Chapter 117 Guarding the Silver Mountain and Begging for Food
Chongzhen smiled but said nothing.
Zhang Youyu then went on to say: "Of the ten million taels of tax money, four million are reserved for each province to be used as the salary of each province's royal family, the salary of officials and subordinates, and the regular expenses of the yamen at all levels."
"Six million taels were released from Nanjing to be used for court expenses, of which 2 million taels were used for nobles, official salaries and regular expenses of the six ministries and monasteries, and 1.6 million taels were used for various expenses of the clan.
The last 2.4 million taels were used as military expenses for various towns in Xuzhou and Wuchang."
After Zhang Youyu finished speaking, the doctor's hall fell into a long silence. Chongzhen was silent for a long time, and Shi Kefa and the other four pavilion elders were also silent for a long time, as if the monarch and his ministers suddenly practiced silent meditation.
To be honest, there are problems with this fiscal budget plan, and the problems are very serious.
The total fiscal revenue has been reduced by half. Logically speaking, the expenditure should also be reduced by half in proportion. So based on the expenditure in the 16th year of Chongzhen's reign, the military salary should be 4.5 million, and the clan expenditure should be 2.5 million.
Ten thousand, the expenses for officials and nobles should be two million!
But now military pay and clan expenses have been significantly reduced.
However, the salaries of noble officials have not been reduced at all!
Chongzhen suddenly wanted to laugh, laughing at the fact that these Donglin Party members claimed to be clean and honest, but in fact they were just as greedy.
In addition to laughing at the Donglin Party, Chongzhen also wanted to laugh at the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty was really poor. Sitting on the fertile land in the south of the Yangtze River, its annual income was only a mere ten million taels of silver!
However, was the Great Ming Dynasty really poor? The answer is of course no. The Little Ming Dynasty was actually poor at all, but a very small part of the money went into the private pockets of official and business groups.
According to credible historical data, by the end of the Ming Dynasty, the silver accumulated in the past dynasties was added to the Americas and imported from Japan. Xiao Ming’s silver inventory was at least 170 million taels!
What Li Zi copied in Beijing was only a large part.
However, a very small part of the silver was buried in cellars by officials and wealthy businessmen.
As a result, an extremely absurd scene appeared in the Xiao Ming Dynasty. On the one hand, the court was so impoverished that it levied taxes, but on the other hand, the officials and wealthy businessmen were unable to invest in projects because they had projects, so they could only spend hundreds of millions.
If you bury the money you have planned, you are really not begging for food while guarding the silver mountain!
However, others are pretending to be poor and complaining when they beg for food.
The little Ming Dynasty guarded the silver mountain and begged for food, but it was limited to the system.
However, that system is also so difficult to break.
It is so difficult to break the historical inertia of favoring agriculture and suppressing business.
It's better to deal with it all at once. It means you have to worry about Xiao Ming, and you have to deal with it yourself.
At this time, Xiao Ming was like a critically ill patient who was dying. Although Chongzhen did not have a complete set of treatment plans, he would definitely push Xiao Ming off the operating table directly. If he came up or came up, his death would be doubtful.
So the most important thing now is not to warm up, but to do it quickly.
To put it bluntly, it is not about making little changes to the existing system.
At the bureaucracy level, one has to vacate the cage and change the bird and start a new one, but under the ideological system, it must be retreated step by step. A little bit of slowness may not lead to measurable consequences, so it must be done casually.
The first step now is not to drive the first big wedge.
Chongzhen smiled and said: "The seven pavilion elders are retained by the local government, and the officials' salaries have not been paid yet. Do they think 2.4 million is enough for Xuzhou and Wuchang?"
"It's enough." Zhu Cijiong said, "It's enough to fit between your teeth."
Zhu Cixiang also said: "Counting the rural warriors who are about to be trained, only the town of Youliangyu in Wuchang plus the frontier troops of the 74th town of Xuzhou's rear line, the monthly salary is 400,000 taels, and the annual salary is 400,000 taels.
