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Chapter 338 Don’t even understand money

"...Do you think it's time to abolish the whipping method and use the actual thing as the standard again?"

As a royalist who had no choice but to remain firm, Ye Xianggao was relatively competent and did not half-heartedly try to be a wallflower. Whenever the emperor needs cooperation, he can immediately take the lead in responding.

It's the same this time. Seeing that no one in the room is willing to stand up and answer, I might as well not wait for the emperor to call his name and take the initiative himself. Even if the answer is wrong, it's still a good attitude.

"Hey, it's not necessary. Generally speaking, the advantages of using silver instead of physical taxes outweigh the disadvantages. Some places need to be changed, but there is no rush and it is not an urgent priority. In fact, this problem is easy to solve. All we need to do is build more warehouses in various places. , just spend some of your money every year to purchase small quantities from various countries in Southeast Asia.

In addition, some small tricks can be used when collecting maritime merchant points, such as reducing the points for grain, wood, ores, and spices, and increasing the points for other goods. In particular, double the tax on ships that enter the port empty and only carry silver. , it can play a good guiding role.

Zhao Aiqing, I have to ask the Ministry of Household Affairs to do this. Calculate how much you should save based on the six-month war and the famine that affected three provinces. After the calculation is completed, it will be handed over to the cabinet. After my approval, the Ministry of Household Affairs, the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of War will make joint plans. "

Hong Tao fully affirmed Ye Xianggao's attitude, but the suggestions must not be implemented. Good guy, I really dare to say that we should abolish a whipping law. His grandma just went to the doctor in a hurry when she was ill. She didn’t even have a backup plan. Why should she abolish it?

What should be done specifically? In fact, after talking for a long time, Hong Tao mainly wanted to make small changes to the financial system of the Ming Dynasty, so that strategic reserves would become the norm and officials would have a budget idea in their minds. Don't always think of pricking your ears just before you get on the sedan. You need to have a long-term plan.

Speaking of the financial system of the Ming Dynasty, it was another freak of congenital deficiencies, and the culprit was still the founding emperor Zhu Yuanzhang. This grassroots emperor is full of small farmer consciousness, which is not only vividly reflected in the political system, but also pervades all policy levels, including the lifeblood of the country and finance.

In the end, almost everything that happened, big or small, was because of money. Poverty became a big mountain that weighed on the ruling class of the Ming Dynasty. It was not removed in the end and was crushed to death.

The financial system of the Ming Dynasty was probably the most unique and chaotic in Chinese history. In other words, there was no system at all. It was a monster made up of conjectures and conjectures. It was completely different and set the course for history.

Lao Zhu may want to manage the country as a big family. He is the patriarch, and his power must be supreme and consistent. All policies are formulated based on this premise.

In terms of the financial system, the two capitals and the thirteen provinces are the eldest family and the thirteen aunts and wives. The amount of contribution each family has to pay each year is fixed. As the patriarch, he will pay living expenses according to his mood, and the amount is also fixed.

There are more big houses and more sons. If someone's family has a disaster or illness, everyone can cope with it by working together. If the mother is kind and the son is filial, if the elder brother is there for the younger brother, and if there is harmony and harmony, no one will suffer from pink eye, and the country will be harmonious.

If everyone in the family is obedient, can ask for instructions early and report late, no one is allowed to have any inappropriate thoughts, and neighbors don't come over to cause trouble, then this system is really good.

But if these points can be achieved, there is no need for him to be the patriarch. Isn’t this an ideal society in which the people have a very high ideological consciousness, regard labor as the first need, and have to work crying and shouting without being paid. . Since the Tang Dynasty, rulers have been aware of a problem. If they do not formulate a unified monetary system, they cannot monetize their finances. Without monetization, they cannot effectively manage and regulate. Therefore, the two-tax law was invented to calculate the national finance based on copper coins.

In the Song Dynasty, the monetary calculation system took another step forward, and the prototype of a national budget almost appeared. Currency, as the main settlement method, greatly promoted economic development.

But when it comes to Comrade Zhu, it may be because he was not good at mathematics since he was a child, or he has an overly simple way of thinking. He has a natural aversion to money and believes that money is the source of all evil. As long as there is less money, corruption will not appear and the rule will be safe. Nothing happened.

Therefore, under his auspices, the Ming Dynasty's financial system not only lost the currency-based calculation basis, but also took a big step backwards, took up physical objects again, and made great strides towards the grain standard.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the national finance was mainly calculated in "stone", which followed the Tang Dynasty's two tax laws and divided the annual taxation into two times, summer levy and autumn levy. Wheat is harvested in summer and rice is harvested in autumn.

But the real prices of wheat and rice are different. The price of one stone of rice is always higher than that of one stone of wheat. But after Comrade Lao Zhu said it, I thought they were the same. Anyway, they can fill you up!

Come on, who dares to argue with him about this thing, maybe his head will be gone, just one stone for one stone. Therefore, in the financial figures of the Ming Dynasty, one stone of wheat and one stone of rice were artificially and forcibly equated.

In addition, some acres of land are not suitable for growing rice or wheat. They can only grow some sorghum, millet or beans. What should we do? Comrade Lao Zhu also had a way, and he came up with a "discount".

It means converting other taxes in kind according to a certain proportion. First, the conversion ratio of rice and wheat to a piece of cloth is stipulated, and then other physical objects are converted into the value of cloth, and then they can be converted with rice and wheat.

But a country's fiscal revenue includes more than just food and cloth. For example, Hong Tao wants to build three palaces this year and needs to transport wood from Guizhou. Then Guizhou can use how much wood is cut down to convert into how much cloth is worth, and then convert into how many stones, rice and wheat, which can be used to offset the taxes that should be paid to the court, which is called daina.

In this way, for the imperial court's taxes and expenditures, all useful items must be converted and converted to obtain a basically unified value. It was not until more than a hundred years later, with the influx of overseas silver, that one stone meter was gradually stipulated to be equal to 3 silver coins, which can be regarded as a relatively standard intermediary currency.

In fact, physical finance is not too bad. As long as the supporting system is well established, transportation is just a little troublesome. But Comrade Zhu didn't know what he was thinking, or he didn't even know that the country needed a department to manage finances, so he didn't set up one.

The Ministry of Household Affairs is just an executive department. It is neither responsible for promulgating policies nor having a budget. It is more like a dispatcher. How much tax should be levied this year is reported to the emperor for approval by the Ministry of Revenue to implement it. Wherever there is a need for food and cloth, report it to the emperor and obtain approval from the Ministry of Revenue to allocate it.

In addition to the Ministry of Household Affairs, the Ministry of Industry and Guanglu Temple have their own warehouses, and various state capitals also have warehouses, none of which are directly managed by the Ministry of Household Affairs. The Ministry of War is more straightforward. Part of its funds are allocated directly to the local state government, and it does not need to be approved by the Ministry of Household Affairs.

(End of this chapter)