Cutting 1719

Chapter 384
On the seventh day of March, the imperial financial meeting, which was expected by many people, was finally held in Fengtian Temple. Although the participants in this meeting seemed to be crowded, only senior officials from the Executive Yuan, the Privy Council, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate could participate. , other officials below the ministerial level are not qualified to participate in this important meeting at all.

As the bell rang out, all the clansmen, ministers, dignitaries, and academicians present clasped their fists and bowed at the same time, praising the emperor's long live, which was the prelude to the meeting.

Ning Yu sat on the dragon chair, looked at the officials standing below, and was keenly aware of the strange atmosphere among the crowd. He couldn't help but smile slightly at that moment. It seemed that these ministers had finally made some progress and finally started Understand the real way of party struggle.

Speaking of which, in Ningchu today, there are already faint seeds of party disputes. Inside the cabinet, there is mainly a dispute between the chief assistant and the second assistant, and outside the cabinet, there is a dispute between the cabinet and the Privy Council. Although everyone still has scruples The existence of the emperor, but there are not too few black feet in private - this is really a very normal thing, after all, in any dynasty, party struggle is an indispensable thing, if there is really no, on the contrary The emperor couldn't sleep.

Whether it's a fight with real guns and real knives, or a fake show, at least the court can't show harmony. The old foxes have long been familiar with this, so even Ning Yu had some headaches before.

In Ning Yu's view, party struggles are unavoidable, and benign struggles are more conducive to a pure bureaucracy. A harmonious atmosphere will only breed a calm pool of stagnant water, but how to fight requires careful rules, otherwise the real victims The loss is the whole country.

Fight without breaking, harmony without difference.This is what Ning Yu really wants to achieve, and it is also the ultimate direction of future political development.

"let's start."

Ning Zhongjing, the chief assistant of the cabinet, was the first to stand up. In recent days, he has somewhat reflected on his failure to keep up with the emperor's rhythm. It's a good start, after all, the emperor has revealed some ideas, that is, the future cabinet will implement the tenure system.

In the cabinet under the tenure system, the first assistant and the second assistant are no longer just because of the emperor's likes and dislikes, but will be restricted by the system. When ten years have to be replaced.

In addition, there is an age limit for cabinet ministers and ministers of the Privy Council. If they are over [-], they will be forced to retire.

The purpose of Ning Yu's establishment of these systems is not only to avoid the emergence of powerful officials at the root, but also to ensure the normal flow of officials and the rejuvenation of officials.

We must know that in the coming era, the entire country will undergo unprecedented major changes. If officials with conservative thinking occupy high positions for a long time, it will definitely not be a blessing for the country.

Through these systems, Ning Yu can completely change the entire government in a smooth manner without worrying about the situation where the tail is too big to lose. Of course, the premise of reforming these systems is that Ning Yu has firmly held the military power in his hands, and no one can do it. There may be the slightest wavering.

Because of this, Ning Zhongjing was more or less worried, hoping to keep up with the emperor's pace, at least not to sing against the emperor again - he glanced around at the other ministers, and he had already prepared a draft in his heart before speaking slowly.

"Comrades, today's imperial meeting is to discuss the issue of annual expenditures. The chief officials of the various ministries have drafted their budget proposals for this year and submitted them to the cabinet for centralized discussion. The cabinet will present them at the imperial meeting today."

Hearing Ning Zhongjing finish speaking, Ning Zhongyi also spoke as the Privy Council envoy: "The Privy Council has also collected budget proposals from various military ministries, and will propose this year's military expenditure before the imperial meeting."

After these two bigwigs spoke successively, Li Fu, the censor of Zuodu of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and Zhengqing of Dali Temple, and others also said similar things, which was the prelude to the imperial meeting.

"The plans submitted by the government offices of various ministries will be discussed today and tomorrow, but I took a rough look and found that the budgets submitted by the various ministries of the cabinet, including expenditures for industry and commerce, education, transportation, administration, etc., are about 200 million taels of silver. , and the conditions and conditions are all important things, it really can’t be saved.”

