"Alright, let's move on to this year's work. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info" Zhu Youxiao interrupted, except for some remote provinces, most of the people who inspected their political achievements have returned, and the situation has also been counted.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Xu Guangqi nodded, and then in a pile of documents, he pulled out a piece of paper, which was the statistics of commercial tax collection.

Originally, the Ming Dynasty had two Zhili and thirteen political envoys, namely: Jingshi (North Zhili), Nanjing (South Zhili), Shandong, Shanxi, Henan, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Jiangxi, Huguang, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, and Guizhou.

Now Beizhili has been changed to Hebei Province, Jingshi has become Zhili Prefecture, which is directly under the jurisdiction of the cabinet, and the same is true for Tianjin. Subsequently, Nanzhili was divided into two provinces, plus the original thirteen provinces converted from the political envoys, a total of 18 administrative divisions.

"This year's commercial tax, eighteen provinces and Zhili Prefectures, a total of 7.75 million taels of silver!" This number made Xu Guangqi stunned, he had just seen it. However, then he showed a bitter face, "Of this, five million taels were paid by various companies under the inner government."

In other words, the entire Great Tomorrow only paid a tax of 2.75 million taels of silver.

Many of the levies in the Ming Dynasty were collected in kind, most of them were left in the local area for use, and the rest was transported to Jingshi, which is the income of the central government of four or five million taels a year as mentioned in many books.

Now, although the collection of commercial taxes has just started this year, all the revenues are only two or three million taels more than in the past, and the cabinet needs to spend several times as much as in the past.

The remaining guards in various places don't care about him for now, and there will be severance pay when the time comes. Let's talk about the personnel first, although the emperor canceled the status of Nanjing's remaining capital, and then the six departments of Nanjing were also abolished, and the officials were scattered to various places, but the imperial power went to the countryside and the governance power was divided, and a large number of officials were added.

Now in general terms, the entire Ming Dynasty, from nine products to one product, plus the newly increased number of economic officials, is now about 100,000. Now the least of the rulers has an income of ten taels of silver.

All of them are taken together, and the lowest ten taels of silver are counted, and all the officials add up to at least 12 million taels of silver, not to mention, more overflowing taels of silver from officials of higher grades. After calculating these, at least two million taels will be added.

There are also some other office expenses, such as the investment of the stagecoach, the construction of the customs, the consumption of paper, pen and ink, which cost a million taels, and this is when there is nothing more. With such income, the government can't do anything at all.

For example, the purchase of grain that is often closed, such as the purchase of some commodities, the stabilization of prices, and so on. Fortunately, military spending does not need to be spent by the Cabinet, otherwise the fiscal deficit will be serious.

When Xu Guangqi babbled about these things one by one, Zhu Youxiao was shocked, "In other words, all these taxes are collected, and it is not enough for those who are about making money!! ”

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Xu Guangqi nodded indifferently, and the financial statements from all over the country were sent, and the summary of the expenses in them was the current situation.

"Then how did they get their money, are they hungry?" Zhu Youxiao really couldn't understand how those officials survived.

"Only half of it is issued, and the rest of the line is owed, so it can barely be supported." Xu Guangqi flipped through the report and replied.

"Half, what's the difference between that and before."

Although half of the salary set by Zhu Youxiao is higher than before, the gray income has begun to be very strict, which is the primary focus of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, not to mention, now that there is no agricultural tax, they have no place to go if they want to be corrupt, at most they eat and drink for nothing, and this has to prevent merchants from going to the Metropolitan Procuratorate to sue.

"It's no difference, so Lao Chen's examination department has found a lot of officials, otherwise why are there so many demos and dismissals. If Your Majesty doesn't believe it, you can ask Sun Juxiang, the imperial history of Zuodu, where does he estimate that there are many such records. Xu Guangqi explained with a wry smile.

"Go and call Sun Juxiang over." Zhu You, Liu Ruoyu, who played a role in the service, commanded.

Soon, under the summons of the eunuch, Sun Juxiang hurriedly entered the palace, and he also held a large stack of files in his hands.

"Weichen see Your Majesty!" Sun Juxiang hurriedly saluted.

"Aiqing is flat." Zhu Youxiao bowed his head, motioned for the other party to get up, and then asked, "Aiqing, tell me about the work of the Metropolitan Procuratorate this year, especially the investigation and handling of officials by the Anti-Corruption Bureau." ”

"Oh, okay." After Sun Juxiang understood, he began to flip through the statistical reports. This method was taught by Zhu Youxiao, who summarized the situation and then made a table to represent it in numbers, which was very convenient with Arabic numerals.

"Found it." He pulled out a piece of paper and began to read.

"In the second year of the Apocalypse, a total of 1,043 officials were investigated and punished, of which 73 exceeded their authority, 13 took office, and 48 committed adultery...... Sun Juxiang came over one year after another, and Zhu Youxiao was a little impatient when he heard it.

"Okay, okay, let's just talk about how much corruption and bribery there are."

"Uh..... okay." Sun Juxiang was stunned for a moment, and immediately moved his gaze downward, "There are eight hundred and thirty-seven people who have embezzled, accepted bribes, and abused their power.......!" ”

This figure made Zhu Youxiao's heart sink, accounting for almost 80 percent, which greatly exceeded Zhu Youxiao's expectations. He originally issued a high salary to reduce some of the anti-corruption factors of officials, but now it seems that it has no effect at all.

