April of the fourteenth year of Chongzhen.

The early summer of the Jiashen year was unusually hot, and it was only the beginning of April, and the city of Beijing was already "in full swing", and the people on the streets changed into short fights one after another, and even many peddlers and pawns were shirtless, begging for a living in various parts of the city.

At this time, the new policy and military reform policies have been basically implemented in various places north of the Yangtze River, and the later promulgated policies such as the "Huangming Tianmu System" and property tax are also being fully implemented.

The progress in various parts of Jiangnan has been much slower, but with the efforts of the Southern Inspection Group and the Southwest Inspection Group, and the escort of the officers and men of the 10th and 11th Armies of the National Defense Force, Liu Yan is not worried about any chaos, but it will take more time.

Early in the morning, Liu Yan, Wang Yunhe, and Shang Shan Ruoshui sisters finished breakfast, changed into court clothes, and prepared to go to the cabinet office to handle official business.

"Husband, on this hot day, you have to wear so many clothes, how hot is it?"

Ruoshui looked at Liu Yan, who had just dressed and a layer of fine beads of sweat had already precipitated on his forehead, and said with some distress.

Shang Shan, who was on the side, suddenly covered his mouth and laughed, and was about to say something, Ruoshui's cheeks turned red, and he said angrily: "What are you going to say?" Be careful I tear your mouth apart! ”

Wang Yunhe looked at the frolicking two, and just smiled, Liu Yan laughed even more, and then gave Wang Yunhe a hug, and then walked towards the gate with a smile in Wang Yunhe's happy eyes.

"This hell weather, it's really hot, I'm afraid this year is another year of drought!"

In addition to the Lu State Mansion, Wei Han, the chief officer of the Twelfth Army of the National Defense Army, who came to escort him, had already arrived, and with a banner of more than 70 soldiers who did not collect at night, he rode his horse and waited on the street outside the door.

Liu Yan said to Wei Han with a smile: "It's such a hot day, it's so early." ”

"Elder Guardian Pavilion, his subordinates don't dare to slack off."

Liu Yan also turned on his horse, and then beckoned everyone to set off.

The team soon came to the noon gate, and after handing over the waist card, Liu Yan dismounted and entered the palace and went to the cabinet office, while Wei Han led his troops back to the barracks.

"Xiaguan meets the elder!"

As soon as Liu Yan entered the door, he saw that Yue Ming, the secretary of the Ministry of Finance, was already waiting here, so he said, "Excuse me, let's sit down and talk." ”

"Yes."

Liu Yan sat down, Yue Ming first handed over a piece of music, and then said: "Pavilion Elder, this is the first three months of this year, the imperial court tax situation, please take a look." ”

Liu Yan said with a smile while opening the chapter: "It seems that in the first three months of this year, the situation of the imperial court's tax collection must be very good. ”

Yue Ming didn't speak, but the smile on his face couldn't be stopped, and he obviously had already answered Liu Yan's words.

So Liu Yan took a closer look.

Now the new policy of the imperial court has been basically implemented in half of the Ming Dynasty, not counting the land that is being cultivated now, there are 1.98 million mu of land recultivated in various places alone, which is still incomplete statistics. In addition, there are 170,000 households and 810,000 people in the hermit households "liberated" from the hands of the gentry and wealthy families in various places, as well as the royal family!

Of course, these are all increases in population and land, and the imperial court has exempted the poll tax, so it cannot be converted into taxes for the time being, but it can only increase the basic strength of the Ming Dynasty.

However, Liu Yan was also very happy, especially when he saw that the Ming Dynasty was still being reclaimed in various parts of the country, and it can be expected that in the next few years, the amount of land tax in Daming will be very considerable.

In this movement, the main income is other types of taxes such as commercial taxes, property taxes, customs duties, etc.

Among them, the commercial tax and the membership fee of the chamber of commerce, as well as the income of the Ministry of Commerce, have accounted for more than half of the total tax revenue of the imperial court.

In the first three months of Chongzhen's fourteenth year, the Ming Dynasty had an income of 31.52 million taels, which was already a specific figure obtained after discounting all the physical goods collected in various taxes.

