Take control of Wei Zhongxian at the start and confiscate 100 million from him!

Chapter 176 Crossing the Yangtze River!
Inside the warm pavilion, the air seemed to have been drained by the previous conversation about the functions of the Ministry of Revenue, becoming thin and scalding.

Bi Ziyan stood there, his body trembling slightly.

This trembling stemmed partly from an old minister's deep sorrow over the empire's chronic illness, and partly from the raging tide ignited deep within his heart by the emperor's words.

He felt as if a thin layer of paper was right in front of him, ready to be pierced with a single poke.

From the moment His Majesty summoned him back to the capital from Tianjin, and from the moment he saw His Majesty bypass the entire cabinet and summon him and Fan Jingwen alone, he had a vague premonition.

However, having a premonition is one thing, but when the emperor himself pushed open the door to a world-changing future, revealing the unfathomable and magnificent future behind it, Bi Ziyan was still overwhelmed with shock!
Why...it's me?
He was extremely strict with himself; to put it nicely, he was a high-ranking official in a region; to put it bluntly, he was marginalized from the core of power.

Looking around the court, there were many ministers who were more senior, had wider connections, and were more shrewd than him.

Your Majesty, why did you choose him in particular?

Fan Jingwen, standing to the side, was completely stunned.

He felt as if his brain had stopped working, his ears were ringing, and his heart felt like it had been stabbed, almost stopping.

Is this something he can even hear?!

He was just the Left Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate!
My daily work consisted of reading memorials, scolding colleagues, impeaching corrupt officials, and at most, exchanging verbal sparring with the cabinet leaders at court meetings.

Every word and phrase I heard today is enough to turn the entire Ming Dynasty officialdom upside down!
Fan Jingwen stood there stiffly, even his breathing became cautious, for fear that a heavy breath would expose him completely to the center of this storm and crush him to pieces.

His only thought now was whether he should pretend to faint immediately.
……

In this suffocating silence, Zhu Youjian finally stopped pacing.

He turned around, his deep eyes piercing straight at Bi Ziyan with an imposing, mountain-like majesty.

“Bi Ziyan,” the emperor’s voice struck the hearts of the two men with a heavy blow, “I want you to be the tough Minister of Revenue!”

"Dare you!?"

Like a thunderclap from a clear sky!
Fan Jingwen gritted his teeth and straightened his body.

Bi Ziyan's body jolted, and an astonishing light flashed in his slightly cloudy old eyes. He did not answer immediately, but stared intently at the young emperor in front of him with an almost offensive gaze.

He saw the unwavering resolve on that face, and the all-consuming flame in those eyes.

So Bi Ziyan gritted his teeth, which made a soft "clucking" sound as he exerted force.

He went all out, abandoning all the rules and decorum expected of a subject, and boldly asked in return:

"Your Majesty! Are you... sure you want to change the world?"

Zhu Youjian smiled.

He didn't answer immediately, but instead slowly took a step towards Bi Ziyan.

"The Eastern Depot, the Western Depot, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard are my eyes and ears, and my henchmen!"

The emperor's voice was filled with undeniable power.

"The capital garrison, the Liaodong and Xuanda border armies are the weapons in my hands!"

"In Shaanxi, Sun Chuanting is reorganizing military affairs, and Qin Liangyu's White-Spear Army is ready for battle!"

Zhu Youjian's gaze was piercing as he stared intently at Bi Ziyan, and he said, word by word, "This is my confidence!"

Bi Ziyan's breathing suddenly became heavy.

He understood.

The forces listed by the emperor almost encompassed all the elite troops in northern Ming that were capable and willing to fight, and these forces were firmly in the emperor's hands!
Seeing the horror that flashed in Bi Ziyan's eyes, Zhu Youjian took another step forward.

"Start with the capital region!" The emperor's tone turned cold and cruel. "In the north, who dares to obstruct the new policies? My capital garrison has just 20,000 newly trained soldiers eager for training. We need some heads to sharpen their blades!"

