Ming Dynasty: Domination of the World from the Imperial Examination

Chapter 366: Pigs are fattened up for slaughter, right?
Chilling wind.

The wind blew down the fallen leaves, and Lu Cang stayed in the yard bored, looking at the guards beside him from time to time.

The guards at the side also looked at Lu Cang vigilantly.

The two sides stared at each other.

The prince had been in the room for some time, but without the order from His Highness, they did not dare to go in to check the situation. Moreover, there were always rustling noises in the room. Although they could not hear what was being said, they could vaguely hear that some dispute had taken place.

Compared to the attendants' vigilance, Lu Cang was obviously much more relaxed.

He wasn't worried about anything going wrong.

Although this is called a salt shop, it is actually a large yard with workers guarding inside and outside. Normally, even rats cannot get in. As for whether Xia Zhibai is likely to have a conflict with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, he doesn't think so.

After all, Zhu Biao is the crown prince.

Born noble.

Who dares to argue with the prince?
Besides, Brother Xia is a very smart guy, so how could he not know his limits? Even if there were occasional noises in the house, they were just normal communication. However, as the noises in the house became louder and louder, his heart became more and more anxious, because if Xia Zhibai really got serious, it seemed that it would be difficult to hold him back.

He secretly glanced into the room a few times, then quickly looked away as if nothing had happened.

The snow in the sky was falling heavier and heavier.

There was a hint of frost in the air.

The atmosphere in the room also dropped to freezing point.

Looking at the powerful Xia Zhibai and the uncompromising Zhu Biao, Li Jinglong felt overwhelmed. As far as he was concerned, he thought that the prince's idea was right. After all, paper money was just a piece of waste paper. How could the court return all the money it had collected with great effort to the people?

And if you tell others, no one will believe it.

Paper is just paper, how can it be used as money?
Jiaozi and Huizi did appear in history, but they ultimately failed. The Yuan Dynasty also issued paper money, but it eventually became the source of national disaster. A bird in the hand is worth a thousand in the bush. No matter how fantastic and beautiful Xia Zhibai's description was, it has never been proven.

It was too extravagant to let the court pay real money just to satisfy Xia Zhibai's sudden whim.

When the atmosphere gradually reached a freezing point, Li Jinglong took the initiative to speak to ease the situation and said, "I do have some opinions on this. Scholar Xia's idea is certainly good, but it is somewhat unrealistic. The Ming treasure notes are still in circulation throughout the country, so it cannot be considered a breach of trust."

"Besides, the people have always only recognized copper coins, silver, and gold. If they are suddenly asked to use paper money, they may not be able to accept it for a while."

"The court is a little short of money."

"So we need to spend this money wisely. If we blindly make these attempts and fail, it will be a huge blow to the court's finances and may even lead to the collapse of Ming's finances. The consequences are disastrous."

"Xia Xueshi, when it comes to national affairs, we should be cautious."

Li Jinglong bowed to Xia Zhibai.

Xia Zhibai shook his head.

He did not back down because of Li Jinglong's words, but continued to insist on his opinion: "For national affairs, we should indeed be more cautious, but we must not look back and forth and hesitate. Since Duke Cao thinks that my idea is inappropriate, then I would like to ask Duke Cao, with the current system of the Ming Dynasty, is there any way for the Ming Dynasty to increase its fiscal revenue in the future?"

After these words were spoken, Li Jinglong was stunned.

He whispered, "Increase fiscal revenue in the future?"

"This"

"I think so." Li Jinglong was a little uncertain. He touched his chin and thought carefully. Although he was young, he was well-read in classics and had some understanding of state affairs. After thinking for a while, he slowly said, "Now the financial revenue of the court mainly comes from agricultural taxes and commercial taxes."

"So if we want to increase it, we can only do so from here." "As the population increases and commodities develop, the taxes that the court can collect from them will also increase."

Li Jinglong expressed his opinion.

Xia Zhibai chuckled, with a bit of disappointment, and said: "Money doesn't fall from the sky. The increase in population should increase the court's income, but don't forget that the Ming Dynasty implements light taxes, and many places have a fixed tax system, so the money won't suddenly increase. As for the development of commodities, this is even more nonsense. What does the development of commodities have to do with the court? The Ming Dynasty can't even collect salt and iron taxes now, and it still expects to collect taxes on other small commodities?"

"The real increase in the court's revenue was actually the invisible corvée and taxes."

"But you have read so many books, you should know that since the Qin Dynasty, there has been a saying that 'a harsh government is more ferocious than a tiger'. In every dynasty, there have been people who have escaped to avoid the corvée and taxes of the court. The most common method is to entrust themselves to the gentry and put their own land under the gentry's account."

"In this way, they only need to pay a certain amount of protection fees to the gentry, but they can be exempted from the increasingly heavy taxes and levies imposed by the court."

"The more people there are, the fewer 'people' there are, the less money they pay, and ultimately they pay more."

"In the end, the court won't be able to collect much money."

"These extra taxes will eventually be borne by the honest and hard-working people."

"From the very beginning, the Ming Dynasty's finances left no room for maneuver."

"Whether it was the land 'clarification' or the tax design, the financial direction of the Ming Dynasty was blocked. In the grand survey, all the 'cultivable land' of the Ming Dynasty was counted, even the land that was reclaimed hundreds of years later was counted."

“We can’t increase revenue, nor can we cut costs.”

"The last thing we can do is abandon 'one city' today, abandon 'ten cities' tomorrow, give up some of the things controlled by the court little by little, give up some of the places with high expenses little by little, and when we still can't maintain the expenses of the court, we can only shrink in the capital and hope for peace and stability in the world."

"That's all."

Hear the words.

Zhu Biao's face turned pale.

Xia Zhibai's words were full of sarcasm and ridicule, but he heard them clearly.

The Ming Dynasty's finances had reached a dead end.

Now it is a slow death.

Waiting for the final coffin closing!
He thought about it in his mind and tried to refute Xia Zhibai, but no matter how hard he thought, he couldn't find a reason to speak, because he had already mentioned what Xia Zhibai said before, and he also explained the reasons.

"How can you be so pessimistic?" Li Jinglong frowned.

"It's not pessimism, it's objectivity!" Xia Zhibai corrected.

"In fact, His Majesty has given a solution."

"What is it?" Zhu Biao looked over.

Xia Zhibai smiled mysteriously, revealing a row of white teeth, and said, "Kill people and confiscate their property!"

"Since the imperial court can't collect the money, then we'll just slaughter the wealthy merchants like pigs!"

"Aren't pigs fattened up for slaughter?"

"The court has no money, but the officials and gentry under it are extremely wealthy. As long as the court finds some evidence of collusion and confiscates a batch of these officials and gentry, the court will become rich overnight, and this is what Your Majesty has been doing."

(End of this chapter)