The morning bell of the Forbidden City awakens the silent world.
There is always a faint mist lingering in the Forbidden City in early winter. When the heavy palace doors open, countless officials file in according to their rank and rank, with solemn faces.
Today is the Fengtian Hall Great Court Meeting, and only a few officials of sixth rank or above in Beijing are attending.
The civil and military ministers entered through the Meridian Gate and divided into two columns to stop in front of the Meridian Gate.
Then, the long morning bells in the Forbidden City turned into the shocking sound of drums, and the civil and military ministers lined up to enter the palace through the small gates on both sides of the Meridian Gate, that is, the Axillary Gate. Then they were divided into two sides of the Fengtian Gate according to their grades.
When the drum beat fell, several guards in flying fish uniforms pressed the embroidered spring knives in their hands, and surrounded a red eunuch to the front of Fengtian Gate.
Snap! Snap!
The crisp sound of whips resounded throughout the palace, and then the officials from the Ministry of Rites sang in unison, "The Holy One has arrived!"
"Long live my emperor! Long live!"
Both inside and outside the hall were filled with the roar of the mountains and the tsunami, and the courtiers bowed respectfully and kowtowed.
Amidst the shouts of long live, Zhu Yunxi, who was dressed in a dragon robe, slowly walked out of the back hall, slightly holding the hem of his dragon robe, and walked up the elixir steps to the dragon chair.
The steps are very long and the dragon chair is very high. Sitting on it, you can have a panoramic view of the mountains and all the ministers inside and outside the hall.
This means that the emperor can see the whole world, but after sitting on it, he realizes that in fact, what he can see is only the front, and the places further away are still hazy.
Similarly, when officials in the distance looked at the emperor on the dragon throne, they were nothing more than black spots.
"Everyone loves you!" Zhu Yunxi said softly.
Afterwards, after repeated requests from the eunuchs and ceremony officers, the officials inside and outside the hall stood up.
"Your Majesty, sir!"
Fu Youwen, the old Minister of Household Affairs, came out of the queue tremblingly.
He is very old and is about to go home to retire. Although he still has the official title of Minister, he no longer pays much attention to other things. Only at such important court meetings, he will be reported as the chief official of the Ministry of Revenue.
Zhu Yunxi has always been a distinguished veteran, especially those who have been highly valued since his father Zhu Biao was still alive. Fu Youwen, the second-rank official of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and the first-rank official of the Crown Prince Taibao, are one of the three princes, and they have the special title of official with a salary.
But judging from these official positions, his honor is no less than that of the various dukes among the founding nobles, or even more.
"Old Minister, please speak!" Zhu Yunxi said from the dragon chair.
"This year's autumn harvest has been completed. Except for three prefectures in Shaanxi that were affected by the disaster, they all had a good harvest. It is truly a rare moment in a century for the country to enjoy peace and prosperity."
"The summer tax revenue of rice and wheat totaled 4,712,900 shi, 288,400 bolts of silk, and 338,900 ingots of silver."
"The autumn grain yielded 2,784,294,50 stones of rice, 59,000 bolts of silk, and 57,000 and thirty ingots of silver."
Counting grain and silk together, the Ming Empire collected 3.06 million tons of grain this year. (The weight of grain in the Ming Dynasty was different from now).
One ingot is worth twenty taels, which means that more than 8.95 million taels of cash were collected.
Silver dollars were popular among the people, but the imperial court collected a full tael of silver. Calculated in this way, more than eight million yuan can increase the income by 30%.
Zhu Yunxi's expression on the dragon throne did not show much joy, and this number did not increase much compared with previous years. If in a few years, when the implementation of the concept of "sharing the land between every liter and every acre" is fully implemented, this number may increase significantly.
increase.
But now it seems that this number is already very good.
All these sums add up to more than 20 million yuan. According to the current land acre statistics, there are 8.6 million hectares of cultivated land in the country. This amount of money cannot be more. If it is more, it will affect the pockets of the people.
This is also the ancestral motto set by the old man. The country needs money, but it cannot take it from the pockets of the people.
However, these are all taxes. There is also a salt tax in Lianghuai, Yunchuan and other places, which is more than 10 million a year. But those taxes are used for military expenses and are not included in the grain tax.
Fu Youwen in the main hall was still talking about various data happily, while Zhu Yunxi was deep in thought.