Before the words were even finished, a strong stench of blood seemed to assault their senses.

Fan Jingwen's face was as white as paper. He could already imagine the scene of those self-proclaimed upright officials and gentry crying and begging for mercy in front of the sabers of the Beijing garrison.

Bi Ziyan remained silent.

His chest heaved violently as he waited.

The true wealth of the Ming Dynasty, its truly unshakeable and deeply entrenched resources, lies in the South! In the hands of the Jiangnan gentry, who are the wealthiest in the land and control the lifeline of public opinion and the economy!

Without a solution for the South, any change is merely a mirage.

Zhu Youjian smiled again when he saw Bi Ziyan's expectant eyes.

To Fan Jingwen, that smile was more terrifying than the King of Hell.

He hated himself for being there at that moment!
Fan Jingwen knew that if even half a word of what the emperor was about to say got out, not only would his entire family be in danger, but his hometown of Wuqiao would probably be thoroughly searched by the Embroidered Uniform Guard!
Sure enough, Bi Ziyan got the answer he wanted.

The emperor's smile vanished, replaced by an aura of dominance that seemed to encompass the entire world!
"If... going south will be difficult."

He uttered a few words softly, each word like a cannonball fired from a siege engine—

"Then... let's cross the Yangtze River!"

boom--!
The last trace of doubt and hesitation in Bi Ziyan's mind was completely shattered by this earth-shattering statement!
Let's cross the Yangtze River!
This is no longer a new policy, but a conquest!

It adopts the attitude of treating an enemy country, aiming at the financial foundation of the imperial court!
Bi Ziyan instantly understood that this young king no longer distinguished between North and South, but only between obedience and rebellion!
If the gentry of Jiangnan dare to defy the emperor's will, he will not hesitate to let the splendor and prosperity of the southeast repeat the war and chaos of the north, and then build an absolute imperial power on this ruin that no one will dare to disobey!

"minister……"

Bi Ziyan could no longer stand; his knees buckled, and he knelt heavily to the ground.

"Thump!" After kowtowing, Bi Ziyan slowly stood up without saying another word. He simply stood there quietly, his eyes as firm as iron, waiting for the emperor's command.

Zhu Youjian looked at him with satisfaction, then slowly took a few steps back and returned to his desk.

He pulled out a stack of manuscripts from under a thick pile of memorials.

The paper of that stack of manuscripts had turned slightly yellow, and the edges were even a little curled. It was covered with dense red pen correction marks.

This is the new blueprint for the Ministry of Revenue that he has finalized after countless sleepless nights over the past few months, through repeated deliberation and revisions!
Zhu Youjian picked up the first page of the manuscript, his voice becoming calm again, "The new Ministry of Revenue that I want is no longer the accounting office that only knows how to collect rent and do bookkeeping, but my—Imperial Central Ministry of Finance and Resources Control!"

"I have temporarily endowed it with four core functions."

His gaze sharpened, and he began to expound on a concept that was enough to overturn the entire bureaucratic system of the Ming Dynasty.

"First, the Tax Bureau!"

"I must know how much tax revenue every inch of land and every transaction of my Great Ming should contribute to the nation!" Zhu Youjian's voice was resolute. "The Tax Bureau is the sharpest treasure trove in my hands! This year's core task is to immediately expand outwards from the capital and forcibly implement the policy of 'officials and gentry paying taxes together, and merging the poll tax into the land tax'!"

Bi Ziyan was shocked. This was a groundbreaking move that reformers throughout history had wanted to do but dared not, and those who tried had failed!

His breath hitched slightly, but he pressed on, this question more thorny and real than any of the previous ones:
"Your Majesty, I understand that you wield great power. However, local affairs are complex and multifaceted. Those gentry are best at hiding behind the scenes, inciting the ignorant masses to resist taxes under the guise of public opinion. If tens of thousands of people are incited by them to besiege the government, should we kill them or not? If we kill them, it may incite a massive popular uprising, which would play right into their hands; if we don't kill them, what will become of the dignity of the national law, and how will the new policies be implemented?"

