Zhu Xiongying's words made the ministers nod their heads.

Zhu Yuanzhang grinned even more, it is really rare for him, the eldest grandson, to be able to maintain this mentality of neither humility nor arrogance.

This child's maturity is beyond his imagination.

On the streets, anthracite coal is still being sold bustlingly until late at night.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang and the others don't have so much time to continue watching, because the New Year is approaching, and many things need him to deal with.

The most important thing is the year-end summary.

At the end of the year, a family has to make calculations, let alone a country.

Among them, the biggest headache for the old man is the financial problem.

In the 25 years since the founding of Hongwu, the entire land of China has gradually recovered from the war, and in recent years, the financial revenue has continued to be stable and has not increased significantly, and the non-governmental agriculture has been steadily formed, while the handicraft industry and commerce have sprung up like mushrooms after a rain, quietly flourishing.

Of course, the richer the people, the better, which is also what Zhu Yuanzhang is willing to see.

However, the finances of the imperial court were not so optimistic.

Because at this time, the main source of finance of the Hongwu Dynasty still came from various taxes, including the tax on people, the salt tax, and the taxes on various transactions.

And Zhu Yuanzhang was born in extreme poverty and knew the suffering of the people at the bottom, so he did not increase taxes with the development of the economy, and everything was still according to the standard of the Hongwu Dynasty.

In other words, the fiscal revenue of the Hongwu Dynasty basically maintained the standard of 25 years ago, and with the development of the economy, the prices of the people had already risen, which also led to the fact that the financial revenue of the imperial court gradually could not be balanced to various expenditures.

Since the beginning of the previous two years, the imperial court has had a tendency to make ends meet, just like this year's flood in Shandong and Henan, the imperial court was unable to come up with enough silver for disaster relief for a while.

So this year's financial report will not look good.

After the financial report comes out, it is necessary to arrange the financial budget for next year for the ministries and localities, and there is only so much silver in the state treasury, and it is not easy to distribute everything in this matter.

In the Wuying Palace, the old man's face was not very good-looking.

Zhu Xiongying saw it in his eyes, and his heart was a little bottomless.

He has just ascended to the position of the crown grandson, and it has not been half a year, and he has done his best to make changes, but the big problem of changing the imperial court's finances is not an overnight thing.

However, he did have some expectations, whether the tea and horse exchange market in charge of Xia Yuanji on the Annan side and the salt mine in charge of Zhao Mian on the household side could bring some help to the overstretched imperial court finances.

The financial data can tell a lot of questions.

Zhu Xiongying carried the old man to the Jinshen Palace, and the officials of various departments and departments were already waiting here.

"Ministers see the emperor, long live long live, long live!"

"His Royal Highness, Chitose Chitose Chitose!"

Zhu Yuanzhang sat on the main seat, waved his big hand, pointed to Zhu Xiongying who was sitting beside him, and said, "Eldest grandson, you will preside over this meeting." ”

"Sun Chen, obey the order!"

At the end of the 25th year of Hongwu, the small court meeting in front of the emperor was held under the auspices of Zhu Xiongying.

Don't underestimate this little meeting, it's one of the most important meetings of the year.

Those who were able to attend this meeting were all members of the imperial court.

In order to prepare for this small court meeting, officials of various ministries and yamen, large and small, began to prepare relevant materials in November, and prepared for a whole month.

In the end, it was compiled into several thick account books and put in front of Zhu Xiongying.

The cover of the account book is impressively marked: Daming Hongwu twenty-five years of general ledger!

Zhu Xiongying flipped through the booklet, which was full of dense data, and he couldn't see it clearly for a while, so he said:

"The household department will report last year's various expenditures according to the actual expenses of each ministry and the 14 provinces in Beijing, and there must be an explanation today as to what should be settled and what should not be settled. What are the major expenditures this year, which are proposed by various ministries, and the household department will make a comprehensive calculation to see if there is a surplus or a deficit in the expenses of the imperial court in the past year? ”

The household department is in charge of the financial affairs of the imperial court, so Zhao Mian is obliged to take the lead in standing up.

"Relying on the emperor's virtue like heaven and the solid work of His Royal Highness Taisun, the past year has been spent smoothly."

As soon as Zhao Mian came up, he first said something, which showed his means of being an official, and then continued:

"Last year, there were two big floods in the two provinces, and there were two major wars in the north and southeast, and to be honest, it was not easy for the household department last year."

"In the past month or so, the household department has finally calculated all the expenses of last year, and last year's accounts have been settled, and then the departments and halls will discuss this year's expenses."

"Last year, the total tax and silver of Jingshi and the 14 provinces was 35,367,000 taels, and the expenditure budget at the beginning of last year was 29,800,000 taels. However, yesterday's bills from various ministries cost a total of 41,800,000 taels of silver. The deficit last year was 6,433,030 taels! ”

"If we check with the expenditure budget at the beginning of last year, the overspending last year will be more than 8 million taels!"

Hearing this, all the ministers present secretly took a breath.

Even Zhu Xiongying was slightly stunned, the financial difficulties of the Ming Dynasty were even more difficult than he imagined.

On the contrary, the old man has been silent.

Zhao Mian continued: "Among these overspending, the military department accounts for three million taels. Most of the military spending last year was spent on the defense of the northern border, and due to the increase in troops and expenditures, several attacks by the Mengyuan thieves were blocked. There is also the suppression of the rebellion of Timur in the southwest of Yuelu. According to the military report of Beiping Prefecture, the old department of Mengyuan will have a greater attack next year, and the number of troops will increase, and the Great Wall, which connects many places in the northwest and northeast, must also be rebuilt this year. This alone would have to increase by more than $2 million over last year. There is also the southeast coast of the suppression of the Kou, although the king of Qi paid part of the expenses, but the court has to pay a large part of the advance, this expenditure is about one million taels. ”

"The rest is the overspending of the Ministry of Industry, one is the public fund for repairing the river in Shandong and Henan, which is reported at 2 million taels, and the settlement is 3.5 million taels. Ying Tian repaired Baimao River and Wusong River, Zhejiang repaired Xin'anjiang, the Ministry of Industry reported one million taels at the beginning of the year, and this time the settlement was two million taels. The total deficit of the overexpenditure amounted to 2.5 million taels. ”

"The last is the silver two for disaster relief, the flood in Shandong and Henan in the middle of the year, a total of more than 3 million taels were spent, and at the end of the year, many places across the country suffered from severe cold and snow, although it was said that the localities found their own ways to solve it, but the imperial court still contributed more than one million taels of silver for disaster relief."

"After calculating these, last year, the imperial court's overspending was more than eight million taels!"

Zhao Mian's words fell, and the air in the entire hall froze at once.

In the past few years, the pressure of the imperial court's financial deficit has become greater and greater year by year, and these ministers know it in their hearts, but when they really hear these data, they can't help but be surprised.

But at the same time, they are also puzzled, although the deficit is so big, but last year can be regarded as a stable one.

Zhao Mian continued: "In the past year, the emperor has been short of food and clothing, and no matter how tired the household is, it should be, if we can't spend it in peace last year, I'm afraid that these people in our household department will have to resign." You may not know that the reason why the household department was able to barely support it last year and did not worry the emperor was mostly due to the credit of the emperor's grandson! ”

(End of chapter)