When Li Dashuai lay on the boat and floated back to China, Jiang Xinghuo didn't even have the mind to gloat.

More than 200,000 cavalry of the three major battalions of the Beijing camp marched north, and the military expenses prepared for it once again almost emptied the household funds.

But it is definitely not possible to spend money, there are vassal kings inside, Mongolia outside, and with the worst plan, before Timur's expeditionary army arrives in Gansu, it will be solved, so the money that should be spent has to be spent.

But Zhu Di, as the emperor immediately, can not consider this, but Jiang Xinghuo has to think about it, after all, money is needed everywhere, and now that the law change stall is so big, it is still very dangerous to bottom out again just after having some savings.

Jiang Xinghuo manages money for the world, and he encountered such a severe economic situation for the first time.

If you can't help it, you have to figure out a way.

In the cabinet, several bigwigs from departments involved in finance were summoned.

"Jing is difficult for four years, urging the levy urgently, looting the poor, the people in the Quartet are exhausted, the treasury of the various prefectures is empty, and it has just been resting for less than two years, and today it is going to raise a large army, the situation is so far, even if there is really a five-ghost carrying technique, such a large expenditure, I am afraid that the ghosts and gods will be exhausted to death, and I am afraid that they will not be able to move out of the gold and silver mountains to make up the holes."

Sun Yu, the left attendant of the household department, called him poor when he came up, and what he said was quite interesting, with a little ridicule in his complaints.

It is rare that Li Wenyu, the right waiter of the household department, did not take a stubble.

These two people don't deal with each other very well, but it is a fact that the household department is a little staggered at the moment, so in the face of the overall interests, the two have also temporarily given up factional disputes.

"Ahem."

Xia Yuanji's gray hair has been significantly more recently, and his sideburns have popped out a few mischievously.

"It is indeed very difficult for the household department, but the country has a heavy responsibility, and it has to be shouldered, and the matter still has to be solved.

Xia Yuanji, as the leader of the household department, obviously spoke at a very high level, in addition to the household department, there were also departments such as the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Industry, the Taifu Temple, the Guanglu Temple, and even several big eunuchs from the inner court.

Here is an explanation of why so many strange-looking departments have come to the Yongle Economic Conference.

Because the finance of the Ming Dynasty has never been under the unified jurisdiction of a department of the Ministry of Households.

In fact, although the household department is the most important part of the entire Ming financial management system, the household department cannot manage all the finances of the huge Ming Empire.

Moreover, it is difficult to understand that these departments not only have their own independent financial resources, and their revenues and expenditures are self-contained, and they are not subject to the management and interference of the household department, but they are nominally responsible to the emperor, but in fact no one cares about them at all.

As for the sources of fiscal revenue and the mode of financial operation of these departments, we have to talk about them one by one.

First of all, the main sources of financial revenue of the Ministry of War are two parts, one part is called "the expenses of military attachés on behalf of military officers" and the other part is called "expenses for the defense center on behalf of the military department."

The so-called "military attache fee" refers to the fact that the military commander group in the early Ming Dynasty was very large, and in addition to the lords, there were many military attaches who did not have titles, and the "welfare" part of these military attachés every year, such as firewood salary, straight hall silver, etc., were issued through the accounts of the Ministry of War, and were generally collected and stored in the Treasury Department of the Ministry of War, and issued by the Ministry of War to officials in Beijing, and the Ministry of War played a role in the transit of a small bank, and the money could be used for lending or operation.

The "funds for the health center" refers to the fact that because the Ming Dynasty implemented the health center system, and under the health center system, the Ming Dynasty not only did not need to provide funds for the health center, but also could continuously collect the wool of the military households of the health center every year, and whether it was a small part of the necessary funds or subsidies issued to the health center, or the tax in kind paid to the center, it was all responsible for the Ministry of War.

