Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 285 Improve the financial system and strengthen internal security supervision!
Fei Hong then drafted the decree in the following manner.

That is, the decree to change official luck into business luck.

And let the Ministry of Revenue execute the order of the bidding officials.

After receiving the imperial edict, the Ministry of Revenue also began to invite bids from officials and businessmen.

The merchants who had been prepared in advance came to the Ministry of Revenue to register on the day the Ministry of Revenue received the decree, without waiting for the cabinet to issue specific bidding orders.

This is because behind these merchants are either cabinet ministers, chancellors, or royal relatives.

Therefore, they are better informed than many court officials!
natural!

They simply don't bother the ministry to take the time to send officials out to issue notices.

Of course, it is precisely because these merchants have extraordinary backgrounds that they are able to undertake the canal transportation.

Only in this way will they not be afraid of the extortion and blackmail of the government officials and powerful families along the way. In fact, they will be more powerful than the governor of the canal to push the government officials along the way to dredge the river.

Fei Maozhong, the nephew of Fei Hong, also came to the cabinet to report to him after his family members went to the Ministry of Revenue to register:

"Uncle, my third uncle has already registered at the Ministry of Revenue. He asked me to ask you, what is the most appropriate price for grain that our Fei family can accept?"

Fei Hong said: "Tell him not to rush to bid. After everyone else has bid, he can make an offer in the middle based on the minimum price offered by the Ministry of Revenue!"

After hearing this, Fei Maozhong agreed and left.

"The risks of grain transport are too great. In summer, it is easy to encounter floods, in winter, it is easy to encounter shallows, and even when the ice is too thick to sail, the losses will be even greater. Therefore, our Xia family thinks that it is more appropriate for the court to let us deliver grain to the court warehouse at the price of 12 silver dollars per stone, so that we can afford such a grain transport mission."

"It's the same for our Zhou family. The court can reduce the cost of grain to only 6 silver coins per stone in the nine border areas, but we can't reduce the cost of the employees below. Therefore, we have to sell grain to the warehouse at a price of 12 silver coins per stone, preferably 13 silver coins per stone."

"What are you talking about!"

"The court changed the official transport to commercial transport, hoping that merchants like us can contribute to the court and make the grain price lower than before! Therefore, our Hong family is willing to sell grain to the Ministry of Revenue at the price of one stone and three silver dollars!"

"That's right, we should also repay the emperor's kindness, so our Zhu family is willing to sell grain to the Ministry of Revenue for one stone and two coins of silver! The worst that can happen is that we will make less money!"

"It's the same for our Liao family. We can sell grain to the Ministry of Revenue for two silver dollars."

After receiving the imperial edict, the Ministry of Revenue began to organize the wealthy businessmen who had registered to make bids.

Some wealthy businessmen do indeed quote very high prices at the beginning, while some wealthy businessmen do indeed quote very low prices at the beginning.

The former obviously wanted to make huge profits through water transport.

The latter obviously intended to sabotage the reform of the canal transport system and deliberately made a low voice. However, on the surface, he said that he would rather earn less or even no money in order to show his loyalty to the court.

But because of this, some righteous merchants who really wanted to do a good job in transporting grain were very angry.

Merchants Zhu Yicai and Liao Yumin made their bids.

The merchant Wang Tingguang, who was obviously in a bad mood, slammed the table and said:

"I see that you guys don't really want to cooperate with the imperial court's policy of reforming the grain transport system!"

Zhu Yicai sneered: "Why don't I have it!"

"Since I'm offering this price, it means I can afford it. If you can't afford it, or if you want to make more money from the court, then who can you blame if you can't get the qualification to undertake the grain transport?"

Liao Yumin also echoed: "That's right!"

At this time.

Fei Hong's cousin Fei Jun also came over, and many merchants swarmed over to greet Fei Jun and asked, "How much is the Fei family's offer?"

Fei Junze said: "We offer one stone and six cents!"

Zhu Yicai pursed his lips and said sarcastically, "I didn't expect the Fei family to be so unwilling to give more benefits to the court."

Liao Yumin followed with a low voice: "That's it!"

Moreover, Liao Yumin turned around at this time and bowed to Xi Shu, the Minister of Revenue, who was sitting in the lobby of the Ministry of Revenue and personally presided over this matter:

"Grand Minister of Agriculture, we have all quoted our prices. Among them, our Liao and Zhu families have offered the lowest price. We should be among the officials and merchants of the grain transport business, right?"

However, after these wealthy merchants finished bidding, Xi Shu said, "According to the regulations agreed upon by our Ministry of Revenue, the three highest bidders and the three lowest bidders will be eliminated first, and the remaining ones will come back to bid the day after tomorrow!"

"Merchants who have not been eliminated, go back and discuss carefully what is the appropriate price to offer. Everything should be based on reality and rationality!"

"Because according to the emperor's will, you can't make too much money and affect the overall rice price in the north, nor can you make too little money and lose your enthusiasm for transporting grain. What matters is a long-term, steady income, not a sudden profit, which will benefit the family, the country, and the people!"

