Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 323 Lack of Money
After deciding to investigate Guanglu Temple, Zhu Youjian thought of the memorial from Liaodong.

In addition to the lack of pay and silver reported by Sun Chengzong, Bi Zisu, the envoy of the Liaodong Army Guard, asked for a salary of 200,000 to buy horses and carts. He Kegang, the deputy general in charge of the general, was asked to be responsible for guarding the troops directly under the military government.

Zhu Youjian readily agreed to the latter matter, but was a little embarrassed about the former.

It's not that he can't come up with the two hundred thousand taels, but after taking out this money, the five hundred thousand taels requested by Sun Chengzong should be come out even more. Otherwise, if the soldiers in Liaodong know about it, their morale may be unstable.

But taking out 700,000 in one breath is not a small amount for Zhu Youjian. After all his efforts, he only got one million taels of silver from Zheng Zhilong and other pirates to buy food. The other one million taels was deposited in Sihai Bank in the name of a charity fund as the principal for opening the bank.

Now that Liaodong was going to take away 700,000 yuan at once, Zhu Youjian wanted to allocate money from the internal treasury, but he also felt a little difficult.

And more importantly, he cannot let civil servants develop the habit of asking for money from the inner treasury, otherwise no matter how much money the inner treasury has, it will not be enough for them to spend——

The more than 20 million taels of silver left by Emperor Wanli were all taken away by civil servants in just three years, and the state affairs continued to deteriorate day by day.

Zhu Youjian didn't think how long the millions of taels of silver he had finally collected from the eunuchs and Wu Qinghou could last these civil servants.

He even thought of Bi Ziyan's previous reminder and knew that if the balance of payments could not be achieved, Jiubian's payment arrears would continue to accumulate. Some of the payment arrears that were finally settled last year will continue to appear this year.

Now that Emperor Tianqi has been buried, the construction of the imperial mausoleum is accelerating. This money may be used in another six months, and the Ministry of Accounts must make up for it.

When Bi Ziyan knew that the Ministry of Revenue still had this debt, he was anxious to raise funds. It's just that the Ministry of Accounts' finances have been unable to make ends meet, which prevents him from scraping together one million taels of silver.

"The salary arrears of the northern and southern Zhili and thirteen provinces amounted to more than 8 million taels. 』

After the adjustment of the Ministry of Household Affairs, Guo Yunhou, who was appointed as the Minister of Taifu Temple in charge of taxation, finally went to the court a few days ago, saying that he had prepared his position, and requested that a Jinshi or a deputy list be dispatched to take up the post——

At the same time, because the emperor had previously established a special military governor, the Minister of Pay, Bi Ziyan requested that the special military supervisor be appointed as a minister as soon as possible to be responsible for the revenue and expenditure of military pay.

After all, many officials don't care about the border army's lack of pay, but if something goes wrong in the construction of the imperial mausoleum, the officials in the court can spray the Ministry of Households to death.

For the officials of the Ministry of Household Affairs, this is a more serious matter than Jiubian's unpaid wages——

The only solution is to let the local government pay the tax arrears:

"If we collect them all, Jiubian's arrears of six million in wages will definitely be solved." 』

This is also the reason why Zhu Youjian thought of Li Qiyuan some time ago and blamed him for his delay in taking office.

In order to solve Shaanxi's salary arrears, the Ministry of Industry diverted one million taels of silver from the construction of the imperial mausoleum to reissue military salaries to Yansui Town.

Even if Zhu Youjian allocates all the money from the inner treasury, he can't make up for such a huge shortfall.

According to Bi Ziyan's calculations, Jiubian's salary arrears will reach 6 million taels again in June this year.

“There is even a balance left, so that the Ministry of Revenue can pay back the money owed to the Ministry of Works. 』

Unable to think of anything, he could only propose calling for the payment of taxes and supporting Taifu Temple to implement the tax-sharing system mentioned by the emperor in Shuntian Mansion.

It can be said that the officials of the Ministry of Revenue were forced by the severe reality and could only follow the method proposed by the emperor.

Zhu Youjian's plan to create a yellow book and clear the land was finally implemented by the officials of the Ministry of Household Affairs.

