The five hundred and fortieth chapters are rich enough to rival the country
Zhou Yanru, assistant to the cabinet, held up a sign and came out and said: "Your Majesty, the governor of Shandong is asking to exempt Shandong from the land tax for one year. Tianlai Novel | 2"
The annual land tax in Shandong is more than 2 million shi, which is not a small amount for the strapped court. However, most of the more than 2 million shi in land tax is transferred to various yamen, guards and military camps. Shandong does not accept it.
Naturally, the land tax and the expenses of these places were in arrears for one year, so the final deficit of more than two million dan was not entirely borne by the Imperial Warehouse.
Now that there is no rain in Shandong in March, this land tax cannot be exempted.
Zhu Youjian nodded and said: "It's accurate! Exemption from Shandong's land tax for one year!"
Liu Zongzhou, the censor of Zuodu of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, held up a sign and said loudly: "I, Liu Zongzhou, plead for the people of Shandong. I hope that the emperor will allocate food for disaster relief and save the people of Shandong from the suffering of famine."
When Zhu Youjian heard this, his face darkened.
Liu Zongzhou was a famous Confucian in the Ming Dynasty, and his moral reputation was known all over the world. He was also one of the vanguards who opposed Li Zhi on weekdays. Liu Zongzhou's petition for disaster relief was impeccable. With the famine in Shandong, the imperial court was certainly responsible for providing relief.
Small people.
But in fact, these words fell into Zhu Youjian's ears, but they were words to gain fame. If the imperial court was so poor, how could it provide disaster relief? Liu Zongzhou's words were purely to express the generosity of others.
Shandong has a population of tens of millions. Because of this drought, I am afraid that there will be no food rations for the entire year from October this year to October next year. This is 10 million people. How can the court provide disaster relief? Even if you eat porridge during the famine, one person can only survive for one day.
Five taels of grain are consumed, which is one stone of grain per year. Ten million people consume ten million stone of grain per year.
According to today's grain prices, ten million shi is equivalent to two or thirty million taels of silver.
The Jinzhou War wiped out the imperial court's accumulated silver, and the imperial court did not spend ten million taels of silver. Although it received a windfall from Ma Zhengyin of Taipu Temple last year, plus a considerable sum of money was gained from killing a traitor and ransacking his house last year.
, but there are only a few million taels of silver stored in the Taichou, and there are more than 20 million taels of silver to go to Shandong for disaster relief. Even if the Taikoo is emptied, the people of Shandong cannot be saved.
What's more, Zhu Youjian is still training new soldiers, and the amount of silver in Taicang has been declining.
Liu Zongzhou's words were purely an act to sell his reputation. Once he said these words, once Zhu Youjian rejected his suggestion, he would be accused of being in love with money.
Zhu Youjian looked at Liu Zongzhou and was a little angry for a moment. He really wanted the Jin Yiwei to kick the old Confucian out and beat him with fifty imperial sticks.
However, Liu Zongzhou is a great scholar in the world and a big boss in Donglin. No matter how angry Zhu Youjian is with him, he will not dare to convict him because of his words. Moreover, Liu Zongzhou's disaster relief suggestions are high-sounding. If Zhu Youjian punishes him for this, I am afraid he will be punished.
Scholars all over the world have been scolding him for decades.
Zhu Youjian closed his eyes helplessly and said slowly for a long time: "The imperial court has no money and cannot provide disaster relief..."
As soon as Zhu Youjian said these words, there was an uproar in the court. Hundreds of officials ignored the rules of the court and discussed among themselves, as if to protest the stinginess of the emperor. A few bold officials even walked out of the queue of civil servants and found the new household minister.
Shangshu Ni Yuanlu commented, as if he didn't believe the emperor's words and wanted to verify it himself.
The court hall suddenly became disorderly.
Zhu Youjian looked at the noisy court and sighed.
Zhu Youjian suddenly thought of Li Zhi's equalizing land tax. After Li Zhi equalized land tax in Tianjin, he increased the land tax by 20%. As a result, the poor people not only lightened their burden, but also received more than 400,000 taels of silver a year.