"Only half of the money has been paid, the agricultural tax has been abolished, and the office expenses are only a little bit, what are they embezzling? Where did the embezzlement come from? Zhu Youxiao couldn't help but ask.

"It's mainly the distribution of money, as well as the bribery of merchants, some merchants send money to local officials to avoid taxes, some are embezzled office expenses, and some are fraudulent tax collections." The more Sun Juxiang talked, the more embarrassed he became, these names were all sorted, if he hadn't counted the situation across the country, he really didn't know that the officials under him could play so many tricks.

And Zhu Youxiao was very angry at first, but later, he became more and more calm, he was not enough to support his family, and the gray income in the past was gone, so the officials below had to start finding some new ways to come out. He has been mixed up in the system, and he is too familiar with these things.

"As for the corrupt personnel, from officials to officials, there are all grades, but there is no corruption above the fifth grade."

This made Zhu Youxiao a little pleased, after all, the five grades and above are already a few thousand taels a year, and half of them are much better than in the past, which is enough for these officials to support their wives and children, after all, they can get a lot of good without corruption, and many people will not go.

Soon, the current officials above the fifth grade have very vicious eyes, and they can see the huge opportunities now, and for the sake of their future political future, they will naturally restrain themselves.

"It's got to such a serious point." Zhu Youxiao's face was terrifying.

"I'm afraid there's more to the minister!" Xu Guangqi said with a worried face, he has realized the seriousness of the problem, if the tax really can't be collected, then the officials have no income, so they will not focus on doing things, but to study how to circumvent the Metropolitan Procuratorate and get money.

More importantly, after the Party Metropolitan Procuratorate also joins this business, the entire officialdom of the Ming Dynasty will collapse, full of corruption and corruption, and commercial taxes will be completely reduced to a joke.

In addition, there is a more serious question, that is, behind all this, there will be someone pushing to contact merchants to evade commercial taxes in the form of bribes, so that the fiscal revenue will be reduced, until in the end, the government will collapse because of the financial collapse.

"Let's see, where are there more cases of bribery by merchants?" Obviously, Zhu Youxiao also thought of this question, and he immediately asked Sun Juxiang, his expression could even be regarded as a little urgent.

“……… Yes, Your Majesty. Sun Juxiang was taken aback by the emperor's demeanor, but he still hurriedly checked.

"Found it! Yes........" He slowly pronounced out the name of the place, "Jiangsu and Zhejiang!" ”

"Sure enough!" Zhu Youxiao and Xu Guangqi looked at each other, and this idea appeared in their hearts.

"Your Majesty, the embankment of a thousand miles has been destroyed in an anthill! Business taxes must be collected! ”

"Whew!"

Zhu Youxiao took a deep breath and tried to calm his head, "Yes, the problem must be solved. He used to think that he was still simple, thinking that he would succeed by forcing these officials to collect commercial taxes with salaries, but he didn't expect that there would be such a sinister situation behind this.

"Cabinet Deputy Assistant Xu Guangqi!" Zhu Youxiao's face was solemn.

"The minister is here!" Xu Guangqi replied loudly.

"Your Excellency called, next year's assessment standard is the collection of commercial taxes, and those who are less than 10,000 taels of silver in each county will be dismissed from their posts and investigated, and the prefect will be dismissed from their posts and will never be used!"

The murderous words made Xu Guangqi stunned for a while, he almost didn't have the brains to answer the emperor's words, his mind was full of dismissal and investigation, and he would never use these two words.

10,000 taels per county is the approximate county under Zhu Youxiao's flowers, it is really a Ming Dynasty, there are almost more than 1,000 counties, 10,000 taels in one county, which is more than 10 million taels, plus the taxes paid by the companies under the command of the inner government, it is almost enough. As for other expenses, let the local government raise their own funds, or wait for more tariffs in the future, and collect personal income tax, they are in consideration.

At present, the most important thing is to stabilize the market of collecting commercial taxes, otherwise once the finances collapse, Zhu Youxiao may not be overthrown by relying on his military strength, but he will definitely lose control of the prefectures and counties below.

"Xu Guangqi?!" Zhu Youxiao shouted.

"The minister is here." Xu Guangqi finally came back to his senses, and immediately knelt down and said, "Minister Xu Guangqi takes the order!" ”

"Zuodu Yushi Sun Juxiang!" Zhu Youxiao turned his head again and looked at the Supreme Procurator General.

"The minister is here." With Xu Guangqi's buffer, Sun Juxiang was much better, and finally recovered from the shock just now.

"Next year, the Metropolitan Procuratorate will make every effort to supervise the collection of commercial taxes by officials at all levels, and it is strictly forbidden to arbitrarily collect them, strictly prohibit apportionment, and strictly prohibit disrupting market order." A series of strict prohibitions reflected Zhu Youxiao's determination.

"Obey the order!" Sun Juxiang also knelt down to receive the decree.

"Okay, let's go down, do this matter well, focus on this next year, Xu Aiqing, this is your biggest task next year, about the way of tax collection, the examination department should also keep an eye on it, and it can't be destructive." Zhu Youxiao sighed and waved his hand to let the two go down.

"Ministers will live up to their grace." Xu Guangqi kowtowed.

"Let's go down!"

The two saluted and retreated respectfully, and in the warm palace, only Zhu Youxiao was left, and he didn't know what to think.