Ming Dynasty: Tanks blocked the door and you said to me, "Long live Ming Dynasty"

The result made everyone's eyes widen.

There were 11 million taels of silver alone!

There are also 700,000 taels of gold!

The jewelry and jades amounted to eight million taels!

These are just property.

This does not include the five million acres of land owned by the Dai Wang Palace!

According to the current land prices, those lands are worth about 10 million taels of silver...

"Your Majesty, we don't have to worry about disaster relief now!"

Guo Yunhou held the booklet and approached Zhu Youxiao with a look of ecstasy on his face, but was glared at instead.

"Did Lord Guo make a mistake again? All these are going to go into the imperial treasury!"

Wei Zhongxian was also grinning beside him and said, "That's right, how come Minister Guo is dreaming in broad daylight?"

Guo Yunhou's old face suddenly fell: "Your Majesty, you are the king of a country, can you bear to see the people of Shanxi and Shaanxi have no food to eat?"

Zhu Youxiao looked at him and smiled without saying anything.

Yutong came out from behind happily, took out a piece of paper from his arms and handed it to Guo Yunhou.

"Come on, Minister Guo..."

Guo Yunhou was stunned!

This scene is so familiar!

A total of 23.42 million taels of silver were confiscated from temples in Beijing, but 18.54 million taels were used just to pay off debts to the Western Factory!

That’s right, the interest alone has increased by 540,000 taels…

According to what that wicked guy Wang Chengen said, even if it’s less than a year, it should be calculated as a year!

Before he could even warm up to the silver, only 4.88 million taels were left!

Then, he encountered Wu Chunfu, who took advantage of the situation and "robbed" one million taels from the Ministry of Revenue.

It is said that it is the cost of making weapons and armor for the border troops...

As soon as Wu Chunfu left, the Minister of Rites led his men into the Ministry of Revenue and demanded money as well.

In five years, there were 1,500 schools.

Building schools is the responsibility of the Ministry of Works, but the Ministry of Rites cannot sit idle either.

Choose a site, select teachers, and prepare textbooks in advance...

These also require a lot of money to be thrown in!

So, even though Guo Yunhou was extremely unwilling, Meng Shaoyu still took away 500,000 taels of silver.

After Meng Shaoyu left, Guo Yunhou immediately ordered the door of the Ministry of Revenue to be closed tightly.

Almost pinched off the nose of the Minister of Personnel Wang Yongguang...

Although he still had 3.38 million taels of silver left in his hand, purchasing grain was a huge expense!

At the same time he left the capital, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue also headed south with a full two million taels of silver.

In other words, the Ministry of Revenue, which had just become rich for two days, became pauper again!

A family with over one million taels of silver is really no different from a poor person in terms of the national finances...

So, when faced with the IOU handed over by Youtong, Guo Yunhou wanted to die!

really.........

His Majesty asked me to come to Shanxi to accompany him just to make it more convenient to sign the IOU!

After signing the IOU, the money became the property of the Ministry of Revenue, and all expenses for transporting the money back to Beijing would naturally also have to be charged to the Ministry of Revenue.

Your Majesty is so calculating...

He looked at Zhu Youxiao with a grievance: "Your Majesty, may I not borrow your way?"

Zhu Youxiao raised his eyebrows when he heard this: "From what you said, am I the kind of person who forces others to buy or sell?"

"Captain You, put that thing away!"

Guo Yunhou couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when he saw this. Fortunately, fortunately...

But the next moment, Zhu Youxiao smiled and said, "Minister Guo, regarding disaster relief, I have something to ask, and I would like to hear your opinion."

Guo Yunhou was stunned and quickly bowed: "Your Majesty, please explain!"

Zhu Youxiao looked at the people in front of him and asked slowly, "As far as I know, in all dynasties, when providing disaster relief, the officials are the ones who are most likely to have problems."

"Can you please tell me why those officials did this?"

As soon as he finished speaking, before Guo Yunhou could speak, Wei Zhongxian answered with a flattering smile.

"Your Majesty, although I am not a man, I know that men only pursue three things in their lives."

"One is power, two is profit, and three is sex."

"A clerk is not an official. If you want to be an official, you must pass nine examinations in three years. Even if you pass them all, you still have to go through official meetings, provincial sacrifices, reexaminations, and endless waiting before you can obtain official status."

"As far as I know, there are very few people who can actually get an official position after starting as a clerk."

"So, as long as they become clerks, it means they have nothing to do with the official career."

"As for beauty... It's not that I look down on them, but these officials are all from humble backgrounds. Who would give them beautiful women?"

"Power and beauty, they want them but cannot have them."

"But the benefits are different, especially during disaster relief, when huge amounts of money and grain pass right under your noses, you can make a fortune without anyone noticing."

After saying this, he bowed to Zhu Youxiao.

