As the official document from the Ministry of Household Affairs was distributed to the states and counties, the states and counties issued notices again according to the list. The whole Jiangnan was agitated. This time, people were really angry.
When the landlords and gentry saw that the court had really calculated that whoever failed to pay and who paid less would be fined twice as much, they were shocked and angry. They immediately united and went to the Yamen to redress their grievances.
However, other than reporting the matter to the local yamen, the civil servants tried their best to persuade the landlords and gentry to pay the tax as early as possible and not to delay it any longer, otherwise the tax would be five times instead of double next time.
Naturally, the landowners and gentry from all over the country were not willing to pay double the tax for nothing. After seeing that they went to the Yamen to communicate with no results, they united to go on strike and organized their servants to go to the Yamen to cause trouble, hoping to make the matter bigger and force the court to compromise.
, cancel the fine.
If it were any other emperor in ancient times, faced with the collective threat and resistance of the entire Jiangnan landowners and gentry, they would definitely choose to appease the people in order to calm the people.
But Zhu Cixiang simply ignored their strike protest and remained indifferent no matter how fierce the riots were in various places.
Anyway, there are royal shops selling salt, grain, cloth, and there are going to be strikes in various places, so just let them go.
It's okay to go to the government office gate to protest and curse a few words, but you can't use weapons, you can't attack the government office, and you can't attack officials. Otherwise, you will be directly suppressed by rebellion.
The mastermind confiscates the family and kills the clan, and the followers will be killed without mercy.
To this end, 30,000 soldiers and horses were removed from the 100,000 newly recruited troops and sent to various prefectures and counties to strengthen the garrison strength.
The gentry and landlords from all over the country were frightened when they saw that they were making such a fuss and not only did not let the court compromise, but attracted more troops to station.
They also understood the emperor's determination and no longer had any illusions. Some landowners and gentry who had underpaid taxes took their treasure notes to the bank to make up for the payment.
As the date approached, more and more landowners and gentry chose to compromise and honestly paid twice the agricultural tax, which made them all feel regretful.
Although this time it was also concentrated in the last three or four days, there was no crowding because all the gentry and landlords had exchanged their treasure banknotes in advance, so the tax payment was very fast.
Obviously, although the gentry and landlords from all over the country were in trouble, no landlord or gentry was willing to unite to rebel and fight the emperor's court to the bitter end.
After this incident, treasure banknotes were completely circulated in Jiangnan, and were recognized by almost everyone.
Because both commercial tax and agricultural tax only collect treasure notes.
Of course, with such huge data, no matter whether it is the bank, the Ministry of Accounts, the Ministry of Agriculture, or the Ministry of Commerce, it is impossible not to make mistakes.
Those who calculated it was a small amount naturally secretly rejoiced and showed it around, while those who calculated it was an excessive amount had no choice but to curse their bad luck and dubiously explained the situation and threw it into the iron box, hoping that they could really get a tax deduction next year.
The most terrible thing is that I have already paid taxes, but my name is still on the list for the second time, and I have been fined twice.
Civil servants have already told how to deal with this situation.
That is to take the certificate issued by the bank when paying taxes, go to the bank again, and ask the female shopkeeper to re-declare.
Because of this situation, either the female shopkeeper missed the report, or the Accounts Department made an error in the accounting. As long as the report is reported again, with a reminder, the Accounts Department can correct it in time without any impact.
At the end of November, the second tax payment was finally completed. When the Ministry of Household Affairs completed the verification, Ma Shiying and all the ministers were so excited that they couldn't believe it.
Such a complex tax collection system was actually completed, covering more than 20 million acres of mulberry fields, more than 40 million acres of paddy fields, more than 10 million acres of dry fields, plus more than 10 million acres of barren hills, woodlands, orchards, and mines.
The agricultural tax that should have been collected was more than 23 million taels, and the commercial tax was more than 5 million taels, totaling more than 28 million taels. Now, the actual collection is more than 45 million taels, which is a full one thousand more.
More than seven million taels.
Moreover, everyone who was supposed to pay taxes paid taxes, and no one paid less. This was simply a miracle in all dynasties.
Although he knew what was going on, Ma Shiying still felt as if he was in a dream on the way to the imperial study room because of the extra money.
In the imperial study room, Zhang Yan and Princess Kunxing were also stunned when they heard that the fine alone was 17 million taels.
Only Zhu Cixiang remained calm and had an expected expression. After reading the report, he handed it to Zhang Yan and then nodded to Ma Shiying and said: "Everyone has already paid the tax. The third tax will be paid."
