Chapter 158 - Fiscal Emergency Strategy

The reason is simple, that is, there are abundant means of financing in later generations.

Not to mention the behavior of national bonds, loans, etc., it is really urgent, and it is also okay to issue money indiscriminately.

In short, there are many ways to achieve too much deficit in the imperial court, just look at the situation in the United States. So many times, the deficit of the imperial court is just written as a deficit.

It doesn't mean you can't come up with the money.

But the ancient court is different, no money is really no money.

Once you don't have money, you can't do anything.

Therefore, a country has nine years of reserves, which is really the reality of an agricultural society.

National reserves are the lifeblood of the country, and national finances are the blood of the country.

Therefore, under the good financial situation in the past few years, Zhu Qizhen's annual financial balance is only two or three million taels, which is really a lavish spending.

Of course, it can't be said that the money is not well spent. It can only be said that the risk is too great.

If the Yellow River had not burst its banks, everything would have been fine, and now the two things came together to make it what it is today, but in ancient times, agriculture depended on the sky for food.

Once God is unhappy, come to a red land for thousands of miles, and there is a great drought for three years, isn't it the same as now, and the finances of the imperial court will not be able to sustain continuous disaster relief for several years.

So although the nine-year reserve is a little idealistic, it is not unreasonable.

Zhu Qizhen secretly reflected in his heart, and Zhou Chen had already begun to talk about his financial emergency strategy.

Zhou Chen said: "Your Majesty, there are still eight million taels of silver in Taicang, but six million taels of them have a place to go, and they will be allocated out in the second half of this year." ”

"The minister has already played the first assistant, and the vassal king has suspended all the allocations, saving a total of 3 million stone of grain, and the minister has adjusted the taxes of the provinces to ensure that there will be 6 million stone of grain in Jingcang by the end of this year."

"Now the big payment is the great work of the Yellow River, and there is still 10 million taels of silver owed."

Zhu Qizhen had a headache when he heard this number.

Ten million taels, and the number of the inner library is no more than that.

If all the payments are made, the inner treasury will be empty, and in the Taicang treasury, there will be two or three million taels. Although because of the rapid growth of Hebei's grain production, and cut a large amount of money that the imperial court was about to spend, three million stones, the grain still had 10 million stones, but it was enough.

But for dealing with the battle with the Tile Spurs, the numbers are much worse.

Zhou Chen said: "The minister has cleared the accounts of the provinces overnight, and the minister is ready to mobilize two or five million taels of silver from Nanzhili, Jiangxi, Guangdong, Sichuan, Huguang, and Zhili, and the spring tax next year, 10 million stone grain, and all kinds of materials, replacing the 10 million taels that the imperial court needs to spend. ”

Zhu Qizhen was taken aback and said, "Is the place so rich? ”

Zhou Chen said: "Your Majesty, since Taizong, the world has been peaceful, and each place is rich, in the early period of Taizong, there are even local warehouses that are not enough for the treasury, and when the minister is in the south of the Yangtze River, he also built various righteous warehouses, and there are about one million stones in the south of the Yangtze River, as for the other provinces, if five million taels are raised, it is enough." ”

"It's just Your Majesty, although it is the right way to strengthen the cadres and weak branches, but if the place is completely scraped away, it is not the way to govern."

Then he said with a wry smile: "Your Majesty, unless it is absolutely necessary, the minister does not want to do this, and the minister is now fishing with all his might, shaking the world." ”

In fact, many people say that the local government did not act in the later part of the Dynasty, did not maintain water conservancy projects, and did not provide relief to the victims, so that the trouble was out of control later.

In fact, there is a very important reason for this, that is, the local government has no money.

The Ming Dynasty began to have severe ischemia from the Wanli period. Except for the period of Zhang Juzheng, the Ming finance has been unable to make ends meet, so how can the Ming finance insist?

One of the most important ways to do this is to seize local fiscal surpluses.

These balances were local expenditures when Emperor Taizu formulated the system.

However, under the circumstances of the serious financial crisis, the household department did not even let go of the surplus of a few hundred taels or a few dozen taels, and almost all the county, prefecture, and province were empty.

That's why in the face of various situations, local governments are powerless to deal with them, and they can't do anything without money. 、

And that's how it is now.

