I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 730: The leader is not good enough, which is a big problem

It doesn't last long!

Everyone sighed in their hearts.

Zhang Xiang just spent 30 million here, 30 million there, and then 70 to 80 million. If the Minister of Finance and the Cabinet before the Wanli Dynasty dared to spend money like this, they would have hanged themselves countless times!

Let's put it this way, the former Minister of Finance of the Ming Dynasty was roughly equivalent to the leader of the Beggars' Sect. He had to beg for money everywhere. Godfathers, don't spend money recklessly. The treasury is so empty that even mice have moved away.

The current Minister of Revenue is the real God of Wealth. The heads of various departments would shamelessly ask, "Godfather, can you loosen your fingers a little?"

Zhang Juzheng's fingers tapped on the documents on the table, making a loud noise.

"Just for the court meal, we spent 63,891,500 yuan in silver and 34 million shi of grain.

This is not the end yet, there are still a series of debt collectors coming after.

In the first year of the Wanli reign, the six ministries, temples, the Censorate, the Xuanhuiyuan, the Imperial Observatory, the Imperial Medical Service, the Hanlin Academy and other central government offices spent 2,468,600 yuan on office expenses.

This includes various expenses such as paper, pens and ink, tables and chairs, house repairs, and hiring of miscellaneous servants.

The travel expenses of the central government for business trips to other places amounted to 1,079,000 yen.

The local provincial governments, judicial offices, military preparation offices, county governments, supervisory offices, military preparation offices and administrative offices spent 7,761,200 yuan on office expenses and 1,896,000 yuan on travel expenses. *”

Zhang Juzheng tapped the table with his knuckles, the sound was so crisp that it shook the entire conference room.

"The total travel expenses, including those from the central and local governments, amounted to 2,975,000 Yuan, equivalent to 1,990,000 taels of Taicang silver.

The Ministry of War had previously done a statistics, and in the third year of Longqing, all the post stations in our dynasty spent more than 2.73 million taels of silver. If these taels of silver were to follow the usual practice, they would have been distributed through miscellaneous duties and landed on the heads of local people.

On paper, it only cost 2.73 million taels, but in reality, through the layers of increase in the amount by the clerks, at least 6 million taels of silver were taken from the people.

Now that we have calculated it clearly, the total travel expenses are 2,975,000 yen.

If you go out, you must come in. Who made the money?"

Zhang Juzheng looked around at everyone and spoke in a stern tone.

"The profits were made by the Northern Post Service Group Company, the Southern Post Service Group Company and the Northwest Post Service Group Company, which are directly under the Ministry of War, and by the local river boat and sea ship and horse carriage passenger transport companies.

Most of these people are soldiers and postmen of post stations and relay stations. They used to make a living by relying on the leftovers from the miscellaneous tasks, but now they support themselves through their own labor.

Everyone whispered to each other for a while. Zhang Juzheng waited for everyone to digest the discussion, then he tapped the table with his knuckles, and the meeting room soon returned to silence.

“Expenditures for education, expenditures for higher education directly under the Ministry of Rites and the provinces, amounted to 2,477,600 yuan.

It is shared among Peking University, Wanli University, Jiajing University, Longqing Normal University, Luanzhou University of Technology, Shanxi University, Northwest University, Nanjing University, Southwest University, Hunan University, Jiangnan University and Southeast University.

The expenditure on local basic education was 5,457,900 yuan. As of the 30th day of the twelfth lunar month of the first year of the Wanli reign, 461 primary schools had been built in each province of the two capitals and the direct-controlled prefectures, covering one-third of the counties in the Ming Dynasty. There were at least two primary schools in prosperous and populous counties.

There were seventy-four middle schools, covering two-thirds of the counties in the Ming Dynasty.

The two educational expenses mainly include the construction and maintenance costs of school buildings, professors' salaries, and student food subsidies.

Led by the Shaofujian, industrial and commercial enterprises donated 3.5 million yen last year, covering two-thirds of the cost of school construction, allowing the cabinet's education development plan to be exceeded.

Once again, I would like to thank the Minister of the Imperial Household and Eunuch Yang."