4.8 million taels per person! That’s just for sitting pay. If the Jiannu retreat, they will definitely have to pay war pay, which is 1.2 million taels a month!”
Zhu Cijiong said: "2.4 million taels can only support two months."
The eight members of the Donglin Party and Zhang Youyu were stunned into silence.
But Gao Hongtu said with a white face: "I'm sure Xiao Ming's taxes are sufficient, so why are you willing to pay less? But Xiao Ming only has such little annual income, so I'm afraid the border town can only live within its means."
Zhu Cixiang frowned and said, "Does Mr. Beige mean to reduce the salary standard?"
Gao Hongtu nodded and said: "Either reduce the salary standard, or reduce the number of frontier troops, or all seven in parallel. In short, if there is no less ability, we can do as many small things as possible, and if there is no less small pot, we can cook as much rice as possible."
Chongzhen suddenly asked: "Gao Hongtu, will half of that 2.4 million be floated again?"
Gao Hongtu consciously wanted to say that he would definitely do it that time, but when the words came to his lips, he swallowed them back because I really have the ability to guarantee that.
"So, only 1.2 million pairs were actually obtained?"
Chongzhen said: "You Liangyu still scores 80%."
Gao Hongtu said nothing, but he actually acquiesced to that point.
Chongzhen sighed heavily, shook his head and said, "It seems that the taxes from the Ministry of Revenue have been reduced."
Hearing that, the seven pavilion elders, Juan Yue, the right servant of the Household Department, immediately became vigilant.
"His Majesty still wants to collect commercial taxes through the eunuchs guarding each place?" Shi Kefa said solemnly, "Just now in the Yilun Hall, His Majesty also listened to the discussions of the scholars, and sent mine supervisors and tax envoys to various places to collect commercial taxes.
Your Majesty's internal funds are taxed at more than one-tenth of the amount. This move harms the people but is beneficial to the court. I ask Your Majesty to think about it!"
Donglin Party and other seven cabinet members also handed over their hands and said: "Please think of me, Your Majesty!"
"So, how about local officials collecting commercial taxes?" Chongzhen said.
"How about 70% of the income tax money goes to the household department, and 70% goes to my internal funds?"
"This is also appropriate." Zhang Youyu frowned and said, "How can the imperial court compete with the people for profit?"
The official and gentry groups in Jiangnan are extremely wary of commercial taxes, and institutionalizing commercial taxes is a tangible danger.
"That's okay, that's a promise, so how can I support the 170,000 soldiers of the 74th Town on the back line of Xuzhou?" Chongzhen suddenly burst out, "How about selling me, let's see how much it's worth.
money?"
"The Lord is worried about the humiliation of his ministers, and the Lord humiliates his ministers to death. The ministers are capable of making His Majesty respect themselves to this extent."
Wei Juanyue suddenly knelt down on the ground and Jishou said: "I, Wei Juanyue, beg for bones."
"I have low ambitions, I have a good reputation, I understand the dragon, I have history, and I am begging for the bones."
Gao Hongtu and the other seven people knelt down, Chongzhen was furious, and the civil servants also used their own tricks.
Brothers Zhu Cihong and Zhu Cijiong were stunned and thought that those civil servants were really shameful.
When did that happen? Jiannu had already arrived in the capital. Xuzhou Shou must have died if he lived in Xiaoming!
At that time, they were thinking about working together to defend Xuzhou, but they still thought about their own eighty-acre land?
Is it a few businessmen? They are also digging into his ancestral graves. Why do they have such a small reaction? Is that so?
Chongzhen was not actually angry, he was just pretending to be angry, so when he saw the seven ministers and the right minister of household affairs begging for the bones, his whole body quickly became "heated and calm".
"I just lost my composure. Dear ladies, please stand up."
"I take back what I just said, and the business tax matters will be over."
Chongzhen said that he would come in person to support the Donglin Party, Gao Hongtu and others.
