Cui Chengxiu got up and saluted Zhu Youxiao, then leaned halfway and took out the booklet he had prepared a long time ago to report. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

According to Cui Chengxiu's words, in the eighth year of the Apocalypse, compared with the seventh year of the Apocalypse, after the Donglin Party was completely eradicated and the Dongchang once again became stricter in the supervision of civilian officials, the officialdom was relatively much more relaxed, so there were no major changes in the organizational system of the Beijing officials.

On the contrary, at the local level, especially in Shandong, Fengyang, and other places, a large number of local officials have been dismissed or questioned because they openly and covertly oppose the new policy, resulting in a large number of local officials actually vacant this year, and a large number of scholars are urgently needed to replace these local officials and restore local administrative order.

Fortunately, His Majesty Zhu Youxiao, the wise and great emperor of the Ming Dynasty, took precautions and greatly increased the admission quota for the general examination and the township examination as early as the seventh year of the Apocalypse on the grounds of showing favor to the world.

As a result, the second- and third-class jinshi and the extra waiting-in officers who were several times more than in previous years were able to quickly fill the local vacancies.

"Learning and excellence, although there are those so-called scholars who are unwilling to join us in the eyes of money, but ordinary scholars from ordinary families, especially scholars in the north and Yunnan, Guichuan, Huguang and other places, still have a large number of scholars who are willing to serve the Ming Dynasty.

For these scholars, we should encourage them to go out of office, and even some of the students who draw tribute can also be vigorously simplified, and now when the country is in urgent need of talents, they should not be abandoned because of their fame, and the people of Dongchang should also visit these quasi-officials and inform them to the officials at any time.

Those who are flexible and open-minded are mostly sent to Jiangnan, Fujian and Zhejiang, Liangguang, Liaodong and other places, and will implement many new policies in the future and respond to foreign forces; For officials who abide by the rules and pride themselves on being honest and attach importance to education, they are mostly sent to Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Huguang and other places, especially the places where Han and Yi live together, so that it will be easier to implement Sinicization and let Confucian education penetrate into the Miao Zhai Zhuang area in the future;

In addition, those who did not want to come out to become officials after the Jinshi Examination were allowed to engage in business, write books, or engage in other trades, but they were not allowed to stay in their hometowns, and were assigned by the imperial court to teach and educate people or to enliven local trade! Otherwise, why come out to participate in the imperial examination, spend the country's financial resources instead of contributing to the country, and occupy the pit without, so that some scholars who are not knowledgeable enough but have the ambition to serve the country fall to Sun Mountain, and fulfill his noble and beautiful name! ”

Cui Chengxiu took down Zhu Youxiao's instructions very carefully, which asked Dongchang to assist the Ministry of Officials, and reported the ideas and propositions of scholars from all over the country to the Ministry of Officials at any time for his reference when he was selected, which couldn't help but let him secretly admire His Majesty Zhu Youxiao's flexibility, and also made him discover that in addition to collecting evidence and arresting people, Dongchang also had the function of assisting the six departments to carry out government affairs.

After Cui Chengxiu, the secretary of the ministry, reported that the left and right servants of the ministry were in charge of the affairs of the ministry, including the results of the Beijing inspection and the evaluation grades of officials at all levels, and how many people needed to be deposed due to old age, illness, and incompetence. Zhu Youxiao didn't intervene again, as the emperor, it is impossible for him to interfere in everything, but it is still necessary to listen to it, at least he can know whether these high-ranking officials have a corpse vegetarian meal, and sometimes you can see one or two through the logic of their words.

Although the Ministry of Officials is the first important department of the six departments, but this year's year-end court meeting, Zhu Youxiao is more concerned about the report of the Ministry of Households, in his previous life he read Ming history books, countless people often say that the criticism of the Ming Dynasty is finance, so since he became the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, he is most concerned about how much money he has earned and how much money the treasury has.

For this reason, he would not rather bear the infamy of a ruthless emperor, cut off a large number of vassal kings who have lost their minions in various places, and even change the law to deprive them of their privileges, not only the vassal kings in various places, but also the squires who occupy privileged interests, Zhu Youxiao would rather purge the officials of the entire Shandong officialdom than pull out the chicken feathers from the iron rooster squire.

Seeing His Majesty staring at him, Guo Yunhou, the head of the household, couldn't help wiping the beads of sweat on his forehead, and couldn't help but laugh: "The floor heating is too hot", and then took out the prepared booklet to prepare a long summary of the income and expenditure of the Ming Dynasty in this year.