This kind of tax seems to be a lot, but in the end, there is not much left over for the huge empire expenditure.
Generally speaking, the Ming Dynasty's tax system is still too rigid. At first, the old man thought that since this tax was enough, there should be no need to create other names. It's not that the old man didn't want to collect taxes, he was more afraid that the officials below would use it to collect taxes for the country.
Use it as an excuse to impose arbitrary taxes on the remnants of the people.
However, such a healthy finance is not guaranteed every year. Now that the country is peaceful and the people are strong and the military is strong, what can happen later? This was the case in the Ming Dynasty in history. When land annexation was serious in the mid-term and natural and man-made disasters occurred, it was too late to wake up.
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but sigh secretly.
Historically, after the Ming Dynasty collapsed and collapsed, the emerging Manchu and Qing dynasties learned all the lessons of the Ming Dynasty. Zhang Juzheng's whipping method was replaced by the elite rulers of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and they advanced vigorously, even for this reason.
The scholar-bureaucrats complained and their heads were rolling.
In the early days of the Qing Dynasty, the annual treasury income was as high as 40 million taels.
In the last years of Yongzheng's reign, the treasury had a balance of 60 million taels. Even after Qianlong abdicated, the treasury still had a balance of 19 million taels.
Cash silver, all cash silver!
You must know that from Kangxi to Qianlong, the Manchu Qing Dynasty had a war of external expansion that lasted for seventy years. Especially during the Qianlong period, the Qing army once went on a rampage in Central Asia. Fukang'an led his army across the Himalayas and defeated those who supported Nepal.
The British officer beat him up violently. Kazakhstan and other places have been on the list for many years, requesting it to be attached.
What was the result of the seventy-year-long confrontation with rapid expansion?
It's white silver and yellow gold.
Because of the battles in Mengu and Xiyu, the conflict between the Manchus and Russia at that time continued to intensify, and the border friction became more and more serious. Even because Russia hid the grandson of Dzunggar Khan Tsewang Alabutan, Amulsana, the Manchus and the Qing Dynasties
He even threatened to start a war with you if you don't send people here.
In the end, even though Amursana died of illness in Russia, he could not withstand the military pressure of the Qing Dynasty, and Russia eventually wanted to send his body back.
Even after the Torgut troops returned to the east, the Russian side used the terms of the Treaty of Nerchinsk that stipulated that both sides were not allowed to hide fugitives from the other side. Qianlong directly told him Catherine, do you dare to pursue her?
"If you don't follow my advice, I will definitely not succeed and I will fight you!"
Where did his Qianlong get the confidence? He was still rich with white silver and yellow gold! Not only did he dare to say that he would beat you up, but he also worked with France to impose economic sanctions on Tsarist Russia.
Since ancient times, when has Maozi suffered such a loss? So much so that Catherine wrote in a letter to Voltaire that all the emperors of China were keen on annexation and expansion, and they didn’t know what the word peace was.
Write?
Money is the courage of a hero. If a person has money, he can go sideways.
If a country has money, it can go sideways.
Zhu Yunxi did not like the Manchu Qing Dynasty, but he must also admit that he was better than the Ming Dynasty in finance, healthy finance.
It can be said that before the Sino-Japanese War, the Qing Dynasty's finances were extremely healthy. In 1891, the Qing Dynasty's fiscal revenue was 89 million taels, fiscal expenditures were 79 million taels, and there was a surplus of 1 million taels.
Customs duties amounted to 180,000.
Even before the collapse of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the annual customs clearance amounted to 30 million.
"Be rich, be rich!"
Zhu Yunxi thought secretly in his heart.
But how can we bring healthy and sound finances to Ming Dynasty?
Sea expansion is one aspect, and tax law is another aspect.
But the specific implementation cannot be like Shang Yang's reform.
Only the basic living security is provided to the people, and all other means of production belong to the imperial court.
Because the final result of this situation is that the country will be rich and the people will be poor.
"Your Majesty, in addition to the above-mentioned regular taxes, this year's commercial taxes..."
Suddenly, Zhu Yunxi was shocked.
But the old Fu Youwen started to show off. He glanced at the officials in other ministries with pride and said loudly, "The Ming Dynasty's treasury is far fuller than the previous dynasty."