Ming Zhengzhi, I am Zheng Kezang

"Your servants are waiting to bow to the king." In the Xingyuan, the former governor of Huguang, which was changed to King Xia Xingzai, a group of ministers bowed to Zheng Kezang, who had just returned from victory. "The king is a thousand years old, a thousand years old, a thousand years old!"

"Stay flat." Zheng Kezang waved his hand as a signal, and the courtiers dressed in noble purple got up one after another, and they heard what Zheng Kezang said. "I heard that some people disapprove of moving the shogunate to Huguang, and think that the foundation of the vassal is on the coast. This view is basically good, but in the future, most of the wars will be in the west and north. Qing and others are talking about whether it is convenient to send troops from Huguang or from It is convenient to send troops to Jiangbei." The ministers didn't realize that Zheng Kezang beat him as soon as he came up, and then fell silent. "Gu also knows that Qing and others have worked hard, and Qing and others are Xiao He who is lonely. Every little achievement and all kinds of hard work, Gu sees it in his eyes and keeps it in his heart. He will never forget it, and there will be rewards in the future."

"I dare not wait!" The subordinates knelt down again, and chanted under the leadership of Prime Minister and Cabinet Minister Zheng Yingping. "Loyalty to the king is the duty of the minister"

"It's good if you can do your part!" Zheng Kezang said with a light smile. "Get up, let's talk about the feudal regime in the past six months."

In fact, although Zheng Kezang is leading the army, the vassal government is under his control all the time. Now his remarks show that he is not biased towards the military and the government, and respects all civil servants.

The cabinet minister and Minister of Water Affairs Deng Lincai was the first to report the latest situation in Zhejiang and Fujian inspection areas: "The two prefectures of Shaoxing and Taizhou have completed the clearing of all the fields, and the total number of cleared and hidden lands is 420. Four acres and two points; Ningbo and Jinhua have completed the clearing of 980% of the fields, and have cleared out [-] eight acres of hidden fields and five acres and one point; Yanzhou and Chuzhou have not yet started clearing, so there is no report yet; as for Fujian On the one hand, the three prefectures of Wenzhou, Fuzhou, and Xinghua have completed the clearing of [-]% of the farmland, and a total of [-] collars and three acres of hidden fields have been cleared; in addition, the three prefectures of Zhangzhou, Jianning, and Yanping have completed [-]% of the farmland. Qingzhang, Qingli out of Yintian"

Deng Lincai reported in detail the results of the Qingzhang in the two provinces, and then reported some situations that occurred in the process of Qingzhang: "The gentry and villagers in the two provinces have many resistances to the Qingzhang, and the local government also has many disagreements. Evil gentry and local tyrants gather township party members, tribesmen, even tenants and servants to fight against Qing Zhang.”

When Deng Lincai said this, Hong Gongzhu, who had just returned to serve as the deputy envoy of the Privy Council, also stepped forward and reported: "I checked the files, and at the request of the Tuntian Division of the Ministry of Water, the town troops of the two provinces dispatched 140 seven times, beheading 320 mobs successively. One person, and more than 720 people were arrested, and several weapons such as bird guns, earth cannons, bows and arrows, and swords were seized, as well as a large number of agricultural tools such as hoes and rakes.[ ]”

Lin Liangrui, the Minister of the Supreme Court, went on to make a report and said: "The branch of the Zhejiang-Fujian Supreme Court reported and dealt with the Zhejiang-Fujian confrontation with Qingzhang. According to the law, 520 seven households have been confiscated. There are also some floating wealth such as gold, silver, silk and jade, as well as houses and farmyards, which have been handed over to the national treasury and the treasuries of various provinces.

The so-called sending to Qiongzhou and other places is not a simple exile, but the whole family relocated to the exile area for reclamation. First, it can reduce the number of death sentences, and second, it can enrich remote counties and colonies. It is the so-called killing two birds with one stone.Of course, the common people who were forced to leave their hometowns would not say anything good, and those gentry who instigated and organized resistance would also become an unstable factor in the colony, but Zheng Kezang had some ways to deal with it, so he didn't pay much attention to it.

