Chapter 961 1050 News Leaked

Of course, Wei Guangde knew about the Shandong incident and the Yellow and White Records mentioned by Zhang Juzheng.

When the Shandong incident was handled, Wei Guangde was still in the Ministry of Rites and could not speak, but some people came to him to talk about it.

He also expressed his opposition to the cabinet through Chen Yiqin.

It was the first year of Longqing, and Ge Shouli, who was still the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, said: "Zhili Shandong and other places are vast and the people are poor, and many people are moving around. However, some judicial reforms are chaotic, the divisions are too heavy, and the recruitment is uneven. The new law does not care about the status of households. Then, just talking about the amount of land caused the people to give up their land to avoid labor.

To the south of the Yellow River and to the east and west of the Taihang Mountains, the land is so barren that it is no longer possible to pay the official tax, so how can we continue to use heavy labor?" He opposed the implementation of the one-whip method in the north.

In particular, Ge Shouli saw some flaws in the whipping method and proposed that "craftsmen were exempted from labor because they had no land. Rich merchants and merchants, although they had many assets, were exempted from labor because they had no land. As a result, farmers who had no clothes to cover their bodies and worked hard all year round suffered the consequences alone. Sleepy."

In addition, Ge Shouli couldn't stand the way local officials handled things differently. In his memorial, he bluntly said, "No matter how big the warehouse is, it doesn't count the number of stones, but only the amount of silver per mu. This leads to the official's writings being treacherous, increasing or decreasing factions, which is a disadvantage." "

Because of the various shortcomings of the one-whip method, Ge Shouli took a clear stand on maintaining the old law, pointing out that "at the beginning of the country, money and grain were collected, the Ministry of Households set the name of the warehouse and the number of stones, and the common people paid according to the warehouse, and the full amount was owed. Clearly, the method is very convenient.”

Of course, Wei Guangde knew this. Although after he joined the cabinet, the cabinet approved the trial of a whipping method in Jiangxi with the request of the Jiangxi local government, but he also saw the drawbacks.

In essence, if commercial taxes could be levied in addition to the implementation of a whip law, the tax law of the Ming Dynasty would be perfect.

It's a pity that both of these were predetermined by Zhu Yuanzhang. Although they were not destined to die, Zhu Yuanzhang also left a loophole and allowed future emperors to consider the situation and act expediently.

However, the latter words were selectively ignored by the civil service group, who believed that what Zhu Yuanzhang had decided was the ancestral system and could not be changed.

As for the yellow and white books submitted by Chen Tang, the censor of the Nanjing Huguang Dao Examination, Wei Guangde certainly knew the secrets disclosed in the officialdom.

The imperial court levied grain and taxed the taxes according to the yellow book, and local officials sometimes carried out the execution according to the yellow book. Because the trouble was with them, they also compiled the white book in private.

When collecting money and food, organizing corvee labor, and all officials, white books are the most important thing.

Chen Tang only stated the facts to the court, but he did not dare to say that the white book should be used to replace the yellow book.

When this memorial was submitted, Wei Guangde had not yet returned to the court, but when he came back, he also heard about it and found the memorial to read it.

"Uncle, do you want to take this opportunity to compile the yellow book again?"

Wei Guangde asked tentatively.

"It has been followed to this day, with traitors and powerful insinuations, and countless ills.

The Yellow Book was in the hands of Lixu, and he could be allowed to increase or decrease it. The amount of money and food owed, the severity of the errands, and the increase and decrease in household registration were all inconsistent with the facts.

If the court relies on the existing yellow book arrangement, errors will inevitably occur.

Now that the examination method has been implemented, I want to re-compile the Yellow Book and the Qingzhang Tianxia Tianmu after this.

During the Hongwu Dynasty, there were still more than 8 million acres of land in the world, but now there are only more than 4 million and less than 5 million.

