I'm really not doing business

Chapter 586: When the total amount is the first priority, His Majesty starts talking about per capita!
From Hai Rui in the outer court, to Li Fang in the inner court, and then to Empress Chen, they all advised Emperor Longqing not to be too extravagant. Because the dynasty was suffering from a huge financial loss, Emperor Longqing sent Hai Rui out of the court, drove away Li Fang, and alienated Empress Chen.

When you are short of money, spend frugally. If you had been more frugal, the budget for Emperor Longqing's imperial mausoleum would not have been only 500,000 taels of silver.

It was difficult for the Ming Dynasty officials of the time to understand why the court owed the imperial mausoleum money of 110,000 taels of silver when the imperial mausoleum was built in the sixth year of Longqing and the first year of Wanli, and why the 110,000 taels of silver were not paid off until December of the first year of Wanli.

Not to mention the emperor's investment of 3712 million silver dollars in opening up the sea, not to mention the terrifying figure of 1100 million silver dollars in annual military expenditure, not to mention the debt of 2000 million silver dollars in Suiyuan Chidao and mining industries to borrow money to build roads and mines.

The emperor spent 120 million silver coins just to build a bell and drum tower for the main government office, which needed to be wound up and the time corrected every three days.

Therefore, some court officials believed that the fact that only 500,000 silver coins were spent on the mausoleum of the late emperor was Zhang Juzheng's revenge for the late emperor's disobedience. If you were not frugal when asked to do so, the matter would be settled together after the emperor passed away. The completion of the bell and drum tower of the main government was Zhang Juzheng's reward for His Majesty's support for the new policy.

When Zhao Mengyou heard about this rumor, Zhu Yijun was surprised by the public opinion. He looked at Zhao Mengyou blankly and said, "Isn't it true that in their hearts, Mr. Zhang is so powerful?"

"Well, I didn't know Mr. Zhang was so capable! Sometimes I thought Mr. Zhang was timid, hesitant, and wavering."

During the Longqing period, Zhang Juzheng was ranked behind Xu Jie, Li Chunfang and Gao Gong. It was not until June of the sixth year of the Longqing period that Zhang Juzheng and Gao Gong decided the winner.

Gao Gong said in the cabinet: How can a ten-year-old prince rule the world? He also said in his memorial on five matters: Those who directly approve it from within should be allowed to make clear reports to the ministers before it can be implemented.

Although the emperor was only ten years old, was it appropriate for the emperor to use the word "jingzi" when reviewing memorials? Just these two sentences completely angered Empress Dowager Li.

Therefore, Zhang Juzheng was not that powerful. If Gao Gong had not been arrogant, it would have been difficult for Zhang Juzheng to win, because before the late emperor died, he held Gao Gong's hand and entrusted the country to him.

"Your Majesty is the king and father, so naturally he doesn't think Mr. Zhang is that powerful." Ti Shuai Zhao Mengyou thought about it and explained the problem. The perspectives are different. Your Majesty is the emperor and he looks down from above, while the common people look up from below. They are in different positions, so naturally they look at things differently.

Zhao Mengyou shared some small rumors with the emperor. These rumors were not worthy of being published in public, but the emperor still had to know them.

It was not uncommon for evil books to stir up public opinion, and public opinion to interfere with the court's policies in the Ming Dynasty. For example, in the tenth year of Wanli, after Zhang Juzheng's death, a book titled "Last Words on the Sickbed" written by Gao Gong was circulated in the capital, which eventually led to a comprehensive reckoning of Zhang Juzheng.

The "Last Words on the Sickbed" was not written by Gao Gong, but the evil book stigmatized Zhang Juzheng and prepared public opinion for his liquidation.

For example, the two demon book cases during the Wanli period, "Youwei Hongyi" and "Xu Youwei Hongyi", were both caused by the turmoil over the appointment of the crown prince.

