Just when Zhu Yuanzhang and Jiang Dejing were getting excited about talking, they suddenly saw Wu Mengming hurried over with a team of royal guards.
Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to test Wu Mengming's abilities before leaving without saying goodbye. Now that he saw that he could catch up to this point, his feelings about him changed a little.
Then he thought that Gong Yonggu had complicated things, so he handed over the matter of setting up a grievance drum to Wu Mengming.
Wu Mengming was originally responsible for investigation and other matters, and was very familiar with these violations of law and discipline, so he agreed without hesitation.
Seeing his confident look, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered him to get started immediately, and then set off back to the palace with Jiang Dejing and others.
Because the official administration matter that he had previously discussed with Jiang Dejing still required the coordination of the Ministry of Household Affairs, he asked Wang Chengen to bring Ni Yuanlu and Li Jing to the palace for discussion.
Unexpectedly, Wang Chengen only found Ni Yuanlu, but not Li Jing.
Zhu Yuanzhang thought that Li Jing had been very busy recently raising wages, food, war horses and other matters, so he did not send anyone to find him anymore, but started discussing with Ni Yuanlu and others.
After Ni Yuanlu heard Jiang Dejing's measures to calm the people, she also agreed very much.
But when Jiang Dejing mentioned the required silver and land, he immediately frowned and said nothing.
Seeing this, Zhu Yuanzhang recalled that Li Jing's memorial said that he had recently raided wealthy households, officials, etc., and had accumulated more than 20 million taels of silver. After paying the military salary owed, purchasing grain, and paying rewards, the Ministry of Household Affairs still had a silver deposit. More than ten thousand taels.
And Ni Yuanlu is honest by nature and will never do anything greedy, so the household department should not worry about silver for the time being.
Thinking of this, he said with some confusion: "Ni Qing, we remember that there are more than ten million taels of silver in the household department. Why do you frown and say nothing when you mention the silver taels?"
Ni Yuanlu heard this and said with some embarrassment: "Your Majesty, although the household department has more than 10 million yuan in silver, the clan's salary has not been paid this year. This alone, I estimate that it will cost four to five million taels of silver."
"However, Liaodong still has to pay three to four million taels of silver every year. To counter the rebellion, Dan Ning Nanbo Zuo Liangyu and his army have to pay more than two million taels of military pay."
"This does not include the salaries of other generals and officials. If all of these are included, even if this year's more than three million taels of tax silver are added, there will still be a shortage of about four to five million taels of silver."
Jiang Dejing also served as the Minister of the Transfer Department. Although he did not last long, he also knew something about taxation. After listening to Ni Yuanlu's words, he pondered for a while and said: "Master Ni, your tax bank has not yet calculated the food tax."
"Although these grains are needed to supply the people in the north, they only need to be supported for about half a year. I think there will be some surplus. I wonder if I can move some out?"
Ni Yuanlu shook his head and said: "Mr. Jiang, you are right, but now there are wars everywhere, and there are more and more tax arrears. Last year, there were nearly 30% more tax arrears than in previous years."
"And the long-term transportation of grain from the south to the north will also greatly increase the cost of water transportation, labor, etc. In addition, the south is rich, and the number of slaves kept by the officials and gentry is much higher than that in the north. Due to the lack of labor, labor and other costs are also much higher than in the north. .”
Jiang Dejing sighed helplessly, then braced himself and said: "Master Ni, what you said is a year's fee. Can you use the time difference in the middle to move some money to solve the problems in some areas first?"
"After all, it will take some time for your Majesty to conquer the north. If you can first resettle the people in the capital and other places, it will serve as a demonstration and give people in other places something to look forward to. Secondly, by resettling the people in one place, the court can also save money. The cost of land.”
"If we can make further progress and accumulate a little, it will be a considerable fortune."
Ni Yuanlu pondered for a while and said: "This method is theoretically feasible, but the risk is not small, because once the plan goes awry, military pay cannot be paid in time, which can easily affect the morale of the military."
