The old bureaucrat Huang Liji is fighting for power for the cabinet with careful clever words. As everyone knows, Zhu Youzhen didn't take these things to heart at all.

Zhu Youzhen's mind was completely occupied by the upcoming 'Ningjin War'.

From the moment he thought that the 'Ningjin War' was about to take place in Liaodong, Zhu Youzhen regarded this battle as the first big test in his life.

After coming to this era for a few years, with his understanding of Daming in this life, combined with the insights of his previous life, Zhu Youzhen has completely determined that Houjin is indeed the biggest blood loss wound on Daming's body now.

This statement of blood loss wound does not mean that Houjin has caused any unbearable harm to Daming now (after all, Houjin Baqi has never entered the customs now, and has always been based in Liaodong), but refers to the huge economic burden caused by Houjin to Daming.

During this Xiaoice River period, it was precisely because of the great interference of the Later Jin on the Daming economy that the financially tight Daming court was unable to fully suppress the peasant uprisings in various parts of the country; Even the relief of the victims in various places could not be effectively implemented because the Houjin of Liaodong occupied the huge financial resources of the Ming Dynasty.

In the two months since he ascended the throne, although Zhu Youzhen has not been in charge of specific government affairs, he has carefully checked the income and expenditure of the Ming Dynasty in recent years.

If you want to be in charge, you have to know more about your own family!

Zhu Youzhen saw that in the first half of the sixth year of the Apocalypse, the Ming court's various expenditures in Liaodong had reached 3 million taels of silver. Due to the construction of the Jinzhou defense line and the upcoming war, even if Zhu Youzhen estimated conservatively, the Ming court would have to allocate at least another 2 million taels of silver to meet the needs of Liaodong. (Zhu Youzhen always remembered that after Ning Yuan's victory, after his Xinwang Mansion was opened, the bereavement and rewards issued by the Ming court to Ning Yuan were enough to be 500,000 taels of silver).

In this way, in the entire six years of the Apocalypse, the military expenditure of the Ming Dynasty in Liaodong alone may be as high as 5 million taels of silver.

5,000,000 taels of silver?

With such a large amount of military expenditure, how much pressure will it have on the Ming court?

Zhu Youzhen, who had no bottom in his heart, specially consulted a whip law formulated by Zhang Juzheng for the Ming Dynasty.

Although most of the whip law has been abolished now, his calculation of the physical equivalent of silver taels has made the tax of the Ming Dynasty clear at a glance.

In the ninth year of Wanli, according to a whip law determined by Zhang Juzheng himself, the Ming court theoretically owned 7013,976 hectares of taxable land.

That is to say, even if one mu is only taxed according to the 1.2 buckets of grain set by Zhu Yuanzhang (plus a whip method to spread the miscellaneous labor of about 1 yuan of silver per mu), the Ming court will earn a huge tax of more than 70 million taels of silver a year.

More than 70 million, 5 million is big, but compared to more than 70 million, it is nothing.

After reading the tax amount of the whip law determined by Zhang Juzheng, Zhu Youzhen went to check the autumn tax collected in the fifth year of the Apocalypse with great expectations.

Oh, my God!

The moment he saw the autumn tax figures, the huge psychological gap made Zhu Youzhen almost draw it directly.

5 million!

The autumn tax in the fifth year of the Apocalypse was only 5 million taels!

Zhu Youzhen never expected that the autumn tax of the Ming Dynasty in the fifth year of the Apocalypse, with Wei Zhongxian's ability to exploit, the Ming Dynasty would only receive 5 million yuan.

5 million?

There are only 5 million, which is really too far from the theoretical 70 million.

What's more, among the more than 5 million, there is also a large amount of silver that Wei Zhongxian relied on to be exploited by various tax supervisors. Throw it out, the real tax collected by the Ming Dynasty may not even be enough for 3 million.

That is to say, relying on the positive taxes collected by the Ming Dynasty alone, even if all of them are used to pay for the military expenses of Liaodong, there is still a huge difference.

There is such a huge gap between the theoretical tax amount and the actual income, how can Zhu Youzhen not be crazy? How can you not worry?

Zhu Youzhen felt that if he could persist and not pull through, he should praise his tenacious nerves.

However, how did this theoretical 70 million become a reality of these 3 million? How much is the annual tax of the Ming court?

Zhu Youzhen, who was splashed awake by a huge basin of ice water, burst out with an unprecedented huge desire for knowledge, prompting him to calm down again and carefully read the tax records of the Ming Dynasty over the years.

Looking at the tax records of the Ming Dynasty over the years, Zhu Youzhen found that the so-called 70 million positive tax is really just a wonderful theoretical figure.

This number, even in the ninth year of Wanli when Zhang Juzheng clarified the world's acres of land, the Ming Dynasty failed to collect it.

