Back to the end of Ming Dynasty to be a warlord

Chapter 474 Anti-corruption

Calling these people back is actually to take a break and let them strengthen their beliefs. As for the specific situation, they don't care much. They only know that they have food and money in their hands, and they can fight this year.

The lively discussion that Yang Chao was looking forward to did not happen.

Only Huang Fengfu was worried, thinking that Yang Chao's fiscal policy was too aggressive.

"My lord, are you going to issue bonds this year?"

"Send, at least 2000 million, if 2000 million is not enough, send 3000 million."

Huang Fengfu said: "Last year's 1000 million should be repaid this year. I estimated that this year's income will be at most 2000 million. There were wars in Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Shandong last year. Sir, you said that you would be exempt from tax for a year. If the expenditures of the military and the government continue as usual this year, I am afraid that they will not be able to pay the money, so how dare they borrow it?"

Yang Chao said: "It is precisely because I haven't made it yet that I have to borrow it."

Huang Fengfu exclaimed: "Isn't this tearing down the east wall to make up for the west wall? It's a huge profit. When will it be paid off?"

Yang Chao said: "Who said that the governor intends to pay it back. If you don't pay it back, as long as the government's credit is not bankrupt, you can always borrow money, and paying back the interest is always more cost-effective than paying back the principal."

The British Empire in later generations owed the Dutch hundreds of millions of Dutch guilders, with an annual interest of more than 2000 million and more than 300 tons of silver. However, they have not paid back the principal for [-] years. It is definitely not because they cannot pay back, but because they think it is more cost-effective to pay back the interest. .

As long as the government's credit is not bankrupt, it can always borrow more money. This is why the government of later generations often owes more than the gross national product. However, only the government can do this, and other entities generally do not have such strong credit.

The Ming Dynasty was bad because of its nonsense finances. It had the most people in the world and the largest economy, but it died of poverty because of lack of money. If Chongzhen had 5000 million in finances every year, it would allocate 1000 million to Northwest China a year. Carrying grain, as long as people don't starve to death, ghosts will rebel against them.

When Huang Fengfu heard Yang Chao's determination to carry the debt of Hades to the end, he didn't agree at all, but he couldn't object. Anyway, the government, if you don't have money, it's a big deal, and whoever dares to rebel.

"Feng Mansion, you can still think this way. Those wealthy landlords buried their silver in the ground one by one, and asked them to take it out and turn it into bonds. We are spending the money, so that many people will have a livelihood. It is the common people. Blessing."

Huang Fengfu sighed: "For the benefit of the common people, you have to do what you can. Last year, 1000 million taels of silver, with a three-point monthly interest, was three cents and six a year. This is 360 million taels. It was spent for nothing. .”

Yang Chao said: "It's not expensive. Who made Daming's government untrustworthy? Those who lent money to the government last year were all patriots. There were not many local rich people. Most of them were ordinary people. How can this be done? All the money in the house has been withdrawn, how do they do business, how do they buy looms to expand production, or let the local rich owners support us. The local rich owners recognize money but not people.”

Huang Fengfu nodded.

Yang Chao said again: "If the gentry has already lent us money, do you think he dare not support us?"

This sentence made Huang Fengfu's eyes brighten. He felt that this was Yang Chao's purpose. It turned out to be so hidden. No wonder he had never seen Yang Chao's actions of loving the people in the past, even building houses for the affected people. , They are all lending money to them, and interest is charged. In the past, the government definitely allocated bricks, tiles and timber directly.

It turned out that Yang Chao's plan was here. After he owed money to Jinshen, Jinshen would not dare to cause trouble for the government, otherwise no one would pay back the money. High, really high.

"Then we still have a three-point interest rate this year? Is it too high?"

Huang Fengfu still felt that the three-point monthly rate was too high, and it would be great if it could be reduced to one point, but he was afraid that no one would buy it if it was reduced to one point.

Yang Chao said: "The monthly interest rate will not be lowered, but the term can be extended. This year we will issue a three-year term."

The longer the maturity of bonds in later generations, the higher the interest. Just like deposits, the interest rate of three-year fixed deposits must be higher than that of demand and one-year. The cost is actually greatly reduced.

But for investors who don't have any investment and only eat interest, they don't care. Anyway, the spare money is buried in the ground and there is no money to make. Lending it to the government will get three cents and six interest a year, which is not a small sum. income.Of course, the premise is that they fully trust the government to pay back the money.

