There are three criteria for the recommendation of Lord Chief Assistant. First, he must have a good relationship with himself. If he is Donglin's mortal enemy, there is no possibility of recommendation. Second, at least understand the other party's financial situation. Don't even think about joining the cabinet if you can't come up with ten thousand taels of silver. Thirdly, one must know the weakness of the other party to some extent. He would disdain an upright and honest official like Cheng Guoxiang.
After Yang Sichang was captured, the cabinet lost an elder who knew military matters. Xue Guoguan did not understand military matters. Once the prince asked him about relevant matters, he might not speak, which made the prince unhappy. Therefore, the new foreign aid recommended to the cabinet must have a background in the Ministry of War and be quite proficient in defending against enemies and suppressing bandits. This can greatly reduce the pressure on the chief assistant.
Generally speaking, by reasoning backwards based on what Xue Guoguan described, you will know what the person he recommended is like.
But the whole show needs to be done. Yaoji nodded frequently after hearing this: "Well, what the chief assistant said makes sense, so let's settle it!"
The new generation of the Ming Dynasty's cabinet has been roughly formed. Xue Guoguan was the first assistant, and Zhang Sizhi, Chen Yan, Wei Zhaocheng, and Yao Minggong were second assistants. What a great blessing for the empire!
There is no most pitfalls, only more pitfalls!
I don’t know how the scapegoat would feel when he woke up and found that most of his nobles were gone, the cabinet had undergone major changes, and his close minister Yang Sichang was axed!
Ah ha ha ha ha...
At this moment, Xue Guoguan is more proud of himself. Now the cabinet is filled with people appointed by himself. It can be said that it is an iron wall and is impregnable. It is extremely convenient to do things. Even when Wen Tiren was in office, there had never been such a grand occasion.
From now on, the personnel changes in the Ministry of Personnel, the revenue and expenditure of projects in the Ministry of Household Affairs, the procurement of weapons and equipment by the Ministry of War, the various construction costs of the Ministry of Industry, the expenses of celebrations held by the Ministry of Rites, and the proceeds from the interrogation of criminals by the Ministry of Punishment can all fall into their own pockets. It can be said to be a huge profit!
If the income is 200,000 taels a year, it is all dealt with according to the situation. I think within three years, I can make a huge profit of one million taels, buy a land and a house, and marry a beautiful concubine. Naturally, it is not a problem. In fact, one person is inferior to ten thousand people.
Seeing that the trouble was almost done, Yaoji got back to the business: "Now that the cabinet has been replaced, and all six ministers are here, I will announce something. That is, starting from the beginning of May, the governors of Beizhili, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Henan will be exempted. , Shandong, the five chief envoys, all taxes within their jurisdictions also include three rates. Huguang, Guangxi, Yunnan, and Guizhou all receive 10% of the tax, and South Zhili, Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, and Guangdong all receive 10% of the tax. These five areas collect 20% of the tax, and the three rates are abolished nationwide. The land tax in various places no longer implements the policy of one whip, and is replaced by a corresponding percentage of rice."
I wanted to start implementing it next month, but the backward communication capabilities in ancient times caused a huge delay in the imperial decree. It took one month to not reach all parts of the south at all, so it could only be postponed for one month, maybe two or three months. Initial expansion.
Even so, local officials in various places will continue to collect high land taxes from Nong Min to guard against theft. This is the fundamental reason why they have enough food and clothing, and are rich in gold and silver. The taxes they pay to the court are only a small amount.
As we all know, the fall of the Ming Dynasty began with the dismantling of post stations. Severe famine and tax squeeze were the main reasons for the collapse of the empire.
The additional training salary of more than 7.3 million taels originally ordered to be allocated in June will become a huge amount of 40 to 50 million taels when it reaches the local level.
There was a severe drought in the north, and the people had no income and had to pay heavy taxes. When they were desperate, the only way to survive was to gather people to rebel.
From a substantive analysis, Yang Sichang's "Three Months to Ping Liao" is similar to Yuan's "Five Years to Ping Liao", that is, looking at the moon in the water, it is elusive but out of reach.
In the final analysis, this kind of ill-informed government decree can only quench thirst by drinking poison. Even if Zhang Xianzhong does not rebel again, the fiscal revenue increase plan of the scapegoat will not last long.
What's more, although military pay has increased, after layers of exploitation, there is not much left in the hands of the lower-level soldiers, and most of it has fallen into the pockets of the generals.
In an ideal world, if the Qing army did not enter the pass, the direction of the Ming Dynasty would be the result of the late Tang Dynasty, that is, many commanders would support their own troops, and the vassal kings in various places would break up the soil and rule, which would evolve into a situation of separatist vassal towns.
As the protracted and cruel war continues, about half of the total soldiers will become people who only recognize money and not people.
When the money in Emperor Chongzhen's hands was all spent, they were the ones...
His Royal Highness is wise, and I thought that the tens of thousands of people who have been exempted from taxes will definitely be grateful to His Highness. Your Highness is kind-hearted and considerate of Min's feelings. This is really the best policy for Guang'an Min's heart! "
Xue Guobuan saw that the young prince was very fond of him, and he sought his opinions on the changes of cabinet members, so he was naturally very good at things. No matter what the new decree was, he must keep up with him immediately if he flatters him. This kind of thing must not be allowed to happen to him. Others have taken the lead, not even four secondary assistants.