"Your Majesty, I wonder if what this old servant said is true?"

Zhu Youxiao did not answer, but looked at Guo Yunhou beside him.

"What do you think, Mr. Guo?"

Guo Yunhou nodded subconsciously, and then asked with a puzzled look: "What Eunuch Wei said makes sense, but I don't know why Your Majesty suddenly mentioned this?"

Zhu Youxiao raised the corners of his mouth slightly and smiled meaningfully.

"My dear Mr. Guo, you said........."

"If I give these officials official positions and provide them with a tangible path to advancement, what will be the result?"

Hearing this, Guo Yunhou took a breath of cold air!

This handwriting is too big!

The two capitals and thirteen provinces, plus the Liaodong area that had just been recovered.

The total number of prefectures and counties within the Ming Dynasty is close to 1,200!

Every prefecture and county has six departments: Li, Hu, Gong, Bing, Li, and Xing. In addition, there is also a Chengfa Office and a Jiage Warehouse!

In other words, every state and county has at least eight officials!

There were nearly ten thousand petty officials in the entire Ming Dynasty.

If all these people had official status...

Guo Yunhou was not sure whether this would make the administration clean, but what he was sure of was that the Ministry of Revenue would have to spend an additional 2.4 million taels every year!

After all, he has been given an official position, so he can't not pay his salary, right?

Seeing that he was still standing there in a daze, Wei Zhongxian suddenly exclaimed.

"Wonderful!"

"Your Majesty, I think this method is feasible!"

"Clerks are originally lowly people with no hope of becoming officials. If they can be given official positions directly, they will definitely work hard for their future!"

"They can naturally distinguish between the small profits now and the high positions and generous salaries in the future!"

"If I can make it through this, I will be a person who can bring honor to my family."

Chapter 349 Qingxu Temple, Daoji

The officials of the Ming Dynasty came from two sources.

One is donation.

Ordinary people with clean backgrounds could become officials by donating a certain amount of silver.

The second group is candidates who dropped out of the exam.

Scholars who had no hope of passing the imperial examinations could enter government offices as clerks based on their achievements.

In the early Ming Dynasty, officials with both virtue and talent were still given important positions.

However, since the fourth year of Hongwu, officials were no longer allowed to take part in the imperial examinations.

In the seventh year of Yongle, it was strictly stipulated that clerks were not allowed to serve as officials in the Ministry of Personnel.

After Emperor Xuanzong, there were even greater restrictions on clerks entering officialdom. Even if they managed to make it through the ranks as clerks, they would not be given important positions.

By the late Ming Dynasty, the upper limit of official positions was directly limited to assistant officials, that is, the county magistrate's deputies.

Without a future, the only thing left is to pursue money.

This is the fundamental reason why low-level officials have a bad reputation!

Because, at this time, ordinary people still have hope of taking the imperial examinations, but officials whose official careers have been cut off are considered lowly!

Guo Yunhou was not a fool, and naturally understood the benefits of promoting clerks to officials.

The Ming Dynasty is in need of people right now. Although there are drawbacks to having clerks as officials, at this point in time, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

At the same time, it can give them hope of promotion and minimize the occurrence of officials bullying and humiliating the people, and committing corruption and breaking the law.

This kind of hope is more effective for officials than criminal law!

But then again...

The master and servant are in unison, what's the point?

Thinking of this, he looked at Zhu Youxiao with an expression as if he wanted to cry but had no tears.

"Your Majesty, that's an annual expenditure of more than two million taels!"

Zhu Youxiao played with the 24-gram emerald jade ring on his hand and replied without even raising his head.

"It's not my own money anyway, so what does it have to do with me?"

"As long as this matter is beneficial to the Ming Dynasty, that's all, isn't it?"

"As for where the money comes from, that depends on your ability as the Minister of Revenue!"

Now that things have come to this, how could Guo Yunhou not understand what he means?

After thinking it over again and again, he stomped his feet hard and stretched out his dry big hand to Youtong.

"Captain You, take it out. The Ministry of Revenue has signed for it!"

Yutong smiled and took out the IOU that he had just put away and handed it to him with both hands.

There was no amount written on the IOU because Zhu Youxiao was not sure how much he could copy from the Prince of Dai's Palace.

Just list the format in advance, it’s not too late to fill it in when you need it.

He took a look at the mountain of property and then at the IOU in his hand. Just as he was about to say something, he saw Youtong bringing the pen and ink to him again.

Liaodong has been pacified, and Your Majesty now reigns over the world with a great victory.

This is the result of martial arts.

The court was also quiet, as almost 70% of officials above the fifth rank were replaced during this year.

Who dares to oppose your Majesty's decision now?

Therefore, Guo Yunhou did not even consider whether the policy of promoting officials to official positions could be implemented, because there was no need to do so!