"Your Majesty said that the imperial court should spend within its means. I think this point is very good." Liu Zongzhou, wearing a big purple bull robe and holding a jade tablet, said bluntly to the emperor, "But which expenditures are necessary and which are not necessary?"
of?"
"Since your Majesty started the army, he has implemented many benevolent and new policies, which are all very good. For example, abolishing military and craftsmen households, abolishing lowly status, abolishing the world's guard posts, and changing the clan and vassal support system have reduced a lot of expenses for the court, and even made your majesty diligent and thrifty.
He is frugal and doesn't like luxury. So far, his harem only has thirteen people, and his number of maids is only a few hundred.
Compared to the nine thousand maids and one hundred thousand eunuchs and servants in the last years of Chongzhen's reign, His Majesty's diligence and frugality truly set an example for the world."
Liu Zongzhou was more fair, and he did not hesitate to praise those who did the right thing. He also firmly opposed what was wrong.
Military expenditures were too high and the court was unable to provide them.
A long-term worker in the south of the Yangtze River can only earn three taels of silver a year. But now the soldiers in the army are paid a minimum of three taels of silver a month and a maximum of four taels of silver. The rest of the rewards, pensions, etc. are also very high. Although the generous pay and generous rewards motivate the soldiers
, but the court cannot afford it.”
"In addition, each army also specially equips auxiliary soldiers with warriors. One warrior is at least three taels per month. For every one hundred soldiers, there are thirty-six warriors. This part of the expenditure is also huge,"
"I believe that all auxiliary camps can be dismantled, and strong men can be recruited on the spot to assist during wartime."
"The wages of soldiers can be appropriately reduced. The upper-class daily salary is one cent, three taels per month, the middle-class daily salary is nine cents, and the monthly salary is twenty-two seven cents. The lower-grade salary is eight cents per day, and the monthly salary is two cents and four...
·, In addition, since the generous salary has been issued, the monthly ration will be cancelled. If you are away on an expedition, you can make appropriate supplementary rations."
"There is no need to pay high wages to hire Western instructors and mercenaries."
"Officers can also receive an appropriate increase in salary, but they should not be given rations to their own soldiers, nor should they be given extra money to envoys. A battalion officer only supervises five hundred soldiers, so the monthly salary is fifty taels, which is equivalent to an increase for each soldier.
For one coin of military expenses, the minister's silver is one hundred and fifty taels. If you add three coins to it, you will have ten more soldiers with food and military pay. It is too much!"
Zhu Yihai sat there and listened to Liu Zongzhou's detailed explanation without rushing to refute.
Liu Zongzhou is a famous rotten scholar in the world, but Zhu Yihai doesn't think he is a real nerd. He is just a person with a moral heart and persistence. At this time, we need not only talented officials, but also people who can be morally determined and stick to the direction.
Flag bearer.
What he said is idealism.
Zhu Yihai's new policy has indeed reduced a lot of expenditures in the three major categories of vassal vassal, health office and palace.
For example, in the original imperial court, there were hundreds of thousands of clans. They were enfeoffed but not given land, given titles but not to the people, and paid but not managed. They were not allowed to participate in the business of scholars, farmers, industry, and commerce. The clans had a superior political and economic status, and they often married wives and concubines.
The population increased significantly, they occupied vast fields, annexed land, and huge expenditures consumed a lot of national wealth.
During the Wanli period, the country provided 4 million shi for grain to the capital every year, while the royalties of various prefectures amounted to 8.53 million shi. Taking Shanxi as an example, 1.52 million shi was retained, and the Zonglu required 312
Ten thousand stones. Taking Henan as an example, there are 843,000 stones left, and Zonglu has 1.92 million stones.
The grain remaining in the two provinces was completely lost according to the order, which was less than half of the rice supply.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the military households in various guard stations across the country had long been corrupted and could not bear the war. However, there were still a large number of defenders in various guard stations who needed monthly rations. The military households in the fields could not provide them at all, and they had to be subsidized by the state and county to support them.
