Ming Dynasty: Domination of the World from the Imperial Examination

Chapter 363: The problem with the Ming Dynasty was that there were too few officials!
Salt paved backyard.

Xia Zhibai has completed a set of Five Animals Fist.

He didn't want to use it for self-defense, he just wanted to strengthen his body.

After a set of boxing, Xia Zhibai was sweating profusely. He felt very refreshed. Sweating every day would make the whole person feel much more refreshed. He wiped the sweat from his forehead with a towel, wiped his body with warm water, and was about to change clothes when he heard someone coming to report.

The prince is here.

Xia Zhibai frowned, then quickly relaxed.

He put the sweat towel aside, put on a thick cotton coat, and went to the hall.

In the hall.

Lu Cang has already brought the brewed tea.

Facing the Crown Prince of the Ming Dynasty, Lu Cang was still very nervous. It was the first time for him to meet such a big shot. It couldn't even be called a big shot, he was clearly a top-notch existence. In the past, he couldn't entertain such people in person, even meeting them from a distance was a luxury.

Not long after.

Xia Zhibai has arrived.

Seeing the hall, Xia Zhibai said: "I greet Your Highness and Duke Cao."

Zhu Biao nodded calmly, without saying too many lies, and said straight to the point: "I came here today to ask you something."

"It's money!"

"You have given me a lot of advice over the years."

"But any reform, any change, will cost money to implement."

"You criticized at the very beginning that the current financial system of the Ming Dynasty has huge problems and the court's finances are seriously insufficient. You also advocated abolishing the existing system and establishing a new one. Recently, I have boldly expanded my thinking and feel that your idea is feasible."

“Just a little thought and I ran into trouble.”

"The first thing is money!"

“As the saying goes, a good cook cannot cook without rice.”

"The reform of the world's system also requires the expenditure of money and grain."

"And Ming has no money."

"Since you are the one who proposed it, I naturally want to find an answer from you."

Zhu Biao looked at Xia Zhibai and waited for Xia Zhibai's reply.

Xia Zhibai did not deny it.

Any institutional change involves money and power.

Even adding one person or exempting one person will involve money and grain.

The Ming Dynasty's system itself was unable to collect money. The daily agricultural taxes could not even maintain the normal expenses of the court, and tea, horses, salt and iron were needed to supplement them. But as far as Xia Zhibai knew, the Ming Dynasty's tea, horses, salt and iron could only collect around 3 million taels a year. Compared with the Ming Dynasty's heavy fiscal expenditure, it was simply not enough to cover its expenses.

finally.
You can only add taxes indefinitely!

"Your Highness, if you want to solve the money problem, you must first clarify what money is." Xia Zhibai said slowly: "From a historical perspective, there is actually no 'money' in the world. It's just that bartering became increasingly inconvenient, so some people began to use shells and other items as anchors for equivalent transactions."

"Then it gradually evolved into copper coins, silver, gold, etc."

"The only currency recognized by the Ming Dynasty now is the Hongwu Tongbao, and the other two are silver and gold. Even gold is not allowed to circulate."

"The Ming Dynasty is currently short of copper."

"So from a macro perspective, the Ming Dynasty's economy was depressed."

"Because there is not enough money in circulation."

"So the local governments mostly used food grains, cloth and other equivalents as replacements. Of course, the Ming Dynasty also had a kind of money, the 'Ming Baochao' which was like waste paper. Personally, I think the Ming Dynasty's economic system was almost a ruin. They only cared about killing and not burying. They only cared about immediate benefits and had no long-term plans."

"Tell it the truth."

"The Ming Dynasty has a terrible understanding of the world's economic situation." Xia Zhibai's words were sharp and cold.

He did not lie. The Ming Dynasty's economic operations were indeed very poor. They only knew how to collect taxes and had no idea about the real economic situation. Under such an operating system, how could the Ming Dynasty's economy improve?

Li Jinglong frowned and said, "Master Xia, are you exaggerating?"

"That's too light? Quite the opposite." Xia Zhibai shook his head. He glanced at Li Jinglong and said indifferently, "What I said was too light."

"Everyone in the world knows that the Ming Dynasty is short of money, especially copper coins, but the Ming Dynasty has not taken any action. It has not searched for copper mines all over the world to make up for the shortage of copper coins, nor has it taken the trouble to establish a comprehensive statistical system for the whole world. It has allowed this cancer to exist and grow step by step."

“This is simply unbelievable to me.”

"Precisely."

"Officials in the court don't actually know how much copper coins the world lacks."

"It is precisely because they do not know that they dare not act rashly. Even if some officials suggest that the government open more copper mines to make up for the shortage of copper coins, or that a real exchange rate be made for the grain and cloth in the world, the Ming Dynasty is still superficial."

“No one cares, no one pays attention.”

"Once the officials of the Ming Dynasty entered the Political Affairs Hall, they were all very busy, but no one knew what they were busy with, and no one could explain it clearly. Anyway, they were always busy dealing with various memorials, and there was never enough time to deal with all the trivial memorials."

“But no one is talking about what we should really care about.”

"The civil officials in the court always say that they learn from history, take history as a warning, and always speak of the words of saints and morality. However, the annual silver in the Song Dynasty was as high as tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions, while the Ming Dynasty had difficulty collecting even 10 million. What is the problem?"

"It's all about learning from history and taking history as a warning."

"What we learn from are all private schemes, and what we take as a warning is all autocracy and tyranny."

"It seems that the Ming Dynasty now holds all the power, but if you really look down, you can't see the true state of the world. There are not even many real data. The power of the court to decide the life and death of officials has reached its peak, but its actual control over the world is extremely low."

"The imperial court has no idea how much copper coins the country lacks, nor does it know the true economic situation of the country, let alone how to adjust the Ming Dynasty's economy."

“It’s entirely up to the local authorities themselves.”

"The court is only responsible for one thing, which is to collect the money."

“That’s learning from history.”

"But what we absorbed was the reference from the Yuan Dynasty."

"The Yuan Dynasty people only cared about collecting money and didn't care about anything else."

"The Ming Dynasty is no less capable now. It has proactively cut government officials and weakened the government's control and right to know about local issues. When something goes wrong, it blames the government with an innocent look on its face, as if it were the victim."

Xia Zhibai's eyes were full of mockery.

He said, "Your Highness, if you want to ask me for a solution."

"Indeed, I have."

"But can the current number of officials in the Ming Dynasty support it?"

"If the Ming Dynasty wants to conduct a general survey of the world's economy, Your Highness, do you know how much manpower, material resources and financial resources will be needed?"

"If we learn from history, the most convenient way is to imitate the Song Dynasty and set up border passes or trading ports along the coast. I cannot guarantee more, but the court can at least get several million silver a year, and it will only be more, not less."

"But does the court dare to open this loophole?"

"Even if Your Highness dares to do this, with the number of officials in the Ming Dynasty, can he really manage it? In the end, I am afraid that most of these money and grain will fall into the pockets of some corrupt officials. It is easier to get things done with more people. If there are too few people, don't expect to be able to take care of everything."

"not qualified!"

“I don’t have the ability to do that.”

"If you want it all, you'll end up with a mess."

"Of course, if Your Highness is unwilling, there is another way to get money, which is to go to sea. I remember reading in an ancient book that there is a mountain of silver called Shijian not far from the East China Sea. If the Ming Dynasty can occupy it, it can provide the Ming Dynasty with tens of millions of taels of silver every year."

"It's just that the Ming Dynasty still doesn't know how much money the world needs."

(End of this chapter)