Imperial Master of the Ming Dynasty

Moreover, the timing of Jiang Xinghuo's words was very particular.

If this was said in the fourth year of Jianwen, then whether it was Hongwu Xunchen or Jingnan Xunchen, they would definitely be clamoring to behead Jiang Xinghuo; if it were in the first year of Yongle, then they would probably be clamoring to behead Jiang Xinghuo. There is only half of it; and as it is now approaching the middle of the second year of Yongle, any minister who dares to shout may be beheaded by his colleagues.

The reason is also very simple. On the one hand, Jiang Xinghuo's land policy to control the nobles and local powerful people does not mean to return all the land of the nobles across the board, but only targets the additional land occupied, and those who rely on force and refuse to pay poor food. The villagers are not included in this list if they obtain the land through normal means and receive normal grain payments; on the other hand, almost all nobles now see the benefits of sea trade.

At the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet in the fourth year of Jianwen, Zhu Di proposed that the royal family, clan, and nobles raise funds for the first voyage to the West. The matter of sea trade was still in a state of confusion. The nobles only did it to take care of the emperor's face. Everyone has invested money, and this money was actually invested with the mentality of "treating it as wasted and not planning to get it back."

But the "miracle" in the eyes of the nobles soon happened. Zheng He's fleet actually made money!

Moreover, with the establishment of the Jiangnan handicraft factory area and the war against Annan, the overseas market for Ming products expanded rapidly. Coupled with the royal trade led by Zheng He's fleet, along with this, wealth continued to flow back to the country, among which Part of it was divided up by these nobles who held the "original shares".

The nobles soon discovered that the benefits that could be obtained from overseas trade began to far exceed the traditional physical taxation of land.

Of course, if Jiang Xinghuo had his idea to land on their land, Xungui Group would still resist. After all, land is a reliable carrier of wealth inheritance, and Xungui usually raises a big family, which means The entire large family needs a lot of agricultural and livestock products to maintain daily consumption. This can be gleaned from Jiang Xinghuo's previous life "A Dream of Red Mansions". Every year, the Jia family obtains agricultural products, livestock products, and various handicrafts from the farm. It is these rents that allow the Jia Mansion, which consumes a lot of money, to subsidize a large part of daily life consumption.

But as mentioned just now, what Jiang Xinghuo wants to move is only the part they illegally occupied, and it is not targeting Xungui alone, but all forces including Xungui, and even the big head is not Xungui, but the local powerful .

In fact, the illegal possession of additional land is actually very common in the vast territory of the Ming Dynasty. Such shortcomings have existed in the Ming Dynasty since the founding of the Hongwu Dynasty.

From the perspective of the grassroots rural areas of the Ming Dynasty, the current land is basically owned by large households, that is, landlords and local powerful people own a large number of farms, and they can increase stable income by collecting rent every year, and part of the agricultural products from the farmland goes to the public. Part of it goes to the lower-level servants and tax collectors (the method is the same as Jiang Xinghuo mentioned before), and the remaining part can be distributed to the pockets of ordinary tenant farmers.

Such a system certainly gave big families a strong monopoly, but ordinary tenant farmers were squeezed out of even a living income during the disaster years. It was the early Ming Dynasty, and the contradiction between man and land was not yet irreconcilable. , so it is not obvious, and this problem will become extremely serious as time goes by in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.

And if you want to solve this problem by then, I'm afraid it will be too late.

Because interest relationships will become intertwined, and in the historical line without Jiang Xinghuo's intervention, sea trade is destined to not rise on a large scale. This means that everyone will have to compete for food on the stock plate of farmland, and even the clan princes and princes will have to fight for food. The interests of hereditary relatives are completely irreconcilable with the interests of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, no matter how rich the clan and nobles are, the court has no ability to obtain tax revenue from them and can only watch them make a lot of money. Ying, extravagant and even would rather be tortured by Li Zicheng than donate to the court.

What Jiang Xinghuo has to do is to prevent the slightest change.

Taking advantage of the fact that the clan and nobles have not yet illegally occupied much land, this trend has been eliminated directly from the source, and there are broad profit prospects from ocean trade, so there is no need for the nobles to think about it.

The first point is to use tax guards to go to the countryside to try to eliminate the phenomenon of lining the pockets of the tax revenue in summer and autumn; the second point is to use the prospect of maritime trade in exchange for the refund of the illegal land occupation by the nobles, so that it will not be difficult for the local tyrants to deal with; The third point is the internal disassembly.

