The establishment of Anmincang appeared in the emperor's mind and was naturally discussed in the imperial meeting.
There are only five people in the miniature version of the Imperial Council.
The emperor is in the middle, and four people are arranged on both sides.
The cabinet at this time, after years of development in the Shaowu Dynasty, had truly become a decision-making department.
The eight ministries and nine ministers are his subordinates and have only executive power.
In the past, the Great Imperial Council, where all six departments could participate in the meeting, was naturally reduced a lot.
After all, according to Chinese rules, small meetings are held for big things and big meetings are held for small things.
In this way, the cabinet centralization system with Ming characteristics was naturally formed.
Of course, since the number of people in the cabinet is uncertain, the division of power is not so rigid.
In other words, except for the fact that the chief minister of the cabinet usually controls the Ministry of Finance, other ministries rely on game and prestige to fight for themselves.
Of course, if there is help from the emperor, it will be very ordinary.
For example, the Ministry of Personnel was originally chaired by Feng Xianzong, but all matters related to the Ministry of Punishments were drafted by him, confirmed in cabinet meetings, and then approved by the emperor.
But if the emperor repeatedly rejects or rejects his proposal, it will naturally affect his control over the Ministry of Punishment.
Prestige, ability, and imperial favor are all indispensable, and all three are equally important.
Today, the first assistant of the cabinet, Yan Chongxin, is in charge of the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and the Ministry of Rites; the second assistant, Zhu Mou, is in charge of the Ministry of Household and the Ministry of Industry.
Feng Xianzong was in charge of the personnel department.
Du Yinxi was in charge of the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of War.
In their respective departments, they naturally have the absolute right to speak, and when it comes to personnel matters, especially officials above the fifth rank, they naturally have to compromise with each other to get things done.
The cabinet recommendation list must have at least three people.
If there is no satisfactory candidate, the emperor can also add candidates on his own. This is his prerogative.
As for military power, the Beijing camp, frontier troops, and patrol camps are the emperor's voice, and the cabinet's suggestion power depends on the emperor's eyes.
In addition, as a supervisory department, Zhu Yixi learned deeply about the situation in the previous Ming Dynasty when supervision was out of control and the censors lined up to take off their pants and hit the imperial cane.
The imperial censor system of the Song Dynasty was good.
Therefore, all officials of the Metropolitan Procuratorate are appointed and removed by the emperor, and the cabinet cannot interfere.
At the same time, the power to advise the emperor was all concentrated in the hands of the censors of the left and right capitals, the censors of the left and deputy capitals, and the censors of the left and right capitals.
The six of them can directly impeach eight members of the cabinet and are also responsible for admonishing the emperor.
The remaining supervisory censors and others can only impeach officials below the second rank.
In this way, there will no longer be the annoying problem of the past where little miscellaneous fish dared to criticize and pick bones in the emperor's eggs.
The Inspectorate oversees hundreds of officials and can monitor the cabinet very well.
Therefore, Zhu Yixi would not be able to do things like Zhu Yuanzhang who is too suspicious, clings to everything, or has his own opinions on everything.
Appropriate delegation of authority is correct in a sense.
Now, as the autumn harvest ends in August, the leaders of the Ming Dynasty gather together to discuss the autumn tax.
Although the autumn harvest will not be collected into the national treasury until March next year, the autumn taxes from various places have already been recorded in the eucalyptus and sent all the way to Beijing.
Yan Chongxin's face showed genuine joy:
"Your Majesty, thanks to the great blessings of our ancestors, this autumn's tax has reached a new high. When converted into silver dollars, it has reached 40 million. If the autumn and winter business taxes are added, it is not difficult to exceed 90 million."
Agricultural taxes are levied in summer and autumn, while commercial taxes, considering the current difficulty, are naturally divided into four seasons and are paid once in March.
The same goes for the four major heavily taxed groups including salt, iron, wine, and tea, saving manpower.
"Ninety million——"
Zhu Yixi was deeply moved.
This has exceeded the taxation during the heyday of the Qing Dynasty, of course, this does not include the late Qing Dynasty.
It is very rare for a dynasty like the Manchu and Qing dynasties to get richer and richer in the treasury as the country subjugates.
All of this must be attributed to the Englishman Hurd, who worked hard to establish the modern customs system for the Qing Dynasty. He worked hard and without complaint for forty years. He was honest and not corrupt. The longevity of the Manchu Dynasty depended on him.
"How much is the commercial tax? How much is the agricultural tax?"
When the emperor asked, Yan Chongxin naturally responded quickly. All this was already in his mind:
"Your Majesty, since there are three levels of agricultural tax in the world, the highest is only three cents (thirty liters). It can be said that it is a light corvee and a small amount of tax. The people love it and everyone praises the birth of the Holy King..."
The so-called third-class agricultural tax actually happened in the early years of Shaowu.