"Now, thanks to His Majesty's divine power, the war situation has improved. Once the morale of the army is unstable, all previous efforts may be wasted!"
After he finished speaking, he turned to look at Zhu Yuanzhang.
Although Zhu Yuanzhang had accepted Chongzhen's memory, because Chongzhen was not familiar with these specific affairs, and he had been busy with military affairs after waking up and had no time to consult relevant information, so he was not very clear about the financial situation of the imperial court.
At this moment, after listening to the conversation between the two, I had some general impressions in my mind.
However, although Zhu Yuanzhang was not very clear about the current finances, he already had an idea in his mind after listening to the conversation between the two.
Because he was worried that something had been omitted, he asked Shen Zhanran again: "Shen Qing, what do you think about this matter?"
Hearing this, Shen Zhanran bowed and said: "Your Majesty, I think what the two adults said is reasonable. However, although the siege of the capital has been lifted, the rebels are still eyeing us."
"It will take some time for reinforcements from all over the country to arrive, so I think Sir Chiang might as well look for talents first and recruit people to come down the mountain. After the rebels are defeated, the needed silver may be obtained from the rebels!"
Jiang Dejing was a little surprised and said: "Get it from the rebels?"
Shen Zhanran nodded and said: "Yes, I heard that wherever the rebels went, they would pursue stolen goods to support them. The rebels had previously been determined to win the capital, but now they were suddenly defeated, and the silver they gained must still be in the army."
"If we can defeat them before they transport the silver back, we may be able to temporarily relieve our urgent need!"
After hearing what Shen Zhanran said, Ni Yuanlu remembered that Li Ruolian had turned over 200,000 taels of silver to the Ministry of Household Affairs yesterday after the war, and nodded repeatedly: "Yes, Commander Li turned in 200,000 taels of silver yesterday."
"Furthermore, the rebels claimed that they had not paid food for three years, so I guess they have a lot of silver in their hands. If they can really put down the rebellion and support the army, the Ministry of Household's banknotes and taxes should be able to bring peace to the people!"
Zhu Yuanzhang knew that Ni Yuanlu didn't know how to fight, so his idea was too simple. To prevent him from being blindly optimistic, he shook his head and said: "There are nearly one million rebels, and the daily cost is certainly not small."
"In addition, they are not good at managing politics. They make progress but fail to make progress. They only rely on the stolen money to support the army. The so-called three years without food is probably just a lie to deceive people and cannot be taken seriously."
"And even if the rebels have that much silver, we can't get it in one battle. In addition, the military discipline is not strict, and the soldiers will hide it secretly after breaking the city. It's good to get 50%."
"So this law is just a measure for rights and interests. If we want long-term peace and stability, we must reorganize our finances."
Jiang and Ni couldn't help but frowned when they heard this.
Seeing this, Zhu Yuanzhang said in a deep voice: "We intend to restore Taizu's old system and raise troops in the fields. What do you think of this?"
Hearing this, Ni Yuanlu shook his head and said: "Although your Majesty's method is good, it may be difficult to implement. Now the people are running around, and the household registration system established by Taizu has disappeared. If there are people without military registration, if you train a new army again, this cost It must not be small.”
"If we use the current soldiers recruited, most of them will be rebellious and not engaged in production. And even if they are willing to farm, the imperial court will not have that much land for garrisoning troops."
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he looked at Jiang Dejing and said, "Qing Jiang, what do you think of stationing troops?"
Jiang Dejing was silent for a while and said: "Your Majesty, it is a good idea to station in the fields and raise troops. Unfortunately, there is insufficient land now, and solving the land problem will easily shake the foundation of our country, so this matter can only be dealt with slowly."
Zhu Yuanzhang saw that both of them had worried looks on their faces and smiled. Just as he was about to tell the solution, he saw an eunuch hurriedly walked in to report that Li Jing had something to ask for.
