One day, Han Du was summoned to the palace.
Seeing Tang He, Minister of War Shen Shu, Minister of Household Yang Jing and others all present, combined with Zhu Biao's reminder two days ago, Han Du had already made a guess in his mind. In this battle, I'm afraid Lao Zhu really wants to take action against Meng Yuan.
Sure enough, Lao Zhu asked Yang Jing about the situation of the treasury.
"Yang Aiqing, how much money does the treasury have now?"
Yang Jing is obviously only in his forties, but his face is full of vicissitudes of life. I don’t know whether he was born like this or whether he was tortured as an official under Lao Zhu.
When asked by Lao Zhu, Yang Jing quickly stood up and bowed and said: "Your Majesty, last year's "rent transfer" of the Ministry of Household Affairs collected a total of 11 million yuan in taxes. Last year, the emperor transferred 400 yuan from the Ministry of Household Taxes to collect taxes. Wan Guan. Later, cement roads in Liaodong were built, and another 1.8 million Guan was transferred. In addition to officials' salaries, water conservancy and cement roads were built in various prefectures and counties... Now there are still a few until the autumn harvest. Month, the court still needs to leave enough expenses..."
Yang Jingluo talked a lot, and the last sentence summed it up with two words: "No money!"
No matter whether the Ministry of Revenue really has no money or he pretends to have no money, Yang Jing, as the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, his first priority is not to make money for Lao Zhu, nor to save money for Lao Zhu, but to keep an eye on Lao Zhu. Inner library.
There is no way, who makes Lao Zhu’s inner treasury full of gold, silver and jewelry, making people jealous?
The Jiaofangsi sends 1.2 million yuan into the palace every year. This is something that all officials know. There is also the maritime trade tax collected by the Shipping Department. Although the officials do not know the specific amount, they can guess that each of the people who buy securities earn a lot of money and have hundreds of thousands of dollars in their pockets. What kind of wealth will be there when entering the palace?
Where did the officials get the money? Seeing that the emperor received so much money every year, they suddenly felt uncomfortable even with the treasury. What I was thinking about all day long was not how to protect the treasury in my hands, but how to get the emperor's money out of the inner treasury.
Fortunately, civil servants still disdain overseas affairs and do not know that overseas governor-general offices send millions of coins to Lao Zhu every year. Otherwise, I'm afraid these civil servants would have become jealous and wallowing on the spot.
Lao Zhu obviously also knew the virtues of these civil servants, and had already sealed off the information tightly to guard against them.
Yang Jing's words naturally made Lao Zhu dissatisfied. Lao Zhu looked at him coldly and shouted: "Last year, the Ministry of Revenue even stopped giving me money to put into the internal treasury. You actually said you have no money?"
"Your Majesty, the Ministry of Revenue does still have some money, but these are prepared for official salaries and expenses in the next few months. If the Emperor wants to go to the north, he really doesn't have any extra money." Yang Jing was dead. Not afraid of being scalded by boiling water, he looked like he wanted money but his life.
Lao Zhu stared at Yang Jing with wide eyes. How could he not know what he was paying attention to? At this time, Lao Zhu regretted that he should not have subsidized part of it out of his own pocket when Naha was recruited last year. As a result, the money was exposed and these civil servants were worried.
Lao Zhu was too impatient at the beginning. After the Ministry of Revenue allocated 4 million yuan, the Ministry of Revenue complained that there was no money. As a result, Lao Zhu was afraid of missing the opportunity to attack Naha, so he did not hesitate to spend two million yuan to supplement it.
When the civil servants saw that the emperor had taken out two million strings, he didn't even bother to use them. Is that okay? A thoughtful person carefully investigated the emperor's income and suddenly discovered that the emperor had an income of several million yuan every year, which was almost equivalent to half of the national treasury.
Lao Zhu alone accounted for half of the revenue of the national treasury, which naturally caused dissatisfaction among the civil servants. In their view, since it is a tax, it should all be collected into the national treasury and then distributed to the national treasury. How could so much be withheld privately? ? Even if you are an emperor, that won't work.
Therefore, there is this scene now.
Anyway, Yang Jing made up his mind. As long as the emperor did not agree to let the maritime trade tax of the Shipping Department go to the Ministry of Revenue, he would kill the Ministry of Revenue and have no money.
Lao Zhu sneered twice, but did not get angry at Yang Jing, let alone dismiss him directly. Because Lao Zhu knew that the civil servants were jealous of his income. Even if he dismissed Yang Jing and appointed a new minister of the Ministry of Revenue, he would not give him any money.
"Your Majesty," Lao Zhu's sneer was extremely oppressive, and Yang Jing couldn't bear it, so he had to bite the bullet and said: "Since Naha was conquered last year, the Ministry of Finance's money has been extremely tight, and it has always been able to live within its means. Now the Ministry of Revenue only has more than two million taels of silver in reserve. If it is used rashly, the court will not be able to pay officials' salaries in the next few months."
As he said that, Yang Jing glanced at Lao Zhu who was full of anger, and with a calculation in mind, he carefully tried: "However, if the emperor can transfer the sea trade tax of the Shipping Department to the Ministry of Revenue, then the Ministry of Revenue can Take out all this money. After all, in more than a month, it will be the day when the maritime merchants return, and then the gap in the Ministry of Revenue can be made up with the maritime trade tax."