Zhu Yijun was even more skilled at this than the lowly Confucian scholars. "The Romantic Stories of Famous Confucian Scholars" was a bestseller among bestsellers in Beijing. It was released in two issues in total, and each issue caused a rush of buyers.

Zhao Mengyou stepped back and shouted loudly, "Marquis Ningyuan sent a New Year gift, which includes three auspicious animals, ten thousand-year-old ginsengs, one hundred catties of hundred-year-old ginsengs, six carts of furs, thirty thousand catties of dried goods such as hazel mushrooms, hericium erinaceus, and fungus, three thousand heads of various livestock, and eighteen live fish. Marquis Ningyuan sent a congratulatory message: May you have this day every year, may you have surplus every year, may the country be at peace, may the people be at peace, may the government be in order and may the people be harmonious."

The auspicious animals were a white deer, a white tiger, and a specially selected Saker Falcon, a bird. His Majesty the Emperor didn't really care about such things, as they were traditional gifts. As for the Saker Falcon, did Zhu Yijun even have to wait for it? The time spent reviewing memorials could have killed a hawk.

The most valuable item here at the moment is the 3,000 heads of livestock, and of course the emperor will give them back as rewards.

"The live fish were caught by Ningyuan Hou himself by chopping ice from Heilongjiang River." Zhao Mengyou explained the specific circumstances of the 18 live fish that sneaked in. These 18 fish were caught by Li Chengliang when he went to Heilongjiang River to chop ice and sent them to the capital to express his obedience.

The reason why Heilongjiang is called Heilongjiang is because of the Liao Dynasty and the Liao Taizu Lu Abaoji. The temple of Liao Taizu was called Heilong Temple and the gate of the Liao Taizu Mausoleum was called Heilongmen. Also, because there is a lot of humus in the Heilongjiang River, the water is black, hence the name Heilongjiang.

"Why do I feel like Li Chengliang is looking for me to bring goods?" Zhu Yijun flipped through the list of gifts and the more he thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong. There were too many things in it. Once the emperor received them, with words like "imperial furs," "emperor's choice," and "royal items," wouldn't these specialties from Liaodong be in demand?
Li Chengliang sent so many gifts, Zhu Yijun also had to give rewards in return. Naturally, with his character, he would not double the rewards, but Li Chengliang or the Liaodong region would definitely not suffer any loss.

Zhao Mengyou whispered, "It should be."

"I know that Marquis Ningyuan is good at fighting, but I have never heard that he is good at business. The one who gave advice to Marquis Ningyuan should be Marquis Yuzhao." Zhu Yijun let out a breath. In the past, when the imperial farm sold things, they first gave them to Zhang Juzheng and used Zhang Juzheng to bring the goods. Now, this method has backfired.

Liaodong came to ask the emperor to bring goods.

Liaodong is the area where the Ming Dynasty is establishing counties and prefectures. It is up to you, the emperor, to decide whether to bring goods with you. After all, it is your Zhu family's territory.

"Take it." Zhu Yijun waved his hand. Isn't it just bringing goods? Liaodong's main sales now are hard currency, very hard and of high quality.

"It should be Hou Yuzhao's idea, because there is another memorial submitted to the capital this time." Feng Bao placed Li Chengliang's petition in front of His Majesty.

Li Chengliang mainly explained the rumor that their dog had horns. It turned out that the dog did not have horns, but the hair on its head was more lush. The dog was also brought to Beijing in the livestock team.

Dog is one of the six traditional domestic animals, along with cattle, sheep, pigs, horses, chickens and dogs.

Li Chengliang made his case in a memorial. He was a rough man who had only read a few days of books and could not express so many profound principles. He felt that it was too far-fetched to link a dog growing horns with treason. He, Li Chengliang, did not agree with the impeachment.

He believed that if he wanted to impeach himself for treason, he should be impeached from the perspective of the three thousand servants, rather than the dog's horns. Therefore, Li Zhi, the inspector of Zhili, was making a false accusation.

