Zhu Yihai walked slowly in the Qianqing Palace holding a dragon staff. Although the dragon staff added a bit of majesty to the emperor, it also clearly revealed that the emperor's dragon body was not in good condition.
After walking around for a few times, Zhu Yihai returned to the imperial palace and faced the memorial again. A few years ago, Zhu Yihai had delegated power to the prince. All memorials in the empire were originally submitted directly to the emperor, especially No one has the right to see the important military mission before the emperor approves it. Even the chief prime minister in the Prime Minister's Office can only see the title of the memorial, and the contents must be presented to the emperor for review first. For general affairs, one part was submitted directly to the emperor, another part was given to the cabinet bachelors for voting, and finally it was handed over to the emperor for approval.
This was an important step in ensuring the supremacy of the imperial power, especially since there were many secret reports. From the central government to the localities, from local officials to military generals, there were thousands of officials qualified to report secret reports, and various reports were made internally and externally. , only the emperor knows, and the emperor and his ministers are in direct contact, and are not allowed to pass it on to a third person. Officials are not allowed to let the master's staff write secret reports, and the emperor does not let a third person approve them. After these secret reports are passed on, they must be returned to the emperor.
A few years ago, Zhu Yihai gave the prince a copy of all the memorials and even gave him great power to deal with them.
The emperor visited the west for several years, and the prince stayed to supervise the country, so that the center of the empire could always operate normally.
After the prince disposes of the memorial, the original will be sent to Zhu Yihai, and a copy will be issued. Even for major matters, the emperor's approval must be sought first.
Therefore, during the few years he was away, he actually knew the operation of the Ming Empire very well, but he gradually delegated more and more power to the prince.
"There is too much money in the treasury."
The prince was very restrained in spending money, even a little frugal. The prince was also very frugal in his daily life and never engaged in ostentation. During his three years of western tour, the city of Beijing had changed a lot. The south of the city was even expanded to the outside, but the Forbidden Purple City and the The East Palace has not been changed much, except for the residences of the concubines, princes and princesses in the East and West Palaces.
In addition to the formal attire, the prince usually wears cloth clothes. These cloth clothes are all woven by the concubines of the East Palace themselves. They are not even dyed. They are also very frugal in their diet, with three dishes, one soup, and one meal. Both meat and vegetables are never wasted.
Although the imperial court has been fighting wars in the past few years, the wars they fight are still profitable wars. Among the remaining expenditures, military expenditures account for the bulk, followed by official salaries, and then palace expenditures. In recent years, military expenditures have remained at around 50 million silver dollars each year. However, the Ministry of War has budget savings every year. The main reason is that although the army goes to war in various places, the military pay from the imperial court is relatively generous. Therefore, there is not much increase in military pay during wartime, and most of it is military expenditure. But the imperial court does not care about military operations against Japan. It is still the colonization of Annan. Basically, there is no war now, and it has entered the colonial occupation stage. However, through the taxes, commercial taxes, customs, etc. levied on the colonies, as well as the plundered war resources, sold land, minerals, etc., it is not small income.
After these revenues offset the expenses of garrisoning, there are still savings, especially in the previous war, when Annan and Japan were conquered, and they signed a treaty with them, and after garrisoning, they paid compensation to Ming Dynasty, and also paid Ming Dynasty every year. tribute.
Even in remote places like Myanmar, there is a lot of income from selling trees and minerals. In addition, the army sells prisoners as slaves. Military budgets are made every year, but in fact they make money every year. The more they make, the more they make.
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The imperial court spends a lot on equipment every year, but the military industry is now very developed, and the foreign military sales make a lot of money. The money earned is more than enough to subsidize the Ming Dynasty's military expenditures.
Even in the past few years in the Western Regions, Zhu Yihai had mobilized a lot of troops to exterminate the Yarkand and conquer the Mongolian tribes, etc., but they were not pushed up one or two hundred thousand at a time, but dispersed everywhere, and even grain and grass were mostly used.
The land provides supplies, various rewards, salaries, etc., all of which support war with war.
"Money must be spent. If it is not spent, it will remain in the treasury and it will become dead money. Money must be circulated, otherwise it will lead to insufficient circulation of silver coins, lead to deflation, and affect economic development."
The current normal tax revenue of the Ming Dynasty has reached more than 200 million yuan, which is equivalent to each citizen of the Ming Dynasty contributing one silver dollar. In fact, the proportion of local taxes and silver dollars has been declining year by year. However, in the tens of millions, more of it comes from industrial and commercial taxes.