But Guo Yunhou felt a little afraid, he was afraid that after he reported the results of his summary, it would cause the shock and hatred of the entire civil and official group, because a series of data in it all proved the great benefits of the collection of commercial taxes and the integration of the officials and gentry to pay grain, but once the results were announced, it would completely negate the thesis that the civil officials of the Ming Dynasty still insisted that the collection of commercial taxes was to compete with the people for profits and harm the interests of the country, and even greatly supported His Majesty's next promotion.

Although the current officials dare not argue with His Majesty anymore, it is unknown whether the stubborn old-fashioned faction with grudges will vent their anger on him, the head of the household, and treat him Guo Yunhou as a merchant martingale.

However, in front of so many people, and as soon as he saw His Majesty's eagle-like gaze, Guo Yunhou finally gritted his teeth and said: "Back to Your Majesty, in the eighth year of the Apocalypse, the total tax revenue of the treasury was 103.42 million silver dollars, and the total amount of various expenses and taxes was 58.54 million silver dollars, and the surplus was 44.88 million silver dollars.

Guo Yunhou just read a string of data, and the entire court meeting was in an uproar on the spot, and they all looked at Guo Yunhou, although after the imperial court implemented the currency reform, the silver dollar was relatively slightly lower than the equivalence of silver, but the difference was not big, and now suddenly the annual income of the treasury reached hundreds of millions of silver dollars, which is simply incredible!

"Guo Butang, you can't be mistaken, when did I become so rich", Li Mingrui didn't believe it very much, relying on the fact that he was the emperor's most trusted cabinet scholar, he came forward for other officials to express his doubts.

"Don't dare to deceive Your Majesty and all of you here, this figure is the conclusion reached by all the colleagues of the household department after verifying it no less than 30 times, which has not yet included Layue's, and there is still a tax of 12 million silver dollars in Fengyang that has not been deported into Beijing", Guo Yunhou said this, Li Mingrui also suddenly realized, he is not good to intervene again, no one is willing to mention the matter of commercial tax, and he does not dare to express his opinions at will.

Zhu Youxiao naturally saw the cunning of these officials, and after smiling slightly, he didn't expose it, but just nodded and said, "Go on." ”

"Yes!" Guo Yunhou continued: "In terms of income, among them, the summer and autumn taxes have increased by more than 30 million silver dollars compared with last year, mainly because after Shaanxi implemented the apportionment into the mu, the situation that there is no tax to be levied in Shaanxi has been changed, and the tax collection area has been expanded, and some hidden large households have been found out.

Since Ma Shiying, the governor of Fengyang, encouraged business and increased the amount of commercial taxes, the entire Fengyang area has handed over 10 million to 40 million commercial taxes to the imperial court every three months, especially in the second half of the year, specifically by Ma Shiying to His Majesty, Weichen wants to explain here that Fengyang contributed nearly seventy percent to the imperial court's tax revenue, but last year, Fengyang's summer and autumn annual taxes accounted for less than thirty percent of the entire treasury tax revenue. ”

After hearing this, Zhu Youxiao couldn't help but slap the table: "Look, a central capital Fengyang can increase so much tax revenue after collecting commercial taxes, I want to see, who said that commercial taxes cannot be levied, if commercial taxes are not levied, can he conjure up hundreds of millions of treasury income for me?" ”

The officials had to echo and say that they were not fools, and naturally knew that this commercial tax would enrich the treasury in large quantities, but this also meant that the wealth of the people, especially the gentry, would flow into the pockets of the imperial court in large quantities.

"I know that you are not happy in your hearts, and I feel that I have taken away the money of you masters, but think about it, are you hungry now and can't afford to eat, or do you even have no money to buy clothes, Zhang Junning, the left waiter of the Criminal Department, you lost one million silver dollars in a big gamble in Suzhou when you returned to Beijing after the execution of Fan Wencheng in prison, but is there such a thing?

There is also Zhou Changli, the Zhengqing of Taifu Temple, when you returned to your hometown in the province, you auctioned off a set of diamond-encrusted dressing mirrors of the Royal Industrial Company for 150,000 silver dollars in advance in the capital, and unfortunately was broken by a migrant worker on the way back, but with a big stroke of the pen, you were exempted from the compensation of the migrant workers, but there is such a thing? Zhu Youxiao saw that many ministers here were not very moved, so he couldn't help but smile coldly, and told the trivial matters of several officials he had learned from Dongchang.

