Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 1914 Return to Japan ([-]) Royal Fleet?

The battle against Busan was temporarily terminated due to the arrival of a heavy rain. The Ming and Japanese armies, as well as the North Korean army gathered from all directions, had to stop their actions and wait for the rain to clear.

On this day, the Jinhai County Government, temporarily requisitioned by the Ming army, had already hung up the banner of economic strategy. Military discussion.

Before the meeting started, the messenger reported the arrival of an angel, and Gao Wushi came out to receive the order, knowing that the emperor had moved his mind on the captured Japanese ships.

However, the emperor's imperial decree did not actually mention this issue, but simply encouraged Gao Pragmatic's achievements since his expedition, and of course he had to say a few words that he would be rewarded after the war.

These were all official words, Gao Wushi saw that there was no actual content in the imperial decree, so he knew that after receiving the decree, he had to invite the ministers who delivered the decree to talk about it, so as to find out what the emperor wanted to tell him.

It was a coincidence that the angel who came was an old acquaintance, a real old acquaintance—Liu Ping, the nephew of the former chief eunuch Huang Mengyu, who was in charge of the chief inspector of ceremonies.

Liu Ping and Gao Yushi knew each other very early, when Gao Yushi was the Prince's accompanying student when he went to Datong to "observe politics Datong Firearms" instead of Zhu Yijun.At that time, Huang Mengyu was the imperial envoy guarding the local eunuch in Datong, and Liu Ping was one of the three eunuchs under the supervision of the Datong eunuch.

When Gao Yushi first met him, he was praised by Gao Yushi because he was very familiar with the production and supervision system of the government-owned military industry at that time [see Chapter 126 of Volume [-] of this book Observing the Government by Order ([-])]. After helping Huang Mengyu get promoted, he also took good care of Liu Ping.

Later, Huang Mengyu became a "retired veteran cadre", and Liu Ping lost his direct backer in the palace.Although Chen Ju treated him well, after all, Chen Ju had a lot of godsons behind him, so he couldn't take care of it, so Liu Ping got closer to Gao Pragmatism—of course, this was actually Huang Mengyu's confession.

Gao Yushi was very nostalgic, and he did help out a bit, so Liu Ping was quickly transferred back to the palace from the imperial envoy guarding the local eunuch in Fujian, and became the eunuch of Bingbi, the supervisor of ceremonies. He ranked last among the four Bingbi eunuchs—a few years ago After Pragmatism's victory over the Yuan Dynasty, he was promoted again, and now ranks third among the four big Bingbi eunuchs.

But the position of Bingbi eunuch... How should I put it, it is a bit like the cabinet situation, that is, the chief eunuch Bingbi holds the real power—that is, he also serves as the admiral of the East Factory.The next three are like assistants, and the real power is far away. Unless the emperor favors this person, they are at most one of the heirs to the chief eunuch who holds the pen. The real power depends on what they get dispatch.

Liu Ping's dispatch is good or bad, he is mainly responsible for the guarding affairs in the palace - note that he only takes care of the palace, the military affairs of the capital outside the palace are not under his control, in the inner court system , the military affairs of the capital, that is, the affairs of the capital camp, are the purview of the eunuch in charge of the imperial horse supervisor.

[Note: But now because of the highly pragmatic military reform of the Beijing camp, the Beijing camp has been split into the Imperial Guard Army and the Production and Construction Corps, so the powers of the Imperial Horse Supervisor and the Printing Eunuch have actually been seriously weakened, leaving almost only one basic supervision function.Of course, the powers of internal officials can be large or small, in the final analysis it depends on how much power the emperor delegates. ]
Since he was an old acquaintance and a member of his own family, Gao Yushi didn't beat around the bush too much, and directly asked about the inside story of the matter.Liu Ping was naturally outspoken, and soon told Gao Yushi all the discussions in the court, including the discussions between the emperor and several trusted ministers in the palace.

It turned out that although the emperor's words in the court were all from his heart, he didn't finish his words, and he still had some thoughts that he didn't express in public, but this time Liu Ping brought the words to Gao Wushi.

Let's get straight to the point, simply put, the emperor has also started to envy the sea trade business.The fleet he wants to build is actually not the "fleet of the imperial court", but the "fleet of the emperor".

This matter can be understood in this way: just as the money of the imperial court is actually divided into two parts: the household department and the internal funds, the imperial court's money is in the household department, and the emperor's money is in the internal funds.

Most people in later generations probably thought that the emperor’s internal money was simply allocated a certain percentage from the Ministry of Household Affairs, just like the royal family’s income in many European countries. In fact, it is completely wrong, and it is completely different here.

To clarify this issue, it is necessary to first understand what parts Daming’s fiscal revenue consists of. Because the composition of Daming’s fiscal revenue is very complicated, it needs to be understood separately.

First of all, we must know what the taxation process of Daming is like.There are treasuries all over Daming to hoard the collected taxes, such as grain, goods or silver.After the taxes are collected in various places, it needs to be transported to the large warehouses in the two capitals. At this time, it is necessary to distinguish which warehouses belong to the state's public property and which ones are the emperor's private warehouses.