, tariffs, special taxes on salt, tea, tobacco, alcohol, sugar, etc.
This does not include the income from government-run handicrafts, purchases, trade, etc., which are not directly included in the national treasury, nor does it include income from royal industries, which are income from the royal internal treasury.
In recent years, with the continuous expansion of foreign immigration, the expenditure has reached a very high level, second only to military expenditure and higher than official salary expenditure.
The prince had a lot of money in his hands, but he spent it very carefully.
All money needs to be budgeted first and then reviewed. Finally, it must be used strictly according to the budget. Random overspending and other situations are strictly prohibited. The tax money retained by the local government according to the budget also has strict usage terms. How much is the office budget of the yamen?
The salary of official and non-staff officials, as well as food money, money to support integrity, subsidies and welfare, etc. are all subject to strict regulations.
Any additional local projects must be approved at all levels. Projects are not allowed to be initiated casually. People are not allowed to be apportioned indiscriminately, nor are funds requested from the court at will.
The more you keep your purse strings tight and the economic environment is better, the more money you save, the more you save.
The treasury income was 200 million a year, and the prince only spent 80 million, leaving a surplus of 120 million. After three years, he had a savings of 360 million. After helping Zhu Yihai repay various bonds issued previously, there was still 300 million left.
This does not include part of the profits turned over by the government-owned industries. This money is not in the national treasury, but in the bank treasury of the two major government agencies, the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Household Affairs. A large sum has also been accumulated.
"If you don't know how expensive firewood and rice are, you have to be careful when you are in charge of the family. In this country of thousands of miles and 200 million people, every day when you wake up, the expenses are hundreds of thousands of silver dollars."
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Wen Anzhi, the chief prime minister and chief minister of the cabinet, who was summoned to face the emperor, directly believed that it is better to save some money. The economy is good now, but it may not always be good in the future.
In the past few years, the imperial court has opened up a lot of territory and expanded a lot of troops. From garrison defense camps to provincial patrol camps, to town soldiers, post town soldiers, and even newly added local regiment training will also require increased expenses.
of.
The newly opened land also added many yamen, many more officials, and many more office expenses. All of them are regular expenses that will not be reduced after the increase.
The imperial economy has been so good in the past few years that even the first ministers like Wen Anzhi are a little surprised. If the taxation and expenditure patterns of the previous Ming Dynasty were followed, it would have collapsed like Chongzhen. After all, the annual land tax is only a few thousand
Ten thousand taels, but military expenditures exceed 50 million a year, and other expenses combined exceed 80 million.
This is because the royal treasury has money, and the expenses of the palace and clan are basically covered by the treasury. The money that the imperial court gives to the palace and clan every year is actually only a symbolic one million yuan.
In the past, all dynasties were mainly based on land tax and Ding tax. The Tang and Song Dynasties also relied on high salt taxes to subsidize the finances, but the finances were still tight.
Now the imperial court has taken a completely different route, and is actually able to save money every year, even to the point where only a small part of the national treasury revenue is made up of.
Although the current revenue from the treasury is very good, Wen Anzhi always feels a little uneasy and worries that it will not last long, so he also supports the prince's approach of being as frugal as possible.
Unexpectedly, the emperor now bluntly said that the money spent was too little.
"Now that the national treasury has a lot of revenue, it needs to consider two issues. One is whether the taxes collected are too high, and whether it is necessary to consider lowering taxes to reduce the burden on the people. The second is whether the expenditures are reasonable and whether some local expenditure budgets are reasonable.
Too few, or some livelihood projects have not been done?"
Zhu Yihai didn't want to see the treasury saving so much money every year, transferring so much money to the bank of account, and then lending it out to sit and earn interest. This seemingly safe behavior was not a good idea.
"Your Majesty, the taxes imposed by the imperial court on the common people are actually very low now. For a standard taxed acre of land, the land and fire costs are only two dou, four liters and two combined. And the yield per mu of a standard taxed acre can at least reach
After the conversion of three stones, good land and poor land, the tax rate is the same. In the absence of other additional taxes and apportionments, especially the burden of Yao servants, this tax rate is actually very low."
Although the regular tax seemed very low in the past, in reality, the total burden was very heavy. Now it is less than one of the twelve taxes. And now it is divided into acres, and only those with fields are taxed. The tax is paid per mu, regardless of the number of acres.
The tax rate is only based on acres of land, and even all parts of the country have unified the standard for a long time. Therefore, it is a great relief for the poor people, and their taxes are indeed very light now.