"Marquis Ningyuan is not as good as Li Rusong in fighting with court officials. Li Rusong knew how to take a roundabout approach and find an excuse to increase taxes to dig up people's ancestral graves. But Li Chengliang was different. In his petition, he talked about the matter of three thousand servants. Isn't this just an excuse for the lowly Confucian scholars?" Zhu Yijun looked at Li Chengliang's petition with nothing in his eyes.

It would be better for Li Chengliang not to submit such a petition.

A petition cannot be reviewed by others, because if someone else reviews it then it will no longer be a petition. Therefore, Li Chengliang completed this petition independently, which instead gave the lowly Confucian scholars a reason to impeach him. A dog growing horns is not a rebellion, but three thousand servants are.

"I think that the three thousand guest soldiers are the topic that should not be touched, otherwise they would not have found such a bizarre thing to impeach Gou Shengjiao. Without these three thousand guest soldiers, the situation in Liaodong will deteriorate. No matter who goes to Liaodong, they have to rely on these three thousand guest soldiers to continue to advance inch by inch." Feng Bao analyzed the three thousand guest soldiers.

"That's true. If we could talk about it, we lowly scholars would have talked about it a long time ago." Zhu Yijun agreed with Feng Bao's statement, which was the same logic as the one thousand five hundred guest soldiers brought by Ling Yunyi.

Li Chengliang of Liaodong, Xu Wei of Nagasaki, Chen Lin of Ryukyu Songjiang, Yin Zhengmao of Luzon, and Zhang Yuanxun of Jiugang all sent gifts as military heroes. Because Zhu Yijun did not celebrate his birthday, the annual New Year's Day was the only opportunity to send gifts to the emperor, and Zhu Yijun also made corresponding rewards.

When it comes to gift-giving and reciprocity, you really can’t save on this money.

On the contrary, Suiyuan Governor Pan Jixun did not send any gifts, but only a congratulatory letter. It was not that Pan Jixun was not respectful, but that Pan Jixun did not lead troops. Suiyuan was a heartland like the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty, and was completely different from other places.

"Let's go to the City of Ten Kings." Zhu Yijun made corresponding rewards and wrote letters to the governors of various places, preparing for the final busy work before the New Year today.

In the busy schedule before the New Year, there is an additional trip to the City of Ten Kings to express family ties. This trip is particularly important because whether the relocation of the City of Ten Kings is smooth is directly related to the results of the Ming Dynasty's land survey and population census.

Fortunately, everything went relatively smoothly. Five more royal palaces were moved to Beijing this year. Together with the previous five royal palaces, it is now a city worthy of the name of Ten Kings. In Henan, Shandong, Shanxi and other places where the contradiction between population and land is acute, the most difficult obstacles to land surveying have completely disappeared.

The Ming Emperor's carriage first arrived at the City of Ten Kings, where Zhu Yijun met the princes from various places who had moved to the capital, especially the Prince of Dai, Zhu Naixuan.

"Prince Dai, you asked me in your memorial, is begging on the street also a law established by our ancestors?" Zhu Yijun looked at Zhu Naixuan in front of him with a complicated expression, and said helplessly: "The grace of a gentleman is cut off after five generations. The foundation that our ancestors worked hard to build and the grace and blessings left to future generations have been consumed after a few generations."

"It's difficult for the local princes and the imperial court. Everyone is doing it reluctantly. The royal family's starting point is much higher than most people in the Ming Dynasty. If you can be reduced to begging on the street, it can only be said that you are not ambitious."

A very realistic problem is that the issuance of clan certificates in the Ming Dynasty was tightened. Even if one had a clan certificate, one could not get a salary. There were only more than 20,000 people who received clan salaries. There were more than 60,000 clan certificates in the Ming Dynasty, and not everyone could move to Beijing. Those below the rank of prince could only find ways to make a living on their own.

