the internal funds and the silver in the household department must be minted into silver coins within three years. Let's start with these 1000 million taels of silver.

After the rewards and salt and silver were dealt with, Zhu Youxiao stopped greeting them. He called them over today mainly because he had something to discuss with them.

The most important of them are the two suggestions made by Sun Yuanhua yesterday. Thinking of this, Zhu Youxiao picked up the question book next to him and said to Bi Ziyan:
"Bi Aiqing, Sun Chuanting and Hong Chengchou below you really surprise me, especially Sun Chuanting, whose ability is so outstanding that it surprises me."

As soon as Bi Ziyan heard what the emperor said, he knew what the emperor was going to say. After all, Sun Chuanting had asked him many questions after he was appointed as a doctor in the Customs Department of the Ministry of Household Affairs.

"I previously sent Sun Yuanhua, the minister of Honglu Temple, as an envoy to the West. He stayed in Shanghai County, South Zhili Province at the beginning of the month and met Sun Chuanting. Unexpectedly, Sun Chuanting collected nearly 20 taels of customs duties in Shanghai in just two months.

This really surprises me. I think there are 20 taels in Shanghai County now. There are also pilot projects in Tianjin, Denglai and other prefectures. If the tariffs in other places are added, the tariffs this year may be as high as several hundred thousand taels. . "

Not only Bi Ziyan, but also Wang Yingjiao, the boss of the household department, knew this news. However, he shook his head when he heard the emperor's estimate. The emperor's calculation was too conservative.

"Your Majesty, since the opening of the sea, shipping has been booming. Although many places have not implemented new tariffs, the previous tariffs are still being collected. According to the documents received by the Ministry of Household Affairs from various places, the current tariffs from various places plus those from Shanghai County have reached 80 Ten thousand taels, I think it will be no problem to break 100 million this year."

"It's very good. I am very pleased that the tariff has generated such revenue in the first year. I will pay attention to this matter in the future and promote the new tariff nationwide."

Zhu Youxiao felt even better when he heard that this year's customs duties and taxes would exceed 100 million taels.

Who said there is no shortage of silver? In fact, there is no shortage at all. This obviously means there is no shortage.

It's just that many officials focused on the farmers' one-third of an acre of land, and did not dare to take action on large incomes such as commercial tax, maritime trade, salt tax, etc., for fear of offending many interest groups. The emperor did not understand the situation and could only let it go.

Even if he did this himself, he doesn't know how many people he killed and how many noble officials he punished to get to this situation today.

Therefore, we must implement the new tariffs well now, and we must take advantage of the opportunity to implement the new tariffs and establish new yamen to control the tariffs and prevent local officials from taking advantage of them and enriching their own pockets.

"But Sun Yuanhua mentioned a very serious problem in the title book, which is that piracy is prevalent along the coast of South Zhili, and many maritime merchants have suffered greatly. In the long run, it will be very detrimental to maritime trade, but now it is too late to start building naval forces.

So I thought of a way. Now the imperial court is spending a lot of money to build naval forces in Tianjin Prefecture and Denglai. But the Bohai Sea is not big. I thought it would be better to just keep Denglai Navy and allocate Tianjin Prefecture’s navy to the south. Zhili, this cost saving can also allow the South Zhili Navy to quickly form an army. What do Aiqing and others think? "

Zhu Youxiao said that he would ask He Ning to hand the question book to the two of them so that they could take a good look at it.

But Bi Ziyan had been in Nanzhili for a year. He had presided over the opening of the sea before, and he also knew about naval affairs.Now seeing the emperor's suggestion, he thought about it for a moment and felt that it was not very appropriate.

"Your Majesty, this matter can only solve a temporary need, not a long-term solution, and it cannot really solve the actual problem."

Bi Ziyan's words made Wang Yingjiao on the side sweat. He could agree with the emperor's opinion, but there was no way he could directly oppose it.

However, Zhu Youxiao was not angry when he saw Bi Ziyan's words. Instead, he asked curiously:
"Oh, why did Aiqing say that?"

"Your Majesty, I have learned about the navy before and know that most of the warships of the imperial navy are black-tailed ships. Although the black-tailed ships are larger and stronger than the lucky ships, their disadvantages are also obvious, that is, they have shallow drafts. , intolerable to wind and waves.

If placed in a place with low wind and waves such as the Bohai Sea, it will sail smoothly. In addition, it is equipped with multiple oars on both sides, which is still convenient in a windless environment.But if placed on the East China Sea, this kind of black-tailed boat can easily capsize, so a lucky boat is needed. "

Therefore, I feel that if the Tianjin Navy is planned to be south of Zhili, it is okay to defend the offshore sea. However, if it is to go deep into the distant sea and destroy the enemy's nest, it may not be possible. "

Bi Ziyan's analysis made Zhu Youxiao slightly stunned and felt that it made sense. It seemed that the Nanzhili Navy had to allocate funds for construction.

(End of this chapter)