Chapter 531 Summer Tax

When Marshal Li was lying on the boat floating back home, Jiang Xinghuo didn't even have the intention to gloat about his misfortune.

More than 200,000 infantry and cavalrymen from the three major battalions of the Beijing camp broke out and headed north. The prepared military expenditure once again almost emptied the household finances.

But it is definitely not possible without spending money. There are vassal kings inside and Mongolia outside. They are adhering to the worst plan. They have to deal with Timur's expeditionary army before it reaches Gansu, so the money that should be spent must be spent.

But Zhu Di, as the immediate emperor, could not consider these things, but Jiang Xinghuo had to think about it. After all, money is needed everywhere. Now that the reform stalls are so big, it is still very dangerous for them to hit the bottom again just after they have saved.

Jiang Xinghuo, who manages finance for the world, encountered such a severe economic situation for the first time.

Even if you have no choice, you have to find a way.

In the cabinet, several department heads involved in finance were summoned.

"In the fourth year of Jingnan, there have been urgent conquests and poor raids. The people in all directions have been exhausted. The treasury of each government has been empty. We have just rested for less than two years. Today, we have to raise a large army. At this time, even if there is really any five ghost transporting skills, it will be so The huge expenditure will exhaust the ghosts and gods to death, and I’m afraid they won’t be able to move out the gold and silver to fill the hole.”

Sun Yu, the left minister of the Ministry of Revenue, called him poor when he came up. What he said was quite interesting, with a bit of ridicule in his complaints.

Rarely, Li Wenyu, the right minister of the Ministry of Revenue, did not answer any questions.

These two people are not easy to deal with, but it is a fact that the household department is a little divided at the moment, so in the face of the overall interests, the two have temporarily given up their factional disputes.

"cough."

Xia Yuanji's hair has become noticeably whiter recently, with a few strands popping out of his temples mischievously.

"The Ministry of Household Affairs is indeed very difficult, but the country has important responsibilities that we have to shoulder. Things still need to be solved. The eldest prince and the Imperial Master called everyone here for a meeting today, so that we can work together to solve the problem."

As the head of the Ministry of Household Affairs, Xia Yuanji's speech was obviously very good. In addition to the Ministry of Household Affairs, the meeting also included the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Industry, Taipu Temple, Guanglu Temple and other departments. There were even several high eunuchs from the inner court. .

Here I would like to explain why so many seemingly strange departments came to participate in the economic conference in the second year of Yongle.

Because the finances of the Ming Dynasty were never under the unified jurisdiction of one department of the Ministry of Household Affairs.

In fact, although the Ministry of Revenue is the most important part of the entire Ming Dynasty's financial management system, the Ministry of Revenue cannot manage the entire finances of the huge Ming Empire. In addition to the Ministry of Revenue, the departments just mentioned have independent financial power.

Moreover, what is difficult to understand is that these departments not only have their own independent financial resources, their own revenue and expenditure systems, and are not subject to the management interference of the Ministry of Revenue, but they are also nominally accountable to the emperor, but in fact no one cares about them at all. they.

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

Let’s talk about the Ministry of War first. The main sources of financial revenue of the Ministry of War are two parts. One part is called “the expenses of the military attache on behalf of the military attache” and the other part is called the “funds of the military attache on behalf of the military.”

The so-called "payment of military attaché fees" refers to the fact that in the early Ming Dynasty, the military honors group was very large, and in addition to honorary ministers, there were many military attaches without titles. The "welfare" part of these military attaches' annual salary, such as Chai Salaries, direct money, etc. are all paid through the accounts of the Ministry of War. They are generally collected and stored in the Arsenal Department of the Ministry of War, and are distributed by the Ministry of War to officials in Beijing. The Ministry of War plays the role of a small bank, and this money can be Use it for lending or business.

