Looking at Chen Ju who was dripping with cold sweat, and Zhu Changluo who was dumbfounded but thoughtful, Wanli felt a burst of joy in his heart!

Since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty only respected Confucianism, the Chinese Empire has been running on the evil path of replacing the rule of law with morality. By the Ming Dynasty, the atmosphere of governing the country with morality had reached its peak.

If a person's behavior is slightly different from the Four Books and Five Classics, the words and deeds of the saints, etc., he will be violently impeached immediately. In the Ming Dynasty, if a person's morals were broken, then, no matter how good this person was, it would not be good for the country.

No matter how useful it is, it is considered completely useless.

But the problem is that perfect people absolutely do not exist. Who hasn’t picked up their own little quirks? Zhu Xi and Zhu Sheng even like their daughter-in-law and are old people. In any era, no matter how great a person is, as long as you have

If you search carefully with a magnifying glass, you can always find the moral flaws of this person.

Therefore, excessively demanding people of this era with extremely high moral standards can only create a group of shameless hypocrites.

From a historical perspective, officials in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, especially the Donglin gentlemen who claimed to be moral models, were a group of typical hypocrites who were perfectionistic towards others and liberal towards themselves.

The emperor is the supreme ruler of this country. In this era when governing the country with morality has reached its peak, the emperor should naturally be an absolute moral perfectionist. The ministers all use the standards of saints in theory to demand the emperor. If the emperor does a little

If you don't do well, you will be sprayed violently - in the process of spraying, the morality of the ministers seems to have been sublimated.

Mencius said: To govern a country with righteousness, why talk about profit? The civil servants seized on this sentence and severely criticized the Wanli Emperor for imposing various mineral taxes, sea taxes, sea taxes, and silk taxes over the years. But what about Wanli? His Majesty the Emperor

Deep down, I know very well the reason why these guys keep paying taxes. But I couldn't argue, so I just did the ostrich thing: I can scold you all you want, but I still have to collect taxes. Otherwise, there is no guarantee that this country will continue to exist.

But people, whether they are ordinary people or nobles, actually long for understanding and recognition from others. In the past, it seemed that only Concubine Zheng in the entire country could recognize and understand the emperor. But now, it seems that there is one more person.

.

This child is really sent by heaven to revitalize our Ming Dynasty!

This method can actually be used to deal with the memorial to impeach the mining tax. Why didn't I think of it before?

As a time traveler, in the debates of Zhu Youdong's era, if there is no data support, any high-sounding principles will appear hollow. Especially in the medical community, in various academic exchanges, if a lot of data is not presented, it will be

Despised by his peers. Therefore, in the face of Wanli's question, Zhu Youdong could only use data to speak for himself under the premise that he was temporarily taboo on the civil service group and could not express a clear position.

Unexpectedly, the effect was surprisingly good!

There is no doubt that Ming Dynasty has to support so many people with such a small income every year. It can only do its best to support it. The country will be unable to make ends meet if something happens to the country, such as natural disasters, invasion by foreign enemies, internal rebellion, etc. At this time,

What does the country rely on to tide over the difficulties?

It can only be the emperor’s own private money!

"Mr. Ju, let me ask you again, how much has Grandpa Huang's internal treasury subsidized the state's expenses in the past five years?"

"Uh... what His Highness said made the old slave extremely ashamed. After being reminded by His Highness, the old slave suddenly felt that in recent years, the internal treasury has subsidized the national treasury more and more frequently, and the amount has become larger and larger. If nothing else, just

It is said that at the beginning of this year, the barbarians invaded and northern Xinjiang was in turmoil. In order to appease the soldiers, the inner treasury issued one million taels of silver and transported it to the four towns of Xuanda and Jiliao to reissue the military pay for the past three years... As for other places

For disaster relief, when the Ministry of Household Affairs has no money to pay salaries to Beijing officials, the internal treasury subsidizes them, zero or zero. In the past five years, the internal treasury has subsidized 5.3 million taels of silver."

"How could this happen? How could the country's deficit be so huge? How could it last for so long?"

The person who raised this question was of course not Zhu Youdong, but Zhu Changluo.

"Reporting to Master Chitose, the main reason is that the country has suffered from various disasters in the past ten years. The north has continued to have little rain, while the south has been prone to disasters. Therefore, the production of various crops has been severely reduced. The country has often been unable to collect regular taxes.

Instead, they should distribute silver coins and allocate grain from Taicang for disaster relief."

"Ah, yes."

Seeing Zhu Changluo's relieved expression, Wanli didn't know what this silly son was thinking?

"Does the prince want to say that it's because I compete with the people for profit, which makes God angry, and constantly brings disasters to punish me? If I stop all kinds of taxes and make God happy, everything will go smoothly?"

"I don't dare! My father has worked so hard for this country, and I can only admire him. But... the gentlemen all said... Why don't we stop some taxes first and see if God takes notice?"

"Hmph! Zhu Youdong, come and tell the prince!"

Ah? My grandpa, the trembling guy opposite is my father in this life. And to be honest, after four years of contact, this father has a blind faith in the group of lecturers and is relatively dull-minded.

.It’s really good for myself.

"Mr. Ju..."

"Grandson...Your Highness..." Hearing Zhu Youdong's childish voice, Chen Ju almost cried: If you can't brush your own father, why do you always point at the old slave?

"Can you please send someone to check for me the composition of the grain tax in the national taxation in the first year of Yongle?"

"Yes, I will send someone to pick up the relevant volumes right away."

Why do we need to check things from the first year of Yongle? Thanks to the various research results of many famous Ming historians in later generations, Zhu Youdong knew that at that time, the Ming Empire's military garrison was at its best.

"The Emperor, the Crown Prince, His Highness the Grand Sun, and the old servant have found out. In the first year of Yongle, the country collected a total of 31 million shi in taxes and grain."

"Well, Mr. Ju, take a closer look. How much of this grain is produced by the military camp?"

"Oh... Hiss~~ Your Highness Taisun, did I get this wrong? In the first year of Yongle, the country received a total of 31 million shi of grain, of which more than 23 million shi were produced by military camps?

"

"That's right. Because the Jingnan period had just ended that year, many places were exempted from taxes, so there were very few local taxes outside the military villages. Mr. Ju, how many military households were there in the country that year?"

"The country's military household is 2.3 million, and the number of regular soldiers is 500,000."

Okay, I won't talk about the rest. If the prince's father can't even wake up to this point, then he really has no qualifications to lead this country.

One stone in the Han Dynasty was about 27 kilograms. One stone in the Ming Dynasty was 60 to 70 kilograms (for convenience of counting, this book will mainly use 60 kilograms in the future). The Han Dynasty lacked various fats and non-staple food. One stone (27 kilograms) of grain was enough for one person.

The consumption of an adult man in one month. In the Ming Dynasty, one stone was enough to feed three adult men for a month.

In the first year of Yongle, when the country used troops, it did not need to pay a penny or a stone of grain from the treasury. On the contrary, it could also collect grain from military camps to subsidize the state. During the Wanli period, more than three million military households handed over only three grains of grain.

More than one million shi of grain and 92,000 taels of silver were only one-seventh of those in the Yongle period. Not only could the country not profit from the military settlements, it had to spend a large part of its fiscal revenue every year to subsidize military households.

Is this caused by bad weather? Bullshit! China is so vast that since the Qin Empire unified the world, there has been no precedent for the whole country to be affected by disasters at the same time!
Chapter completed!