Bi Ziyan even urged the officials and tribes to make the actual examination into law, so that the taxes paid would be used to determine the official's performance. Now he doesn't ask for full payment. He only needs to pay 80-90% of the more than 8 million taels in arrears. In this way, Jiubian's salary arrears can be settled, and the one million taels owed by the Ministry of Household Affairs to the Ministry of Industry can be solved. Still on.

In his anger, he even asked the officials to set a deadline. If less than 50% is paid before August and less than 80% is paid by the end of the year, the responsible officials will be removed from office and replaced by other officials -

The imperial court has recruited so many Jinshi in this department, and also allows deputy candidates and candidates to serve. He does not believe that no one will hold these official positions.

It can be said that after the reconstruction of ritual music and the sit-in, all officials had seen the emperor's determination to restructure the court, and also guessed that the emperor was preparing talents to replace some people's official positions. Things that were previously ordered by the emperor but progressed very slowly are now progressing very quickly.

Especially the officials of the Ministry of Revenue, because the financial system of the Ming Dynasty was very chaotic, they were also under the greatest pressure. In order to keep their official positions, they spread the pressure to local governments. The changes to the Duliang Road and the Duce Road into the Household Affairs Department were quickly implemented by the Ministry of Household Affairs. The first thing the provincial household affairs departments have to do is to collect outstanding debts.

Zhu Youjian is quite satisfied with Bi Ziyan's actions.

Thinking that Bi Zisu was Bi Ziyan's younger brother, he was considered to be serving his full-time job in Liaodong. He had already set up a land affairs department to survey the land in Liaodong in preparation for the implementation of the well-field system. Zhu Youjian sighed, and finally decided to support him and transfer the two hundred thousand taels of silver he applied for.

As for the 500,000 taels requested by Sun Chengzong, he planned to allocate 300,000 taels first and let the Ministry of Household Affairs handle the rest.

At the same time, Sun Chengzong was asked to present the number of Liaodong soldiers and horses counted as soon as possible——

He wanted to know how many soldiers and horses there were in Liaodong that could fight, and whether he could completely keep Jianlu out of the pass.

It can be said that historically, the Jisi Incident that will occur next October has always been a sword hanging over Zhu Youjian's head.

This matter was a big test for him. Zhu Youjian must prepare sufficient materials and talents before October next year:

"Literati are enough for the time being. The 800 Jinshi and 400 deputy candidates recruited in this department can support low-level official positions." 』

"Xu Guangqi is responsible for the selection of soldiers. He has selected elite soldiers from the guards around the capital. He can roughly figure out how many warriors these guards have who dare to fight after recruiting troops. 』

"Some generals are training in martial arts, and some can be selected at martial arts conferences. 』

"I hope the food from Nanyang will arrive as soon as possible and fill the granary in the capital!" 』

Zhu Youjian was preparing these grains and talents for the defense of the capital.

But what he hopes more is that the Jisi Incident will not happen, and Jianlu will not be able to enter the pass and attack the capital——

After all, the political significance of the capital is too great. If the Jianlu captured the city of Beijing like in history, the hearts of the whole world would be shaken. It is impossible for Zhu Youjian to have the leisure to recreate rituals and music like he is now.

Therefore, he had planned to end the southwest war as soon as possible after appeasing the southeast pirates. This allowed the court to focus more energy on Liaodong.

Thinking of this, he issued an order to resurrect Xu Jie's eldest grandson and former Nanzhen Fusi Xu Bengao as the commander of Jinyiwei, responsible for setting up the Southwest Town Fusi in the five provinces of Sichuan and Guizhou. He also asked Xu Bengao to carry the decree and pass it to Zhu Xieyuan, the governor of Sichuan and Guizhou:
"Zhu Xieyuan has great achievements in the past. His son Yin Yiyi guards thousands of households."

"Give Zhu Xieyuan Shangfang Jian to take full charge of the southwest war."

"But those who disobey orders will be dealt with according to military law by the commander-in-chief."

"General soldiers and above can be dismissed with Shang Fangjian and escorted to the capital for questioning."

The war in the southwest was completely handed over to Zhu Xieyuan.

(End of this chapter)