After a while of haggling, the final sum of the six parts cost a total of 14 million silver dollars.
In the end, the surplus was only two million yuan.
As for the food, there was a lot left. Among the six departments, only the Ministry of War liked it. The army consumed too much. If the court did not supply it, the expenditure would be doubled.
Even excluding the consumption of the army, there are still nearly 14 million stones.
Two million silver dollars is indeed a little short. If there is an emergency, I'm afraid I won't be able to meet it.
"Your Majesty, the current price of grain in Beijing is about one silver dollar per stone. If we slowly sell last year's grain reserves, we can collect three to four million silver dollars."
Zhao Shu understood the emperor's concerns and immediately came up with a solution.
In order to move the capital, almost all of Nanjing's grain reserves for the second year of Shaowu were transported to Beijing, which was enough for the entire city to feed the people for one year.
Now that the autumn grain has arrived, last year's and summer grain are naturally not welcome and should be sold.
The biggest benefit of sea transportation is that it allows Beijing to eat new food.
If it was transported by water before, the local government must collect all taxes by the end of October, and then, depending on the distance, the taxes must be transported to Beijing at the latest one year and at the minimum three to five months.
Therefore, except for some dignitaries and the emperor, the whole city of Beijing basically had no access to new rice.
"The potential of commercial taxation is still great, and the Ministry of Household Affairs still needs to work hard!"
Zhu Yixi nodded, looked at Zhu Mou, and sighed.
The reason why we don’t talk about the customs and banknotes is that the banknotes are still in the hands of the inner court and are in a transitional period, while the customs is where the future emperor’s internal funds will be, and the Ministry of Revenue will not be able to get a single cent.
"Your Majesty, rest assured that the salt voting method will be fully rolled out next year, and the Changlu Saltworks, Fujian Salt, Jieyan, Liangzhe Salt, etc. will at least double."
The emperor's eyes were full of regret, and Zhu Mou was deeply stimulated and immediately promised: "The humble minister can only get at least eight million yuan based on the small amount."
"Good!" The emperor exclaimed, "The salt industry is the lifeblood of the imperial court. It must be managed well. Just do your best. Don't force it."
Zhu Yixi has high expectations for the salt tax, which is definitely a cash cow.
The salt tax in the Qing Dynasty directly exceeded 10 million taels after the salt stamping law. By the Guangxu period, it exceeded 30 million taels, and in Xuantong it reached 50 million taels.
Don’t ask for so much, you should always have tens of millions of dollars!
However, the imperial court is in such a tight situation because the north is too dilapidated to provide for the imperial court. After two or three years of rest and recuperation, the situation will inevitably change.
Zhao Shu even optimistically estimated that after the fall of the Qing Dynasty, the Taiping population in the north increased, taxes increased significantly, and the annual surplus of the Ministry of Household Affairs could exceed 5 million yuan.
And food will pile up like mountains.
A budget meeting ended perfectly.
Finally, Zhu Mou personally asked to see the emperor and expressed his feelings:
"Although grain prices are still high today, they have probably fallen, so everyone in the household department particularly loves silver coins and despises grain."
"Grain needs people to take care of it, repair the granary, and dry it from time to time, but the silver coins are sent directly in boxes and can be counted or weighed, which saves time and effort."
"did you mean?"
Zhu Yixi frowned.
"What the Ministry of Household Affairs means is that in Shandong, Shaanxi, Gansu, Shanxi, Henan, and Northern Zhili provinces, water power is insufficient, transportation is inconvenient, and the losses of grain trucks are too great."
"Instead of doing this, it would be better to directly collect the silver."
Zhu Mou looked at the emperor carefully and asked tentatively.
Speaking of which, we have to mention the tax-sharing law that divided the world into silver and grain tax zones when we first entered Nanjing.
It is an improvement based on the shortcomings of the one-piece whip method, because in some places, copper is precious and silver is cheap, such as Jiangnan, and in some places, silver is precious and copper is cheap, such as Jiangxi.
Therefore, for example, economically developed areas such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Yingtianfu mainly collect silver because they do not produce enough grain but have a lot of silver.
For major grain-producing provinces such as Huguang and Jiangxi, they have developed water conservancy and sufficient transportation capacity to transport grain, so they still collect grain.
It's nothing more than adapting measures to local conditions.
If this is still the case, Shandong and Henan are both major grain-producing provinces, and they have canals and the Yellow River, which should be used for harvesting grain.
Needless to say, there is no need to mention Beizhili. There must be food right under your nose.
Only in the three provinces of Gansu, Shanxi, and Shaanxi, where roads are difficult, money is worthwhile.
But Hubu was unwilling.
Because as the commodity economy develops and the economy becomes more active, silver becomes more and more useful, and food becomes less and less popular.
As Zhu Mou said, not only does food take up space, but also someone has to be sent to guard it, which is too expensive.
As the imperial court used silver to pay salaries to officials, the importance of food decreased again, and its greatest role was to supply the city of Beijing.
This function can be accomplished by private grain merchants, especially if there is active shipping, the food crisis will become further and further.
Zhu Mou said solemnly: "No matter how much food there is, it will only be a burden. If North Zhili recovers as before, there will be no need to collect food even in the south."
Although this statement is a bit decisive, it is indeed true.
Therefore, the food dilemma that has existed for thousands of years has now become a food burden.
The biggest expenditure of the Household Department now is to repair the granary.
"no--"
The emperor thought for a while and rejected the proposal directly.
"Don't be short-sighted, think about the future."
Speaking of this, the emperor said solemnly: "Sea transportation is convenient, but if the sea is blocked, wouldn't it be at the mercy of others?"
"Your Majesty, is there such a person in the world?" Zhu Mou blurted out in disbelief.
If they just sit back and do nothing, Western countries will do it.
Muttering in his heart, the emperor said directly: "Walking on two legs and transporting sea and water in parallel are national policies and must not be changed."
"By the way, Kaifeng's dykes have burst for many years, so it is urgent to control the Yellow River."
After saying this, the emperor directly asked the Ministry of Revenue to set up a special fund to control the Yellow River and invest at least 500,000 yuan every year to control the Yellow River.
In this way, Zhu Mou had no choice but to leave.
After returning to the household department, several ministers gathered around him, looking forward to it.
Shaking his head, Zhu Shangshu sat down helplessly.
The waiters on the left and right sighed.
"Thirteen official departments, in charge of each province, all have warehouse departments, and the warehouse department consumes a lot of money. The other departments are gossiping about it. You, the household department, are in charge of money and food, so you are not allowed to spend a lot of money."
Zuo Shilang muttered: "Who can think of our suffering?"
"That's all."
Zhu Mou took a sip of tea and talked about the management of the Yellow River. When he learned that an additional five hundred thousand yuan would be spent every year, the two ministers looked extremely ugly.
"These days of plenty are few and far between, and we have to tighten our belts again."
"Stop complaining."
Zhu Shangshu said angrily: "How about I go talk again?"
"No, you have worked so hard. If you go there one more time, our library will really be gone."
"Hmph!" Zhu Mou waved his hand and said, "Instead of sighing here, it would be better to go directly to the Yellow River and set up a few more warehouses, so as not to be too busy in the coming year."
To increase revenue and reduce expenditure, you still have to make money!