"Your Majesty is truly wise!"

Wang Tingguang immediately smiled and said something.

Zhu Yicai and Liao Yumin opened their mouths wide and looked at each other in disbelief.

But the two didn't dare to say anything more.

After all, they were just wealthy businessmen and dared not directly oppose the court's decision.

Therefore, Zhu Yicai and Liao Yumin left the Ministry of Revenue in great disappointment, and could not help stamping their feet and sighing after leaving the Ministry.

Zhu Houcong's decision also made the people behind him very disappointed. They did not expect that the emperor would circumvent the problems arising from the canal transport reform in this way.

Shortly afterwards, the Ministry of Revenue selected nine official merchants represented by the Fei family as the contractors of the grain transport according to the principles set by Zhu Houcong.

These contractors will be responsible for the Ming Dynasty's subsequent major grain transportation.

The benefit of doing this is that it eliminates smuggling.

The lower-level military households in the garrisons along the Grand Canal were also relieved of a major burden.

But the price was that the powerful families along the way lost the opportunity to extort troops, and the imperial court had to spend more silver dollars to buy grain to supply the capital and the nine border areas.

The former is a good thing.

It's actually a good thing.

Because this will make the court's corresponding income and expenditure more transparent and will be more conducive to the normal development of court expenditures.

Not like before.

Because the grain transport was maintained by allowing troops to smuggle grain, the imperial court had no idea how much it had spent to ensure the smooth supply of grain to the people, and how much revenue from customs duties and commercial taxes it had sacrificed to maintain the grain transport.

It's different now.

Buy as much food as you need and even know the price.

The imperial court could also clearly calculate how many silver dollars it spent on purchasing the original share of grain transported.

In this way, it will be easier to investigate and combat corruption.

Unlike before, due to the lack of transparency, the canal transport was maintained at the expense of tax revenue, which resulted in the annually reduced tax revenue. It was unclear whether the loss was due to the increase in smuggling by the transport troops, or because the officials in charge of collecting taxes embezzled taxes.

Simultaneously.

Also, because the reform of the canal transport system has eliminated smuggling, the tax revenue will undoubtedly increase significantly.

The imperial court could also calculate how much currency customs duties had been lost in order to maintain the grain transport system based on the increased revenue from currency customs duties and the tax revenue from the Nanzhi Yitiaobian.

The Ming Dynasty’s finances could be more transparent.

This was of great significance for the emperor and his ruling ministers to understand the problems of their empire.

of course.

The transparency here refers to being more transparent to the emperor and his ruling ministers, rather than being more transparent to the outside world.

But for the Ming Empire, whose finances have always been a mess, being more transparent with the emperor and his ruling ministers is already a great improvement!

Let’s talk!

This time when the canal transport was changed to commercial transport, it was not just the imperial court and military households that benefited.

There were also big bureaucrats and landlords such as Fei Hong, Wang Qiong, and Wang Yangming.

Because their family became officials and businessmen in charge of the canal transportation.

This is equivalent to the fact that when the canal transport was an official transport, the part of the profits from the canal transport and banknote customs duties that were embezzled and saved by the powerful and wealthy was divided up by them in the form of selling grain to the court.

Zhu Houcong did not object to their gain.

After all, he also needs new vested interests to help him fight against the old vested interests.

As long as the new beneficiaries benefit from the division of the new benefits, it will be fine.

and!

Having said that, if such reforms were not beneficial to Fei Hong, Wang Qiong and others, they would not be so motivated or willing to pay such a high price.

Especially Fei Hong, he sacrificed his own son.

But there's nothing we can do about it.

Reform is not destined to be an easy task.

When you snatch food from someone else's mouth, it's hard not to get bitten.

As long as the return is big enough, it’s not a loss.

But this doesn't mean we can't be careful and not be cautious.

Zhu Houcong also paid a price during this reform process.

The price he paid was that he lost a very trusted and skilled imperial physician.

That is, the imperial physician of Zhou.

This is an old acquaintance of his in the palace.

He was also the first old member of the royal palace who died because of his reforms.

The impact this had on his base was no small matter!

Although Zhu Houcong eventually found out the real murderer and tortured many people to death, he believed that he also frightened many people.

But this forced him to further draw lessons and strive to continue strengthening the internal security system.

to this end.

Zhu Houcong summoned the eunuch Gu Dayong, who was in charge of the Imperial Household Department, and asked, "How much has the tax on banknotes increased at Chongwenmen?"

"Your Majesty, in the past six months alone, we have increased by more than 20,000 silver dollars!"

Gu Dayong replied.

Zhu Houcong nodded and said, "Very good!"

"Then you should set up a secret box at the gate of each palace, so that everyone in the palace can write down what they have heard on a secret letter and then drop it into the box!"

"If the report is found to be true, I will give a generous reward of 5,000 silver dollars each time, which will be shared by those who report the same thing."

“It’s checked every three months.”

"If it is found that the facts are not true, they will not be punished, but will just be reported as hearsay."

(End of this chapter)