The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 538 You Are So Greedy for My Money
Wanli couldn't help but frown as he looked at the pile of account books on the table.

The Ministry of Revenue deliberately keeps confusing accounts. How can we check?
He frowned and pondered for a while, then asked, "Yu Ye, can you figure out this confusing account?"

How do you say this?

Li Hualong thought about it carefully, then said carefully: "With the way they keep accounts, I am sure I can't figure it out by myself.

However, it's different when so many people are calculating together. I order them to calculate the income and expenses separately, and record them in order by year and month. Once the accounts are straightened out, they should be able to calculate clearly. "

This seems like a good idea.

The problem is time.

Wanli looked at the pile of account books again and asked, "How long will it take to calculate this?"

It’s hard to say.

Li Hualong pondered, "If we were to settle all the accounts of the past ten years, I don't know how long it would take. If we only settle the accounts of the past three years, it should only take a few days."

How many days?

That can wait a while.

If it takes too long, then we can't wait any longer. It's not that he can't wait, but the Nurgan Regional Command can't wait any longer.

While they were talking, Yuan Keli and Luo Sigong walked in quickly.

After the emperor and his ministers exchanged greetings, Wanli couldn't help but ask, "Did Zhang Chao confess?"

Oh, this guy.

Yuan Keli slowly shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, I have tried, and even with torture, I couldn't pry Zhang Chao open his mouth.

This man was not brought up in a pampered environment. He was very tough and kept crying out for justice no matter how he was tortured.

"I reckon he wouldn't confess even if I beat him to death. There's no telling how much money this guy is involved in, he must be aware of it. If he confesses, it would be a disaster."

Humph, your bones are very hard, right?

I just don't believe that there is no one with weak bones.

Wanli snorted inwardly, then said decisively: "This time, not only is there a problem with the gold and silver in the Ministry of Revenue's warehouse, but there is also a problem with the grain in the Thirteen Warehouses of Jingtong. If Zhang Chao refuses to confess, then all the ambassadors of the Thirteen Warehouses of Jingtong will be arrested and tortured.

I just don't believe it. These guys are tough. Just torture them. It doesn't matter if you kill a few of them. They deserve it."

This is also irrefutable evidence. There is no problem in arresting these people and torturing them.

Upon hearing this, Yuan Keli nodded repeatedly and said, "I understand."

Wanli thought for a moment and then explained in detail, "Sigong, the clue about Zhang Chao and Li Dai is very important. If the Ministry of Justice can't get any information from them through torture, you should continue to investigate. Secretly check all their relatives and friends."

Upon hearing this, Luo Sigong bowed repeatedly and said, "I obey your order."

Wanli knew very well that these corrupt officials were not fools, and it would be difficult to get to the bottom of this shocking case.

However, he did not expect that this case would be so difficult to investigate.

These corrupt officials have become very smart.

The ambassadors of the Jingtong Thirteen Warehouses were indeed not tough enough, and under Yuan Keli's torture, they really had a few tricks up their sleeves.

The problem is, if you recruit, it’s almost the same as not recruiting at all.

These ambassadors in charge of the granaries are just pawns. They have no idea who is embezzling the food in the granaries.

All they knew was that when they took office, someone came and told them that every time grain entered or left the granary, they would be given a smaller allowance based on the proportion. They should just accept the under-allocated grain and not interfere.

For example, if the amount of grain delivered each time was 1,000 dan, then only 900 dan would be deposited into the warehouse according to the official documents, and the 100 dan that was undercounted would belong to them. If 1,000 dan were taken out of the warehouse, they could also retain 100 dan for themselves. Naturally, someone would keep an account of this 100 dan and count it as a loss during transportation.

That is to say, after they collected a certain proportion of the substandard grain, they cooperated with their superiors to put the adulterated grain inside and the genuine good grain outside.

As for who the people above them are, they have no idea at all. They don’t even know the name of the person who came to tell them the rules when they took office!

To put it bluntly, they are just insignificant pawns, and if something goes wrong, the people above them will abandon them.

Yuan Keli had worked in vain for several days.

Luo Sigong worked hard for several days but saw no progress.

Li Hualong had, in just a few days, roughly calculated the court's revenue and expenditure for the past three years. That afternoon, around noon, as Wanli arrived at the side hall of Ciqing Palace, carrying little Zhu Changxun, Li Hualong, with a complex expression, bowed and said, "Your Majesty, the court's revenue and expenditure for the past three years have been calculated."

