[It should be chapter 427, the previous chapter was scheduled to be 425, and I forgot to change it]

At the beginning of February of the second year of Zhengde.

Liu Jian, the governor of Shandong, entered Beijing, and he was the first feudal official to report to the emperor.

As the former prime minister, the emperor has always been a little special to him.

Moreover, two members of the current cabinet are still close to him.

Liu Jian still has this slightly special status, which actually reflects that the current cabinet still has a certain status in the emperor's heart.

The main contents of the work report should include land, population, summer tax, and autumn grain.

As mentioned above, the tax revenue of the Ming Dynasty was divided into summer tax and autumn grain, of which autumn grain occupies an absolute dominant position, which can basically reach eighty or ninety percent. And the time to send the Jingshi is almost February of the following year. Therefore, the emperor chose to set the Great Dynasty meeting in March.

It is to set aside a month to review the achievements and problems of the past year.

After the Great Pilgrimage, there will be personnel changes.

Because there will be no fewer people who will change, and there will be some actions in the ministry, which cannot be concealed, and the news will not spread, plus last year's precedent is in the forefront, so naturally many officials are very concerned.

Naturally, Zhengde's two-year debriefing is not a simple debriefing. It's about distinguishing the superior in front of the emperor.

Zhu Houzhao, on the other hand, has been putting practice first for 10 years, and as he did last year, he will not force the provinces to pay an increase in taxes. This is because once this concept of political performance is established, it will certainly fill the treasury, but the local officials will certainly collect grain by any means, and when the time comes, it will not necessarily be a good policy.

In fact, the process of debriefing is still secondary, mainly because the emperor will intersperse a large number of questions, once he can't answer them...... Therefore, this requires every feudal official to be very familiar with the situation under his rule.

For Shandong,

Liu Jian mainly reported on where the 300,000 river ICBC received last year was spent, how many canals were built, how many water systems were communicated, and how the grain harvest was.

Zhu Hou took care of it, Shandong Province has about 724,000 hectares of cultivated land, and 2.8 million stone of taxes have been paid, a slight increase from last year.

In the Ming Dynasty, Shandong was also a large tax province, basically lagging behind the rich Nanzhili, and it and Zhejiang, Shaanxi, and Henan are all large provinces that can pay more than 2 million stone in taxes every year.

“…… The situation in Shandong is relatively stable, no different from previous years. However, Shandong had a major drought in the eleventh and twelfth years of Hongzhi, and the minister's plan was unavoidable, and the system of reserve warehouses should be re-improved in the counties in the second year of Zhengde. ”

The reserve warehouse is also the storage of grain, and it is easiest to have a nest case here.

Zhu Houzhao understood what he meant, "Officials below the prefect's level, I will allow you the right to make decisions on the spot, and you can deal with the prefect and above at the same time, just inform me of a reason." ”

"Minister, thank you, Your Majesty. Your Majesty, the minister still has a reluctant request. ”

"Say."

"In the first year of Zhengde, His Majesty allocated 300,000 silver as a river repair payment, and the ministers mobilized the people to dredge the river and strengthen the river embankment in Jinan Mansion, Yanzhou Mansion and Qingzhou Mansion, but there are many rivers in Shandong, and 300,000 silver taels are really overstretched.

The minister knew that this amount of money should not be in Shandong's turn this year, but many water conservancy projects in Shandong were built in the middle of the road, and if they were not done at this time, their previous efforts would be wasted. Moreover, when the minister heard that the treasury was full, I wonder if His Majesty can allocate another 300,000 taels of silver? ”

Zhu Houzhao had already sent Xie Pi to see it before.

Liu Jian is a person who works quite hard, and he is not the kind of official who abuses and bullies the people.

And if the money can really be used for people's livelihood, Zhu Houzhao himself has no opinion.

"It stands to reason that I shouldn't have opened this mouth, otherwise I would only give it to you and not to others, and it should be said that I am biased. But you are not the only one who has mercy on the people of the world, and I am the same. I agreed to this money. ”

Liu Jian was overjoyed, "The emperor is generous and kind, and the ministers have thanked the emperor for the people of Shandong!" ”

Zhu Houzhao didn't say anything more, but Liu Jian's sentence of 'the minister heard that the treasury was full' made him a little concerned.

It's just that after thinking about it, he is Liu Ge Lao in the past after all, and it is easy to inquire about some situations.

At the same time, key officials from all over the country outside Shandong have also set off on their journey.

Hangzhou.

Mei Kejia met Wang Wei, the governor of Zhejiang and Fujian who went north.

In fact, Mei Kejia's identity makes it difficult for many people to grasp, if you want to talk about his background, he is just a businessman, even if he has an official body, but in the political atmosphere of the Ming Dynasty, he is not an official from the imperial examination, it is still secondary. But in terms of status, he holds Mei Ji in his hand, and in the entire Jiangnan region, there is no one who wants to do maritime business without selling his face.

Because he alone has a ship.