Profit. If the imperial court promotes Li Zhi's practice throughout the country, Taicang can earn more than 10 million taels of silver a year. If this is done, I am afraid that the Ming court will never be short of silver again.
But Zhu Youjian knew that this was a fantasy. Li Zhi had strong soldiers and horses, and evened the land tax in Tianjin, but the gentry all over the world fought back wildly. If he equalized the land tax across the country, I am afraid that he, the emperor, would not be able to do it.
After a long time, the noisy civil servants in the court became quiet.
Huang Degong, the commander-in-chief of the Beijing camp, handed over his hands and said: "Your Majesty, Shandong is an area where the Wenxiang Sect is prevalent. At this time, there is a famine, and various forces may take advantage of the situation. I would like to mobilize 20,000 Xuan Da soldiers and horses to be stationed in Jinan to prevent the evil sect from causing chaos.
"
Liu Zongzhou glared at Zhou Yuji and said loudly: "It's ridiculous. When the people are in poverty and have no food, instead of opening warehouses to help the people, they instead mobilize troops to protect the people? Since the imperial court has no money for disaster relief, how can it have the money to mobilize troops?"
Zhu Youjian became more and more annoyed when he looked at Liu Zongzhou who ignored reality and talked about morality.
However, the civil servants of the Chongzhen Dynasty were also used to being unruly, and Liu Zongzhou was not the only one who was selling his reputation. Zhu Youjian was so angry that he had no choice but to look at the ministers in the court.
Ni Yuanlu, the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, stepped out of the queue and said loudly: "I have something to say!"
"explain!"
"I believe that sending border troops to Shandong is expensive and unnecessary. I believe that there is no fear of unrest in Shandong."
Governor Zhu Youxu said: "You tell me."
"I thought that the Duke of Jin was stationed in Shandong with five thousand soldiers and horses... Although the garrison of the Duke of Jin was illegal and has been criticized by others, these five thousand soldiers and horses can indeed frighten the whole province of Shandong. Even if there are tens of thousands of thieves,
If someone makes trouble, he will surely be easily defeated by Duke Jin."
Zhu Youjian's eyes lit up when he heard Ni Yuanlu's words.
There is some truth in what Ni Yuanlu said. Li Zhi has always coveted Shandong, so why would he sit back and watch the unrest in Shandong? As long as there are thieves in Shandong, I am afraid that Li Zhi will be the first to lead his troops to destroy them.
Zhu Youjian thought for a while and said with a smile: "What Ni Qing said is reasonable. Although there is a drought in Shandong, there is no risk of unrest with the Duke of Jin in charge."
Ni Yuanlu raised her hand again and said: "I think that the disaster relief matters in Shandong can also be handed over to the Duke of Jin."
"how do I say this?"
Ni Yuanlu flicked the sleeves of her official robe and said eloquently: "Everyone knows that the Duke of Jin wants to control Shandong Province, and I don't need to say more. Now that the Duke of Jin is running a newspaper in Shandong, he has already controlled the public opinion in Shandong. In Jinan, he is stationed in Jinan.
The soldiers have already controlled the military in Shandong. They have also opened courts in various prefectures, states, and counties to control the judiciary in Shandong."
"Nowadays, it is not an exaggeration to say that the Duke of Jin is the actual controller of Shandong. In addition to collecting taxes, conducting imperial examinations, and building schools in Shandong, all other affairs of the imperial court have been handed over to the Duke of Jin."
"Since the Duke of Jin has actually taken control of Shandong, how can he leave the disaster relief affairs to the imperial court?"
Governor Zhu You was silent and said nothing.
Ni Yuanlu said: "The Duke of Jin killed the Fujian general Zheng Zhilong and confiscated the property of the Zheng family, which is said to be as much as ten million taels. Now the Duke of Jin can be said to be as rich as the country. Instead of letting the poor household department provide money for disaster relief
, it would be better to let the Duke of Jin come out with money to save millions of people in Shandong!"