The "relief of funds for the guard station" refers to the fact that the Ming Dynasty implemented the guard station system. Under the guard station system, the Ming Dynasty not only did not need to provide funds for the guard station, but also could continuously recruit military households to the guard station every year. Wool, whether it is a small part of the necessary funds or subsidies distributed to the guard station, or the in-kind tax paid by the guard station to the central government, is the responsibility of the Ministry of War.

Then there is the Ministry of Industry, which is much simpler. Its finances mainly come from the money exchanged for work materials and the income from bamboo and wood. The Ministry of Industry is also the department that has the biggest conflict with the Ministry of Household Affairs, because the finances of the two Income is obviously a relationship between one ebb and flow. This is entirely due to the extremely inefficient physical tax system of the Ming Dynasty. Because the Ministry of Industry is responsible for engineering projects, if the project requires lumber or other building materials from somewhere, it can directly replace the grain tax. , and this kind of apportionment to local governments will lead to a decrease in the book income of the household department.

Next is Taipu Temple. Taipu Temple’s income mainly comes from the horse price silver obtained from the horses from various places. This is because the horse administration in the Ming Dynasty at the beginning was left to the private sector to raise horses through apportionment. Later, Lao Zhu found that the effect was real. It was not good, so we changed the policy and used the money collected from the horse price to find someone to raise the horses.

As for Guanglu Temple, the Ming Dynasty paid more attention to dignity, so it allocated more money for banquets. After more than 30 years of accumulation, the small treasury in the temple was very sufficient.

In short, this kind of financial mess where cats have cat lanes and dogs have dog lanes is very troublesome.

It’s hard to say whether this kind of system design was intentional by Lao Zhu.

But for the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Industry, and the Ministry of War, no one except the emperor could deal with these three equal departments.

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 kind of trouble has reached the point where it can't be solved without solving it.

Because if we don't come up with a solution, except for the departments with their own small financial treasury, all other departments in Ming Dynasty will face the risk of shutdown.

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

In the chat session before the meeting, Zhu Gaochi claimed that he had lost weight, but it might be because his weight base was too high, and Jiang Xinghuo really didn't notice it.

Zhu Gaochi had just finished contemplating his mistakes behind closed doors and returned to the cabinet to preside over work.

During the three months he spent in seclusion, the court had undergone great changes. Zhu Gaochi now had to adapt to these changes. Although he had a relatively complete staff in the six departments, his control over the temples was obviously not as good as before. .

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

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

Rujun, Minister of the Ministry of War, frowned and pondered for a moment, and said: "As I see it, there is only one choice, and that is to cut unnecessary expenditures for the coming war and pool the funds of the Ministry of Household Affairs to ensure the daily needs of the court."

He paused and looked up at Zhu Gaochi: "If this doesn't work, after His Majesty ascended the throne, he vigorously promoted the Ming Dynasty National Debt. Now that the country needs it, you might as well issue more Northern Expedition National Debt. As long as the people actively subscribe and reduce some unnecessary expenditures this year, If we tighten our belts, I think it will be enough to support the expenses of various departments."

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

Huang Fu stroked his beard and seemed to be thinking about something. After hesitating for a while, he said: "I feel that the idea of ​​Ru Shangshu of the Ministry of War is not practical."

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

"Your Highness."

Huang Fu cupped his hands and said: "Our Ming Dynasty has a vast territory and abundant resources. Although the northern border is not peaceful now, the barbarians in the south are all submissive. The people in the south live and work in peace and contentment. There is no need to use swords or guns anymore. We only rely on our Ming army to garrison the border fortress. It can make the enemy frightened by the news and not dare to fight again. But fighting is one aspect, and construction is also another aspect. Ru Shangshu feels that it is not right to not carry out construction just because of the war."

The first half of Huang Fu's words was naturally to show his contribution to logistics during the expedition to Annan, intentionally or unintentionally. The second half was to speak for the department based on his own departmental interests.

"That's true."

