Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 190 The Threat of National Subjugation
"Let's put the military restructuring aside for now and talk about financial management." Zhu Changluo nodded and asked, "Does the Prime Minister have any ideas?"

"Since ancient times, financial management has been based on the simple principle of increasing revenue and reducing expenditure. But as I just said, it's easier said than done. We must understand where the source comes from and where the expenditure is reduced before we can properly manage the court's finances." To give the emperor ample time to think, the imperial court spoke slowly. Fang Congzhe looked at the emperor, but the emperor showed no interest in asking questions, so he continued:
"First, we must conserve resources. I believe the palace incurs the greatest expenditures in the entire nation." Before Fang Congzhe had finished speaking, everyone's eyes were fixed on him. "Since the tenth year of the Wanli reign, palace expenses have steadily climbed, and the various departments and supervisors have shown no restraint. The inner court often fabricates all sorts of bizarre excuses to demand payment from the outer court warehouses. The late emperor even repeatedly issued decrees ordering all the people to pay the palace. Therefore, the fundamental goal of conserving resources must begin with the palace."

"Prime Minister Fang, will your first blow be directed towards the palace?" Zhu Changluo stared at Fang Congzhe with a look that was neither happy nor angry but full of scrutiny.

If the emperor had just ascended the throne, Fang Congzhe would never have dared to raise this suggestion. However, the emperor's frugality and generosity, far surpassing those of his predecessor, and his determination at every court meeting, ignited the smoldering fire in Fang Congzhe's heart. He hoped the emperor would bring him a gust of wind, an east wind that would ignite the smoldering fire into a bright flame.

Fang Congzhe knelt and kowtowed, saying in a thunderous voice: "Your Majesty is the Son of Heaven, and you should be the first in the world to do good deeds!"

Zhu Changluo did not respond directly to Fang Congzhe, but instead asked Wang An, "Secretary, do you agree with what the Foreign Minister said?"

Amidst the astonishment of the crowd, Wang An walked over to Fang Congzhe, knelt down and said, "I think what Prime Minister Fang said is absolutely right."

"Since both the inside and the outside agree, then go ahead and chop it off." Zhu Changluo cast an approving glance at Fang Congzhe's hunched back. "By clearing out that dirt, perhaps I can spend less money and live a more comfortable life, Wang An."

"I'm here." Wang An stood up.

"After you get out of here, give orders to Cui Wensheng to arrest people according to the prepared list." Zhu Changluo's order made the ministers present, especially Fang Congzhe who was kneeling on the ground, look surprised.

Only Xu Guangqi, who knew about it in advance, and Luo Sigong, who guessed it, looked a little calmer.

"Your servant respectfully obeys the imperial decree!" Wang An kowtowed and bowed again.

"Your Majesty is wise!" Fang Congzhe's eyes seemed to be flashing with leaping flames.

"Your Majesty is wise!" The ministers kowtowed.

"Sit down." When Zhu Youxiao was about to stand up and kowtow, Zhu Changluo stopped him with a wave of his hand. Then, Zhu Changluo said to the ministers, "Everyone, stand up and continue the discussion. Prime Minister, the palace has been closed. Is there any other place to go?"

Fang Congzhe stood up and replied, "Improve the administration of officials and eliminate redundant personnel."

The Ming Dynasty offered no social welfare benefits. The only policy that could even be called "social security" was the allocation of money and grain to provide relief in times of natural disasters. Therefore, the phrase "saving money" ultimately meant laying off redundant staff, withholding official salaries, and reducing military pay.

However, improper means of saving money, such as withholding salaries and reducing wages, generally only occurred when the emperor was extremely stupid and indulged himself excessively. Therefore, when talking about saving money, the idea of ​​cutting redundant staff would always be mentioned.

While layoffs appear legitimate and respectable compared to the self-defeating practices of withholding official salaries and reducing military pay, there are still many hidden dangers. The most obvious issue is who will oversee the layoffs.

When rumors of layoffs surface, public opinion often supports them. The primary reason, of course, is that cutting redundancies is legitimate and it's always a good idea to follow the crowd. However, once the policy is actually implemented and the officials responsible for it are chosen, many officials who previously supported it will jump out to oppose it.

This is because those in charge of the reduction of redundant personnel often have the power to determine who is "redundant." For example, when Luo Sigong was clearing out redundant Jinyiwei personnel, he was able to let Sun Guang go first and Hai Zhentao stay. And Zhao Nanxing, the Minister of Personnel during the Tianqi reign, used his power to target a large number of non-Donglin Party officials while presiding over the Beijing inspection in the third year of the Tianqi reign and launching a large-scale campaign to rectify and eliminate redundant personnel. This led the remaining members of the Xiang Party to directly align themselves with the rising Wei Zhongxian, and they burst into unprecedented cohesion, forming a monster known as the "Eunuch Party."

But Zhu Changluo believed that Fang Congzhe probably didn't think that way at the time. In the previous Donglin Party case, Fang Congzhe's first reaction was to ask Luo Sigong to restrain himself and not expand the scope of his attack. He even submitted a letter of resignation, taking the initiative to take responsibility.