They had millions of soldiers, but they couldn't fight, but they had to put in a lot of grain. They also occupied a lot of farmland. Not only did they fail to pay taxes to the court, but they became a bottomless pit.
Only the imperial clan and the guards provided for the army. These two items overwhelmed the finances of the late Ming Dynasty and made it suffocating.
In the late Ming Dynasty, there was another major expense, which was the palace.
There are nine thousand maids in the inner palace. This number is relatively real.
There are 100,000 eunuchs and servants, but it is a bit more complicated. In fact, the palace eunuchs in the late Ming Dynasty had many agencies. They not only served the emperor in the Forbidden City, they had twelve eunuchs, and there were many agencies below.
During the Longqing period, a report from the Ministry of Industry stated that the number of servants in the northern and southern capitals was 12,729. Since then, this number has continued to expand. In the first year of Wanli, 3,000 men were selected at one time.
Two hundred and fifty were recruited from each supervisory bureau, and more than 2,000 people were recruited in the sixth year, another 2,000 in the 11th year, another 2,000 in the 16th year, and another 3,000 in the 29th year.
According to incomplete statistics based on actual records, the number increased to more than 30,000 during the Chongzhen period.
There are more than 11,500 eunuchs and workers under the Weaving and Dyeing Bureau.
There are also a large number of medical officers in the palace staff. In the early years of Chongzhen, the number of official doctors increased to 533, and the number of official craftsmen in Wensi Academy also increased to nearly 3,200.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the number of Jinyi guards reached more than 34,400.
In addition, there are also a large number of eunuchs who are guarding outside and eunuchs from Jiangnan weaving and other industries.
At that time, in Beijing alone, the amount of money, food, silk, cloth, porcelain, etc. supplied to the palace and chamberlains was almost equivalent to one hundred thousand people.
There are more than 20,000 chamberlains above the chief attendant in the palace, and there are many below the chief attendant. The number of eunuchs, chief attendants and other chamberlains under various supervisory bureaus who do not live in the palace is even larger.
Of course, there are only 20,000 to 30,000 eunuchs who are actually purified, and the rest are personnel under the Twelve Eunuchs, all serving the royal family.
During the Jiajing period, Guanglu Temple was responsible for the supply of the palace, with an annual expenditure of 360,000 silver.
Liu Zongzhou's statement of nine thousand palace maids and one hundred thousand eunuchs is actually not rigorous enough. The actual situation should be that the number of palace ladies is about the same, but one hundred thousand eunuchs is impossible. Of course, if the entire palace and the entourage of the eunuchs serving the royal family are taken into account, even
Counting temporary workers, the difference is pretty much the same.
Although the production amount is not large, even temporary workers will still have expenses.
Two to three hundred thousand clan members, six to seven hundred thousand guards, plus nearly one hundred thousand palace servants, etc., these three expenditures were indeed very large. Zhu Yihai cut them down with several knives, continued to streamline them, and saved a lot of financial expenses.
Now, Zhu Yihai has established three capitals: Nanjing Yingtian, Tokyo Fengtian, and Shaojing Shaotian. However, the total number of palace residents in the three palaces is only less than a thousand, and the number of internal servants has also been greatly reduced.
In particular, the original Twelve Supervisors have been greatly streamlined, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has been newly established, and many affairs have been transferred to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In particular, many of the original royal handicraft workshops such as weaving are now basically assigned to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
It is under the name of the government and adopts a similar semi-independent business model.
It is still owned by the royal family, but it is relatively independent. A large number of craftsmen and workers are even employed as in the outside market.
In addition, there are some manual units that were directly set aside and no longer managed by the palace servants. Although the Twelve Supervisory Bureaus are still there, they have streamlined their manpower and are only responsible for core responsibilities. Many other ancillary errands have been taken away.
.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs took over a large number of royal handicraft workshops, but the business model also changed.
The two to three hundred thousand clans have experienced great turmoil in these years. Many clans died at the hands of intruders, Western thieves, etc., and many fell into the hands of Tatars, which reduced the number a lot.