Yang Jinshui replied with a smile: "You are too polite, Prime Minister Zhang."

"The expenditure on river works and water conservancy projects on the Yellow River, Huai River, Wei River, Yangtze River and other rivers was 5.67 million yuan; the expenditure on routine maintenance of the canal was 850,000 yuan.

The cabinet plans to build 8,500 kilometers of new roads at a cost of 4.25 million won, and 85 bridges at a cost of 1.27 million won.

The provinces and prefectures in the two capitals reported 6,700 kilometers of road construction projects, with an expenditure of 3.5 million yuan; and reported 156 bridge construction projects, with an expenditure of 2.17 million yuan.

Zhang Juzheng took the document and continued reading.

"The special fund for national health and wellness has allocated 4.6 million yen, including 1.2 million yen for epidemic prevention and 3.4 million yen for the construction of hospitals and clinics in various places. Last year, a total of four Class A hospitals, 12 Class B hospitals, 39 Class C hospitals and 467 clinics were built.
The first phase of Western Expedition bonds worth 6 million yen was issued, the cabinet allocated 1.5 million yen, and the Ministry of the Interior allocated 2.5 million yen from the inner treasury in accordance with the imperial edict, making a total of 10 million yen as funds for the first phase of the Western Expedition.

According to the resolution of the Advisory Bureau, the cabinet in the first year of Wanli allocated 3 million yen of special funds for the transformation of the southwest into aboriginal people.

The Governor-General of Huguang, Wang Duxian, was a man of great talent and not only successfully completed the transformation of the native peoples into Han people in Shizhou County in western Hubei, Yongshun County in western Hunan, and Chenzhou County, he also mobilized four divisions to eliminate the Yang family of Bozhou.

In June, we received the accounts settlement report from the Governor-General of Huguang and Qianzhong Office, and there was still a balance of 216,000 yuan.

Zhang Juzheng was very pleased, "If all the governors and governors-general in the world could be as careful and prudent as him, I wouldn't be so exhausted as the prime minister."

Everyone looked at each other and shook their heads quietly.

Is there anyone in the world as brave and capable as Wang Yi'e?

He presided over the policy of converting native peoples into officials in the southwest. His first move was to take advantage of a major case of cheating in the Hunan provincial examinations to raid the homes of more than 40 Hunan gentry and seize more than 3.6 million yuan in silver.

The emperor requested an order to withhold three million yen as funds for the policy of converting natives into civilians.

Prior to this, Hunan and Hubei took the lead in cooperating with the Shaofujian to vigorously promote tobacco planting in the local area. They also secretly operated and obtained the first local cigarette factory license from the Shaofujian, and the factory was opened in Changde City.

Not long after the four types of cigarettes from Tianjin and Beijing came out, the "Furong" and "Dongting" brand cigarettes from Changde Cigarette Factory began to be sold in Hunan and Hubei.

The third cigarette factory in Daming was owned by Hunan Hucao Industry Bureau with 70% of the shares and China Tobacco Group with 30% of the shares, responsible for sales. It is said that Wang Yi'e asked Hunan Provincial Government to use the shares of the cigarette factory as collateral to borrow 2 million yuan from Bank of Communications and Minfu Bank.

A full eight million yen, enough money to kill Yang Yinglong!

There's no comparison, there's really no comparison!

"Two million one hundred thousand won in special funds for water and soil conservation in Northwest China from the Gansu and Shaanxi provincial governments.

The Imperial Astronomical Observatory was allocated 450,000 yen as special funds for the compilation of the new calendar, and 1.85 million yen was allocated as special funds for scientific research.

The National History Museum of China allocated 250,000 yen as special funds for the compilation of the Baolu of the Collected Works of Emperors Sejong and Shenjong.

The Imperial Academy of Liechtenstein donated 300,000 yen to build the Imperial Academy Library.

A special fund of 520,000 yen was allocated to the Taichang Temple for the revitalization of various operas.

"

Zhang Juzheng took off his black tortoise-shell reading glasses and threw them on the document. "Well, in the first year of the Wanli reign, the non-agricultural tax revenue was 112,940,000 yuan, and the cabinet spent 110,433,900 yuan, leaving 2,561,000 yuan, of which 2,100,000 yuan was emergency reserve funds.

