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679 [Benefits the poor province]

Wenyuan Pavilion, cabinet meeting.

Wang Yuan jumped out at the beginning: "Oh, there is too much money accumulated in the national treasury."

Mao Ji couldn't help but joke: "It is extremely rare for a master to worry about something."

Wang Tingxiang also said: "Is there anyone who thinks there is too much money?"

Wang Yuan shook his head and said: "In the rich provinces of the Ming Dynasty, money was abundant and prices were high; in the poor provinces of the Ming Dynasty, money was scarce and people's livelihood was poor. This must be taken into consideration!"

To put it bluntly, there was a large inflow of silver and copper ingots, and the imperial court continued to mint coins every year, causing inflation in the wealthy provinces.

At the beginning, the gentry and big businessmen either kept their money in cellars or used it to buy land on a large scale, which alleviated this inflation to a certain extent. However, with the boom in commerce and the accelerated inflow of silver and copper ingots, inflation in wealthy provinces still continued.

Unable to suppress it, the normal price of rice in some places has doubled compared to the Zhengde period.

In poor provinces such as Shaanxi and Guizhou, because people have to pay taxes with silver coins or copper coins, there is always a shortage of money in the hands of civilians, and money becomes more and more valuable. The rich there hoard money and continue to lend money at usury, which is a vicious cycle.

Lead to deflation.

The deflation phenomenon is caused by the one-step reform. If we continue with the previous in-kind taxation, we will not have such troubles.

Historically, the negative impact of Zhang Juzheng's reforms was even worse, because taxes could only be paid in silver, while ordinary people earned copper coins.

This is equivalent to if you usually work to earn RMB, but you have to pay taxes in US dollars. The "fire cost" is the handling fee for converting RMB into US dollars.

At that time, if Spain could be stabilized, the Ming Dynasty's economy could be stabilized. After the Spanish finance went bankrupt, the Ming Dynasty's finance also went bankrupt. The economy in the late Ming Dynasty was very weird, with silver deflation and copper coin inflation. When Chongzhen was in power, the price of grain and silver was

It has dropped by 70% year-on-year, but the price of grain copper coins has increased tenfold year-on-year.

Two words: silver shortage.

But the imperial court only recognized silver for taxation!

Wang Yuan's reform policy was good. He carried out the currency reform in advance, and ordinary people could pay taxes with copper coins. Now it is said that the annual income is more than 30 million taels. In fact, most of the money received by the imperial court was copper coins. In order to store the copper coins, the Taicang had to

Expansion - Taicang is not only a warehouse, but also a military castle that stores coins, food and various supplies. It is guarded by city walls and garrisons.

Although Wang Yuan had little research on economics, he was familiar with the situation in each province and observed the overall situation from a high position. He briefly explained the phenomenon of inflation and deflation and said: "The extra money and grain from rich provinces must be circulated to

It is definitely not possible to go to a poor province and let nature take its course, and it is even less feasible to directly give money to the people in a poor province."

Zhang Cong understood it the fastest, nodded and said: "This matter is indeed difficult."

Wang Hong also roughly understood the situation and asked, "Does the Grand Tutor have a plan?"

Wang Yuan said: "I have thought carefully about it for more than half a year, and I just came up with a way. The governors of the five provinces with the lowest annual income every year, as well as the border towns in the north, all take one hundred thousand taels of silver with them when they take office. These one hundred thousand taels of silver will be used if there is a disaster.

To provide disaster relief, if there is no disaster, we will build bridges and pave roads, or build water conservancy projects, or build the Great Wall at the border. In all projects, laborers are not allowed to be recruited, only farmers and common people are allowed to be hired. In this way, farmers and vagrants have income, and merchants can also make profits.

The place also thrived.”

Mao Ji was surprised: "Every governor brings one hundred thousand taels with him to take office?"

Wang Yuan said: "Only the governors of poor provinces and border towns have silver, and if a major disaster occurs, the governor can apply for additional silver."

Wang Tingxiang asked: "Money and silk attract people's hearts. How to prevent the governor and local officials from joining forces to commit corruption?"

Wang Yuan said with a smile: "We can't stop it, we can only monitor it as much as possible. Every time a governor takes office, he will send a governor to follow him. He can bring a bookkeeper to the governor to record the whereabouts of the money at any time. If major problems are found afterwards, he will be sent to the governor to follow him.

Regardless of whether they are corrupt or not, they are all guilty of the same crime as the governor."

The important ministers in the cabinet looked at each other, and they actually forced the governor to take the money to take office.

From now on, the governors of poor provinces and border towns will definitely become a hot commodity, and each one will hold real power. In order to contract projects and sell supplies, local merchants will inevitably rush to curry favor with the new governor. A governor with a little ability can easily get things done.

Wang Yuan said: "If you have no objections, I will go to your Majesty."

