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Volume 1: Dragon Trapped in the Shoals Chapter 73: The Boss Problem

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    Zhu Changluo's lectures are different from those of ordinary princes. Although Zhu Yijun has not agreed to establish a crown prince, it is obvious that the cabinet and officials have long regarded Zhu Changluo as a prince.  Therefore, the lectures and readings set by the cabinet for him were completely in accordance with the standards of the prince, which was something Zhu Changxun, who was studying at the cabinet at the same time, could not enjoy.

    In addition to the general collection of classics and history, the cabinet also set aside a period of time for Zhu Changluo every day to familiarize himself with or lecture on government affairs. This is the difference from ordinary princes.  To this end, the cabinet formulated a plan, that is, at least one of the cabinet's bachelors and nine ministers will go to the Wenhua Hall every day to answer or explain government affairs issues to Zhu Changluo for half an hour, which is one hour.

    Not to mention that he benefited a lot, but it also allowed Zhu Changluo to understand many of the current shortcomings of the empire.  Just like Yang Junmin, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, once explained to him the difficulties of the Ministry of Revenue in a complaining tone. As the national treasury, the balance of payments was unbalanced.  He didn't quite believe it at first, but after a thorough investigation, he had no choice but to believe it.

    Combining what Zou Yi and others knew, Zhu Changluo once calculated an account, which was just the additional expenditure of the Ministry of Revenue in the four years since he left the cabinet to study.

    In March of the 21st year of Wanli, in order to prepare for Zhu Changluo and Zhu Changxun's lectures in the cabinet three months later, a total of 300,000 taels of silver were budgeted for the ceremonies and ritual objects to be used. The palace allocated 100,000 taels as usual, and the Ministry of Household Affairs  Two hundred thousand taels came out of the warehouse.

    In May of the 21st year of Wanli, due to continuous heavy rains, the Yellow River burst in Shanxian County. One stream left the small pontoon bridge from Xuzhou, and the other stream reached the town gate from the old river channel. Countless cities were flooded.  Two hundred thousand taels of silver were produced.

    In August of the same year, another flood occurred in Jiangbei, and the Ministry of Revenue¡¯s warehouse paid another 100,000 taels of silver.

    In October of the same year, a flood occurred in Huguang. In addition to exempting taxes and grains, the Ministry of Household Affairs also spent an additional 150,000 taels of silver for disaster relief.

    In November of the same year, floods occurred in Henan and drought occurred in Zhejiang. In addition to tax exemptions and grain relief in the affected areas, the Ministry of Household Affairs spent 180,000 taels of silver for Henan and 160,000 taels of silver for Zhejiang for disaster relief.

    In December of the same year, there was a famine in Shandong. In order to provide relief to the victims, the Ministry of Revenue¡¯s Taicang spent another 120,000 taels of silver.

    This is still a larger additional expenditure. Those expenditures that do not exceed one hundred thousand taels are not included. In the 21st year of Wanli alone, in addition to normal expenditures, additional expenditures such as disaster relief were  Nearly 1.4 million taels of silver were spent.

    In February of the 22nd year of Wanli, the heavy rain in Henan continued, and floods hit many places again. The grain harvest was not harvested. Zhu Yijun personally gave instructions to provide relief to the victims. The palace treasury provided 80,000 taels of silver, and the Ministry of Revenue's warehouse provided 100,000 taels of silver.

    In April of the same year, there was an earthquake in Shandong and Henan, and the Yellow River burst again. The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Affairs Department spent another 150,000 taels of silver for disaster relief.

    In August of the same year, Shaanxi was hit by a plague of locusts that covered the sky and covered the earth. The disaster spread to Huguang, and Taicang once again spent 160,000 taels of silver.

    On November 19th of the same year, the Empress Dowager¡¯s Thousand Autumn Festival was celebrated. As it was a full year, so according to the rules, a lot of arrangements were made. For this purpose, in addition to the palace treasury bearing part of it, the Ministry of Household Affairs spent 150,000 taels of silver.

    Counting some fragmentary expenditures, the Ministry of Revenue spent an additional nearly 800,000 taels of silver this year.

    In May of the 23rd year of Wanli, there was an earthquake in the capital, surrounding areas, and Shandong. The Hubu Taichou came up with a total of 160,000 taels of silver.

    In September of the same year, the Huaihe River overflowed and Jiangbei suffered from successive famines. The Ministry of Household Affairs once again spent 180,000 taels of silver on disaster relief.

    In November of the same year, Huguang was hit by a disaster. In addition to exempting taxes and grains from the disaster area, the Ministry of Revenue's Taicang also spent another 80,000 taels of silver.

    Counting other additional expenditures, the Ministry of Revenue's warehouse has nearly 700,000 taels of silver this year that is not within the normal expenditure.

    In the twenty-fourth year of Wanli, which is the ninth day of March this year, a fire broke out in Kunning Palace. The fire spread to Qianqing Palace, and the Jiaotai Palace in the middle. All three palaces were destroyed by fire and needed to be rebuilt.  According to the budget, for the reconstruction of these three palaces, in addition to part of the palace treasury, part of the Ministry of Works, and at least one hundred thousand taels of silver from the warehouse of the Ministry of Revenue.

