I, the Ming Dynasty, can still save me

Chapter 48 Ways to Make Money

Sun Yuanhua also felt a little embarrassed when he heard this. He knew that Xu Guangqi had a sensitive identity and had many enemies in the court. In the past, he had been able to live in peace with the support of Dong Lin and the emperor.

If Dong Lin knew about the cannon test firing in the imperial city, it would be difficult to intercede for him, and his teacher would become a target.

But even after the emperor said this, he had no choice but to do it. He could only comfort himself and said:
"Teacher, there is no need to worry. Good fortune lies in the presence of misfortune, and misfortune lies in the blessing of good fortune. Although this time you will be criticized by the officials.

But our newly-cast cannons are of excellent quality, and there will be absolutely no problem in the test firing. When the emperor is happy again, he will definitely reward us and let us continue to develop them. This is also good. "

Xu Guangqi naturally understood this truth. The two of them were making cannons during this period and were very confident about their quality.

But the emperor also wanted to look at other firearms. He could not guarantee the quality of firearms such as firecrackers and Folan cannons.

At this point, all we can do is carefully select these firearms and hope nothing happens.

At this time, Zong Chengzhi, the head of the Ordnance Bureau, received the news of Xu Guangqi's return and rushed over. After learning the news, he could only check the artillery again with the two of them and carefully select other firearms.

The emperor moved his mouth and broke his legs.

It's not just Xu Guangqi and others who can't sleep tonight.

The emperor asked officials of the sixth rank and above in Beijing to write a letter to discuss how to reduce expenditures, and four days later he convened the six ministries and cabinet ministers for discussion.As soon as this incident came out, it caused an uproar.Officials of all sizes in Beijing also gathered together to discuss the matter.

The issue of revenue and expenditure has always been a concern for officials who want to make a difference. Especially since the Battle of Saarhu, the imperial court responded to the war in Liaodong. An additional 46 cents of silver was levied on each mu of land, totaling 48 million and 520 taels of Liao wages.Many court officials were extremely critical of it.

Raising taxes has always been seen as squeezing people's power. Many officials claim to be "for the sake of the world" and are naturally very shameless about this.Therefore, many Yanguan resented Fang Congzhe, the chief assistant at that time, and considered him a traitor.

It has only been three years since the collection was collected, and the imperial government's finances are quickly stretched again.

Jiubian's salaries are in arrears every year, and Liao's salaries are becoming increasingly insufficient. It is estimated that if this continues, all officials in the capital will not be able to pay their salaries. Naturally, they are very worried.

How to solve it, how to increase revenue and reduce expenditure, since the emperor has asked, they also want to put forward their own opinions.

So starting from the afternoon, officials from the Liubu Hall, Yanguan Yushi, officials from various bureaus and even nobles were discussing.Various forces also began to encourage officials to submit letters, fearing that they would be stabbed.

Some people proposed to continue to increase the levy of Liao rates from [-] cents to [-] cent and [-] cents. As soon as this was announced, some people immediately opposed it, saying that it could no longer be levied and that it would be better to also levy Guaguan, salt and other miscellaneous silver taels;
Some people also suggested that illegal salt should be cracked down, saying that illegal salt is now rampant in Hang, Jia, Hu, Ning, and Shao in Zhejiang, and in Su, Song, Chang, Zhen, Yingtian, and Huaiyang in South Zhili, but these twelve states , no one eats official salt. If private salt is strictly prohibited, income can be increased tenfold.

The Zhejiang Party and nobles immediately quit the business as soon as they heard this. The profits from selling salt were so high, and they were all backed by nobles, royal relatives and relatives. Who wants to reduce their income?

So some people said that tea should be discussed.In the early Ming Dynasty, the imperial court implemented a tea monopoly in Sichuan, Shaanxi and Nanzhili. In the early Ming Dynasty, the income from tea in Nanzhili was equivalent to 68 taels of silver, but the money received was treasure banknotes. Later, because the treasure banknotes were reduced to waste paper, this 68 taels of income were lost in vain, and the country received no benefit at all.