Then there is the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Industry is much simpler, its finance mainly comes from the income of the materials and bamboo and wood from all over the country, and the Ministry of Industry is also the Ministry of the Ministry of Household Contradiction the most, because the financial income of the two is obviously the relationship between the two and the other. This is entirely because of the extremely inefficient tax system in kind, because the Ministry of Industry is engaged in engineering, and if the project needs to produce wood or other building materials, it can directly replace the grain tax, and this kind of apportionment to the local government will lead to a decrease in the book income of the household department.

The second is the Taifu Temple, the income of the Taifu Temple is mainly for the horse price silver from all over the country, this is because the Ming Dynasty at the beginning of the horse policy is handed over to the people to raise horses in the way of apportionment, and later Lao Zhu found that the effect is really not good, so he changed the policy, with the horse price silver to find a special person to raise horses.

And Guanglu Temple, it is simply that the Ming Dynasty pays more attention to decency, so there is more allocation for banquets, and then more than 30 years of accumulation, the small treasury in his temple is very abundant.

In short, this kind of cat has a cat road and a dog road has a lot of financial sand, which is very headache.

This kind of system design, it's hard to say whether Lao Zhu did it intentionally.

But just the Ministry of Households, the Ministry of Industry, and the Ministry of War, these three departments at the same level, except for the emperor, no one is at all.

Now that the emperor has delegated power to Jiang Xinghuo and Zhu Gaochi, it is their turn to have a headache.

What's even more troublesome is that this trouble has reached the point where it can't be solved until it is solved.

Because if you don't come up with a solution, the entire Ming Dynasty will face the risk of shutdown except for its own departments with small financial vaults.

Jiang Xinghuo looked at Zhu Gaochi and motioned for him to speak first.

In the chat session before the start of the meeting, Zhu Gaochi claimed that he had lost weight, but it may be that the weight base is too large, and Jiang Xinghuo really didn't see it.

Zhu Gaochi has just finished thinking behind closed doors and returned to the cabinet to preside over the work.

In the three months that he thought about it behind closed doors, the court has undergone great changes, and Zhu Gaochi now has to adapt to this change.

"Ru Shangshu, Huang Shangshu, how do you two think it should be solved?"

After looking around, Zhu Gaochi's eyes finally fell on Ru Yu, the secretary of the Ministry of War, and Huang Fu, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry.

Ru Yu, the secretary of the military department, frowned and pondered for a moment, and said: "According to the minister's view, there is only one choice, that is, for the next war, cut unnecessary expenditures, and concentrate the funds of the household department to ensure the daily needs of the imperial court." ”

He paused, looked up at Zhu Gaochi: "If this is not enough, after Your Majesty ascended the throne, he will vigorously promote the Ming treasury bonds, and now that the country needs, he might as well issue more national bonds for the Northern Expedition, as long as the people actively subscribe, cut some unnecessary expenditures this year, tighten their belts, and think it will be enough to support the consumption of various departments." ”

Listening to the words of Ru Yu, the secretary of the Ministry of War, Zhu Gaochi nodded, and then looked at Huang Fu, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry.

Huang Fu stroked his beard, as if he was thinking about something, he hesitated for a while and then said, "The minister feels that the idea of Ru Shangshu of the military department is not realistic. ”

"Oh? Huang Shangshu, please speak. Zhu Gaochi said with a smile.

"Your Highness."

Huang Fu arched his hand and said: "My Ming Dynasty has a vast territory, a vast land and abundant things, although the northern border is not peaceful now, but all the barbarians in the south are subdued, and the people in the south live and work in peace and contentment, no longer need to use knives and guns. But fighting a war is one thing, and construction is also one thing, and Ru Shangshu feels that because of the war, it is not right not to build. ”

Huang Fu's words, the first half of which was naturally intentionally or unintentionally demonstrating his contribution to logistics in the process of conquering Annan, and the second half was based on his own departmental interests to speak for the department.

"That's true."

Zhu Gaochi nodded in agreement and said: "A war is a war, and domestic construction cannot be stopped." ”

Huang Fu proposed: "According to the plan of the Ministry of Households, this year is to repair point-to-point business roads in Zhejiang, and the money will be concentrated and distributed, and it is necessary to recruit people to repair roads and widen ditches. ”

Obviously, you want the Ministry of Industry to pay all the money, and the Ministry of Industry is unwilling, but the Ministry of Industry is willing to pay a part of it, and let the Ministry of Household pay back the part in the future.