In the first year of the Wanli reign, the cabinet had a surplus of 406,100 yuan! "

Everyone looked at Zhang Juzheng, whose hair and beard were gray, and sighed in their hearts.

Zhang Xiang, you are so bold to spend money!

Of the 112.9 million silver yuan, only 400,000 yuan was left, and of the 40 million dan of grain, only more than 10 million dan was left.

If Emperor Taizu knew about this, he would definitely come from the Xiaoling Mausoleum to cause trouble for you.

You are too good at spending money, you know that? I was born a beggar, I am afraid of poverty, I really don't dare to spend a penny.

If Emperor Sejong knew this, he would surely burst into tears. If I had known that my good grandson could make so much money, I would have built a few more Taoist temples. No! I would have built a Lingxiao Palace!
The meeting room was silent for four or five minutes. Zhang Juzheng waited until everyone had digested most of the information. He stretched out his left hand and Zhang Xueyan handed him a stack of documents.

"I just talked about the situation of tax revenue and expenditure. In the second year of Wanli, the cabinet will continue to focus on the construction of basic education, health care, and road and bridge transportation.
In terms of economic construction, we will first invite Qin Dushi from the Planning Bureau of the Ministry of Finance to speak on the key project plan of the Ministry of Finance in the third year of Wanli; then we will invite Lin Youping, the Left Shaoqing of the Ministry of Finance, to speak on the key project plan of the Cabinet in the third year of Wanli.

Zhang Juzheng looked up at everyone and said, "In August of the first year of the Wanli reign, we also held a meeting early and agreed on the key projects for the second year of the Wanli reign.

In this meeting, we summarized the progress of key projects in the first and second years of the Wanli period, analyzed the gains and losses, and based on this, discussed the key projects for the third year of the Wanli period.

The goal of our economic work was initially agreed upon at the enlarged meeting of the Advisory Bureau chaired by the Emperor at the beginning of the first year of the Wanli reign. At the same time, all parties also had in-depth discussions at the enlarged meeting of the Advisory Bureau.

Once our cabinet has agreed on it, we can bring it to the Advisory Council for discussion and agreement."

Everyone knows that the discussion of key projects is the cabinet's greatest power in economic development, and its essence is the allocation of funds.

Many local officials do not understand the tricks involved and are still foolishly waiting for a share of the pie from above, instead of competing for key projects. As a result, their political performance lags behind step by step.

Everyone present had a scale in their hearts. Among the local officials, the one who was best at asking for projects was not the powerful and capable Wang Yi'e, nor was it Hu Rugong who had the upper hand because he was close to the water, but the unexpected Jiangsu Governor Hai Rui.

Hai Qingtian is not only good at dealing with people, but also good at achieving political achievements.

He was deeply respected by Emperor Wanli. When he was in the capital, he went to the Western Garden as many times as Wang Yi'e and Pan Yinglong. He had a deep understanding of Emperor Wanli's political philosophy and methods, and when he was competing for projects, even Yang Jinshui and Wang Yi'e had to call him senior.

The Minister of Rites Pan Sheng remembered very clearly the original plan to establish a national university.

Nanjing University had to be built, but there were disagreements within the Ministry of Rites regarding another university in Jiangnan.

Some say it was built in Suzhou, Jiangsu or Shanghai;
Some people strongly objected, saying, "How close are Suzhou and Shanghai to Nanjing? One university in Nanjing is enough. Why not build one in Hangzhou to cover Zhejiang and Fujian?"

The debate was very heated.

The Zhejiang Ningbo Chamber of Commerce was one of the first group of people to follow Yang Jinshui in engaging in maritime business. It was both rich and powerful.

Fujian also supports it because Hangzhou is closer to Fujian than Suzhou and Shanghai.

Officials from Fujian, such as Li Zhi and Huang Guangsheng, expressed their support for Hangzhou.

Hai Rui came forward quietly and wrote a letter to the emperor in his private name, saying that he was old and Jiangsu might be his last time to govern a place, and he hoped to leave some political achievements.