More crucially, although Fang Congzhe was the leader of the Zhejiang Party and his ancestral home was Deqing, he was a native of Daxing County in northern Zhili. He held military status as a member of the Imperial Guard, but he came from no wealthy family and held no land in Zhejiang. His only son, Fang Shihong, held no official position and had no desire to pursue it. He was a simple man, preoccupied with such vulgar pursuits as hunting and visiting prostitutes. To put it bluntly, while Fang Congzhe was not entirely incorruptible and had accepted all the customary tributes, this was a gift from his position as Prime Minister. The Zhejiang Party's partisan interests held little significance for him.

Sure enough, when Zhu Changluo asked, "Who will clean up the mess, and how?" Fang Congzhe replied, "I believe we should follow the 'Performance Evaluation Method' drafted by Zhang Wenzhong, and select imperial officials for joint examinations. We should also conduct a comprehensive and thorough investigation of the six ministries, five temples, various departments, various courts, and various prisons in the outer court. We should cut redundant staff and save money."

Although the Wanli Emperor's long absence from court left some vacancies unfilled, this only applied to central government officials, the heads of local government offices, and the censors. During his thirty-plus years of absence, the imperial examinations and most other official appointments that didn't require his personal approval continued normally. For example, Xu Guangqi achieved Jinshi status in the 32nd year of the Wanli Emperor's reign and was appointed a seventh-rank Hanlin Academy reviewer in the 35th year.

"Examination? Like a judicial trial?" Zhu Changluo asked.

"That's exactly what I meant." Fang Congzhe affirmed.

"The Prime Minister, please call out the names." Zhu Changluo nodded.

"Grand Secretaries of the Dongke Liu Yirong and Shen, Minister of Personnel Zhou Jiamo, Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate Zhang Wenda, and Chief Justice of the Dali Temple He Zongyan." Fang Congzhe had prepared this list at home. As long as the emperor was determined to rectify the administration of officials, even if the emperor did not ask at this time, he would submit a memorial in the name of the cabinet.

"Really balanced." Zhu Changluo nodded. The Donglin Party, the Zhejiang Party, and the "Emperor Party" were just about to squeeze Wang An in. "Alright, but suppress it first. Let Beijing have a peaceful New Year." "As you wish." Fang Congzhe bowed.

"We've finished talking about saving money." Zhu Changluo nodded again and said, "Let's talk about increasing revenue. The Ministry of Revenue accumulates wealth for the court. Mr. Li, you have been acting as the Minister of Revenue for nearly ten years. Is there anything you can talk about?" After dealing with them several times, Zhu Changluo still had a very good impression of Li Ruhua.

Li Ruhua bowed and said, "When I first became an official, I was sent to inspect border affairs in Gansu and also served as governor of Jiangxi. I have observed that the national treasury is in dire straits. First, there are excessive demands, too frequent levies, and the waste of labor. Second, there are the insatiable greed of officials at all levels."

"Local government offices and officials at all levels exploited the annual summer taxes and autumn grain harvests as their profit sprees, employing every possible means to embezzle and enrich themselves. Their methods of reducing corruption were endless, often finding various excuses to levy multiple taxes, forcing the common people to pay excessive grain, thus turning the court's light taxes into heavy levies."

"After collecting the grain, they delayed shipping it. If they didn't send people to verify and collect it, they would even dare to report it as losses, directly embezzling the silver and grain recorded in the tax and labor register. The peasants paid the grain, the court confiscated it, and enriched the bureaucrats, clerks, and runners who handled it. This is what is called the people's poverty and the country's poverty, but the corrupt officials' wealth."

"Therefore, I believe that only by eliminating corruption and preventing legitimate supplies from falling into the pockets of corrupt officials can we enrich the country and benefit the people," Li Ruhua suggested.

"Well. Put an end to corruption and prevent corrupt officials from embezzling legitimate funds." Zhu Changluo nodded. "A little repair is better than nothing. Tell me how to do it."

Although he was taken aback by the emperor's words "minor repairs," Li Ruhua still coughed twice, cleared his throat, and said, "Taxation and levying taxes involve only four steps: collection, transportation, distribution, and payment."

"I believe that provincial governors and provincial inspectors should be ordered to strictly supervise their departments. If grain officials demand excessive amounts, deduct surpluses, impose excessive labor service, or take advantage of opportunities for embezzlement and theft, they should be severely punished. If governors, provincial inspectors, and other officials holding seals fail to take precautions and collude with their grain officials in corrupt practices and corruption, they should be punished immediately and without leniency."

"At the same time, we should order the local governors and inspectors to personally inspect the money and grain that should be paid into the imperial treasury and verify the shipments. No abuse or impropriety should be allowed to fill the bill. As for the forced labor required for transportation, we must not allow cunning and corrupt officials to arbitrarily take it all."

"As for the payment, a member of the Ministry of Personnel should be appointed to inspect the collection of the tax and the government, and check each one individually. Only if there is no abuse or corruption will it be allowed to be paid. If anyone inside or outside the treasury continues to make unreasonable demands, whip, force people to work, and thus damage the national tax, the censors of the Ministry of Personnel will report the matter to the emperor and punish them severely!"