The central finance of the Ming Dynasty has been restored by Hong Xuan during the reign of the Empress Dowager, and the Empress Dowager saved more than 30 million taels of silver to Zhu Qizhen is a clear proof.

After Zhu Qizhen, the silver taels used rarely used local finances. Most of them are centrally funded. It was only this time that the Yellow River River Workers began to count the local finances directly into the river engineering budget.

Now, except for Yanbian, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Liaodong, Guangxi, Fujian, and Yunnan, which have just fought a war, the balance of the rest of the provinces has been taken over by an ancient brain.

That's not really a good thing.

For example, if something happens again, it will be as if the people below are rebelling, and it will be impossible for the local government to send troops to pacify without the support of the imperial court.

The reason is simple, no money?

Moreover, even if the financial balances of the provinces add up, they are less than 10 million taels, and in Zhou Chen's order, they are also deducted by materials.

Yes, although the river workers need so much money, this money is actually a valuation, which is convenient for settlement, not that it needs silver. Just give the supplies directly.

But Zhou Chenjiu really understands one thing in the place.

That is, when the Ming Dynasty calculates the budget, manpower is rarely counted, that is, transportation is generally requisitioned to the people for free servitude.

The loss of transporting grain is scary enough, but in fact, there are more frightening than the loss of grain, such as picking wood in the mountains, claiming that thousands of people enter the mountains and return to 500.

All kinds of materials required by the Yellow River Dagong came up from the construction sites of the transportation roads in various provinces, and they traveled long distances, and I don't know how many people would be tired to death. This is also the reason for the high cost of building a large project in Zhu Qi Town.

Unless it is manual, Zhu Qizhen generally buys it directly and locally. Instead of the common people going to serve as a servant, from quarrying, logging, to building embankments, they served as a one-stop service.

Therefore, why did Zhou Chen say that this is fishing with all his might, shaking the world.

This policy, in fact, is to apportion the balance of the Yellow River Dagong to many identities in the south. Maybe it's not fair to them.

But there is no way around it in the center.

Zhu Qizhen took a deep breath and said, "And the people have been suffering for two years. It's easy to get through these two years. ”

The financial revenue of the Ming Dynasty is still very high, especially the customs tariff and salt tax, the income is more than 123 million taels a year, and the grain income is more than 25 million stone a year.

Therefore, as long as Zhu Qizhen controls his hands and feet, it will only take a year or two for the Ming Dynasty to recover.

Zhu Qizhen said: "In this way, the ten million taels of silver in the hands of the imperial court will be supported until after the summer tax next year?" ”

Zhou Chen said: "Your Majesty is not, but next year." The summer tax is generally levied from the autumn season, collected in the spring of the following year, and then shipped. ”

Zhu Qizhen forgot about this time difference, that is, from now on, to the end of the fourteenth year of orthodoxy, the grain of the southern provinces will not enter the warehouses in Beijing.

As for last year's taxes.

Most of them have already been relieved, and if there is no relief, they have filled the holes in disaster relief in various places, and there is not much left.

Zhu Qizhen said: "If you break with the tile thorn, the period of the decisive battle between the imperial court and the tile thorn will be either this winter or next spring, how can this ten million taels be enough?" ”

Zhu Qizhen has not said anything about other expenses.

The money of the imperial court could not only be used for war, but also for other necessary expenses. After all, the maintenance of officials in the world, the maintenance of imperial tombs, and even the maintenance of water conservancy facilities, etc., the Ming Dynasty has a big family, and some expenses that cannot be compressed are too much.

It is impossible to put all the 10 million taels in the war funds, and no matter how you just fight the war, you don't care about other belongings.

Zhou Chen said: "The minister still has a few attentions, the first is to change the salt tax and customs duty payment cycle, starting from this month, the customs have been paid the salt transportation department tax on January 1. At the end of the month, it will be handed over to the Beijing division the next month, and there must be no mistakes. ”

Although there are more than 10 million taels of salt tax and customs taxes, it does not mean that more than 10 million taels were pressed and transported to Beijing after all localities collected more than 10 million taels.

Instead, it was escorted separately by each yamen, and the customs tariff was divided into several ports. Salt taxes are divided into salt transportation divisions.