As the New Year approached, the cabinet and the six ministries gathered in the Qianqing Palace, and together with them were the two military stewards of the General Staff Office and the Fifth Military Office.

They came to settle accounts with Zhu Yunwen, the emperor.

Well, it's a serious reckoning.

land tax and commercial tax in various provinces; the tax and silver of the four cities of government-run salt, iron, grain and cloth; The income of the two weaving bureaus in Liaodong and Jiangnan has been summed up, and of course they have to come to Zhu Yunwen to report, and by the way, discuss next year's expenses.

"Let them all in."

In the warm pavilion, Zhu Yunwen had just woken up not long ago, and he hurriedly finished washing up and announced, looking at the thick pile of inscriptions from the household department on the bookcase not far away, he had a headache.

Daming because of the tax deduction in kind, so all kinds of statistical measurement work is extremely cumbersome and messy, at the end of each year, the summary of the degree of expenditure, just looking at these things, at least take up a lot of his Zhu Yunwen's time.

There was a dense sound of footsteps in the corridor outside the warm pavilion, and not long after, Yang Shiqi, the new head of the cabinet, appeared in Zhu Yunwen's sight with a group of officials.

Everyone bowed to Zhu Yunwen to greet him, Zhu Yunwen is now considering abolishing the rule of seeing the monarch and worshipping, although the edict has not yet been issued, but the cabinet and the six ministry officials, these first- and second-class officials, except for major activities such as annual ceremonies and festivals, are exempted from kneeling, which is on par with the martial arts class.

casually threw Zhejiang's title book on the bookcase, Zhu Yunwen beckoned the big guy to sit down: "Sit down, talk about how our Daming income is this year, I really have a headache here, I don't remember it very really." ”

After speaking, Zhu Yunwen didn't look up, but thought about it in front of a stack of question books, he remembered that there seemed to be a special method for re-examination bookkeeping in later generations, he was coordinating the Finance Bureau in the unit back then, and he seemed to have a little impression when he dealt with the office of the public finances, and he came to Daming for more than four years, and he didn't remember it very well.

Zhu Yunwen was silent here, the ministers were not idle, Yang Shiqi was in the first place, so he glanced at Xia Yuanji, who first glanced at Yu Xin, who was full of wandering on his face, and then took out a question book from the sleeve of his robe and read it according to the book.

"At the end of this year, as of the 22nd day of the lunar month of the third year of Jianwen, the imperial court received 24,318,000 taels of silver, 41,600,000 stones of grain, 1,400,000 catties of silk, 2,350,000 horses of cloth, mercury cinnabar tea, and other things from Nanzhili, Beiping, and 12 provinces......

This year, the income tax of the four cities of salt, iron, grain and cloth opened by Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangxi and other places is 3,766,300 taels, the two weaving bureaus of Liaodong and Jiangnan have received a total of 4,963,500 taels of silver, 1,000,000 taels of silver from North Korea, 1,480,000 taels of silver from the six southwestern countries, and 180,000 catties of copper and gold.

This year, since the introduction of commercial taxes in Nanzhili, Beiping, and 12 provinces, a total of 7,425,000 taels of silver have been collected.

In total, there were 23,292,800 taels of silver, and the rest of the things, grain, copper, gold, and silk cloth could be converted into 31,000,000 taels of silver, and the total tax revenue of the imperial court in the third year of Shi Jianwen was 54,292,800 taels. ”

Fifty-four million taels!

There was silence in the entire Xinuan Pavilion.

The cabinet and the household department knew this figure, but Zhu Yunwen and the other five ministries, together with the five military offices and the general staff, did not know that there would be such a high figure.

In the thirty-first year of Hongwu, when Zhu Yunwen first ascended the throne, the current silver converted into the income of the imperial court was only more than 30 million taels.

Four years, almost doubled?

Everyone was surprised, except for Zhu Yunwen, his face barely shook much.

If Emperor Taizu also opened a commercial tax and also released the four bans on salt, iron, grain and cloth, this number could reach most of the Hongwu year, not to mention, the Ming Dynasty still has North Korea, a dumping ground, as well as the 'protection fee' paid by the six southwestern countries and the copper and gold that can almost be used as gold in this era.

He just stood on the shoulders of giants and raised his arms, which was not his ability.

"Now that the income has been calculated, then the next six ministries and the general staff of the five military governments will discuss next year's expenditures, and the household department will draw up the number, if there is no big problem, I and the cabinet will approve it today."

Since entering the wax moon, he began to audit, and it took twenty days to understand that Zhu Yunwen was naturally very dissatisfied with this efficiency, so he fell into memories again.

"Please speak first, King Yan."

Yang Shiqi put his hands in his sleeves to keep warm, and said: "Military expenses and outfit changes are now under the jurisdiction of the Logistics Department under the General Staff Office, and the specific figures are not very clear to the cabinet and the six ministries. ”

It can be seen that for today's reckoning, Zhu Di also made sufficient preparations before coming, and he also took out a question book and counted it word by word.

"In the past two years, the border areas and the Beijing battalion have successively changed their defenses and reorganized, and some of the troops have been eliminated, and now my Ming army has been counted by the logistics department and the military department, and it is a total of one million people.

Among them, the total number of troops in Beidi, Liaodong, and Gansu is 400,000, and the garrisons in Yunnan, Jiaozhi, and southwest China are 100,000 in total, and the Fujian and Zhejiang naval divisions expanded a lot last year, and the full establishment was expanded to 200,000 according to Your Majesty's wishes, plus the 300,000 people in the Beijing camp are enough, and in terms of military salaries, Your Majesty means that since the fourth year of Jianwen, the salaries and silver of the local and Beijing camps are the same, which are 20 taels a year, so that the military expenditure alone is 20 million taels!

