I, the Ming Dynasty, can still save me

Chapter 62 The Imperial Court’s Revenue and Expenditure

The ministers in the palace thought of this and expressed their opinions one after another.

"Since this year, the two dragons have passed away, and the world has been shaken. But fortunately, the Holy One loves the people so much. I think if someone knows about the late emperor's spring, he will definitely be happy!"

Liu Yishen was the first to express his stance.

It is true that when Shenzong was in power, they supported Guangzong Zhu Changluo very much. They fought for the country's foundation for more than ten years, and finally succeeded. After Guangzong came to the throne, they did not disappoint their expectations.

After one month in office, he also selected talented people, distributed internal funds, etc., but he didn't expect to collapse in just one month.This is equivalent to investing in a company. Unexpectedly, the stock price crashed just a few days after it was listed. How can investors like them not be desperate?

Now it is gratifying to find that Zhu Youxiao's character and ability are not inferior to those of Guangzong, and more importantly, he is more responsible than his predecessors. This moved everyone present even more.

Zhu Youxiao issued this edict very carefully. In fact, the costs were not much. Not building the three main halls, weddings, and halving the cost were all things he had already thought about.

As an emperor, wedding and living expenses, the quality of life cannot be reduced no matter how much it is reduced.As for the purpose of repairing the three main halls, spend this money to repair them now, and wait for the Jianlu invaders to attack them more than 20 years later and use them immediately? .

There was also an allocation. He calculated it and found it was completely sufficient.When he came to the throne, there were 1660 million taels of internal funds. He allocated 10 taels to buy cannons and hire cannon casters. He also allocated 130 million taels to support the Liao Dynasty and 10 taels to Jin Yiwei. Now he has allocated another 200 million taels, and now there are still 1310 million taels of internal funds. Two, which is completely enough (the 130 million taels collected by Wei Zhongxian were given to the cabinet for farming and shipping, so they are not included).

And this time he took the initiative to allocate it, and also handed over the more than [-] taels earned from customs clearance every year to the Ministry of Household Affairs.Later, if the cabinet or the Ministry of Accounts wants to allocate funds from its own funds, they will not be so generous, and there will be reasons to prevent the Ministry of Accounts from asking for money.

But now it's not all flattery, there are also suggestions to learn from the emperor.

Li Ruhua, the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, stepped forward. He had been working hard in the past few years, raising money everywhere, and barely supporting himself. Since this year, he has gradually become exhausted due to his old age. He has long wanted to retire. He also wrote to Zhu Youxiao before. It was also allowed. Now we just have to wait for Wang Yingjiao to come to Beijing to take over.

Therefore, I had no psychological burden on this edict. I thought that even if it was the last time to help the country, I would perform some duties without fear of offending others. Now I saw Zhu Youxiao like this again, so I stood up and said:

"As the emperor, His Majesty is able to set an example by being diligent and frugal. This is the case for a king and father, and it should be even more so for a minister. I suggest that in order to increase revenue and reduce expenditure, the court's salary, office, and other expenses can be reduced as appropriate to emulate your Majesty's love for the people."

As soon as this statement came out, Liu Yishen and others agreed, thinking that this should be the case.

Zhu Youxiao looked at them and couldn't help but sneer in his heart. It would be fine if the senior executives of the imperial court had their salaries reduced, but if the middle and lower levels were paid less, wouldn't it mean that they would be more scheming, and the consequences would be even more serious.

Unexpectedly, when Chongzhen ascended the throne, he cut the post station by one-third in order to save money. As a result, Li Zicheng, a laid-off young man, had to survive and find another job, directly overthrowing the Ming Dynasty.

Just express your opinion, but Daming has not yet reached this point, so he waved his hand and said:
"My dear friends, please don't mention this again. The official salaries of our officials are already low. If they were lower, how would they do their jobs? After all, Ming Dynasty was not that poor.