It was for this reason that, in order to be the first to move into the City of Ten Kings, Prince Dai Zhu Naixuan had the audacity to ask the emperor.

If you come too late, you won’t even get any leftovers!

Zhu Naixuan bowed his head and said, "I am already doing well enough to take care of myself, I cannot care about others."

The memorial submitted by the Prince of Dai was to ask for benefits for himself, so that he could go to the capital to raise birds, walk dogs, and fight crickets, not for others. How could he, a prince who grew up under the policy of feudal prohibition, care about so many things? In the capital, he could eat well, dress well, and live well. When he was in the Prince of Dai's mansion, even scammers would not come to his door, because there was really no money to be made.

Zhu Yijun stayed in the Ten Kings City for nearly half an hour. He met with many princes and maintained relations with them. He mainly reminded the princes to be careful not to be cheated and not to receive the clan salary but have it taken away by scammers.

The carriage of the Ming Emperor left the Ten Princes' Palace and headed for the Royal Institute of Technology. The construction of the second phase was nearing completion, and the overall atmosphere of the Royal Institute of Technology was indeed much better than that of the Imperial College. The Institute of Technology was filled with a down-to-earth and pragmatic style from the inside out.

Zhu Yijun would visit all four corners of the capital city one by one, and this was the case every New Year.

Time flies. The last court meeting was on December 25th of the 11th year of Wanli. The court would not hold a holiday until the sixth day of the next Lunar New Year, when the meeting would continue.

"Last year, many coal-iron joint state-owned factories, including Xishan Coal Bureau, Shengzhou Coal Bureau, Womagang Coal Bureau, and Yongping Coal Bureau, produced a total of 508 million kilograms of coke, coal briquettes, honeycomb coal, etc., 4200 million kilograms of crude steel, and 58 million kilograms of pig iron. Compared with last year, coal increased by 145%, crude steel increased by 116%, and pig iron increased by %. The reason for such a difference in growth is that in addition to being able to supply the people with coal for the winter, it can finally be used for iron and steelmaking." Wang Chonggu, as the general manager of Xishan Coal Bureau and the person in charge of the state-owned factory group production, reported on the output of coal and steel.

The reason for this difference is that the amount of coal mined is finally enough to supply civilian use and large-scale steel and iron smelting.

"Previously, the cost of building one mile of the highway was 9800 silver, but now it is 8600 silver, a reduction of 1200 silver. With the increase in steel production and the improvement of the engineering corps and battalion system, the cost of the highway will be further reduced." Wang Chonggu briefly explained the impact of this growth. An indicator is needed to measure the impact of the increase in steel production. Wang Chonggu chose the reduction in the cost of the highway. The cost seems to have been reduced by 12%, but anyone who has supervised the Dingjian project knows that this cost reduction is extremely huge!
This is also the indicator that many officials in the court are most concerned about, the cost of building a highway.

The Chidao is good, but it is expensive. Expensiveness is not a disadvantage of the Chidao, but poverty is a disadvantage of the Ming Dynasty.

The total budget for the Beijing-Kai Chi Road is 1375 million silver taels. According to the current cost, the budget can be reduced to 1210 million silver taels, saving 165 million silver taels, which directly saves money for the three former emperors' tombs. There is also taels left for Your Majesty to use for the Aoshan Lantern Festival and the Baiyi rewards.

"Last year, the two woolen cloth factories in Beijing had 60 pieces of woolen cloth and 10 pieces of fine woolen cloth. The woolen cloth factory in Lanzhou had 15 pieces. This year, the customs calculated that 12 bags of rough washed wool were sent to the hinterland. This year, the woolen cloth factory in Yongding Yongsheng had 72 pieces and fine woolen cloth had 12 pieces, totaling 82 pieces. The woolen cloth factory in Lanzhou had 18 pieces."

