I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 331 God’s will is unpredictable!

Gao Gong stroked his beard and said slowly: "I have summarized it. It is nothing more than increasing revenue and reducing expenditure. As for increasing revenue, you two know that the silver from the salt tax and the customs duties from the maritime trade, when added together, the silver that enters the national treasury in one year is equivalent to that of three to five years during the Jiajing period.

Another very important point is to save money.”

Ge Shouli answered tentatively: "The budget system and the new system of appropriation by the Ministry of Revenue have made it impossible for the clerks below to be corrupt, at least until they come up with a solution. This can also be considered as saving money."

Gao Yi added, "Brother Yu Li is right. The most powerful trick of the Ministry of Revenue is to embezzle. Many famous generals and ministers are terrified. Before leaving the capital, 30% of the 1 million taels of grain and salaries were lost. They were embezzled along the way, and 30% was left in the hands of the border troops. They are really honest and dedicated."

Gao Gong said with a serious expression, "That's right. These bastards, who are committing these fraudulent practices, are also something that I hate deeply.

In the first year of the Longqing reign, I was in charge of the Ministry of Revenue. I wanted to do something, and after much difficulty, I finally managed to collect some money. But before I could accomplish even one or two things, the money was gone, divided up by these rats and borers. It almost put me in an irretrievable situation.”

Gao Yi and Ge Shouli knew that it referred to the officials in Beijing who hanged themselves and begged on the streets.

"This time, I strongly advocate that the Ministry of Revenue follow the new system of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Finance. I have to say that Yang Jinshui is indeed very smart, especially in terms of finance and taxation. He is a genius.

He started doing this in Shanghai, and after a few years, he had it all done, without a single leak. The Ministry of Revenue followed it for half a year and found 376 rats and borers. I strongly advocate severe punishment, beheading, confiscating property, exiling, and no leniency!"

Gao Yi and Ge Shouli knew that he was a vengeful person. He had been made miserable by these corrupt officials and his future was almost ruined. Now they must punish him to death.

"The strict laws and strict punishments have helped the Ministry of Revenue to clean up the mess. In addition, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Rites have also transferred a group of officials here. Now I feel that the Ministry of Revenue can manage the country's finances much more smoothly."

Gao Gong continued.

"That's one of them. There are other savings as well."

"Oh, Lord Xinzheng, is there still a way to cut back on spending?"

"There are two more. One is the Nine Borders Army. In the past, the imperial court had to spend three or four million taels of silver on the Nine Borders, and they only got a northern barbarian invasion border and a smoke signal warning. It was useless.

After Xiyuan presided over the military reform of the Nine Frontiers, the vacancies of those who were drawing empty salaries were squeezed out, the idle soldiers who were waiting to die were sent to military settlements, and the fields of the guards were taken back, as well as military equipment. "

Ge Shouli immediately agreed, "Yes, military equipment! Ever since Zhao Mengjing (Zhao Zhenji) presided over the major reform of the Military Equipment Supervision Bureau and the Firearms Bureau, and also vigorously developed the industries of Kaiping and Taiyuan, the military equipment of the Ming Dynasty has been completely renewed. In the past, a musket cost more than ten taels of silver, and the border troops did not dare to use it. Now it only costs one tael of silver, and it is even more powerful.

There was also a saber, made of what the military equipment supervisor said was good steel, but the blade would become blunt after chopping two or three people, and it actually cost one tael and five coins of silver. Nowadays, the steel sabers made in Kaiping and Taiyuan can easily chop Japanese swords, and each costs less than one coin of silver*.

There were also war horses. Before border trade was opened, a horse from the southern part of the desert would cost fifteen to twenty-five taels of silver.

Now, I have heard from my fellow townsmen in Taibusi that border merchants from Shanxi and Shaanxi use tea, sugar and other goods to exchange for horses from Monan and Qinghai, and then resell them in Taibusi. It only costs six taels of silver to buy a horse, and it is said that those border merchants can make huge profits.

Armor and crossbows are now incredibly cheap. The money used to buy armor for 10,000 people can now buy armor for 50,000 or 60,000 people, and the quality is even better.

The money you save is huge.”

