open sea

Chapter 571 The reason
Zhang Juzheng seemed to be in a good mood, the study window was half open, reflecting the bamboo forest behind the mansion, and the crystal lampshade on the wall was frosted, emitting a faint light, reflecting the slowly burning smoke of the pipe in the palm of Wang Guoguang, Minister of the Household Department.

In front of Chen Mu, there are thirty or forty volumes of bibliography stacked on the table. It is a painstaking work compiled by Wang Guoguang in charge of the household department and his servant Li Youzi. It is called "Wanli Accounting Record", which contains the secrets of the entire empire's finances. .

"This set of books is based on regions, first the whole country, then the provinces, then the prefectures, and then the prefectures; the amount, the total, and the fractions, and the fractions to add the total; in terms of income and expenditure, first the total annual income and expenditure of the country's land and grain, and then the total. Provincial capital, prefecture and county scores, sub-border town salaries, sub-treasurer, sub-guanglu, sub-vassal, sub-official, sub-salary, sub-water transportation, sub-cangchang, sub-battalion salary, sub-farm, sub-salt law , the second tea method, the second money method, the second banknote pass, and the second miscellaneous lesson."

Zhang Juzheng restrained his finely trimmed beard and praised Chen Mu: "Your Majesty's compilation of this book deserves the great achievement of this generation!"

"Today is only one step away. The situation in various places overseas and the prices of products cannot rely on the prince. The imperial court still needs to rely on Jing Haibo." Zhang Juzheng turned around and took out two books from the table case and pushed them in Chen Mu's direction, saying: "My Emperor Taizu once said that most of the children of civilians, businessmen, workers and peasants do not know how to read, so it is better to explain it directly by those who are in charge, and write books on farming skills, merchants and businessmen, so they ordered Confucian scholars to write these books."

Chen Mu lowered his eyes slightly. The two books that Zhang Juzheng pushed over were called "A List of Business Journeys" and "Water and Land Journeys, Treasures and Goods Distinguish Doubts". Not too much.

But... Chen Mu looked puzzled, and blurted out in surprise: "Emperor Taizu, didn't he emphasize agriculture and suppress business?"

Zhang Juzheng glanced at Chen Mu with no expression on his face. He only smiled when he turned to Wang Guoguang. After a moment of silence, Chen Mu even thought that he had said something wrong, so he turned his head and said, "Among the ruling and opposition parties, everything must respect the ancestors." method, do you know why?"

"When the world was in war, my ancestors raised troops to chase the Yuan invaders from the north, and regained China. When the people were dying, the people were cold and hungry, and the fields were still afraid to cultivate. Even if they were re-business, how could they get wealth? Encourage merchants, but this is not what you said about emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce or emphasizing commerce and suppressing agriculture, because the earlier emphasis on commerce hurts agriculture, and the later re-emphasis on merchants can benefit farmers—this is the so-called ancestral law.”

Chen Mu nodded again and again, cupped his hands and said, "I have been taught."

Immediately afterwards he said: "Don't worry, the elders and the princes, the compilation of overseas accounting records will be completed by the Beiyang military government, and divided into Western, Nanyang, and Beiyang for a period of five years. Within five years, the prices of all countries in the world will be found out."

In fact, what Zhang Juzheng said was nothing to Chen Mu. What really taught him was Zhu Yuanzhang, the starting point and mentality of the people in power. Some people do things arbitrarily, while others know what is right. , what is wrong, policy expedient, and can be made.

"I will send you a set of ciphertext for Beiyang telegram later. There are still some matters in the telegram from the Ministry of Industry, and I will talk about it later." Zhang Juzheng nodded slowly, and said to Wang Guoguang with his hand: "Your Majesty, please continue to talk, Jinghai Bo is good at finance, or he may have a vision for the country."

Chen Mu didn't think so. He spread out the Wanli accounting record on the table, sat down very obediently, and waited for Wang Guoguang to say the following.

"I compiled last year's taxes, taking Henan and Shaanxi provinces, and Nanzhili as an example. The matter of the true nature of the tax law was converted into silver. Cao Cao in the Ministry of Household Affairs once discussed that after the national currency law can be converted into silver, it should be a despicable place. If you buy less silver, you can still show your true colors; when you are rich and prosperous, you can buy more silver and pay less for your true colors.”

The true color here refers to the so-called tax in kind. Chen Mu frowned, glanced at Zhang Juzheng, and found that his expression was the same as his own - shouldn't it be like this?Where does the money come from in this despicable place?
"On the contrary."

Wang Guoguang shook his head, raised his finger to the books on the table, and said: "Last year, the place with the most silver discounts was Shaanxi, followed by Shanxi, and then Henan. I gathered other provinces to hand over their accounts, and I was very confused about the situation. Not one. Taking Henan as an example, two counties in the province were affected by disasters, and [-] shi of grain were transported, [-]% of which was discounted for color. Taxes for the whole of Henan accounted for as much as [-]% of the silver, and as high as [-]% in Shaanxi.”

