Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 247: The Messy Accounts of the Ministry of War

"Right!" Cui Wensheng immediately picked up on Xu Guangqi. His tone was sarcastic, as if someone was strangling him. "Military Minister Cui just reported 860,000 men in food and wages! Is that really the case? Can the northern border towns even handle 860,000 men?"

"Cui Bingbi, so what you're saying is that the Imperial Household Department wants to reduce the size of the border troops?" Cui Jingrong snorted coldly, glancing at Wang An again. Seeing that Wang An had no intention of responding, he turned his attention back to Cui Wensheng: "If reducing the number of border troops leads to the Tatars' southward raiding, will you bear the responsibility, or will the border troops bear it? Don't let that happen, and then you try to clear yourself of all responsibility and then come back to hit me on the head with a rake!"

Cui Wensheng didn't dare to respond, so he said, "You make it sound like the border town is really that impregnable."

At this point, Wei Chao came out to support Cui Wensheng. "If it were truly so impregnable, there wouldn't be reports of Tatar raids arriving in Beijing every year."

Cui Wensheng was unable to follow up on Cui Jingrong's words. What Wei Chao said was true. Cui Wensheng's attitude was that he didn't want the palace to spend money to fill the hole in the border town. But whether Cui Wensheng's attitude could represent the unanimous opinion of the Silijian, Wang An didn't say anything, so no one knew. The silence in the hall lasted for a long time. Fang Congzhe tilted his head slightly and found that the emperor was still sitting in a slanted position, leaning on the dragon head armrest. Compared to before, the old man even squinted his eyes. If it weren't for the slight trembling of his tightly furrowed brows, he really looked like he was asleep.

Just as Fang Congzhe was about to speak up to smooth things over, Cao Huachun, who was standing at the end of the eunuch team, suddenly spoke up, breaking the silence: "I have a question for Minister Cui. Is it okay to ask?"

"Admiral Cao, feel free to say whatever you want to say." Fang Congzhe swallowed back the mud that was rising in his throat.

"I'm in charge of checking all the accounts sent to the palace by the outer court." Cao Huachun glanced around, finally settling on Cui Jingrong. "So I'm only discussing the accounts." He placed his hand on the ledger, his face solemn and businesslike. "We checked the accounts of the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Revenue, as well as the accounts of the generals of the border towns. We also reviewed the reports of the governors and provincial governors of the border towns for the entire past year. In addition, we also reviewed the reports of some county officials in Shaanxi and Shanxi."

"It turned out that the accounts of the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War didn't match, and the accounts reported by the Ministry of War and the generals of the border towns didn't match. The expenditures of local prefectures and counties didn't match the revenues of the corresponding border towns. In short, there was no matching item in the border army's accounts. I'd like to ask Minister Cui, what exactly did the border towns spend last year? Did the Ministry of War investigate? Can you explain clearly?"

"Of course I checked." Cui Jingrong unexpectedly smiled. "But I can't explain it clearly. I really can't explain it clearly."

Cui Jingrong had been visiting border towns since his inspection tour of Gansu in the 17th year of the Wanli reign. He certainly knew what the situation was like there. If he insisted on investigating, the accounts would undoubtedly not add up.

Cao Huachun was stunned. He had not expected Cui Jingrong to be so frank and straightforward, not even arguing. Just when he was at a loss for words, Cui Wensheng jumped in again. "Since the accounts of the border towns and the Ministry of War are so mixed and disordered, then the Ministry of War's account of 13 million taels of silver has no basis and no reason! Minister Cui, what are you trying to do from here..."

Fang Congzhe interrupted Cui Wensheng and said, "If there are any problems in the border towns, we can send officials to correct them. If there is something wrong, just talk about it. There's no need to blame anyone."

"Cui Wensheng, listen to Prime Minister Fang." Wang An called out.

"Yes." Cui Wensheng immediately obeyed Wang An's call and put away his aggressive attitude. "Then, Prime Minister Fang, I have something to say. Since the Ministry of War can't sort out its accounts now, let's wait until we have a clear understanding before submitting a report."

"We can't throw the baby out with the bathwater." Zhu Changluo, who had been squinting his eyes in thought, suddenly interjected.

"Your Majesty, that's absolutely right!" Cui Wensheng immediately saluted and agreed. After the ceremony, he turned his attention back to Cui Jingrong: "But we can't just give the Ministry of War whatever it reports, right? Prime Minister Fang, what do you think?"

