I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 949 Southeast Mission

Yang Lingde, the former Minister of Taichang Temple and current Governor of Jiangsu, heard this but had different thoughts in his mind.

Before he became the Minister of Taichang Temple, he served as a local official in Jinghai.

However, the situation in Jinghai is completely different from that in Jiangsu.

Jinghai is a newly incorporated territory, and its main task is stability and security.

Jiangsu was an important contributor to the Ming Dynasty's financial revenue, and its main task was to develop the economy.

Yang Lingde, like the other governors, provincial governors, and councilors present, were all very clear about the taxes that Zhu Yijun mentioned, and they were drooling over them.

These taxes are collected from the provinces through a tax system directly managed by the cabinet.

Especially Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Huzhou, the customs duties and industrial and commercial taxes in these three places ranked among the top five in the Ming Dynasty.

All of it was collected by the cabinet, not a penny was left.

Then, a portion of it will be returned in the annual budget.

How is this enough!
Send beggars away?

Now the emperor finally gave in and was willing to let the cabinet and the governor share the taxes, with the two sharing the taxes in proportion.

This is a great thing!

It’s just that the types of taxes to be distributed and the specific proportions have been the subject of endless debate.

The more tax types allocated to local governments, the better, and the higher the proportion, the better.

The cabinet did just the opposite.

There are drafts of various ratios, including 28%, 37%, 64%, and 55%.

There is no distinction between land taxes.

No complaints about this place.

Grain is worthless now, and the land tax is distributed to local governments in the form of grain, so it is useless to keep it.

Now the land taxes of the Ming Dynasty are stored in the form of strategic reserves in the major warehouses of the Grain Bureau to ensure safe numbers every year, and then new stocks are added and replaced.

Every year, a large amount of mature grain is sold to feed mills and wineries.
The Grain Bureau is not only a key focus of the Censorate, but also a key disaster area for corruption cases. Several major cases break out every year, involving collusion between internal and external forces, embezzlement of grain, private sales, and passing off inferior goods as good ones.

In the fourth year of the Wanli reign, a ghost army passed through the Huai'an Grain Bureau and borrowed grain for food; in the sixth year of the Wanli reign, the fire god came to punish the Xiangyang Grain Bureau and a fire dragon burned the warehouse.
These tricks were all exposed one by one, and the officials, both big and small, who committed the crimes were either executed or exiled.

Although there were constant problems, the government and the people agreed that the Ming Dynasty's current grain system was the most honest and efficient in history.
Yang Lingde, the local official, had no interest in land tax, and he was well aware of the tariffs, so he probably wouldn't even get much of the soup.

Because in addition to being an important source of income for the cabinet, tariffs are also needed to maintain a strong navy and marines, and to support the Ming Dynasty's huge maritime transport.

Without them, there would be no free trade in the Ming Dynasty, and without free trade, there would be no tariffs of such staggering amounts.

Tariffs are the preserve of the Cabinet and of the Navy, Marines, and Maritime Powers.

Behind him stood the Ministry of the Imperial Household, the Cabinet, the Navy, and the Marine Corps, as well as several shipping companies, banks, insurance companies, and shipbuilding bureaus. They were also closely connected with the Cotton Weaving Bureau, the Machinery Manufacturing Bureau, and the Coal and Iron Bureau.
They are powerful, influential and united, and it is difficult for the provincial governors to compete with them.

Local officials such as Yang Lingde focused on industrial and commercial taxes and salt, tea, wine and sugar monopoly taxes.

These taxes are collected from enterprises and ordinary people all over the country, and must be "taken from the people and used for the people!"

More than a dozen local officials held their breath, suppressed their emotions, and waited quietly for Zhu Yijun to announce the distribution results.

"You are definitely not interested in the land tax. Even if it is distributed to you, you will find ways to refuse it, just like the people who avoided the gifts when the Ministry of Revenue distributed salaries during the Jiajing and Longqing years."

Zhu Yijun began to get to the point.

Everyone present here knows the example he gave. Back then, the Minister of Revenue Gao Gong was in dire straits and had no choice but to exchange goods. He was then cheated by his subordinates and his subordinates doubled the exchange, which eventually forced a Beijing official to hang himself and led to the Chaoyang Gate Five Righteous Men.
The ministers laughed softly.