Why are the chiefs of these ministries and temples called together today? Of course not to watch them push each other around for the benefit of the department.

To put it bluntly, it is to coordinate their payment.

Zhu Gaochi's coordination in the first round obviously hit a wall.

Jiang Xinghuo put forward two suggestions on how to reduce waste and increase taxation, which are undoubtedly very valuable. After all, the methods proposed by Jiang Xinghuo can be implemented in the next taxation.

But this still does not change the root of the problem, which is to coordinate a sum of money among various ministries and temples to maintain the court's heavy expenditures this year and prevent the court from shutting down.

"What's your opinion? Do you still want to maintain your original view?"

At this time, Rujun, Minister of the Ministry of War, stood up and said: "The Imperial Preceptor plans to start with the next taxation. This is of course a good way. No matter what method is used, the imperial court must alleviate the financial difficulties as soon as possible so that the ministries and temples can maintain their operations. I think that as long as the court’s money can be increased rapidly, these problems can be easily solved.”

"But."

Ru Jin looked confused: "The money from the Ministry of Husbandry belongs to the Ministry of Husbandry, and the money from the Ministry of War belongs to the Ministry of War. It cannot be misappropriated casually. This is inappropriate. There is no precedent for this in the country."

"Then just watch the center stop functioning, and then wait for His Majesty's Holy Judgment."

Jin Zhong, the right minister of the Ministry of Industry, leaned back on his seat and said this.

As a close confidant of Zhu Di, Jin Zhong's abnormal attitude today has already explained some problems. If it is just once, it can be understood that he and Chen Shou, the left minister of the Ministry of Industry, are not dealing with each other, but this is already the second time. .

Therefore, Ru Jin also showed some hesitation in this statement.

"But now that the country's finances are tight, this precedent is not impossible to break."

Ru Yu succeeded in changing his face, but no one was in the mood to appreciate his face changing trick at this time. It was Ru Yu's change of attitude on behalf of the Ministry of War that had a considerable impact on the trend of the meeting.

It is very difficult for Jiang Xinghuo to change the fucking financial mechanism of the Ming Dynasty now, because this thing directly involves financial power, and it is not just the purchase power that indirectly involves financial power before. If he wants to touch other people's cakes, there is no suitable one. The reason is difficult.

Therefore, although the ship is leaking now, and the people on the ship have different thoughts, they can only try to stay together through thick and thin. To the east, remove a board to repair the leak in the cabin, and to the west, use a rope to tie the sail.

However, Zhu Gaochi's indecisive temper in some aspects has not changed, or he has too many concerns, and it is difficult to carry out any drastic reforms in the face of vested interest groups.

Therefore, this matter can only be handled by Jiang Xinghuo.

And things are sometimes like this. If you can do things that others can't do, then you can gain prestige that others can't obtain. It's hard to chew hard bones, but if you crack them open, you can eat the marrow.

Jiang Xinghuo didn't plan to argue with them anymore, and directly started his own distribution plan.

"Guanglu Temple borrows 2/3 of the temple's savings from the household department, and the household department transfers it back in three years, is that okay?"

Huang Ziwei looked a little hesitant. 2/3 was indeed a lot, but Guanglu Temple could still afford it.

Except that he himself was promoted by Jiang Xinghuo, Li Wei, the young minister of Guanglu Temple, and Gaozhi, the prime minister of Guanglu Temple, were all promoted by Jiang Xinghuo himself, so the temple itself was fairly monolithic and there were not many objections.

The Imperial Preceptor has promoted you, and now you need to provide money to the Imperial Court to tide over the difficulties. It’s not like you won’t pay back, so can you refuse?

Anyway, Huang Ziwei couldn't refuse.

And there is another reason that must be mentioned here, that is, Guanglu Temple is one of the departments with the biggest profits and losses among the central temples. Not only is the profits and losses huge, but the "reasonable losses" of being able to take the ledger are also very large. , because Guanglu Temple is responsible for various banquets of the imperial court, any losses or high procurement costs are very reasonable. Moreover, in addition to part of the funds allocated by the imperial court, the funds of Guanglu Temple also come from the various chief envoys. Special money was given away, so I was extremely rich. Even if I took out 2/3 of it, there was still a lot left over.

"OK!"

Huang Ziwei gritted his teeth. He couldn't hit the Imperial Master in the face at this time, he had to stand up.