If you want money, exchange it for sea trade tax. This is the calculation of the civil servants.
Lao Zhu was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and then fell into silence. With more than two million taels of silver, you want to take away the sea trade tax. What are you dreaming about? Just from the sea trade tax last year, Lao Zhu earned more than 7 million taels. I want to buy the sea trade tax for more than two million taels. This is simply a cheap sale. It cannot be sold at a lower price. Unless Lao Zhu is mentally ill, it is simply impossible.
Moreover, Lao Zhu also realized clearly that if Yang Jing knew the annual income from sea trade tax, he would definitely not come up with such a whimsical idea. Since he said this, it means that he does not know the annual income of sea trade tax at all. I am afraid that such a civil servant thought that sea trade tax was only more than one million guan every year. Only in this way will they think of taking advantage of me and selling them the sea trade tax while I continue to use money.
After Lao Zhu figured it out, he immediately knew that he must not let the civil servants know about the sea trade tax, and he quickly glanced at Han Du.
Han Du nodded slightly and smiled understandingly. 'These civil servants really think of themselves as noble. I'm afraid they simply look down on overseas earnings and don't have a clear understanding of sea trade tax. Since Lao Zhu gave instructions again, Han Du naturally wouldn't talk too much. Just let these civil servants immerse themselves in their world and entertain themselves until they die. '
Lao Zhu did not consider selling the sea trade tax to the Ministry of Household Affairs at all, but he could not refuse Yang Jing's proposal. If Lao Zhu refused directly, then all fools would know that the revenue from sea trade tax must be greater than they thought, otherwise the emperor would not be indifferent to more than two million taels of silver.
Therefore, it is necessary to find a
As an excuse, he asked for the money from the Ministry of Revenue without paying the sea trade tax.
After pondering for a moment, Lao Zhu shook his head slightly and said: "The sea trade tax is collected for the Navy to fight against the Japanese pirates. If it is used for other purposes, how can the Navy have enough energy to wipe out the Japanese pirates? Since the Ministry of Revenue still has more than two million taels of silver, then Let’s call two million taels first.”
When Yang Jing heard that not only was there no chance of sea trade tax, but the emperor also wanted the Ministry of Household Affairs to come up with two million taels of silver, he immediately became anxious. Wouldn't this mean losing his wife and losing his troops?
"Your Majesty, this money is the salary of officials and the roads and rivers that need to be built in all prefectures and counties in the world. If two million are transferred away, won't the Ministry of Revenue not even be able to pay the salaries of hundreds of officials? The world. If the river works are not repaired, it will probably have a big impact on this year’s food supply.”
Lao Zhu looked at Yang Jing seriously for a few times, and then sneered at the corner of his mouth, "Didn't this river repair work last year?"
"Go, last year? Go back to the emperor. Of course, he also repaired it last year." Yang Jing suddenly broke out in cold sweat on his forehead.
Lao Zhu stood up from the dragon chair, walked towards Yang Jing step by step, walked directly in front of him, looked down at Yang Jing who was bowing in front of him, and asked sternly: "This river construction has been repaired every year. , don’t think that I don’t know anything. I will give you one last sentence, at least one and a half million taels will be allocated to me.”
Rivers are repaired every year. Although some rivers are really washed away by floods, most of them are not a problem. After all, floods cannot happen everywhere in the world. In some places, there is very little rain all year round. Woolen cloth. Some rivers simply need simple cleaning and that's all.
"The Great Luo of All Worlds"
And the reason why every prefecture and county in the world reports that they need money to repair rivers is because money is more expensive than money. When you get there, just tidy up the river and you can put the money in your pocket. Even if there is a flood in the future and the river channel is washed away, they are not afraid, so they will continue to submit reports next year and ask for money to be allocated for repairs.
He didn't believe that Yang Jing, the Minister of Household Affairs, didn't know what Lao Zhu himself knew. It's just that now everything is focused on the overall situation, and Lao Zhu has no time to deal with these people.
Lao Zhu used his power to suppress others, but Yang Jing was more free and easy. He simply took off the official hat on his head, knelt down and placed it in front of the emperor. "I have few talents and little knowledge, and it is difficult for me to hold a big position. I would like to beg for my bones and ask your Majesty to choose another capable person."
Are you resigning? Are you giving up your job? Han Du was a little surprised at Yang Jing's courage.
Lao Zhu was not one of those snot-nosed emperors of the former Song Dynasty. The Emperor of Song Dynasty would try his best to keep his ministers begging for their bones. In Lao Zhu's view, giving you an official position means that Lao Zhu thinks highly of you. If you don't know what's good and what's good, it won't be begging for bones, it will really become a pile of bones.
But in the face of Yang Jing's provocation, Lao Zhu actually endured it, looked at Yang Jing angrily for a long time, and shouted sternly: "One million taels, this is my bottom line, not even a penny less. If you dare to say more, what do you think? I don’t dare to kill you?”
Yang Jing quickly picked up his official hat and put it on again, straightened his clothes and bowed again: "I obey your decree."
When Lao Zhu saw that Yang Jing finally agreed, his anger dissipated a lot. He glanced at him who was kneeling on the ground angrily, and said calmly: "Get up."
When Yang Jing heard this, he got up from the ground and felt deeply that it was not easy to be an official in the Ming Dynasty.
