Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 219 It’s hard to make money, and it’s also hard to spend money
At the headquarters of the Caojun Army in Huai'an Prefecture, the remaining twelve captains, two lieutenant generals and all the superiors of the headquarters have arrived.

It is already November, and it is time to arrange next year's water transport.

Wang Chengxun has been the commander-in-chief of the grain transport system for eleven years. Starting this year, he has been given an additional official title: Left Commander-in-Chief of the Left Army Commandery of the Ming Dynasty.

The coastline of the northern half of the Ming Dynasty, including Zhejiang, was all under the jurisdiction of the newly demarcated Zuojundudu Mansion.

"At the beginning of the year I said I would not treat you unfairly."

The emperor gave Wang Chengxun confidence, so now he is not as frustrated as he was three years ago.

Looking around, most of them have expectations in their eyes.

"This year, there are fewer merchants traveling on the Caohe River. But when you came back from the north at the beginning of the year, you all brought full boats of goods." Wang Chengxun raised his hands above his head and bowed, facing north. "This is His Majesty's reward for you. He specifically ordered Changming to prepare goods from Mobei and Liaodong so that you didn't run away empty-handed. And the two generals, finally followed the order to wait for the new grain collected by Changming Grain Store and transported it north."

Wang Chengxun is telling the truth.

Except for the two generals who were willing to stay and take the risk of overdue crossing the Huai River, the other ten generals, although not earning as much as in previous years, were still favored by the emperor after all.

"This year is different. According to the imperial decree, no one is allowed to bring any private goods with them when traveling north this year!"

Everyone's expression froze.

Wang Chengxun paused and looked around at them.

Then he laughed: "There are other things to transport."

"Uncle, what is it? Please don't keep me in suspense!"

His smile was somewhat reassuring, and then I became expectant again.

"Silver." Wang Chengxun said seriously, "Report to me immediately. I'm afraid we'll have to transport over 10 million taels of silver to Beijing this year!"

There was a sudden uproar in the official hall of the general's mansion.

"How many?"

"God……"

"My Lord, are you kidding me?"

Wang Chengxun had no choice but to pat the table.

"Now, in addition to being the commander-in-chief of the grain transport, I am also the left commander-in-chief of the left army! Before the end of the year, 3,000 standard-bearers will go south and be stationed in Gaoyou!" Wang Chengxun looked at them, "This money cannot be lost! Don't ask about the bank first, and don't ask how much silver should be spent on the grain transport army. Right now, you have to go to the water storage warehouses in various prefectures and counties that you are assigned to exchange."

He stared at them one by one and spoke one sentence at a time.

“The exact number of each prefecture and state is still uncertain.”

"The Governor's Office of the Grand Canal will have official documents and will send personnel to deliver the goods one by one."

"Too much wealth attracts attention, beware of bandits and robbers! I don't care how the grain was transported in the past, but this time, the boat cannot have any problems, and the people cannot have any problems either!"

Wang Chengxun's eyes became more stern. "I have a suspicion in my heart. This money is the stolen money returned by the local officials and gentry after they were exempted from taxes. If anything goes wrong, I can't protect anyone!"

His words sounded harsh, but everyone knew they were the truth.

It was the first time for the Cao Army to transport so much silver at one time.

"Master, we are transporting troops..." Someone started to worry, "If there are pirates or bandits..."

"The Left Commander of the Front Army is the Earl of Pingyi, and the navy will naturally send troops to patrol the river! The Five Military Commanders' Office has been newly reorganized, and this will also be a test of whether the local guards obey the military orders!" Wang Chengxun added, "Your Majesty and the Privy Council are also watching whether the Cao Army can do a good job!"

Finally, there was a piece of breaking news: "After this trip, if everything goes well, then the reform of the Cao Army may be decided next year. This is related to your future, so don't take it lightly!"

In the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty, not all stolen silver and tax silver needed to be transported by the grain transport army.

However, the financially important areas of Huguang, Jiangxi, Zhejiang and Nanzhili accounted for the majority of the returned stolen silver, plus the tax silver after the strict exemptions and commercial taxes implemented this year.

How to allocate the transport troops and transport all the grain and silver from the vast south to Beijing at one time was indeed a test for the transport troops.

And if everything goes smoothly this year, the tax and transportation structure of the entire Ming Dynasty can be adjusted in the future.

The emperor and his ministers were discussing this issue in the former cabinet, now the Executive Yuan.

