Geng Zhongming from Dongjiang, Jin Shenghuan from Nanchang, Jiang Quan from Datong, Wang Yongqiang from Yan'an, Ding Layin from Hezhong, He Hongqi from Longyou, and Li Chixin from Hubei. The seven towns are special outlying towns. They are allowed to act cheaply and do not enjoy the treatment of the imperial camp for the time being.
The imperial camp headquarters has twenty towns in five compartments, ten towns in the traveling camp, three towns in the capital camp, and seven towns in the outer towns. Except for the outer towns, each town has 5,000 combat troops and 1,800 auxiliary troops. The imperial court pays actual troops accordingly.
Practice actual combat!
Excluding towns, the general plan is to organize it into thirty-three towns, with a total of 165,000 soldiers.
Each of the five compartments of the imperial camp has an admiral and the seal of the general.
"My lords, do you have any opinions on this matter?" Liu Chao, who was presiding over the court discussion, stood up and asked.
There was no sound.
"Mr. Liu?"
What could Liu Zongzhou say when he was asked by name? The emperor was so admonished that he reduced so many troops at once. The fifteen provinces where the imperial camp was located directly reorganized all provincial camps. This was equivalent to saving money.
Thirty towns have a provincial camp of 150,000 people.
There were 100,000 left in the five compartments of the imperial camp, 50,000 left in the traveling camp, and 15,000 left in the Beijing camp. With this intensity, Liu Zongzhou was speechless.
He felt that the emperor had made great concessions and could listen to his ministers' words.
With such a result, I am already very satisfied.
Originally he was opposed to giving generous salaries to officials and generous pay to soldiers, but the emperor's words made it impossible for him to refute.
Hong Chengchou, the Zuo Jianyi doctor, stood up and said, "Eunuch Liu, I think your Majesty has considered everything very comprehensively. During the war, no one can suffer the hardships of the soldiers on the front line.
Good steel must be used on the blade, and now the government's finances must be used on the soldiers first."
"Even if the annual military salary is tens of millions, it must be spent. After this adjustment and reorganization, the military salary will be controlled at around tens of millions in the future. The other expenses are battleships, artillery, shotguns, gunpowder, armor, swords and guns, etc.
For the transportation of vehicles and ships, as well as the consumption of grain, grass, and horses, it is estimated that 20 million will not be enough."
"Let's make a budget of 30 million first and leave enough money for the army first."
Ruan Dacheng, the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, glanced at Hong Chengchou and answered, "This year's total revenue will reach more than 45 million taels of silver, and next year there should be some increase, mainly industrial and commercial taxes and customs duties, gold, salt and tea mines
There is still a lot of room for increases in taxes.”
"A conservative estimate is that next year a total of 50 million taels of silver, plus an additional 5 million stone grains, are guaranteed. Our Ministry of Household Affairs can leave enough 35 million to 40 million taels of silver for the army."
"Is there so much? It's all for the military and other expenses. What about local expenses?"
"In the current tax system of the imperial court, a lot of the land tax and dingyin has been retained by the local government when it is turned over. This year's 30 million li of land taxation, plus land sales money, land deed taxes, etc., actually do not include the local retention.
For that part, we will make a plan and only count what is paid into the national treasury." Ruan Dacheng was very confident when he said this. As the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, he must have money and food, otherwise this official will be considered unstable.
The first one.
The emperor on the throne spoke.
"Next year's budget is enough to leave 30 million for the army. My royal treasury can still subsidize part of it."
The emperor had many properties, including many confiscated fields, manors, shops and other assets, as well as many industries such as banks, banks, saltworks, mines, weaving bureaus, shipyards, and even cannon foundries, tea shops, foreign trade firms, and seagoing caravans.
, these are big deals.
Although these industries of the emperor make money, the emperor always pays attention to the distinction between public and private. Whether it is his own fields, mines, shops, etc., operations are operations, and the taxes that should be paid are not less than a penny, even the passing customs duties and lijin.
It is required that the payment be made correctly.
Zhu Yihai always insisted on keeping things clear. Even if the palace purchases tea from the Royal Tea House or silk from the Weaving Bureau, it must be done through normal accounts and taxes must be paid according to the rules.
The purpose of this is to clarify responsibilities. Those who operate well will be rewarded and commissioned, and those who operate poorly will be punished and need to replace people. Profit is profit, loss is loss, but you must understand which one is profit and which is loss.
, which one does the job effectively, and which one fails to live up to the holy hope.
All transactions must have clear financial accounts. Taxation begins with the emperor. Royal property is royal property, internal money is internal money, and the court is the court. Accounting cannot be confused and market-oriented management is allowed.
Even if the emperor buys tea from his own tea shop, he must first take money from his own funds, and pay the bills when buying tea from the tea shop at normal market prices. If the tea shop makes money, the dividends that should be distributed at the end of the year should be paid.
Turned-in profits of turned-in profits.
It is precisely because of the emperor's rules that the emperor's industry expanded rapidly but was well managed, and even Liu Zongzhou, who was such a talker, could not object too much.
After all, the emperor also paid taxes, but there were no exemptions or exemptions. Many of the industries operated by the emperor were beyond the reach of ordinary people, so they could not be regarded as competing for profits with the people.
The emperor did not go to sell vegetables.
They operate mines, smelting, shipbuilding, cannon casting, coinage, banks, money houses, as well as high-end silk weaving, cotton spinning, maritime trade, etc.