You see, Xiao Huang is a very capable person, and he really takes care of things.

After taking care of Huang Ziwei, Jiang Xinghuo looked at the several eunuchs present.

"The internal fund support point in the palace? Part of the Taicang silver allocated to the Ministry of Revenue."

As mentioned before, the same internal money is different between the early Ming Dynasty and the late Ming Dynasty. Although the ownership of internal money in the early Ming Dynasty was in the inner court, the management power actually rested with the Ministry of Household Affairs. However, the emperor did not have a say in this money, and the Ministry of Household Affairs itself It cannot be moved easily.

The great eunuchs in the inner court had obviously got the emperor's order. They were very talkative at this time and agreed to Jiang Xinghuo's request generously.

In this way, Guanglu Temple and the inner court are all settled.

"This year is a year in which the scale of overseas trade continues to expand. The order at sea has been basically cleared. The coast from Nanyang to the Ming Dynasty is unimpeded. However, the construction of land trade routes must not stop, otherwise the blood vessels will be blocked and the Ministry of Industry and Commerce will be blocked. How about shouldering 2/3 of the road construction costs and issuing special road construction treasury bonds for the remaining 1/3, mainly to merchants in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and first building the trade road from Ningbo Prefecture to Songjiang Prefecture?"

Huang Fu, Minister of Industry, looked at Zhu Gaochi, who had no expression on his face.

"Huang Shangshu, I think we can follow the advice of the Imperial Master."

Jin Zhong spoke for the third time.

Huang Fu also knew that he would probably get nothing from bargaining, but instead he was petty. At this time, he simply agreed to Jiang Xinghuo's plan on behalf of the Ministry of Industry.

In the end, only the Ministry of War and Taipu Temple were left.

"I don't want much. Apart from these, the remaining expenditure gap this year will be made up by the Ministry of War and Taipus Temple, and it will be allocated back in three years. How about it?"

Everyone has an idea of ​​the amount promised by Guanglu Temple and the inner court. Comparing this year's estimated expenditures, the gap is obviously not too big. Therefore, in the last part, Rujun from the Ministry of War and Taipu Temple Yu Qian agreed after discussing it.

What seemed to be a very complicated matter was basically completed successfully after the various departments exchanged interests under the coordination of Jiang Xinghuo.

As for the expenditure, there is nothing to say. In fact, it is mainly because the military expenditure for the northern expedition of more than 200,000 people in the three major battalions of the Beijing Camp is too large. Otherwise, if there is no war, the normal financial budget will be enough.

But the war in the north is obviously going to be fought.

Not everything is measured in terms of money. Some homeland security issues must be dealt with no matter how much military expenditures are spent. If they are dealt with in the second year of Yongle, people in the future will not have to pay a huge price.

All in all, I can live with a makeshift life, and it's becoming more and more promising.

The other ministers talked for a while and then left one after another.

Huang Ziwei followed Jiang Xinghuo on foot back to the President's Reform Affairs Office.

"Master, what were you thinking just now?" Huang Ziwei couldn't help but ask after entering the room.

"We must bear with each other for the sake of our country."

Jiang Xinghuo's magnanimity is getting bigger and bigger, and he has a feeling that "the prime minister's belly can support a boat".

He didn't seem to care about the gains and losses of these factions in front of him.

Jiang Xinghuo poured Huang Ziwei a cup of tea, handed it to him, and poured himself a cup.

"I have never seen anyone with such a big heart."

"That's because they take the perspective of the door too deeply."

Blowing the tea leaves floating on the cup, Jiang Xinghuo smiled: "Since you want to do things, you can't ask others to have the same perspective as you. This kind of exchange is a common thing. If you have to use your own standards, If you ask others, you will not only not be able to do it, but your life will be very tiring. My student Yu Qian actually gave me a lot of inspiration on this point. He is a child, but he has always been strict with himself and lenient towards others. "Sometimes I feel ashamed to say that we adults are not as good as children in some things."

“If you can do one thing, it’s one thing.”

Jiang Xinghuo opened a curtain covering the wall. Behind it was not a window, but a blackboard, on which content about politics, military, ideology, technology, etc. were densely written, as well as the specific measures corresponding to these aspects.

Although this blackboard is large and contains a lot of content, it is visible to the naked eye that many things are marked with various other colors to show progress.

"The content is what I talked about when I gave the report at the beginning of the year. In addition to those, there are also some ideological and technological things. But you don't think there are many things, but when you do one thing one by one, there is really not much."

