The heavy snow finally stopped for three consecutive days, which made the officials of the capital breathe a sigh of relief, and if it continued like this, the capital would be affected. Stop now, except for the Shuntian Mansion being a little busy, the other yamen have not been affected.

Forbidden City, Qianqing Palace.

Today, there are many ministers gathered here, several scholars in the cabinet, plus six Shangshu and several important attendants, this should be the last court meeting in the fifteenth year of Wanli. Because it's not something to talk about, it's just a summary at the end of the year, so everyone's demeanor is still very relaxed.

Zhu Yijun also walked in with a smile, and after everyone saluted, he said with a smile: "Let's be free from courtesy!" ”

The court meeting officially began, and it was Shen Shixing who opened the meeting, and he first stood up and made a simple summary, which was basically similar to the year-end summary of later generations. What work have we done, what difficulties have we encountered, and what achievements have we made.

Of course, in the end, we can't forget to praise the wise leadership of the leader, and it is Zhu Yijun who is talking about.

The last court meeting in the fifteenth year of Wanli was held in such a cordial and friendly atmosphere.

The summary of the six parts starts from the Ministry of Officials, but they are all the same, similar to each year, so everyone doesn't care much about it. The only thing that everyone pays attention to this year is the household department, and the focus is on money and food.

So when Zhang Xueyan opened to speak, everyone turned their heads to look at him.

After talking a lot of nonsense first, Zhang Xueyan began to talk about this year's grain payment, in fact, since the implementation of a whip law, the imperial court's annual income has been increasing every year, but that is what everyone expected, but this time it has skyrocketed.

"This year's annual income totals 24,670,000 taels and 34,230,000 stone of grain."

When Zhang Xueyan reported this number, everyone was stunned, more than 20 million taels of silver, and more than 30 million stones of grain. No one spoke in the hall for a long time, in fact, they didn't know what to say.

Everyone is a scholar, and it is very embarrassing for a scholar to pay so much money and food!

Zhu Yijun saw that no one spoke, and he didn't speak, in fact, this result was expected by Zhu Yijun. Zhu Yijun is very clear about the shortcomings of a whip law, and at the beginning of the payment of grain, Zhu Yijun gave an order to the tax department.

That is, to be taxed separately!

You must know that in this era, silver is expensive and grain is cheap, and a whip law and the official tax is silver. When the people paid the taxes, they would convert the grain and other outputs into silver, so they had to exchange them with the merchants when they paid the two taxes.

Merchants took advantage of this to raise the price of silver, which was a major malpractice of the Ming and Qing dynasties, and was also known as a whip for the remnants of the people.

In order to avoid this kind of thing, Zhu Yijun set a rule for the tax department, where the field reaches more than 100 mu, all silver taels will be paid, and those below 100 mu can pay grain. Although there are loopholes in this, such as putting land in other people's names, in order to pay for food without paying.

Zhu Yijun doesn't care much about this, although the court will collect less silver, but it can protect the interests of the poor people to the greatest extent.

It is said that food is the foundation of a country, and it is of great significance to a country to have enough grain reserves, and many times you can't buy food if you have money. If there is too much food to eat, then Zhu Yijun feels that he should fight.

Another drawback of a whip method is the addition of factions, in history to the end of Wanli and the apocalypse, the addition of factions has forced the Ming Dynasty to a dead end.

Before the implementation of a whip law, the service was separated, the land was taxed, the service was collected by the household, and in addition to the service, there were a variety of additional assignments such as square objects and soil tribute. After the implementation of a whip law, it was all simplified into one.

The land will be returned, the mu will be levied, and the forced labor will be changed to hired labor, and the government will hire people to serve on their behalf. Due to the unification of the assignment, it is difficult for officials at all levels to use their names skillfully. As a result, the evils have been cleared up, so that taxes tend to be stable, and the peasants have been able to settle down for a while.

To put it bluntly, Baixin no longer serves forced labor, and only needs to pay taxes on land.

If you need to serve as a servant, then the local government will pay for someone to do it, and in terms of ideas, this is good, and Zhu Yijun wants to do the same. But in fact, after Zhang Juzheng's death, local officials began to undermine the system.

In addition, Daming is three or four million taels of silver every year, where does the money come from to hire people. The magistrates have money in their own pockets, and it is the people who are squeezed. It is equivalent to the people who have paid the money for conscription, and they have to serve for servitude.

The most serious is the "three salaries" in the last years of the Ming Dynasty. In addition to the "three salaries", duck salaries, cattle salaries, grass insects and other salaries also appear in a grand manner.

Layer by layer, the people were completely deprived of life, and after the natural disaster, a large-scale peasant uprising broke out. In fact, even if there is no natural disaster, it is difficult to say how long the Ming Dynasty can last, but the contradictions have accumulated to the most acute time.

If this matter is to be completely resolved, it is necessary to formulate new rules.

In fact, Zhu Yijun has always felt that the magistrates in this era have too much power, of course, this is also directly related to the fact that the court has no money and cannot afford to support people. Not to mention the increase in officials, now these are sometimes not paid.