The imperial court was in a deficit, and it was probably because the subordinate officials below were greedy for it. I was horrified to think about it. "

Zhang Juzheng didn't hide it, and Wei Guangde dared to propose a rough money law. In the cabinet, didn't he dare to speak out about the various shortcomings that existed in the Ming Dynasty today?

Wei Guangde did not answer, but looked at Lu Tiaoyang who had a look of shock on his face.

Zhang Juzheng also noticed Wei Guangde's gaze and looked over immediately.

Lu Tiaoyang inevitably felt uncomfortable under the gaze of these two people.

Major matters in the court are basically discussed and implemented by the two of you. Do you still want me to be the one who takes the lead?

Lu Tiaoyang felt aggrieved. He was a symbolic presence in the cabinet. He did the most work and held the least power. What the hell, these two people still wanted to take advantage of him.

Lu Tiaoyang pretended to be thinking and said nothing.

Wei Guangde did not accept Zhang Juzheng's words because the matter was a bit involved, and it was not an exaggeration to say that it concerned the whole world.

Seeing that neither Wei Guangde nor Lu Tiaoyang responded, Zhang Juzheng had no choice but to continue: "I remember that when Ge Yushi proposed a whip method, it was very insightful to deal with the situation in the north.

If the imperial court wanted to implement the plan nationwide, it had to know the real amount. The acres and population in the north were of great importance.

If we go by the current yellow book, it's not certain that there will really be a big mess. "

"The north is focused on population, and the south is focused on acres of land. Let's first take advantage of the incident in She County, South Zhili, to check the taxes and levies contained in the Hui Dian."

This time Wei Guangde answered the call. If he didn't answer, it would be Zhang Juzheng's one-man show. Lu Tiaoyang made it clear that he didn't want to get involved in this matter.

"Let Tobu ask?"

Zhang Juzheng said.

"Ask and see if there is a follow-up."

After saying this, Wei Guangde was stunned. There was no further comment on this matter, which meant that it was no longer an issue.

In addition, the Ming Dynasty was full of officials, and it was unclear whether the officials in previous years were still in office.

"The Ministry of Husband pressed the question below, which caught Yin Shangshu's attention.

Down there, I feel that the drunkard is not interested in drinking, but wants to use this matter to insinuate Yin Shangshu and prevent the trial of a whip method in Nanzhili.

Now that they have taken action and delayed the matter, after so many years, they should have some understanding. "

Wei Guangde said.

"Why don't you just write a note to the household department about this matter?"

Zhang Juzheng said.

Wei Guangde knew that the meat show was coming, and Zhang Juzheng wanted him or Lu Tiaoyang to come forward, but Lu Tiaoyang didn't want to get involved, and neither did he.

After thinking for a while, he said: "Let me ask the Ministry of Revenue to self-examine the documents that have been delayed over the years. Let the Ministry of Revenue write and submit the documents themselves."

Since the application has been filed in Nanjing, the Ministry of Household Affairs has kept a file, and no results have been reported after following further inquiries. According to the examination method, it must be settled as soon as possible.

Letting them investigate themselves would be a good way to reopen the matter.

The report will naturally be sent to the palace with memorials. When the time comes, it will be more binding and the Huizhou government will have no way to continue delaying the matter.

Hearing Wei Guangde give such an idea, Zhang Juzheng only thought for a moment and nodded, which was regarded as approval of the matter.

As for whether to send the note or find someone to take the message, Wei Guangde didn't care. Zhang Juzheng had many ways to spread the news to Wang Guangguang's ears.

In the following days, the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of Industry were intensively preparing the policy items of the new money law, and the memorial drafted by Wei Guangde on "Reforming the Money Law" has been sent to the hands of the empress dowagers of the two palaces and the young emperor Zhu Yijun.

In Ciqing Palace, after reading the memorial, Empress Dowager Li asked Feng Bao who had sent it: "It is actually very convenient for the people to weigh silver. Why does the cabinet want to mint silver coins?"

The purpose of minting coins is to make money. Of course, this cannot be said publicly, it can only be understood privately.

However, this is naturally a bit obscure for Empress Dowager Chen and Empress Dowager Li who do not have much political acumen.