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

Huang Fu suggested: "According to the plan of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, point-to-point commercial roads will be built in Zhejiang this year. If this money is pooled and distributed, it is necessary to recruit civilians to repair roads and widen ditches. These are all expenses, and it is really not feasible. Yes, the Ministry of Household Affairs will allocate part of it, and the Ministry of Works will advance the rest, and wait until next year when the Ministry of Household Affairs has money, it will allocate it back, which can be regarded as a way to tide over the difficulties."

Obviously, if you want the Ministry of Works to pay out all the money, the Ministry of Works is not willing, but the Ministry of Works is willing to advance part of it, and the Ministry of Household Affairs will pay back the rest later.

This sounds strange, but if you understand the central financial structure of the Ming Dynasty and understand how these departments work in their own way, it is not difficult to understand why the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Accounts will pay back the money in the future.

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

But no matter what, these words immediately made Tobe unhappy.

Li Wenyu, the right minister of the Ministry of Revenue, sarcastically said: "I know that the Ministry of Works is also short of money, but now (the Ministry of Household's) warehouse is also stretched, and has to allocate money and food from elsewhere. For such a big stall, the Ministry of Revenue cannot spend money randomly. To save some money, it is better for the Ministry of Industry to sell those worthless rocks and wood to raise some money, which can be regarded as having room to deal with it."

"Do I think what Mr. Li said is inappropriate?"

Chen Shou, the left minister of the Ministry of Industry, as a direct descendant of Zhu Gaochi, didn't care much at this time, and directly retorted: "If those worthless things are sold, how much can we get for it? I'm afraid the money won't be enough. From now on, we don’t have to do any engineering work anymore, what else will we do after all the materials have been sold?”

"That's not necessarily the case."

Jin Zhong, the right minister of the Ministry of Works, as a die-hard confidant of the emperor, at this time, turned against his own family members in the Ministry of Works: "Your Majesty's prestige is spread all over the world. If you need any materials, they will be shipped from overseas now. Let's not talk about anything else." , big wood and the like, there are quite a few in Annam and Champa, and the quality is not bad.”

"this"

Chen Shou, the left minister of the Ministry of Industry, opened his mouth to retort, but he didn't know where to start.

Because what Jin Zhong said is indeed true. In these days, even the most ordinary big wood will take hundreds of years to become useful. If you want to make beams for the main hall of the palace, it will take hundreds or even thousands of years of ancient wood. Not to mention the Ming Dynasty. It's almost clear that it's all cut down. You can say it's about 10% to 70% chance.

So Chen Shou glared at Jin Zhong angrily and said nothing.

However, Zhu Gaochi waved his hand to interrupt their quarrel and asked: "Do Taipu Temple and Guanglu Temple have the same idea as the Ministry of War? They both require that they use 'spend-saving' methods to overcome financial difficulties this year?"

The Taipus Temple's management of horse affairs was under the guidance of the Ministry of War under the unspoken rules. At this time, Yu Qian, the Minister of Taipus Temple, maintained the same attitude as Ru Yu, the Minister of the Ministry of War. He clasped his fists and said, "I believe that we should live within our means and spend money." You can’t be extravagant, so naturally there won’t be any difficulties.”

Guanglu Temple is responsible for purchasing sacrifices, preparing court and diplomatic banquets, and is under the guidance of the Ministry of Etiquette under unspoken rules. The newly promoted Huang Ziwei of Guanglu Temple was the former prefect of Songjiang Prefecture, so Huang Ziwei acted based on Jiang Xinghuo's winks. The stance is quite positive.

"Guanglu Temple still has some savings. If the Ministry of Revenue needs it, it can be dismantled. Just return it."

It seems that this is the only positive response today except that the Ministry of Works is willing to bear part of the road construction costs.

"Wouldn't this mean that the household department would be hollowed out?"

Zhu Gaochi frowned and said, "This money is all saved through hard work."

Zhu Gaochi is not being weird, but really thinks so. It is normal to have disputes at home, but no one wants to have internal friction that makes the family unable to function. This is true for the family, and for the country. For the same reason, the Ministry of Household Affairs is headed by the reform sect, but there are also people from Zhu Gaochi in it. Speaking more broadly, he is still concerned about this Ming Dynasty, whether Zhu Gaochi can inherit it or not.

