In fact, Zhu Youxiao had long expected these civil servants to suddenly take issue with financial expenditures.
Zhu Youxiao also knew that Ming's financial system was indeed very bad.
Because the rich and powerful are exempt from taxes.
And the huge profits from the development of the commodity economy have not yet reached the hands of the imperial court.
Therefore, not only did the imperial court's income not increase due to the development of the commodity economy, but on the contrary, it decreased due to the expansion of the tax-free class.
Now that internal and external troubles have intensified, the court's expenditures have also increased, but the court's income has decreased, so it can only increase taxes on the people, which ultimately makes both the court and the people poorer and poorer.
therefore.
Some civil servants who are loyal to the people will try their best to ask the court to save expenses to avoid excessive burden on the people.
The selfish civil servants also hope that the court will save money as much as possible and never have to collect taxes from them in the end.
In the end, the political views within the civil servant group, whether loyal or not, all tended to be the same, and they all hoped that the court would save money and spend as little as possible.
However, in Zhu Youxiao's view, governing the country is not just about saving money, because some things cannot be done well by saving money, and things can even get worse by being too stingy.
Therefore, Zhu Youxiao had no intention of backing down and compromising just because these four ministers asked for money.
Because Zhu Youxiao already had a way to solve Ming Dynasty's financial problems.
There is even the most direct, simple and effective way.
It was just that Zhu Youxiao did not want the world to be too turbulent, and he did not want the emperor to face too much risk, so he chose to train troops and cultivate cronies first, and slowly change the Ming Dynasty's financial predicament.
But if Zhu Youxiao is really pushed into a hurry, Zhu Youxiao will really act like he threatened Sun Chengzong.
The second day.
Li Ruhua, the minister of the Ministry of official affairs, Wang Yingjiao, the minister of the Ministry of household affairs, Zhang Heming, the minister of the Ministry of war, Wang Zuo, the minister of the Ministry of industry, and the cabinet ministers Fang Congzhe, Han Xu and Wang Xiangqian all came to Zhu Youxiao.
Originally, the four ministers thought that after so many days after the inscription was published, the emperor would stay in China and ignore them like Wanli.
But the four ministers did not expect that His Majesty the Emperor would suddenly summon them.
The four ministers were naturally very happy because of this. They all thought that the emperor still cared about the life and death of the soldiers and civilians in the world, and also cared about his own country, and as long as he cared, he would know how to do Liao affairs.
As soon as the four ministers arrived at the Qianqing Palace, they bowed to Zhu Youxiao. Zhu Youxiao looked at Zhang Heming first and said, "The Ministry of War first asked, how much silver does the imperial court owe the world's military pay?"
Zhang Heming was a little surprised. He thought the emperor would teach him a lesson and try to persuade him to support Xiong Tingbi's strategy or dismiss him directly. However, he did not expect that the emperor would directly ask him how much money he owed in salary.
Zhang Heming had no choice but to answer truthfully: "Since the Temple Dynasty, more than 5.64 million taels of wages have been owed."
Zhu Youxiao nodded and looked at the cabinet ministers and the eunuch Bingbi: "Immediately draw up an edict to approve the red, and allocate 5.8 million taels of silver from the internal funds to the Ministry of War to pay the owed wages. The more money will be used." For losses on the road, you must not send short hair to the border troops."
Zhang Heming was astonished. He did not expect that His Majesty the Emperor would directly appropriate the funds, so he had to reply: "Your Majesty is wise!"
Then, Zhu Youxiao asked Wang Yingjiao, the Minister of Household Affairs: "Wang Aiqing, how much silver will be needed to transport food to Liaodong next?"
Wang Yingjiao replied: "To report back to Your Majesty, I need more than 3.12 million taels."
Therefore, Zhu Youxiao asked: "How much silver does the Ministry of Household Affairs currently have?"
Wang Yingjiao replied: "We are still short of more than 678,000 taels!"
Zhu Youxiao nodded. He did not blame Wang Yingjiao for the deficit in the household department.
Because Zhu Youxiao knew that Wang Yingjiao had been transferred to the position of Minister of Hubu in Nanjing not long ago, this shortfall was not caused by him.
The Minister of Household Affairs before Wang Yingjiao was Li Ruhua.