If you change your clothes, the cost is not high, there have not been many major wars in recent years, and the damage to weapons is not serious, and the orders of the War Bureau and the Firearms Bureau have been about two million taels. ”

Comprehensively raising the army's salaries was decided by Zhu Yunwen after careful consideration, the emperor is not short of hungry soldiers, although he may now have a high enough status in the hearts of the group of big-headed soldiers at the bottom, but his feelings cannot fill his stomach.

It would be better for him to offer a good salary than to abduct this group of soldiers in the future if they were given some small profits.

Following the orthodoxy of Nanjing, you can have twenty taels of silver a year, and follow the vassal king, let's talk about twenty taels, even if it is five taels a year, those vassal kings can't take it out!

"That's twenty-two million taels."

Yang Shiqi sighed, as if he was not frightened by this huge number, and turned his head to look at Xia Yuanji: "Wei Zhe, is there a problem with your household department?" ”

Big problem!

Xia Yuanji was almost vomited blood by the figures reported by Zhu Di, he really wanted to jump out and ask, what is the use of giving such a high salary to that group of big-headed soldiers?

In the barracks, the imperial court has food and shelter, is ten taels of silver a year not enough to spend? Give back twenty taels? It's just that I don't know how expensive firewood and rice are.

"Tobe, no problem."

Thanks to the fact that the family has a thick foundation now, even if this is a big head, Xia Yuanji can still squeeze it out by gritting his teeth: "The old rule is that the border land is cash, and the soldiers in Nanzhili, Jiangxi, Fujian, Zhejiang, and Huguang are paid with grain and silk cloth." ”

Zhu Yunwen also knew that the soldiers in the mainland could not get the cash, and the physical goods given were set at market prices to cover the silver, but if this group of soldiers took out and sold them in the market, they would not sell enough, and the court had no choice.

"Is there any place for the Five Military Mansions to spend this year?"

After getting the General Staff Officer, Yang Shiqi looked at Xu Huizu again, and smiled: "Last year, the bandits were suppressed, and the Five Military Mansions were seized quite a lot, and the guards didn't need to pay silver, so they should be enough to be self-sufficient." ”

Xu Huizu also laughed.

Last year, which of those bandit gangs in the local area was not rich in furniture, although it was on the table, compared with the figures of the imperial court, which were often hundreds of millions of taels, it was more than enough to support a five-military government.

"That's enough, I got more than two million taels from the bandits last year, according to Your Majesty's will, this money will be used by the Five Military Governments to set up toll booths with the local political envoys."

In later generations, the highway still tolled, and the five military governments worked hard to exterminate the bandits, why didn't they charge those merchants?

Set a figure that is a little lower than the bandit standard, and the merchants have one less fee to hire a dart game, and they will not be able to be happy.

There is no place for the Fifth Military Government to reach out to the household department to ask for money, and the cabinet is relieved.

"If you want to go to the sixth, the officials will come first."

Mao Tai stood up: "The bulk of the expenditure is still the official's money, this money is still easy to calculate, 12.6 million taels, and this year there will be an extra amount of money, because of the new addition, there is no accurate reference figure on the part of the ministry, so when it is used, I will reach out and ask the household department." ”

"Since the promulgation of the regulations, there is no accurate number of local officials who have reached the line automatically, and the officials have not been able to count them?"

What does it mean to reach out and ask for it when you need it? What does it mean to take the household department as the head of the wrong? Xia Yuanji went back at that time: "So I also ask Mao Butang to explain the point, how much the Ministry of Officials need, it is best to give the Ministry of Household a letter, otherwise when the expenses of the court next year are set, if the Ministry of Officials speaks again, my Ministry of Household will not be able to squeeze out the silver." ”

This door-slamming thing, you have this ability, you just asked Zhu Di to find the emperor to cut military expenses!

Mao Tai scolded in his heart, you are also an official leader, we are all our own people, what are you doing to trouble me? Let me give you a number in advance, where do I know how much more to pay for the New Year.

If there is less, when those bureaucrats come to me, where can I make up the money, if I want more, I will not be able to use it up, and those officials will slander me again, and I will not die?

"Tell me for permission."

Yang Shiqi also helped Xia Yuanji: "There must be a fixed number of money, so that the court can arrange it." ”

"That's two million taels."

With the attitude of Ning Duo, Mao Tai still reported an estimated number, and said that if he couldn't use it up, he would hurry up and return it to the household department, so that people could catch the conversation.

"Where's the military department?"

Qi Tai smiled bitterly when he heard this, the military department?

The Ministry of War is now a yamen similar to an inspector, responsible for counting the army's roster and supplementing the recruitment of new soldiers.

"Every year, the local military registers are counted, and the officials travel to and from the provinces for accommodation and food expenses, and the household department gives 20,000 taels, which should be about the same."

Okay, when the Fifth Military Mansion went to the Ministry of Officials, the two departments together almost spent 40 million taels, and when they arrived at the Ministry of War, 20,000 taels were sent away. Xia Yuanji almost jumped up happily, and he couldn't wait to go back to the yamen on the spot and send 20,000 taels to Qi Tai, and the latter in the province turned around and regretted it.

Seeing Xia Yuanji's elated face, the big guys in the warm pavilion also laughed.

In the end, the military department will live.