Finally there is progress.

Question: What's wrong with your expression?

Wanli was quite surprised and said, "You mean, even if you calculate the total income and expenditure, you can't find any problems?"

Oh, how do I put this?

Li Hualong nodded solemnly and said, "Your Majesty, if you look at the accounts, there really isn't anything wrong. They seem to have made a messy account, but the income, expenditure, and surplus are not much different.

I suspect they have another account book, or perhaps they know the balance and can balance the accounts without keeping separate records."

Are these corrupt officials so powerful?

Wanli was stunned for a moment, then asked, "Where is the account book you sorted out? Let me take a look."

Li Hualong quickly pointed to the center of the huge table and said, "Your Majesty, these in the middle are all new. I just don't know which part you want to see."

what?
Wanli was shocked when he saw the new account books piled up in the middle.

He thought these were all kept as backup and had not been recorded in the account yet. Who knew they were all recorded in the account!

When will I go to see so much?

He was stunned for a moment, then slowly shook his head and said, "Forget it, I won't read all this. Just tell me roughly the total income and expenditure for the past three years."

There really isn't much discrepancy on paper.

Li Hualong nodded slightly, and then explained in detail: "The current income of the court mainly comes from land tax, labor service silver, salt tax, commercial tax and the combined income of the Maritime Customs.

The land tax was either in the form of silver converted from the price of grain or directly collected in the form of grain.

The conversion of grain prices into silver was divided into many categories according to the region and the quality of the fields. One tael of silver could be worth three dan, two dan, or one dan.

As for the directly collected grain, most of it was the rice that was transported nearby to the vassal kings as stipends. Most of the land taxes in Henan, Shanxi, and Shaanxi were collected directly from grain and transported nearby to the territories of the vassal kings. Huguang, Shandong, and Bashu also handled this way.

The land tax calculated based on the grain price during these three years was roughly 21 million taels.

There is also the silver earned from labor service, which was over 2.3 million taels last year, and over 4.2 million taels the year before last and the year before last.

The salt tax in the past three years has been roughly less than two million taels, with a difference of tens of thousands of taels.

There are also commercial taxes, which are mainly paid by the Portuguese, which is roughly one million taels a year.

The total revenue of the Maritime Customs Office has been around one million taels in recent years.

By this calculation, the court's annual tax revenue is roughly more than 20 million taels but less than 30 million taels. Last year it was a little less, roughly more than 27 million taels, and the year before last and the year before last were both more than 29 million taels.

As for expenditures, the biggest part was the wages of various laborers recruited locally, including runners for local government offices and laborers recruited for building bridges and roads, and developing water conservancy projects. The wages varied from place to place, and this expenditure exceeded 16 million taels each year.

There is also the cost of purchasing and replenishing various supplies and replacing various depreciated materials in all the warehouses of the Ministry of Revenue, which exceeds eight million taels every year.

Probably in order to confuse the accounts, they divided this item into two parts. One part was purchased and supplemented by local areas, which was considered as expenditure before the funds were put into storage; the other part was purchased and supplemented by the capital, which was considered as expenditure after the funds were put into storage.

As for the salaries of officials, they were less than two million taels per year, just a little short.

There are also various miscellaneous expenses, which amount to about one or two million taels each year.

If we calculate according to their accounts, their annual expenditure is over 28 million taels. They had a surplus of about one million taels in the year before last and the year before last, and a loss of about one million taels last year.

These corrupt officials are really good at accounting!

The annual expenditure is more than 28 million taels, not including the food and wages for all the men and horses!

There are obviously big problems here, and the wages of various laborers are a huge issue.

Before the reform, there was no need to spend money to recruit laborers. Young and strong men could be recruited directly to perform labor. But now, the labor service is only worth more than 4 million taels of silver a year, but the wages for recruiting laborers are as high as more than 16 million taels of silver a year!
This means that the imperial court lost more than 11 million taels of silver every year due to labor service!

is it possible?
There are also the costs of purchasing and replenishing various supplies and replacing various depreciated supplies in all the warehouses of the Ministry of Revenue. In the past, when the warehouses were empty, no money had to be spent.

Now, in order to keep all the warehouses of the Ministry of Revenue full, more than eight million taels are spent every year!
Just kidding?
Are you so greedy for my money?

(End of this chapter)