Gao Gong nodded, agreeing with Ge Shouli's words, and then continued: "According to the regulations of our Great Ming, the military pay for cavalry is 16 taels of silver per year, with 8 shi of rice; for combat soldiers, 12 taels of silver, with 6 shi of rice; for guard soldiers, 8 taels of silver, with 4 shi of rice.

However, since the Xuande reign, the frontier troops had never received their full rations. It was even worse during the Jiajing reign, when superiors deducted money arbitrarily in the name of embezzlement and austerity, and soldiers could only get two or three taels of silver and one dan of rice a year, which was a waste of money.

The military pay for the officers and soldiers of the border troops supporting the southeastern region to suppress the Japanese pirates was changed to 20 taels per year for the cavalry, with 8 shi of rice and a certain amount of horse feed subsidy; 16 taels per year for the combat soldiers, with 6 shi of rice; the garrison soldiers were changed to the camp guards, with 12 taels per year for the garrison soldiers, with 6 shi of rice. The rest of the rewards were calculated separately.

The expenditure on food and salaries seems to have increased, but in fact, the nine borders had previously maintained nearly a million soldiers and horses. According to the custom, the military salaries should be tens of millions taels of silver. In the past, only three to four million taels of silver were actually paid out each year. These are recorded in the Ministry of Revenue's cabinet, but they are a very messy account.

I guess that the soldiers actually received less than one million taels.

Gao Yi and Ge Shouli echoed: "Indeed."

"There are now 319,000 soldiers registered in the military register of the Central Military Governor's Office in the Nine Borders Army and the Beijing Camp Cavalry and Infantry. They need to pay 5 million taels of silver and 2.6 million dan of rice per year. It seems to be more than the previous mess, but it can't be calculated that way."

Gao Gong counted on his fingers: "In the past, the frontier troops in the capital were not fully paid. If we want to go to war, we can first give them money to set off and make up the arrears of wages. When the money and food are in hand, the troops can move.

Not only did it delay the opportunity to fight, but even a god couldn't help asking the Ministry of Revenue to suddenly replenish so much money and grain.

It’s different now. The Supervisory Office sends out military orders, the Central Military Governor’s Office issues orders, the Imperial Guards, Tiance and other troops in the Beijing Camp receive the orders in the morning, and the entire camp passes through Tongzhou in the evening.”

Ge Shouli sighed, “Yes, fully paid soldiers are different.

Previously, you all just wanted to save money, but you didn't realize that cheap things are not good. How can military affairs be done by saving money? Gao Yi frowned and asked, "Five million taels of silver, and 2.6 million dan of rice. The rice is now available in the military settlements of the nine frontier guards, the civilian settlements, the official settlements, and the commercial settlements, which can barely support it.

Five million taels of silver, Lord Xinzheng, can the national treasury afford it?"

"In the first year of Longqing, I would say, you can squeeze my bones dry to see if you can get a fraction. But in the second year of Longqing, I would say, it is enough to support us."

Seeing the disbelief on Gao Yi's face, Gao Gong continued to explain: "Xiyuan gradually transferred the tax source to the Ministry of Revenue. This year, the salt tax revenue from Lianghuai, Changlu, East Zhejiang, Jiechi and other places exceeded 10 million.

The customs duties for the customs and trade between the two countries were 7.5 million taels of silver, and the additional taxes on silk, cotton cloth, tea, porcelain, sugar, and alcohol were 3.27 million taels.
All these taxes added up to about 20 million taels of silver. On the contrary, the previous main tax, the head tax, excluding various kinds of tax, was only 1.1 million taels, which is not worth mentioning. Saving money and increasing income, this is the real way to increase income. "

Gao Yi and Ge Shouli only knew that the Ming Dynasty's financial revenue had been very good in the past two years, but they never expected it to be so good that even the head tax was not taken seriously.

In the past, the Ming Dynasty mainly relied on land tax, which decreased year by year from 30 million shi in the Hongwu period to barely maintained at around 20 million shi of grain in the Jiajing period.

Other miscellaneous taxes such as salt, tea, and wine were almost non-existent because they "competed with the people for profits."

The source of cash in the national treasury mainly came from various types of silver exchanged based on the population. Starting from 3.5 million taels of silver during the Hongzhi period, the amount fluctuated up and down, and sometimes it was necessary to exchange for goods, so the actual amount of silver was not much.