Ning Yu hadn't finished speaking, but his eyes had scanned the ministers, and he saw that the expressions of the ministers in the cabinet were slightly relaxed, while the expressions of the senior military leaders represented by Ning Zhongyi were faintly gloomy.

"Of course, I have also seen the military's expenditures. This year's military expansion plan is already on the line, and the overall refit of the army is also extremely important, not to mention the newly established navy, which also requires a large sum of expenses. Eighteen million taels."

"However, how big is our family, but I don't know if you know it? Dong Lin, Shangshu of the Ministry of Finance, tell me."

Following Ning Yu's words, everyone's eyes were cast on Dong Lin, Shangshu of the Ministry of Finance, who is now Ning Chu's big boss in charge of the money bag, and also a cabinet minister who has entered the cabinet. He can be called a high-ranking official Weights.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, this year's land tax is expected to be about 2000 million taels after the land is checked and allocated to Dingyin, and the customs duty, mining tax, commercial tax and other tea taxes, salt taxes, etc. are expected to be around 300 taels. 300 million taels, which is much higher than the forecast of years ago, mainly because of the sea trade, the tariffs have been charged a little more, but even so, the total revenue this year is only [-] million taels."

When they heard 300 million taels, everyone couldn't help but feel a sigh of relief. This is not a small number. After all, the annual income of the Qing court in its heyday was only 3000 million taels. Now that Jiangnan and the whole south have been lost one after another, I am afraid that the annual income of 1000 million taels will not be able to keep, it can be said that the situation is declining.

The newly established Ningchu surpassed the Qing court in its heyday with half of the revenue in the second year, which means that once Ningchu regains the whole country in the future, its revenue will be at least 500 million taels to 5000 million. More than two, this is just the beginning.

After having such a figure, the ministers have completely ignored the Qing court. These years, it is said that it is a war, but in fact it is still a matter of money and economy in the final analysis. Who is richer and who is more efficient? It is an undeniable truth that who is the real boss by using one's own chassis to collect taxes.

However, when everyone recovered from the excitement, they quickly did an arithmetic problem. The 200 million taels of the cabinet plus the 800 million taels of the military, plus the money from the Metropolitan Procuratorate and other scattered departments The expenditure of 300 million taels is at least 300 million taels, which is a full 1000 million taels more than the annual revenue, and this does not mention the 33 taels that the royal treasury needs to get.

The gap of 33 million taels is not a small number
Cui Wancai, the cabinet's second assistant, then stood up and said softly: "Your Majesty, the reason for the gap of more than 1000 million taels is entirely because the cabinet and the military have lost priorities in formulating plans. Among them, the cabinet has invested heavily in transportation. The road that was originally planned to be built in ten years has been shortened to five years, and the cost of this has more than doubled. The military has also added a new navy department, and the first naval budget required is more than Up to 400 million taels"

Cui Wancai sighed softly, saluted with a long bow, and said firmly: "I think that the above plan may be delayed."

When he uttered these words, almost all the ministers looked at this assistant. Some people might applaud Cui Wancai's courage, but more people thought that the second assistant might have made a big mistake.

Because everyone would be clear in their minds that the masterminds behind these plans were not Chief Assistant Ning Zhongjing and Privy Envoy Ning Zhongyi, but the emperor's own ideas. Wouldn't it be tantamount to letting the emperor slap himself in the face?

However, Ning Yu was not angry at all, but said softly: "Judging from the current revenue, our actions are indeed a little bigger now, and our steps are faster, but if we look at the current development trend of Dachu Looking at it, these are actually urgent tasks to be done now. If we stop now and restart these projects in the future, I am afraid it will take longer."

"Your Majesty, our top priority now is the Northern Expedition to unify the Northern Expedition. I'm afraid it's not too late to do these things after the unification." Cui Wancai sighed softly, and his worries also represent the concerns of a large part of the court today. Thinking about it, spending ahead of time is really a bit daring.

Ning Yu shook his head lightly, "I don't just look at the Great Chu, or even the Qing court, but other things. Judging from the current situation, if the expenses of various cabinet ministries or military expenses are cut, it will be a big problem in itself. It will have a serious impact on the current plan. I have made up my mind, so there is no need to say more."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The ministers bowed their hands and saluted. It was okay to keep planning, but the problem was placed in front of everyone. After all, how should the 1000 million taels of silver be resolved?

