Daming: I can’t kill such a greedy prince-in-law?

Chapter 544: Where did the million come from? (Subscribe please!!)
"Prince Consort Ouyang, I once heard you say that last year the tax revenue of our Ming Dynasty was only 30% more, but this 230 million yuan in annual revenue is not only 30% more, but at least 100 million more!"

Zhu Biao asked urgently: "Can you tell me where this extra 100 million came from?"

Although all officials suspected that Ouyang Lun was lying about the annual revenue, Zhu Biao believed Ouyang Lun's explanation more.

Although Zhu Biao and all the civil and military officials were more excited than each other, Ouyang Lun was unusually calm at this moment.

"Your Majesty, when I said that the annual revenue was 30% higher, that was just the normal annual revenue, and it did not include foreign trade and newspaper advertising expenses."

"Last year, our Ming Dynasty earned about 60 million taels of silver through foreign trade, and the newspaper advertising fee was about 30 million taels. This is because of the adverse factors. If everything is normal, it should be even more!"

"Mao Youde."

"I'm here." Mao Youde has now been appointed as the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue.

"You tell everyone the details." Ouyang Lun said lightly.

"Yes!"

Mao Youde stepped out and bowed to Zhu Biao, "Your Majesty, here are the details of the annual revenue."

Mao Youde spent about half an hour giving a detailed introduction to the annual harvest situation.

After hearing this, everyone in the Tai Chi Hall was stunned.

Because they now understood a fact, that is, the annual revenue of the Ming Dynasty last year was really as much as 230 million!
Those officials who had initially clamored for an investigation into the Ministry of Revenue became silent one by one, and some even buried their heads deeply, not daring to raise them at all.

"Ha ha!"

"Good good!"

Zhu Biao burst into laughter.

There is no doubt that the increase in Ming Dynasty's annual revenue was definitely a good thing for Zhu Biao, who had just ascended the throne. It meant that the family fortune he inherited was much greater.

It was a full 100 million silver coins more than expected, enough for him to do many things.

"The Ming Dynasty's purse must be managed by you, Prince Consort Ouyang, to achieve such an effect!"

"My dear ministers, you must learn a lot from Prince Consort Ouyang in terms of government affairs!"

Zhu Biao said with a smile.

Zhu Biao's words were also very direct. Ouyang Lun had enough means to handle the economic problems of the Ming Dynasty. Others should not only not cause more trouble, but also learn from Ouyang Lun.

All the civil and military officials knew who Zhu Biao was referring to. Of course, it was Li Shanchang. You should know that Li Shanchang had caused chaos in the four southern provinces, leaving a mess. In the end, it was Ouyang Lun who stepped in to resolve the problem. There was also the matter of the Ministry of Revenue. Li Shanchang snatched the Ministry of Revenue from Ouyang Lun, and as a result, the Ministry of Revenue had constant problems, which almost caused a sharp drop in Ming Dynasty's tax revenue. In the end, it was Ouyang Lun who stepped forward to resolve the problem.

Messing up things once and twice has already proved that Li Shanchang and Ouyang Lun are far apart in financial ability!
Hearing this, Li Shanchang felt as if he had eaten a fly and felt extremely uncomfortable. The key point was that he could not even utter a word of rebuttal. After all, he himself could not forget these two failures. He had obviously done many things according to Ouyang Lun's model, but the results were completely different.

At this moment, Li Shanchang was even more convinced that he had not learned the essence of Ouyang Lun's economic management, and he was determined to learn it!
One day, Li Shanchang will defeat Ouyang Lun and avenge his previous humiliation! !

Just when Li Shanchang decided to work hard to become a better person, Zhu Biao spoke again.

Perhaps it was because of the extra 100 million annual revenue that Zhu Biao was more confident. "My Ming Dynasty has been building roads in the past two years. Although we have built roads from the capital to the provinces, and from provincial capitals to provincial capitals, we still feel that this is not enough. We also need roads from provinces to prefectures, between prefectures, between prefectures and counties, and between counties!"

“Even the roads between counties and towns, and between towns and villages, need to be opened up!!”

"I want these roads to be unobstructed!"

"This is the content of my Great Ming Five-Year Plan. I will not go into details. Everyone must strictly follow the plan and absolutely do not slack off!"

"It's your Majesty!"

Civil and military officials all responded in unison.

"Yes." Zhu Biao nodded, then looked at Ouyang Lun, "Prince Consort Ouyang, how do you think about this?"

"Your Majesty is wise. I agree."

Ouyang Lun nodded.