Fang Congzhe didn't respond to Cui Wensheng's question. Instead, the Minister of Justice Huang Kezan spoke up: "We can investigate and pay at the same time. The emperor said it well, 'Preparedness is the key to success, while lack of preparation leads to failure. We can't throw the baby out with the bathwater.' Isn't the purpose of this meeting to set the budget? Besides, food and wages don't get consumed all at once over the twelve months of the year. Budgeted expenditures are not the same as actual payments. Let's set a figure first, and then, after verifying everything, we can recover or reimburse according to the circumstances."

Although Huang Kezan is now the Minister of Punishments, he was given the title of Minister of War while serving as the Governor of Shandong in the 38th year of Wanli.

"Minister Huang, you're making nice claims. Every year has twelve months, right? But when have the border towns ever had enough?" Cui Wensheng sneered, his lips curled. "Hmph! I really don't know what those governors and inspectors you've chosen are for. They can't even keep track of the accounts. If you were truly accurate, why wouldn't Minister Cui be able to report the actual figures? Minister Cui, isn't that right?"

“.” Cui Jingrong had nothing to say and couldn’t respond, so he simply ignored Cui Wensheng.

At this point, Deputy Minister Ye Xianggao became wary. He felt that if Cui Wensheng continued talking like this, he would start talking about sending eunuchs to supervise the border towns. So he said loudly, "I think the Imperial Household Department's considerations are reasonable."

"Cifu?" Liu Yirong, who had not uttered a word since entering Wenhua Palace, suddenly turned his head and looked at Ye Xianggao in shock.

Ye Xianggao noticed the gaze but didn't look back. Instead, he continued, "Bushitu, the Shunyi King of the Tumed tribe, has been extremely submissive to the Ming Dynasty since he was enthroned by the imperial court in June of the 41st year of the Wanli reign. Xuanfu and Datong towns haven't seen major battles for a long time. Recently, Huduntuhan of the Chahan tribe also sent envoys to the court. As long as the Ming Dynasty maintains its relations with Bushitu and Huduntuhan, it can ensure that Xuanda, Jizhou, and other towns won't experience major conflicts. If these two factors are taken into consideration, perhaps the border towns won't need 860,000 men."

Zhu Changluo glanced at Cui Wensheng, then looked at Ye Xianggao and said with finality, "The spring military pay for Liaodong will still be paid by the palace. As for matters concerning the other border towns, we will put them aside for now. We will convene another imperial meeting to discuss them later. Wang An, the next matter."

"Yes." Wang An answered loudly, then turned to the Minister of Works Wang Zuo and said, "Minister Wang Gongbu. Tell me about your side." "Okay." Wang Zuo nodded, then opened his general ledger.

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If the Ministry of War only competed with the Ministry of Revenue in the conversion of horse wages into silver, then the Ministry of Works had a high degree of overlap with the Ministry of Revenue in terms of functions.

The Ministry of Industry even set up special agencies in various places to collect bamboo and wood taxes and to extract part of the revenue from fisheries. In addition, the Ministry of Industry was responsible for collecting materials and funds from all over the country.

The Ministry of Works was responsible not only for the construction and repair of important facilities such as palaces, mausoleums, bridges, and city walls, as well as the manufacture of military equipment and warships, but also for water conservancy management, the management of military settlements, and the development and utilization of natural resources such as minerals and forests. In other words, the "work" in the Ministry of Works encompassed both engineering construction and industrial manufacturing.

These tasks were complex and costly, but at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court did not set up special funds to support them. Instead, the court conscripted labor or collected supplies nationwide.

Labor requiring no specialized skills was conscripted from the general public, while labor requiring specialized skills was conscripted from artisan households. Materials necessary for construction and industrial manufacturing were subject to corresponding taxes and levies at their source. All of these were levies or levies, and like agricultural taxes, were free of charge. Sometimes, workers were even required to bring their own tools.

A classic example is flood control. When forced labor was required for flood control, conscripts were required not only to prepare tools but also to bring supplies from their hometowns, including sticks, nails, and ropes. The court was solely responsible for providing food. These material and labor levies were sometimes planned, while others were ad hoc. Planned levies were assigned to every prefecture in the empire, and then distributed to its subordinate counties, a practice known as labor service.

In the early years of the nation, taxes and labor service were levied separately, with artisan households and civilian households registered separately. Starting around the Zhengtong period, these population registrations became a formality, and registered laborers fled in large numbers. Many miscellaneous taxes, such as those on hunters and fishermen, became uncollectible. To address this issue, most prefectures and counties imposed various labor service duties on the land, or even added them to the regular tax. This was the practical basis for the "One Whip" system, invented by Gui E and promoted nationwide by Zhang Juzheng.

Reform was certainly a good thing. However, the problem was that, due to policy inertia, the revenue from the thieves' land was collected by the Ministry of Works rather than the Ministry of Revenue. Unlike the horse tax silver collected by the Changying Treasury of the Ministry of War's Imperial Household Department, the various miscellaneous tax silver collected by the Jieshen Treasury of the Ministry of Works came from all over the country and generated considerable revenue. This meant that the Ministry of Works had effectively become a financial department that could compete with the Ministry of Revenue.

