Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 225 Unifying Finance and Procurement

It is determined that the Second Department of Household Workers must make adjustments, but it is now difficult to implement them.

Because it is the twelfth lunar month and the end of the year is approaching. Many officials are not interested in doing anything and are preparing for the New Year and the holidays.

This is what Zhu Youjian hates, and it is also the reason why he wants to establish a legal holiday——

There are no official holidays, and officials have a lot to do during the holidays. If the court punishes them for this, they will be said to be unkind. Therefore, the consequence of not having a holiday is that everyone will have a holiday.

It was also because of this that Zhu Youjian wanted to postpone the adjustment of the Second Department of Household Workers until the end of the year. He knew that most officials had no intention of doing anything during the New Year, and many things simply couldn't be done.

However, Bi Ziyan came to Beijing at this time and proposed measures that required adjustments to the Second Department of Household Workers. Zhu Youjian could only advance this matter and determine the general direction at the court.

This also has an advantage, that is, after the New Year, the previously elected bachelors and ministers will come to Beijing to take office one after another, and they are likely to raise objections to these matters.

Deciding things before the year can reduce variables and prevent those people from objecting.

After forcing Bi Ziyan and Guo Yunhou to accept the adjustment of the Ministry of Household Affairs, Zhu Youjian again talked about the tax-sharing system:

"After the tax-sharing system is implemented, affairs that were previously the responsibility of local governments will now be the responsibility of the court."

"For example, Shen Bang, who was once the magistrate of Wanping County, recorded in "Miscellaneous Notes of Wanshu" that Wanping County was responsible for the pen, ink, paper and other expenses of the Zhanshi Mansion, Hanlin Academy and other yamen, and sent these materials to the imperial yamen."

"This can no longer be done like this in the future. The process should be that Wanping County turns over the tax bank, and Taifu Temple collects it and deposits it into Shuntian Bank. Then the Finance Department of the Ministry of Accounts determines the expenses of each yamen and allocates them to each yamen account."

"If any government office in the imperial court needs materials such as pens, inks, paper, etc., they should report it to the Commerce Department of the Ministry of Industry, transfer the funds to the account of the Commerce Department, and the Commerce Department will purchase them uniformly. If Shaofu Temple can produce it, it will be directly purchased within 10% of the cost price. Buy from the workshops affiliated with Shaofu Temple. If Shaofu Temple does not produce it, we will purchase it through external bidding."

"In the future, no negotiation is allowed, and no forced purchase is allowed. All purchases cannot be lower than the cost price. The deposit must be paid immediately after bidding, and the full payment must be made within the agreed date after the goods are inspected."

This was a change in the bad governance of the Ming Dynasty, which Zhu Youjian discovered when he learned about the origin of bandits in the capital.

Not only did the Ming Dynasty not have a unified tax agency, there was also no unified purchasing agency. The things that each yamen needs are directly purchased by the shopkeepers forcibly.

The disadvantages of this are naturally great, especially after Zhang Juzheng implemented the one-whip method and changed a large amount of tax revenue from physical goods to silver coins, the court needed to purchase even more things.

Big businessmen can bribe officials to avoid purchasing, but small and medium-sized businessmen have no choice but to sell things to them at prices set by officials.

The consequence is that a large number of small and medium-sized businessmen will go bankrupt.

Liu Yueshu, who once served as the magistrate of Wanping County, once said: "When the people of the capital met merchants, they took everything from them, and all the money was exhausted."

Cui Chengxiu, an eunuch, once said: "Reporting merchants is a serious problem for the capital. Once a wealthy family suffers from repayment, it will destroy their family."

It can be said that forced purchasing by merchants is recognized by all officials as a major scourge in the capital.

Especially during the Wanli period, after a large number of small and medium-sized businessmen went bankrupt, unjust officials "used wealthy households in the capital as businessmen" and bankrupted these people as well.

When they go bankrupt, their dependents lose their jobs. As a result, the number of unemployed people in the capital is increasing, and some people have even become bandits.

Of course, Zhu Youjian couldn't let this situation go. After learning about the origin of the bandits in the capital, he realized that the Qian merchant policy must be abolished and the situation could not continue to worsen.

This is the reason why he established the Commerce Department in the Ministry of Industry and was responsible for unified procurement.

This decision was unanimously praised by the ministers.

Stopping procurement is recognized as a wise emperor's move. The emperor took the initiative to abolish merchants and forced procurement, so they could not object.

After they approved it, Zhu Youjian immediately ordered the cabinet to distribute this decree to various places in the capital as soon as possible. We want the business people of the capital to live a stable year.

The Ministry of Industry has a purchasing agency, the Department of Commerce, which naturally increases its power. But before Xue Fengxiang could be happy, Zhu Youjian imposed restrictions on the Ministry of Industry and clearly abolished their tax collection responsibilities:

"The Ministry of Industry will transfer the tax collection agencies such as the Bamboo and Wood Bureau to the Taifu Temple Taxation Administration to collect all the money for industrial and commercial taxes."

