Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 114 Nine Sides Pay Arrears
On November 10, Zhu You certified Xizong's mausoleum as Deling, and sent an envoy to inform the local area of ​​Xizong's posthumous edict.

Because he received another memorial from Guizhou patrol officer Lu Xianming yesterday, Zhu Youjian felt that matters in the southwest could not be delayed. If you can solve this matter, do it as soon as possible.

So he convened a standing meeting that handles the affairs of the Ministry of War, intending to deal with this matter specifically.

However, after the meeting began, the first thing was not to discuss the southwest issue, but the rewards given to the border troops by Zhu Youjian after he ascended to power.

Zhu Youjian felt incredible when he heard Yuan Keli say that the matter had not been resolved yet.

After repeated inquiries, it was determined that Guo Yunhou, the Minister of Household Affairs, had not handed out the reward at all.

This made him furious and accused Guo Yunhou:

"I issued the edict at the end of August, and now it's November 10th."

"You haven't handed out the reward yet, what are you doing for food?"

"What have you been busy with in the past two months? Such a big matter has not been resolved and no report has been reported?"

"What are you thinking about?"

The matter of rewards for the border troops was something he had repeatedly asked, but it was not resolved at court and no one reported it.

These ministers in the court really didn’t take his words seriously!

Guo Yunhou hurriedly argued that this year the late emperor passed away and the new emperor ascended the throne. There were too many abnormal expenses and the Ministry of Revenue could not come up with the money. Especially after the emperor ascended the throne, he first summoned the grasslands to reward the city, and then summoned Mao Wenlong to Beijing to ask the Ministry of Household Affairs to allocate money and grain. Now he barely scraped together 300,000 yuan, and asked the inner treasury to distribute the rest of the rewards.

Zhu Youjian really didn't want to listen to Guo Yunhou's explanation.

What he needs is not an explanation, but someone to solve the problem:
"Where has Bi Ziyan gone?"

"When will you arrive in Beijing?"

When Guo Yunhou heard this, his heart suddenly became cold. He knew that the emperor had been disappointed with him and wanted to replace him with someone else.

The best choice for him at this time is to take the initiative to seek help.

Really worried about the affairs of the Ministry of Household Affairs, Guo Yunhou immediately requested to return to his hometown as an official on the grounds of old age.

Seeing that he was quite sensible, Zhu Youjian refused as usual and asked him to go through the process decently and wait for Bi Ziyan to take office.

When the ministers saw the emperor's thunder, they were furious and forced one of the ministers to resign. They all kept silent, recalling that they had unresolved matters ordered by the emperor.

Zhu Youjian used Guo Yunhou to scare the monkeys, but the rewards for the border troops still needed to be resolved. This was not the time to be stingy. Thinking that Wei Zhongxian and others could gain some money by ransacking the house, Zhu Youjian immediately said:

"The internal treasury appropriated 500,000 yuan, which together with the 300,000 yuan from the Ministry of Revenue, will be used to distribute rewards to the border troops."

"Gao Shiming, the royal horse supervisor, is keeping an eye on this matter. The Shuntian Bank will supervise the matter and transport the pay directly to Jiubian. Together with the guarding eunuch, he will set up accounts for all the soldiers and distribute them to them one by one."

Gao Shiming heard the words and accepted the order, but the ministers felt a chill in their hearts. Knowing that the emperor appointed eunuchs to handle this matter, he obviously lost trust in the ministers of the foreign court. The impact of rewards from the border army will be far-reaching.

Yuan Keli plucked up the courage and said that this matter was unconventional. Zhu Youjian burst into anger and immediately reprimanded:
"What's the routine?"

"The usual practice is that the imperial court gives out 400,000 yuan, but you only gave She Chongming 40,000 yuan?"

"There are conventions for chieftains to ascend to their posts, but you violated the conventions and plundered the money accumulated by people for generations. You also used the excuse of laying off the old and weak, and only gave people 40,000 yuan of the 400,000 yuan that should have been paid."

"Now that the so-called old, weak, sick and disabled have been forced to rebel, not to mention the number of casualties, the amount of money and food allocated by the court every year is at least two million. In the sixth year of Tianqi, it was as high as four to five million."

"What on earth are you people thinking? Are you trying to force the border troops to rebel as well, and are you trying to maintain the routine?"