This is the fatal flaw that ultimately led to the failure of reformers throughout history—the law does not punish the masses.

"Good question." Zhu Youjian showed no impatience, but instead revealed an approving sneer. He slowly walked up to Bi Ziyan, his eyes shining frighteningly.

"Minister Bi, remember this well," the emperor said firmly. "From this day forward, under the skies of my Great Ming Dynasty, only two things are inevitable."

"That is—death, and taxes!"

Upon hearing this, Bi Ziyan was greatly shocked, while Fan Jingwen, standing beside him, trembled with fear.

Zhu Youjian ignored their reactions and continued, "What you're worried about is how to distinguish between the ringleader and the accomplices. I've already thought of the answer for you!"

"Lu Xiangshan and Sun Yuanhua's 20,000-strong new army of the Beijing Garrison and Tian Ergeng's Imperial Guards are the pen and ink for this answer! The tax officials just need to take their registers and go door-to-door to collect taxes!"

"If any so-called 'people's blockade' occurs anywhere," the emperor's eyes suddenly turned extremely dangerous, "the Imperial Guards will be dispatched immediately to accurately arrest those local gentry and scholars who are hiding behind the crowd and fanning the flames!"

"If any local gentry are foolish enough to dare to use their servants and lackeys to violently resist the law, that would be even better!" Zhu Youjian laughed coldly. "Tax resistance requires evidence, but suppressing a rebellion only requires place names!"

Fan Jingwen felt a chill run through his body, especially the phrase "suppressing the rebellion only requires place names," which made him feel as if he had been thrown into an icy abyss.

The emperor calls this taxation?
While Fan Jingwen was still reeling from the shock, the emperor continued to speak.

"The Department of Finance and Budget!" He turned to the second page. "I need to know where every penny of the national treasury has been spent!"

"I will issue an edict that, starting from the second year of the Chongzhen reign, all expenditures of all departments of my Great Ming Dynasty, whether it be the Ministry of War manufacturing cannons, the Ministry of Works repairing rivers, or anything else, must be approved by the budget prepared by the relevant department! Otherwise, don't even think about getting a single penny!"

Bi Ziyan's eyes lit up; this was the power he had been dreaming of!
But he immediately frowned: "Your Majesty, the various ministries and departments have long suffered from malpractices and their accounts are in disarray. I'm afraid they will use various excuses to evade and obstruct the audit."

"They dare?" Zhu Youjian's smile held a hint of the future.

"The Department of Revenue and Budget has the power to audit all departments! The 'Accounting Departments' of the Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard are directly merged into it! I authorize this department to audit the accounts of any government office anytime, anywhere, without any reason! It can even send special 'auditors' into institutions such as the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Rites, and the Grand Military Commission! Anyone who dares to obstruct the audit does not need to report or be interrogated; the accompanying Embroidered Uniform Guard has the right to arrest and punish them directly!"

"I will completely eradicate those so-called 'ministerial private plots' and 'slush funds'! I will put every penny of the empire under my watchful eye!"

Fan Jingwen was starting to have difficulty breathing.

"The Salt and Iron Bureau!" Zhu Youjian's voice grew even heavier. "Salt and iron are the lifeblood of the nation; they must never be allowed to be tainted by private individuals!"

"The function of this department is to completely transform the distribution of salt, iron, and other important strategic materials and sources of revenue discovered later into direct management by the imperial court, changing the past practice of distributing them to salt merchants and allowing them to profit corruptly! I want to reclaim this right to control these resources!"

Bi Ziyan took a deep breath. He knew that this was the real killer change. This time, he would offend the entire salt merchant group and the intricate protective umbrella behind them!

