Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 524 Tyrant
"Shaotian's winter expenditure budget was actually prepared at the beginning of the year, and it was included in the annual budget. Now it is only slightly adjusted according to the actual situation." Ruan Dacheng spoke very well. The financial budget at the beginning of this year was from the Prime Minister. It was decided by the office, and there are many participants in the people present in the hall.

Over there, Zhu Yihai sat on the dragon chair and looked at the booklet in front of him. It was the financial budget for the second year of Shaotian that he made earlier. Now, by comparison, there is already a large deficit, specifically the budget at the beginning of the year. , the expenditure is still somewhat conservative.

Of course, in fact, the original income was a bit conservative.

At the beginning, I didn't expect the situation of the counterattack to be so good this year, with troops being used everywhere, and the imperial camp expanding rapidly.

Zhu Yihai took a few glances, closed the report, and picked up another copy, the budget adjustment plan for the fourth quarter drafted by Ruan Dacheng, as well as the draft budget for next year.

Generally speaking, the current financial situation is actually quite good. It is a bit surprising to say that, after all, all the provinces in the Chongzhen Dynasty, and even Liaoxi were still in their hands, but they cried about being poor every day, especially in the last few years. , I was in a hurry all day long about the word money, and even made mistakes.

How come Zhu Yihai is not short of money?Still doing well?

In the final analysis, it is to set up a separate stove and redistribute resources.

Based on the soldiers in his hand and the time-honored brand name of Daming, Zhu Yihai, the emperor, stood up in the chaos of Hongguang's collapse, and represented the old gentry, landlord and bureaucratic class very well.

And what he took was not the wrong path of southern emperors such as Hongguang, Longwu, Yongli, etc., and he was not supported by scholar-officials and military leaders. Start the stove.

His left hand is the Imperial Army, which is his meritorious guard of the new dynasty, and the other hand is the recruited gentry, bureaucrats and landlords. The balance between the two has completely changed the situation in which the court has been completely emptied by scholar-officials since the late Ming Dynasty. Especially under the huge external threat, the basic soil environment for internal integration and even cooperation has been established.

So Wanli sent eunuchs to various places to collect some mining taxes, which caused a lot of uproar, and they were besieged by crowds, and Longqing opened the sea, which was a toss for many years.

After Wanli, the local government owed payment every year, and the imperial government’s finances were in deficit every year. Chongzhen wanted to levy more money per mu, but the result was that the farmers who had no land were completely reversed.

In the final analysis, it is these great sons of heaven, in fact, it is difficult for the imperial decree to leave the city of Beijing.

No matter how good your idea is, if it runs counter to the interests of the entire ruling class, this good scripture will be misrepresented.

Power is a complicated thing.

The imperial power depends on the implementation of the bureaucracy, and most of the bureaucrats come from the gentry and landlord class. When the emperor's policies hurt the interests of these literati and landlord classes, things will not be done.

Zhu Yihai was able to succeed because, to put it bluntly, he rebuilt the other pole of power, that is, the emperor's imperial camp pro-army.

This is composed of young and passionate scholars, loyal farmers and artisans, and even starving refugees. Under the leadership of the emperor, they used their lives, blood, knives and guns to fight their way out, and the emperor did not treat them like before. The emperor trampled on the border guards like that.

This is a rapidly rising Wu Xun group.

In the final analysis, it is actually similar to the Eight Banners of the Tartars.

It is precisely after the emergence of such a new force that is completely loyal to itself in politics that the old gentry and landlord bureaucracy can be suppressed and the right to speak can be regained.

And since the imperial camp was pulled up by the emperor, there is no need to worry about Huguang Zuo Liangyu, the four Jiangbei towns in Hongguang, the Zheng family in Fujian when Longwu and Shaowu were brothers, or the Xiying and Dongxun parties in Yongli. Aerial hostages happen.

Of course, in addition to these external conditions, the important thing is that Zhu Yihai is not a player in this era.

He is a time traveler. His biggest advantage is not his previous identity, but his understanding of this period of history is better than that of everyone in this era. This is the result of hundreds of years of research by later generations. Every corner has been covered The research is thorough.

Chongzhen, a young emperor who grew up in the palace, no matter how elite the education he received, he could not escape the constraints of the times. Not to mention Hongguang, Longwu, Yongli, etc., even Zheng Zhilong, Zheng Chenggong, Sun Kewang, Li Dingguo, etc. Same.

Others are groping forward in the fog, and no one knows where the road ahead is.

The road ahead has twists and turns, and it is possible to take a detour, or even fall into a cliff, but Zhu Yihai just needs to walk along the long-cleared road.

At this moment, most of the ministers in the hall participating in the court discussions were Zhu Yihai's confidantes, no matter whether they were eunuchs, Donglin, Fushe, treacherous party, southeast pirate Zheng, or others, now they are all being trusted by Zhu Yihai. Included under the banner.

Ruan Dacheng does things neatly.

