In the household department of the capital, Liu Jin, who was dressed in a crimson robe, came to the household department to report extremely reluctantly.

"Tong Gong~"

The first thing to see is naturally the bell.

"Lord Liu, don't dare to do this."

Seeing Liu Jin, Tong Zhong didn't have a good face, he was so depressed that he even vomited blood.

Emperor Hongzhi's dissatisfaction with him was known to the entire government and the opposition, and at the same time, everyone also knew Emperor Hongzhi's intention to arrange Liu Jin into the household department.

This is to make it clear that he wants to replace himself with Liu Jin, if it weren't for the fact that Liu Jin is too young, it is estimated that Tong Zhong will go to Nanjing to retire now.

People are more angry than people.

The Liu Jin in front of him, the celebrity next to Emperor Hongzhi, this promotion is like riding a rocket, and he is already at the level of a household squire at such a young age.

And after a few more years, it is estimated that he will soon be able to achieve the position of the head of the household.

Think about yourself, at the age of twenty-seven, he started from the imperial history of the Inspectorate, worked hard all his life, and only became the secretary of the household at the age of sixty-one.

It's just incomparable, the gap is just too big.

Now Emperor Hongzhi has made such a play, so that he has no face as a household scholar, and let Liu Jin report directly to Emperor Hongzhi if he has something.

How can I care about Liu Jin, the second-in-command?

What's more, this taxation is the work of the household department, how to arrange it, it should also be decided by his own household secretary, Emperor Hongzhi is good, and he will arrange it directly for Liu Jin.

In the morning, as soon as the news came out, the faces of the entire government and the opposition changed, and even at this moment, these officials of the household department looked at themselves as if they were watching the sunset, and they had to stick to Liu Jin's side in front of themselves.

"Gong Tong, you are an important minister of the country, in charge of the household department for the imperial court, hard work, I am new to this new arrival, there are still many things I don't understand, I am afraid that I will ask you more in the future."

Liu Jin looked at Tong Zhong and said with a smile.

Old comrades, it's normal to be a little emotional, and as a newcomer, you still need the respect you should give.

Liu Jin clearly knows that he can't be too arrogant, low-key, modest, and cautious, the bigger this official is, the more Liu Jin tells himself.

"Lord Liu, you can't talk about advice, I also know what Your Majesty commands, if there is anything that needs to be cooperated, just ask."

Tong Zhong saw that Liu Jin's attitude was not bad, and he respected himself very much, and his tone became much better.

He himself knew very well that he and Liu Jin were not at the same level at all by Emperor Hongzhi's side, and Emperor Hongzhi was dissatisfied with him, and he would have to go down sooner or later.

What's more, he is already sixty-one years old, and he has taken the lead in the position of the head of the household book, even if he doesn't have this, it is estimated that he will not be able to do it for a few years.

Liu Jin is different, he is a celebrity around Emperor Hongzhi, and he has a very good relationship with the crown prince.

Therefore, such a person cannot be offended, even if he is unhappy, he must also recognize the situation.

Just played a little temper, it was nothing more than an attitude on the surface, and the Shangshu of this household department was still his bell.

Now that Liu Jin knows each other, he respects himself very much, he is not arrogant and arrogant, and he has no one to go down the slope, and there is no need for him to have trouble with Liu Jin.

"Gong Tong, I don't dare to call me an adult in front of you, you can call me Xiao Liu or Liu Jin."

"I'm here to learn from you and listen to you."

Liu Jin smiled and said, the face that should be given is naturally enough, I believe that this Tong Zhong is also a smart person, don't rely on the old and sell the old, just rely on being a household secretary to hinder your work.

People, it's all like this, give the other party enough faces, if the other party doesn't know each other, then talk about it separately.

"Hehe~"

Lord Liu laughed.

Tong Zhong smiled and replied.

Liu Jin and Tong Zhong chatted with each other to deepen their understanding of each other, and at the same time, they were also a little familiar with the personnel on the household side.

As one of the six ministries, the household department is in charge of the country's land, taxes, household registration, population, income, food, and fiscal revenue and expenditure, which is almost equivalent to the Ministry of Finance in later generations, and of course the power and supervision of things are much greater than the latter.

The household department is set up with a person of Shangshu, three products, two squires, generally four products or from three products, in addition to the following according to the land, population, the government of the money valley, the difference between tribute, set up four divisions, household division, degree branch division, gold division, warehouse division.

At the same time, the following is also set up Langzhong, Wailang, Inspector, Chief, Order, Zhanggu, etc., the entire household is an extremely large system, there are hundreds of large and small officials, and there are officials who are not officials, then there are more.

It took a few days for Liu Jin to be familiar with the entire system of the household department, and he also got acquainted with the officials of the household department.

Tong Zhong doesn't have too much of a good face for Liu Jin, and the following officials are different, even Shi Jue, the right attendant of the household department, is very enthusiastic about Liu Jin. 113

Everyone is a clear-eyed person, and sooner or later Liu Jin will have the final say.

