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Chapter 654 The Beginning of a New Era 3
After stripping off taxes and corvee labor, Hong Tao still felt that the Ministry of Revenue had too many responsibilities, so he established the Ministry of Agriculture, separating this work that required very professional skills from the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works and managing it separately.

The most important task of the Ministry of Agriculture at present is to re-measure the land, and after figuring out the quantity, distribution and output of arable land in the Ming Dynasty, further arrange the reclamation of wasteland, the scale of planting cash crops, and the planning of water conservancy facilities based on this.

Wang Xiangjin, who was a top three Jinshi in the palace examination and a Langzhong of the Henan Qingli Division of the Ministry of Works, was fortunate to be recognized by the emperor and became the first Shangshu of the Ministry of Agriculture.

Although Wang Xiangjin was also promoted six levels in a row, his appointment did not cause any waves in the court. In addition to his expertise in farming and his outstanding political achievements in Henan, he also had a good brother, the former Minister of War, Wang Xiangqian.

It was not easy to get the honor of having two ministers in the same family. The Wang family was a big family in Shandong, and many of their members served as officials in the court. Who would say something at this critical juncture and offend others to death?

After two major cuts, the Ministry of Revenue finally became more simple in its duties. In addition to household registration, the only thing left was the allocation of money and grain to the national treasury. But the emperor said, it's not that simple!
In the future, the Ministry of Revenue will not only record the collected money and grain in the warehouse and allocate them reasonably, but also add a new function that has never been heard of before: budget! After people are familiar with this new function, the financial predicament of the Ming Dynasty court, which was to spend money beyond its means and rob Peter to pay Paul, will be gone forever.

Before November 11st of each year, the Ministry of Revenue must come up with the national fiscal budget for the following year. This budget is for guidance purposes only, and the numbers may not be precise, but the direction must be strong.

The court should plan in advance which projects to invest in the next year and the approximate scale. On this basis, the ministers of various ministries can start to fight with each other.

You talk about your importance, he talks about his indispensability. Anyway, it’s just one thing, to strive to get the biggest piece of meat for your department from the overall budget. Whether the political achievements in the second year can be reflected, whether the work is completed perfectly, starts with the competition for the budget share.

The emperor would make the final decision with the cabinet on who would get how much based on the Ministry of Revenue's overall budget, the importance of the projects submitted by each ministry, and the direction of the country.

Once each ministry receives the budget quota, it does not end there. It must immediately come up with a separate budget for its department based on the received figures, clearly stating how the money should be spent, where it should be spent, why it should be spent, and what effect it will have after it is spent. It must then be submitted to the cabinet and await the emperor's approval. Only then can it actually receive the money.

This is just the first step, that is, the central government has a budget system. The local prefectures, counties and cities do not need to implement it for the time being. They only need to report the amount they have retained to the Ministry of Revenue, and the Ministry of Revenue will send officials to verify it.

As for when to start the second step, even local prefectures, states and counties will have to make budgets. Although the emperor did not say a specific date, he did not say no either. He probably wanted to see whether the first step was going smoothly before making a decision.

So far, there was no complaint in the court about the appointment of an unknown newcomer to the position of Minister of Revenue. If you ask yourself honestly, no one can play this set of routines that sound extremely complicated, mainly because there is no experience to follow, and no one even knows how to get started.

In addition to the Ministry of Revenue being cut twice, the Ministry of Works, the headquarters of the royalists, was also cut, and was broken into two halves, and even the name was no longer retained, becoming the Ministry of Construction and the Ministry of Industry. The former inherited most of the old functions of the Ministry of Works, while the latter specialized in mining and factory planning and management.

In the emperor's words, when our ancestors formulated laws, many things did not exist, such as factories. Now that they exist, it is neither reasonable nor logical to operate and manage them according to the original model. Professional matters must be handed over to professionals to be more efficient. Chen Jiashu, the second place in the palace examination of the Xinhai year (1611), was sent to Fujian for three years. He repaired a reservoir and countless irrigation ditches with remarkable achievements. In 1614, he was transferred to the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Works. This time, he was appointed by the emperor as the minister of the Ministry of Construction.

Xiong Sanba, the manager of the rail company, became the second foreigner to enter the ranks of high-ranking officials of the Ming Dynasty. The emperor established a new Transportation Department within the Ministry of Construction and appointed Xiong Sanba as a doctor, specializing in building bridges and roads.

Song Yingxing, the third place winner of the Jiayin year (1614), succeeded Xu Guangqi as the Langzhong of the Yuheng Qingli Division. Zhuang Jichang, a Jinshi in the same year, was transferred to the Langzhong of the Tuntian Qingli Division and succeeded Bi Maokang.

Xu Guangqi was appointed by the emperor as the first Minister of Industry. Li Zhizao, formerly the Langzhong of the Ministry of Industry, was transferred to the position of Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry; Wang Zheng, formerly the Langzhong of the Yuheng Qingli Division of the Ministry of Industry, was transferred to the position of Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry; and Bi Maokang, formerly the Langzhong of the Tuntian Qingli Division of the Ministry of Industry, was transferred to the Ministry of Industry as the Langzhong of the Chemical Industry Division.

Hong Tao also planned five departments in the newly established Ministry of Industry, namely the Heavy Industry Department, Light Industry Department, Mining Department, Chemical Industry Department, and Military Industry Department. Xu Guangqi, Li Zhizao, Wang Zheng, and Bi Maokang's titles of Shangshu, Shilang, and Langzhong were only for external use. In fact, each of them had to take charge of the specific work of at least one department.

Xu Guangqi was in charge of the Light Industry Department, Li Zhizao was in charge of the Heavy Industry Department and the Mining Department, Wang Zheng was in charge of the Military Industry Department, and Bi Maokang was in charge of the Chemical Industry Department. There was no other way. There were only a few people who had the professional knowledge and practical experience and who were qualified to be Ming officials. They had to take on multiple roles.

The idea of ​​selecting talented people from among the craftsmen and students of the Sea House Department to serve as officials did not dare to be brought up at this time. This would be tantamount to digging up the roots of the entire scholar class, and it would take time like boiling a frog in warm water.

In a few years, many new graduates will emerge as talented people, and that will be a good time to replace the middle and low-level officials. When the middle and low-level officials are replaced, the senior officials will have nothing to rely on to oppose.

Now the court officials are waiting to see the joke. Since the emperor trusts the newcomers so much, let them do it. As the saying goes, the higher you climb, the harder you fall.

If the budget is not prepared, or if there are major problems in the Ministry of Construction, the Ministry of Industry, or the Ministry of Agriculture, then it will not only be a question of incompetence, but the instigators will also lose face. Let's see how the emperor can still have the nerve to speak so shamelessly and change the ancestral system at will!

But what they didn't expect was that Emperor Jingyang was not a reckless guy. He thought through the causes and consequences clearly before doing anything.

At this time, he said with a flattering face that the new tasks of the Ministry of Taxation, the Ministry of Households, the Ministry of Agriculture, and the Ministry of Industry would not be carried out for the time being, and that the institutions and personnel would be set up first, and news on when they would officially take charge of the work would be released.

At present, the court still operates according to the old system, but the three extra ministers will be added to the list of the general staff. Well, the court officials were dumbfounded. After all the trouble, the newly established department was just a decoration, but the quota of the general staff was actually taken away.

(End of this chapter)