The warehouses under the jurisdiction of the household department are mainly the national treasury, which is dominated by Taiwei warehouse, Zuoshunmen, the east of Baoshanmen, and the various warehouses of Nancheng Ciqi. These are the categories under the jurisdiction of the household department.

The Twelve Supervisors of the Inner Mansion, the Sacrificial Hall, the Shenyue Hall, Taichang Temple, Guanglu Temple, Guozijian, Changying Warehouse in Taipu Temple, and Jieshen Warehouse in the Ministry of Industry each have their own warehouses. The departmental funds of these departments were originally under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Households.

However, Gao Pragmatism is very vigorous. After his original reform of the large household department, except for the twelve supervisors of the inner government, all the independent financial rights of the above-mentioned yamen were all taken back to the household department. Therefore, the only yamen with independent financial rights is now Go down to the twelve prisons of the inner government.

Gao Wushi, the financial authority of the Twelfth Supervisor of the Inner Palace, did not move, after all, even he was not allowed to reach out to matters in the palace - how to do so?Do you have to report to someone in Gao for approval in advance for the empress and imperial concubine to make a bellyband?It's too outrageous.

Therefore, the Ministry of Households belongs to the country's foreign treasury, which is commonly known as the treasury.

"Internal money" refers to the "ten treasuries of the inner government" set up by the Ming Dynasty. This belongs to the emperor's private property. Some people also say it is the "twelve treasuries". "It is counted as a problem with the warehouse of the inner government.In short, if you don't get entangled, you can collectively refer to these twelve warehouses as "internal warehouses".

"History of the Ming Dynasty" records: "The ten warehouses in the inner mansion: the inner carrier warehouse stores satin, gold and silver, precious jade, tooth horns, and feathers, while Jinhuayin is the largest, with an annual income of one million taels. It is strange. Guangji warehouse stores sulfur , Saltpeter. Bank A stores cloth and pigments. Bank B stores fat jackets, war shoes, and fur hats for soldiers. Bank C stores cotton and silk. Bank D stores copper and iron, animal skins, and sumac. Bank E stores Warehouse storage. Booty penalty treasury, confiscated official property. Guanghui treasury, money banknotes. Guangying treasury, silk, gauze, brocade, and silk.

The six libraries belong to the Ministry of Households, but the B library belongs to the Ministry of War, and the E library, Guangji, and Guangying library belong to the Ministry of Industry.There is also the Tiancai Treasury, also known as the Secretary's Key Treasury, which stores the keys of various government offices and also stores money.Supply warehouse, storage of japonica rice, cooked rice and offerings.The above are commonly referred to as Neiku. "

You can simply know the names of other warehouses, and only the internal shipping warehouse needs to know in detail.The inner carrier warehouse is specially responsible for storing gold and silver. It has the highest status among the twelve treasuries in the inner government. It refers to this "inner carrier warehouse".

But here is a sentence to pay attention to. In "History of the Ming Dynasty", what is said here is that "Liuku belongs to the Ministry of Households, Yizi belongs to the Ministry of War, Shuzi, Guangji, and Guangying belong to the Ministry of Industry". The library is really under the management of the Ministry of Households, the Ministry of War, and the Ministry of Industry.

The internal treasury can only be used and managed by the emperor himself. The Ministry of Households can send officials to inspect and register the income and expenditure of the internal treasury, but has no right to manage it.

The Ministry of Industry is only responsible for inspecting the things that enter the inner warehouse. According to historical records, "between Hongwu and Yongle, the old tribute sections of various prefectures and counties will be sent to the inner warehouse after the Ministry of Industry inspects China." Here, the Ministry of Households is only responsible for keeping accounts.

For example, Liu Zui once mentioned in his memorial: "Money and silver belong to the inner government, although the ministers are not allowed to shrink it." That is to say, even the "Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs" cannot fully understand the income and expenditure of the inner government. As for the actual accounts, the actual management staff is entirely composed of eunuchs.

According to historical records, there are "one eunuch with palm prints, more than ten eunuchs, close servants, clerks, and dozens of eunuchs who are in charge, writing, and supervisors" in the inner treasury.
"Holding the big inner treasury, all gold, silver and other treasures are always attached to it."

The main source of domestic funds is "golden flowers and silver".The so-called "jinhuayin" refers to the specific name of silver that appeared after the tax reform in the Ming Dynasty.

It is generally believed that this device was originally intended to solve the problem of loss of rice in the salary of civil and military officials who moved from Nanjing to Beijing, so some officials suggested that rice should be folded into silk cloth, silver, etc. in Jiangxi, Nanjing, Zhejiang and other places. , sent to the capital as a salary, this is the origin of "golden flowers and silver".