Feng Bao glanced at the two empress dowagers above, and then whispered: "I heard that Wei Guangde got the silver coins used by the Yi people from Yuegang. One silver coin weighs about one or two. It is also said that there are smaller silver coins in the West, which are used Very convenient.

Mr. Wei Ge felt that the silver ingots currently in circulation in the Ming Dynasty were of different fineness and colors, especially the broken silver that was the most circulated. In order to identify the authenticity, merchants had to bite it with their teeth, which was really insulting to politeness.

Since the Yi people can think of minting coins, I, the Ming Dynasty, can also mint something more exquisite than the Yi people's silver coins.

So Mr. Wei Ge discussed the matter with Zhang Shoufu and others, and also asked the Ministers of the Ministry of Husbandry, the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of War to study the matter.

Finally, it was decided to mint one tael of silver coins, as well as two small silver coins of one coin and five coins. One side was engraved with the words Wanli Tongbao, and the other side was the weight of the silver coin.

At the same time, due to the proliferation of private money among the people, especially since the 34th year of Jiajing, people have openly minted copper coins privately, leading to the collapse of money law.

This time the cabinet plans to take this opportunity to take back the right of the private sector to mint private money. From now on, the coins in circulation in the Ming Dynasty can only be minted by the Baoyuan Bureau of the Ministry of Industry, and private minting of gold, silver and copper coins is prohibited.

From now on, all official money was used for circulation among the people. One silver coin was exchanged for seventy copper coins, and both silver and copper coins were collected for paying taxes and labor.

It seems that because of this matter, there was still controversy in the cabinet a few days ago. "

"That's fine too. Why are they still arguing?"

Unlike Empress Dowager Li's background, Chen came from a scholarly family, so she had seen broken silver among the people since she was a child and knew that it was ugly.

Playing with the silver coins handmade by the Ministry of Industry in my hand, I felt that this thing was very convenient.

For more than seventy cents, you can use silver coins to trade. For less than seventy cents, there are two kinds of large coins available: flat coins and five coins and ten coins. You won't always have a lot of copper coins.

However, she was still a little curious. The rules set by the cabinet seemed to be good, so there was nothing controversial about them.

"I heard that it is because of private money among the people. According to the system, one civil official's money is worth sixty cents of private money. The common people have become accustomed to having private money under ordinary money. Some small businesses do not use ordinary money, so they are considering Should new copper coins be minted under Xiaoping coins?

However, the Ministry of Industry seemed to think that this was unnecessary. After all, the cost of minting coins was not low, and the court was already losing money when casting Xiaoping coins. The reason why Master Jiajing started privately minting copper coins among the people was because the Ministry of Industry was unwilling to mint more coins. "

Feng Bao replied.

"Is there any result from the cabinet?"

This time Wei Guangde's memorial did not involve whether coins should be minted below Xiaoping's coins, so Queen Mother Chen asked about it.

"Someone once suggested casting iron coins after the Song Dynasty, but iron coins are easy to rust, so they are not suitable. Later Wei Guangde said that according to the old folk practice, ten coins of treasure banknotes can be converted into one penny. However, Wang Shangshu of the Ministry of Revenue disagreed, and it seems that it has not been done yet. Get results."

Feng Bao told the Empress Dowagers of the two palaces the news he heard in Ciqing Palace, and the cabinet once again convened the Ministers of the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of War, and even the commander of the Jinyi Guards Liu Shouyou to discuss the next step of promoting the new money law steps.

At first, the matter was kept confidential. As the number of officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of Industry increased, the news leaked out for unknown reasons, forcing Wei Guangde to accelerate the pace of promotion.

The biggest impact of this law on the people is the prohibition of private money.

From top to bottom in the imperial court, there were probably not many families who had not been involved in this matter. For this reason, the government and the public were discussing it, and there were endless voices of opposition.

If this matter cannot be implemented as soon as possible, I am afraid that if it takes a long time, the local authorities will also react. After the money law is unified, the pockets of local officials will be affected.

