Ming Dynasty: Ask Zhu Yuanzhang to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 195 Hidden crisis, financial war!

In summer, cicadas chirp non-stop.

The back garden of the East Palace has a pleasant environment, with shaded ancient trees and a large number of cicadas.

Under the ancient tree beside the pond, Zhu Yunhuan asked Yang Shiqi and Xia Yuanji to sit at the table.

The city of Jinling was really hot, and only the shaded areas near the water provided some coolness.

Zhu Yunhuan knew very well that what Xia Yuanji was talking about must be of great importance and could not be explained in a few words, so he brought the two of them here.

The maid brought them some cold tea, and they drank while talking.

"The conflict between the tax commissioner and local gentry and clerks has not only not subsided, but has intensified. The young prince is patrolling everywhere, dealing with conflicts and cases, but he is becoming more and more exhausted."

When Xia Yuanji mentioned this, Zhu Yunhuan raised his eyebrows slightly.

After returning to Nanjing for a long time, he had not seen Zhu Gaoxu yet, simply because the naughty kid was not in Nanjing City, but was out on patrol.

Memorials impeaching the Commissioner of Taxation kept coming in like snowflakes, and Zhu Yunhuan had never dealt with them. However, those people were relentless and kept submitting memorials.

It seems that he will not give up until the Commissioner of Taxation is defeated.

On the other hand, the conflicts and contradictions caused by the Taxation Commissioner are too many to be dealt with.

"The issue of collecting business taxes involves a wide range of interests and those clerks and gentry will never give up easily."

"At present, His Royal Highness is reforming the military system and carrying out large-scale disarmament. In the future, the army will be supported by the court and will no longer cultivate land on its own. Military officers are also strictly prohibited from engaging in business activities."

"If my humble opinion is correct, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's move is to, firstly, reorganize the army, and secondly, pave the way for the Taxation Department to collect commercial taxes."

Xia Yuanji said slowly.

Zhu Yunhuan looked at Yang Shiqi.

Apart from himself, only Yang Shiqi and Yao Guangxiao knew about the military reorganization and disarmament to pave the way for the Commissioner of Taxation.

The movement to disband the army and adjust the command system was quite loud and attracted everyone's attention.

In contrast, the ban on business by the reorganized army did not attract much attention.

In the past, the military garrisons were self-sufficient, cultivating land, and it was inevitable that the generals would engage in business as well.

After all, the imperial court did not pay the soldiers, so they had to make a living on their own.

Even if you cultivate land, you cannot just grow staple food, you also have to grow vegetables and raise livestock.

We always have to buy the materials necessary for life, and even if we only have agricultural products, we have to sell them and exchange them.

In this way, it is natural for generals to engage in business.

After the military reorganization, all supplies needed by the army were supplied by the court.

It also became a natural thing to prohibit military generals from doing business.

Not many people will pay special attention to this.

Even if a general who had made a lot of money from business was transferred and reorganized at this time, his original business would have to be terminated, and it would not cause much ripples.

They may still want to continue doing business and making profits, but no matter what, they have to wait until they settle down again.

Those who are transferred to other places or to other armies must wait until they arrive at the garrison before they can take action.

Even for those who are still staying in the local army, because of the implementation of the dual-chief system, when a new chief comes, they must make new plans.

No general would violate the ban at this moment, and everyone still has some common sense.

In this way, the order prohibiting business can be well implemented in the army.

After the adjustment was completed, the dual-chief system was implemented at all levels of the army, and the regiments and brigades were collectively controlled by military command groups, so the generals could no longer cause any trouble.

At that time, as long as strict control is imposed so that they can no longer do business, the problem will naturally be solved.

What's more, after the reform, students from the Ming Military Academy have spread throughout the military.

The existence of these people also intimidates those who have other thoughts.

As long as the army is unable to engage in business and is removed from the profit chain, it will be easy to deal with local gentry and clerks.

Not to mention this wave of military downsizing, there are also a large number of retired soldiers and low-level military personnel who have become clerks.

The original local clerk structure will also be dismantled.

This is a chain of tactics, one link after another, very clever, but also used naturally, carried out inadvertently, making it impeccable.

Seeing Zhu Yunhuan's inquiring gaze, Yang Shiqi shook his head slightly and said, "This matter involves serious matters. I will never tell anyone."

Xia Yuanji's face showed shock.

I have long heard that Yang Shiqi has an unusual relationship with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, but I never expected that he would dare to call himself "I" in front of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

So casual.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was not angry and was truly respectful to the wise.

However, what Xia Yuanji didn't know was that Yang Shiqi was the "teacher" that Zhu Yunhuan had found for him.

He didn't dare to be so arrogant as to call himself a "teacher", but it was inappropriate to call himself "teacher" by any other name, so he could only call himself "I" like ordinary people.

Zhu Yunhuan smiled faintly, picked up the teacup and took a sip.

Xia Yuanji continued, "In addition, His Royal Highness also has Huang Zicheng and Ashikaga Yoshimitsu in his hands. They have been imprisoned, but they have not been publicly tried or punished."