As a member of Zhu Gaochi, Sun Yu, the left minister of the Ministry of Revenue, naturally wanted to express his position at this time. He said: "Your Highness, even if the money in the treasury is really spent, according to Yi Chen, the worst thing is that the court will find ways to make money and save. , but it is absolutely impossible to allow the North to suffer from foreign aggression."

This sentence is naturally Sun Yu's personal opinion and cannot represent the entire household department. The key point lies in the last sentence, which is that Sun Yu is quietly reminding Zhu Gaochi that cooperating with the strategic planning of the entire Ming Dynasty is the most important. On this point, the position must be Be steady and don't make mistakes.

"Um"

Zhu Gaochi thought about it and said, "So what you guys want to do is to let the Ministry of Household Affairs take care of the situation first, sell some debt this year, and make do with it?"

Rujun, the Minister of the Ministry of War, bowed and said: "That's right. However, the current situation is difficult. Since Guanglu Temple has expressed its stance, the Ministry of War is also willing to part with some of the money. I am willing to share the worries of His Majesty's Northern Expedition!"

Zhu Gaochi sighed in his heart: I knew it was like this.

At this time, he also realized that first of all, he should not think about taking money out of the small treasury of each ministry and temple, otherwise the chiefs of each ministry and temple would definitely be resentful. In addition, the financial sources of Ming Dynasty were originally very chaotic.

Although the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of War, and the Ministry of Industry all have their own income, everyone is actually poor, and no one owes anyone anything, and no one wants to spend money from their own treasury. Who is willing to take the money? How about filling the entire Ming Dynasty’s financial hole?

"Where are the father-in-laws?"

Zhu Gaochi finally looked at the several great eunuchs in the inner court. The inner court has its own independent financial system. The most powerful eunuchs in the inner court, such as shares and farmland, are in charge of the management.

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

"Listen to the Imperial Master."

The inner court has always been a place where Zhu Gaochi could not get involved.

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

This expansion does not mean listening to Jiang Xinghuo in a literal sense, but the incremental wealth of the inner court, that is, the wealth of specialized commodities and overseas trade, was created by Jiang Xinghuo.

This is a bit like the top anchor of a live broadcast company. At some point, he can even get shareholders to fire the management.

The key lies in how much value you can create.

In the face of interests, some things are fair.

Eunuchs had no children, and all they wanted in life was power, wealth, and even the reputation that civil servants generally pursued, but eunuchs did not need much.

Everyone knows that the inner court can live so comfortably now because of Jiang Xinghuo.

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

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

Everyone looked at Jiang Xinghuo.

Jiang Xinghuo pondered for a moment and then said: "The war must be fought, but other aspects cannot be ignored. This is the year when the reform is in full swing. Since everything needs to be done, money must be used. It's hard to say. Which ones are important and which ones are not are 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 collection guards have carried out work in the countryside throughout the southern Zhili (including Jiangnan) region. This year's autumn tax must improve the efficiency of tax collection. As for how to improve this tax collection Tax efficiency sounds difficult, but it is not that difficult to implement. It is nothing more than 'preventing personal enrichment'."

"The tax revenue of the country at that time was difficult. Firstly, due to the Jingnan Campaign, the Jiangnan area was required to be too much and the levy was too frequent. As Sun Shilang said at the beginning, now there is a stable order and there are not so many Secondly, the corruption of officials at all levels is hard to fill. They all regard the opportunity of collecting autumn taxes every year as an excellent opportunity to make a fortune. When collecting taxes, they do everything possible to steal and enrich themselves. This is not to mention the collection of money and grain. After getting it, it delayed the shipment and turned it over, so the common people paid excessive amounts of grain, and the country was unable to collect the tax. As a result, the country was poor and the people were poor, but it enriched the bureaucrats, subordinates, and government servants at all levels. Therefore, How to collect what should be collected has become one of the keys to solving this year's fiscal crisis."