Unlike the previous feudal dynasties, all land was designated as upper, middle and lower third-class fields, and different tax levels were levied on different levels.
For a feudal dynasty with few officials and many people, this was simply not a job that an individual could do.
Therefore, many gentry bribed government officials to convert their upper fields into lower fields and pay less taxes.
But in the Shaowu Dynasty, it was divided according to provinces, and all the land in each province was classified as the same.
For example, in the prosperous south such as Jiangsu, Anhui, and Jiangxi, it is a first-class land, and the payment is thirty cents per mu.
Shuntian Prefecture and Hebei Province are in the second class, paying twenty cash per mu.
Barren provinces such as Gansu, Shaanxi, and Yunnan were all considered third class, with a tax of ten cents per mu.
It seems that this kind of tax is very low, but in fact, it is moderate, at least not as high as the thirty-one tax in the early Ming Dynasty.
Many people say that ten taxes and one tax is appropriate, but they ignore the reality.
For 100 kilograms of rice, according to today's shelling rate, the best is only seven layers, which means you can get 70 kilograms of rice.
And the worst is only 50%.
Also include the cost of stone grinding.
Therefore, for ordinary people, if the grain yield per mu is 300 kilograms, the most they can really get is about 150 kilograms.
Thirty coins, the market price can buy three dou, which is thirty kilograms.
However, the purchase price of the grain merchants has dropped by more than 10%. Only 30 jin can be obtained by selling 40 kilograms.
Forty to one hundred and fifty.
In conversion, it is between three taxes and one to four taxes and one.
It's already considered a heavy tax.
For people like Gansu and Shaanxi, where one acre of land costs one to two hundred kilograms, ten cents is not much, but they still have to sell at least twenty or thirty kilograms of grain in exchange for it, which can even reach half of the net weight after shelling.
After paying taxes, the remaining grain is not enough to eat, so many people will exchange refined grain for coarse grain.
Many farmers have been busy all year long and cannot even eat rice once during the Chinese New Year.
Also considering such heavy taxation, the emperor exempted the Ding tax, also known as the population tax, thus promoting the population explosion.
The so-called apportionment of Ding into acres means that the Ding tax is spread into the land. In other words, those with land pay more tax, and those without land do not pay Ding tax.
Now Zhu Yixi has taken the step to directly exempt the Ding tax.
And this so-called Ding tax should not have been levied long ago.
Because one of Zhang Juzheng's whipping methods is to classify all regular taxes and miscellaneous taxes as field taxes, including Ding taxes.
Later, the Ding tax was naturally levied again, and the increased land tax was not reduced at all.
"Okay, stop flattering me and get down to business."
Yan Chongxin then stopped and said, "Most of the autumn taxes are in the south, so only fifteen provinces can collect them, which amounts to nearly 20 million yuan."
"But commercial taxes have increased, reaching 8 million, miscellaneous taxes 4 million (wine, salt, tea, iron), customs duties (canal) 3 million..."
"The remaining five million yuan was handed over by the three governor-general offices of Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Luzon, among others."
Commercial taxes are paid in March, which is 15 million this autumn. However, the autumn is very cold, so the commercial tax could be collected at 50 million a year ago.
The rest of this part mainly consists of three parts:
The Ministry of Industry earns income from casting silver and copper coins.
The vassal states paid tribute.
Mining tax.
Especially for mining taxes, with the large-scale application of coal, iron, lime, etc., the mining industry continues to develop, and taxation is naturally efficient.
As the emperor, Jinyiwei and Dongchang are the eyes and ears, and the secret box is the hidden line. Zhu Yixi knows this very well.
"In my humble opinion, in Shaowu's eighteenth year, there was an increase of nearly five million compared to last year, and the total could reach ninety-four million.
The contribution of the three governor's mansions lies in one, and the other is salt tax and other miscellaneous taxes. "
"Business taxes are also increasing day by day."
Yan Chongxin's face was full of smiles.
The same is true for several members of the cabinet.
Because this kind of finance is really too generous.
The Beijing camp, frontier troops, and patrol battalions, a total of 6.7 million troops, consume no more than 30 million yuan a year.
The official salary is 20 million yuan.
Coupled with some miscellaneous expenditures, such as building river embankments, the official road could cost tens of millions.
The annual surplus can reach 30 million.
With the increase in population and business taxes, taxes are also increasing, and this surplus is also growing.
For more than ten years, even though the emperor used troops every year, thanks to the existence of the budget system, the income has always been greater than the expenditure.
Therefore, the household department's silver deposits have exceeded 200 million silver yuan, and the grain deposits have been 20 million shi.
It was enough to last the imperial court for more than three years.
It's like being extremely rich.
As the emperor's internal revenue, the customs revenue exceeded 20 million yuan per year.
If there was a wealth ranking in this world, Zhu Yixi could proudly say that he was the richest man in the world.