I directly reported the specific figures to everyone, because the situation this year was very good, and many places were quickly recovered, and the area south of the Yangtze River was basically stabilized. In addition, the Jiangbei area also regained many places.

Jiangxi, Zhejiang, and Jiangnan are all places where money and food are important. Jiangnan was in great chaos last year, but the foundation was good. Once it was stabilized, it quickly recovered. This year, there was no major disaster in Jiangnan, so after the summer harvest, it was very stable, and the autumn harvest is expected to be bumper. , Food prices in various places have continued to drop sharply.

Although wars are still going on in various places, like Sichuan and Guizhou, although the whole army is fighting, but the control power is constantly strengthening. The new tax law has been implemented, and many obvious benefits have been obtained.

"According to the statistics reported in various local newspapers, this year, in the second year of Shaotian, the annual revenue will reach 3000 million taels of silver, and there will be 470 million shi of rice, wheat and beans, and 490 million bundles of grass. , 50 taels of tea (8806 catties a grate), in addition to salt tax revenue of 1305 million taels, customs revenue of 350 million taels, tax revenue of 68 million taels, and miscellaneous tax revenue of [-] taels..."

This number is astonishing. The Prime Minister’s Office, the Cabinet, and the Six Ministries have long known these numbers. However, it is the first time for the censors and officials of the imperial government offices such as the Admonition Yuan and the Procuratorate to come into contact with such numbers. The specific numbers are shocking.

Some people even directly suspect that there is something wrong with these figures.

Some people directly think that this fully proves that the imperial court is extorting money and extorting money from the people.

We must know that the best year of the Chongzhen Dynasty was actually the year when Chongzhen just succeeded to the throne. At that time, the number of officials and civilians in the Ming Dynasty was calculated to be more than 4000 million mu.

The household registration is more than 9803 million households, and the population is more than 100 million. This number is surprisingly similar to that of Emperor Yangdi when he succeeded to the throne.

Then 430 million shimai, 140 million shiliang were collected that year, and another million taels of gold flowers and silver, plus a few 10 taels of other miscellaneous things such as salt and tea banknotes.

This is the best year, and then it gets worse and worse, with all kinds of arrears and deficits, especially the rebellion of chieftains, rebellions of refugees, invasion of Houjin outside, and even Mongols making troubles.

So later they could only increase the payment, not only continued to collect the previous Liao payment, but even later practiced and suppressed the payment, etc. Even if the three payments were all added together, in fact, not much was collected, and the debt was still serious.

But even with the millions of dollars collected in a year, the people all over the country rebelled one after another.

Now the imperial court occupies half of the country, and the imperial court still insists on never increasing taxes, and even reducing or exempting taxes in many places. How come they can collect 3000 million taels of silver this year, and nearly 500 million taels of other kinds of silver, and nearly 500 million shi of grain ?

This is too much!

I always feel that something is wrong.

Many censors have a good mouth and a good pen, but when it comes to specific financial and tax figures, they are actually not good at it.

Of course, Ruan Dacheng's report is quite concise, but the data is also clear.

For example, if you compare the wealth of the Chongzhen Dynasty with the Shaotian Dynasty, you will find that in addition to the land tax and Ding Yin, the rest of the Chongzhen Dynasty is the gold flower and silver that was converted from the land tax in the south of the Yangtze River, and then there are some miscellaneous items.

There was basically no industrial and commercial tax in the Chongzhen Dynasty, and what could be counted as commercial tax was only a little bit of money from the shop in the miscellaneous items, and then there was not much tax on banknotes.

As for the salt tax, tea tax, and customs duties that should have accounted for the bulk, there are very few.
Even the industrial and commercial city tax and deed tax did not exist. In fact, there were in the early Ming Dynasty, and the tax rate was very low, but it basically disappeared in Chongzhen.

Even if Wei Zhongxian collected taxes in the Tianqi Dynasty, what he collected was not industrial and commercial taxes, but miscellaneous items, and the amount was very small.

When the three rates are levied, it is completely only levied on the basis of the acre of land, and no other merchants' shops are levied.

Even such a big head of mining tax is basically non-existent.

In the Shaotian Dynasty's wealth, the first 3000 million taels were basically land taxes, land titles, and land deeds, as well as the income from the imperial court's sale of military farmland, official land, and official land rent.Because of the establishment of the allocation of land to the mu, and the government and gentry pay the grain, although it only accounts for half of the country now, the land has been cleared again, and the land tax can basically be collected as it is, so it is very impressive. Even if some land taxes are temporarily reduced or exempted, they still receive a lot. .

Especially in recent years, the price of food has been high, and of course the money received after converting it into silver has also increased a lot.

The industrial and commercial tax, mining tax, salt and tea tax, tariffs, and even none of the lijin, which accounted for a small proportion in the Chongzhen Dynasty, generated 500 million taels of income for the Shaotian Dynasty.

This is an astonishing number.

This has not counted another income, that is, the Huangzhuang operated by the royal family, the income from the royal shops, farms, caravans, trade, etc., as well as the income from the official workshops.

