In mid-July, Yue Ming, the secretary of the Ministry of Finance, approached Liu Yan and reported to Liu Yan at the Cabinet Office on the financial revenue and expenditure of the Ming Dynasty.

"Elder Qiyu Pavilion, at present, the ministries have summarized the income and expenditure in the first half of the year, and our Ministry of Finance has calculated it correctly, as follows."

"At present, the whole territory of Beizhili and Shandong has thoroughly implemented the policy of the new policy, and the policy of military reform is being implemented and is nearing the end. At present, there are more than 11.4 million mu in Beizhili and more than 22.92 million mu in Shandong Province, and more than 10 million stone of tax grain and 8.58 million stone of military grain can be paid to the imperial court every year. ”

Liu Yan nodded with satisfaction, according to the current land quota of the new deal, the people need to pay thirty-five catties of tax grain and thirty catties of military grain to the imperial court to cultivate one mu of land, these two figures are fixed, and the remaining output, no matter how much, is all the people's own.

In fact, this is to imitate the household contract responsibility system of later generations, as the so-called "those who have paid enough to the country and left enough troops are all their own." In this way, the people's enthusiasm for production can be mobilized to the greatest extent.

According to historical records, the cultivated land area of Beizhili and Shandong alone reached 49.25 million mu, and the area of Shandong was also about 50 million mu. Now it seems that the potential of agricultural production in Beizhili and Shandong alone is very huge.

"It seems that the Ministry of Agriculture will continue to work hard!"

"In terms of silver income, in the first half of this year, the scale of various industries of the Ministry of Commerce has almost quadrupled, and the main output and sales direction is Nanzhili and

Jiangnan accounted for more than 60 percent, Beizhili accounted for more than 2 percent, and the rest of the Ming provinces together accounted for about 10 percent. In the first half of the year, the Ministry of Commerce's net profit was 73.77 million taels. ”

Liu Yan is very determined, it seems that he is still doing business to make money, with the blessing of the Ministry of Commerce, the new deal, and the military reform, he has enough confidence.

"Then there is the Ministry of Finance, which has now expanded seven foundries and recast silver coins from private circulation. In addition, the money bank also had a part of its income through external lending, which was 34,752 taels in the first half of the year. ”

"As for the rest of the tax revenue, because the new policy has canceled the three major levies and tax increases, and exempted miscellaneous taxes such as poll tax for ten years in the two capitals and thirteen provinces, the only taxes that the imperial court can collect at present are commercial taxes."

"The Ministry of Commerce is responsible for the collection of commercial tax, and the revenue from commercial tax in the first half of this year was 3.68 million taels."

Liu Yan calculated, just in the first half of this year, and only in Beizhili and Shandong, the income of the imperial court was 77,484,700 taels, and the grain income was more than 18 million stones.

Then Liu Yan said: "Next, let's talk about the various expenses of the imperial court." ”

"Yes."

Yue Ming immediately took out a case file and said one by one: "The expenses of the various departments of the imperial court and the officials of the capital in the first half of the year are more than 1246,000 silver coins. ”

"The expenses of the Ministry of National Defense include more than 1,620,000 taels of military salaries for half a year for the 14 armies of the National Defense Forces, officers and men of the National Defense Forces, and a large number of war horses

The daily consumption cost is more than 6 million silver coins, and the grain consumption is 8.73 million stone grain. ”

"Of course, at present, the strength of the 14 armies of the National Defense Force has only been reorganized to 7 or 80 percent, and if the 14 armies are full of more than 670,000 officers and men, the military expenditure of the imperial court will continue to rise by a large margin."

"The expenses of the Equipment Department are mainly the research and development expenses of the Firearms Supervision Department and the Armor Supervision Department, as well as the transportation and storage expenses of a large amount of equipment, and the expenditure in the first half of the year was 4.16 million silver coins."

"The total expenditure of the various ministries for the New Deal and military reform is 4.66 million silver coins, and the food cost is 3.18 million stones."

Speaking of this, Yue Ming breathed a sigh of relief and concluded: "To sum up, in the first half of this year, the overall expenditure of the imperial court was more than 32.26 million silver coins, and the consumption of grain was 11.91 million stones. ”

"In the first half of this year, the imperial court had a surplus of more than 45.22 million silver coins and 6 million stone grain."

Liu Yan suddenly breathed a sigh of relief, the imperial court had accumulated more than 45 million silver coins and millions of grain in half a year, and if this continued, as long as the new policy and military reform continued to be implemented nationwide, the Ming Dynasty would be able to turn over within a few years.

At least in terms of fiscal figures, it has taken the lead in achieving a "revival". What makes Liu Yan even more proud is that the income of the imperial court is so considerable, not to loot the people, but to directly obtain it from the rich people of the Ming Dynasty and merchants, gentry, and officials in the form of commerce and commercial taxes.

In fact, the Ming Dynasty at the end of the Ming Dynasty was very rich, since the Longqing switch, the world's silver began to flow into the Ming Dynasty in a steady stream, until the Ming Dynasty, Chongzhen years, the world has every year

About one-third of the silver poured into the Ming Dynasty, and such an amount was very terrifying.

It's just that in this wave of silver, the country and the people did not get much benefit, and most of the silver was divided up by the merchants, the gentry, and the local tyrants of the combination of government and business.

Liu Yan even thinks that those giant merchants, heroes, and gentry in Nanzhili, Jiangnan and other places, if they pull out any of them, they will not be less than the property of the eight families of the Jin merchants!