The Donglin Party took advantage of the victory and pursued the attack: "Your Majesty, you have sent envoys to supervise the mines and tax envoys to collect commercial taxes, which has harmed the people too much. Your Majesty is already well aware of the disasters in Yangzhou. The eunuchs guarding us in other places have harmed the people even more than Yangzhou. What's more,
Please, Your Majesty, with the common people in mind, recall all the eunuchs stationed in various places to Nanjing, and revise the Emperor Jiang Yueguang. The king in the previous life will always appoint mine supervisors and tax envoys."
"Please ask Your Majesty to recall the eunuchs from all over the country and revise Huang Jiang Yue Guang."
Gao Hongtu and other seven people also agreed.
Chongzhen's face showed a look of "struggle".
After a long while, Chongzhen finally made up his mind: "Let's just wait and see!"
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, Your Majesty!" Upon hearing this, the seven members of the Donglin Party were overjoyed.
Chongzhen sighed and said: "Seven pavilion elders, Juanyue, can't you get up and talk now?"
"I'll take your orders." Before the Donglin Party and the other seven people could successfully achieve their intention, they immediately stood up and sat back in their chairs.
Chongzhen shook his head and said: "Business taxes cannot be collected, mine supervisors and tax envoys cannot be recalled, and Huang Jiang Yueguang cannot amend them, but the wages of Xuzhou No. 74 Town must still be resolved."
Donglin Party, Gao Hongtu and others immediately became silent again after hearing this.
The ancestors of the Ming Dynasty taught themselves to be virtuous and collect business taxes? It is definitely OK.
Is the problem solved for national use? I'm sorry, but you also want to find a solution.
Chongzhen sighed heavily and said: "If it really works, we can only sell the official land in the south of the Yangtze River."
"Ah?" Chongzhen's words were completely beyond the expectations of the Donglin Party and others.
There are eight types of farmland in Xiaoming. The first type is civilian farmland, which is not the private farmland of ordinary people. The tax rate is eight liters, eight combined and seven spoons. The seventh type is the imperial village and clan farmland, which is not the cultivated land occupied by the emperor in the capital and has not yet been assigned to various vassals.
The tax rate on the cultivated land that the king occupied in various provinces was zero, and every penny of tax was paid.
The eighth type is Guan Tian, and the tax rate for Guan Tian is seven liters, eight liters and seven spoons.
Official land, as the name suggests, is not cultivated land in the name of the official government, but is of a state-owned nature.
There are several types of sources for official land. One is the cultivated land owned when Zhang Shicheng was conquered, the seventh is cultivated land obtained when the official family property was seized, and the eighth is wasteland reclaimed by soldiers on the border.
Xiaoming's official land was mainly concentrated on the four sides and south.
Among them, Nanzhi Province has less than 70 million acres of official land.
The 70,000 acres of official land in Nanzhi is less than 8 million shi just for the official tax. Adding in the 1 million shi from Weijuan in Zhejiang, it is not the 7 million shi sent to the capital as grain. Although the 7 million shi
The money received is internal money, but the accounts must be checked at the Ministry of Revenue to make sure it is within the seven million taels allocated to the clan, and is considered the emperor's internal money.
Chongzhen said without any pain: "I want to price 5 taels per mu and sell all the 70 million acres in Nanzhi. What do the pavilion elders and Zhang Aiqing think?"
"Your Majesty, you are worthy!" Shi Kefa bowed to the ground again.
"The 70 million acres of official land in Nanzhi is the inheritance of your ancestors of Xiao Ming, and it is also the basis of your taxation. It can be sold!"
"It is absolutely possible that official land can be sold!" The Donglin Party also knelt down, "Although selling official land can relieve temporary difficulties, what will happen next year and the year before that? Seventy million official land will be sold as civilian land. The current official position of the court
Taxes will be sharply reduced by a small amount, and the gap in state expenditure will only become smaller! Your Majesty, this is definitely a disaster!"
Gao Hongtu even ended the scolding directly: "His Majesty, he is just a brat and betrays his father. Tian is distressed. When he arrived at Siquan ten thousand years ago, was he afraid that Taizu Emperor Gao and Emperor Chengzuwen would scold him?"