Because these proceeds are not going to the treasury of the Ministry of Household Affairs, they go to two other treasuries, so Ruan Dacheng didn't say that, in fact, there is a lot of money here.

In addition, since the rise of the army, the confiscated properties of those who surrendered to the traitors, the original government fields and official stores and other industries that have been taken over, have all entered the emperor's internal treasury.

This is actually a large sum of money. Of course, the emperor will also withdraw money from his Huangzhuang and inner treasury to reward the officials and the people, relieve the common people, and even contribute to the army.

Anyway, the emperor's small coffers are quite rich.

In the Chongzhen Dynasty, the further back, the more difficult it is to collect taxes. It is said that the actual collection rate is only more than 480%, so the situation is getting worse and worse, and life is getting more and more difficult. Even in the best first year of Chongzhen, Liao pay is actually only collected It reached 200 million taels, but only over [-] million taels were collected the following year.

Therefore, in the Chongzhen Dynasty, in fact, most of the time, the real tax and tax silver collected in a year was only about [-] million stone grains, plus a few million taels of silver.

But now, the Shaotian Dynasty actually earns 500 million taels of silver a year, plus 500 million shi of various grains.

Even though the Shaotian Dynasty expropriated most of the grain and converted it into silver, and only kept a few million stones of grain, the figures are still very scary.

How many years are there between the two dynasties?
Why is the difference so big?
How to use half of the previous land, but collect twice the previous tax?

Ruan Dacheng explained briefly. First of all, of course, the fields were re-cleared, and the taxed mu was unified. Landlords and gentry are now the main force in paying taxes, and there are fewer cases of arrears, and the preferential exemption from tax evasion is also blocked.

In addition, many new tax sources have been added. The biggest source of taxation is the military camps of the past guards. If there is a shortage of grain, the large amount of land that has been released can be used to sell and rent out, and then to collect taxes and rents to expand income. There is a gap of several times inside and outside.

Another thing I didn't say directly is that during this turmoil, many traitors who surrendered, corrupt officials, and black-hearted profiteers were taken down, and many extinct households and unowned land were even taken back.

Doctor Zuo Jianyi waited for Ruan Dacheng to finish the report, and took the lead to ask, "Since the income is so good this year, there should be no problem with the expenditure. Why did Shangshu Ruan say that the expenditure was insufficient?"

"Don't worry, Dean Hong. Next, I will talk about the specific situation of expenditure. Among all expenditures, the largest item is military expenditure, which includes military pay, ordnance, military rations, as well as military expenditures for wars, building cities and forts." , construction of military depots, and several major items such as rewards and pensions!"

"At present, our Daming army is mainly divided into two parts: the imperial camp and the local provincial town camps. The imperial camp is further divided into the imperial camp troops in the northern government and the Beijing camp troops in the southern government.

According to the latest establishment, the imperial camp now has a total of 21 towns of the three internal armies, and four battalions of Huguang, Fujian, Shaanxi-Gansu, and Yunnan-Guizhou. According to the plan, the 21 towns and the four outer battalions will all have [-] soldiers For those with full quota, each town has [-] soldiers and [-] auxiliary soldiers.

Nanya Jingying will also complete the full quota of [-] soldiers in each of the three towns.

In addition, the imperial court plans to build three more battalions in Jiangxi, Guangxi, and Yunnan starting this autumn, each with [-] troops. "

"The provinces have to complete the reorganization of two towns in each province, each with [-]."

There are many censors and speech officials who have silently calculated how many soldiers there are in the imperial court.

First of all, the three armies of the Beijing camp are [-] soldiers and [-] auxiliary soldiers, which add up to [-].

According to the current standards for raising the army, an average soldier needs to be paid at least 50 taels of silver a year, not counting other things, just the military salary, and the three armies of the Beijing camp cost 150 million taels a year.

As for the three armies of the imperial battalion headquarters, there are currently 21 towns, with only 16 soldiers and 22 auxiliary soldiers. This adds up to 100, and the military salary is [-] million taels a year.

There are four more camps, and the military pay is another 220 million.

The 28 towns of the imperial camp and the Beijing camp are 500 million taels of silver, which is only military pay, not including pensions, rewards, ordnance, food, and other expenses.Under normal circumstances, during such a long-term war period, military pay would account for at most one-third, so if it was tripled, it would be 500 million taels of silver.

It doesn't matter if you count this.

Forty-five million taels of silver, the emperor will set up three more camps and add more than 500 soldiers.

And this is not counting the local provinces and towns, Liaodong, Shandong, Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Huguang, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, and Gansu. Now the imperial court actually controls about ten four provinces.

In this way, there will be two towns in one province, and there will be 28 towns and 28 soldiers.

Liu Zongzhou, the censor of Zuodu, couldn't help but stand up.

"Your Majesty, with such an expansion of the army and increased payment, even if the imperial court doubles the taxation, it may not be able to sustain it. I request the reduction of the army and the reduction of the payment!"

(End of this chapter)