"So this report can be sent to the newspaper, and at the same time add some content, including the number of interest repayments last year. I found that we borrowed 1000 million taels, but only more than 600 million taels of bonds were paid on time. Many people I don’t intend to charge interest. This is to fully support the government. This kind of morality is good, but the way it is done is wrong. We can’t let the patriotic people who support the government suffer. Call everyone to collect interest, don’t be afraid that the government will not be able to pay back the money, The government has plenty of money."

Let everyone see, under Yang Chao’s rule, he can collect nearly 2000 million tax silver every year, and he is willing to pay interest. This credit will definitely increase a lot. If you can really pry out the money buried in the landlord’s house, it will be comparable to scraping the money from Japan every year. That little bit of silver is countless times more. After the silver bills are turned into currency, the Ming Dynasty may not be short of currency all of a sudden.

Experts of later generations estimated that during the entire Ming Dynasty, the amount of silver that flowed into China was between 6000 million and [-] million, and most of it was hoarded, and only about [-] million taels circulated in the market, which was obviously not enough, so a large number of castings appeared. The case of private money.

In the history of China, the influx of silver was not limited to the Ming Dynasty. It started from the Tang and Song Dynasties, but it was rare in the early stage. The precious metals excavated in the past dynasties will not disappear, and it is impossible for them all to be brought into the coffin by the emperor.

If there are [-] million taels of silver accumulated in the past dynasties, [-] million taels flowed in from the Tang and Song Dynasties to the Ming Dynasty, and another [-] million taels flowed in from the Ming Dynasty. If the bank makes capital, it will become [-] million taels of silver bills, or even more, because the currency production model agreed by Yang Chao and Nassau includes a method for the bank to buy government bonds.

Government bonds can also be used as the principal to issue banknotes. Banknotes flow into the government’s treasury by purchasing bonds, and then spend them. This releases a large amount of money to the market, basically achieving the purpose of controlling currency issuance. It will no longer be constrained by the lack of money.

"So 3000 million taels of bonds are issued, and the people subscribe for the rest, and Jiangnan Bank underwrites them. Don't worry about running out of money. This year's maximum is 3000 million taels, and next year it can be expanded to 5000 million taels of silver. Believe me, you won't issue bonds in ten years. One or two hundred million taels of silver, you are ashamed to see people."

Yang Chao followed Huang Feng's mansion carefully and persuasively.

Huangfeng Mansion was completely stunned, 3000 million taels of silver, and the interest alone is more than [-] million. If Chongzhen was alive and knew that he owed so much money, he would rather not be emperor.

"Your task this year is to completely eradicate the abuses of the government. The government is a very sensitive place. If the government is not stable, the people will not be stable. Therefore, the political situation must be stabilized within a year. I want you to form a follow-up The government that enforces orders and prohibits like the army, issued a decree from Nanjing, and within ten days I will implement it in every county under my rule. Can you count on it?"

Huang Fengfu said sternly: "Succeed in the test, peel the skin and fill it with grass!"

He planned to adopt severe punishments, using Zhang Juzheng's examination method, and officials who failed to complete the task would be directly skinned by Zhu Yuanzhang's method.

"It's too much, too much. The governor wants to advocate light punishment and strict law enforcement! You can only enforce the law strictly, so that no one will break the law. As for your punishment, whether you beat the board or beheaded directly, the effect is actually the same. .As long as you know that if you reach out, you will be caught, no one will reach out. If you don’t enforce the law, even if the law stipulates that the nine clans will be imprisoned, it will be meaningless.”

"Then what does your lord mean, you don't need to pass the exam?"

"It must be used, but the punishment should be in accordance with the Law of the Ming Dynasty. Before the Governor changes the law, the Law of the Ming Dynasty is effective. Everyone must abide by the law."

The Great Ming law enacted by Zhu Yuanzhang probably has the strictest punishment for corruption in the world, but the officials of the Ming Dynasty are the most corrupt, because civil officials form the law and corrupt officials are also civil officials.

"I still need to improve the inspection system, and I have to draw [-] scholars from the army to me. I want to form a secret inspection team to secretly inspect various places all year round."

"Jinyiwei?"

Huang Fengfu was shocked.

"What Jinyiwei, this is called the Independent Commission Against Corruption, it is only responsible to the highest authority, and has the power to detain any official for two days without any evidence, including you!"

