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Chapter 339 Let’s let people who understand

In other words, the Ministry of Revenue can really control only part of the tax revenue and expenditures in Taicang, and by the way, supervise the emperor's internal funds. It is impossible to fully grasp the country's revenue and expenditure. There is only one person who can truly do this, the emperor.

At this point, you should understand why Comrade Zhu designed such a complicated and messy financial system, right? That's right, it's still the same word, Quan. He not only wants to control military power but also financial power, and he doesn't want to leave any of it to others.

But the question is, can one person take care of so many things? The answer must be no. But he would rather not be able to control it and let national affairs drag on. He still refuses to delegate power for fear of being taken away by outsiders.

Just like a small landowner in the village, his food is worse than that of a long-term worker, and his clothes are worse than that of a tenant farmer. He spends his life scrimping on food and clothing, and purchases every grain of food he saves into land.

Then he buried the land deed deep in the yard. Before he died, he took it out tremblingly and held it in his hands, unwilling to give it to his son until he breathed his last breath. Sad, pitiful, and infuriating.

This is only the current situation of the central government’s fiscal system. It is even more chaotic at the local level. First of all, the administrative levels are chaotic. There are four provinces, prefectures, prefectures, and counties, but the levels are not necessarily three. Some states have prefectures above them, while others do not; some counties have prefectures above them, while others have prefectures above them.

According to Comrade Zhu's design, the county is the basic unit for tax collection and is responsible for collecting and turning over taxes. The government is responsible for accounting and adjusts the amount of tax distribution based on the wealth of the counties under its jurisdiction.

The province is responsible for transshipment. The collected materials and silver are directly sent from the county to the province without going through the prefecture, and then distributed and forwarded by the province. These three levels have a clear division of labor in finance, and the county has the largest workload.

However, there are only three official staff members in a county government office: the county magistrate, the chief registrar, and the dianshi. Coupled with the numerous officials, they are busy enough just to calculate each other's affairs, and they also have to take care of other things in the county government, which is completely insufficient. It is impossible to increase manpower unless you hire them yourself.

In this way, the phenomenon of recording expenses and wrong accounts became so common that no one from the state capital to the province to the six ministries and the emperor knew exactly how much tax was collected. Anyway, as long as the figures arranged by the court were enough, Yes, there are confusing accounts everywhere.

There is no unified currency, no Ministry of Finance, no central bank, no budget, and no effective management methods. Sometimes when Hong Tao thinks of this, he will sincerely admire the cabinet and the Supervisor of Ceremonies.

One of them focused on the outside and the other on the inside, and they drove a car that they had cobbled together haphazardly onto the highway. Although it is always crooked, it has remained unchanged for more than two hundred years. What a group of talented people!

Of course, you also have to be lucky. If there hadn't been a huge influx of American silver since the 16th century, I'm afraid this financial system alone would have made the Ming Dynasty go crazy without waiting for the Jurchens to fight, and all the internal organs would have been injured by the internal force.

Now Hong Tao is going to implement the New Deal. To put it bluntly, it is to develop the economy, and the first thing to bear the brunt is currency. Without a stable monetary system, economic development is just a pipe dream.

Then someone said, isn’t there silver? Hey, talking about this Hong Tao is all about lawsuits. The use of silver as currency was spontaneous among the people, and the imperial court reluctantly used it as a unit for converting taxes when it had no choice. It has never been clearly stipulated, and there has never been a plan. This is a bit like doing nothing and letting nature take its course.

But Hong Tao is not so calm, and he doesn't want to watch Europeans bring the massive silver produced in the Americas to his own home in exchange for all the good things. To realize this idea, we will definitely not be able to rely on closing the country. We will need to use high-tech means, such as economy and currency.

From now on, we must find ways to reduce the value of silver, increase the ratio of gold and copper, and lay the foundation for the subsequent gold standard monetary system. At the same time, take advantage of the seller's market to hoard as much food, wood, ores, and spices as possible to prepare for possible wars in the future.     That’s right, it’s war. The Europeans are about to start the industrial revolution with the accumulation of the Age of Discovery. It is obviously unreliable to think of getting a few large sailing ships to rush over and knead them casually like in the Song Dynasty.

Once the Ming Dynasty makes changes in trade that are unfavorable to European countries, they may not be able to react at first, but it will not take long for them to feel the decline in profits, and what will follow will definitely be giant ships and cannons.

Once this war begins, it will not end anytime soon. Neither the Europeans nor the Ming Dynasty were willing to admit defeat easily. The fate of the country was at stake, and the winner must be determined.

If you want to be a winner, in addition to stepping up research and development and manufacturing of weapons, you must also have sufficient strategic reserves and even be prepared for two-front operations. As long as it opens in the south, the Mongolians and Jurchens in the north will definitely not be able to sit down and watch the show.

"Your Majesty, please increase the points drawn by the Shipping Department. How high is appropriate?"

Seeing that the emperor was about to split his tongue and said that he just wanted to build more warehouses and collect more business taxes, the six ministries and nine ministers suddenly breathed a sigh of relief. If I had said it earlier, no one would risk their lives to object without such earnest words. However, raising taxes is also a national matter, so you have to ask how much.

"What do you think is appropriate?" Hong Tao was in a good mood, mainly because he maintained good classroom discipline. It doesn't matter whether he heard the details or not. Just say it yourself first.

"...Your Majesty is familiar with the laws of the New Deal, and I am ashamed to say that I am not the best." As soon as the specific issue was mentioned, the ministers were immediately dumbfounded. You look at me and I look at you. No one can decide what should be done to the Municipal Shipping Department. What is the appropriate number of points to draw? In the end, Wang An stepped forward and created a new idea.

"Exactly, exactly, I am ashamed of myself..." When the ministers heard this, they said, yes, you are the one who implemented the New Deal. Why should we set the amount of points drawn? It is not appropriate to say too much or too little. If there is a problem in the future, it will be your fault. It is better to decide for yourself.

"Since all the six ministries and nine ministers are here, and they are not willing to take care of these trivial matters, then I will reluctantly do it. However, Guangdong and Fujian are far away in the horizon, and even if I have all kinds of abilities, I am beyond my reach.

Let's do this. The Municipal Shipping Department and the Governor's Pay Office were withdrawn, and the navy was ordered to set up customs in Guangzhou and Fuzhou. All incoming and outgoing goods would be collected and collected by the customs to collect commercial taxes. The accounts were sent to the Metropolitan Procuratorate for inspection, and [-]% of the money was transferred to the Ministry of Accounts, [-]% went to the navy, [-]% went to the internal treasury, and [-]% was arranged by the local state government. "

What is sophistication? The ministers who participated in the imperial meeting had their eyes opened this time. From Luzon Port, the emperor talked about maritime trade, from maritime trade to silver, from silver to grain storage and disaster relief, and also talked about the price comparison of gold and silver. After talking for two hours, it’s worth waiting here, customs!

(End of this chapter)