"Your Majesty, the salt merchants wield immense power and have deep connections with local officials. Revoking the salt permits rashly could unleash a tremendous storm..."

"Storms?" Zhu Youjian laughed dismissively. "Then let the storms rage even more fiercely!"

He leaned forward slightly, lowered his voice, but it sounded even more thunderous:
“Minister Bi, I can give you a heads-up. You may think that there will be great resistance in Jiangnan and that it will be difficult to implement... but it doesn’t matter.”

"After the spring, I... will personally travel to the south of the Yangtze River!"

……

Fan Jingwen was numb. The emperor wanted to seize all the money in the world for himself!
"Finally," Zhu Youjian picked up the last page of the manuscript, his gaze fixed on the distant southeast, "the Customs Administration!"

"My Great Ming Dynasty possesses a long coastline and countless land checkpoints. These should be the national treasury's coffers, not private gold mines!" "I hereby establish a General Administration of Customs to integrate and vertically manage all land and sea customs duties of the Great Ming Dynasty! All those messy Maritime Trade Offices and customs checkpoints along the routes are to be abolished! All power shall be centralized in the General Administration of Customs! The previously established Maritime Trade Office and the Royal Trading Company shall also be temporarily placed under the jurisdiction of the General Administration of Customs!"

“Your Majesty, this policy is indeed a fundamental solution,” Bi Ziyan said calmly, raising the crucial issue of its implementation, “but to ensure the success of the new policy, the strength of the navy is paramount. Although Admiral Zheng is in charge of the Maritime Trade Office, the Ming Dynasty’s coastline stretches for thousands of miles, and smuggling bandits are as numerous as hairs on a cow. With just his fleet, I’m afraid it will be insufficient…”

“You’re right, so what I’m going to give him is not just more ships and cannons.” Zhu Youjian interrupted Bi Ziyan. “I’m going to give him a legitimate identity, to transform him from a supervising officer of the Maritime Trade Office on my behalf into the true guardian of the Ming Dynasty’s maritime borders!”
Looking at Bi Ziyan, who was deeply moved by this grand plan, he made the last and most shocking personnel appointment.

"I have decided to promote Zheng Zhilong, the Admiral of the Maritime Trade Office, to the position of Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, and grant him the rank of General. I appoint him as the first Admiral of the Customs Administration, in charge of all maritime affairs!"

Bi Ziyan's pupils suddenly contracted!
Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue! This is already a high-ranking official in one of the Six Ministries, a true central figure in the imperial court!

Using a prestigious civil post to completely bind Zheng Zhilong to the imperial court's chariot—what skill! What audacity!
"Your Majesty is wise!" the two said in unison.

Zhu Youjian's gaze swept over Bi Ziyan and Fan Jingwen, and he continued:
"More importantly, I want to send a message to the world—whether he is a merchant, a soldier in a border town, or even an ordinary farmer in the countryside! As long as he can serve the country and share my burdens, I will not hesitate to reward him with a title of nobility or a thousand pieces of gold! This corrupt world recognizes social status and birth, but I only recognize merit and loyalty!"

These words were powerful and resounding, like a thunderclap in the hearts of Bi Ziyan and Fan Jingwen!
Thus, the unprecedented Ministry of Revenue, with its vast and clear outline, had taken shape in the minds of the two.

It was no longer a simple six ministries; it was a super monster that combined financial power, auditing power, resource monopoly power, and tariff jurisdiction!

That would be a bloodthirsty behemoth, personally raised by the emperor, with the army and the secret police as its henchmen, about to bare its fangs at the deeply entrenched aristocratic families of the Ming Dynasty!

The phrase "Heroes are not judged by their origins" is the first roar of this behemoth. It will absorb all those poor scholars trapped by their birth, those isolated officials caught in factional struggles, and even those talented people who have failed the imperial examinations, and gather them into a torrent that can destroy everything!

(End of this chapter)