Huang Ziwei looked at it carefully for a moment and found that it was indeed the case.

For example, under inland trade, there are four national policies: emphasis on agriculture and suppression of commerce, commercial taxes, point-to-point trade routes, and post offices. The national policy of emphasis on agriculture and suppression of commerce has obviously evolved towards the goal of benefiting all peoples in public opinion and practice. Commercial taxation is continuing to advance, point-to-point commercial channels have just begun to advance, and the post office is still to be advanced.

The same principle can also be reflected in matters such as maritime trade.

Looking at this blackboard, an inexplicable sense of accomplishment arises.

Standing at this time in the second year of Yongle, I look back on the journey and realize that I have gone a long, long way.

At the beginning, everyone was questioning whether to change the law. Later, Jiang Xinghuo and others broke this doubt with their actions along the way. However, what followed was not smooth sailing. There were many challenges encountered during those days and nights. Several debates, countless workshops and factories were built, and large overseas markets were opened up. Only after experiencing these things can we understand the difficulties of today.

In other words, no matter how difficult today's reforms are, can they still be difficult to overcome at the beginning when they were all enemies and had very few supporters?

impossible.

So, now that we have experienced so many storms, what does the current financial crisis mean?

It’s not like life is unbearable. Zhu Gaochi is indecisive and refuses to handle the distribution. Then Jiang Xinghuo can do it by himself. It’s nothing to cut off his own flesh. Take a long-term view. Now the overall economy of Ming Dynasty is based on increments rather than stocks. , extending the timeline to three or five years, these are not big numbers at all.

Moreover, Jiang Xinghuo had another hidden meaning.

"But I still feel"

"Metal pain?"

Huang Ziwei shook his head and said: "These ministers and ministers are a little selfish."

Jiang Xinghuo said calmly: "I think there is nothing wrong with their proposition. According to convention, you cannot misappropriate money from the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of War. Doing so is not conducive to the stability of the court. Moreover, we are not bandits and cannot do that kind of thing. As for the current financial system Whether it is reasonable or not, and how to change it in the future, that is a matter for the future.”

Huang Ziwei hesitated and said: "But... I am still worried that the issue of the Ministry of Household Affairs will affect the political situation in the court. After all, the total revenue of Ming Dynasty is countless, which is nothing more than land tax, specialized commodity tax and commercial tax. Although it has already The reform has been going on for a long time, but after all, it is impossible for the New Deal to completely replace the old system. It is difficult to completely solve the financial problem of the Ministry of Household Affairs. If it is delayed any longer, the finances will be difficult next year, and troubles will still happen in the future."

"Hahahaha! You are obsessed with it."

Jiang Xinghuo drank the tea, lit it and smiled, saying, "What will happen even if Hu Bu can't afford it?"

Huang Ziwei was stunned. He really hadn't considered this question.

In Huang Ziwei's subconscious, he only felt that this year's financial dismantling of various ministries and temples was a kind of demolition of the east wall to pay for the west wall. If he could not afford to pay back, there would definitely be problems, but he did not carry out the specific problems. Food for thought.

Following this line of thought, Huang Ziwei thought about it.

Yes, what will happen if you really can’t afford it next year?

Will the Ministry of Accounts default on the account? No no no.

In the flash of lightning, Huang Ziwei suddenly figured out the truth behind the fog.

——On the contrary, we should increase the intensity of reform!

Yes, it doesn’t sound very logical. Why does the Ministry of Revenue transfer funds to other ministries and monasteries in order to maintain the reform, and if it can’t repay it, it will promote the process of the reform?

The reason is simple. If the money cannot be repaid, the Ministry of Revenue will not only become the boss, but other ministries will have to support the Ministry of Revenue’s money-making plan in order to make the Ministry of Revenue repay the money.

How can the Ministry of Accounts make money? It’s nothing more than the three things Huang Ziwei mentioned, including increasing efforts to clean up the intermediate links in the collection of summer and autumn taxes, increasing the scale of domestic trade and ocean trade to collect more commercial taxes, and increasing the clarification and processing of specialized commodities such as salt. Retrace.

No matter which one it is, it is promoting reform in a positive way!

After thinking about this, Huang Ziwei looked at Jiang Xinghuo who was drinking tea in surprise.

He finally understood why the National Preceptor was so forbearing and giving in at today's financial meeting. He was not only forbearing for the sake of the country, but also had a far-reaching goal.