The first year of Hongguang in the Ming Dynasty (1645), it seems that it is about to pass, although this year is full of disasters and difficulties, the Ming Dynasty almost perished, fortunately, there is no danger, everything has passed, at the end of the year, Nanjing also has a light snow, for such weather, the people like it the most, because Ruixue Zhaofeng year, after this light snow, cover the land with a layer of snow quilt, freeze to death those pests and diseases that harm the banker, and the crops will have a good harvest in the coming year.

Under the corridor of the cabinet duty, Cao Bianjiao stretched out a hand and then the snowflakes fell one after another, looking at the sky, his eyes flashed and he smiled: "Ruixue!" There will be a good harvest next year! ”

After finishing speaking, Cao Bianjiao turned around and walked into the duty room, where the two large braziers of white cloud copper were piled with inch-long silver charcoal, burning red, and the several red candles placed on the table in the room reflected up and down, making the cabinet duty room warm red.

Cao Bianjiao returned to the chair and said, "Let's start!" The emperor is not coming back, saying that the weather is too cold at the end of the year, and he is not very willing to move, I heard the inner court say that the emperor will get up for an hour at night these days, teach two markets every morning, and the riding and archery martial arts in the afternoon have also been canceled, and most of them are playing Keju in the palace, and the emperor's heart is still a teenager, so we don't have to be too demanding. ”

"Oh well! Let's get started! Zhang Shenyan, who was sitting on Cao Bianjiao's right hand, also responded, they didn't care about whether the emperor attended or not, there were two kinds of emperors in the Ming Dynasty, one was in charge, the other was in charge, the one in charge was like Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youzhen, no matter what happened was like Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houxi, everyone still wanted the emperor to learn from Emperor Jiajing, they were more relaxed as courtiers, and the country was quieter.

"It's still the old rule of the imperial court, the six cabinets will report last year's various expenditures according to the actual use of the ministries, the settlement and verification, today has to have a saying, today is the twenty-eighth of the lunar month, what are the big expenses next year, the ministries also put forward, the household department has a comprehensive calculation, the cabinet has drawn up a vote, next year in accordance with the rules, can not eat grain, the court has the difficulties of the court, everything needs to spend money, can be saved as much as possible!" Zhang Shenyan also spoke immediately at Cao Bianjiao's signal.

Cao Bianjiao also said: "This year has been crowded, eventful, but finally over, the road of the Ming Dynasty will continue to go, we are all courtiers of the court, the responsibility still has to be shouldered, although I am the first minister, but the political affairs of the court, I generally rarely ask, you have also worked hard, in charge of all the state affairs of the eleven provinces and Nanzhili, I also thank you here, starting with the Ministry of Rites, then the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Officials, the Ministry of Crime, the Ministry of War, and the Ministry of Households. ”

"Yes! The Ministry of Rites is a Qing Yamen in the eyes of outsiders, this year is nothing, but next year's things are really a lot, the first thing is next year's scientific examination, originally scheduled for this year, because the Manchu Qing Dynasty went south, so it was delayed, next year can not be delayed in any case, this is an expense, 30,000 silver; The second thing is what the general said, the matter of building schools, there are three schools under construction in Nanjing, one is a martial arts school, one is a Western school, and the other is a medical school, which is also an expense, requiring 50,000 yuan in silver; The third thing is about the princess's wedding, next year the princess will be sixteen, according to the ancestral system, it should also be married, the Ministry of Rites has also discussed with Concubine Yuan, ready to choose a candidate in March, and get married at the end of the year, this is also an expense, our Ministry of Rites estimated, how to save these three expenses, it also takes 200,000 taels. Huang Daozhou, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, was the first to stand up and say.

"The scientific examination and the establishment of the school can be done well, as for the princess's wedding, I think it doesn't hurt to postpone it for a year, I can go to the concubine to communicate this matter, the candidate can be decided first, and it is okay to get married next year."

"That's good! As long as the general decides on this matter and the princess's wedding, then postpone it until the next year! Huang Daozhou also has no opinion, after all, the princess's wedding does not stipulate when it must be.

"What about the Ministry of Works?" Zhang Shenyan also continued to ask.

The Ministry of Industry Shangshu also stood up, holding the account book in his hand and said: "Last year, the Ministry of Industry was ordered to rectify the rivers in the south of the Yangtze River, mainly several waterways of the Anhui River and the Qiantang River, which cost 500,000 taels ......of silver, and the pen and pen were all announced and verified, and all of them were used in practice, and I am afraid that next year I will only invest 500,000 yuan to maintain the Yellow River waterway, and the other is to repair Fengyang City, which also costs 100,000 taels, and it also costs 150,000 taels to supervise the construction of the palace."

"Officials ......"

Wu Ganlai also got up and replied: "The Ministry of Officials is in charge of the assessment and promotion of officials, and the accounting is Yulu, which has been reported to the Ministry of Households......

"The Criminal Department has no way to calculate, some of the expenses are temporary expenditures, and what the Criminal Department submitted is that 10,000 yuan of silver will be allocated for funding next year, and the excess will be refunded and the deficiency will be compensated."

"The use of the Criminal Department is mainly needed for exile and migration, if it is 10,000 taels, it is not much, it is accurate!" Cao Bianjiao also agreed with the meaning of the Criminal Department at the moment.

At present, there are 370,000 standing soldiers and horses in the country, and it is estimated that each soldier will need about 15 taels of silver, that is, 5.55 million yuan in silver, and it is also necessary to build artillery and pay for the bereaved of the war dead, which is not a small expense."

"I will carry out the military camp when there is no war, so that the expenses of the court can be reduced." Cao Bianjiao immediately said, not necessarily there will be many wars, at the moment both sides are accumulating vitality, Cao Bianjiao predicts that there should not be many wars next year, and he should be able to save a little.

"After half a month of accounting, last year's accounts have been examined, and there is not much discrepancy, that is, next year, after the budget, the figure is that the various expenses that will need to be spent next year will be more than 13 million taels. However, this year's tax is only 5 million taels, and the treasury is abundant, but as the general said, if Yin eats grain, it will be emptied sooner or later. Zeng Ying said.

"Everyone, you all think about it, the reason why today's taxes are so low, why, although it is the land of eleven provinces plus Nanzhili, but Henan, Jiangbei, Susongchang, Sichuan, Hubei these places are exempt from reducing agricultural taxes, where are the most these taxes, Zhejiang, Hunan two provinces, accounting for sixty percent, next year's vitality will be restored, will the tax be increased accordingly, in addition to we have opened many ports and overseas trade ......"

"General, with all due respect, Zheng Zhilong of Fujian, occupies Fujian, uses power for personal gain, can no longer let him do evil, fat him alone and harm the whole Fujian, this year's taxes paid by Fujian to the imperial court are only more than 400,000 taels, Fujian is a major overseas trade province, even Guangdong has paid 700,000 taels because of the sea disaster, where did Fujian's taxes go, they all went into his Zheng Zhilong's pocket!" Yuan Jixian also said with some resentment at the moment.

"Zheng Zhilong's matter, I will deal with it, don't worry!" Cao Bianjiao didn't want to entangle too much with this person, he was a scourge, Cao Bianjiao would get rid of him sooner or later, there was no doubt about this, and Cao Bianjiao didn't want to say too much in front of people.

"At present, there are still more than 20 million silver deposits in the treasury, and it is not difficult to pay for next year's expenses, since the 15th Lantern Festival of the first month of next year, the new currency will be officially implemented, and the old money will be recycled at that time, and it will still be able to make some profits......."

A cabinet meeting lasted for two hours, and everything was clearly explained, and then it was over.