“In the future, the construction materials such as bamboo and wood needed by the Ministry of Industry will be purchased by the Department of Commerce.”

"The required funds will be allocated by the Ministry of Accounts through the bank." The division of bamboo and wood bureaus was a very nonsense thing that Zhu Youjian discovered when he was adjusting the organization of the Ministry of Works.

The original purpose of this agency was to collect taxes on bamboo and wood and directly collect the goods in kind for the needs of the Ministry of Industry.

Because of this, the Drawing Bamboo and Wood Bureau is also called the Drawing Bamboo and Wood Factory or the Drawing Bamboo and Wood Farm, where the harvested bamboo and wood are stacked.

The Ministry of Industry also has places such as Shenmu Factory, Damu Factory, and Taiji Factory, where timber, firewood, and reeds are accumulated.

Anyway, it doesn’t matter whether the engineering department can use the wood, there must be a place to pile it up after it is collected.

Later, I couldn't keep the pile anymore, so I started collecting treasure notes. After the treasure notes became waste paper, money began to be collected again.

Because of this, the Ministry of Industry has a tax collection agency that can collect tens of thousands of taels of silver every year.

Zhu Youjian wanted to unify the taxation agencies. How could he let the Ministry of Works collect taxes indiscriminately, so he transferred the bamboo and wood bureau to the General Administration of Taxation. In the future, it will be changed to the Tax Division and no more physical goods will be collected.

That's not all. Zhu You went to the craftsman's house to pay the labor silver for the class craftsman and said:
"Banjiang ICBC and other taxes and services are converted into silver, which will also be collected by the General Administration of Taxation in the future."

"In the future, when the fiscal system becomes more abundant, it will be gradually eliminated to reduce the burden of taxes and servitude."

"The imperial court needs people to work, not to collect money."

"Since the craftsmen are unwilling to serve, they will be converted into civilian households in the future and they will pay taxes normally. The court will use the taxes collected to recruit craftsmen to work."

This was also praised by the ministers, but the Ministry of Industry was not happy. Because in this case, their starting costs will increase a lot, and they will not be able to force the craftsmen to serve.

But Xue Fengxiang, the minister, did not have the courage to disobey the emperor. Whatever the emperor said, he would do it.

After reducing the tax collection power of the Ministry of Industry, Zhu Youjian turned to the Ministry of War. This is because in addition to the Taicang Treasury of the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Jieshen Treasury of the Ministry of Works, another institution in the imperial court that stored large amounts of money was the Changying Treasury of Taipu Temple.

Where does Chang Yingku's money come from? This is because after the founding of the Ming Dynasty and the corruption of officialdom, the burden on horse farmers became heavier and heavier. Some people would rather pay than raise horses. Therefore, Taipu Temple began to collect money from horse farmers and set up a Changying Treasury to use the collected money to purchase the horses it needed.

In addition, after the horse administration was abolished, many horse farms in the south were reclaimed. Taipusi collected money from tenants, and Chang Yingku had a lot of savings.

For a period of time, Taipu Temple was even the richest government office in the Ming Dynasty.

This seemed nonsense to Zhu Youjian, so he said directly:
"The purpose of the imperial court setting up Taipus Temple was to obtain enough horses, not to use Taipus Temple to collect taxes."

"Horse farms in various places must conduct a comprehensive inventory and determine whether horse breeding can be resumed based on the situation."

"Pastures that do not raise horses will be officially converted into official fields and farm fields in the future, and the Taifu Temple Agricultural Administration will collect field taxes."

"The tax deduction for horse farmers will also be abolished after the financial situation becomes more abundant, and no additional money will be collected from them."

“In the future, it must be gradually made clear that Taifu Temple and its affiliated institutions are the yamen of the imperial court that collect taxes. The Ministry of Industry cannot collect this money and Taipu Temple collects that money.”

“That would be too messy and impose too much burden on the people.”

"Taifu Temple should clarify various types of taxes, clearly abolish taxes that should not be levied, and even stipulate the taxes that are allowed to be collected."

"We cannot allow local officials to deceive superiors and deceive subordinates and increase the burden on the people."

　"History of the Ming Dynasty" Chronicle 58 Food Products 6:
　　(Wanli) At that time, the middle-ranking officials came to ask for bribes and paid for their names, but the money was not enough. The expenses were not enough to cover the expenses, and the people were desperate and took refuge.

　　He was a businessman from a wealthy family in the capital. According to the order, those who are condemned will be punished as if they are going to die, and they will be exempted from punishment by heavy bribes. Litigation is like catching a traitor and a thief.

　　Liu Yueshu, the magistrate of Wanping County, said: "When the people of the capital meet the merchants, they will take everything from them, and all the money will be exhausted. Please be generous and make the first move in case the people are in trouble."

　　Meng Zhen, the censor king, rebuked him for overstepping his duties and said that Shu would impeach and dismiss her.

　　By the time of Emperor Xizong, businessmen were tired and tired, and some people lost money to officials but could not get a cent in the end.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)