In the winter of this year, not only Zhang Yong and Gu Dayong became officials, but Li Chongsi, the censor of Youdu, also became an official.
Li Chongsi once supported Wang Yuan in renovating rivers in Shandong, and supervised the military affairs in Nanjing when King Ning rebelled. Wang Yuan originally wanted to reuse this veteran minister, but Zhu Houzhao was too capable, and Li Chongsi's body could not bear it.
When Li Chongsi left the capital, Wang Yuan went to the emperor and asked him to promote the old minister.
Therefore, Li Chongsi became an official with the post of Shangshu of the Ministry of War, and the house in his hometown could be renamed "Shangshu Di".
Wang Yangming also resigned in Nanjing. His lung disease required rest, but Zhu Houzhao was too lazy to pay attention. Anyway, as the Minister of Civil Affairs in Nanjing, he didn't have much busy work. He could work and take care of his old age without delay.
By the way, Wang Yangming's old tree has blossomed, and now he has a son and a daughter at his knees.
They were all born from concubines. Mrs. Xuxian had not been pregnant for a long time. Wang Yangming couldn't stand the nagging of his clan members and wanted to leave offspring himself, so he took in a concubine.
The twenty-seventh day of the twelfth lunar month.
Peng Ze, the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, came to Yang Tinghe's home to visit him and respectfully asked in his loud voice: "Sir, are you feeling better?"
Yang Tinghe leaned on crutches and sighed: "I caught wind and cold in Mengdong (the tenth month of the lunar calendar), and I have already recovered. Unexpectedly, I caught a cold again a few days ago, and after taking medicine, I was fine. Alas, old people are no longer as good as they were when they were young. ."
"Boom, boom, boom!"
Suddenly a bell rang, but it was the pendulum clock in the living room that struck the hour. Some craftsmen improved European clocks and created a self-ringing device, which was very popular among the gentry and wealthy businessmen. It was called the "self-ringing clock" among the people.
Although Yang Tinghe disliked Wang Yuan a little, he had to admit that Wang Yuan and the School of Physics had indeed brought about many good changes.
At least, life is much more convenient.
Yang Tinghe's eyes had become dim in recent years, so his son Yang Shen hired a craftsman to make a pair of glasses out of glass, which he now wears on his chest every day for easy access.
The two chatted for a while, and Peng Ze said: "Mr. Wushan (Li Chongsi) has become an official, and this right capital censor should be replaced..."
Yang Tinghe immediately waved his hand: "It's not the censor of Zuodu, so it's useless to fight for it. Who to choose depends on your Majesty's wishes. I will just recommend one person as usual."
Peng Ze hesitated to speak. Although he was old, he was very strong and he still wanted to compete with Wang Erlang.
Yang Tinghe comforted him and said, "Ji Wu, you are now the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs. In a few more years, you can successfully enter the cabinet. Don't have any more disputes with Wang Ruoxu."
"Yes." Peng Ze could only obey. He was Yang Tinghe's diehard loyalist.
Yang Tinghe asked again: "It has been one year since the salt policy reform. How have you collected the salt tax money?"
Although Taichou is managed by the Cangchang Admiral (Shang Shu or Shilang) and is not controlled by the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue has the right to inspect the accounts.
Yang Tinghe replied: "This year, the salt taxes and salt taxes in various places have been released from the treasury. After being converted into silver taels, the total increased by more than 1.82 million taels."
There are definitely loopholes in this data, and the censor's supervision is not effective, but it is still within the acceptable range.
Even so, Yang Tinghe was still frightened: "Salt class, salt tax increased by more than 1.8 million?"
Peng Ze said: "Exactly, it will be reported to the cabinet and household affairs department in two days."
Yang Tinghe sighed with emotion: "Wang Ruoxu is a talented man who manages the country, but I am not as good as him."
Peng Zemoran, as the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, was one of the main beneficiaries of the salt policy reform. He had a lot of money to do things and was not as stretched as his predecessors.
Mainly because of the previous salt tax. The salt tax was so nonsense. It received less than one million taels from the central government every year. The sudden increase of 1.8 million taels is quite scary. Moreover, it does not harm kitchen households, ordinary people and most merchants.
60% of the profits were distributed to local governments, and officials all over the world were given a three-level salary increase for free.
The implementation of the new salt law has not encountered much resistance. Except for a few powerful people and villagers, everyone is in favor of the reform. Everything is like a spring breeze, and all that is needed is to strictly crack down on corruption and smuggling.
Thinking about it now, Yang Tinghe still feels that it is a bit unreal. Is it so easy to carry out reforms?
Peng Ze added: "This year's imperial court's income does not include the gold and silver shipped back from the Far East. The total amount converted into silver taels has exceeded ten million taels."
"Not including the wealth from the Far East, how many tens of millions of taels can there be?" Yang Tinghe thought he heard wrongly.
