Eagle-eyed and wolf-watching

Chapter 1547 The legitimacy of layoffs!
Ye Mingsheng looked at the Daqian civil and military officials in the attic and said in a deep voice:
"Now that I have told you all about Daqian's family background, I wonder what you all think. You can speak freely. Even if you are wrong, I will not blame you!"

After hearing what Ye Mingsheng said, all the ministers lowered their heads and kept silent, as if no one wanted to be the first to stand out.

Ye Mingsheng was not surprised by this situation. After all, on such a major issue, everyone was very cautious at the beginning. However, as long as someone spoke up, the debate would soon begin. This was a habit of high-level meetings. Su Junjie, the Minister of Industry who had just taken office, saw that no one stood up to speak and wanted to make a difference in the meeting, so he immediately spoke up:
"Your Majesty, I think that although the court's finances are currently very tight, as long as we resume taxation from Huainan, Sichuan, Jingchu, Guanzhong, Anqing and other places, the court's fiscal revenue will immediately increase significantly, and the court's financial situation will also be improved!"

As soon as Su Junjie finished speaking, the Left Censor-in-Chief Wang Huaiyi opened his mouth to refute:

"Minister Su is wrong. After the development in the past few years, Huainan, Sichuan, Jingchu and other places have only recovered a little bit of their vitality. There are still many people struggling to make ends meet in these places. As long as the court resumes taxation, there will be starvation everywhere in an instant!"

After Wang Huaiyi finished speaking, the room was silent for a few seconds, and Deputy Chief of Staff Ma Zhongjun couldn't help but retort:
“Censor Wang, the court has granted them tax exemptions for several years, which is already a great favor. The court has also tightened its belt and lived a hard life for several years. You just heard Minister Zhang say that there are only 35 taels of silver left in the Ministry of Revenue’s treasury. What can this little silver do…”

"Does that mean the imperial court will not collect taxes from them forever if they can't have enough food to eat?"

After Ma Zhongjun finished speaking, Shen Changhong, the Minister of Personnel, also took over and said:

"I think what General Ma said makes sense. Your Majesty's not collecting taxes before was already a great favor. If you don't collect taxes now, it will not be fair to other regions. I'm afraid that people in other places will also object!"

Minister of Rites Su Yi also seconded the proposal:
"The court is now in debt of more than five million taels of silver. This is not a small number. It has exceeded the court's annual tax revenue. And the excess is not a little bit, but more than one million taels of silver!"

"Although the court does not need to repay the five million taels of silver in the short term, in order to avoid debt default at that time, the court must make preparations early! The silver that should be collected must be collected, and I believe that the people will definitely understand the court!"

Seeing Su Junjie, Ma Zhongjun, Shen Changhong, Su Yi and others standing up, Zhao Han, the chief of staff, secretly glanced at Ye Mingsheng who was sitting in the main seat, and then glanced at Gu Sansi who was silent. Cui Shao also decided to stand up and speak:

"Everyone, after receiving help from the Romans, the Cumans are now thinking of stirring up trouble again. According to the intelligence we have received, they will launch an attack on the Robes as early as this month. With Robes' current military strength and internal situation, it will be difficult for the Robes to fight against the Cumans independently!"

"For the safety of northern Daqian, we must fight this battle. We must keep the enemy out of the country. Our General Staff estimates that we will mobilize at least two divisions of more than 30,000 people for this battle, and 100,000 civilian laborers for logistics support. The total budget should be around one million taels of silver..."

Those sitting in Tiande Pavilion at this time could be said to be the top leaders of Daqian. They all knew about the idea of ​​starting a war next year, but when they heard that the budget for this war would be one million taels of silver, everyone was shocked. After all, the salary of the entire Daqian Field Army last year was less than one million taels of silver!
Zhang Juning also asked:

"Master Zhao, with a force of more than 30,000 people, does it really cost one million taels of silver? We have fought against the Cumans before, and we used more troops, but it only cost more than 800,000 taels of silver!"