At that time, silver was not the legal currency of the Ming Dynasty, so the daily salary was discounted from rice.Later, it was changed to grain, and "golden flowers and silver" were used as salaries to distribute to military officials in Beijing, and all other surpluses were included in the internal storage, which became an important source of income for the emperor.

But there is a problem here, why should "Jiangxi, Nanjing, Zhejiang and other places fold rice into silk cloth, silver and other things"?With the "spirit" of the civil servants of the Ming Dynasty, your emperor took a sum of farm tax as gold flowers and silver for no reason. Is that what they can agree to?Of course not.

In fact, legally speaking, the money really belonged to the emperor personally, because the so-called "rice in West, Nanjing, Zhejiang and other places" here did not come from ordinary common people's fields, but Huangzhuang Huangtian.

Now you know why the emperors of the Ming Dynasty built more and more Huangzhuang around the capital after moving their capital to Beijing, right?That's right, it's because Huangzhuang's "zhemi" can be turned into golden flowers and silver, which can be used as the emperor's private property.

However, there is another problem here. Gao Wushi persuaded Zhu Yijun to let him gradually release the capital and even the entire Huangzhuang and Huangtian in the northern Zhili area to the people through the method of redemption by installments.As a result, the emperor's internal money income has been reduced, and the current internal money, gold, flowers and silver are almost entirely dependent on the old Huangtian in Nanzhili and its vicinity-these fields have not changed.

There are two main reasons why there is no change: First, the Nanzhili area is not the home of the Real School, and Gao Yushi has no interest in insisting on it for the time being, lest Huangzhuang not return to the common people after it is released, but will be all taken by Nanjing Xungui and the Jiangsu and Zhejiang chaebols. to occupy;
Second, most of the Huangzhuang here was built by Zhu Yuanzhang at that time, and it is the real "ancestral property" of the emperor. Gao Wushi does not want to "violate the ancestral system" at various levels for a while.

Of course, Zhu Yijun did not rely entirely on this "ancestral property" to live, and his high pragmatism also generated income for the emperor at the commercial level.For example, the Liaonan Salt Farm, since Gao Wushi restructured the salt farm in Jin Fuhai Gai Bingbei, the emperor took the land of the salt farm as a stake.

This dividend was not much at the beginning, but it has snowballed over the years and has grown larger and larger. Five years ago, the emperor was able to distribute a dividend of more than 80 taels of silver from the Liaonan Salt Field, and it is expected to break one million taels this year. . ,

Doesn't it look scary?No, in fact, this amount is quite normal, because it is necessary to know that the Zhang family in Puzhou, who masters the output of the [-] Changchang Lu Salt Field, has an annual income of more than [-] million taels.

Of course, there is the issue of "monopolized area" here, that is to say, before the restructuring of the Liaonan Salt Field, all major regions of the country had "exclusively operated areas", each with its own exclusive area.

The main reason why the Liaonan Salt Farm was not boycotted by the ruling and opposition parties was that they agreed not to sell in other exclusive areas. Therefore, the Liaonan Salt Farm has always made money by opening up new trade areas—except for the long-standing Liaodong, now all The Jurchen ministries, Eastern Mongolia, North Korea and Japan are all sales places of the Liaonan Salt Field.

In fact, North Korea and Japan have been able to cook sea salt for a long time, but how can this technical level compare with Jinghua's brine drying salt with low cost and high output?Of course, it was soon beaten to the ground, and the main market share was occupied by the Liaonan Saltworks.

By the way, both North Korea and Japan raised the tariffs on "Mingyan Salt" after this, and this is one of the reasons why Gao Yushi insisted on surrendering to them, and it is also the reason why Gao Yushi controlled the Korean court while Zhu Yijun seemed to have never heard of it one.

You North Korea dare to infringe on my internal money?If you don't give me some color, I'm afraid you don't know how big my dyeing workshop is!

Of course, in addition to the Liaonan Salt Farm, Gao Wushi also offered some dividends to the emperor in other "cooperative projects". Compared with the original Northern Zhili Huangzhuang, this business must be a good deal for the emperor.

However, Zhu Yijun will still be short of money, because Gao Wushi fulfilled one of his previous promises after the victory against the Yuan a few years ago, and Jinghua Infrastructure under his name funded the reconstruction of the three halls for the emperor.

However, Gao Yushi is only responsible for house repairs, and he doesn't care about the decoration. As we all know, if the land price is not counted, the construction cost alone is actually not high, and the truly "high-end" decoration is a bottomless pit.

Now that the three main halls have been repaired, of course the decoration must be done, and as the emperor of Zhongxing Daming, his Wanli Emperor has to decorate the three main halls even if he wants to commemorate the success of cutting Yuan.Besides, since the three major halls have been renovated, then the harem—including the Ciqing Palace and the Compassionate Ning Palace—doesn't it also have to be renovated?
What to do if you have no money?So it is necessary to make money—the fastest way to make money seems to be maritime trade... The emperor himself built the fleet that sailed to the west, so it is not too much for the Tian family to build a fleet of their own now, right?
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(End of this chapter)