"In Jiangnan, Zheshi is only [-]%."

The Minister of the Household Department put down his pipe, raised a finger, and said, "Collecting accounts, summoning officials, and discussing with colleagues in many ways, we know that the south of the Yangtze River is prosperous in commerce, the people have many kinds of silk, and the price of rice is cheaper than in the north. They are more willing to show their true colors; But the northern provinces make their living from farming, and the poor and desolate lands, the people’s cultivation is slightly affected, and the natural color is not enough to pay taxes, so they have to lose their color.”

No problem?
Zhang Juzheng nodded and said: "This is to make the people in the north more convenient. The price of rice and food in the land is higher, and the silver is beneficial to the people."

"However, in the past when the people liberated the people's movement, it was difficult to pay taxes and taxes; now that the government has solved the official movement, the difficulty of paying taxes is entirely up to the people. Corruption, embezzlement, stripping, and consumption are four urgent things. The court can only pay one tael of silver. To collect one tael, of course, the household department can only enter the account without seeing the one tael of silver, but the common people have to pay two or even three taels to pay, which is a heavy tax.”

"The poorer the people are, the more they need to pay taxes in silver, and the more they pay taxes in silver, the poorer they are."

"That alone is not the problem. We rely on merchants and landlords who are rich and noble, mainly grain merchants. When the government collects taxes, the price of grain will drop, hurting farmers; after tax collection, grain prices will rise, hurting farmers again. This is usually the result of people’s desire for profit and nature.”

Zhang Juzheng frowned, but Wang Guoguang didn't stop, his tone became more serious.

"In times of chaos and war, merchants, grain merchants, and even ordinary households with enough food and clothing, whoever has gold and silver, must store silver to avoid family disasters."

As the leading financier of the Ming Dynasty, Household Minister Wang Guoguang seemed to travel through time and space to see the scene decades later. His tone was slow and worried: "There is little silver in the market, silver is expensive and food is cheap, and there are fewer rich people and more poor people in all parts of the world. Those who pay taxes are less and those who owe taxes are more heavy. Whenever there are internal and external troubles, the country needs silver and food for military use, but the silver is not enough, and there is nothing to do..."

"If we can't do anything about it externally, we need to pay more taxes, pay more for training soldiers, and pay more for soldiers. The people can't pay taxes already, so they will become bandits."

Chen Mu suddenly understood everything, he took the words, and said: "If the grass becomes a bandit, the imperial court will use troops inside again and send additional pay to suppress the bandits. The imperial court will not do this if there is still a way to survive, but internal and external troubles are gone. There is no other way; whenever the imperial court gives the people a way out, they will not only not become bandits, but also help the government capture them. bandit."

Chen Mu's words not only made Zhang Juzheng look sideways, but also surprised the aged Wang Guoguang. Zhang Zhang mouth was almost speechless, and he exchanged glances with Zhang Juzheng after a moment's pause, then he laughed dumbly and said, "Jing Haibo is a bit alarmist. , just can’t pay taxes, it’s not like this, even if it’s true as the old man said, after a few years of recuperation, the officials and talents will have better tax laws. ……Ah!"

Speaking of this, Wang Guoguang looked at Chen Mu with stern eyes, and said with a reminder: "Aren't you just perfecting the tax law at this moment?"

Chen Mu, who has always been dull, turned his head very fast, and it took him a long time to understand what the old man of the household department was suddenly so strict.

However, his acting ability was put to great use at this time. He pretended not to see Wang Guoguang's reminder, and slowly shook his head with a gloomy face, saying, "It's not that there is a problem with the tax law. There is nothing wrong with the tax law. , also in financial transport.”

"Oh?" Zhang Juzheng's brows were still unfurled, and he was also quickly deducing the situation in his mind. In fact, he didn't care whether Chen Mu thought there was a problem with the tax law, so he said casually, "Jing Haibo speaks freely."

"Silver is circulated in the country and the world, money and silver are parallel to copper coins, but silver is not minted in the court, and most of it is imported from overseas, which is difficult to control, so the court's ability to resist risks is low; the same is true for financial transportation. The collected silver is not in the treasury, regardless of its true color or Zhese, the provinces collect and transport the silver and grain to the Yamen, and the silver and grain are not managed by the national treasury, which is not conducive to the concentration of power, and the finances are chaotic."

"And the imperial court has two sets of finances, the central and the local. In a city of [-] households, only a few officials receive salaries. The officials who help them manage the local area are all recruited by the local government and self-sufficient. .”

"The incident happened suddenly, and the juniors were not prepared, so let's just say a few words... Elder Ge, can we set up a bank in the Ming Dynasty?"

(End of this chapter)