Today, nearly half of the survivors have arrived in the south, and many are still stranded in the north.
For these clans, Zhu Yihai also adjusted the clan system several times.
Let the clan government be responsible for settling these clan clans in various places.
The clan titles and titles were greatly changed, and salaries were greatly reduced.
Only a small number of vassals were retained, and hereditary succession was ignored. The rest were demoted to the first rank, and those who were commoners were demoted to the second rank.
However, after Zhu Yihai reformed these, he also gave the clan some good welfare benefits, such as allowing them to choose their own names, marry their own wives and daughters, allow them to study and participate in the imperial examination, and also allowed them to serve as soldiers, officials, and run four businesses.
Industry, for industry and business.
Many restrictions have been lifted.
On the other hand, at the same time as the clan's salary dropped significantly, new members of the clan were given a ration, which was reduced by half when they were six years old, and until they were twelve years old, this ration was six bushels of rice per month.
When the clan reaches the age of sixty, they can also adopt the old rations, six dou per month, until their death.
Children in the clan were also given a subsidy of three dou rice per month for studying.
These rations were not drawn from the treasury of the Ministry of Revenue, but from the emperor's internal funds. Compared with the past, this subsidized grain was actually not much, and it did not give much rice to the scholars in various counties and schools.
The clan's salary was a few grades lower than that of court officials. Basically, it was just enough to support the family in Hukou. It was impossible to continue the superior life before. You had to do things by yourself, whether it was studying, becoming an official, being a soldier, or farming.
In business, etc., you have to be self-reliant.
As before, it is impossible for a prince to have a salary of ten thousand shi and a first-grade official to have a salary of 1,000 shi.
Except for a few hereditary princes who were not demoted, the rest of his concubines had to be demoted to the next rank. Those who were concubines had to be demoted to the second class at a time. As they continued to be demoted, their titles were lowered and lowered, and in the end they could only be retained.
With the title of a clan disciple, one can only receive two taels of silver and six dou of clan rice a month.
The new system even stipulates that after royal women get married, they will no longer have a salary to support them, and naturally they will not have a husband, a consort, or a guest of honor.
These reforms are so powerful that they are even stronger than those reform proposals Liu Zongzhou submitted.
However, Liu Zongzhou believed that the emperor's increase in salary for hundreds of officials and generous pay for soldiers was equivalent to adding in what was finally reduced, and had to find a lot more to make up for it.
Therefore, he strongly suggested that officials should not be given more salary, and soldiers should not be given too much. Being a soldier and fighting in the war is not something to enjoy.
"Mr. Liu, today is no better than before. When the Ming Dynasty was prosperous, a bucket of rice only cost 20 yuan, a pound of meat only cost 67 yuan, and a pound of fish only cost 1 or 2 yuan. One tael of silver can buy a lot of things, but what about now? Although
Jiangnan has stabilized, but prices are still very high. Now the price of rice in Guangdong is about one, two, two per stone. In Zhejiang, it is about one, two, three, four. When it comes to Taihu Lake, it is one, two, five. In Jiangxi, it is one, two, sixty-seven. In Huguang and Sichuan, it is about one, two, six.
twenty taels,
Crossing the river is even more expensive. Nowadays, one stone of rice in Huaiyang costs about three taels, and one stone of rice in Dengzhou costs one, two, eight.
In the disaster-stricken areas of Henan and Shandong, each stone now costs at least five taels of silver, and the price is still high but there is no market.
In the middle period of Wanli, one stone of rice in the south cost about five coins of silver. By the early days of Tianqi and Chongzhen, one stone of rice in the south cost one tael."
Since the mid-Ming Dynasty, the standardization of silver has also brought about mild inflation. Prices have been rising, but the rise is relatively moderate and slow. During the Apocalypse and Chongzhen Period, disasters in various places continued to add to military disasters, causing prices to skyrocket across the board and even reach highs.
No less.
In the early days of Chongzhen, the price of rice rose to one tael of silver and one stone, which the common people found unacceptable. However, it soon rose to two, three, and one stone, and even four or five taels could not buy grain, so people had to eat each other.
