My Portable Ming Dynasty

Chapter 110 You haven’t joined the cabinet yet?

Ministry of Revenue of the Ming Dynasty.

The last time Su Ze sold newspapers, he came to the Ministry of Revenue and contributed the largest order to the "Yuefu Xinbao".

But at that time, Su Ze only paid a visit to the official of the Ministry of Revenue and did not take a closer look at the Ministry of Revenue.

The Ministry of Revenue of the Ming Dynasty was a super government agency, divided into two parts: internal and external.

Su Ze also heard from Shen Yiquan that people in official circles called them "Inner Household Department" and "Outer Household Department" respectively.

Surrounding the core "Inner Household Department" and "Outer Household Department" are thirteen Qingli Si.

These thirteen Qingli Si corresponded to the two capitals and thirteen circuits of the Ming Dynasty, each responsible for the salaries of the various departments and garrisons in a region, the food and wages of the border towns, the granaries, the private salt tax, and the customs duties.

Although the Thirteen Qingli Si have the lowest status in the Ministry of Revenue, their power is not small at all.

Each Qinglisi corresponds to the finances of a region. Local governors and officials dare not offend the sixth-rank director of the Qinglisi. The fifth-rank doctor in charge of the Qinglisi of a province is respectfully called "Zhisu Silang" by local officials.

The Minister of Internal Affairs was one of the Nine Ministers of the Qin and Han Dynasties, and was an important official in charge of financial affairs.

The fact that a small fifth-rank official of the Qinglisi was called this was enough to show the power they held.

And this is just the Outer Household Department.

Under the guidance of Xia Wei, Su Ze first stepped into the core area of ​​the Ministry of Households.

Behind a red lacquer carving, a gilded plaque with the words "Total State Finance" hangs high above the gate, demonstrating the authority of the Ministry of Revenue in controlling the money and grain of the world.

Ever since Su Ze stepped into the Ministry of Internal Revenue, the surroundings became much quieter. Even officials who came in and out tiptoed in and did not dare to make too much noise.

Some officials also saw Xia Wei. As the Secretary of the Central Secretariat beside Zhang Juzheng, Xia Wei often went in and out of the Ministry of Revenue. Officials at all levels would stop to greet Xia Wei, and then look curiously at Su Ze who was traveling with Xia Wei.

The Inner Ministry of Revenue is a courtyard with five rooms and three entrances. The core area is the office space of the Minister and Vice Minister of Revenue.

The corridors on both sides of the main hall are home to many of the Ministry of Revenue's institutions, including the archives of the various warehouses and storage yards that store the Ministry's archives, as well as the offices of assistants who assist the Minister and Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue in their work.

Xia Wei led Su Ze directly to the public housing where the Minister of Revenue worked, which was the largest courtyard in the entire Ministry of Revenue. Su Ze saw Zhang Juzheng sitting in the main seat from a distance.

The sandalwood table in the center of the hall was piled with books of accounts submitted from various places, covered with cinnabar notes marked with "grain tax", "salt tax" and "land tax".

In the side room of the lobby, the sound of abacus clacking could be heard one after another by more than a dozen clerks, as a large number of account books were being checked and reconciled.

Next to Zhang Juzheng was an old man wearing a vermilion official robe. The official stood beside Zhang Juzheng's desk, assisting Zhang Juzheng in handling official business like a minor clerk.

Seeing Su Ze's gaze, Xia Wei beside Su Ze reminded:
"That's Mr. Zhang Shouzhi, the Minister of Revenue."

Su Ze nodded in gratitude, secretly admiring Zhang Juzheng's tough style.

The Ministry of Revenue has a Shangshu.

Ma Sen, the Minister of Revenue, took leave to stay in his hometown because of his mother's illness. Zhang Juzheng was not the Minister of Revenue, but he used the Minister of Revenue's office openly.