"Don't even think about the tariffs. The cabinet will never give them to you. Prince Jian said that if the tariffs were to be distributed to the localities, he would rather resign with the cabinet, the six ministries, and the temples."

Wang Yi'e's temperament was different from Zhang Juzheng's.

Although Zhang Juzheng was strong, he was also somewhat gentle and polite.

Wang Yi'e is different, he is more resolute.

It is possible to say that the cabinet will resign, and it is also possible to do it.

“Now only industrial and commercial taxes and monopoly taxes are left, and the cabinet is willing to share them with local governments.

The current plan is that among industrial and commercial taxes, the cabinet will account for 80% of the commodity value-added tax and local governments will account for 20%; the business tax will be accounted for 60% by the cabinet and 40% by local governments.

For monopoly taxes, the cabinet took 60% of the salt tax and the local governments took 40%; for sugar, wine and tea taxes, the cabinet took 70% and the local governments took 30%; for tobacco taxes, the cabinet took 90% and the local governments took 10%.

The local officials looked at each other in bewilderment. Everything else was easy to deal with, but why did they only give us 10% of the tobacco tax?

That's a big part! Among the monopoly taxes, the taxes on salt, sugar, wine and tea combined are not as much as the tobacco taxes.

It's such a lucrative tax, but they only give us 10%, it's like giving alms to beggars!

Looking at the eyes of the local officials, Zhu Yijun knew that they were feeling indignant, and he would definitely feel the same if he were in their shoes.

He continued.

"This is the preliminary plan drawn up by the cabinet, and I know you will definitely not be satisfied.

It doesn't matter. This time I went south, not only to inspect, but also to be a peacemaker. The cabinet has its demands, and the local governments have their own difficulties. I stand in the middle and help you mediate and compromise.

You are all my people, you should be able to trust me."

The ministers quickly responded: "We have absolute faith in the emperor and will be fair and impartial."

What can we say?
"Now we, the king and his subjects, sit together and talk about your demands. I am here to listen to them with my own ears and see if your demands are reasonable.

If it is reasonable, I will definitely support you firmly.

Lord Zhuo Wu, you speak first. "

Zhu Yijun first spoke politely to Li Zhi.

Li Zhi was previously the president of Nanjing University. He built the Nanjing Imperial College into the third new university in the Ming Dynasty and a bastion of new learning.

He was now appointed as a Advisory Bachelor and transferred to be the Prefect of Yingtian Prefecture.

But everyone in the court knew that although Zhuo Wugong was the great master of the new learning, he was only a great thinker and not an expert in government. The emperor transferred him to be the prefect of Yingtian Prefecture, but he stayed in Nanjing so that the new learning could continue to be promoted in the prosperous Jiangnan area.

The specific government affairs can be handled by Shao Yin.

Yingtian Prefecture only had two counties, Nanjing, Jiangning, and Shangyuan, as well as Jurong and Lishui in the south and Jiangpu and Liuhe in the north, a total of six counties. Its area was much smaller than Shuntian Prefecture, and its population was half that of Shuntian Prefecture.

The work is little but the position is important.

Li Zhi also knew his position, and he stroked his beard and smiled as he replied, "Your Majesty, I suggest that Fengming speak first.

Jiangsu is the most important province in the southeast, and its annual taxes play a vital role in the Ming Dynasty."

Zhu Yijun turned to Yang Lingde and said, "Okay, Fengming, you go first."

“Your Majesty, my colleagues, at the plenary meeting of the Advisory Bureau in the first month of the year, Your Majesty proposed that the national governance optimization reform should focus on the big and let go of the small.

The emperor also explained very clearly at the meeting what it meant to arrest the serious ones and let the minor ones go.

The overall strategy was proposed by the Emperor and was fully discussed and formulated by the Advisory Bureau and the Court Council.

Then the major strategies were implemented by the Cabinet and the Shaofujian, and the smaller strategies were implemented by the Governor-General, with the focus on establishing regional economic industries.

what does this mean?
This means that the duties of the governor need to be changed. According to the regulations of Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, the duties of the governor are to publicize the virtues of the court, prohibitions, and pass them down to the officials.

Inherit and pass on.

It is more about conveying execution and reporting the situation to higher authorities and lower levels.

It is different now. In addition to implementing the economic construction and other policies of the Advisory Bureau and the Cabinet, we also need to formulate industrial, agricultural and commercial revitalization plans based on the actual situation of the province and complete the economic and industrial construction in the region."