"This year, the output of woolen cloth has finally exceeded one million pieces. I congratulate on behalf of the Ming Dynasty and Your Majesty!" Wang Chonggu said solemnly.

The woolen cloth production exceeded one million pieces, which meant that there were fewer horses and more sheep on the grassland. Not having so many horses on the grassland was a prerequisite for the kingship of Suiyuan.

Originally, the wool business should have been the Ming Dynasty version of the "sheep eat people movement", but now it has become a sheep eat horses movement.

According to the memorial of Xu Fan, the special envoy to the West and the Minister of State of Portugal, due to the impact of Ming cotton cloth, England's woolen cloth production dropped to 13 pieces, while Spain's woolen cloth production was 74 pieces. For the first time, Ming's total woolen cloth production exceeded the total of Western countries.

It has been 11 years since the arrival of the sailing ship. The Ming Dynasty has finally achieved another breakthrough in commodity advantage, that is, the comprehensive breakthrough in the woolen textile industry.

The reason why the Celestial Empire is the Celestial Empire is that it is leading in all aspects. That is the Celestial Empire. Under the leadership of Your Majesty, the Ming Dynasty is gradually realizing its great strategic proposition again.

"I am happy, I am happy. If the Ming Dynasty is strong, then the people of the Ming Dynasty will be strong. If the people of the Ming Dynasty are strong, then the country will be strong." Zhu Yijun said with a smile: "The only thing to do is to be faithful. Faith means trustworthiness. What you say must be counted and what you promise must be fulfilled. Reality means facts. Practice the facts and don't speak nonsense."

"Backwardness is backwardness. In the early years of the Wanli reign, shipbuilding was not as good as that of the West, and woolen cloth production was not as good as that of the West. I admit it. This is a big step. I solemnly thank Wang Ci Fu for his great contribution to the governance of the country and his contribution to the great cause of the Ming Dynasty."

"I have decided to award this year's Chonggu Technology Progress Award to the hydraulic technology of the Royal Institute of Gewu. What do you think, Wang Ci Fu?"

"Your Majesty is wise!" Wang Chonggu did not expect that he was qualified to participate in the decision-making of the Technological Progress Award. He did not take the opportunity to curry favor with the emperor, but immediately bowed his head and said.

This matter is up to Your Majesty.

The Ming Dynasty Technological Progress Award is jokingly called the Chonggu Award by the people because there is an inscription "presented by Wang Chonggu" on the award plaque, and Zhu Yijun also followed the trend and called it that.

The emergence of hydraulic technology is quietly changing production and is a well-deserved technological advancement.

"I have always disliked the idea that if the country advances, the people will be weak, and if the country retreats, the people will be strong. This is completely inconsistent with the objective facts of production." Zhu Yijun looked at the court officials and said with great emotion: "And now, the coal and steel joint venture and woolen cloth production mentioned by Wang Ci Fu are typical examples of a country advancing and a strong people."

"How can an egg remain intact when the nest is overturned? How can a country be strong when its people are in decline?"

"The idea they are clamoring about is that if the country retreats, the people will be strong. The key is what kind of people are these? The rich are strong, and the common people are weak." Wang Chonggu said solemnly, "Your Majesty, if the country retreats, the rich are strong and the common people are weak. If the country advances, the rich are arrogant and the common people are slightly stronger."

The definition of people is crucial. Are they wealthy people or common people?
When dividing the cake, the rich can still cut a larger piece of cake than the common people. Therefore, as the country progresses, the rich are also getting stronger, but the common people are just breathing a sigh of relief.

This is consistent with the discussion on distribution in the second volume of Zhang Juzheng's "Theory of Class". Those who occupied 10% of the superstructure received 90% of the profits, while those who occupied % of the lower foundation could get % of the profits and could already shout "Long live the emperor".

When a country advances, its people become strong; when a country retreats, its people become weak. This is the experience the Ming Dynasty summed up in practice.