Zhu Yijun swam around and found that it was still a little cold, so he couldn't help but say: "The household department is doing a good job!" ”

"Let the local government report the retention money and allocate it to them every quarter." Zhu Yijun looked at Shen Shixing and said: "The cabinet formulates a list, what expenses should be spent in the locality, and how to divide the ranks, there must be clear regulations. ”

"If there is a big expense for repairing water conservancy, let the local government report it separately."

Shen Shixing hurriedly said: "Yes, Your Majesty, the minister will get it when he goes back." ”

Zhu Yijun nodded: "Now that you have money, you have to spend it, and the cabinet will check if there is anything that needs to be used, and the kind that is particularly anxious, such as building dams and embankments, etc., will be played." ”

In fact, over the years, many places in the Ming Dynasty have been tinkering and fooling, and Zhu Yijun doesn't want to wait for disaster relief in the future.

If the disaster is really affected, then the trouble will be great, and the money and food for disaster relief will definitely not be solved by spending a little money. However, this matter has to be handed over to a suitable person to do, and Zhu Yijun has already chosen someone in his heart.

After saying some more things, the court discussion dispersed, and Zhu Yijun got up and went back to the warm pavilion.

Zhang Whale followed behind, and after several times of wanting to speak, Zhu Yijun couldn't help but laugh and scolded: "Just say what you have to say, why bother to be so spittering." ”

"Your Majesty, life is easy, isn't it time to repair the palace?" Zhang Whale said with some hesitation.

In fact, since Wanli ascended the throne, the use of the palace has been cut again and again, and more than half of the money for lighting lamps at night has been cut. Now it is a palace where people live, and you can see a little fire at night, and the rest of the place is completely dark.

Many palaces were in disrepair, and many eunuchs felt that the place was haunted and hid at night.

When the palace was cleaned a few years ago, half of the palace maids and eunuchs were released, and the emperor did not draft a draft girl, and there was almost no one available in the palace. In addition, the emperor does not have any concubines, which makes the palace even more empty.

When Zhu Yijun heard Zhang Whale say this, he was also a little embarrassed, it was time to repair it.

In the past, he had no money, there was no way, the little silver in the treasury, whether it was Zhang Juzheng or Zhang Xueyan, looked like his own child, for fear that Zhu Yijun would stretch out his hand. The silver in the inner treasury is both an ironmaking factory and an inner factory, and all the silver that Zhu Yijun earned was smashed into it.

"Then fix it!" Zhu Yijun sighed and said, "Let the household pay half of the silver." ”

Although Zhu Yijun is not short of this bit of silver now, the rules must be set, and the ministers can't get used to talking about their own money in the emperor's affairs, that's not okay. Not to mention this era, later generations of constitutional monarchies, the government still has to give a large amount of money to the royal family every year.

"Yes, the old slave will do it!" Zhang Whale hurriedly agreed.

Zhang Whale knows the character of this emperor in his family, and he always feels that it is a pity to spend money on himself, which is really different from the previous emperor. In Zhang Whale's opinion, this palace is the face of the empire, what kind of tattered it looks like.

Zhu Yijun didn't care much about this, and wanted to be magnificent.

"In this way, the celebrant bought more silver here, and bought more for several ladies in the harem, and they didn't buy much after entering the palace. The two queen mothers also bought some over there and asked what they liked. ”

"By the way, this money is out of the treasury!" Zhu Yijun added: "Several mothers have given more rewards to their mothers this year. ”

Zhang Whale hurriedly agreed: "Yes, Emperor, the slave will do it!" ”

Seeing Zhang Whale running out in a hurry, Zhu Yijun could only sigh helplessly, this money came and went quickly. You don't have to think about it to know the expenses reported by the cabinet in a few days, otherwise you will be shocked.

It is estimated that now the six ministries have gone to the cabinet to ask for money, which can suffocate everyone over the years.

But Zhu Yijun didn't bother to care, this is a matter for the cabinet, just let Shen Shixing and them have a headache.

In the following days, everything in the court was very stable, but countless people were eyeing the silver of the household department, and this money made many people red-eyed. The Ministry of War asked for the purchase of war horses and the creation of new armor and weapons, and the Department of Armament asked for more research input.

The Ministry of Officials asked for an increase in the number of officials, especially for some Qingshui Yamen, and after this article came out, many people supported it.

Everyone paid the grain, the hidden land was gone, and the food was too much to eat, the emperor couldn't help but give a salary increase, and I didn't know who was working for everyone's welfare, so the first shot was fired, and then it was out of control, and the call for a price increase was getting louder and louder.

The Ministry of Industry also wants money to dredge the river, and the Criminal Department wants money to rebuild the prison, and even the Ministry of Rites comes to join in the fun, to repair and replace the ritual vessels. It's just that Zhu Yijun really doesn't pay much attention to these.

Compared with these, Zhu Yijun enjoys the New Year's rest even more, he has been busy for a year and is very tired.