Peng Ze said: "There are more and more customs silver. The benefits of minting are also becoming more and more abundant. There is also tax money to be released from the treasury, and new money (i.e. silver dollars, copper coins) must be used for many taxes. This method has been used in the two capitals for ten years.
Implementing it in the three provinces can also save a lot of discounts and transportation costs. If the governors and censors in various places can effectively regulate the customs, I am afraid that one or two million more tariffs can be added."
Yang Tinghe was completely speechless. Ten years ago, the central government's fiscal revenue was less than 5 million taels (excluding a large amount of in-kind taxes), but now it has doubled!
Peng Ze was really happy. The emperor was very wealthy, and he, the Minister of Household Affairs, was also very wealthy.
Yang Tinghe asked: "Where are the various expenses?"
Peng Ze replied: "The biggest expense is disaster relief. There are constant disasters in various places, and disaster relief governors are exhausted. The second is counterinsurgency. There are rebellions in the north and south. Especially the Guangxi Rebellion, which took three years and mobilized 100,000 troops from three provinces to quell it. Food and salary were consumed.
It’s very huge. It’s a border town again, and there are more and more people asking for pay from the nine sides, so the border troops must be strictly rectified!”
In the middle and early Ming Dynasty, military expenditures in border towns were mainly handled by local governments. If they could not be spread to the common people, central financial allocations were a supplementary option.
Changes began during the Zhengde and Jiajing years. Border towns became increasingly corrupted and local governments found it difficult to provide supplies, so they could only continue to increase central financial allocations. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the central government's finances could not bear it. Although local governments could not afford it, they had to forcibly distribute salaries (for example, in order to fight wars).
Liao wages), coupled with natural disasters, forced the people to rebel.
From Peng Ze's words, we can know that the largest expenditure of the central government is actually countless natural disasters.
Temperatures have been rising in recent years, and it no longer snows in the south, but floods and droughts have taken turns.
It is already the end of the year, and next year will be even more terrible. Several provinces in the south of the Yangtze River are experiencing severe drought. At the same time, with the emergence of large-scale locust plagues, one stone of rice will rise to two or three taels of silver.
The good news is that due to the military victories of Wang Yuan and Zhu Houzhao, border troubles were much less severe than in the Jiajing Dynasty in history, and the central government's military expenditures were also greatly reduced. Jiajing was a real headache, dealing with Mongolia in the north, Japanese pirates in the south, internal rebellions and uprisings, and military expenditures
Expenditures accounted for the bulk of the expenses, and the court had no money to provide relief to the victims.
Due to the effective relief provided by the imperial court, it is estimated that millions of victims of the Ming Dynasty could avoid starving to death in this time and space.
Jiajing, Jiajing, every house is clean, do you think it’s a joke? All the money of the imperial court was used to fight the war, and the common people had to rely on themselves to bear the disaster!
After Peng Ze left, Yang Tinghe came to the courtyard on crutches and stared at the sparrows on the treetops for a long time without saying a word. Suddenly, he murmured to himself: "Wang Ruoxu, Wang Ruoxu, if you want to change the law, go ahead and change the law. Since you are making money for the court,
, then I will help you save money. The Baofang Border Army, Dongchang and Jinyiwei are all too redundant. After they are abolished, hundreds of thousands of dan of food can be saved every year!"
The number of Dongchang and Jinyiwei in the Zhengde Dynasty was indeed frightening, and they did not do much serious work. This was purely due to Zhu Houzhao's random rewards. Take the Yingzhou Victory as an example, the eunuchs, generals and nobles who participated in the war would not have been able to
With rewards, the family also granted a large number of Jinyiwei households. The warriors in the Leopard House, the entertainers, monks and Taoists that the emperor liked... almost all had relatives who served as Jinyiwei.
These Jinyiwei who were awarded the title of Jinyiwei due to nepotism did not do anything and still received their salary every month. For example, Li Ying's son was awarded the title of Jinyiwei Baihu at the age of three and has been receiving salary for ten years.
Similarly, Zhu Houzhao also awarded a large number of fictitious military officers. You can't see them at ordinary times, and you can't see them when they receive their salaries, because they will send servants to collect their salaries.
Every year, 4 million shi of grain was brought to Beijing from all over the country, and one-twentieth of it was used to feed these wine bags and rice bags.
It depends on whether Yang Tinghe dares to face the civil servants when he is operating, because the civil servants also have a large number of descendants who are members of the Jinyiwei Hundred Households. Zhu Houzhao likes to play like this. If a civil servant is able to do things well, he opens his mouth and says that the Jinyiwei Hundreds Households are sealed. You can't understand the emperor's behavior at all.
Thinking logic.
Including Wang Yuan's son Wang Ce, before he passed the examination as a scholar, he also received the salary of Jin Yiwei for many years. It can be automatically canceled after gaining the title.