Seeing the emperor say such heart-wrenching words, everyone present became more and more frightened, and a trace of regret flashed in their hearts.
Then Jiajing came to Yan Song, looked at him condescendingly, and said slowly.
"Yan Song, as the chief minister of the cabinet, do you know about this?"
"Your Majesty, I have no knowledge of this matter at all!"
Seeing the emperor walking in front of him, Yan Song's face became even more frightened and uneasy, and he saw large drops of sweat rolling down his forehead.
After listening to Yan Song's explanation, Jiajing didn't care, and walked back to the dragon chair at a leisurely pace and sat down.
"Do you still remember how much salt tax the imperial court collected last year?"
After Jiajing finished speaking, he kept to himself without waiting for anyone to reply.
"That's right, less than 1.2 million taels of silver."
After Jiajing finished speaking, he deliberately paused for a moment, poured himself a cup of hot tea, and then continued.
"Hmph, think of me, the two capitals and thirteen provinces in the Ming Dynasty only collected less than 1.2 million taels of salt tax! This is really ironic."
"According to the salt merchants in Jiangxi, every year when the imperial court sends people to collect the salt tax, they will pay an extra part, and the extra part ranges from five to six million taels to six to seven million taels!"
"Last year, the imperial court collected a total of less than 1.2 million taels of silver, and the extra portion turned over by the salt merchants alone amounted to 5 million taels."
"So, I want to ask you, where did this money go?"
After Jiajing finished speaking, he looked quite calm and glanced at everyone present.
At this moment, everyone was kneeling on the ground tremblingly, and no one dared to answer the emperor's question.
"You damn insects, you are trying to dig up the roots of my Ming Dynasty, do you know that?"
"Also, was this canal built in the Ming Dynasty built for you?"
"My money!"
After Jiajing said that, he picked up the teacup on the side and threw it at Yan Song's position.
There was just a crisp sound of 'bang', and the tea cup shattered beside Yan Song and turned into countless ceramic shards. The tea in the cup just spilled on the ground, still steaming a little.
Everyone present was frightened by the emperor's sudden move.
Especially Yan Song, at this moment, his brain has shut down, his whole face is pale, his whole body is trembling, and he is just stunned in place.
"Your Majesty, please calm down!"
Lu Fang, who was on the side, saw this situation and quickly comforted her.
"Your Majesty, please calm down!"
After Lu Fang, the remaining people followed closely and offered consolation.
Jiajing was seen stroking the dragon head carved on the dragon chair, scanning the crowd again with a disdainful gaze, and giving instructions.
"After this cabinet meeting is over, you must give me an explanation!"
"Otherwise, just wait for the Jin Yiwei to come to your door."
"Do you understand everything?"
Seeing that the emperor has given an ultimatum, everyone present still doesn't understand. If they don't follow what the emperor said, everyone will have to finish playing together tonight at the latest!
"Your Majesty, we will find out the specific reason and recover all the stolen money!"
Xu Jie looked at Yan Song who was already in a daze, gritted his teeth, stood up, and promised Jiajing.
"Well, that's right. Since Mr. Xu Ge is willing to make this promise, I will wait for your good news."
"Sit, everyone, sit down."
After Jiajing received Xu Jie's assurance, he calmed down instantly, with a warm smile on his face, and said to everyone, as if the previous storms did not exist.
The emperor's face changed so quickly, which made everyone present feel a sense of unreality, and then they became even more afraid of Jiajing.
"Yan Song, why are you still standing there? Come back to your seat and sit down."
Jiajing couldn't help but frowned when he saw Yan Song still standing there, stunned, and said so.
"Wei Chen obeys your orders!"
It wasn't until this moment that Yan Song realized what he was doing. After bowing tremblingly to Jiajing, he returned to his seat and sat down.
Immediately, with a 'ding' sound, Jiajing knocked on the jade pan beside him, which also meant that the cabinet meeting had officially begun!
Shortly after the sound of jade pan sounded, Gao Gong stood up and asked Jiajing.
"Your Majesty, since the last time the Maritime Trade Department released the news that the first batch of sea voyage certificates will be auctioned, a large number of wealthy businessmen have gathered in the capital!"
"Therefore, I sincerely request your Majesty that the government will take the lead in organizing an auction to auction off all the first batch of thirty sea voyage certificates."
"In this way, we can at least increase the income of six million taels for the court."
After listening to Gao Gong's suggestion, Jiajing waved his hand and responded.
"Well, I'm sure. You, the Maritime Trade Department, can take care of it yourself."
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
When Gao Gong saw that Jiajing had agreed to his proposal, he couldn't hide the excitement on his face. This meant that the Maritime Trade Department under his jurisdiction was finally useful.
When Jiajing saw Gao Gong proposing that the auction of sea voyage certificates would bring at least six million taels of income to the court, he looked at Xu Jie and asked.
"By the way, how is the current expansion of the treasury going?"
When Xu Jie saw the emperor asking him about the progress of the treasury expansion, he immediately became confident.
"Your Majesty, the treasury has been basically expanded and will be officially put into use soon."
After hearing Xu Jie's answer, Jiajing nodded and encouraged.
"Well, you did a good job. Next, there will be a batch of silver that will be added to the treasury. Please ask the people in the Ministry of Accounts to prepare in advance!"
"May I ask Your Majesty, what is the approximate amount of the next batch of silver? It's better for me to prepare in advance."
Seeing this, Xu Jie asked Jiajing after hesitating for a moment.
"It seems to be fifty million taels!"
After Jiajing recalled for a moment, he gave the answer.
"What? Fifty million taels!"
After everyone present learned this specific number from the emperor's mouth, they couldn't help but take a breath and then said in surprise.
Jiajing seemed to have seen what everyone was thinking, and then explained.
"These fifty million taels of silver were confiscated by Hu Zongxian from the homes of those salt merchants."
"I have to say, these salt merchants are really rich!"
When Jiajing said this, he couldn't help but sigh.
At this moment, Xu Jie on the side was still thinking about the manpower needed to count 50 million taels of silver!
As the Minister of Household Affairs, he knows very well how much money the treasury currently has.
Previously, the silver taels stored in the national treasury had to be counted in hundreds of millions. Adding in the 50 million taels of silver that will be sent to the national treasury, the current silver taels stored in the national treasury has exceeded 200 million!
And this is equivalent to almost ten years of taxes in the Ming Dynasty!
"Do you know what means these salt merchants relied on to accumulate such a huge amount of wealth?"
Jiajing then turned his gaze to everyone and asked.
"Your Majesty, according to Wei Chen, most of these salt merchants relied on selling private salt and reselling salt, thus accumulating such a huge wealth."
"And all of this is based on the Kaizhong method implemented by the imperial court!"
"In order to save money, the imperial court asked these merchants to transport grain, horses and other materials to more remote areas to ensure the smooth supply of materials."
"And the imperial court provides them with salt based on the amount of materials they transport, and this is also the basis for the rise of this group of salt merchants!"
Seeing the emperor mention this aspect, Yan Song, who had been silent, immediately stood up and gave his answer.
(End of chapter)