"What about the money?" Zhu Biao was no novice emperor, so he knew that the most important condition for implementing the five-year plan was to get the money. As long as the money was in place, everything would be easy.

"Please rest assured, Your Majesty. The Ministry of Revenue has already reserved sufficient budget for the five-year plan, and will definitely give priority to the construction of roads, bridges and other livelihood projects!"

"Okay, okay! I feel at ease knowing that Prince Consort Ouyang is doing the job!" Zhu Biao nodded again.

After reporting on the annual harvest, Ouyang Lun stood back on his own.

Zhu Biao spoke again, "The Minister of War, Tang Duo."

"I'm here." Minister of War Tang Duo immediately stepped out.

"I want to ask you, what is the progress of the military reform of the Ming army? Is there anything that needs my attention?" Zhu Biao asked loudly.

Military system reform is currently more important than the Five-Year Plan. Zhu Biao has kept it firmly in mind. Although Zhu Yuanzhang is still the actual controller of the military cabinet, military reform must be quickly determined.

This is the first reform led by Zhu Biao, and it must be done well.

"In reply to your Majesty, regarding the military reform of our Ming Dynasty, five major military regions have been divided, and the armies across the country are also being reorganized in an orderly manner. The recruitment of conscripts will begin in the second half of the year. As for professional soldiers, we will have to wait until the conscripts have completely taken over the tasks of farming before the formal recruitment will begin."

"The list of military chiefs of each military region is still being drawn up, but according to Prince Consort Ouyang's intention, the appointment of the military chief should be the last one to be appointed."

After Minister of War Tang Duo finished speaking, he looked towards Ouyang Lun.

Zhu Biao looked at Ouyang Lun and said, "Prince Consort Ouyang, why did you put the appointment of the military commanders of each military region last?"

Ouyang Lun replied, "Your Majesty, the generals of the Ming Dynasty are of mixed quality. As the saying goes, a bad soldier makes a bad general. We should avoid assigning incompetent generals to important positions. While reorganizing the army, we should also screen and train the generals of the Ming Dynasty!"

"One of the military reforms is to establish a military university, which is similar to the Military Academy. Only after completing the military university and passing the exam can one become a general of the Ming Dynasty again!"

"Finally, the position will be determined based on personal qualifications, abilities, and achievements!"

"Prince Consort Ouyang is right. I fully support this. This is settled. The generals of the Ming Dynasty must not be good-for-nothings!"

Zhu Biao said in a deep voice. "Your Majesty is wise!"

Civil and military officials all spoke out.

Although Li Shanchang also followed everyone in shouting "Your Majesty is wise", he was somewhat resentful in his heart.

He didn't know whether he was too suspicious or it was an illusion, but he always felt that today Emperor Zhu Biao and Ouyang Lun were cooperating with each other, singing the same tune and finalizing the three major issues of taxation, major construction and military reform.

He didn't even ask for the opinions of other ministers.

Especially the military reform. Although he had analyzed it before, the military reform was not a bad thing for the Huaixi Party. In fact, because Lan Yu was appointed as the general of the cabinet, the military position of the Huaixi Party was further strengthened!
It is no exaggeration to say that the Huaixi Party was the absolute number one force in military terms, but Zhu Biao only discussed the issue of military reform with Ouyang Lun and Minister of War Tang Duo. He did not consult them after making a decision, and he felt ignored.

It was also because of this that Li Shanchang felt somewhat dissatisfied.

Not only Li Shanchang, but Lan Yu was also very dissatisfied. He originally thought that he was now a general in the cabinet after all, and Zhu Biao would definitely talk to him about issues related to military reform, but in the end, nothing was discussed.

He, the great general of the cabinet, seemed to have become a decoration.

At this moment, everyone in the Huaixi Party had begun to doubt whether Zhu Biao trusted Ouyang Lun more.

Li Shanchang, Lan Yu and others exchanged glances secretly, and then Li Shanchang began to think about how to reverse the current situation, but there was a very crucial point, which was to get Zhu Biao to stand on their side!

Only in this way can they be sure of winning.

Just when Li Shanchang and others were thinking about this problem, Ouyang Lun took the initiative to speak.

"Your Majesty, now that the military system has been finalized, I would like to discuss one economic issue."

"Oh! Could it be that Prince Consort Ouyang has any good idea? Tell us quickly!" Zhu Biao said excitedly.

"Your Majesty, I intend to open up loan services to ordinary people."

This statement immediately caused a huge uproar!!
All the civil and military officials stared at Ouyang Lun with wide eyes, all of them with expressions of disbelief.