"No wonder the Ming Dynasty will fall~"

"There are fewer and fewer fields, and the number of fields that can be used for taxation is getting smaller and smaller every year."

"And this population, from the Hongwu Dynasty to the current Hongzhi Dynasty, the population of the Ming Dynasty has not only not increased, but has also decreased."

"The tax silver for this levy is also decreasing year by year, and it is strange that the Ming Dynasty will not perish."

Liu Jin took the statistical table he had counted, and he couldn't help but complain.

Originally, he knew that there was a huge problem in the finances of the Ming Dynasty, and he thought that the Hongzhi Dynasty should not be too serious, but after carefully checking the previous records of money and grain taxation, Liu Jin knew how serious the financial problems of the Ming Dynasty were.

In the twenty-sixth year of Hongwu, the imperial court made statistics on the population of the whole country, and the number of statistics at that time was 60.54 million, and now it has been 13 years of Hongzhi, and the population on the household books of the Ming Dynasty is only more than 50 million, which does not increase but decreases.

You must know that the beginning of the Ming Dynasty experienced a period of great turmoil at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, and the population decreased very sharply, with a population of more than 60 million in the 26th year of Hongwu.

In the thirteenth year of Hongzhi, after more than 100 years of recuperation in the Ming Dynasty, the population has decreased, isn't it a strange thing.

There is also land that can be used for taxation, in the Hongwu Dynasty, this number was about 8 million hectares, but now, this number is only 4 million hectares, only half of the Hongwu Dynasty.

Where did the four million dumps come from?

From these two figures alone, we can know how serious the financial problems of the Ming Dynasty were, whether it was money or grain, it collected less and less.

"It is a miracle to be able to hold on for more than 100 years from the Hongzhi Dynasty."

Liu Jin couldn't help but shake his head and sighed constantly.

"Fortunately, Emperor Hongzhi finally realized the seriousness of this problem."

"If you are still fooled by these civil officials as before, it is estimated that the underwear will be fooled and taken off."

"The imperial court has no money and food, how can it have the strength to do great things."

"This Ming Dynasty can still hold out for more than a hundred years, and it is estimated that it is inseparable from Zhang Juzheng, a bull man, without his whip to reform the finances, the emperor will starve to death."

After thinking carefully in his mind, he understood at this moment how serious the financial problems of the Ming Dynasty were.

If Emperor Hongzhi hadn't helped him make money himself, it was estimated that Emperor Hongzhi would not have been able to do anything, and he would have ruled honestly, and was fooled by the civil officials with the so-called Hongzhi Zhongxing.

"Tax evasion and tax evasion are very serious~"

"The land annexation is extremely serious, not only the gentry, but also the prince surnamed Zhu who is divided into various places, they are like bloodsuckers attached to Daming, one by one is getting bigger and bigger, but Daming is getting thinner and weaker."

"In the future, we must find a way to get these princes surnamed Zhu out, we can't let them suck blood all the time, and we must transfer the burden of this weighing to other places."

Liu Jin soon realized another problem.

The princes of the Ming Dynasty, Comrade Lao Zhu began to make a sub-feudal system, and divided his sons to all parts of the Ming Dynasty, after more than 100 years.

The princes surnamed Zhu are all over the Ming Dynasty, and there are hundreds of large and small princes.

These princes have no power in their hands, and they can't leave their fiefdoms, and they are born without worrying about food and clothing, so the rest of the things will be created every day and spread out for the old Zhu family.

The population of the old Zhu family is getting bigger and bigger, and the corresponding fields annexed by these palaces are also increasing, and many times they are not even satisfied with annexing the fields, and will ask the emperor for local taxes.

These princes who supported the Zhu family also became a heavy burden on the Ming Dynasty's finances, and it became heavier and heavier, and it was the late Ming Dynasty.

The money and food needed by these princes surnamed Zhu alone have already stood at one-third of the expenditure of the Ming treasury.

But this can't satisfy them, the land they annexed is very terrible, just in Henan, half of the land has fallen into the hands of several princes in Henan, like King Zhou, King Fu, King Tang, King Zhao, King Zheng and so on.

"It's such a mess~"

Liu Jin let out a long sigh.

When the Ming Dynasty arrived at the Hongzhi Dynasty, there were too many problems, and if each problem was not solved, according to the original historical development trajectory, it would be enough for the Ming Dynasty to perish.

Among them, land annexation is a particularly serious matter.

The gentry, the royal family, the guards, the tuntian, etc., are all like huge bloodsucking insects that are constantly sucking the more and more thin Daming, one by one, fat and strong, but they don't realize that the big tree of Daming will soon be unable to hold on, and will fall down.

"Let's take things step by step, eat a bite of food."

"The land tax and the human income tax can't be moved for the time being, and there is no way to move it."

"Now we still have to find a way to collect commercial taxes and customs duties."

Liu Jin knocked on the table and thought about it carefully, Emperor Hongzhi didn't let him come to the household department to drink tea, although he wanted to offend people, he still had to do what he had to do.