    In addition, in February, the Hetao tribe invaded the border again and plundered on a large scale. In March, Horqi once again invaded the Lintao and Hezhou areas. Even if the Ministry of Revenue did not need to prepare money and food for the war, the victims after those places were plundered  They needed resettlement and relief. In addition to the local government's contribution, the Ministry of Revenue also provided 80,000 taels of silver for this purpose.

    So far, according to Zhu Changluo¡¯s knowledge, the Ministry of Revenue has spent more than two hundred thousand taels of silver.

    With a wry smile, Zhu Changluo knew that if he could ascend the throne, the first thing that would bother him would be how to improve and increase the income of the Ministry of Household Affairs.  For example, the Taicang warehouse under the Ministry of Revenue serves as the national treasury. No matter how much money is deposited, it will notI can¡¯t stand the struggle of not being able to make ends meet every year!  What's more, we have now entered the Little Ice Age, which will spread for decades to come. Natural disasters will continue. If we do not solve the problem of fiscal revenue of the Ministry of Household Affairs and cannot provide timely relief to the victims, I am afraid that we will live due to disasters just like in history.  If you don't get out, people will take desperate risks, and the country will be in chaos!

    Shaking his head, Zhu Changluo now somewhat understood why Zhu Yijun, who wanted to save face and worry about his reputation, was willing to bear the infamy and send eunuchs to various places to collect "mining taxes" one after another!  As the national treasury, the Treasury of the Ministry of Revenue has no money, and most of the Taipu Temple's banknotes and the Nanjing National Bank's banknotes have been spent. The rest has to deal with the war and cannot be used. If there is another place that needs to be spent due to disasters, etc., only  Money can be paid from the inner treasury of the palace.

    There is a lot of silver in the palace's inner treasury, which has been accumulated by dozens of generations of emperors.  But no matter how much money there is in the palace, it will always be spent when it is spent. What¡¯s more, the savings of dozens of generations cannot be lost in just one term as emperor, right?  Then how can you have the face to meet your ancestors in the future?  You have to find a way to make more money!  How can you survive with only the annual income of several hundred thousand taels allocated from Huangzhuang and the Ministry of Household Affairs?  So we have to find a way.

    And the way Zhu Yijun came up with was to collect "mining taxes" in various places who would rather bear the infamy.

    After thinking for a long time, Zhu Changluo finally found out that if he ascended to the throne, he would not be able to solve the money problem at all without taking some special means and measures!  As a person with advanced thinking compared to this era, the most common methods are to vigorously support industry and commerce through taxation and government-run industry and commerce. However, to do this, we have to face many difficulties and must master a  A matter of balance.

    Today, most of the officials in the imperial court come from the south, mostly from the southern Zhili, Zhejiang, and Huguang areas, but it is also this area that is the most developed industrial and commercial area in the Ming Dynasty.  But for industry and commerce, the tax method adopted by the Ming Dynasty is one tax per thirty, or even one tax per sixty!  The annual income of Taicang, the Ministry of Household Affairs of the Ming Dynasty, was about 3 million taels, which was basically all local taxes, and commercial taxes accounted for a very small and insignificant proportion.

    This creates a problem. If you want to increase the court's income, you must pay attention to industry and commerce, vigorously collect industrial and commercial taxes, and increase the current tax rate.  But those ministers in the court will definitely oppose it desperately, especially those officials from the south.

    Since ancient times, every dynasty has been based on agriculture and suppressed industry and commerce. This actually makes sense.  After all, the harvest of the land was not good at that time, and we had to rely on the sky for food. We worked hard every year, and it was extremely difficult to solve the problem of food and clothing. If we could have food in storage, it would be a blessing from heaven!  Can a country still be stable if we don¡¯t pay attention to agriculture?  People don¡¯t have enough to eat. What can¡¯t they do in order to survive?

    Didn¡¯t the ancients know that industry and commerce can quickly increase the country¡¯s income?  They are not fools, of course they know!  At least after Zhu Changluo came into contact with many ministers, he found that except for those officials who were stupid in reading, most officials knew the benefits of industry and commerce!  But why do most ministers still oppose attaching importance to industry and commerce?  It¡¯s because they all know that industry and commerce can make people rich quickly, but farmers who see the benefits have gone to this industry. How can the country¡¯s fundamental food security be guaranteed?

    This is an era of dependence on the weather, and the food yield of the land is so low that it hurts even when the weather is good!  When there is no food, everything is a joke!

    **********

    PS1: All the disasters listed in the article from the 21st to the 24th year of Wanli are historical facts.

    PS2: Beifei¡¯s attitude towards ancient business is to attach importance to and suppress it. I don¡¯t know if this is a new point of view.  It is necessary to pay attention and focus on supporting some industries, but also to resolutely suppress them - at least until the farmers' feeding problem is solved, that is, the food output of the land is guaranteed!
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