After that, Jiang Xinghuo took out several drafted institutional documents and handed them to everyone to circulate.

"1. Grain handling and transportation."

"From now on, all money and grain collected by prefectures and counties must be collected in the same year and supervised by the tax guards. Those who were in arrears in previous years will be limited to two cents per year. If there is indeed a disaster, it will be reported and postponed."

"2. The amount of food turned over."

“The amount of money and grain submitted by each chief envoy, prefecture, prefecture, and county must be consistent with the account books kept by each household, and must truthfully reflect the disaster, disaster, and failure situation in the region this year. No falsehoods are allowed, and no fraud is allowed. Before officials are transferred, they must hand over their money and food clearly before they are allowed to leave office, otherwise they will be severely punished in accordance with the established laws."

"3. Report tax status."

"Each prefecture, state, and county is in charge of grain management and other officials. They will transport money and grain every year. They will follow the ancestral records and make detailed records. "A certain prefecture, a certain state, and a county will pay summer taxes, autumn grain, and horse grass. The actual total number of discounted items will be calculated by the official and sent to the corresponding Clearance Department of the Ministry of Household Affairs."

"Four. Two tax deadlines."

"For summer taxes, the warehouse should be opened on the 15th of May and the warehouses will be filled in July; for autumn taxes, the warehouses will be opened on the first day of October and the warehouses will be filled by the end of December. If the summer tax is not allowed until the end of August, the autumn tax will be paid. It is limited to the end of the first month of the following year, and the corresponding grain officials, officials, and division chiefs will all be responsible. The punishment ranges from cane to exile. The deadline is clearly defined to avoid the long-term retention of tax revenue in the hands of tax collectors, resulting in lending or borrowing. Blackmail Li Shu."

In fact, Jiang Xinghuo's thinking is that it doesn't matter how much tax is added. If he really wants to collect money, the key is to solve the problem of "middlemen making the difference".

Otherwise, the court will collect more taxes and the people will pay more taxes. As a result, the tax revenue in the hands of the court will decrease instead of increase, and the whole price difference will feed the middlemen.

When Jiang Xinghuo first thought about this question, he thought it was quite interesting. This kind of situation is not unprecedented in history. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the money in the treasury came from the Mingzhaizong (Mingbaizong?) Emperor Wanli worked hard After saving the money, the Ming Jiangzong sect was spared from its extravagance, but when it came to the Ming Diao sect, they were dumbfounded.

There were rogues inside and back money outside. On the eve of the destruction of Beijing, they begged the imperial relatives and relatives for some money, and everyone cried out that they were poor. These imperial relatives, civil servants and big merchants abandoned them without hesitation when the Ming Dynasty was in crisis. The Ming Dynasty watched helplessly as the court fell into embarrassment. Later, Li Zicheng came to Beijing and extracted a lot of money from them. But when Hou Jin entered the pass and the new king came to the throne, they shamelessly came to ask for rewards and titles.

This example actually shows that the so-called emperor is not omnipotent. The social structure of this era is so special. As long as the emperor involves certain core interests, even if it is imperial power, it will be difficult to change the operating model of the entire society, such as finance.

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

Therefore, the sending of tax guards to the countryside will certainly bring about a lot of bloodshed, but fundamentally it is of great significance.

Moreover, this year's summer tax in Jiangnan will begin soon. Although the summer tax is not as large as the autumn tax, it is also one of the important sources of revenue for the imperial court. This is where the results of the reform can be seen immediately.

After everyone circulated it, there wasn't much opposition.

The plans drafted by Jiang Xinghuo were all formulated in response to the actual situation of enriching his own pockets through taxes. This position is very correct. No one can object to it. Even if there is a conflict of interest or position, they can only say that they silently hope that Jiang Xinghuo will not succeed. This matter, rather than expressing opposition now.