"I think they also want to use these two people to deter those who are ready to make a move."

"No one can bear the crime of treason."

"With these two-pronged approach, it will not be difficult for the tax commissioner to resolve the crisis."

Zhu Yunhuan's eyes showed approval.

He has not yet played the cards of Huang Zicheng and Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, as if he is still holding back.

Because the time is not yet ripe.

But to smart people, these are easy to guess.

Xia Yuanji is a smart man.

"Your Highness the Crown Prince has made a thorough arrangement, and I admire you very much." "However, when I was auditing the Ministry of Revenue, I found something wrong."

Xia Yuanji had a serious expression and took out an account book from his arms: "Your Highness, please take a look. This is the various materials stored by the Ministry of Revenue."

Zhu Yunhuan took it.

"A few months ago, the cloth and other miscellaneous materials stored in the Ministry of Revenue began to decrease rapidly."

"Now, in order to reduce the military and reorganize, and to give preferential treatment to the retired soldiers, the Ministry of Revenue has taken out more cloth and many other supplies, so the inventory has become even smaller."

“Not only that, even the grain in the granaries was bought up in large quantities.”

"I think this is not normal."

Xia Yuanji said solemnly: "Since the establishment of the Daming Bank, the amount of money circulating in the market has increased significantly, but the price of grain and commodities has remained stable. As a result, the people feel that their lives are getting better and better."

"But the current situation is a little wrong."

"Logically, these supplies shouldn't be consumed so quickly."

"This is the case in Jinling City. I'm afraid the treasuries of various local government offices are also in this situation."

"Besides, due to the military downsizing and restructuring, there are still many supplies to be allocated to retired soldiers, which need to be allocated from local government offices."

"The reason behind this cannot be ignored."

"Right now, the tax commissioner and local gentry and clerks are at loggerheads over the issue of taxation."

"I am worried that someone may be hoarding a large amount of the goods."

"If they buy up all the supplies in the imperial treasury, I'm afraid there will be trouble within the court."

Zhu Yunhuan's expression suddenly became serious.

Yang Shiqi bowed and said, "He told me these things, so I brought him to see you."

"The practice of merchants hoarding goods to make a profit has existed since ancient times."

"It's not surprising."

"But since the establishment of the Ming Bank, there has been too much currency circulating in the market."

"Prices were previously stable because the grain, cloth, and other materials in the treasury were sold at public prices, forcing prices to stabilize."

"Once the national treasury is running low on supplies, prices will soar immediately, and the monetary system that Your Highness has worked so hard to build may collapse overnight."

The Ministry of Revenue originally had three treasuries.

The first is the silver warehouse, the second is the satin and cloth warehouse, and the third is the pigment warehouse.

The silver treasury had previously been allocated to the Ming Bank.

Only the silk and satin warehouse and the paint warehouse were left.

The satin warehouse stores silk and satin fabrics.

A pigment warehouse is a warehouse of miscellaneous materials. Pigment is just the name, but in fact, all kinds of things are stored there.

There are iron, copper, lead, tin, pigments, medicinal herbs...even pepper, sumac, collectibles, calligraphy and paintings...all kinds of things.

After banks were widely established throughout the Ming Dynasty, the development of the financial industry led to a significant increase in the amount of currency in circulation.

Normally, this situation will naturally lead to price increases.

However, Zhu Yunhuan adopted a method of cutting off the source of the problem, which was to lock in the price of grain by storing grain in the national treasury.

This is actually a common practice adopted by later countries.

We can ignore the prices of other things, but we must take good care of the “grain bag” and “vegetable basket”.

For the Ming Dynasty at that time, it was food and cloth.

Of course, the prices of other things should be adjusted as much as possible, but the impact is not as serious as that of food and cloth.

In theory, it is not difficult to control the prices of these things.

The reason is simple: the demand for food and cloth is fixed.

Even if the money a person holds increases from one thousand to one hundred thousand, the amount of food he can eat every day remains the same and does not increase.

This is the basic logic behind why food prices can remain stable even when the money supply increases significantly.

Because the consumer demand for food has not changed.

As long as there is sufficient food supply, the country can keep food prices stable and prevent them from rising.

But the situation changes if someone deliberately hoards and buys large quantities of food that they don't need.

Others will have no food to buy.

The same goes for cloth.

There was no shortage of cloth in later societies.

Everyone has more clothes than they can wear.

But in this era, there are really people who freeze to death because they have no clothes to wear.

"Their target is still the Taxation Department."

Yang Shiqi said in a deep voice: "They want to disrupt the market and cause prices to soar in order to counter the taxation by the taxation department."

"At that time, in order to stabilize the market and prevent the people from starving to death, the imperial court will have to compromise with them and order the tax bureau to reduce supervision, delay taxation, or even cancel it."

"Besides that, they can also make huge profits by hoarding goods. Kill two birds with one stone!"

What a good idea!

He actually wanted to play financial games with me.

Zhu Yunhuan's face darkened little by little.

Want to wage a financial war?
Then play a big game with them.

……

(End of this chapter)