"You may not know that our previous battle with the Cumans was on our homeland. We had the geographical advantage, so the pressure and cost of logistics were naturally much less. But this time we are fighting deep in the grasslands, and the later supplies are all in the enemy's territory, which makes everything more difficult!"

"And the most important point is that the Kipchaks had a psychological advantage when they fought against our army before. They wanted to fight a decisive battle with our army as soon as possible and defeat us in one fell swoop, so we didn't need to look for them. But this time it's completely different!"

“After several previous battles, the Kipchaks no longer have an advantage. They are even a little afraid of our army. So our staff has studied and judged that the Kipchaks are very likely not to try to engage in a decisive battle with our army in the short term. They will try to use a war of attrition, playing hide-and-seek with our army in the vast grasslands, and trying to wear down our army’s logistical supplies…”

Faced with the unanimous opposition of these people, Wang Huaiyi felt under great pressure and didn't know what to do. He could only look at Ye Mingsheng involuntarily.

Although Ye Mingsheng looked calm on the surface, he was actually even more disappointed. He didn't expect that Wang Huaiyi's fighting ability was so weak. He just said one sentence and now he didn't know what to do. He was really a complete loser!

Just as Ye Mingsheng was thinking about what to do, a voice slowly sounded in the room.

"Although the court's finances are tight and there will be many places to spend money next year, I think this does not mean that we can ignore the livelihoods of the people. Censor Wang is right. The people are still living on the poverty line, and a few copper coins may be the last straw that breaks their back!"

"Take the floods in Jingchu and Huainan last year for example. Many people were left penniless and their newly saved fortunes were gone!"

"Your Majesty has long said that our Great Qian governs the world with benevolence and virtue, and the people are the foundation of our Great Qian. Therefore, I believe that the court should treat the people well and respect them. Only in this way can the people also respect and support the court!"

As soon as Cui Shao said this, Tiande Pavilion suddenly became quiet. Everyone looked at Cui Shao. The impatient Ma Zhongjun asked directly:

"Old Minister Cui, I don't know what you mean?" Cui Shao ignored Ma Zhongjun's question, but looked at Wang Huaiyi and asked:
"Censor Wang, do you have any plans?"

Wang Huaiyi was stunned at first, then nodded repeatedly and said:
"There is a plan! The court can go from tax exemption to tax reduction. This year, we will collect 50%, next year, we will collect 70%, and the year after, we will collect all the taxes..."

After Wang Huaiyi said this, everyone in Tiande Pavilion seemed to realize something and fell silent again.

Just when the atmosphere of the meeting was somewhat silent, the Minister of Personnel Gu Sansi, who had been silent, began to speak:
"Recently, the governor of Jingchu, Dai Ping, the governor of Sichuan, Huang Renxiao, the governor of Jianghuai, Murong Yuliang, the governor of Guanzhong, Qi Dechao, the former governor of Anqing, Bai Changjiu, and the governor of Yunbing, Ye Hao, have all submitted petitions to the court!"

Although the contents of their memorials are quite different, the general meaning is similar, that is, they hope that the court can grant a few years of tax reduction after the tax-free period ends, so as to help them better restore the economy and people's livelihood in various places! "

After saying that, Gu Sansi took out the memorials. Seeing this, Ye Mingsheng gave Ye Cheng a look. Ye Cheng immediately understood what he meant. He took the memorials from Gu Sansi and then handed them to other civil and military officials for circulation.

Su Junjie, Su Yi, Ma Zhongjun, Zhao Han, Shen Changhong and other people who had just stood up to speak, saw these memorials at this time, and there was a little helplessness in their eyes. At this time, Cui Shao looked at Ye Mingsheng and said:
"Your Majesty, I believe that giving those regions a certain amount of tax reduction will help them recover better. In the long run, this will be a great thing for both the court and the people!"

Ye Mingsheng nodded slightly when he heard this:
"I understand your idea, Minister Cui. What do the rest of you think?"

Seeing that Cui Shao, who was highly respected and controlled the imperial purse, agreed, the few people just now fell silent...