At this time, Yue Ming said to Liu Yan with a smile: "Elder Ge, now that the court has money and food, the future will be better." ”

Liu Yan shook his head and said: "Don't be in a hurry to be happy, this prince is also preparing to comprehensively implement the tax reform in the two capitals and thirteen provinces, and like Beizhili and Shandong, cancel all kinds of miscellaneous taxes such as the three major levies and assessments, collect commercial taxes, develop workshops and commerce, and recover rent arrears. ”

"Of course, these are all part of the New Deal policy, but now that the implementation of the New Deal in various places is blocked, in my father's opinion, His Majesty should be asked to issue a special edict to order civil and military officials in various places to implement the New Deal and military reform!"

In fact, Liu Yan knew in his heart that an edict alone could not solve any problems, and now although the internal and external troubles of the Ming Dynasty have been temporarily eliminated, the control of the central government of the Ming Dynasty over the local government has inevitably been greatly loosened.

In addition, the new policy and military reform implemented by the imperial court this time have greatly shaken the fundamental interests of local civil ministers and military generals, and it is expected that they will be resisted, and an edict will have little effect.

According to Liu Yan's intentions, if we want to thoroughly implement the New Deal and military reform policies at the local level, the best way is to directly send troops to the local areas to deter

The imperial court organized "inspection teams" to the localities, so as to ensure the effective implementation of the new policy and military reform.

However, there are two necessary conditions for this to be done, one of which is that all 14 armies of the Wehrmacht must be reorganized, and after Liu Yan has deployed the defense of Gyeonggi and left enough troops to fight against the Manchus, the remaining soldiers and horses can be transferred to various parts of the Ming Dynasty to suppress the opposition.

Another condition is an opportunity, it can also be said to be the reason for sending troops to the locality, Liu Yan knows that rashly transferring troops to the local area is likely to cause a civil war in the Ming Dynasty, although Liu Yan is confident that all hostile forces will be swept away, but if civil strife can be avoided, it is still necessary to avoid it as much as possible.

"Let's wait a minute, let's test it with the edict first."

Immediately, Liu Yan came to the imperial study, and at this time, Emperor Chongzhen was looking through the Zizhi Tongjian in the imperial study.

Now that all the government has been taken over by the new cabinet, the current cabinet is very efficient, in sharp contrast to the previous cabinet that passed the buck to each other and the party was constantly fighting, and most of the government affairs can basically be handled by the cabinet itself.

Therefore, when it comes to Emperor Chongzhen's affairs, there are not many things, only some things related to the major policies of the Ming Dynasty, and when an edict needs to be issued, Liu Yan will lead the thirteen Shangshu to report.

"Your Majesty!"

Emperor Chongzhen glanced at Liu Yan, said a flat word, and then said: "I see, in the future, you might as well give Liu Ge the power to enter the palace without tending, praise and worship, and go to the palace with a sword, so as to avoid these red tapes." ”

Liu Yan knew that this was Emperor Chongzhen complaining, and he really wanted these privileges, that is, the yellow mud dropped the crotch, not but.

Not really

Liu Yan cares about his reputation, but he just doesn't want to make it difficult for the implementation of the new policy and military reform.

"Your Majesty laughed, how can a minister have such qualifications."

Emperor Chongzhen said: "What is the important matter for Liu Ge to meet today? ”

Liu Yan immediately hoped that Emperor Chongzhen would issue an edict to urge local governors, civil officials and military generals to promote the new policy and military reform.

Emperor Chongzhen was silent for a while when he heard this, and then said: "The new policy and military reform policy, I think it should be implemented in Beizhili and Shandong for a few years, and then discuss the promotion of the world." Now there is resistance in various places, but Liu Ge Lao wants to forcibly promote the new policy and military reform, is there a suspicion of impatience? ”

Liu Yan understood that Emperor Chongzhen still looked at this matter with "old eyes", and he didn't have time to say more to Emperor Chongzhen, so he directly took out the data that Yue Ming, the secretary of the Ministry of Finance, had just reported to him.

When Emperor Chongzhen heard that it was only half a year, the territory of the two provinces of Zhili and Shandong in the north had a surplus of tens of millions of taels, which was something that Emperor Chongzhen never dreamed of before!

"How so!"

Emperor Chongzhen couldn't understand that the imperial court had obviously canceled so many taxes in Beizhili and Shandong, the poll tax, the apportionment of the three major levies, etc., all of which had been canceled or suspended, why could the imperial court still have so many gains?

Liu Yan explained simply, in general, the new deal is to collect money from the rich people of the Ming Dynasty and let the ordinary people cultivate and pay for grain, rather than squeezing the money and grain from the people!

Emperor Chongzhen is also a smart person, and he was silent for a long time at this time, just sighing in his heart, Liu Yan's actions like this are bound to not last long. Emperor Chongzhen didn't know who the money and food in the world were

In the hands of Emperor Chongzhen, it's just that Emperor Chongzhen has no choice, he really wants to forcibly collect it, and if he doesn't collect it, let's not talk about it, the world will be in chaos, and his throne will not be stable!

After a long time, Emperor Chongzhen said: "Since Liu Ge Lao has this certainty, then I will issue this edict, but if because of the implementation of the new policy and military reform, the local area is stirred up and the world is in chaos, has Liu Ge Lao thought about this consequence?" ”

Liu Yan sneered in his heart, he still wished that all the opposing and conservative forces in the local area would jump out one by one, so that he could eradicate the old forces one by one, such a Ming would be more pure, and the future would be brighter.

It's just that if that's the case, Liu Yan naturally won't say it to Emperor Chongzhen, but just said: "The minister has made a complete countermeasure, please rest assured, Your Majesty." ”

"Well, that's good!"

On the same day, Emperor Chongzhen issued an edict, ordering the two capitals and 13 provinces of the Ming Dynasty to implement the new policy of the imperial court and the policy of military reform, and the world shook for a while.