As the emperor, Zhu Youzhen now controls the military power.

At least in Nanjing, the 80,000-strong army of the Second Guards Army acted completely at the mercy of Zhu Youzhen.

Therefore, Zhu Youzhen wanted to levy commercial taxes and collect personal income tax, but these officials could only accept it, and they were glad that Zhu Youzhen promised not to solve the problem of military pay by raiding his home in the future.

"Taxes are basically levied on the basis of land, trading, and personal income, and how to collect personal income is drafted by Lu Zhenfei, a cabinet scholar.

As he spoke, Zhu Youzhen said: "As for how the imperial court makes profits, that is, how to increase the income of the imperial court, raising soldiers and supporting you and me, as well as those relatives of the Zhu family who ignore agricultural affairs, I think we must first distinguish which are the industries of the imperial court and which are the industries that can be operated by private individuals." ”

"Although it is said that under the thin sky, it is not the king's land, but I also admit that any Ming people in the world can have their own private property, which includes their own land, houses and even property, etc., but the mine and salt are given by God, I am the son of heaven, these are my private property, and the people are not allowed to mine and sell it privately, from now on, if anyone is found to be mining privately, whether he is an official or a civilian, it will be confiscated!"

Cabinet members and officials from various ministries and halls who were present to listen to the administration could not help but feel greatly surprised and embarrassed when they heard His Majesty Zhu Youzhen say this.

Now that the imperial court is not in order, mining is no longer the patent of the imperial court, and the gentry have long controlled most of the profits of mining, and the salt industry is also flooded with private salt.

Now that Zhu Youzhen wants to withdraw these interests, it will naturally make these officials and gentry feel embarrassed.

But this is indeed the property of the imperial court, and the officials and gentry could not stop Zhu Youzhen, as the emperor, from recovering these benefits except for scolding the mine supervisors and tax supervisors in their writings.

"I know your thoughts, and I am not willing to spit out the benefits that I swallow in my mouth, and I will even resist my tax supervisors and mine supervisors, and I will trick the people into resisting my tax collection and mines, and even scold me for being greedy for money, I am not afraid of your scolding, and I will not send tax supervisors and mine supervisors this time.

"From now on, the matter of tax collection will not be separated from the ministers and households, everything will be collected exclusively by the household officials, and the specific household reform and the supply and distribution of the treasury and the internal government will be discussed later!"

Zhu Youzhen knew that neither the people nor the gentry liked to be taxed, nor did they like the mining industry containing countless wealth to be occupied by the imperial court, so Zhu Youzhen would definitely be scolded as long as he taxed and recovered the mining.

In this case, it is better to let the civil officials collect taxes for themselves, and let them be scolded with them.

"Then there is the sea trade, not only including the sea trade, but also the trade with the customs and the trade within the Ming Dynasty, I accept Zhang Shenyan's suggestion, both the government and the private sector can exist, but weapons, salt and iron and minerals and other transactions related to the safety of the Ming Dynasty can only be attributed to the government, of course, private individuals can also operate if they are approved by the imperial court; In all walks of life, private businessmen can intervene, and because you pay taxes, the court will also protect your trading rights and security! How to protect it, which can only be run by the government, and which can be both official and private, will be discussed later! ”

Zhu Youzhen said and then returned to the throne and sat down: "Basically, that's all, most of my Ming maladministration lies in taxes, money and grain, and the specific word 'finance' can be used to overview, the officials' salaries are not enough, the soldiers' salaries are not enough, but the burden of the people is getting heavier and heavier, and even the emperor with me is getting poorer and poorer. ”

After speaking, Zhu Youzhen said: "What are the deficiencies of the specific new policy, all the Aiqing who listen to the government in the court can go down to the court and then submit it to the cabinet by the General Administration Department, and then hand it over to me Yulan. ”

As soon as Zhu Youzhen said this, the officials present were once again full of energy.

Although many of the contents of the new policy discussed today are for them to sacrifice their own interests, let them do their best to manage their wisdom or be forced to admit the new policy, they are still very curious about how much of the family property of Qian Qianyi and other official gentry will be copied, after all, they will also know how much money to ask the court for in the future.

"Your Majesty, Qian Qianyi's family has not copied 56,000 taels of gold, 468,300 taels of silver, and the total valuation of various properties and antiques of the house is 1,320,000 taels; The total amount of land is 120,000 mu, the real estate is 350,000 mu, and there are 312 slaves! The silver can be worth one million taels. A total of about 3 million taels of confiscated income! ”

The first to stand up and report was He Xin, the imperial horse supervisor.

Then there was Ma Shiying: "The former military department Shangshu Hou's Mansion confiscated 10,000 taels of gold, 242,000 taels of silver, and the total valuation of various properties and antiques of the house was 720,000 taels; A total of 540,000 acres of land, 630,000 acres of real estate, and more than 500 slaves! 1,200,000 taels of silver! A total of more than 1.5 million taels were confiscated! ”

Then Li Banghua reported to the Gong Dingyu family that the confiscated income: "In the matter, the Gong Dingyu family confiscated 30,000 taels of gold, 420,000 taels of silver, and the total valuation of various properties and antiques of the house was 2.48 million taels; The total land is 50,000 acres, the real estate is 120,000 acres, and there are more than 160 slaves! 200,000 taels of silver! A total of more than three million taels! ”

"Wu Weiye's family confiscated 160,000 taels of gold, 920,000 taels of silver, and the total valuation of various properties and antiques of the house was 3.72 million taels; The total amount of land is 10,000 acres, the real estate is 50,000 acres, and the slaves are 563! The valuation of the silver is 80,000 taels! A total of more than six million taels! ”

"Dong Zuchang and Dong Zuyuan's family confiscated 380,000 taels of gold, 1.2 million taels of silver, and the total valuation of various properties and antiques of the house was 7.4 million taels; The total land is 100,000 mu, and the real estate is 280,000 mu; Six hundred and thirty servants, of whom five hundred were maidservants! More than 12 million taels of silver! ”

When Lu Zhenfei finished reporting Wu Weiye, Dong Zuchang and Dong Zuyuan's family property, especially the confiscated income of the Dong family, the officials present couldn't help but exclaim.

Zhu Youzhen was also quite surprised, he was already mentally prepared for the fact that several families had copied out millions of dollars before, but the Dong family had not copied out tens of millions, which made him also stunned: "Lu Ge Lao, take a closer look, whether it is a miscalculation, this Dong Qichang is just an official and a scholar, why is he so rich." ”

"Your Majesty and all the colleagues present don't need to be surprised, Xia Guan was quite unbelieving at the time, but this is indeed a fact, the Dong family has plagued the township for decades, and they have done everything to loot money, and it is difficult to know their wealth if they don't raid their homes."

After Lu Zhenfei said, Zhu Youzhen nodded, and ordered him to continue the report.

Lu Zhenfei then reported that the total property of Wang Duo, the former Shangshu of the Nanjing Ministry of Rites, and Chen Liang, the former scholar of the Nanjing Hanlin Academy, was about five million taels of silver.

Finally, Fan Jingwen, the first assistant of the cabinet, did not talk about the income of the Chuanzhu family:

"Tan Chuanzhu's family confiscated 1,000 taels of gold, 120,000 taels of silver, 10,000 taels of houses and antiques, 140,000 mu of land, 100,000 mu of real estate, and more than 120 slaves! More than 300,000 taels of silver, a total of more than 500,000 taels! Tan Chuanzhu is just a guerrilla, born as a military attaché, and has little interest in repairing gardens and collecting antiques, so he only blindly buys land, which is difficult to compare with those Shangshu Hanlin. ”