Just play the pity card and play the emotional card!
What can the emperor do?
When Hai Qingtian came to Jiangsu, he followed the emperor's order, withstood tremendous pressure, and handled three major cases in succession, clearing out the gentry families in the southeast.

He has done what the emperor entrusted him to do. Now he has made a "small request". Can the emperor refuse?

So the emperor summoned me to the West Garden and hinted at it. I had no choice but to support Jiangsu at the Ministry of Rites and Cabinet meetings.

If anyone is dissatisfied, I will bring the emperor and Hai Rui forward. If you dare to offend them, feel free to do so.

It would be fine if the matter ended here.

The cabinet notified Jiangsu Province through a document from the Ministry of Rites to build a national university in Suzhou, temporarily named Sanwu University.

Less than a month after the announcement, Shanghai jumped out and said, "We have money and will raise it ourselves to build a university. We don't want a penny from the court, we just need a university approval document."

Zhejiang was almost angered to death. I have seen shameless people, but I have never seen anyone so shameless!

Not long after the construction of Sanwu University began, it was proudly renamed Jiangnan University. The new Shanghai University, which received the approval document, was named Southeast University.

Oh, it seems that Jiangnan is you, and Dongnan is also you. We are all represented by you, right? We in Zhejiang are just a connection?

From this incident, everyone saw Hai Rui's true face.

This sea slut is very cunning!
Pan Sheng was thinking in his mind, besides Jiangnan University and Southeast University, what other projects did Hai Rui snatch away by manipulating Zhejiang to gain benefits for Jiangsu and Huzhou?
Yes, in order to secure a cotton-planting demonstration area in the eastern part of Yangzhou County in Jiangbei, a portion of the limited agricultural support funds in the Cabinet's Ministry of Agriculture was invested there.

The Agricultural Reclamation Bureau Group specially established the Jiangbei Agricultural Reclamation Company, and transferred tens of thousands of "agricultural reclamation workers" who were transferred from the original health stations. In less than two years, the cotton planting area in Jiangbei was expanded by one and a half times.

Shanghai's cotton spinning center has made rapid progress thanks to this abundant supply of raw materials!

The Cabinet and the Ministry of the Imperial Household wanted to establish the second light industrial center of the Ming Dynasty in Jiangnan. Other provinces had not yet figured out what was going on. Hai Rui took the opportunity of reporting to Beijing in February this year to find Zhang Xiang and Eunuch Yang.

They just sat in their duty room and signing room without saying much.

At that time, I went to see Zhang Xiang for something. When I walked in and saw Hai Heizi's stone-like face, I turned around and left as if I had seen a ghost.

When other provinces came to look for projects, enamel factories, kettle factories, match factories, and paper mills were set up near Jiangdu County, Yangzhou County.

As a Zhejiang native, Pan Sheng was filled with hatred and was also annoyed that the governor of Zhejiang was not doing his job. The news was given to you as soon as possible, but you didn't work hard and just wanted to sit and wait for me to throw the cake to you.

Do you want to throw away the poop?
In the new era of Wanli, there were new ideas and new ways of governing the country. Even the stubborn and pedantic Hai Qingtian knew how to adapt flexibly, but you are still clinging to old thinking.

Please!
Zhejiang is one of the foundations of the Southeastern lineage after all, so how could it be so ignorant of the timing?
It’s still a problem with officials, especially the leaders.

Shanghai used to be just a county town. After Yang Jinshui moved there, he saw a world of difference within a few years.

Jiangsu was similar to Zhejiang before. After Hai Rui became the governor of Jiangsu, he suppressed Zhejiang everywhere.

In order to seek benefits for the people of Zhejiang, we must choose a suitable governor for Zhejiang. We don't need someone as overwhelming as Hai Rui, nor do we expect someone as strong and capable as Wang Yi'e, who is smart and good at grabbing projects.

While listening to the reports from the Planning Bureau of the Shaofujian and the Taifujian, Pan Sheng was thinking in his mind.

Who to choose?
Before we knew it, the cabinet's half-year economic work conference in the second year of Wanli had come to an end.

(End of this chapter)