This was a taboo in the Ming Dynasty officialdom, which emphasized hierarchy. After all, Zhang Juzheng was not the Minister of Revenue. Even if he was a cabinet minister, the Minister of Revenue was one of the Nine Ministers. Doing this proved that no one in the entire Ministry of Revenue took this Minister Ma Sen seriously.

In addition, the attitude of Zhang Shouzhi, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, towards Zhang Juzheng was too humble.

Although the Vice Minister of Revenue sounds like he is just an assistant to the Minister of Revenue, in fact, the Vice Minister of Revenue is also an official with a seal.

The so-called Zhengyin official is a chief official who has independent decision-making power and his own subordinates.

The assistant ministers of the six ministries are key positions, and the power of appointment lies in the hands of the emperor.

The process of appointing the six vice ministers is the same as that of appointing the six ministers. They all need to be recommended by the Cabinet, the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Science and Technology in court, and they can only take office after the emperor's approval.

In theory, the assistant ministers of the six ministries were not responsible to the cabinet or the chancellor, but directly to the emperor.

In the Ming Dynasty, the six ministers were often replaced due to political turmoil, but the six assistant ministers stayed in the ministry for a long time, and sometimes even had greater influence than the ministers.

In modern terms, the Vice Ministers of the Six Ministries are the permanent deputy ministers who manage the actual affairs of the six ministries.

Zhang Shouzhi held such an important position, but he assisted Zhang Juzheng like a minor official, which shows Zhang Juzheng's control over the Ministry of Revenue.

When Xia Wei and Su Ze walked into the hall, Zhang Juzheng immediately put down the pen in his hand and said to Zhang Shouzhi beside him:

"Mr. Zhang, this is Su Zilin, the first Su Shu. He will be called Su Er Shu soon."

Zhang Shouzhi stroked his beard and looked at Su Ze with admiration.

Su Ze quickly bowed and said, "Su Ze, Zuo Zhongyun of the Zhanshi Mansion, greets Zhang Gelao and Zhang Sinong."

Zhang Juzheng coughed and said:
"Everyone, please leave."

Following Zhang Juzheng's words, the clerks who were originally calculating accounts in the side hall and the officials who were delivering official documents quickly packed up their things and left the public housing in a hurry.

Xia Wei, who was beside Su Ze, also turned around and left, then closed the door of the public housing. Only Zhang Juzheng, Zhang Shouzhi and Su Ze were left in the public housing.

Zhang Juzheng looked at Su Ze and said:
"His Majesty has approved your memorial to open the port of Denglai for trade. This is a matter of great importance, and I have some details to discuss with you."

Wow, if you didn’t know, you would think you were in the Ministry of War.

From this, it can be seen that Zhang Juzheng really has the final say in the Ministry of Revenue.

When they said they wanted to discuss it, it seemed that Zhang Juzheng just came to listen to Su Ze's ideas. Even the Minister of Revenue was just an assistant who assisted Zhang Juzheng in handling government affairs. What else was there to discuss? All they had to do was to convince Lord Zhang.

Zhang Juzheng said:
"Opening the port for trade is something His Majesty has already approved. The Ministry of Revenue needs to discuss two points: coinage and tribute sales."

"Let's talk about coinage first. It was you who proposed minting silver dollars. Are there any rules?"

Su Ze was well prepared. He said:

"I don't understand the specifics of coinage, but I do have a few thoughts."

"Go ahead."

Su Ze immediately said:

"First, the silver dollar should not be too large, and the denomination must be small."

Zhang Shouzhi, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue, who was standing nearby, had basically been promoted within the Ministry of Revenue throughout his life, and he was very familiar with all the work of the Ministry of Revenue.

Coinage was also the responsibility of the Ministry of Revenue. He had previously overseen coinage during the Jiajing reign. He frowned and said, "Why should the denomination be as small as possible? If the denomination is too small, the cost of coinage will inevitably be very high. Wouldn't that be a loss?"