Now that the situation is improving, the price of rice in Jiangnan is still higher than in the early years of Chongzhen. It still needs at least two or three crops. The south must no longer suffer from military disasters before it can fall back to less than one tael of silver and one stone. But I want to drop it again.
, it’s already more difficult.
Unless the Tatars are wiped out and the country regains stability, then the population will drop sharply, food output will be stable, and there will be a food surplus, then it will be possible for the economy to fall a bit.
In today's turmoil, it is normal for prices to be high.
On the one hand, many people are living in a precarious situation, leaving their hometowns and unable to even put food on the table. Therefore, if they can have a place to stay and a job to eat, they are willing to work for even the cheapest wages, let alone three or three taels of long-term labor a year.
The refugees were willing to pay only food and accommodation and a couple of taels.
But on the other hand, due to turmoil caused by wars, some craftsmen are scarce. For example, many craftsmen such as blacksmiths and carpenters who know their crafts now have higher salaries.
For example, Zhoushan's shipyards, musket factories, etc. have many orders and tight construction schedules. They recruit skilled craftsmen everywhere, and their salaries have increased. Even some veteran farmers recruited from the Royal Grange can now get 90 yuan a year in salary.
two.
Therefore, the overall supply of goods and materials is currently insufficient, which has led to a general increase in prices and wages. However, on the other hand, due to war disasters, some refugees are the cheapest labor force in order to survive.
Some odd jobs range from just food, to ten to twenty cash a day, to fifty to seventy cash. For those with skills, one or two hundred cash a day is also common.
Therefore, those who work part-time can earn at least 200 to 300 yuan a month, and the most can earn more than one or two.
Those who work as long-term workers have at least three taels of silver including food and accommodation, but those with higher wages already have ten taels.
Liu Zongzhou said that a long-term worker earned three taels of silver a year, which was even the previous level after food and accommodation were included. Those who still get three taels of silver now are usually refugees from the north.
Soldiers were paid four to five taels a month, which was indeed high in the past.
But now prices are at least two or three times what they were during the Wanli period. In the past, five taels of silver could buy ten shi of rice, but now ten taels of silver can only buy a little more than three shi of rice in the south.
So in fact, the purchasing power of wages now is almost the same as before.
Although the soldiers were provided with food and shelter in the army, they still had to support their families in Hukou. With just a few stones of rice, they could barely feed a few people, and they still had to fight for their lives.
“Mr. Liu!
"Soldiers fought for the country, shed their blood and sacrificed their lives, and earned the money by wearing their heads in their belts."
“Those who hold wages for others should not be allowed to freeze to death in the wind and snow; those who open the way for others should not be trapped in thorns!
The soldiers are the guardians of the country, not simply hired laborers, not simply making a living, but warriors who sacrifice themselves and fight for the country. We must treat them with the highest courtesy we can!"
"Isn't it normal that a soldier's salary is higher than that of a long-term laborer?"
"The income of a soldier is about the same as that of a craftsman, isn't it higher?"
"I don't think it's much at all. If it weren't for the lack of finances of the imperial court, their salaries would have to be increased. We must always have high respect for them, and the imperial court must always give priority to protecting them!"
“Have you forgotten the miserable state of the guardsmen in the early Ming Dynasty?
They are the Great Wall of the country. When they fall down due to hunger and hunger, the Great Wall will also collapse, and the ferocious alien enemies will come in!"
"If we can't even provide basic protection, if we can't let them have no worries, how can we let them make sacrifices for the court?"
"I have cut off the clan's salary.
I have reduced the expenses of the palace,
But the salaries of the soldiers,
There is no way I can cut it by even half a point!”
"The auxiliary battalions will not be abolished. These are not civilians, but auxiliary soldiers. They are still soldiers, and they ensure that the soldiers can fight with peace of mind. The treatment of the auxiliary soldiers will not be reduced, because they are still fighting for their lives!"
"I will make it clear to everyone today that not only will I not reduce the salaries of generals and soldiers, I will also increase their benefits!"