"If this can be done every year after the strict exemption, then the grain tax from Huguang and Sichuan will not have to be transported in full." Zhu Changluo expressed his opinion, "Let the grain from these places take a big detour to transport to northern Zhili, which is better to solve the problem of food shortage in the three western borders, Shanxi and the southwest."

After financial affluence comes new worries.

Originally, in places like Guangxi, Guizhou, and Yunnan, the tax revenue and expenditure were roughly balanced. But after the implementation of preferential tax exemptions, there were still some extra taxes that needed to be transported, although the increase was much lower than that of the rich provinces.

How to transport it becomes a big problem: if it is transported by land, the loss will be too great, and to be honest, it is not worth it.

In the wealthy provinces of Jiangnan, the improvement rate is very high.

Do they all transit through Tongzhou and Beijing and then be shipped to Liaodong and Xuanda?

However, the food shortage problem in the western three border areas and Shanxi has never been easy to solve.

Chen Qi hesitated and said, "Your Majesty, how about we calculate the other provinces and convert them into gold and silver..."

Wang Xijue didn't say anything, he frowned.

People in remote areas are naturally happy to earn money, and they can also keep a lot of food in the local area.

But the reason why people in the south of the Yangtze River are so keen on gold and silver is because they have the convenience of the canal, which allows them to buy low and sell high.

The local officials in remote provinces were happy to get some money, as it saved them a lot of trouble. However, the local gentry and wealthy families were not so enthusiastic, because the local grain prices had fallen, which was not conducive to the wealthy families with higher production making money.

Zhu Changluo shook his head: "The rest of the provinces are easy to deal with. They will all be counted into the Privy Council's military expenses and used to maintain the local post stations. They can be written off in Beijing."

Because the increase in remote provinces is not too large, and they are often large in area and have more post stations, this can be calculated.

But the main transportation areas are Huguang and Sichuan. Wang Xijue pointed out the practical problem: "Whether it is Sichuan that transports goods to Shaanxi and Yunnan, or Huguang that transports goods to Guizhou and Guangxi, transportation is extremely inconvenient. There is a lot of loss, and the gains do not outweigh the losses."

Zhu Changluo nodded and looked at Chen Qi and Yang Yikui, the Minister of Works, and said, "How about we repair the North-South official roads in Sichuan, the official roads in Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangdong and Guangxi, and the Lingqu Canal?"

The two of them were stunned for a moment, and then they said at the same time: "Your Majesty, that's not enough..."

"Repair slowly. Isn't it done every year?"

The emperor emphasized it again, and the two of them had to start thinking about it seriously.

To this day, there are only two highest-standard official roads in the Ming Dynasty: both start from Beijing and go south, one goes east to Nanjing, and the other goes south and then turns west to Xi'an.

In addition, there is a regional road network that connects land and water.

For example, the road network in the Xuanda area, the road network in the western three border areas, the road network in Sichuan and Yunnan, the road network in Guangdong, Guangxi, Jiangnan, and Fujian.

There are some important connecting roads between the major road networks, such as the official road from Xi'an via Hanzhong to Sichuan, the official road from Sichuan to Yunnan, from Changde, Huguang to Guizhou, from Quzhou, Huguang to Guangxi, from Ji'an, Jiangxi to Guangdong, and from Weihui, Henan to Xiangyang, Huguang.

These are important roads that must have post stations and docks along the way, and can be used by vehicles, horses, and boats. They are equivalent to national highways in later generations.

Local governments should pay more taxes and grain at the moment, but it would be better to use these taxes and grain locally instead of transporting them to Beijing.

Wang Xijue looked at the emperor and asked, "Your Majesty, do you mean to use this money and grain to repair the local roads?"

Zhu Changluo nodded, "Local governments also have money for road and bridge services. Looking at the entire Ming Dynasty, we should repair all the roads in the local areas in the next three years. If the official roads from north to south in Sichuan can be repaired, the roads from Huguang to Guangxi will be smoother. I am thinking of setting up a warehouse in Taiyuan, Chengdu, and Wuzhou in the future. If there is any surplus food, it will be useful whether it is stored as military food or disaster relief food."

This was a huge plan, but Chen Qi and Yang Yikui looked at each other and no longer felt that it was impossible to do.

After all, if the local road and bridge service silver is also included, the scale is indeed not small.

"Your Majesty, how should the local government spend the money for road and bridge construction...? Should we listen to the imperial court?"