Liu Yan's face was also full of smiles, so calculated, then this year's financial income of Daming can reach at least 100 million taels or more!

"Haha."

Liu Yan laughed and said to Yue Ming, "Okay! In this way, the good days of my Ming Dynasty are coming, and the court will at least not worry about money and food anymore. ”

Yue Ming "poured a basin of cold water" on Liu Yan at this time, and said: "Ge Lao, although the amount of taxes in the first three months of this year is very gratifying, a large part of it is the property tax paid by officials in various places, and many of it are the arrears of taxes paid by officials and gentry and powerful businessmen in various places in the process of implementing the new policy, as well as part of the income from family raids. These cannot be collected on a regular basis, so when the new policy and other policies are fully implemented, the amount of taxes paid by the imperial court will definitely be greatly reduced. ”

Liu Yan nodded, this is for sure, he will also be mentally prepared, and at the same time, he will order all the departments of the imperial court to be prepared, in case he gets used to a good life and spends money lavishly.

Then Liu Yan asked, "What is the current income and expenditure of the imperial court?" ”

Yue Ming was also prepared, and said at this time: "Elder Ge rest assured, although the imperial court has a huge amount of expenditure, the new policy and military reform policies have been fully implemented, a large number of new-style schools have been built in various places, the garrison troops in various places have been recruited on a large scale, and the equipment department has built military equipment on a large scale, etc., and it is necessary to supply the daily consumption of hundreds of thousands of national defense troops, but judging from the income of the imperial court in the first three months, there is still a lot of surplus. ”

"Just the more than 30 million taels of taxes collected in the first three months, there is still a balance of more than 17 million taels, and the previous accumulation of the Ministry of Finance has not been used until now."

Liu Yan nodded, and suddenly had confidence in his heart, so he said: "In this way, the Ministry of Finance will first take out the funds of 10 million taels of silver, and this fund will be earmarked for the preparation of the new water division of the Ming Dynasty." ”

Yue Ming was taken aback: why did the elder suddenly jump on top of the new-style water master again.

In fact, Liu Yan has always been concerned about the preparation of the new sailor, but the new ship has never been finalized, so he did not order the large-scale construction of the warship.

Now that the treasury is full, you can prepare a sum of money in advance, and wait for the new Fuchuan to be finalized, and then you can build it in batches as soon as possible.

"Don't worry, my subordinates will start to arrange it when they go back."

"Hmm."

Liu Yan said: "This fund will be transported to the Lingshan Acropolis first. ”

"Yes."

Although the name of the Lingshan Acropolis has not changed, all the military households under the rule have been changed to civilian households, after all, the military reform in various parts of Shandong has been completely completed.

The Lingshan Acropolis was also changed to a county-level city, and the imperial court set up a county to govern it.

So Yue Ming said worriedly: "It's just that so many funds are placed in one county, isn't it a little inappropriate?" ”

Liu Yan said: "It's okay, Lingshanwei is our old territory, and Nazhi County is also the original disabled and retired new army Qianzong, which is reliable." ”

"Yes, my subordinates understand."

Then Yue Ming asked, "Elder Ge, does the imperial court need to prepare other special funds now?" The subordinates want to take advantage of the abundant financial resources of the imperial court now, and prepare in advance for emergencies. ”

Liu Yan thought for a while, and then said: "Then there is the military expenditure of the Liaodong War, and the Ministry of Finance will first prepare the military expenditure of 30 million taels of silver. The Ministry of Finance can discuss with the Ministry of National Defense, the General Staff, and the Armament Department to come up with a roughly complete budget, and first prepare military expenses in advance. ”

"Yes!"

When Yue Ming heard this, his heart suddenly became excited, and he secretly said in his heart: "It seems that Elder Ge intends to send troops to Shanhaiguan to recover Liaodong?" ”

Who knew that Liu Yan then said: "When your ministries discuss the amount of funds, don't ignore the mistake, my lord is not ready to send troops to recover Liaodong for the time being, because there are still too many things within my Ming Dynasty that have not been straightened out, and these internal affairs are related to the rise and fall of the national fortunes of my Ming Dynasty in the next few decades or even a hundred years, and there can be no mistakes." ”

"As for the Manchu Tartars, now they are already a vicious wolf with a broken backbone, as long as there is no longer a giant civil strife like Li Zicheng in my Ming Dynasty, as long as the government and the opposition work together, the Manchu Tartars will not be able to turn over any storms, Liaodong is already meat in a bowl, it just depends on when I want to eat it, so there is no need to rush for a while."