Hearing Zhu Youxiao say this, Zhang Junning, the left attendant of the Criminal Department, and Zhou Changli, the Taifu Siqing, couldn't help but shudder, and they were also frightened in their hearts, secretly sighing that these things of their own had been known by His Majesty, and they also pretended to be smart to think that His Majesty did not know about the elegant things under them.

"Zhou Changli!"

Zhu Youxiao suddenly shouted, and Zhou Changli, the servant of the temple, immediately knelt down: "Weichen is guilty, Weichen is guilty, Weichen shouldn't be." ”

"You shouldn't do anything, I don't want to blame you, your ancestor Zhou Changli was born in horse breeding, and later became a local tycoon specializing in business inside and outside the mouth, and now he is the richest man in Dingyuan, Zhongdu, you spend 150,000 silver dollars to buy a mirror, I will not suspect you of corruption, let you be a servant Siqing is to see that your family sells horses, let you take care of the affairs of animal husbandry for the imperial court, not to mention that you are also a tolerant and generous person, and do not claim compensation from migrant workers because of a mirror, I appreciate it very much."

Zhu Youxiao said and said: "I only want to ask you one thing, after Fengyang Governor Ma Shiying reformed the commercial tax policy in Fengyang, is your Zhou family poor or rich, answer honestly, if you dare to deceive me, I will not spare it!" ”

"Back to Your Majesty, I had a little less money at first, but I don't know why, a few months later, more people bought horses in Fengyang, and in the end I made a lot more", Zhou Changli couldn't help but answer truthfully.

Zhu Youxiao nodded and then motioned for him to sit down, and said: "I told you, this business depends on the change of demand and supply, I call it the market, if you want to have a good market, a big market, it is equivalent to more people can afford to buy, and those who do business can sell more, the court is a pair of hands that control this market, after collecting business taxes, you can maintain this order, let more people buy, and make it more convenient to do business, so that the people who buy and sell in this way will have more benefits, and the court will also have benefits, Do you think that's right, I have taken away your wealth? ”

Zhu Youxiao's words made these officials, who mainly read the Four Books and the Five Classics, a little difficult to understand, but fortunately, these people had a low IQ and could understand the general meaning, so they all nodded.

Seeing this, Zhu Youxiao didn't say anything anymore, the officials who could stay here were all royalist officials or appeasementers who could compromise for the interests of the country, so Zhu Youxiao was not worried that they would rebel against him because they still couldn't give up their immediate interests.

Next, Guo Yunhou continued to elaborate on expenses.

According to the data provided by Guo Yunhou, the military expenditure of the Ming Dynasty in the eighth year of the Apocalypse has increased several times, including the reason for the large increase in the expenditure on military salaries and equipment after the recovery of the Liaodong Peninsula.

In particular, several large-scale projects that cost huge sums of money have been set up this year, such as the construction of the Daming Shipbuilding Bureau and the Liangjing Avenue.

Therefore, although because of the eight years of the Apocalypse, a large amount of expenses were saved for the support of the vassal kings in various places, coupled with the temporary reconciliation with the Manchu Qing and the war between the Manchus and Wu Xiangbu, the war expenses of the Ming Dynasty were reduced, and a lot of trade benefits were obtained, but the total expenses of the Ming Dynasty were not reduced, but they increased a lot compared with last year, but fortunately, the increase in income was greater, which made the treasury have a surplus.

However, this is not much money left, and if all sources of income are stopped now, even a year's expenses will not be satisfied. Moreover, if Zhu Youxiao really promised to give the emperor's eldest son Zhu Cijiong a fief and a fief, I am afraid that the surplus money will be spent in a month. For this reason, Zhu Youxiao, the emperor, had to be the grand platform again, and immediately reduced the scale of a series of celebrations such as the full moon of the emperor's eldest son Zhu Cijiong.

However, this does not mean that Zhu Youxiao really has no money, the profits of the Royal Industrial Company and the Royal Bank and the three royal capital giants of Huangzhuang are not less than the annual income of the state treasury, but this fund is to be used for the Royal Janissaries, in addition, there are temporary appropriations for the construction of various large-scale projects and emergency relief for sudden disasters.

Therefore, Zhu Youxiao will not casually take out the Manchu emperors who learned from later generations to build royal gardens on a large scale, and then wait until a hundred years later to be burned by Western powers.