Chapter 1552, a single month tax breaks 100 million
In the study room of the Palace of Qianqing, Emperor Hongzhi looked a little unhappy, with a dark face. These officials from Jiangnan had been making trouble for more than a month and it was still going on.
After all, what the emperor said is not an imperial edict?
They are trying to take back what they have said behind closed doors.
Soon, Liu Jian, Li Dongyang, Xie Qian, Liu Jin, Zhang Mao and other important ministers came to the Shangshu room one after another. One look at Emperor Hongzhi's face and it was clear that he must still be angry about the matters at the court meeting.
"Your Majesty, there is no way to keep making trouble like this. This morning court is an important place to discuss national affairs. How can we keep making trouble like this?"
"Now the country is peaceful and the people are safe. There are not many major things that need to be dealt with. But if there is something important that needs everyone to discuss, if it continues like this, wouldn't it be a delay in national affairs."
"I think it is better to give appropriate comfort and reduce big things to small ones. The country and the country of Ming Dynasty are more important."
Li Dongyang thought for a while, then stood up and said.
"Appropriate comfort?"
"Then who will comfort me?"
"I am also very unhappy, very unhappy."
"They are still ministers of the imperial court and pillars of the country. Don't they understand the importance of early court?"
“Don’t you understand that national affairs always take precedence over everything else?”
"This is just a small punishment for them. The Nanjing incident is not all caused by the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River. If Wang Shouren had not dealt with it promptly and decisively, I am afraid that the whole of the south of the Yangtze River would have been at war by now."
"Since they are so ungrateful, let them continue to make trouble. If the decree continues, the number of scientific examination places in South Zhili will be reduced by another twenty. If you want to make trouble, then make enough trouble."
When Emperor Hongzhi heard this, he immediately became even more angry.
I used to have no temper, but now I have more temper.
Thinking of the faces of those people in Jiangnan makes people's beards crooked. If they don't reuse their officials from Jiangnan, the people will be in dire straits and the country will be in turmoil. It's as if the Ming Dynasty will perish without them.
After hearing what Emperor Hongzhi said, the officials were immediately speechless. If they continued to speak, Emperor Hongzhi might directly cancel Nanzhili's scientific examination qualifications.
The number of places has been reduced by one-third, and now the number of places has been reduced by another twenty. I am afraid that Jiangnan will be in trouble in the future, and it will be extremely difficult to pass the national examination.
"Your Majesty, I have a happy event to report to you~"
Zhong Zhong looked at the ministers and saw that no one had the intention to stand up first, so he stood up and said with a smile.
"What happy event?"
Emperor Hongzhi looked at Zhong Zhong and his face looked better.
"Your Majesty, according to statistics from our Ministry of Household Affairs, our Ming Dynasty's tax revenue exceeded 100 million taels of silver for the first time last month!"
Zhong Zhong took out a memorial that had been written long ago and said.
"Received 100 million taels of silver in one month?"
When Emperor Hongzhi heard this, he immediately raised his eyebrows and smiled on his face.
Money can make a fool of himself, but as an emperor, he has tasted the hard life and knows the importance of money.
In the past, the Ming Dynasty's annual tax money was only more than 300 taels of silver. Every year, the treasury was empty and rats starved to death. As an emperor, he was reluctant to even repair the palace. In order to save expenses, he drastically reduced the palace expenses and expenses. support.
Forget that he was living a tight life, Emperor Hongzhi didn't really care about it. The important thing was that he was poor before. Now the emperor wants to do something, but without money, he can't do anything.
The army is poorly equipped, lacks training, and has empty border defenses. The Tatars go south to plunder every year. They can't even sleep well during the Chinese New Year, for fear that the Tatars will invade Beijing that day.
He wanted to rectify the military affairs, but the treasury was empty, so Zhou Jing, the minister of household affairs, came back without money.
The Yellow River overflows, and floods occur every year in Henan and Shandong. I want to repair the river and regulate the Yellow River, but I have no money to pay for it. I can only pray to the sky every year. When it rains in the north, it rains evenly and cannot.
Too much cannot be too little; too little will lead to drought; too much will lead to floods.
God feels that it is more difficult than anything else, and even rain is really difficult to control.
It’s so hard to live without money.
Even though Emperor Hongzhi had great talents and great plans, he was hampered by this small amount of money. He could not do anything he wanted to do. He could only be diligent and diligent. After the morning court meeting, he continued to hold a small meeting, and in the afternoon he had to summon the ministers to continue the meeting.
Meetings are held day by day, but the affairs of the country remain the same as before. The Ming Dynasty is still the same Ming Dynasty, nothing has changed, the people are still poor, and a snowstorm has torn apart the illusion of the so-called prosperous age.
Now that I heard that in just one month, the Ming Dynasty could receive hundreds of millions of taels of silver in taxes, how could Emperor Hongzhi not be happy?
One hundred million taels of silver a month, which means that Ming’s tax revenue this year will exceed one billion taels of silver.
One billion taels of silver, this is an extremely terrifying number, and it is also a huge amount of wealth that is beyond imagination.