It sounds strange here, but after understanding the central financial structure of the Ming Dynasty and understanding how these departments have their own lives, it is not difficult to understand why the Ministry of Industry still needs the Ministry of Household to repay the money later.

The reason why the Ministry of Industry is willing to advance money is because from the road repair project, the Ministry of Industry can obtain a lot of power and benefits, so the Ministry of Industry is willing to bleed to ensure the smooth progress of road construction.

But no matter what, this immediately made Tobe unhappy.

Li Wenyu, the right secretary of the household department, opened his mouth and sneered: "The minister knows that the Ministry of Industry is also short of money, but now (the Ministry of Households) is too much to spare, and has to transfer money and grain from elsewhere. ”

"Li Shilang's words, I don't think it's appropriate, right?"

Chen Shou, the left waiter of the Ministry of Works, as the descendant of Zhu Gaochi's lineage, couldn't take care of it at this time, and directly retorted: "Those worthless things are sold, how much money can be sold?" I'm afraid that I won't be able to sell much money, and I won't have to do the project in the future, and what will I do when the materials are sold. ”

"Not necessarily."

Jin Zhong, the right attendant of the Ministry of Industry, as the emperor's hardcore cronies, sang a contradictionary tune with his own family members in the Ministry of Industry at this time: "Your Majesty's prestige is vibrating all over the world, if you need any materials, now you will ship from overseas, not to mention anything else, Damu and the like, there are a lot of Annan and Zhancheng, and the quality is not bad." ”

"This"

Chen Shou, the left waiter of the Ministry of Works, opened his mouth to refute a few words, but he didn't know where to speak.

Because what Jin Zhong said is indeed the truth, even the most ordinary big wood in these years and months has to be made in hundreds of years, if it is made of beams for the main hall of the palace, it will have to be hundreds or even thousands of years of ancient trees.

So, Chen Shou stared at Jin Zhong angrily and stopped talking.

Zhu Gaochi waved his hand to interrupt their quarrel and asked, "Are the ideas of Taifu Temple and Guanglu Temple the same as those of the Ministry of War?" Are they all asking for a 'throttling' approach to surviving financial difficulties this year? ”

Taifu Temple manages Ma Zheng, and under the unspoken rules, it is guided by the Ministry of War, and Yu Qian, the secretary of Taifu Temple, maintained the same attitude as Ru Yu of the Ministry of War at this time, and hugged his fists and said: "Weichen thinks that he should live within his means, and he can't spend money lavishly, so naturally there will be no difficulties." ”

Guanglu Temple is responsible for purchasing sacrifices, preparing palace and diplomatic banquets, and under the unspoken rules, it is under the guidance of the Ministry of Rites, and the newly promoted Guanglu Temple Huang Ziwei is the former prefect of Songjiang Mansion, so Huang Ziwei is acting according to Jiang Xinghuo's eyes, and his position is very positive at this time.

"Guanglu Temple still has some savings, if the household needs it, it can be dismantled, as long as it is returned."

It seems that this is the only positive response today, except that the Ministry of Industry is willing to bear part of the cost of road repair.

"In this way, won't we have to hollow out the household?"

Zhu Gaochi frowned and said, "All this money is saved through hard work. ”

Zhu Gaochi is not in the yin and yang weirdness, but really thinks so, if you don't know the price of firewood and rice, it is normal to have disputes at home, but no one wants to be consumed so that the family can't run, this is the truth for the family, and it is also the same for the country, the household department is a law-changing faction, but there are also Zhu Gaochi's people in it, and to say bigger, this Daming, whether Zhu Gaochi can inherit it or not, he is now concerned.