Plus the two nobles are his daughters.

Now, Mei Ji has become an imperial businessman, and he Mei Kejia also seems to have the respect of an important minister.

In this way, Wang Wei came to Hangzhou to see him.

However, Wang Wei has a stubborn temper and has never been a person who clings to the powerful.

He didn't come here to sell the face of this country, he came here to make a surplus in maritime trade.

At the end of the eighteenth year of Hongzhi, the emperor resolutely opened the sea despite public opinion, and for a whole year, most of the people along the coast of Zhejiang and Fujian were involved in the sea trade, and even if they did not go to sea, they could sell their goods to the merchants who went to sea.

Among them, Mei Ji is the strongest, and in June and September this year, 30 ships of 400 materials were dispatched to the sea, which can be said to be huge and spectacular.

In order to fill these ships, Mei Kee's 'downstream suppliers' are almost all over Zhejiang, and one of the largest shops in Ningbo is operated by Mei Kee.

Comparatively speaking, Fujian and Quanzhou also have some large merchants, but the scale is obviously smaller than Ningbo.

Wang Wei sent the emperor to the southeast to stabilize the situation of opening the sea, so how could Mei Ji, who was very important in Ningbo, not come?

Don't say that Mei Ji's silver has nothing to do with him, after all, Mei Ji is doing business in the territory he manages, and when he reported on his work, he mentioned how much silver he wanted to solve and enter Beijing, which was also one of the core issues.

furthermore

After the establishment of the Municipal Shipping Division, the imperial court successively improved the mechanisms of taxation, inspection, and approval.

Therefore, this year's silver of the imperial court in the southeast is mainly three pieces.

First, it is the original Tianfu of Zhejiang and Fujian provinces.

In this regard, Zhejiang has more, and the summer tax and autumn grain add up to nearly 2.8 million stones, and Fujian has less, about 900,000 stones.

This year, there are no major disasters in Zhejiang and Fujian that have spread throughout the province, and the officials of the two provinces, in addition to him, there are Wang Qiong, Mao Ji, Feng Xi, Zhang Li, and Wang Shouren......

With the joint efforts of so many people, Zhejiang's field endowment can be regarded as an increase, from 2.5 million stone last year to 300,000 this year.

It's not easy.

There are probably also factors that corrupt officials and clans in Zhejiang kill more.

Fujian, on the other hand, has not moved much, and it has been able to hand over 850,000 stone in previous years.

However, Fujian has always been an indisputable place for soldiers, and the Ming Dynasty earned 28 million stones, and it is not easy to achieve remarkable results in a place where the field endowment is less than 1 million every day.

The second is the tariffs collected by the local cities.

According to the instructions given to the emperor by the Yamen, the governor of Zhejiang and Fujian, in order to encourage merchants to go to sea in the early days of the opening of the sea, the tax ratio of the three cities was low, and some people in the court suggested that two out of ten would be drawn, that is, 20%.

Zhu Houzhao did not agree with this ratio, but he still agreed with the opinion of the governor Yamen, and raised the sea trade with low taxes, so the final tax was set at 25 draws.

Moreover, from the very beginning, the imperial court rejected the policy of 'tax over the head', that is, the taxation of ships, people, and goods was not conducive to management.

Therefore, the three cities only levy taxes in kind on goods that go to sea.

This year is the first year, even if the enthusiasm of the people is high, the goods sent out by the three cities are only more than 7 million taels, and the merchants make a lot of profits, but the imperial court's tariff income is only more than 200,000 taels.

Basically, it is left in the local area for some administrative expenses and the distribution of money in the three places of the city.

The part paid is mainly for the tariffs levied on imported goods from overseas, but the Ming Dynasty is a small-scale peasant economy, unless you drive a boat over and set up a cannon, it is not easy to market goods here, so it can basically be ignored.

The main court didn't care very much either,

Because the lion's share of the court's profits is not on this.

but in the official shops of Meiji and Hangzhou Manufacturing Bureau.

That is, this third point: the surplus of maritime trade.

In fact, the so-called businessmen make a lot of profits, and more than forty percent of them are still the profits of 'imperial merchants'.

Wang Wei knows the approximate number, Mei Ji and the Weaving Bureau transported 2.4 million taels of silver to the emperor last year, and I am afraid that this year it will be doubled, and there is still a boat that has not returned. These have accounts to check, although it is said that corruption is inevitable and private pockets are enriched, but today's Son of Heaven is not easy to deceive, the number that did not open the sea last year, if it does not double this year, can you pay the difference?

The benefits of sea trade are really amazing, no wonder Song Gaozong left a sentence 'the benefits of the market are the thickest', and no wonder the emperor was desperate to do this

In addition, the case of the two Huai salt farms shook the world.

Today's imperial court gathers the benefits of the people...... Some are too much.

If you go further north from Hangzhou, you can change to the waterway and take the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.

Wang Wei took Wang Shouren and the two prefects recommended by the emperor to stand at the bow of the ship and watched the people of the government carry boxes of silver to the ship.