In fact, Zheng Kezang was more concerned about Zheng Jun’s military discipline during the suppression process and whether the people who dealt with them were corrupt: “Submit the details of the confiscation and the treasury and vassal treasury receipts to the audit office for review. "

Zheng Kezang said that because he has always distrusted the conduct of officials, he tried every means to establish a relatively complete set of rules and regulations to restrain him: "In the future, if there is such a matter of not being an official, the audit office should go to the audit office together. , The Overwatch Council should also send personnel to supervise, and the tripartite contract may not allow cunning officials to take advantage of it. [ ] I alone think that this can be the law forever.”

The three people who came out to speak were quite embarrassed, but at this moment they could only follow the ministers to bow down and say: "Your Majesty is wise."

Zheng Kezang asked the three to retire, and then Minister Zhang Riyao published a report: "This year's national income has decreased by 810% compared to last year, with a total of 120, which is about 47 7000 taels, and another 190 million [-] shi, four buckets and three liters of stored grain. The reason for the decrease in national income is the reduction of salt tax revenue, the abolition of local tax customs, and the reduction of Jiangnan tribute transportation after the adoption of the tax sharing method in Jiangnan and northern Zhejiang. As a result, customs duties and shipping taxes have increased by [-]% and [-]% respectively, but because the base of the two taxes is too small, they cannot make up for the shortfall.”

It doesn’t count if the money received is less, but the expenditure is still very large, which can’t help but make the tax office feel uneasy: "This year, the expenditure of the feudal clan reached 940 Wuguan 520 Wen, and the total Kuping is about 150 Thirty-seven thousand, seven hundred taels, over 970, one hundred and three wen, and a total of 700 and another 130 taels."

"There are two reasons for such a huge expenditure. First, after the implementation of government-managed rural areas in Jiangnan and northern Zhejiang, the expenditure has increased sharply, and the income and expenditure at the prefectural and county levels have been out of balance, so that the provincial and feudal levels need a large amount of subsidies." Speaking of it, The deficit part was actually allocated by Zheng Kezang from the internal treasury. However, since the industries originally exclusively operated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs have been gradually opened up, the era of huge profits is over, and the internal treasury has less input and more output. If this continues, Zheng Kezang will not be able to bear it. Yes, so Zhang Riyao, who knows part of the truth, commented from this. "This is still in the most affluent Jiangnan and northern Zhejiang. If the official government goes to the countryside to fully implement it, the current financial resources of the vassal are really powerless. Moreover, official salaries occupy a large amount of local expenditures, so that Wang Shang wanted to do it with local financial resources. The idea of ​​local construction has completely failed, so this minister may think that it is not appropriate to promote the government to the countryside immediately."

"The expenses sound a bit high." Zheng Kezang also admitted that there was a financial problem, but he thought it was a developing problem that could be solved. "However, as far as I know, there are some advantages to the government's going to the countryside. At least the government's decree can be heard by the villagers, and the local big households cannot be deceived by it. In addition, due to the implementation of tax sharing, the tax income is related to the salary and evaluation of local officials. As a result, the government has also increased the intensity of commercial tax collection.”

As Zheng Kezang was speaking, Cai Hanxiang, the Minister of the Oversight Council, stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, it is precisely because the local governments and counties need more financial resources to guarantee the salaries of officials after the tax distribution, or because of this, the exploitation of the common people has been aggravated, so that The common people say that the vassal and the people take advantage of it."