Li Ruhua's proposal had some connotations of "chief responsibility system" and "whole-process management." Therefore, even though his proposal still focused on stock management, Zhu Changluo nodded in approval: "Approved. After that, draft a detailed strategy and submit it to the cabinet. Complete it before the end of the year."

"I obey your order." Li Ruhua bowed and accepted the order.

"Anything else?" Zhu Changluo's gaze swept across the court again, finally settling on Xu Guangqi. But just as he was about to signal Xu Guangqi to come out and petition for the opening of Tianjin Port and increased maritime trade, Liu Yirong unexpectedly stepped forward and said, "I have a petition."

"Oh?" Although a little surprised, Zhu Changluo still smiled and encouraged him: "If Liu Qing has anything to say, feel free to say it."

"I believe that Li Ruhua's proposal is merely a temporary fix. The root cause of the state's financial shortfall lies in the loss of farmland and the decline in the number of people." Liu Yirong had been preparing this proposal for a long time. He had originally wanted to wait, but when the emperor described Li Ruhua's proposal as "minor repairs," Liu Yirong felt his chance had arrived.

"I have read the old records and found that in the early years of the Hongwu reign, the total amount of farmland in the country was 8,496,000 hectares. By the fifteenth year of the Hongzhi reign, only 4,228,000 hectares remained. The difference between the two is 4,268,000 hectares. The amount of farmland lost was even greater than the amount that remained."

"From the beginning of the Hongwu reign to the end of the Hongzhi reign, a mere 140 years, the taxable farmland in the country was reduced by half. From the end of the Hongzhi reign to the end of the Longqing reign, over one million hectares of taxable farmland were lost. I have examined the records of the Yellow Books of recent years and found that the only period in which land ownership saw an increase was between the sixth year of the Longqing reign and the ninth year of the Wanli reign, but it was still far below the level of the early Hongwu reign. It is impossible to determine the exact amount of farmland in the country today."

Liu Yirong bowed deeply, sighed deeply, and then continued:
"Let's talk about population. I'm from Nanchang County, Nanchang Prefecture, Jiangxi Province, so I'll be speaking from Nanchang County. In the early years of the Hongwu reign, Nanchang had 212,200 adult males. By the Jiajing reign, only 149,710 remained. And in recent years, it's been down to 108,800. The Ming Dynasty has been established for 250 years, and its population has dwindled rather than increased."

"Furthermore, the number of people lost to farming has decreased, while the tax levies recorded in the registers have remained unchanged. As for the annual summer and autumn taxes, at the beginning of the Hongwu period, the total tax for the two quarters was 27 million dan. Last year, the total tax was 29.5 million dan. Regardless of how much of this was in excess or falsely reported, superficially, the tax levies recorded in the registers have increased, not decreased."

"In other words, although the amount of land subject to taxation has been sharply reduced, the 'only proper provision' of imperial grain and national taxes, as Minister of Revenue just mentioned, has not and cannot be reduced; although half of the men who should have been conscripted have fled and are hiding, the number of corvées demanded by the court and government at all levels has doubled and increased daily. The so-called excessive collection and heavy taxes and labor service not only reflects the fact that officials at all levels 'view summer taxes and autumn grain as profiteering', but also the uneven distribution of taxes and labor service."

There was a glint of surprise in the emperor's eyes.

"Our Ming Dynasty is based on agriculture. And agriculture is nothing more than land and people. The land is hidden and the people have escaped, the national grain supply has not been reduced, heavy taxes and levies are imposed, and the thieves are enriched. The country has accumulated problems for 250 years. Jiao Danyuan once said, 'The world is in turmoil, and the trouble lies with the people. The people are not living in poverty and are prone to rebellion.' Even if we suppress the barbarians in the north, it will be difficult to restore the Mandate of Heaven!" Liu Yirong brought out the tone set by the emperor for the meeting, as well as Fang Congzhe's previous advice.

"So I request that the land be measured, the labor force be cleared, and taxes and labor service be equalized!" After saying this, Liu Yirong let out a long sigh, and the entire Hongde Hall fell into a terrifying silence.

The high officials present were stunned by his advice, but this wasn't because they didn't know the Ming's true dangers: they weren't the Qing army in the north or the pirates in the southeast, but the common people in Jiangbei, Shandong, Henan, and other regions, who had long suffered from hunger and cold and were on the verge of rebellion. The court's lack of funds wasn't simply due to waste within the courts and the flawed tax collection process; it was due to the collapse of the Ming's tax base.

Everyone knows the fact that "the rich enjoy tax-free land, while the poor pay taxes without land", but everyone knows even more how difficult it is to "make the rich pay taxes on land, while the poor don't have to pay taxes".

During the Jiajing reign, Zhang Cong took this path; during the Longqing reign, Gao Gong took this path; and in the tenth year of the Wanli reign, Zhang Juzheng took this path to his death. But none of them completed their journey, and instead ended up in disgrace and even in disgrace.

So, when Liu Yirong finished speaking, the same question popped up in the minds of all the ministers: Lord Liu, do you really dare to take this path?
(End of this chapter)