As Zhu Gaochi's person, Sun Yu, the left attendant of the household department, naturally wanted to express his position at this time, and he said: "Your Highness, even if the money in the treasury is really spent now, in Yichen's opinion, it is a big deal that the imperial court will find a way to make money and save, but it is absolutely impossible to let the north worry about foreign troubles." ”

This sentence is naturally Sun Yu's personal opinion, and cannot represent the entire household, but the focus is on the last sentence, that is, Sun Yu is quietly reminding Zhu Gaochi that cooperating with the strategic planning of the entire Ming Dynasty is the most important, and he must take a stable position on this point and not make mistakes.

"Hmm"

Zhu Gaochi pondered for a while and said, "So what does the big guy mean, let the household department go to the bottom first, sell some debts this year, and make do with the past?" ”

Ru Yu, the secretary of the Ministry of War, bowed and said: "That's right, but the situation is difficult, since Guanglu Temple has expressed its position, then the Ministry of War is also willing to dismantle part of the money, and the minister is willing to share worries for His Majesty's northern expedition!" ”

Zhu Gaochi sighed in his heart: I knew that this was the case.

At this time, he also realized that first of all, he couldn't think about taking money from the small coffers of the various temples, otherwise the governors of the various temples would definitely be dissatisfied, and the other was that the financial sources of the Ming Dynasty were already very chaotic.

Although the Ministry of Households, the Ministry of War, and the Ministry of Industry all have their own income, everyone is actually poor, and no one owes anyone, and everyone doesn't want to spend money from their own small coffers, who is willing to take money to fill the financial hole of the entire Ming Dynasty?

"How many fathers-in-law?"

Zhu Gaochi finally looked at the several big eunuchs in the inner court, the inner court has its own independent financial system, and the royal name such as shares and Zhuangtian are all managed by the most powerful eunuchs in the inner court.

However, to Zhu Gaochi's surprise, the reply of the great eunuchs was very simple.

"Listen to the national teacher."

The inner court has always been a place where Zhu Gaochi can't get in.

And this answer also invisibly reminded Zhu Gaochi that Jiang Xinghuo's influence was gradually expanding.

This kind of expansion is not to say that Jiang Xinghuo listens to it in the literal sense, but the incremental wealth of the inner court, that is, the wealth of the part of the monopoly of commodities and overseas trade, was created by Jiang Xinghuo.

It's a bit like the top anchor of a live streaming company, and in some cases, it can even get a shareholder to fire management.

It's all about how much value you can create.

In the face of interests, some things are fair.

The eunuchs had no children or daughters, and all they wanted in their lives was power, wealth, and even the fame that civil officials generally pursued, and the eunuchs did not need much.

And the inner court can live so comfortably now, everyone knows that it is benefiting from Jiang Xinghuo.

Moreover, the eunuchs in the inner court are basically close to the second prince Zhu Gaochu and the third prince Zhu Gaosui, and few are close to the eldest prince Zhu Gaochi.

Coupled with the emperor's entrustment, it is not surprising that these eunuchs uniformly supported Jiang Xinghuo's statement.

Everyone looked at Jiang Xinghuo in unison.

Jiang Xinghuo pondered for a moment, and said: "The war must be fought, but other aspects cannot be ignored, this year is the year of the full development of the law change, since everything has to be done, it must be money, and it is not easy to say which is important and which is not important The method is all figured out by people." ”

"Several aspects, one by one."

"The first aspect is to improve the efficiency of tax collection. At present, the tax guards have carried out the work of going to the countryside in the entire Nanzhili (including Jiangnan) area, and this year's autumn tax is necessary to improve the efficiency of tax collection, as for how to improve the efficiency of this tax collection, it sounds difficult, but it is not so difficult to do, it is nothing more than 'to put an end to filling private pockets'. ”

"At that time, the embarrassment of the tax revenue of the national dynasty was that there was too much demand for the Jiangnan region because of the Battle of Jingjing, and the levy was too frequent. The second is that the greed of officials at all levels is difficult to fill, and they do not regard the opportunity to collect the autumn tax every year as an excellent opportunity to make a fortune, and do everything possible to steal and fill the house when collecting taxes. In this way, the country is poor and the people are poor, but it has fattened the bureaucrats, officials, officials and others at all levels. Therefore, how to collect what should be collected has become one of the keys to resolving this year's fiscal crisis. ”

After that, Jiang Xinghuo took out a few drafted system documents and handed them to everyone for circulation.