Fire consumption refers to the consumption during the coin minting process. Melting precious metals and then casting will inevitably result in various losses.

The smaller the currency value, the greater the corresponding loss.

In fact, there was official silver in this era. For example, the gold flower silver in Jiangnan would be uniformly cast into silver ingots and then transported to the emperor's internal transport warehouse.

However, this official silver ingot was not circulated among the people, and the only currency circulating among the people was small pieces of silver.

This kind of small change actually hinders business activities.

Silver has different values ​​due to its purity and weight. When merchants make transactions, they also have to evaluate the value of the broken silver, which makes the transaction efficiency very low.

There were also various counterfeit silvers among the people, such as Japanese lead (zinc) or lead silver wrapped in silver, which affected the trade. Zhang Juzheng had actually been considering the Single Whip Law for a long time, and he also considered implementing the silver tax instead of grain tax in Jiangnan, but he was unable to implement it due to these problems.

At this time, Su Ze proposed to mint silver coins, which obviously made Zhang Juzheng see a possibility.

If it is true as Su Ze said in his memorial that silver coins can be circulated throughout the country, then there will be a unified currency unit, and there will be a basis for levying silver instead of grain.

That was why Zhang Juzheng supported Su Ze so much, and after the emperor agreed to open the port in Denglai, he immediately recruited Su Ze to the Ministry of Revenue.

Su Ze bowed and said:

"Zhang Sinong, silver coins with excessively high values ​​cannot be widely circulated among the people, and if silver dollars cannot be circulated among the people, they lose their function as currency."

After saying this, Su Ze looked at Zhang Juzheng.

Zhang Juzheng understood Su Ze's meaning almost immediately.

As a general equivalent, the circulation of currency is the most important thing.

The circulation of the silver dollar Yuan Datou during the Republic of China period was actually not small, but the value of Yuan Datou was too high for ordinary people, and it actually did not serve as a currency.

The annual income of ordinary people can only be exchanged for a few Yuan Datou coins. Can such coins still be circulated?

Su Ze minted silver coins so that they could circulate in the market and solve the problem of different monetary systems in different places. Naturally, the face value of the silver coins had to be as small as possible so that ordinary people would have the opportunity to obtain, accept and use them.

Zhang Juzheng nodded and said:

"Su Zilin's words make sense. The imperial court doesn't mint coins to make money, so calculating the cost is meaningless. The important thing is to use the issuance of silver dollars to smooth the monetary system. Let the Mint Bureau think about it again and decide on the appropriate denomination."

"anything else?"

Su Ze continued:

"Silver coins issued from the Denglai Mint must be recognized by all levels of government. The local customs offices, manufacturing offices, and all the transport warehouses in the capital must accept the silver coins."

Zhang Juzheng narrowed his eyes and said:

"Did Su Zilin think of the lesson from the treasure note?"

Su Ze looked at Zhang Juzheng in surprise. He didn't expect that Zhang Juzheng had such a deep understanding of finance and currency, and he immediately saw through his intention.

Su Ze's statement was a lesson for Baochao.

In addition to the uncontrolled and excessive issuance, another important reason for the bankruptcy of the Ming Dynasty's treasure notes was that the government itself did not participate in the recovery and circulation of the treasure notes, causing the treasure notes to lose their value as credit currency.

Simply put, the Ming Dynasty government had strict control over the acceptance of treasure notes. They only issued them but did not allow them to be used. If you took treasure notes to the government, they would not recognize them.

If the government itself doesn’t recognize it, don’t expect the people to recognize it.

The same is true for silver dollars. Silver dollars issued by the government must not only be used but also collected when the government collects and purchases silver. Only when the government uses them first can the currency value be stabilized.

This is a relatively complex modern financial concept, but Zhang Juzheng understood it immediately.

