My Ming Dynasty, I have the final say

Chapter 59 The problem of tax arrears in the South
Early in the morning, the cabinet ministers, six ministers and other important ministers held a small meeting with the emperor in the old Yamen of Nanhaizi.

"Bi Aiqing, we have completed the preliminary establishment of the Du Branch, and we have also made a preliminary accounting of the income and expenditure of our Ming Dynasty finance."

Holding the preliminary accounting ledger submitted by Bi Ziyan in his hand, Zhu Youxiao looked at the people below and said.

"Let's talk about it."

Hearing this, Bi Ziyan, who had a pair of dark circles under his eyes, took out the prepared memorial and began to speak.

"Based on the preliminary records compiled by Li Shangshu and combined with the "Accounting Records", I made preliminary calculations. This year, our annual income is 1461 million taels of silver. The Liao rate has been increased three times, and the levy of silver per mu is 520%, a total of 1981 million taels. Therefore. This year’s annual income is [-] million taels.”

"Among them, the annual income from internal funds is more than 3801 million taels, and the remainder, totaling [-] million taels, belongs to the outer court."

"I checked the warehouse ledger and found that in addition to the physical items in each warehouse, there was a total of 920 million taels of silver."

"Yang Chengxiu, you, the steward of internal funds, explain these 600 million taels to me."

Hearing this, Zhu Youxiao's eyes flashed, and he had an annual income of 600 million taels, so he was fooling ghosts.

"Back to your Majesty, the annual income is indeed 600 million taels. However, except for gold flowers and silver and Huangzhuang seed grains, the rest are all silk, silk, tea wax, etc."

After hearing the emperor's words, Yang Chengxiu, who had already initially obtained the annual accounts of the internal funds, spoke up quickly.

"So that's it. You can make a detailed memorial later and show it to me."

Hearing this, Zhu Youxiao nodded.

"Bi Aiqing, go on."

"The minister obeys the order."

After hearing this, Bi Ziyan went on to talk about his statistical results.

"I checked Taicang and only checked the storage and expenditure account books. I found that Taicang should have received 920 million taels of silver this year, but the actual receipts were 5803 million taels, a difference of 3307 million taels."

"3307 million taels."

Zhu Youxiao was a little surprised to hear that the treasury revenue had dropped so much.

"Li Shangshu, where is the money?"

Hearing the emperor's question, Li Ruhua also felt a little numb, but if he extended his head, it would be a knife, and if he retracted his head, it would be a knife.

Li Ruhua listened to the emperor's question and said quickly.

"Back to Your Majesty, the shortfall is so large, mainly because the local government has a lot of arrears and the tax money has been retained by the local government."

"Then tell me, which places are so arrears and can be retained? This is not 30 taels, this is 300 million taels. I remember that the reward given by the ancestor of the gods to the slave and thief chieftains was, regardless of life or death, a reward of 1 silver Ten thousand taels. 3307 million taels is enough to buy the heads of 330 seven slave-building thieves."

"Back to the Emperor, I have calculated the tax income for this year. I have a memorial for you, Your Majesty, please preview it."

"Bring it up."

Hearing this, Zhu Youxiao waved his hand and asked the young eunuch to get it.

"Back to Your Majesty, Nanzhili owes more than 150 million taels of silver, Zhejiang owes more than [-] taels of silver, and Jiangxi owes more than [-] taels of silver."

"Oh, the people who owe the big head are all from the south. Why?"

"Back to Your Majesty, there are many vacancies for officials in the south, and there is no one available in the government."

Knowing that Li Ruhua could not continue speaking, Han Xu stood up and said.

"I impeached Zhou Yingqiu, the Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and ordered the Ministry of Civil Affairs to make up for the vacancies in the south as soon as possible. Zhou Jiamo, the former Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, had already prepared a list, but Zhou Yingqiu chased the memorial back. Instead of filling the vacancies of officials in the south, he promoted them. Officials from the south came to Beijing, and I requested that Zhou Yingqiu, the Minister of Civil Affairs, be dismissed from his post."

"Your Majesty, it's not that I don't want to replace the official."

Zhou Yingqiu's brows twitched when he heard Han Xu applying eye drops to himself at this time.

"Today, the imperial court is full of waste and needs to be renovated. In order to help His Majesty appoint people with evidence, the Ministry of Personnel is setting up files for officials."

The first step is to tell what you have been doing recently.

"Nowadays, the imperial court is seriously short of officials in the capital. If there are not enough officials in the capital, the orders will be inconsistent. I secretly thought that the number of officials in the capital should be replenished first."

The second step is to explain why you do this.

"Of course, the number of officials in the imperial court is indeed insufficient now, so I would like to ask for help."