"Last year, fifteen bamboo and wood tax collection bureaus in Zhending, Baoding, Wuhu, Shashi, Qingjiangpu, Hangzhou, Lanzhou, and Guangning collected a total of 281.244 million taels of silver from bamboo and wood tax collection. Among them, 123,000 taels were transported to the Jieshen Treasury of the Ministry of Works." Wang Zuo reported.

The Ministry of Works' statistical methods differed slightly from those of the Ministry of Revenue. It only counted how much silver the bureaus under its jurisdiction collected locally and how much of that was transported to Beijing. It did not calculate how many acres of land these silver taxes corresponded to or how much grain was collected per acre; that was the responsibility of the Ministry of Revenue. Therefore, although the Ministry of Works also had a considerable number of revenue and expenditure items, its account books were much thinner than those of the Ministry of Revenue.

Wang Zuo then reported on the levies on artisans, reed taxes, fishermen's taxes, mining taxes, and the four-departmental silver. These were all regular miscellaneous taxes that provided a stable income for the Ministry of Works. Of these, the four-departmental silver, levied annually at 500,000 taels, was the largest regular revenue item under the Ministry's management.

The so-called Four Departments refer to the four Qingli Departments: Dushui, Yingshan, Yuheng, and Tuntian. Initially, the Ministry of Works only required counties undertaking related projects or construction to provide supporting officials with appropriate materials to cover the administrative costs of these tasks. However, in the 45th year of the Jiajing reign, the Minister of Works, Lei Li, with the support of the Jiajing Emperor, decided to increase the annual payment of 500,000 taels to prefectures and counties in provinces other than Guangxi, Yunnan, and Guizhou to cover the administrative costs of the Four Departments' officials while on assignment.

"To summarize, last year the Ministry of Works' Jieshen Treasury received a total of 829,755 taels. Of this, 120,000 taels were used as materials for the four ministries, 310,000 taels were sent to Liaodong to reinforce the city's defenses, 163,219 taels were sent to Liaodong and Shanhaiguan to manufacture armor, weapons, and gunpowder, and 200,000 taels were used for the final repairs to Dingling." Wang Zuo closed the booklet and concluded:

"Currently, the Jieshen Treasury holds 26,536 taels of silver."

In reality, the Jieshen Treasury wasn't supposed to have any silver stored there. In recent years, the Jieshen Treasury had been sending at least 300,000 taels of silver annually to the Neichengyun Treasury for palace renovations. However, after Li Ruhua publicly requested a halt to the Huangji Hall renovations at court, and was granted permission, the Neichengyun Treasury unexpectedly returned the money. Without this refund, he would have been forced to put Liaodong's request aside. He preferred losing his position for defying the emperor's wishes to facing Xiong Tingbi's scolding.

"Please continue." The Imperial Household Department had no intention of blaming the Ministry of Works.

This wasn't because the Ministry of Works' accounting was flawless, but rather because the Ministry officials who were guilty of serious corruption had been exposed by the eunuchs who had ties with them. Since these officials were currently being punished or awaiting punishment by the Eastern Depot's Chief Justice, the Imperial Household Department had no time to waste in holding Wang Zuo accountable.

Wang Zuo flipped open another notebook containing the budget and said, "This year's estimated revenue from the Jieshen Treasury is the same as last year's actual revenue." He wasn't exactly fussy; he didn't even bother adjusting it. "As for projected expenditures, I believe we should first prepare a budget of 400,000 taels of silver to locate the Qing Mausoleum and begin construction."

As soon as Wang Zuo said this, the Wenhua Hall fell into an inexplicable silence again. Even Cui Wensheng, who was ready to jump out and engage in "close combat" with the civil servants, stood up straight.

"What Qingling?" Zhu Changluo was still thinking about the border military pay and financial reforms, and for a moment he didn't react. He first looked at Wang An, who was looking intently at the account book on his desk, so he turned to look at Fang Congzhe. But Fang Congzhe was also squinting, like an old monk sitting still.

Just when Zhu Changluo was about to ask Wang Zuo to explain, a relevant information suddenly popped up in his chaotic thoughts: Qingling is the tomb of Emperor Guangzong Zhen of the Ming Dynasty.

After figuring this out, his expression suddenly changed from solemn contemplation to indifference. "No need to choose a site. Just clean up Emperor Jing's unfinished Shou Mausoleum. Repair what needs repairing and rebuild what needs rebuilding. Keep it simple and don't waste money."

(End of this chapter)