Yan Song was the first assistant when he was more than sixty years old. He has been serving for more than ten years now. Although he is senile, he is getting more and more powerful with age. Since he beat Xu Jie, Xu Jie has become more and more submissive in the past six months, especially since he joined the cabinet.
, Xu Jie never argued with him, and always followed his lead in everything, which made the cabinet his own boss. Donglou deliberately treated Xu Jie rudely to test him, but Xu Jie was not angry, and even married his niece to him.
Yan Song took Donglou as his concubine, which made Yan Song feel more and more relieved, and all the beatings and movements directed at Xu Jie stopped.
But despite this, Yan Song was still a little wary of Xu Jie.
the reason is simple.
Xia Yan was Xu Jie's teacher. They were both teachers and friends and had a good relationship. Xia Yan even recommended Xu Jie.
And Xia Yan was killed by him and Lu Bing in a joint fight.
Therefore, Yan Song took the opportunity of Emperor Jiajing's court meeting and tested Xu Jie again to see Xu Jie's reaction.
Xu Jie was as submissive as ever, and his answers were consistent with his own. This made Yan Song very satisfied, and he let go of his guard against Xu Jie.
What Xu Jie said made sense. The treasury was empty. Why was it empty and why was it empty? No one had more say than the Ministry of Hubu, so everyone turned their attention to Sun Yingkui, the Minister of the Ministry of Hubu.
Even Emperor Jiajing, who was sitting on the dragon throne with his eyes closed and meditating, also opened his dragon eyes and his eyes fell on Sun Yingkui.
Faced with Xu Jie's question, Sun Yingkui, who was in the center of the line of sight, was not surprised at all. He calmly stepped forward and offered his hands to Emperor Jiajing who was sitting on the dragon throne and the three elders in the hall. Then he took it out of his sleeve and listed it.
The good Taicang revenue and expenditure items were narrated in a reasonable and well-founded way: "I would like to report to Your Majesty, as well as all the ministers and ministers, that since I entered Kyoto, the total annual income of Taicang has been more than five million taels of salt after deducting regular taxes and additional taxes.
In addition to silver, more than 4 million taels of miscellaneous taxes were levied in other places, of which more than 2 million taels were collected from Taicang this year. In terms of expenditures, in addition to the 2.8 million taels of various annual regulations, a new increase of 245
If there are more than 10,000 taels, it will cost more than 8 million taels to repair the border and revitalize the economy. Because the situation on the border is particularly bad, and the expenses on all frontiers need to be increased to more than 6 million taels, it is true that Taicang is empty."
After Sun Yingkui finished speaking, there was a burst of discussion in the hall. Obviously, the actual situation in Taicang was worse than everyone expected.
“It costs so much”
“The balance of payments deficit is so huge”
"Taicang's income this year is just over two million taels, and we can't make ends meet."
Zhu Ping'an knew about the tax situation of the Ming Dynasty in modern times, but he was even more shocked when he heard the more accurate situation from Sun Yingkui.
Of course, Sun Yingkui was talking about the Taicang Bank, which was used to store silver. As for the collected grain, there were also granaries.
Emperor Jiajing, who was sitting on the dragon throne, couldn't help but frown after hearing Sun Yingkui's reply. Taicang spent so much money, which made the already suspicious Emperor Jiajing even more suspicious. He suspected that there was infringement and counterfeiting, but Emperor Jiajing did not
He didn't speak. Being good at maneuvering, he just narrowed his eyes slightly and scanned the crowd.
"Taicang is my Ming Dynasty money bag, and the Ministry of Revenue is the steward of the money bag. Now that the money bag is deflated, does Sun Shangshu have any good ideas?" Yan Song glanced at everyone and then landed on Sun Yingkui, and asked slowly.
"The lower official suggested that additional taxation be collected. According to the tax situation in various places in the past, forget about the northern prefectures, Guangxi, and Guizhou. The land in these places does not produce much grain. Other places can increase taxation according to the richness and poverty of the land, especially in the Jiangnan area.
There is a proverb that says, "When Taihu Lake is ripe, the world will have enough." These important grain-producing areas can be allocated more. According to the official's preliminary estimate, this will add more than 1.5 million taels of silver each year." Sun Yingkui cupped his hands and replied.
Increase taxes?
Zhu Ping'an frowned when he heard this, and the influence on Sun Yingkui suddenly became bad.
Jiangnan is being ravaged by Japanese pirates, so you have to pay more taxes!
Originally, there were many Ming people among the Japanese pirates. If we impose additional taxes on Jiangnan, wouldn't it force some peasants who can't survive to take the risk and join the ranks of the Japanese pirates?
Isn’t this the government forcing the people to rebel?
Do you still think that the Japanese pirates in Jiangnan are not chaotic enough? If you increase taxes and taxes in Jiangnan, aren't you adding fuel to the Japanese feud in Jiangnan?
Penny wise and pound-foolish!
This is Zhu Ping'an's view on Sun Yingkui's suggestion. It seems that everyone is very discerning. Although Sun Yingkui is still as talented as before, his original high-spirited and upright character has long since disappeared, and all that remains is to seek peace and go with the flow.
"I'm sorry that I don't agree with what Sun Shangshu said." At this time, a censor stood up and said impassionedly.
Zhu Pingan could see the shortcomings of Sun Yingkui's suggestions and dare to stand up. Zhu Ping'an gave him a thumbs up in his heart.
However, the next second, Zhu Ping'an became confused, and the corners of his mouth were trembling.
"As the saying goes, you don't worry about scarcity but inequality. The northern prefectures, Guangxi, and Guizhou do not impose additional taxes, while the south of the Yangtze River allocates as much tax as the Taihu Lake. How is this fair? The world will not criticize our government's actions. In this way,
If we don’t share it equally, all the governments in the world will impose equal taxes." The censor who stood up continued.
"Haha, if I remember correctly, Guo Yushi's family is from Taihu, Wudi in the south of the Yangtze River. Guo Yushi said that I was unfair. I think what Guo Yushi said about equal sharing is false, and the tax reduction for his hometown is true."
Sun Yingkui smiled slightly, and while defending himself, he mocked Guo Yushi.
"You are such a slanderer!" Guo Yushi's face turned red.
Then the officials who were friends with both parties also stood up and spoke for them. For a while, everyone at the court held their own opinions and started arguing.
Why
After Zhu Ping'an listened for a while, he felt speechless at the imperial court's quarrels. The officials quarreled more than modern Internet celebrities, and then they became too distracted and distracted.
Zhu Ping'an was a non-staff observer of the court proceedings. He was located very far to the side. If he was distracted, he would not be noticed at all unless he paid special attention.
About two minutes later, Zhu Pingan's distracted eyes fell on a pillar of the main hall not far away, and he found a line of inscriptions on it. It had been a long time, and if you didn't look carefully, you wouldn't have noticed it.
Zhu Ping'an's eyesight was much better than that of ordinary people. He squinted his eyes slightly and saw the words clearly written on the pillar: "Xu Jie, a villain, will never use it."
Zhu Pingan suddenly became energetic.
The font of this line is very similar to the font on the note that Emperor Jiajing passed to him. It is a little greener, but basically the same. Obviously, the carving on this pillar was written by Emperor Jiajing when he was young.
The fonts are connected and fluctuate violently.
From the font, you can seem to see the scene when Emperor Jiajing was furious, writing furiously, and carved these eight characters.