"Then reduce the salt tax a little bit. Everyone must pay the salt tax. It is essentially a poll tax. Let's lower it even more."
"Your Majesty, after several adjustments, the salt tax is actually not high now, especially for the guaranteed type of ordinary salt. The salt tax is low and the salt price is also low. Only mid- to high-grade salt is slightly more expensive."
"The common salt tax and salt price should be lowered. This is a basic livelihood commodity, so that the people can feel the real benefits."
In the past, the court was short of money, so it used the salt tax to levy a poll tax on the people in disguise. Now that the court is no longer so short of money, it would benefit the people by appropriately lowering the salt tax and salt price. After all, salt is not actually very valuable.
Human controlled.
"For small businessmen and hawkers, as well as some family handicraft production by farmers, we need to adjust the taxation and raise the threshold. Those who cannot reach the threshold will be exempted. Those who reach the threshold should also be divided into different levels. Try to
Reduce it some."
Small traders and hawkers have limited income, and they all support their families in Hukou. Taxes collected from them will not amount to much, but the impact will be huge. Now that the financial situation is good, it is better to raise some standards.
"Money should be spent as it should, as long as it is not spent indiscriminately. Regardless of the central or local governments, fiscal savings are something worthy of reward and appreciation,"
"I think the budgets of several places are still too low and should be increased appropriately. First, the budget for immigrants is now low. We should increase resettlement fees, demolition fees, immigration subsidies, etc. for the immigrants, so that those who move to the frontiers can
For the people to be able to settle down in the border areas as soon as possible, to be able to stabilize and start production quickly, these require more investment from the court. The immigrants are mainly poor, and it is not easy to leave their hometowns thousands of miles away. When they first arrive in a new place, they have to reclaim wasteland and build houses.
Starting from scratch, they have to subsidize food rations for at least a few years. Even when they build houses, buy cattle, farm tools, etc., they have to provide interest-free loans and even some subsidies..."
"The other one is basic buildings, one is roads, and the other is water conservancy. These require the court to increase special budgets and allocate funds. Our agriculture still depends on the weather, especially in the second half of the year, when water shortages are common.
Seriously, if a reservoir can be built or a water diversion canal can be built, it may be possible to ensure a bumper harvest for the villagers. However, this kind of thing requires a large investment, so the imperial court should be responsible for taking the lead, and should be responsible for sending craftsmen to investigate.
, make a good design, and then organize the people to carry out the construction, and it is best to allocate money to subsidize it. We cannot just go back to the old method of directly recruiting people to do free labor. Although it is serving the people, it will still disturb and burden the people.
Therefore, the imperial court gets the bulk of the work, and the common people work, but the imperial court has to subsidize them with some wages, etc."
"Another example is that in many places in the northwest, people are extremely short of drinking water. They rely on the rain to accumulate some rainwater in cellars. But sometimes there is a long drought and there is not enough water to eat. The people have to carry water dozens of miles away, which is too
After all the hard work, in response to these situations, the court should establish projects to help dig wells, divert water, etc., to solve these serious people's livelihood problems.
For example, transportation in some rural areas is extremely inconvenient. It is necessary to open mountains and build roads, or to build bridges across rivers. These are also basic livelihood projects, and they should be submitted to the project and solved for the people. In order to save expenses, we should not hold on to the money bag, so that the money can be saved.
It is not advisable to come down and lend it to the bank to earn interest.
It is enough to retain 30 to 50 million yuan every year. The national treasury should not exceed 100 million to 200 million yuan. If there is more, increase the project budget. Remember, take it from the people and use it for the people. If the national treasury has a large surplus, then
Just adjust the proportion of local savings, keep more money than local governments, and even increase allocations for poverty alleviation in remote and poor areas.
There is a long way to go to revive the Ming Dynasty. The most important thing is not how many soldiers or artillery we have, but how much popular support we can get."
"Finally, I would like to add a requirement. Money must be spent, but audits must also be stepped up. Every penny must be spent where it should be spent, especially if it cannot be corrupted."
“Are tithes exempted for various denominations?”
"No, this will become a permanent rule of the Ming Dynasty. In the provinces directly under the jurisdiction of the Ming Dynasty, those sects that act in accordance with the laws of the Ming Dynasty can spread, but they must be strictly managed. Similarly, regardless of Han people or barbarians, they can also choose to believe in those sects
I can give them this power for sects approved by the imperial court, but they must be registered and must pay tithes. This can never be changed. If you do not register and become superstitious, you will be punished for violating the law and be dealt with strictly."
"Barbarians who accept Chinese culture can be exempted from this special tithe!"