"That is the responsibility of your Overwatch Council." Zheng Kezang looked at Cai Hanxiang displeased. "Otherwise, what's the use of you guys." Zheng Kezang hated the idea of ​​taking profits from the people. How did the Ming Dynasty end? Wasn't it caused by those guys who shouted not to take profits from the people? Zheng Kezang scolded very bluntly. "I remember that you are the official minister of the Supervisory Court of this feudal clan, not the capital censor of the Ming Dynasty's procuratorate, and I have never invited you to comment on the gains and losses of political affairs. Cai Qing, you are a bit presumptuous."

Zheng Kezang is a dictator, and he just got off the battlefield, his face immediately filled with anger, this scolding not only made Cai Hanxiang fall to his knees, but also the other courtiers turned pale, so Counselor and Cabinet Minister Ke Ping came out He said: "I also ask the king to appease the anger. Mr. Cai's words are out of public interest."

"I know that his words come from the public heart, so it must be right. The so-called responsibility, I let him fill in the gaps." Zheng Kezang looked at Ke Ping and then swept Cai Hanxiang who was kneeling on the ground, holding up Light fall. "Forget it, you are also an old man of this feudal clan. This time you will be punished with half a month's salary as a small punishment, and I will return it to you." After thanking Cai Hanxiang, he returned to the queue with a pale face, and Zheng Kezang asked Ke Ping to retreat. Then he pointed to Lu Xuefang, who had been the governor of Hunan and returned to the Ministry of officials. "Lv Qing, it's an exaggeration for Cai Qing to overstep his duties, and it's also an exaggeration for Qing to turn a blind eye to the officials when he is in charge of the heavenly officials. This is also a punishment of half a month's salary."

Lu Xuefang was fined for half a month's salary for no reason, which can be said to be extremely wronged, but Zheng Kezang is the lord, and it is not easy for him to get angry at Zheng Kezang, so he restrained his grievances and came out to admit his mistake and thank you. After returning to the line, he looked at Cai Hanxiang's eyes were wrong.

But Zheng Kezang didn't care about the conflicts among his courtiers that he had single-handedly provoked, he just asked Zhang Riyao: "Qing just said one reason, which reason?"

Zhang Riyao felt awe-inspiring when he saw Zheng Kezang repeatedly beating his courtiers, and he didn't dare to hide it, so he replied truthfully: "The other reason is that the king won the Huguang victory too quickly this time."

Of course, winning fast is not the reason for the fiscal deficit. The key is that after Zheng Jun took Huguang and went northward to Henan, the real culprit was the millions of people who plundered back.Although Henan is very close to Huguang, they can be resettled gradually once they pass the three passes of Yiyang. When they went south, fewer people died, and the distribution of land, housing, and public security all cost no money, and all of a sudden they turned the treasury, which was still in surplus, into a place where rats could starve to death.

Of course, in this way, Qingzhang in Hubei, Hunan, and even Guizhou is unnecessary, and even the government's sending to the countryside can be promoted together.But this is just digging a bigger bottomless pit. You must know that in order to appease the people in real villages everywhere, Zheng Fan has a policy of three exemptions and two reductions. less than three years.

Since this issue was related to Zheng Kezang's decision-making, Zhang Riyao, who had just witnessed Zheng Kezang's performance, naturally did not dare to continue entangled in this issue, so he just changed the subject and reported in his capacity as a minister of Quan (Duzhi): "Quanbu believes that in the current situation, it is impossible to continue to use troops within three years."

Zheng Kezang immediately asked back: "Isn't it also possible in Yunguichuan?"

"If you can rely on the local financial resources of Yunnan and Guangxi, you may be able to fight a dozen."

It’s like saying nothing. Guangxi has always been a financially aided province historically, and Yunnan’s situation is better, but the long-term war has also made its economy weak and the people miserable, so that the Qing army could not use this big province and It had to rely on Sichuan's assistance, and in the end Sichuan had a loss, so it had to hand over to Zheng Fang.

"Then put aside the plan to continue to expand for the time being," Zheng Kezang had no choice but to disappoint the Ministry of War. "Cultivate with the people for a while."