You must know that one tael of silver is equivalent to a thousand cash, and one penny can buy two eggs. Converted to the currency of later generations, one penny is about the same as one dollar, and these one billion taels of silver are almost one trillion yuan.
Although there seems to be a big gap compared with later generations, it is the Ming Dynasty now, and the population of the Ming Dynasty is only one-tenth of that of later generations.
By doing this calculation, we can see how wealthy the Ming Dynasty is now.
You must know that even after commercial taxes were levied, the taxes in the Ming Dynasty were still very low, basically about one-tenth. Only industries such as gambling houses and brothels were levied heavy taxes. The taxes on other industries were very low. The comprehensive tax rate was compared with that of later generations.
It's much lower.
Under such circumstances, Ming Dynasty's annual tax revenue exceeded one billion taels of silver, which shows how wealthy Ming Dynasty was.
Not only did the imperial court become rich, it also showed that all classes in the Ming Dynasty were wealthy.
Factories, workshops, and businesses are the main force in paying taxes. If they make no money, they will naturally have no taxes to pay. In other words, if the taxes are higher, they will naturally earn more.
"Okay, now I finally have money, and I'm not like before where I couldn't do anything without money."
Emperor Hongzhi happily expressed his affirmation.
In fact, the tax revenue exceeding one billion taels has been foreseeable for a long time.
Over the years, since the tax reform, the establishment of tax yamen, and the establishment of tax agents, the court's tax revenue has gradually increased. In addition, in recent years, with the rapid development of capitalism and colonialism in the Ming Dynasty, tax revenue has increased very rapidly.
A few years ago, the imperial court could only receive 500 million taels of silver a year. In the blink of an eye, it would now exceed the one billion taels mark, doubling the amount.
"Congratulations to your majesty, congratulations to your majesty~"
“The tax revenue in a single month exceeded 100 million, which shows that our Ming Dynasty has truly entered an era of unprecedented prosperity.”
"Today, the territory of our country, the Ming Dynasty, is unprecedentedly vast, far exceeding any dynasty and country in ancient and modern times, both at home and abroad. Today, our country, the Ming Dynasty, is richer than ever before. Even the families of the lower class people already have no worries about food and clothing.
Pursue a higher life.”
Liu Jian also quickly stood up to congratulate Emperor Hongzhi. Liu Jian's abilities were actually not as good as those of Li Dongyang and Xie Qian, but he was Emperor Hongzhi's teacher, and he would flatter Emperor Hongzhi in a timely manner. This assistant
The sitting position is as stable as Mount Tai.
"Congratulations to your majesty, congratulations to your majesty~"
"My Majesty congratulates you, I congratulate you from the Ming Dynasty~"
When other ministers saw this, they quickly sent their congratulations.
"Haha, okay, okay~"
"This is all the result of the joint creation of millions of people in our Ming Dynasty. I don't dare to take credit!"
Emperor Hongzhi showed a happy smile, and the unhappiness he had felt during the morning session suddenly disappeared.
"It's a good thing to have money, but the more important thing is to use it on the edge of the sword."
"This tax revenue is taken from the people and used by the people. It is squeezed out by the people through frugality, so it should be well used in national construction."
"Railways and highways have been renovated, rivers and reservoirs have been built, rivers have been dredged, hospitals in various places have been built, and ports and wharves have been built."
"These are projects that are good for people's livelihood and good for the country. In the past, if we wanted to do them, we didn't have the money to do them, so we had to do them in the form of corvee labor, which made the people suffer."
Emperor Hongzhi looked at the huge Ming Dynasty map and began to give instructions.
Nowadays, Ming Dynasty's tax revenue is growing rapidly, but the proportion of fixed expenditures in all aspects is constantly shrinking.
In the past, just supporting the royal family, the princes surnamed Zhu, had to spend one-third of the court's annual tax revenue, which was an extremely heavy burden.
Coupled with the expenses of the officials and the army, etc., the imperial court could not make ends meet every year, and the teachers starved to death because the treasury was empty. The border troops did not even have enough to eat. As for the officials.
We just don’t live on that little salary, otherwise everyone will starve to death.
Well now, the Zhu princes of the Ming Dynasty have basically moved overseas to establish vassal states, and they no longer need to be supported by the Ming Dynasty. As for the army, they have only the internal funds of Emperor Hongzhi for expenses, and there is no need for the national treasury.
Expenditure.
Officials' salaries are rising again and again, but the proportion is getting smaller and smaller. Calculating the entire expenditure, the state treasury can still save a lot of money.
Naturally, money cannot be left in a warehouse to get moldy and smelly. It must be used in a way to realize its value. Therefore, Emperor Hongzhi has been investing heavily in infrastructure construction over the years.
Cement roads, railways, ports, docks, building rivers and reservoirs, dredging canals, strengthening border defenses, supporting immigrants, etc. Every year, large sums of money are allocated, and the effects are slowly showing.
Once the infrastructure is built, commerce and the circulation of goods will become more and more convenient, the economy will grow faster and faster, and more and more taxes will be collected. This is a virtuous cycle.
The huge infrastructure has also led to a large number of jobs and the rapid development of related industries, and dividends have spread from top to bottom to every Ming Dynasty person.