Ouyang Lun ignored these glances and continued, "Loan services were previously only available to officials and wealthy businessmen. Even if there were any available to ordinary people, they were only a minority. This time, I intend to open it up completely!"

"The model is similar to the previous loan service, charging a certain amount of interest and service fees. This will further stimulate consumption and enhance the economic effect of Ming Dynasty!"

"In addition to interest and service fee income, the court will also receive more annual revenue."

"Of course, this can also effectively curb the private lending that has already been rampant among the people."

When Ouyang Lun said all this, the entire Taiji Hall fell silent.

The officials from the Prince Consort's Party were thinking about how to implement the method proposed by Ouyang Lun, while the officials from the Huaixi Party were all excited. Without waiting for Zhu Biao to express his opinion, Li Shanchang spoke first.

"Ouyang Lun! You are bringing disaster to the country and the people!!"

"The court is lending money to the people. What is this? You are trying to suck the blood of the people!"

"Your Majesty, I think this is absolutely unacceptable!"

Seeing that Li Shanchang directly objected, Zhu Biao did not intend to express his opinion immediately, but asked: "Duke Hanguo, can you tell me more specifically? The court of our Ming Dynasty must allow for free speech!"

Li Shanchang nodded and continued, "Your Majesty, isn't the imperial court lending money the same as those loan sharks? Those loan sharks often force families to ruin and have a bad reputation among the people. Now my Ming Dynasty court is actually joining in. It seems that it can make profits for the court, but in fact it will ruin my Ming Dynasty court's good reputation among the people!"

"If the emperor were here, he would definitely not allow Ouyang Lun to exploit the people in this way!"

"If you, Ouyang Lun, really want to care about the people, you might as well just give money to the people of Ming Dynasty."

"Don't make excuses for your money-making and exploitation!"

"As long as I am still an official, I will never allow you, Ouyang Lun, to do whatever you want! We, the Huaixi people, are dedicated to serving the people, and we will never let you, Ouyang Lun, abuse the people!"

After Li Shanchang's passionate speech, he seemed to have become an honest official who spoke up for the people, while Ouyang Lun became the "big villain", a treacherous official who exploited and harmed the people.

Civil and military officials had different reactions to Li Shanchang's words.

The officials of the Huaixi Party naturally supported Li Shanchang, but these officials looked somewhat complicated and embarrassed. They knew very well whether they were wholeheartedly serving the people, and Li Shanchang had exaggerated a little.

But since Li Shanchang has already said it, they support it.

“When the great Confucian scholar called Ouyang Lun a traitor, I was a little bit unconvinced. I didn’t expect that now he has finally revealed his true colors!”

"In the past, with the emperor in charge, Ouyang Lun naturally didn't dare to act recklessly. But now..."

"Giving loans to the people, Ouyang Lun, you are the one who came up with this idea."

Li Shanchang had already taken the lead in the charge, and the officials of the Huaixi Party were unwilling to lag behind, and they followed suit, speaking out one after another. It can be said that they were attacking with full force and were not afraid of offending Ouyang Lun at all.

When the officials from the Prince Consort's Party heard the Huaixi Party calling them the "boss", they showed no tolerance and started to fight back directly.

"You Huaixi Party members are dedicated to the people? You really have the nerve to say that, but we are too embarrassed to listen!"

"People who have no shame are truly invincible!"

"If you really cared about the people, you wouldn't have messed up the four southern provinces in the first place. There's also the Ministry of Revenue issue. Until now, our Prince Consort has been cleaning up your mess!"

"I won't say anything else, that would be bullying you. I just want to ask you one question, what have you, the Huaixi Party, done for the people in the past two years?"

"He can't even show any decent political achievements. No way, no way, is this the Huaixi people who claim to be working for the country and the people?"

"Prince Consort Ouyang just said he wanted to open up loans, and you said it was exploiting the people. You are really good at talking!"

"If we really follow your standards, I wonder how many people you Huaixi Party members have exploited!"

And after hearing some shocking remarks from the Huaixi Party, Ouyang Lun was also amused.

"Your Majesty, we will open up loans to the people so that they don't have to ask for help when they need money urgently. Moreover, the interest rates on loans to the people will be very low, or even interest-free or subsidized by the court. Some children from poor families have finally been admitted to middle school or even college, but have no money to continue their studies. At this time, they can apply for student loans from the court! So that they can go to school smoothly!"

"Also, we can build houses, buy food seeds, etc. If we don't have enough money, we can get help through loans from the court!"

(End of this chapter)