Thinking of the arrears of wages from Jiubian, especially the Shaanxi frontier army who "leaved their wives, deserted the army and absconded". Thinking about what happened in the court again, Zhu Youjian felt that if this continued, the Ming Dynasty would be over sooner or later——

This made him unable to control his emotions and burst out in the court. Yuan Keli has always been respected by the emperor after entering the court, and this is the first time he was reprimanded by the emperor. Although the reprimand had nothing to do with him, as a conscientious official, he really had no shame in defending those people. The confidence to maintain routines naturally disappeared without a trace.

It was also the first time for other ministers to see the emperor lose his temper like this, especially his remarks about "forcing the border troops to rebel", which let them know that this matter touched the emperor's bottom line. That's why they did not hesitate to take down a minister of household affairs to make them realize the seriousness of the matter.

Zhu Youjian arranged the rewards in every detail, and stipulated that the salaries of the border troops would be distributed according to this method in the future. Zhu Youjian completely took back the power of the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of War to distribute salaries.

Following the precedent of Wei Zhongxian's appointment of Tu Wenfu as Prime Minister of the Second Department of Household Workers, Gao Shiming was appointed to supervise the income and expenditure of the Second Department of Household Workers, and brought the money and grain of the outer court under the supervision of the inner court.

Various measures fully demonstrated the distrust of the foreign court. But the ministers had nothing to say, or even words to reply. The consequences of "forcing the border troops to rebel" are too serious and no one can bear them.

"The Shaanxi frontier army has been paid one year's back pay, has this been done?" Zhu Youjian asked again.

This was the first thing the emperor personally confessed after ascending to the throne, and Guo Yunhou did not dare to delay. In fact, it was because of this incident that he couldn't even collect the rewards for reaching the top.

When the emperor asked, Guo Yunhou hurriedly replied:

"It has been shipped and should have been distributed."

"The supplementary military pay is nearly 400,000 yuan."

This is Zhu Youjian's most important thing, and he heard that Guo Yunhou has already taken care of it. Zhu Youjian's attitude finally improved a little and asked:
“After the repayment of arrears, how much arrears does Shaanxi still need to repay?”

"Including the five towns of Yansui, Ningxia, Guyuan, Gansu and Lintao."

Knowing that the emperor attached great importance to this issue, Guo Yunhou really thought about it and said with a bitter face:

"Most of the 400,000 reissued were given to the border troops of Lintao Prefecture and Gongchang Prefecture, and some were given to Guyuan Town and Yansui Town."

"Currently Guyuan Town still owes 40,000 taels, and Yansui Town owes more than 1.5 million taels of wages from the first year of Tianqi to the seventh year, and the accumulated arrears amount to 27 months."

"Ningxia Town owes 130,000 yuan, Gansu Town owes more than 700,000 yuan, and Xi'an and other places owe more than 800,000 yuan."

"The total is about 3.2 million."

This number was beyond Zhu Youjian's expectation, and the officials were also shocked.

Everyone knew that Jiubian was in arrears of wages, but no one thought that Shaanxi alone still owed 3.2 million after a repayment of 400,000. It is estimated that there will be more in other border towns combined.

Zhu Youjian was already a little numb, knowing that the total would definitely exceed the four to five million taels he had estimated before. At this time, I can only continue to ask:

"Are there any statistics for Jizhen, Xuanda, Shanxi, and Liaodong?"

"How much back pay is left?"

Guo Yunhou revealed the truth and said:
"Jizhou, Miyun, Changping, Yizhou and Yongping owe about 1.53 million in wages."

"Xuanfu, Datong, and Shanxi owe approximately 1.53 million in wages."

"There is also payment arrears from Liaodong, about more than 400,000 yuan."

"Bian Town's total salary arrears is more than 6.6 million."

"There may be some gaps in it. If the court wants to repay the arrears, it needs to prepare at least seven million."

　"Periodic Reporting System and Financial Management in the Early Years of Chongzhen":
　　As of June of the first year of Chongzhen (1628), the cumulative arrears of new and old wages paid directly to foreigners by various provinces reached 8269449 taels, and this figure does not include the amount in arrears for more than six or seven years that was reported to be exempted by the Ministry of Household Affairs. Due to insufficient income, it also affects the Ministry of Household's ability to pay marginal rates. At that time, the Ministry of Revenue owed nine-border military pay, which amounted to more than 9685500 taels. The Ministry of Accounts is on the verge of bankruptcy.

　　Bi Ziyan: Volume 2 of Duzhi Memorial·Tang Manuscript, "Reexamination of External Jies for Arrears" by Qin Feng, pp. 37-51.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)