To this end, they also quoted Yang Shiqi's "Tea Law Theory" and suggested that they should follow Zhu Yuanzhang's example of killing the European consort and severely punish tea smugglers.

Each province assigns a capable minister to be responsible for this matter. The annual income will be more than millions, and this kind of thing will not do much harm to the people. If the people cannot afford tea, they can just drink less tea. The main thing is to collect The rich man's tea tax brings only a hundred benefits and no harm.

After the talk about tea, there was soon talk about wine.

It is said that wine has been discussed since the Han Dynasty, and the Song Dynasty paid special attention to it. However, it was relaxed in this dynasty, which is completely inappropriate.

For this reason, an example from the Song Dynasty was given, saying that Emperor Youjian of the Song Dynasty earned more than 490 yuan from wine every year.So much money was wasted by the court.The imperial court should set up a special official to take charge of this matter. It is estimated that the income will be no less than millions in a year.

Since the emperor allowed officials of sixth rank and above to make comments, many lower-level officials saw the opportunity. Seeing the comments about wine, salt, and tea appearing, various officials searched for history books one after another to learn from history to see if they could find out more. Here comes the way to make money.

Soon someone turned their attention to the Municipal Shipping Division. They discovered that there was no maritime ban in the Tang and Song Dynasties. Municipal Shipping Divisions were set up in Guangzhou, Quanzhou and other places, and the annual tax revenue was millions.However, since the Longqing switch in the Ming Dynasty, the income of the Shipping Company has been very small.

Therefore, some people have pointed out that since the Longqing switch in the Ming Dynasty, maritime trade has gone far beyond the two provinces of Guangdong and Fujian where the Municipal Shipping Department was established.Among them, Zhejiang and South Zhili also have many people doing business overseas, but they do not have municipal shipping departments.

At the same time, the municipal shipping tax levied by Fujian and Guangdong is extremely low, and the national income is only [-]%.When going to sea, taxes are paid at will according to the so-called routine, and when returning to the ship, it is entirely up to the officials to ask for it according to their own private wishes.

The profits all accrue to the officials below. Rather than the profits going to the lower levels and management getting out of control, it is better to set standardized and unified taxation quota standards and the country will make more profits.

So someone immediately suggested stationing officials in prosperous overseas trade ports such as Dinghai, Zepu (Zhapu) in Zhejiang, Liuhe, and Haimen in South Zhili to increase customs collection.Not only that, a "minister of great hope" should also be selected as the overall person in charge of overseas trade management and taxation.

There are even tax collection measures. For example, when ships leave the port, they will be asked to pay taxes based on the size of the ship. They can also collect taxes based on the value of the goods, just like the currency customs tax in the mainland.Not only that, but there is also a tax on entering the port. It should not be too much, just two tenths. This tax is not heavy.

"If the benefits of Gaitongfan are not heavy, people will not go there. If they are too heavy, people will go there cautiously. The people of the coastal areas are dedicated to their benefits, and the unscrupulous people from all over the world will admire them. Therefore, taxing their going out and taxing their coming in should not be harsh. .”

There are more and more such comments, and some people also propose measures such as farming, mining, and coinage.

As the information fermented, those with vested interests became more and more uneasy. They all urged to write letters saying that they could not compete with the people for profit, and they could not exploit common people and merchants. They even directly stated that the emperor should not be so greedy for money and should not learn from Shenzong.

Zhu Youxiao didn't care about this. He just wanted to let the discussion below slowly ferment, and everyone submitted letters. The muddier the water, the better. In order to expand the impact of the court meeting four days later, he also did one thing.

　These suggestions were indeed put forward by officials in the late Ming Dynasty, which shows that they were not unconcerned about the country.

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(End of this chapter)