"1. Grain release and transportation."

"In the future, the prefecture and county will collect all the money and grain in the current year, and the tax guards will supervise it, and those who are in arrears in previous years will be limited to two cents per year, and if there is indeed a disaster, it will be reported and postponed."

"Second, the amount of grain to be handed over."

"The amount of money and grain to be paid by the political envoys, prefectures, prefectures, and counties must be consistent with the account books kept by the households, and must also truthfully reflect the situation of the disaster and injury in the region this year, and it is not allowed to fabricate it, still less to cheat in it; before the official is transferred, he must make a clear account of the money and grain before he is allowed to leave his post, otherwise, he will be severely punished in accordance with the law."

"Third, the tax situation is reported."

"The officials of all prefectures, prefectures, and counties in charge of grain and other items will transport money and grain every year, follow the ancestral register, and open in detail 'a certain prefecture and a certain prefecture and county, such as the actual total number of Naxia taxes, autumn grain, horse grass, and the actual total number of items such as starting, saving, and bookleting', and send them to the corresponding department of the household department."

"Fourth, the deadline for two taxes."

"Whoever collects summer tax shall open a position on May 15, and the class shall be sufficient in July; Autumn tax, open on the first day of October, and end in December. For example, if the summer tax is violated until the end of August, and the autumn tax is violated until the end of the first month of the following year, the corresponding grain officials, officials, and sub-chiefs are responsible, ranging from cane punishment to exile, and the deadline is clearly defined, so as to avoid the tax being stranded in the hands of tax collectors for a long time, forming a loan or extorting Li Shu. ”

In fact, Jiang Xinghuo's idea is that it is useless to increase how much tax you want, and if you really want to collect money, the key is to solve the problem of "middlemen making the difference".

Otherwise, it will become that the court collects more taxes and the people pay more taxes, and as a result, the taxes in the hands of the court do not increase but decrease, and the difference in prices feeds the middlemen.

When Jiang Xinghuo first thought about this question, he felt that it was very funny, this situation is not without in history, at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the money in the treasury was all Ming Zhaizong (Ming Swing Sect?). Emperor Wanli worked hard to save it, but as a result, Ming Jiangzong did not suffer from his big spending, and when it came to Ming Jiaozong, he was dumbfounded.

On the eve of the break of the city of Beijing, begging the imperial relatives to give some money, each of them cried poor, these imperial relatives, civil officials and big businessmen, in the Ming Dynasty when they were in danger regardless of the abandonment of the Ming Dynasty, watching the court fall into embarrassment, and then Li Zicheng entered Beijing, from them did not torture out the silver, and when the Houjin entered the customs, after the new monarch ascended the throne, they brazenly ran to ask for a reward, and asked for a knight.

In fact, this example can be seen that the so-called emperor is not omnipotent, and the social structure of this era is so special, as long as the emperor involves some core interests, even if it is imperial power, it is difficult to change the operation mode of the entire society, such as finance.

If Jiang Xinghuo wants to change the financial structure of the Ming Dynasty, he first needs to purge the greedy grassroots officials who only care about making money, and then he can slowly turn the face of the entire society.

Therefore, of course, the tax guards going to the countryside will bring a lot of bloody storms, but fundamentally, it is of great significance.

Moreover, this year's summer tax in Jiangnan is about to be collected, although the summer tax is not as large as the autumn tax, but it is also one of the important sources of income for the imperial court, which is where the results of the reform can be seen immediately.

After everyone circulated it, there was not much opposition.

Jiang Xinghuo's plans are all formulated in response to the actual situation of enriching one's own pockets in taxes, this kind of position is very correct, no one can object, even if there is a conflict of interests or positions, it can only be said that he silently expects Jiang Xinghuo to do this thing in his heart, instead of expressing his opposition now.