"There is nothing that the local government should not listen to the imperial court." Zhu Changluo said as a matter of course, "Education and education can cultivate talents, giving local children the opportunity to succeed; water conservancy can promote agriculture, and protect local people from famine. As for roads and bridges, they are beneficial to the imperial court's governance, they can ensure the transportation of troops during wars, and they are beneficial to local merchants to exchange what they have."

After that, he looked at Yang Yikui and said, "The Ministry of Industry should make plans for water conservancy, roads and bridges in various provinces and send personnel to provide guidance."

Yang Yikui's scalp tingled: "Your Majesty, the Ministry of Works only has four departments..."

"Add more officials." Zhu Changluo said this again, "Aren't you worried about having too much money and grain and not knowing how to spend it?"

Yang Yikui was speechless for a moment, and then his heart was warmed: With the money, the Forbidden City and the outer court were rebuilt, and the roads, bridges and water conservancy projects were built across the country. Could it be that in addition to the Privy Council, the Ministry of Works was the biggest winner this time?

This was the situation in the Ming Dynasty. The imperial court only roughly controlled the entire Ming Dynasty through fixed taxation, personnel, etc., while the local areas were actually in a semi-autonomous state.

Now the emperor seems to want to intervene more in local governance through the system of one house and four courtyards.

Not to mention the Privy Council, the five ministries were restructured and took charge of the post stations across the country.

The Censorate was already responsible for regulating and monitoring the entire country, and now it had the addition of an academic supervisor to inspect the gentry.

The Jinxian Academy would accelerate the flow of personnel in the entire officialdom through the annual Imperial College examinations and the original Ministry of Personnel and Ministry of Rites.

The Executive Yuan already has its own financial policies, and now there is an additional Ministry of Industry to extend its reach into the local areas, focusing on water conservancy and roads and bridges.

Even in the Imperial Study, there is authority that requires those of the fourth rank and above to first go to the Tongzheng Academy for further study.

After this general policy was established, the next step was the reform of the Cao Army as Wang Chengxun mentioned.

"Water and land post stations, delivery offices, and grain transport troops are all integrated, and they are nothing more than transporting people, military forces, and information for the country." Zhu Changluo said, "The Privy Council is studying it, and the Administrative Council will have to work out a solution based on the data of the grain transport in the past two years, taking the banknote customs into consideration. Generally speaking, the grain transport part can follow the example of Changming Zhayanghang on the water, and the same goes for the land part. It will save the local people from the hardship of transporting goods to the water warehouse, and it will also promote the use and maintenance of the local road network on land."

There is a lot of information and many things need to be explained to them in order for them to better understand the key points.

But in the subsequent discussions, everyone at least confirmed one thing: the emperor wanted to use the money to prepare for the future.

It includes how to promote business and collect more commercial taxes, and how to improve the transportation conditions in the Ming Dynasty to reduce future administrative costs and the cost of logistics transportation when military operations are needed.

Wang Xijue thought that completing what Zhang Juzheng had not finished would be a remarkable new policy.

We will survey the land, streamline local laws and regulations, and strictly enforce performance evaluation...

But the emperor's thinking was different. He increased the salaries of officials while implementing preferential treatment and exemptions; he encouraged industry and commerce while enforcing strict commercial taxes; he rested and recuperated while actively preparing for the future expansion of territory...

Zhu Changluo was also very tired after chatting with them.

Although Wang Xijue has made positive changes, there are many things that need to be explained by Zhu Changluo based on the education they received in the past and the perspectives solidified by their life experiences.

Zhu Changluo himself was equally tired.

Today's commercial taxes, customs duties and maritime duties can only be regarded as rough tolls, and the store deed tax is just a fixed amount similar to "protection fee" collected according to the store.

Want to charge based on sales or something? It’s not possible.

Tolls and protection fees, that's it.

At least the roads and bridges have been repaired, and if merchants and industrial and commercial authorities can provide some encouragement, and more people do these things, we can always collect more.

Of course, for Zhu Changluo, the most effective way is to develop the trade himself.

He didn't have enough money, and he had to spend it first.

We are still far from the day when we can control enough silver and copper coins to do something with currency.

Among all kinds of trade, maritime trade is the one that can save the most silver. Zhu Changluo is currently just exploring the edge through Changming Zhayang Company.

But it’s time to get started.

So much has been "plundered" this year, and many local people should face up to the reality. Being "poor" makes them want to change, right?

(End of this chapter)