In fact, many of the emperor's properties are not entirely owned by the royal family. Many of them involve many ministers and ministers as shareholders. Everyone pays the principal, contributes money and efforts, and then shares the dividends.
Every time he makes a business, the emperor likes to recruit a group of ministers to join him, so these industries are really difficult to attack.
Although he, Liu Zongzhou, refused to take part in a share time and time again, others did not act secretly, but acted according to orders, even such as shipbuilding, smelting, etc., which were urgently needed by the court, not to mention paying so much tax.
The emperor's small treasury was quite large, but he was not stingy about it. He rewarded noble ministers, rewarded soldiers, even provided disaster relief and rewarded troops. The emperor often drew money from his own funds.
With such an emperor, what else can the ministers say?
"Then according to this resolution, the decree will be drafted and issued, and the Ministry of War, Ministry of Household Affairs, Imperial Camp, as well as provincial governors, governors, admirals, and general soldiers will implement the decree!"
Liu Chao concluded with a smile.
The court meeting is special. The resolutions reached at the court meeting do not even need to go through the usual procedures, such as voting, approval, copying, etc., and can be directly issued and implemented according to the draft decree.
The decree was personally drafted by Shen Chenquan, a senior scholar working in the Prime Minister's Office.
The decree was drawn up, and the cabinet ministers lined up to sign it.
Song Zhipu, the chief minister of the cabinet, was the first to sign his name, a beautiful flower sign.
The six cabinet elders signed in turn, then the Minister of the Ministry of Hubu, the Minister of the Ministry of War, etc., and the eunuch Liu Chao, the eunuch who held the seal of the Supervisor of Ceremonies, also signed. Finally, Hong Chengchou, the left admonishing official of the Admonition Court, signed, and all the seals of the Admonition Court were given to the matter.
Everyone came forward to sign.
The content of the edict is not long, but there is a long list of names signed at the end, including the Prime Minister's Office, the Cabinet, the Supervisor of Rites, the Sixth Ministry, the Admonition Yuan, the General Affairs Department...
Looking at the signed will, everyone let out a sigh of relief.
The court discussed seven matters, and the first matter got off to a good start, with a good atmosphere and a good solution. Hong Chengchou even looked at the emperor secretly and found that the emperor's face was very calm, and there was even a slight smile on the corner of his mouth.
Well, it seems that Liu Zongzhou stood up and said a lot, and the emperor was not dissatisfied. It was even possible that the emperor had already expected what Liu Zongzhou would say, so the initial proposal might just be an exorbitant price.
After all, if you want to open a window in a house, it is best to push the house down first, otherwise you will encounter troublesome people like Liu Zongzhou who like to fight for everything.
Anyway, if something happens, I won’t discuss it in advance.
Now Liu Zongzhou gave some advice and the emperor adjusted his decree and accepted many of Liu Zongzhou's suggestions. Liu Zongzhou had nothing to say and even felt that he was valued and the emperor could accept the advice.
He took a few special glances at the six palm seals of Kanayuan, and all of them showed signs of success.
Although these few are not high in rank, only being in the fourth rank, because they are the sixth-level palm seals, they actually have very heavy powers. Those second- and third-rank masters, such as Si Jian and Si Yan, are actually not as good as these six palm seals.
Even Hong Chengchou had to have a good relationship with them, otherwise if they were disobedient, he would not be able to be the dean of the admonishment academy.
Fortunately, with regard to this matter just now, several palm seals headed by Hua Xia were obviously very satisfied. Although they had the power to refute and could participate in state affairs, today's court meeting was very satisfactory.
No one in particular stood up and spoke just now.
Hong Chengchou remembered that those officials in the Ming Dynasty were all unruly and unruly. As long as there was an opportunity, they had to stand up and show their presence.
Precisely because of the presence of dozens of people in charge of matters, a strange situation often occurred in the Ming Dynasty, where discussions were held but no decisions were made.
No matter how we discuss it, it will be difficult to come up with a result in the end, because people will always refute these issues, and party disputes are fierce, and issues are often divided into several parties that attack each other. The longer the discussion, the harder it is to achieve an outcome.
But the current Jianyuan, from the two deans, to the six subjects Zhangyin, and now to the left and right subjects, and the subjects of each subject, there is no such obvious split. Although they have different backgrounds, they sometimes
There will be factional disputes, but because many of the officials of the Jian Yuan have had stains in the past, such as surrendering to captives, surrendering to obedience, or serving as thieves, etc., they are an outlier in the current court.
Just like Qian Qianyi used to be the leader of Donglin, but now he is the right admonishment doctor, but no matter whether it is Qi Biaojia, Liu Zongzhou, Huang Daozhou, Xu Shiqi or other people from Donglin, they are not willing to follow Qian anymore.
Even if Qianyi comes close, he will never accept him again.
Therefore, everyone in the Jianyuan also knew this very well, and even understood that this was the reason why the emperor appointed them as the officials of the Jianyuan.
There is a saying that good deeds cannot be overdone. Most of these people have flaws, and as admonishment officials, they are destined to become lonely ministers.
The Liuke Yanguan, who used to show off their presence at all times, were now sitting there calmly. What they had just discussed was such a big matter involving the army, finance, etc. that was the foundation of the country, but in the end, none of them stood up and spoke.
What is revealed here is the supreme authority of the Emperor.
The emperor even made the officials of the Imperial Examination and Remonstrance Yuan obey his advice. From this aspect alone, he was far superior to Chongzhen a hundred times.
And he could see that this was not fear of the emperor, but genuine support for the emperor.