"Let's go on." Zhu Gaochi pinched the paperwork in his hand and said.

Jiang Xinghuo saw that everyone had no objection, nodded and continued.

"The second aspect is to rectify the deception of the fields and grain."

In fact, the failure to collect the tax money and grain of the dynasty is not in addition to the malaise of the officials, and the disadvantages of the arrears, it is also very important that because the lords and nobles refuse to pay the poor grain, or occupy more land, they are all unwilling to be included in the register and undertake obligations in various names."

Everyone was stunned when they heard this.

How dare you say it!

This is Jiang Xinghuo, if someone else dares to touch the noble cake, it will be put on the neck by the knife.

Actually, who doesn't know about this kind of thing?

It's all an open "secret".

It's just that the nobles can't do it, they want to maintain the long-term survival of the family and the huge expenses, and the dynasty's little money and rewards are really not enough, so they can only occupy more land, which is the actual situation.

And since Jiang Xinghuo dared to touch the cake of the nobles, of course, he didn't want to be the general Zhang Yi who witnessed the burning of the expedition when King Gao went to Luoyang on a business trip (Gao Huan, the emperor of Shenwu of the Northern Qi Dynasty, as an envoy in his early years, often passed letters between Huaishuo Town and the capital Luoyang, and history records that he witnessed a riot in Luoyang, Yulin, Huben and other more than 1,000 people gathered in Shangshu Province, first insulted, and then threw stones to vent their anger, and finally these people burned down the house of Zhang Yi, the general of Zhengxi, Because Zhang Yi's reform proposal touched the interests of the military attachés in the capital), but because he could bring a bigger and more delicious cake to the nobles, Jiang Xinghuo was confident that the nobles would make concessions on land taxes for the sake of longer-term interests.

In the same way, Jiang Xinghuo took out a second document.

"Where the clan buys land and property, and the strong does not pay the grain, there is a department to verify it, and the person in charge of the village will be held accountable. It is still calculated that the amount of grain should be paid and the amount of rice should be deducted. If there is a division that condones and does not lift, it will be re-governed.

All the families of meritorious heroes, in addition to allocating public land, but have land, all the people in charge of the village report to the official, and they are naturalized and pay grain as errands. Violators, one acre to three acres, sixty rods. For every three acres, add one grade. The sin shall be punished with a hundred rods, and the sin shall be punished for three years, and the person who sits in charge of the village shall be admitted to the official in his field, and the hidden taxes and grain shall be paid according to the amount. If the chief and the magistrate make a false investigation, and know but do not raise it, he shall be guilty of the same crime.

Powerful and wealthy households everywhere, stubborn for no reason, do not accept the autumn grain of their own households, more than 50 stones, ask for guilt, and after the end of the prison pursuit, send it nearby; More than 200 stones, send border guards, and fill the army. For example, within three months, those who can be accommodated will be sent down as usual.

Powerful and wealthy families everywhere, who dare not go to the official warehouse and force the army to redeem privately, compare the example of not accepting autumn grain, and ask the plan to fill the army. If the official in charge of the seal is not in charge of the grain, he will not be in the Shenda District, and if he condones more than 100 stones, he will ask questions and live for one year. If it is more than 200 stones, ask questions, and if it is lowered to two levels and more than 300 stones, it will be deposed according to the example of the soft case. ”

Seeing that everyone looked at it with a slight change of color, Jiang Xinghuo smiled faintly: "The land of the lord is the land given by the state, and when the court is in need, the lord and the minister will make a contribution, I think it is natural, as for the loss in this regard, in terms of sea trade, there is naturally more room for income." ”

After all, in the early Ming Dynasty, the power of the lords was extremely strong, but for Jiang Xinghuo, the nobles and military ministers could be co-opted, or the interest groups that had been partially tied to the chariot of changing the law, Jiang Xinghuo believed that as long as they communicated well with the princes and uncles, these people could understand.

After all, most people in this world are for profit, as long as it can bring them more and more long-term benefits, then it is not impossible to give up some of the current interests.

(End of chapter)