There are nearly 100 million silver coins lying in the internal funds, as well as a large amount of antique jewelry.
"In my opinion, you have overlooked one factor, the vassal state."
Zhu Yixi shook her head, directly ending their intoxication.
The elders were puzzled, but they did not dare to question, but looked at the emperor seriously.
"The people of the Qin State exceed five million, and they have many needs. They rely on the Ming Dynasty, and the most important thing in the country is food, which is harvested three times a year."
"The King of Qin is going to Shu. The Qin State can transport at least five million shi of grain to the capital every year."
"At that time, even if the world is in turmoil, just like during the Chongzhen period, how can the imperial court have food problems?"
"Your Majesty is wise." Zhu Mou hurriedly put on a smile, as if he had suddenly realized: "The two countries have close exchanges, and the two countries will definitely benefit from it, and the commercial tax will inevitably increase significantly."
"The benefits can be expected."
Yan Chongxin glanced at Zhu Mou angrily. He should be the one responsible for flattering him. How dare the second assistant go offside?
He was full of admiration and said: "If a province is established in Annan, the imperial court suppresses it by using troops every year, and now it is easy to reap the benefits without any effort. It shows how far-sighted your Majesty is in insisting on enclosing the country as a vassal!"
"Only the sages Yao and Shun in ancient times can be compared."
Du Yinxi also lamented: "Now Qi has also discovered gold mines, and its coins are still used in our country. When the time comes to exchange gold for money, the court will also make a lot of money!"
The cabinet was suddenly reduced to a place of flattery, but the emperor was quite pleased with himself and accepted it as soon as possible.
After being the emperor for so many years, he has adapted.
Therefore, after a moment, he said loudly: "For the benefit of the vassal state, whether it is food or money, although it costs more at the beginning, for the court, the benefits outweigh the disadvantages."
"I've preached this truth thousands of times, but it's not as good as pocketing it."
"Your Majesty, since Qin has grain, why not let Hebei, Liaodong and other places collect money? Requisitioning grain would be too troublesome."
Feng Xianzong's eyes lit up and he said softly: "After all, collecting food is too much trouble for the people."
If the food is of the highest quality, it has to be transported to the county seat itself. Finally, the court has to send people to transport it to the capital. How can it be described as a trouble?
It's simply too much trouble.
"The food of Qin?"
Zhu Yixi chuckled and said: "If we yearn for Qin every year, then aren't we begging for them?"
"For food, you mainly have to rely on yourself. Qin is just supplementing it."
At the end, we talked about the rewards for Anxi soldiers.
After every battle, rewards and logistics are the biggest costs.
However, the imperial court gained little from taking over the Bukhara Khanate, and occupying space for the King of Liao was naturally a loss-making business.
After some calculations, even if the merits were not counted, the court had a net loss of 800,000 silver dollars.
No matter how wealthy she was, Zhu Yixi couldn't help but frown.
"For my son, for my son, biological, biological..."
After calming down, the emperor said: "The Liao Kingdom has many horses, especially the legendary Dawan Horse, which is very handsome."
"Therefore, using it to improve horse breeds will be of great benefit to our country."
"This battle is worth it."
The four cabinet members also agreed with their faces, but they actually kept their thoughts in their hearts.
…
After the floods in Kaifeng Prefecture were calmed down, the people had opened warehouses to store grain, and when the situation eased, they began to prepare for the future.
At this time, the Princes of Yue, Qi, and Liao in the capital dispatched capable officers to recruit immigrants.
The victims were a burden to the court, but they were the best thing to the Three Kingdoms.
The three kings conquered the country. In any case, it was an armed colonization.
And these disaster victims were the Chinese people in the Western Zhou Dynasty, and they were the foundation of trust.
The three kings fought in chaos in the capital, but they already knew that victory must belong to the King of Qi and the King of Yue, and the King of Liao was basically a foil.
There is no way, Qi State has been built, the land and houses are ready, but there is a shortage of people to move in.
The Yue Kingdom has only one small city on Ezo Island, but it is close enough to allocate land directly.
The Liao Kingdom has just been calmed down, but it may be in chaos. Who is willing to move thousands of miles of land?
Moreover, when the Liao Kingdom was not yet at peace, the court did not allow him to recruit the common people.
Qi State directly opened up a hundred acres of land in Kaifeng, and the benefits of a house were even more tempting:
"Qi is like Jiangnan, with two crops a year. If you don't live a happy life, you won't be hungry at all."
In this way, Qi State recruited ten thousand people at once and gained a lot.
The country of Yue only accepted 3,000 people.
The King of Liao only recruited three to five hundred young men as bodyguards of the palace, and planned to train them in the capital camp to serve as his arms.
"Master, is this true?"
"Is this a lie? The elder said it himself, you can live a happy life if you go there."
On the dilapidated straw mat, Jiang Dakui, his mother-in-law, and three children were drinking porridge from bowls and discussing.