The third step is to tell your own solution.

"Ah."

After hearing Zhou Yingqiu's words, Zhu Youxiao nodded and expressed his affirmation.

"What Zhou Shangshu said makes sense. The capital is the capital of our Ming Dynasty. If the capital is not smooth, the world will be blocked. It is indeed necessary to make up for the shortfall in the capital first. As for the opening of Enke, let's not discuss it for the time being."

"Your Majesty, I was once the governor of Southern Jiangxi, and my rule was considered to be in the south of the Yangtze River." Knowing that Han Xu was standing up for Zhou Jiamo, Zhou Yingqiu immediately asked back with sympathy after hearing the emperor's praise.

"I have heard that tax resistance has occurred frequently in southern Zhili, Jiangsu and Zhejiang and other places, and most of them are from local prominent families. I don't know what Mr. Han said. There is a lot of staff shortage in the government. Is it because there are not enough people in the government to collect taxes from these people's families? "

"What nonsense!"

Hearing this, Han Xu immediately became angry.

"Southern Zhili has a prosperous literary style and many loyal people who care about the country. How could there be such unruly people?"

If this is true, it would be disloyal.

Is Zhou Yingqiu planning to offend officials from the southern faction to death?
This time, not only Han Xu, but also Sun Ruyou, a person who did not take sides, stood up.

"Your Majesty, Zhou Shangshu is only an official in southern Jiangxi. This may be the case under his rule, but the land of southern Zhili and Jiangsu and Zhejiang will definitely not be here. I would like to send an imperial envoy to strictly investigate the taxation matters of southern Zhili and Jiangsu and Zhejiang."

"Send an imperial envoy?"

Hearing this, Zhu Youxiao touched his chin thoughtfully.

Is it useful to send an imperial envoy to the south?I'm afraid it won't be of much use.

"Zhang Wenda."

"The minister is here."

Hearing the emperor suddenly calling him, Zhang Wenda, the censor of Zuodu, felt his heart skip a beat.

What's the matter with me?
"The censors of Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces don't have anything to write to?"

"This..."

Hearing this, Zhang Wenda sweated on his forehead.

"Back to Your Majesty, Zhejiang and Jiangnan have not yet filled in their censorship."

"Oh, no."

Hearing this, Zhu Youxiao nodded clearly.

"In this way, you select a few censors from the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and then ask the Department of Household Affairs and the Department of Household Affairs to go to Nanzhili, Jiangsu and Zhejiang and other places to find out for me why there are so many arrears. ."

"The minister leads the order."

Hearing this, Zhang Wenda said quickly.

After hearing the emperor's next disposition of southern Zhili and other places, everyone knew that the issue of tax arrears would be settled for the time being.

"Today's matter, let's leave it like this for the time being. I have to think over and over again about Enke's matter. You can go now."

"I'm waiting to retire."

Hearing that the emperor started to drive people away, everyone bowed and saluted, and then retreated.

Watching everyone leave, Zhu Youxiao tapped his hands on the table.

South Zhili, Zhejiang, and Jiangxi provinces.

The most serious problem is in southern Zhili, while Zhejiang and Jiangxi have minor problems.

Geographically, South Zhili is basically Jiangsu, Anhui and Shanghai in later generations.

In terms of population and economy, during the Jiajing period, there were more than 600 million households in Southern Zhili, with a population of about 3000 million men, women, old and young, and the tax payment accounted for [-]% of the national tax payment.

In terms of culture, the Ming Dynasty selected 940 people in one subject, and Southern Zhili accounted for 350 people.There are 300 people in one subject and a total of 92 people in South Zhili.

Such a large province still has its own six ministries. The court of Shuntian Prefecture is often acting in an unfaithful manner, so it must be dismantled.

But what was not demolished in the Ming Dynasty was demolished in the Qing Dynasty. How long did it take?
It took a total of 110 five years.

In the second year of Shunzhi, the regent Dorgon went south. After seeing southern Zhili, everyone was dumbfounded.

The Ming Dynasty actually carried such a huge burden of civil strife for 270 years.

Therefore, in the second year of Shunzhi, Dorgon changed Southern Zhili to Jiangnan Province, established Jiangzuo and Jiangyou chief envoys, and began to split it. It was not until the 25th year of Qianlong that Southern Zhili was completely split into Anhui and Jiangsu Two provinces.

The man with a butcher's knife had such a hard time clearing out Southern Zhili, let alone the emperor who now held a piece of iron ore in his hand.

"We still have to train our troops."

ps: I remembered the information in Chapter 57 wrong, I corrected it.In addition, I really can't do the previous one.

　Read on, read on, read on.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)