Looking at the completely silent Tiande Pavilion, Ye Mingsheng made the decision directly:
"Since none of you have any ideas, let's do it this way. Jingchu, Chuanshu, Huainan, Guanzhong, Anqing, and Yunbin will collect 50% of the taxes this year, 70% next year, and return to normal the year after!"

After hearing what Ye Mingsheng said, no matter if they were willing or not, everyone could only say in unison:
"Your Majesty, Holy Might!"

Upon hearing this, Ye Mingsheng said directly:

"The second topic of today's meeting is the issue of layoffs. In the past year, the court has laid off nearly 19,000 people, which can save nearly 200,000 taels of silver every year!"

"This achievement is enormous. I know that you all have made great efforts and sacrifices for this. The court and the people want to say thank you to you!"

"But what I want to say is that Daqian still has a huge number of redundant staff. The annual salary expenditure accounts for more than half of the court's tax revenue. This is a huge economic burden for the court. Under such circumstances, if there is any major natural disaster that causes a reduction in tax revenue, the pressure on the court will immediately increase sharply, and it may even be unable to pay salaries!"

"So we still have to work together to solve the problem of redundant staff. Redundancy has become a big cancer in the court. The court must continue to work hard on this issue and solve it thoroughly. Only by solving this problem can the court's finances become healthy, and the court can have more money to increase investment in various fields..."

"In the new year, I plan to invest heavily in the navy and education. The navy's special funding will increase from 200,000 taels of silver to 300,000 taels of silver!"

"In addition, we will add a special fund of 200,000 taels of silver to increase the number of libraries in various parts of Daqian. This year, we will ensure that all major cities in Daqian have a free library where students in Daqian can read for free!"

"Investing in education is investing in the future. In the next 20 to 30 years, we will completely eliminate illiteracy in Daqian and enable all the people in Daqian to be able to read, recognize words, and write!"

"Education is also the foundation of science and technology. Through education, we can produce excellent talents, and these talents will also promote the development of science and technology. When science and technology develop, the country's national strength will make rapid progress. These are complementary to each other!"

After delivering a long speech, Ye Mingsheng also announced directly:
"In order to support the health of the court's finances, Daqian will cut 15,000 official posts this year, of which the number of officials to be cut must not be less than 1,500!"

Hearing Ye Mingsheng's instructions, everyone's hearts trembled. After experiencing the harsh layoffs this year, most people in both the central and local governments believed that 20,000 people had been laid off, and His Majesty should be satisfied. There would be no more layoffs in the future, and everyone could be considered safe...
However, Ye Mingsheng's order now shows that everyone was wrong. Although nearly 20,000 people were laid off last year, Ye Mingsheng still did not stop. He wanted to continue to solve the problem of redundancy!
After hearing Ye Mingsheng's decision, Su Yi, who was sitting next to him, looked normal, but her expression was extremely helpless!
He hadn't realized it just now, but now he finally understood that His Majesty had planned today's meeting in advance!

Ye Mingsheng's idea of ​​laying off employees is known to everyone, but layoffs are a big deal, involving the jobs of tens of thousands of officials, and all the forces in the court are involved. Therefore, even if His Majesty wants to lay off employees, he must give a reasonable reason!

In the past, the reason given by His Majesty was that the court's finances were tight and its debt was too high. So in order to improve this situation, it was necessary to reduce the court's expenditures and save money. Therefore, layoffs were justified!
Your Majesty thinks this reason is sufficient, but there are also many people in the court who believe that the reason the court is in financial trouble is not because of redundant staff, but because Your Majesty does not collect taxes from Guanzhong, Huainan, Jingchu, Sichuan, Yunbing, and Anqing!

These people believed that although these areas had been affected by the war and the economy and people's livelihood were extremely bleak, no matter how miserable the situation was, as long as they were ruthless in collecting taxes, they could collect at least one million taels of silver a year from these places combined!
With this one million taels of silver, the court's finances would no longer be tight, and it would even be very wealthy, so there would be no need for the court to lay off employees...