Huang Feng's mansion couldn't help feeling chills, thinking that Yang Chao planned to rule the country with military law, and this was exactly what Zhu Yuanzhang did in the early Ming Dynasty.

The only difference is: "Strictly control corruption, and at the same time improve the treatment of officials. This year, the county magistrate at the first level has a monthly salary of 100 taels, and a three-month bonus at the end of the year. If there is a small mistake, the bonus will be deducted. A county magistrate who does not make mistakes, a I can get 500 taels a year, which is enough to live a good life.”

Huang Fengfu said: "But they do whatever they want. In three years, the magistrate's [-] snowflakes and the county magistrate's [-] liang of silver can be obtained."

Yang Chao said: "Is that why there is a strict supervisory organization?"

After the Chinese New Year, the vigorous corruption campaign began.

The officials elected by the military imperial examination last year were also assigned to various places. Although they were law enforcement officers, grain supervisors, and military training officers, all localities regarded them as supervisors.

Could it be that the real supervisors are being selected in the army.

Three hundred soldiers who were literate and knew how to read the ledgers, and who often helped the grain and grass in and out of the accounts in the army, were called up.

The backgrounds of these people have been checked one by one, and they are basically from the poorest families, and they are all from refugees.

Obviously, this kind of people's hatred for the government is monstrous, which family has no history of blood and tears being forced to go bankrupt by the government.

Let these people monitor officials, even if there are no wrong officials, they are all like thieves in their eyes.

"You all come from bitter backgrounds. All of you were forced by corrupt officials to break up your families and flee everywhere. The governor is just like you, he hates corrupt officials the most. So let everyone come here now to monitor corrupt officials. But to monitor corrupt officials, We have to lead by example. Corrupt officials are not punishable by death, but those of you who take only a tael of silver are subject to military law. You are all clear. Remember that you are not for yourself, but for the whole world The people supervise all the officials. You have great power in your hands, and you have great responsibilities. Whether the people in the world can live and work in peace, and whether the way of heaven can be manifested depends on you."

Yang Chao tried his best to mobilize these sense of mission, just like when the Hong Kong government established the Independent Commission Against Corruption, it used all young college students, because these people have the most sense of mission.

A series of decrees have been promulgated since the beginning of the new year, including increasing the salaries of all officials. Officials at the prefect level can get 3000 taels of silver every year, governors get 1 taels, and the highest salary of Yang Chao is 10 taels of silver.

While increasing salaries, strict anti-corruption laws were promulgated, and an attitude of no tolerance was adopted towards corruption.

As long as you take a tael of silver, even if you are a million-dollar family fortune, take it all away, and put an end to those guys who make a fortune for their families and then go to jail, who are not afraid of boiling water.Yang Chao believes that people who are greedy for money must love money. Instead of risking their property being confiscated, it is better to start being clean from now on, so as to keep the wealth that was embezzled before, not to mention the increased salary, and the most important thing is the social respect that the power class receives , This taste of power is the most fascinating.

At the same time, they quietly sent out waves of prosecutors. These people all took Yang Chao's secret order. Whenever they found a problem in a place, they immediately went to the military training officer who led the troops, arrested the officials, and began to strictly check the government's account books. At the same time, they interrogated each of them. Relevant personnel can investigate and deal with officials who are found to be corrupt and accept bribes in violation of the law.

In three months, more than 100 officials were actually investigated and dealt with, creating a wave of terror in Jiangnan. stop.

"One year is enough for me to clean up the government, and the 50 army should have combat effectiveness. I hope that when I rectify the government this year, there will be no big wars."

Yang Chao has always put the rectification of government paralysis at the top of his list, so after the military and economy, he was the last one to move the government paralysis. Like last year, he could invade Jiangnan at any time, and Yang Chao didn't dare to do so. If he did, officials from all over the country would open the city and surrender as soon as the Qing army arrived, which would be very troublesome.

Starting from the fourth month, the number of criminal officials in Jiangnan gradually decreased, but those who were convicted were immediately replaced by scholars who passed the military examination.

However, there are too few scholars in the army, and there is a tendency to return to the old army that is all illiterate.

Scholars making noise and then being exiled into the army is a good thing that can be met but not sought after. Now the scholars in Jiangnan have learned to be good, knowing that it doesn't matter if they scold Yang Chao twice, and it will be miserable if they go to make trouble, so no one makes trouble, so there is no reasonable way Arrested.

Yang Chao can only recruit in newspapers and recruit scholars to join the army.

(End of this chapter)