The taxation of the Ming Dynasty has always been according to the rules set by Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, after the local yamen collected the taxes from the people, they first set aside the funds needed for local operations, and then transferred the taxes that needed to be paid to the capital.

In other words, the tax tax obtained by the Ming court was actually the part that the yamen in various places handed over after reserving the one they needed. In this way, when the tax collection is insufficient, the local yamen must of course think carefully and give priority to meeting their own needs before considering the imperial court in the capital.

With the passage of time, the taxes paid by the local yamen to the imperial court inevitably appeared in large arrears.

Zhu Yuanzhang never imagined that the rules he set in order to reduce the burden on the people would give the local yamen the opportunity to default on taxes.

In the ninth year of Wanli, the year when Zhang Juzheng's power reached its peak, the Ming court received a total of 3.66 million in taxes, more than 1 million in salt taxes, and more than 30 in other miscellaneous items, with a total of only more than 5 million taels of silver.

That was when Zhang Juzheng's authority was at its peak, and he only collected more than 5 million taxes. This discovery almost made Zhu Youzhen's jaw drop.

Well, compared to Zhang Juzheng's 5 million, it is really not bad for Tianqi to receive 5 million in five years.

Looking at the tax figures for the ninth year of Wanli, Zhu Youzhen couldn't help grinning.

However, the total tax revenue of 5 million is barely enough for Liaodong's military expenses at most, and other expenses such as maintaining the operation of the imperial court; the cost of repairing the three major halls; There are also the most critical disaster relief expenses during the Xiaoice period; Where do you want Zhu Youzhen to find it?

In the face of the huge fiscal deficit, and looking at the even larger tax arrears figures of the yamen in various places over the years, Zhu Youzhen really felt a headache.

Zhu Youzhen can feel from the details of the Baishui Wang's Second Uprising and the Chengxian Rebellion that the local yamen of the Ming Dynasty are probably about to rot.

After more than 200 years of ups and downs, the Ming Dynasty has really come to the end of its illness.

Saving such a Ming is really a headache.

After carefully weighing the situation in various parts of the Ming Dynasty for a long time, Zhu Youzhen resolutely put aside the uprising of Wang Er in Shaanxi first.

Even if Wang Er's uprising was the spark that triggered the peasant uprising, it would take some time for the spark to set the prairie on fire.

Zhu Youzhen has already thought about it, and at this stage, it is just right for Houjin to launch the 'Ningjin War'. As long as he can get the real meaning of the 'Ningjin Victory' before the peasant uprising really burns the plains. It is to completely cripple the Houjin Tartar, at least to give the Houjin Tartar a heavy blow. In this way, he was able to free his hands and slowly deal with the extremely difficult problems within the Great Ming.

In order to obtain the real 'Ningjin Great Victory', then Zhu Youzhen must mobilize all the forces that can be mobilized to ensure the smooth progress of the 'Ningjin Great Victory'.

With this in mind, Zhu Youzhen was of course very interested in Huang Liji's idea of having the cabinet take the lead and coordinate the three ministries of households, military, and industry to jointly promote the war preparedness plan in eastern Liaodong.

Zhu Youzhen knew very well that Wang Yongguang's Liaodong combat readiness plan involved several roads in Liaodong, and there were more than 100,000 Ming troops that needed to be coordinated and mobilized; There are also bases in Denglai and Tianjin, where a larger amount of ordnance, grain and grass needs to be arranged.

With such a huge and complicated plan, Zhu Youzhen was afraid that the bureaucrats everywhere would prevaricate and sabotage his plan. Now that the Ming Cabinet, which is more authoritative among the officials, can take the lead, and then coordinate the three ministries of households, soldiers, and industry to fully promote this plan, wouldn't it be a good thing that Zhu Youzhen couldn't ask for.

Therefore, in Huang Liji's full of anxiety, Zhu Youzhen calmly opened his mouth: "Huang Qing's proposal is exactly what I want. Your cabinet will immediately elect 3 people, and Huang Qing will count as one. You and the three departments of households, soldiers, and workers formed a 'Ningjin Combat Readiness Group' to fully promote the war readiness plan in Liaodong for me. ”

Looking at Huang Liji, who had a look of surprise on his face, Zhu Youzhen added in an unusually firm tone: "My news comes from the Jinyi Wei Detective Report, which is completely credible." ”

Looking back, Zhu Youzhen stared at Wei Zhongxian again and said word by word: "Wei Daban, you have kept an eye on me." Whoever dares to shirk responsibility for this matter, if there is one, you will deal with one for me, and I will not tolerate mercy! ”

Feeling the trace of murderous aura in Zhu Youzhen's eyes, Wei Zhongxian's body was cold, he instinctively bowed down, and responded respectfully: "Yes, the old slave obeys the holy will." ”