The Prince of Xiyuan implemented new laws, increasing taxes such as salt tax, customs duty, and commodity surcharges, and the corresponding amount of silver based on the number of people was reduced.

Gao Yi and Ge Shouli had never imagined that they could receive 20 million taels of silver from various industrial and commercial tariffs. According to some people, this was a very serious case of competing with the people for profits, and the people should be living in poverty and starving.

But the two were not the kind of people who would tell lies with open eyes. They had relatives and friends in various places and they often exchanged letters, mentioning people's livelihood. In recent years, the lives of people in various places have been getting better and better, and gradually showing a flourishing vitality.

It really subverted our concept!
Is it possible that everything we have learned and thought before has big problems?
What Gao Yi, Ge Shouli and Gao Gong did not know was that in the historical Qing Dynasty, during the Shunzhi period, the annual tax was 24.38 million taels of silver. Because the Qing Dynasty continued the Ming Dynasty's "One Whip System", the land tax was converted into silver, and one stone of rice was equivalent to one tael of silver on average.

During the Qianlong period, due to the implementation of the land-based tax system and the unified tax payment by officials and gentry, the tax amount suddenly increased to 45 million taels of silver, including 7 million taels of salt tax and 5.35 million taels of commercial tax.

Then it gradually declined to around 40 million taels during the Jiaqing and Daoguang periods.

During the reign of Emperor Xianfeng, the Taiping Rebellion arose, and the Qing government's finances were in tatters, with accounts being unacceptable. It was not until the reign of Emperor Tongzhi and Emperor Guangxu that the finances stabilized, with annual tax revenues suddenly increasing to 70 to 80 million taels of silver.

The Westernization Movement arose because the Qing Dynasty introduced Western financial, taxation and banking systems.

What Zhu Yijun did was similar to the elementary version.

If Gao Gong, Gao Yi and Ge Shouli knew these reasons, they would know that the improvement in the Ming Dynasty's finances in the second year of Longqing was only the beginning. Once the Northeast and the South China Sea were under control, peace was restored throughout the country, the industrial and agricultural foundations increased, and the market expanded, tax revenues would rise rapidly.

This is also the reason why Zhu Yijun dared to make the decision to launch the Northern Expedition and the Southern Expedition at the same time.

You are surprised that the Ming Dynasty's border troops and Beijing camp spent 5 million taels of silver. If you knew that during the Tongzhi and Xianfeng periods of the Qing Dynasty, the expenditure of the Eight Banners, Green Camp and trained soldiers was 59 million taels of silver a year, you would go crazy on the spot!
The three sighed for a while, and Gao Yi and Ge Shouli could not help but continue to ask: "Xinzheng Gong, you have another way to save money, what is it?"

"Shipping!"

Gao Yi and Ge Shouli suddenly realized.

Gao Gong continued, "Ninety-nine percent of the food, fodder, and military equipment mobilized for this northern expedition and southern expedition will be transported by sea. If we use canal transportation as in the past, it will not only take a long time, but also be extremely expensive."

Ge Shouli agreed, "That's right! The grain transport, ah, is hard to describe. Ten thousand shi of grain and military pay were transported from the southeast to Liaodong. After the loss of grain and transportation, it would be good if 50% could be left.

By sea, however, goods can be shipped directly from Shanghai to Tashan and Yingkou ports, with almost no cost. It is fast and economical.”

Gao Yi pondered and said, "No wonder His Royal Highness the Crown Prince made the decision after only a brief consideration. It turns out that he already had the plan in mind."

Gao Gong looked out the window and sighed, "War is all about money and food. The prince knows this better than the rest of us."

Gao Yi suddenly asked, "The northern and southern expeditions have yielded some gains. Will the Duke of Xinzheng be admitted to the cabinet for his contribution in raising and transporting food and money?"

Gao Gong's eyes were bright and sharp, like lightning, but he sighed: "It's hard to predict the will of heaven, it's hard to predict the will of heaven!"

　*The actual cost is based on the "Continuation of the Liangzhe Coastal Defense Classification", but Kaiping and Taiyuan are mass-produced, so the price is lower. The cost of firearms and military equipment is a random estimate, which is really unreliable.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)