After all, private taxes were mainly collected in copper coins, and the payment to the Ministry of Household Affairs in the capital was in silver, which would be lost after exchange losses. The miscellaneous taxes previously levied based on this lost their basis and could only be cancelled.

There are many officials in the capital who are in charge of local affairs, such as the six chiefs. Many of them are talented county magistrates selected from various counties. Naturally, they are very familiar with the business of making money below.

Although they did not expect it in the first two days, as the details came to light, especially after Wei Guangde asked the Ministry of Industry to mint silver coins and determined that one silver coin was equivalent to seventy copper coins, many sensitive officials had noticed this change.

If the news was only circulated among Beijing officials in the past few days, since yesterday the news has spread to the private sector.

"The Baoyuan Bureau is ready. As soon as the decree comes down, we can start minting coins immediately, giving priority to the minting of silver treasures to facilitate the imperial government's financial payment."

In the duty room of the Chief Assistant of the Cabinet, Zhu Heng briefly talked about the preparations of the Ministry of Industry.

The Ministry of Industry and Commerce decided on the sample coin two days ago. After it was handed over to the cabinet, it was revised a little, and then the coins were minted a second time. Now they have been sent to the palace to wait for news. It can be said that the Ministry of Industry is fine, and they are just waiting for the Ministry of Accounts to release the silver.

Yes, the silver in the Treasury of the Ministry of Industry cannot be the first batch to be minted, because it has to wait for the imperial decree.

Official coins will have the year number on them, so whether they are copper coins or silver coins, they will have the words Wanli Tongbao. Without the imperial decree from the palace, the Ministry of Industry would not dare to cast them in advance.

"One million taels of silver have been prepared and are just waiting for the decree to be handed over to the Baoyuan Bureau for casting."

Wang Guoguang, the Minister of Household Affairs, said.

As for calling Tan Lun, it was not only a matter of coin transportation safety, but also the reason why the Ministry of War controlled the largest treasury in the imperial court.

Tan Lun did not answer the call at this time, because it was not yet time for the Ministry of War to take action.

The money in Changying's treasury is originally immovable. Now we need to solve the problem of allocating money from the Department of Accounts first.

"Have you checked?"

Wei Guangde did not comment on what the two said, and looked at Liu Shouyou and asked.

"We found out that it was a supervisor from the Ministry of Industry who told the truth while drunk."

Liu Shouyou immediately stood up and replied.

Wei Guangde pressed his hand and motioned for him to sit down and talk.

"Because the news was leaked, we had no choice but to speed up the process. The court wanted to mint silver coins as soon as possible and distribute them to the people."

Wei Guangde said after Liu Shouyou sat down, "Yesterday it started to spread in the market, and last night I heard the housekeeper say that the people are very panic now, worried that the imperial court's coinage is not of sufficient quality and will harm the merchants.

To be honest with you, many noble people have come to my house these days, asking about silver coins, haha."

Speaking of this, Wei Guangde couldn't help but smile bitterly.

The money of the Ming Dynasty is really fucked.

It used to be a treasure banknote, which could be regarded as making a lot of money for the people, especially those merchants who suffered the most heavy losses.

As for copper coins, the copper coins cast by the imperial court were good, but they were rarely made and could not satisfy the needs of circulation at all.

They are naturally concerned about the new money that the court will mint this time, especially silver coins.

If the imperial court had no silver and only cast a small amount, and then banned the use of broken silver and private money by the people, the consequences would be unimaginable.

It is definitely unrealistic to issue a list to calm the people at this time. After all, the court did not set a system, but confirmed the matter. I am afraid that the people will be even more panicked.

The only thing the court can do is to promote silver coins to the public as soon as possible, so that the people can see that the fineness of the silver coins minted by the court officials is much better than the broken silver of different qualities among the people.

After laughing, Wei Guangde looked at Zhang Juzheng, as if asking whether the communication between him and the person in the palace was in place.