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Chapter 653 The Beginning of a New Era 2
On the surface, the Ministry of Revenue of the Ming Dynasty was a very powerful department. It not only managed the money and grain taxes of the Ming Dynasty, but also the land and household registration, and almost did half of the work of the court.

In fact, the Ministry of Revenue was not that powerful. In terms of finance, it was more like a cashier of the imperial court, only performing the bookkeeping function of transporting silver, and could not control the allocation of funds through the budget. The expenditure surplus of each department of the imperial court was controlled by itself and was not included in the scope of the Ministry of Revenue's authority.

Moreover, the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue and the Beijing Ministry of Revenue are not in a superior-subordinate relationship. The Nanjing Ministry of Revenue is directly facing the emperor and has separate receivables and payables, as well as independent silver and granary warehouses.

In terms of taxation, the Ministry of Revenue was unable to unify the collection, dispatch, and allocation, because under the Ming Dynasty system, the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Works also had the power to collect taxes, but they were not subordinate to each other.

In the early Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to collect taxes in kind rather than in cash. He naively and foolishly believed that corruption would easily occur if there was too much money, and if no money was collected and everything was bartered, corruption would naturally be reduced a lot.

In this way, the Ministry of Revenue could not collect the taxes and then allocate them to various departments, because the freight might be more expensive than the goods themselves. What should we do? Just allocate them locally.

For example, in the case of horse breeding, part of the local grain tax was transferred to the Imperial Household Department to pay for the purchase of horses and fodder. The Imperial Household Department then handed over the raised horses to the Ministry of War, which meant that part of the land tax was taken away by the Ministry of War.

The Ministry of Works had even more trouble. Whenever it encountered a large project, in addition to the cost of materials, it also had to recruit a large number of civilian laborers and craftsmen. This cost was not allocated from the Ministry of Revenue, but was directly deducted from the local land tax.

As for how much grain tax a large piece of wood from a remote mountainous area should be deducted from, the regulations vary from place to place. Some are reasonable, some are unreasonable, and some have not changed for decades or even hundreds of years.

Is the Ministry of Revenue lazy? No, the Ministry of Revenue has no power to adjust the tax rate. It must be ordered by the emperor. But how could the emperor pay attention to these minor matters? As a result, the calculations in the minds of the top leaders are very different from those at the grassroots level.

In addition, a portion of the annual taxes was retained in the local treasury. The Ministry of Revenue could only determine how much was collected and how much was retained based on a document from local officials, which left a lot of room for corruption and exploitation.

In short, the Ming Dynasty's financial system was incoherent and full of loopholes. It could no longer adapt to the current economic development and national defense construction, and it had to be and could only be torn down and rebuilt.

Hong Tao had already paid attention to this issue when he was the crown prince, and listed it as the first priority that needed to be addressed after seizing military power.

However, it is difficult to govern a country if one is not in the position to do so. After he actually sat on the throne, he found that solving this problem was not something that could be solved by just one word from the emperor. He had to resort to major military action and even tear down and rebuild the entire system in order to achieve his goal.

However, he did not have such great ability at the time. He could only watch helplessly as the country's tax revenue could not be used in a centralized manner, which gave rise to many serious problems, while at the same time he followed the example of the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Works in extending the rake to grab money.

Using faster and more efficient methods and taking advantage of the new policy pilot program, he desperately plucked money from Guangdong, Fujian, the Navy, Customs and other places into his own piggy bank. He was forced by the system to play the role he had hated so much before.

More than ten years passed in a blink of an eye. With the implementation of the New Deal and the establishment of the navy and the army, he not only had military power in his hands but also had a lot of available people. He could finally put things right and adjust the defects in the state structure according to his own intentions. The first to be affected was the Ministry of Revenue!

It costs money to build infrastructure, expand the navy and army, fight wars, improve the industrial system, reform education, and rectify the administration. If the national taxes are not centralized and properly allocated, the more the new policies are implemented, the more serious the corruption and waste will be.