And in order to protect the silver, they had two ships in the front and back of the ship.

It can be said that it is a large fleet.

"In the past, it was said that the southeast finance and taxation were half the world, and in the future, I am afraid that the benefits of sea trade will be half the world."

The official behind Wang Wei sighed.

No wonder, they've counted dozens of boxes.

"Boss Mei's silver entering Beijing, I'm afraid it will cause quite a stir."

Mei Kejia didn't care, "Why should the ministry worry? Wasn't it nothing last year? ”

Wang Wei shook his head, "It's different." Last year, there was no such thing as His Majesty spending money in a hurry. ”

……

……

After Liu Jian left the palace, he still did not enter the door of others, nor did he easily let others enter the door.

In addition to Li Dongyang and Xie Qian, two old friends. After all, after a year, they rarely see each other,

So just like last year, Li and Xie came to Liu Jian's place to settle down, a cup of hot tea, and talk about life, which can be regarded as a pleasure.

"In the first year of Zhengde, there were disasters in Huguang and Sichuan, and civil unrest in Guangxi, but His Majesty and the imperial court responded to it, and it was considered to be a complete task. In addition, the rise of peace in the four seas can be regarded as national peace and security. Moreover, this year, the treasury and internal funds are full, and His Majesty has issued several orders urging Shaofu to speed up the progress of the project, which shows that some money will be spent. ”

Li Dongyang's words almost set the tone for this year's court meeting.

Actually, it's not him, everyone else thinks so.

But Liu Jian was a little silent, maybe he used to say the words Guotai Min'an, but when he went to Shandong and went to various counties, under the Guotai Min'an he saw, there were actually people who sold their children and daughters, and their families were ruined.

The so-called good years are just barely satisfying hunger.

Since Huguang and Sichuan have suffered disasters, it is indeed a disease of scabies for the Ming Dynasty, but for the people there, it is a catastrophe.

"Heehyun, what's wrong with you?"

Li Dongyang and Xie Qian both noticed his abnormality.

"......No," Liu Jian lowered his eyebrows, "I'm just thinking, most of the time, maybe Your Majesty is right." ”

"What do you mean?"

"Yesterday, I proposed to Your Majesty that another 300,000 taels of money be allocated to Shandong to repair the river, and Your Majesty agreed."

"Oh?"

Li Dongyang and Xie Qian were also slightly surprised.

Mainly, the province to which province this money was given was fought over last year.

At that time, people were hindered by Liu Xixian's name as an old minister of the four dynasties. Your Majesty gives it to him, and it will be given to him.

But this year......

"In this way, it won't be 300,000 taels." Xie Qian and Li Dongyang are not stupid people, "Maybe more than a million taels." ”

Otherwise, how can you make sense?

To put it bluntly, even other provinces, if they really ask for it, they basically have to give it.

Why doesn't Liu Jian know?

But those things in Shandong were halfway done, and he couldn't help but open his mouth. Or, before he spoke, he didn't feel much hope, so he didn't think too much.

Who knows that the emperor agreed.

Liu Jian sighed at this time, "Your Majesty is people-oriented and loves the people like a son, but sometimes it is a little more intense, but after all, he is a young man." Therefore, I was thinking just now that the dispute with His Majesty in the past may have been my obsession. ”

"Your Majesty... He is indeed a benevolent gentleman. ”

"But I've also heard that some people want to change the three-year cycle to two years when they learn that the treasury is full. Especially after the return of the Yongshebu tribe, some people in the court felt that the Tatars were nothing more than that, so why wait another year? ”

Xie Qian's words made it a little difficult for Li Dongyang and Liu Jian to show their faces.

Li Dongyang continued: "What I mean with Yu Qiao, the cabinet will advise Your Majesty, or according to the three-year plan, no changes. Otherwise, no matter how much silver there is, it will only be wiped out overnight. When the time comes, I don't know when I want to wait until the next time there will be such a situation. ”

"Actually, Your Majesty will arrange it." Liu Jian was not in a hurry at all.

"I'm afraid that I'm only afraid of the people who are bold in the court, and Your Majesty's heart is ......."

"What did Elder Yang Ge say?"

Xie Qian replied: "He will not enter Beijing until about seven days later." Listen to his opinion then. If the re-set is changed to two years, the most direct impact will be the orderly withdrawal of the people and herdsmen. ”

It is not difficult to understand that if there are not enough horses in a short period of time, it will definitely be necessary to maintain the herding for a longer period of time.

But in reality, it is not a small number but an uneven situation. Some places retreat, some places do not, which in itself is easy to cause contradictions, so all localities can only promise when to withdraw, and can this promise be easily extended?

===

That's all there is to this chapter today, four thousand, right?

The new plot starts, I feel a little sluggish, and the state is average, so I'll slow down a bit. I even wanted to take a leave of absence, but I saw a person who said that my renewal was like squeezing pee.

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(End of chapter)