Li Ruhua replaced Zhou Jiamo, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, who had been found guilty of corruption due to his resignation as the new Minister of the Ministry of Personnel.
But Zhu Youxiao also knew that Li Ruhua had solved the problems of officials embezzling military resources and reclaiming wasteland in Gansu in history, and he was considered a capable minister. Before the deficit of the Ministry of Household Affairs, the starting price was one million taels. During Li Ruhua's tenure as Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, Reducing the deficit to hundreds of thousands taels can be considered a contribution.
Therefore, Zhu Youxiao did not intend to blame Li Ruhua.
Of course, Zhu Youxiao had no intention of rewarding Li Ruhua for this.
Because according to Zhu Youxiao's knowledge, Li Ruhua's method of solving the shortage of silver in the Ministry of Household Affairs was just to blindly give money to the people.
In Zhu Youxiao's view, although Li Ruhua was capable, in the end he was just a civil servant who did not dare to betray his own class. The only way he could think of to solve the financial problem was to cut off the flesh of the people, rather than attack the powerful gentry.
Therefore, Zhu Youxiao still only ordered the cabinet and the Supervisor of Ceremonies: "Allocate 4 million taels of internal funds to the Ministry of Household Affairs!"
"Your Majesty, Holy Might!"
Wang Yingjiao hurriedly replied, feeling relieved and thinking to himself that His Majesty is really generous.
Zhu Youxiao just sneered and thought to himself: "Of course I was a saint when I gave you money! When I asked you for money, you didn't know what you would scold me for!"
Then, Zhu Youxiao asked Wang Zuo, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, "Wang Aiqing, how much more silver is needed for the construction of the imperial mausoleum and the three main halls?"
"Your Majesty, we still need more than 3 million taels for the imperial mausoleum, and 3.4 million taels for wood harvesting and manual transportation for the three main halls!"
Wang Zuo, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, replied.
“Dip the internal money!”
Zhu Youxiao replied.
"According to the order!"
Fang Congzhe and others immediately replied.
Zhu Youxiao continued to ask Li Ruhua, the Minister of Civil Affairs: "How many taels are owed to officials?"
Li Ruhua replied: "Reporting to your Majesty, I already owe one million and sixty thousand taels of salary."
"I'm still planning to use my internal funds to make money and get riches! You won't stop until I empty out my internal funds!"
Zhu Youxiao said something.
"Your Majesty is as benevolent as heaven, and I would like to express my gratitude to Your Majesty on behalf of all the ministers in the world!"
Li Ruhua replied with some embarrassment.
At this time, Wang Yingjiao saw that His Majesty the Emperor was so generous, so he boldly stood up and said, "Your Majesty! I still have something to report."
Zhu Youxiao waved his hand and said: "Speak."
"The earthquake in Guangyuan and the severe drought in Henan two years ago required no less than two million taels of relief money, but His Majesty just allocated four million taels of internal funds to the Ministry of Household Affairs, which is still not enough."
Wang Yingjiao replied tremblingly.
Seeing this, Wei Zhongxian couldn't help but stand up.
He really wants to ask you civil servants, do you still want to let the emperor live? The emperor now needs money to raise new troops and increase the strength of the factory guards. If this continues, the emperor will not have much money left!
But Wei Zhongxian finally stood back and decided to see the emperor's reaction before acting.
Zhang Heming raised his eyebrows when he saw this, and laughed secretly with schadenfreude, saying to himself: "Your Majesty, you don't really think that just by confiscating a few houses, you will be enough for the court. Mr. Wang is really a loyal minister who dares to ask for orders for the people!"
But Fang Congzhe felt that Wang Yingjiao had gone too far, thinking that you can't only have the people in your heart and not your Majesty.
In order to avoid Wang Yingjiao being blamed by the emperor, and also to avoid too much conflict between the civil servants and the emperor.
Fang Congzhe stood up and said: "Your Majesty! In my opinion, enough internal funds have been allocated. If we allocate more, it will be a hardship to the emperor and it will also appear that our civil servants are incompetent! It is better to suffer the people first." , let the Ministry of Revenue use the remaining 200,000 taels for urgent needs, and then find a way to move it elsewhere."
When Wang Yingjiao saw what Fang Congzhe said, he couldn't help but look embarrassed and looked at Zhu Youxiao eagerly.