I am doing this because I want to set an example and earnestly implement the policy of increasing revenue and reducing expenditure. If you also want to share the worries of the country, then it is good to speak freely here and provide suggestions for the country. "

I thought that I have done what I can do, and it’s time for your performance.Seeing the emperor saying this, Wang An also stepped forward to answer:

"My lords, the emperor has said that for this reason, let's get started."

Seeing the situation, everyone present was ready to speak, but in their hearts they had silently omitted the previous words that wanted the emperor to save money. "Li Ruhua, you have been the Minister of Household Affairs since the 44th year of Wanli. It has been more than four years now. You are considered the financial steward of the imperial court. Since we want to discuss, we must understand the expenditure situation of the imperial court. You know this best. Come first. Tell me."

Li Ruhua was already prepared. Hearing this, he took out the question book in his hand and started talking.

"I checked the "Accounting Records" and found that the imperial court's normal annual income was 1461 million taels, and the three additional payments were 520 million taels. The total receivables were 1981 million taels.

Among them, about 600 million taels belong to the inner government, which really belong to the Ministry of Household for government expenditures. In addition to the original silver (materials, grain, etc.), the discounted silver should be about 920 million taels.However, this year the actual total amount of Taicang silver deposited by the Ministry of Accounts was 583 million taels, a difference of 337 million taels.

Fortunately, His Majesty was wise and decisive. He previously allocated 130 million taels to support the Liao Dynasty, and today he allocated 200 million taels to support the imperial court.This is the only way to achieve balance. Otherwise, even if I move around, I may not be able to recover. "

Li Ruhua calculated the imperial financial accounts very clearly, and Zhu Youxiao also understood it clearly.But he also had two questions. He knew the income from internal funds, and it was impossible to earn so much every year.So he asked:
"If 600 million taels are returned to internal funds every year, it will be 6000 million taels in ten years. And now the internal funds are enough to be sustainable. It can't be so much. Where did the rest go?"

Li Ruhua had long thought that the emperor would ask him this, and this was one of his measures to prepare for the emperor's advice.

"Your Majesty, the annual income from the internal funds is indeed 600 million taels, but this is just a simple sum of the prices of many materials. Except for the 600 million taels of gold and silver grains, the rest are made of silk, cotton, silk, and wax tea. It is also used for things like paints and paints.

I wanted to collect silk floss, silk, wax tea, pigments and other items every year, but the imperial court could not use them all every year. As a result, many materials were rotten and unusable, and countless people enriched their own pockets.

Therefore, I boldly proposed to Your Majesty 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 exchange for silver (converted into silver) and escorted to Taicang.In this way, one million silver can be obtained, which can be used by His Majesty, and can also reduce consumption and make up for the national use. "

When he said this, Zhu Youxiao understood that although a whip law was implemented in the Ming Dynasty, not everything was collected in silver, especially the items given to the emperor in the inner treasury. Many of them were paid in kind. There is a lot of loss and it is difficult to collect, so it is better to exchange it for silver.

However, Li Ruhua said that he would give the money to the Ministry of Revenue, which made him worried.

Li Ruhua saw that Zhu Youxiao had figured out what was going on, so he took advantage of the victory and pursued him:

"Your Majesty, even if the money is reduced by half, the internal funds will still be enough for the inner court to support its expenses. Moreover, the gold flower silver and grain silver sent to the inner treasury every year will remain unchanged."

How could Zhu Youxiao not know what he was thinking, but after thinking about it, since he had already given 200 million, it didn't matter if he gave more. Anyway, a lot of supplementary money was wasted. Instead of rotting in the warehouse, it would be better to use it for national purposes.But if the court does this, then you have to find a way to make money.

"That's ok, then just follow your instructions and return the general materials to the household department. It's difficult to spend money with internal funds now, so don't resort to internal funds for such things in the future."

Li Ruhua quickly nodded in agreement.

"Li Aiqing, apart from this matter, I also have a question: Why is there a difference of 337 million taels in the actual total amount of silver deposited in Taicang this year?"

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(End of this chapter)