"Your Majesty, Wang Ci Fu concealed the production of coal and steel." Zhang Juzheng said calmly.

"Ah?" Wang Chonggu frowned and looked at Zhang Juzheng and asked, "What did you hide? What did I hide? There are six volumes and one account book. Don't dare to talk nonsense!"

"Why are the coal and steel production in Shandong and Henan not included in the report this year?" Zhang Juzheng asked with a serious face.

Wang Chonggu breathed a sigh of relief, feeling both angry and relieved. He quickly said, "Ah, this is mainly because we haven't figured out the bill yet. I'll report it to Your Majesty after the New Year."

"That's very good." When Zhang Juzheng said this, it was unclear whether he meant that the current Ming Dynasty was very good, or that Wang Chonggu was very good, or both.

Wang Chonggu was so angry that Zhang Juzheng would take every opportunity to give him a beating, which made him dizzy. This was coal steel, and concealing a hundred kilograms would mean three sets of armor. Concealing tens of thousands of kilograms, what did Wang Chonggu want to do?
Fortunately, Zhang Juzheng was actually patching up Wang Chonggu. If anyone were to use this as an excuse, Wang Chonggu would have reported it to Your Majesty, so it wouldn't be a concealment.

This matter is indeed a small matter, but once it is used by the lowly Confucian scholars to make trouble, it will be a big deal. Haven't you seen that the lowly Confucian scholars can elevate a few extra hairs on a dog's head to the level of Li Chengliang's rebellion?

Wang Daokun, the Minister of Industry, looked around and said, "This year, a total of 83 five-masted ocean-going ships and 720 three-masted plywood ships were built. It is worth noting that only four fast sailing ships were built. In this regard, it did not meet expectations. Initially, the shipyard planned to build six fast sailing ships, but only four were completed in the end."

Wang Daokun suspected that the fast sailing ship was incompatible with his horoscope!

Ever since he became the Minister of Works, every time he reported to the emperor, the results were always below expectations, which made Wang Daokun even want to retire!
"Didn't the Grand Marshal underestimate the difficulty of building a fast sailing ship? King Felipe II couldn't even figure out how to build a five-masted ocean-going ship. Spain is the empire on which the sun never sets and a shipbuilding powerhouse. We can already mass-produce fast sailing ships, which is great. You can't eat hot tofu in a hurry." Zhu Yijun said with a smile on his face, "It's a blessing from our ancestors that we can mass-produce them!"

"Then can our Ming Dynasty compare with the barbarians? Wouldn't that be lowering our status?" Wang Daokun still said with some dissatisfaction.

Zhu Yijun laughed and shook his head, saying, "Do you think they are foreigners now? They have only been rich for a few years. In the first year of the Wanli reign, if it wasn't for the fact that the King of Qin went to Manila, Luzon and robbed the shipyard, they couldn't even build a three-masted frigate at that time. I remember that the Grand Marshal was in Songjiang Prefecture at that time, but he was holding that unfinished ship and was eating and sleeping on it."

When Yin Zhengmao towed the ship back to Daming and entered the new port, Wang Daokun actually stayed and ate on the unfinished ship for more than a month before he figured out what was going on. When he needed it, he had a foreign master, but now that he didn't need it anymore, he had to use foreign masters.

Wang Daokun said confidently: "Felipe is also a foreigner. If we want to compare, we should compare with Ming Dynasty itself. The five-masted ocean-going ship was put into production very smoothly, but now it is dragging its feet."

"Isn't this to verify the copper-clad wood technology? The cost of a fast sailing ship is more than 50,000 silver coins, so it must be protected well?" Zhu Yijun was very clear about why the production target could not be completed on schedule, in order to wait for the copper-clad wood technology to be implemented.

The copper-clad wood technology is designed to deal with the ship's mortal enemy, the shipworm.