What objections can there be?

It's all Wang Yuan who has the final say.

Regardless of whether a monarch or a minister, the most powerful thing to gain authority is a major military victory, without exception in ancient and modern times. Wang Yuan has achieved a series of military victories. This alone can silence everyone, not to mention his

The reforms also overflowed the state coffers.

Zhang Cong thought carefully and praised: "This method of Taifu is like using work for relief. But it is not disaster relief, but poverty relief."

Wang Yuan smiled and said: "It's not about relieving the poor, it's about relieving the money shortage. The rich households in poor provinces must have money, but the value of money keeps rising, and they are reluctant to use it. The rich hide their money, and the poor's money is taxed

, the money on the market becomes more and more scarce, the money becomes more and more valuable, and the money on the market becomes more and more scarce. Such a vicious cycle must be brought in from the outside, and the governor can barely alleviate it by bringing one hundred thousand taels of silver to his post. This is not

As a rule, if one day the treasury is also short of money, future monarchs and ministers can also cancel it."

As for corruption, as long as it doesn't go too far, Wang Yuan still has a tolerance for official corruption.

There are people around him who are keeping an eye on things, and they are all young people who will reveal things if they are not careful. Therefore, most governors who are smart and greedy for money will start from the engineering side, such as taking kickbacks, and

Or you can ask relatives and friends to participate in the bidding. As long as you don't do a shoddy project, it will be fine.

Building bridges, paving roads, and constructing water conservancy projects are all practical and conducive to the sustainable development of the local area. Even if half of the money is stolen by corruption, it is still worth doing.

Zhu Zaiyi received Wang Yuan's memorial, racked his brains and couldn't figure it out, so he could only summon his teacher to Qianqing Palace. After a detailed explanation, Zhu Zaiyi was still dubious, but still approved Wang Yuan's suggestion. The Governor

The term lasted for several years, and the longest term could even be nine years. Even if the term was once a year, the country would only allocate more than one million taels per year. This amount of money was nothing to the Ming Dynasty.

As soon as the cabinet decree came out, everyone in the court was shocked.

Officials from poor provinces and border towns praised Wang Yuan for caring for the people like a son. Many of them secretly wrote home - the governor has money in his hand. Go and find out what the governor wants to do. Maybe he can take the opportunity to participate in the project and make money.

One stroke.

What made Wang Yuan laugh and cry was that after receiving one hundred thousand taels of silver, the governors of poor provinces and border towns all went to the local areas to set up schools. While running social schools extensively, they also renovated and expanded official schools, or helped the schools purchase land.

There are very few engaged in water conservancy or border defense.

Because running a school produces quick results, and it can also be praised by scholars, it is also a major political achievement for itself.

As for the governor of the border towns, the Mongols have been defeated and there is no rush to build the Great Wall and fortress. Setting up more schools in the border towns to educate military households and foreigners is the top priority in the governor's mind.

In view of this situation, Wang Yuan had no choice but to issue an additional decree: the 100,000 taels of relief money received by each governor shall not be used to build Buddhist and Taoist temples, nor may it be used to build scenic spots and historic sites. A maximum of 10,000 taels can be used for running schools, and the remaining silver taels can be used for repairs.

The priority is to build bridges, pave roads, build water conservancy projects, and consolidate border defenses.

Various factions in the DPRK were fighting for the position of governor.

Those who are greedy for money want to make money, and those who are capable want to achieve political achievements. Anyway, we have one hundred thousand taels of silver in our hands. This is just extra money. If there is an emergency or a major project is launched, we can continue to find it.

The court wants money.

Wang Yuan is not a Spanish nobleman, and he will not become a nouveau riche once he has money.

It’s hard to believe that Spain, which gained huge wealth, suffered a financial collapse within a few decades, and its domestic industry, agriculture and commerce failed to develop at all, and the people at the bottom had a harder time because of rising prices.

When Spain gets rich, it only does two things -

First: Buy everywhere, whether it is luxury goods or daily necessities, buy them all from abroad. If you can buy something with money, why should I produce it myself?

Second, expand the army, continue fighting, and continue looting. When the Spanish army was at its peak, it could fight three European powers at the same time. Based on the ratio of soldiers to population, it would be equivalent to China having a standing army of 70 million in the 21st century.

Britain always advertises that it defeated the Spanish Armada. In fact, it only lost part of the Spanish fleet at that time. It was not damaged at all, and Spain built ships to make up for it the next year. The real reason for Spain's decline was its financial collapse.

, the army was raised too much, fought too many wars, made enemies on all sides without developing itself, and indulged in luxury and pleasure. In the end, the gold and silver obtained from America every year could not pay the interest on military loans.

Nowadays, the Ming Dynasty's treasury is abundant, so of course it must develop the west and the north!


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