Ning Yu waved his sleeves, without the slightest expression on his face, "Ning Zhongjing, Chief Assistant of the Cabinet, Dong Lin, Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, and Ernst, a university scholar, formed a Financial Restructuring Committee to take the lead in formulating the financial restructuring of our Dachu. The shortfall of 1000 million taels will be realized through treasury bonds after the financial restructuring is completed."

Hearing Ning Yu's words, the ministers realized something in their hearts. It seems that the national debt issue mentioned a while ago was really not just talk. At least in the emperor's opinion, national debt is a better way to deal with it.

It's just that the Sacred Heart has already made a decision, and even if other people want to express their opposition, it is impossible.This imperial meeting was announced in a more wonderful way to come to an end.

In the imperial study room, Ning Yu sipped some tea while looking at the proposals submitted by the cabinet and the Privy Council, but his brows were slightly frowned. After all, this matter was not as calm as he appeared on the surface.

Wearing a red official uniform, Ernst followed Ning Zhongjing and Dong Lin obediently, and saluted Ning Yu. He set his position very well. Although he is an earl now, he is still a foreigner. Even people dare not show off in front of the ministers.

In the final analysis, the real reason for talking about going to the countryside and changing customs is always the bondage of interests.

Seeing everyone coming, Ning Yu didn't ask Ning Zhongjing and Dong Lin first, but looked directly at Ernst, and said in a low voice: "Ernst, I appointed you as a member of the Financial Reform Committee, do you know What is my intention?"

"Your Majesty the Great Emperor, I certainly understand your supreme order. In fact, this is something I have thought about a long time ago, because in today's empire, the currency is too chaotic, and it is very difficult to use!"

Ernst said solemnly, he understood that what the emperor needed was not flattery, but to face the real problem and find a solution to it.

Hearing what Ernst said, Ning Zhongjing and Dong Lin were a little surprised. They didn't have much interest in this Westerner, but they also understood the emperor's thoughts, that is, the leader of this restructuring, not the so-called The chief assistant of the cabinet and the minister of the Ministry of Finance were this unattractive Westerner, so they didn't speak, but just listened quietly to each other's thoughts.

On the contrary, Ning Yu is more able to understand Ernst's meaning. This has a lot to do with the chaotic currency system since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, so that in this era, it is still chaotic and cannot be changed.

Speaking of this point, we must start with the currency system in Chinese history. In fact, before the Ming Dynasty, copper coins were the mainstream currency in Chinese society. They are not currencies of mainstream circulation, and China itself is an extremely copper-deficient place, so even copper coins cannot be fully guaranteed. Like the Song Dynasty, there were a large number of iron coins, and even the appearance of Jiaozi was also to alleviate The problem of money shortage.

After the Ming Dynasty, due to the further shortage of copper materials, there was even a situation of bartering in the early Ming Dynasty, and the currency became more diversified, from copper coins, banknotes, gold and silver to grain, cloth and silk. However, due to various reasons, these systems have been severely damaged, and the currency system has become a mess. For example, the Daming Banknote has evolved from a good government to an evil one.

After Longqing, due to the abolition of the "Sea Ban", the development of overseas trade became very prosperous, and a large number of European and American businessmen came to China one after another. They exchanged a large amount of silk and porcelain with boatloads of silver. , tea, and under the year-on-year surplus trade, a large amount of silver has continuously flowed into China.

Under such circumstances, Daming changed from a silver-deficient country to a country with a large amount of silver in an instant. This also made the southeast coastal areas take the lead in using silver as a currency in circulation, and after Zhang Juzheng's reform, a whip The comprehensive promotion of the law made silver a real currency in circulation, completely replacing the status of copper coins and banknotes.

Then, here comes the problem, as silver in the original sense, it is extremely troublesome in actual transactions, and many strange systems have even been born.

　I would like to recommend a novel by a great god, "Back to the Ming Dynasty to Be a Faint King" by Zhou Zhou. Personally, I feel that the idea is relatively novel, and it looks quite interesting. You can read it.

　　


(End of this chapter)