"Master, please continue." Zhu Gaochi held the document in his hand and said.

Seeing that no one objected, Jiang Xinghuo nodded and continued.

"The second aspect is to rectify the bullying of farmers."

"The main purpose of cheating the land and grain is to strictly restrict the behavior of honorable ministers, nobles and local tyrants. In fact, the failure to collect tax money and grain from the state is not only due to officials' corruption and arrears, but also due to the failure of honorable ministers." The powerful took advantage of their power to refuse to accept the poor grain, or to occupy extra land, under various names, and refused to be registered and assume their obligations."

Everyone was stunned when they heard this.

How dare you say it!

This is Jiang Xinghuo. If anyone else dares to touch Xungui's cake, they will have a knife on their necks.

In fact, who doesn’t know this kind of thing?

These are all open "secrets".

However, the nobles had no choice but to maintain the family's long-term survival and huge expenses. The salary and rewards from the dynasty were indeed not enough, so they could only occupy more land. This was the actual situation.

Since Jiang Xinghuo dared to touch the honorable cake, he certainly did not want to be like the general Zhang Yi who witnessed being burned when King Gao went on a business trip to Luoyang. He was delivering letters between the capital cities of Luoyang. History records that he witnessed a riot in Luoyang. More than a thousand people including Yu Lin and Huben gathered in Shangshu Province. They first insulted and then threw stones to vent their anger. In the end, the group burned them down. The house of Zhang Yi, the general who conquered the West, because Zhang Yi's reform proposals touched the interests of the military attache in the capital), but because he could bring bigger and more delicious cakes to the nobles, Jiang Xinghuo was confident that the nobles would Make concessions on land taxation for the greater good.

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

"Whenever a clan member buys land and refuses to pay the grain due to his strength, a supervisor will investigate the matter and bring the person in charge of the village to trial. The amount of grain that should be paid will still be calculated and the amount of grain will be deducted. If there is a supervisor who connives and refuses to do so, he will be severely punished.

In addition to allocating public land to the families of meritorious officials, as long as they have land, all the people from Guanzhuang will report to the official, be naturalized and pay food as errands. Violators will be punished with a rod of sixty for one to three acres. For every three acres, one level will be added. The crime is punished by a hundred sticks, and the punishment is three years. If the person is in charge of the village, his land will be transferred to the official position, and the tax and grain hidden will be paid in full. If the head of the village or an official fails to make an accurate investigation, or if he knows but fails to take action, he will be guilty of the same crime.

Powerful and powerful households in various places are stubborn for no reason and refuse to accept the autumn grain of their own households. If they exceed fifty dan, they will be questioned and imprisoned for a day and sent to nearby areas. If they exceed 200 dan, they will be sent to the border guards and all will be sent to the army. If you can finish it within three months, you will be paid as usual.

Rich and powerful households in various places who dared to send their unpaid supplies to the official warehouse and force the army to cash it privately were asked to consider the case of not accepting the autumn grain and asking for surrender. If the official in charge of sealing and managing food is not in the Shenda District and condones a delay of more than 100 dan, he will be asked to live with a salary of one year. Those with more than 200 shi will be asked to ask questions. Those with more than 300 shi will be demoted to the second level and dismissed according to the example of soft dismissal. "

Seeing that everyone's expressions changed slightly, Jiang Xinghuo smiled faintly: "The land given by the minister is the land given by the country. When the court is in need, the minister can help. I think it is natural. As for the losses in this regard, , in terms of sea trade, there is naturally more room for income.”

Perhaps others who came to implement this reform were seeking death in a different way. After all, in the early Ming Dynasty, the power of Xungui ministers was extremely powerful, but for Jiang Xinghuo, Xungui military ministers could be won over, or they had already Jiang Xinghuo believes that some of the interest groups that are tied to the reform chariot can be understood as long as they communicate well with the princes and uncles.

After all, most people in this world are motivated by interests. As long as it can bring them more and longer-term interests, it is not impossible to give up some immediate interests.