Zhang Juzheng immediately said:
"Su Zilin's reminder is correct. The Thirteenth Department of the Ministry of Revenue will immediately issue a notice to the entire nation, stating that all taxes levied in silver will be allowed to be paid in silver dollars. The Imperial Household Department will also issue a letter, requiring all the supervisors in the palace to recognize the silver dollar."

It’s really worry-free to have a boss like this.

Su Ze sighed that Zhang Juzheng was decisive and efficient, yet able to accept his opinions. This was the power of a professional bureaucrat.

On the contrary, officials who do not understand the affairs will be cautious in doing things and dare not even sign their names, for fear that their subordinates will betray them and they will have to bear the responsibility.

Zhang Juzheng added:

"In your memorial, you requested that the accumulated tribute be sold at the port of Denglai. I have added a clause requesting that a customs office be established in Denglai, and that the palace dispatch eunuchs from the office to take charge of this matter."

Su Ze thought about it and felt that Zhang Juzheng's proposal was indeed more reasonable.

After all, tribute is the royal family's business, and the emperor can only feel at ease if it is managed by eunuchs sent by the royal family.

Su Ze said sincerely:
"Master Zhang is indeed thoughtful."

Zhang Juzheng was certainly not here to listen to Su Ze's flattery, so he continued:

"Tribute Specialty Store, do you have anything to add?"

Su Ze thought for a moment and said:
"How the tribute is sold will ultimately be decided by the Maritime Customs. I only have one small suggestion."

"All tribute items for sale must have special markings. Merchants who pretend to be paying tribute will be severely punished by the Maritime Customs."

Zhang Juzheng stroked his beautiful beard and said:
"You don't need to tell me this, Zilin. The Maritime Customs will also take care of it."

Zhang Juzheng has always been a strict and serious official.

But after Su Ze entered the room, Zhang Juzheng spoke in a cheerful tone and even made a few jokes.

Zhang Shouzhi, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue, was also stunned for a moment, and then he started laughing.

But Zhang Shouzhi thought about it carefully and felt that Su Ze's idea was also very clever.

The accumulated tributes were also tributes to the emperor.

Once labeled as tribute, it can naturally be sold at a higher price than the original goods.

Who doesn't want to use something royal?

In fact, Su Ze’s concept is similar to that of a brand.

There is even no need for Su Ze to promote it, merchants will naturally promote the brand of "Exclusively for the Ming Dynasty Royal Family"!
For example, if you are the ruler of a small country, wouldn’t you want to taste the tea that the emperor of the Celestial Empire drinks?
As a king of the West, don’t you want porcelain specially used by the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty?

Gongwu Monopoly is the best brand effect and can create higher value.

Zhang Juzheng nodded and said:
"The Ministry of Revenue will report this to the Imperial Household Department. The Imperial Household Department owes Zilin a favor."

Zhang Juzheng was very satisfied. This conversation with Su Ze gave him some new ideas about his own financial reforms.

Zhang Juzheng finally asked:
"As for the candidate to preside over the opening of the Denglai port, Zilin has already recommended it to Lord Gao."

Su Ze did not expect Zhang Juzheng to be so direct. He nodded and said:

"I recommended Tu Zemin, who had previously presided over the opening of Yuegang Port in Fujian, to Lord Gao, and Lord Gao also thought he was suitable."

This time, the Minister of Revenue Zhang Shouzhi was really dumbfounded.

You have to know that the officials responsible for opening the port of Denglai are responsible for not just a small port.

The public security near the port, the anti-smuggling and anti-banditism in the waters near the port, and the opening of checkpoints between the port and land transportation, so the officials responsible for opening the port must be given the title of provincial governor or provincial judge, or even the title of assistant censor of the Censorate.

This is a very important official in the local area. How could Lord Gao actually listen to Su Ze's opinion?

And judging from this, after listening to Su Ze's recommendation, Lord Zhang also nodded in agreement?

No, you, Su Ze, haven’t joined the cabinet yet, right?
(End of this chapter)