That thing can lay hundreds of thousands of eggs at a time, which can mature and reproduce the second generation in half a month. Half of Columbus's fleet was killed by shipworms. The fast sailing ships were wooden ships. Although the Ming Dynasty also used the method of painting the surface of tung wood to prevent shipworms, the effect was still not very ideal.

Copper wrapped wood is a good solution. Copper is expensive and there is little copper in the Ming Dynasty. If it were not for the continuous influx of copper from Luzon, the Ming Dynasty would not be able to be so extravagant as to use the method of copper wrapped wood.

But it can greatly increase the stability of navigation and the life of the ship. As long as it can successfully sail once, the profit will be enough to offset the investment in copper-clad wood.

"I've taken a look, and it's not a lot. There are 1.2 million people in the Ming Dynasty, and the average coal production per capita is just over kilograms, and the average steel production per capita is less than half a kilogram. Is that a lot? It's not much at all. A big hoe produces kilograms, and a small hoe produces kilograms. The amount of steel produced in a year is not even enough for each person to have a hoe. We still need to work harder." Zhu Yijun said sincerely after reading this year's production report.

"Hmm?" Zhang Juzheng suddenly raised his head and looked at His Majesty, and then looked at the court officials. When the total amount was the first thing, His Majesty began to talk about per capita!
There are so many people in the Ming Dynasty, and this person also wants to be the first in terms of per capita income? Can it be so evenly distributed?
Your Majesty, in practice, the amount of steel produced by the government factory is really not enough to give everyone a pair of farm tools. This is indeed true, but there are also mines and blacksmith shops among the people. After the Ming Dynasty abolished the government smelters during the Hongwu period, it was not that iron tools were no longer used. Moreover, a pair of farm tools can be used for ten to twenty years if they are well maintained. Even if the handle of a shovel is replaced two or three times, the shovel can still be used.

Zhang Juzheng understood it as a means of motivation to prevent excessive pride and complacency both inside and outside the country.

Some things can also be averaged, such as income. Once the income is averaged, everyone can immediately feel the real existence of class.

After the production report, Wang Guoguang and Zhang Xueyan made a huge chart and posted it on a page, explaining the specific situation of the court's fiscal and tax revenue this year.

"We can clearly see that this year's commercial taxes exceed 40% of the total revenue, reaching 1423 million taels of silver, and this year's overall fiscal revenue, including the profits handed in by major government-owned factories, is 3514 million taels of silver." Wang Guoguang introduced the overall situation. The tax reform of the Ming Dynasty is underway. Now the court reports to His Majesty in the form of various physical items at a discount, which is more intuitive.

This is also a concrete manifestation of the Ming Dynasty's transformation from a rent-and-labor tax system to a monetary tax system.

Compared with the annual income of about 6 million silver dollars during the Jiajing and Longqing periods, the overall tax revenue in the 11th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty increased by a full six times.

"Your Majesty, I request that the One Whip Law be implemented on a trial basis in the Nan Ya area next year." After Wang Guoguang introduced the extremely high fiscal and tax revenues of the Ming Dynasty this year, he immediately talked about the next step in the fiscal and tax reform, the One Whip Law, and the start of a pilot program for monetary taxation.

"Then let's hold a court discussion to see what the ministers think, and then send a letter to the Southern Court Yingtian Prefecture and Songjiang Prefecture to ask the governor and local authorities for their opinions. If they all think it's a good idea, then we can conduct a small-scale pilot program in the Southern Court first." Zhu Yijun thought for a moment. The Single Whip Law was to be piloted in the Southern Court, not implemented nationwide.

Only by constantly summing up experiences and lessons in practice can we promote them.

The implementation of the Single Whip Law needs to be cautious, but we cannot stand still.

"I think we should take small steps and move forward quickly, just like the Tax Inspection Office, and start from Songjiang Prefecture." Zhang Juzheng expressed his opinion and suggested reducing the experimental area to Songjiang Prefecture.

Because Songjiang Prefecture is the most suitable.

(End of this chapter)