The Chief Assistant has made up his mind that no matter what the prince says, he will praise it.
otherwise……
Of the four previous cabinet members, one was jailed and three were dismissed from office. Forty-one distinguished nobles had their residences confiscated by Dongchang. This is no joke. Now that they are waiting to move their property into the palace to set the record straight, these people can probably be executed.
In fact, he was different from Yang Sichang who frequently criticized Chongzhen and demanded higher wages for the poor. Xue Guoguan was more willing to focus on the honorable people, but his few remarks were vetoed by the emperor who was afraid of the honorable group.
The decree promulgated by the prince is very much in line with his wishes. After all, as long as there is a large-scale tax reduction, the lives of the people in the disaster-stricken areas will be somewhat better, which is much better than continuing to increase the three-year salary increase. The consequences of this method of squandering the benefits can only be Changes are constantly taking place.
Zhang Sizhi also understood that he must not remain indifferent at this time. He must let the prince know that he is also the prince. He went out and said: "Your Highness the prince is wise. I will reconsider it. Yang Sichang's previous policy of raising wages is really draining the blood of the people." , it has spread poison to the world, and must never be implemented again. This method of driving people into bandits is harboring evil intentions and is extremely stupid!"
Yang Sichang was imprisoned, but Xue Guoguan did not add insult to injury. However, Zhang Sizhi was not the chief minister. He was still on probation after entering the cabinet, so his official position was not stable. This decided that he would give this former assistant a "final kick", preferably directly to death. If Yang Sichang is reinstated, I'm afraid these new assistants will not be happy.
No matter what you did before or how many great achievements you made, as long as there is a conflict with Zhang Sizhi's official position, he will definitely find an opportunity to kill him. Moreover, Zhang Sizhi also keenly guessed that the young prince did not like to see the emperor's favorite, which gave him the opportunity to kill him.
"Well, Yang Sichang has been imprisoned. There is no need to elaborate here. I will make my own decision!"
If Yaoji wants to kill this guy openly and openly, the slanderous words of "ugly monsters" alone are not enough to be believed, let alone be used as a basis to spread the word to the world.
This cabinet is probably a sycophantic cabinet. It has almost no use other than guarding and stealing.
But it’s okay, autumn is coming soon…
"Where is the Secretary of the Ministry of Finance? Where did you just say it? The Ministry of Finance seemed to have earned 15,280,000 taels last year, right? How much money does the Ministry of Finance have now?"
Talking about money hurts feelings, but if the monarch and his ministers don’t talk about money, then everyone can become an official, but there will be no pension~!
Li Daiwen was afraid of being held responsible, but could not avoid it, so he replied with a slight embarrassment: "Your Highness, the Ministry of Household Affairs still has 410,000 taels of silver in deposit!"
This amount of money can be said to be too much or too little.
As long as Governor Hong, who is campaigning north to Liaodong, asks for help, the Hubu's treasury will be exhausted.
The current financial situation of the Ming Dynasty is that it cannot make ends meet, and money is needed in all directions. As long as the money cannot keep up, the situation will take a turn for the worse, and may even be exhausted.
Prince Cai had just announced in public that Jifu and the five chief secretaries would be exempted from all taxes. This year's annual income would be greatly reduced. Li Daiwen didn't know how to get more money.
Because land tax had previously been the largest source of income for the Ming Empire, if the need for military pay was urgent, it would have been a long-standing agreement between the monarch and his ministers to create additional land tax.
The additional land tax allocated this year is as high as 16 million taels. If all of it is cut off, the Ministry of Household Affairs will be left with very little annual income and will not be able to cope with the huge military expenditures.
The meaning of Yaoji's cutting off the land tax is also very clear. At the end of Chongzhen's reign, there were about one billion acres of land in the country, and only about half of it could be taxed. If we wipe out the disaster-stricken fields north of the Yangtze River, it would be good to have 200 million acres left. .
With a tax of one silver per mu, 200 million acres of land could be taxed at 20 million taels of silver under ideal conditions, but it is impossible to collect all of it. Reaching 80%, that is, 16 million taels of silver, is already considered an excellent achievement.
These are the "three rates". When the money is collected, it will directly lead to nationwide changes. It can be described as a retrograde method. Because the officials below will collect land taxes from the people at the standard of four to five thousand yuan, or even one tael of silver.
"I dare to ask Li Aiqing, if the imperial court is to meet all expenses, what is the minimum annual income required?"
Yaoji first looked at whether the calculations made by the Secretary of the Ministry of Finance were consistent with his own calculations, at least not too different.
Li Daiwen calculated quickly in his mind, and after he had reached a rough number, he calmly said: "Your Majesty, the Crown Prince, the current government support mainly covers several aspects, namely, royal family expenses, military expenses, and disaster relief and pensions." , court officials’ salaries, and engineering construction, if several items are accumulated, it will cost eighteen million taels of silver every year, so Your Highness can sit back and relax!”
As the person in charge of the empire's financial power, Li Daiwen could not go any further. Only by over-reporting expenditures could he collect more taxes, otherwise he would be in danger of being dismissed from office.
The prince just said that he would be exempted from the "three wages". The reason why no one objected was because everyone was afraid of being brought to old age in advance. Although the prince was young, he could just speak the golden mouth, which was an order. If he dared to disobey, he would be punished. It is rebellion and disrespect.
Facts have proved that the current annual income of nearly 16 million taels still cannot meet various expenditures. This was proven during the Chongzhen period and there is no need to argue.