Zhu Yijun nodded repeatedly.

Yang Lingde understood it very well.

In his own design, the provincial governor is indeed responsible for the economic development decision-making of the province.

Now, after ten years of the Wanli New Deal, the industrial revolution in the Ming Dynasty has spread across the country, industry, commerce and agriculture are booming, and a solid foundation has been laid.

Now that we have entered a new phase of construction, we must "work meticulously".

The economic development plans formulated by the cabinet are all based on the national perspective.

Now the economic plans of each province must be based on the province and formulated and implemented according to its own actual situation.

To put it bluntly, central enterprises and provincial enterprises should focus on and deepen their respective fields and carry out effective complementarity.

Central enterprises are managed by the Cabinet and the Ministry of the Imperial Household, while provincial enterprises are planned and managed by the Provincial Government.

This is the important reason why Zhu Yijun carefully conceived and decentralized financial power.

Now Yang Lingde pointed out the reason very tactfully and began to elaborate on their demands as local officials.

“Since the economic development of a province is entrusted to the governor, we certainly hope to have as much food, fodder and ammunition as possible.

That’s right, Jiangsu’s annual tax revenue is very high. If calculated proportionally, the amount is definitely not cheap, much higher than Anhui, Shandong, and Huguang.”

The ministers nodded repeatedly, saying that he was right.

Yang Lingde continued: "With more tax revenue, there are more places where the money can be used. We have a large population, so we need to build more roads, bridges, schools and hospitals.

These livelihood institutions are set up according to the population ratio and will be inspected by the cabinet. If they fail to meet the standards, we in Jiangsu will be criticized and our careers will be affected.

So does it cost money to build these facilities? In the past, the cabinet was responsible for everything, but now that they are starting to share taxes with us, they will definitely pass this burden on to us.”

Pan Yinglong smiled and replied, “That’s right.

According to the new financial reform draft passed by the Advisory Bureau in the first month of the year and approved by the emperor, except for colleges and universities directly under the Ministry of Rites, some model primary and secondary schools, and key hospitals directly under the Ministry of Rites and other ministries, the remaining provincial colleges and universities, most primary and secondary schools, and hospitals at all levels will, in principle, be borne by the provincial finances.

Of course, the higher vocational education institutions directly under the cabinet ministries and temples will still be included in the budget and paid for on a lump sum basis by the cabinet ministries and temples.

In some provinces, the cabinet will provide subsidies for people's livelihood, so don't worry."

Yang Lingde spread his hands and said, "I was right, wasn't I?"

A light laugh broke out among the ministers.

Zhu Yijun, Xu Zhenming and others also laughed.

Zhang Siwei had the same smile on his face as everyone else, but he was muttering in his heart.

Yang Fengming was worthy of being the Minister of Taichang Temple. He often came into contact with the emperor and knew the emperor's temper very well.

In this kind of meeting, you must boldly raise problems and don't be afraid of being a "troublemaker".

The more questions you raise and the more heated the discussions that arise, the more it shows that you think deeply, have the courage to take on tasks, and are willing to take on responsibilities.

The emperor will value you instead!
The future life is terrible!

Yang Lingde continued, "Since the task of economic development of the province has been delegated to the Chief Secretary, according to the nature of the cabinet, they will definitely not leave it alone. There must be an assessment."

Pan Yinglong looked at him and nodded: "Yes, there must be an annual assessment."

"That's right. Jiangsu has good economic conditions, so the assessment standards for economic development must be set high.

The imperial court and the cabinet have high hopes for Jiangsu. We are very proud, but we are also under great pressure.

What if it can’t be completed?
You can't just dismiss me with just a simple statement that I have no credit but have worked hard, right?

But if we want to complete the assessment tasks set by the cabinet, apart from giving it our all, is it possible without money?
No!

Is it okay with less money?
No, no!
Therefore, our opinion in Jiangsu is that we will gladly accept the additional burdens and tasks given to us, as this is our responsibility as subjects and those in charge of a region.

But we must provide them with enough food and ammunition, so that we can’t fight unarmed.”

After Yang Lingde finished speaking, the ministers couldn't help but applaud enthusiastically.

As expected of a former Minister of Taichang Temple, you said this beautifully.

Amid the applause, everyone couldn't help but look at Zhu Yijun who was sitting in the middle, waiting for his response.

(End of this chapter)