In Hong Tao's plan, the Ministry of Revenue should not only be the cashier and accountant of the country, but also play the role of chief economist and legislator. But to achieve all this, the Ministry of Revenue alone is too weak, and the work that previously belonged to the Ministry of Revenue must be refined, and those that can be merged should be merged, and those that cannot be merged should be taken out and set up separately.

According to the experience of various countries in later generations, taxation is a very important and complicated task. If the Ministry of Revenue continues to be in charge, it will seriously interfere with its main work. The solution is simple: set up a separate tax department, and the Ming Dynasty Taxation Department came into being.

The first Minister of Taxation was Liu Lishun, who won the first place in the imperial examination in 1611. He served as the magistrate of Huizhou Prefecture in Guangdong for two years, with above-average performance. Later, he was promoted to Langzhong of the Guangdong Qingli Division of the Ministry of Revenue. Although Liu Lishun's resume was a little thin, he had been promoted six levels in a row by Sun Yuanhua, was a disciple of Yuan Keli, and was personally appointed by the emperor. The six ministries, nine ministers, and cabinet ministers did not put up much resistance, and he passed smoothly.

But when it came to the appointment of the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Taxation, the court was shocked by the emperor's unconventional approach to recruiting talents. Then there was a chorus of opposition, and impeachment petitions from the six ministries flew to the cabinet like snowflakes.

Unfortunately, the emperor turned a deaf ear to the question and asked the six ministries and nine officials to recommend an official who was suitable to be the second-in-command of the taxation department. If the answer was right, he would be appointed immediately, and if the answer was wrong, he would be demoted to a commoner. As a result, no one dared to take up the challenge for five days, which was equivalent to tacitly accepting the candidate recommended by the emperor.

If you ask who this person is, why he would arouse the hostility of all the court officials, it would be more exciting than the appointment of Li Zhi as the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi. In fact, most of the court officials did not know him, and even heard his name for the first time, let alone any hatred.

The bad thing about him is his name, Marcos de Silva, yes, the captured fat Spanish baron.

Since its establishment, the Ming Dynasty has appointed officials from foreign ethnic groups. In particular, there were a large number of Korean and Mongolian generals in the army, and there were also interpreters from many countries serving in the Siyi Hall.

It is understandable that a Westerner from the European continent could be appointed as a high-ranking official of the third rank, and an important position as the left assistant minister of the Ministry of Taxation. The emperor did not punish any of the officials who submitted memorials for impeachment.

Silva was transferred back to the capital from the Sun and Moon Bank. Amidst strange looks and countless criticisms, he became the first foreign third-rank official in the Ming Empire. Was he afraid?

So scary! When the fat man appeared at the court meeting wearing the newly made Ming Dynasty court dress, he was sweating visibly, and his already sluggish Chinese became even more halting.

Dare you? Too dare. When the fat man heard the emperor's appointment, he only thought about it for half an incense stick of time before he bowed his head in a proper manner and shouted "Long live the emperor!"

From a captive who was forced to stay in Ming Dynasty to the high-paid deputy general manager of Sun Moon Bank, Silva has figured out a lot. This land has benefits that he can never get in Spain in several lifetimes, and he must fight for the future of himself and his family.

As for why he had to be appointed as the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Taxation, the Ming Emperor said that it was to make the best use of his talents and that he was impressed by his knowledge of economics and his ability to understand new concepts.

Is that right? Silva thought it was half and half. This unpredictable and extremely intelligent emperor did not have any ready-made talent in this area, otherwise he would not have allowed his wife and him to manage the extremely important Sun and Moon Bank.

But if you say there is no other purpose, then I will never believe it. After a few years of getting along, Silva asked himself if he was not as good at understanding others as his wife, but he also saw some clues.

The actions of the Ming emperor were never apparent. When everyone thought there was one answer, the answer must include two or even three. Some answers can be given in a short time, while others may take several years or even longer.

Regardless of whether he was being used or not, Silva was prepared to accept his fate. The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty once said something very philosophical: the most common and important relationship between people is mutual use.

If a person is not used, then he has no merit. Only when he fully demonstrates his value in the process of mutual use will he be recognized by more people. Now he has merits, even if it is only temporary and short-term, that is also value.

(End of this chapter)