In the end, Liu Yan concluded: "Therefore, the most important thing in the imperial court today is to stabilize the interior first, and then look outward!" ”

Yue Ming clenched his fists and said, "My subordinates have been taught!" ”

After Yue Ming finished reporting to Liu Yan, Liu Yan naturally had to report to Emperor Chongzhen, hearing that now Daming has such tax income, Emperor Chongzhen is also unbelievable, why when he was in charge, Daming couldn't even get a reward of more than 100,000 taels of silver, and now how long has Liu Yan been the head of the cabinet, he has accumulated such a rich family foundation for Daming, and the court can also have such sufficient tax income?

Emperor Chongzhen couldn't understand, could this be the effect of the New Deal?

"If that's the case, I'm really wrong to blame Liu Yan?"

Just when Emperor Chongzhen felt a trace of hesitation in his heart, Liu Yan mentioned that the progress of the implementation of the new policies and military reform policies in the provinces south of the Yangtze River has been a little slow.

Emperor Chongzhen said: "I also received several recitals from Jiangnan officials, and they also mentioned the new policy and the policy of military reform, saying that the policy of the new policy competes with the people for profit, and the policy of military reform is to imitate the tyrannical Qin. ”

Liu Yan's heart suddenly became vigilant, first thanked Emperor Chongzhen for his support, and then said something to Emperor Chongzhen, and then said: "The minister still has something to deal with, so he will retire first." ”

"yes, okay."

Liu Yan walked out of the imperial study and walked towards the cabinet office, following the guards beside him from a distance, always a few steps away from Liu Yan.

When Liu Yan returned to the Cabinet Office, he immediately ordered someone to find Wu Guojin, the secretary of the Ministry of Military Intelligence.

It didn't take long for Wu Guojin to come in a hurry, and Liu Yan said in the first sentence: "Some people in the provinces south of the Yangtze River bypassed the cabinet and the imperial court and directly played the impeachment policy of the New Deal and the military reform to His Majesty. ”

Wu Guojin didn't show a very surprised look when he heard this, but said: "Elder Qiyu Pavilion, the Military Intelligence Department has already noticed something, and his subordinates have already sent Yao Guangming to personally lead people south under the command of the Nanzhen Fusi earlier. It's just that the Military Intelligence Department has not yet grasped the specific situation, nor does it have any actual evidence, so it has not reported the matter to the cabinet elders. ”

Liu Yan let out an "um" and said, "When did Yao Guangming go south?" ”

"It's been more than two months."

"There hasn't been any news back in the meantime??"

Wu Guojin said: "During this period, there were only two secret reports sent back to the capital, which mentioned that someone in Nanzhili secretly colluded with the Fujian side, but the other party did a very hidden job in this matter, and I don't know whether there has been progress on the side of Commander Yao." ”

Liu Yan frowned, he didn't expect that now he has purged the government and the opposition several times, the new policy and military reform have been implemented on a large scale, the national defense force has begun to move south, and the garrison troops in various places have also been prepared in large quantities. It's incredible!!

Suddenly, Liu Yan thought of the land of Fujian: "Fujian? This matter can't have something to do with Zheng Zhilong, right? ”

Thinking of this, Liu Yan felt a little irritable in his heart, if this was really the case, it would mean that Zheng Zhilong had begun to exert his strength, and the nature of this time had changed, and it became Zheng Zhilong secretly encouraging others to fight against the imperial court.

Maybe before the new naval division of the imperial court becomes an army, the imperial court and Zheng Zhilong will evolve from a secret fight to an open fight! And this is exactly the situation that Liu Yan does not want to see.

Just when Liu Yan and Wu Guojin were discussing this matter, suddenly the staff attendant on duty at the Cabinet Office came in and reported: "Elder Qiqi, Yao Guangming, the commander of the Nanzhen Fu Division of the Military Intelligence Department, is asking to see outside. ”