No need. There is still one month before the end of the year. The next task of the Ministry of Accounts is to calculate the bonuses, integrity-supporting silver, and next year's funds from various places, and let the banks distribute them on their behalf. These are the specific regulations and standards.
Also, starting from next year, every year the Audit and Supervision Bureau will audit the use of funds by all levels of yamen, including the eight cabinet departments, to eliminate unreasonable expenses. This is the standard and scope for the use of funds by yamen at all levels."
As Zhu Cixiang spoke, he took out two booklets one after another.
Zhu Cixiang decided to divide the money, bonuses and funds into five levels.
The first level is Class A, which is based on the city. To meet the conditions, the business tax must exceed 100,000 taels. The bonus and integrity silver are twice the official annual salary, and the funding is 5,000 taels.
It is estimated that only Nanjing, Yangzhou and Suzhou can meet this standard.
The second level is Class B. To meet the conditions, the business tax must exceed 50,000 taels, and the bonus and integrity-supporting silver are respectively 70% of the official's annual salary.
The third grade is Grade C. To meet the conditions, the business tax must reach 10,000 taels, and the bonus and integrity-supporting silver are respectively 50% of the official's annual salary.
The fourth level is level D. To meet the conditions, the business tax must reach 3,000 taels, and the bonus and integrity-supporting silver are respectively 30% of the official's annual salary.
If the annual business tax cannot reach even 3,000 taels, it is classified as Class E, and the bonus and integrity-supporting silver are unified into 20% of the official's annual salary.
Each of the six cabinet ministries and offices is based on Nanjing City.
With this kind of division, the bigger the city, the greater the advantage and advantage, but there is nothing we can do about it.
After all, it is impossible for you, a small remote county town, to compare with the financial support and bonuses offered by Nanjing City.
Although the gap is large according to the level of classification, if we really calculate it according to the proportion of business tax collected by each city, the gap will only be even greater.
For example, in Nanjing, where there are many shops and brothels and painting studios, the annual business tax may be as high as hundreds of thousands, while in a remote small county, it may only be a few hundred taels. It is a huge difference.
When divided according to grade, the gap is limited. After all, the official salary of officials is unified.
"Ma Aiqing, I have made a rough calculation. Even if the funds and bonuses from various places are distributed, plus the official salaries of all officials in the Ming Dynasty next year, the Ministry of Revenue should still have a balance of 20 million taels. What does the cabinet plan to do with this much money?
"
After Zhu Cihong asked, both Zhang Yan and Princess Kunxing were puzzled. In their opinion, it was safer to hand over so much money to the inner treasury. However, although the two women were full of doubts, they both
I refrained from asking.
Ma Shiying was also a little surprised. He didn't understand what the emperor meant, so he had to answer honestly: "Your Majesty, how dare the cabinet handle such a huge sum of money without authorization? Naturally, it must be handed over to the inner treasury."
Ma Shiying wanted to say that although the money was nominally in the account of the household department, it was not actually in the bank's warehouse?
"No, Ma Aiqing is wrong to think so. This money is tax collected by the imperial court, not royal, so it does not need to be handed over to the inner treasury. It does not need to be handed over now and will not be used in the future. Instead, it should be handled by the cabinet.
"
Zhu Cixiang waved his hand and explained.
"Brother Royal..."
When Princess Kunxing heard this, she immediately became anxious. She forgot the rule of not being involved in politics and shouted.
"Imperial sister, I asked you to come to the imperial study to listen to politics, not to discuss politics. If you don't talk too much next time, don't blame the emperor for not letting you listen to politics in the future."
Zhu Cihong lectured with a straight face.
"It's the imperial brother. My sister knows she was wrong." Princess Kunxing lowered her head and admitted her mistake in a low voice.
"Your Majesty, this..." Seeing His Majesty looking at him again, Ma Shiying didn't know how to answer.
"Ma Aiqing, from now on, the royal family's money and the court's money must be completely separated and cannot be confused. The taxes collected by the court belong to the public and are handled by the cabinet with full authority.
The money earned by the royal family is my personal property and is handled by the royal family. I do not need subsidies from the court, and the court does not ask me for money.
For the time being, the military expenses of each army will be advanced by the royal family. In the future, except for the Royal Guards, the military expenses of the other armies will also be allocated by the cabinet. Do you understand?"
That being said, it is impossible for Zhu Cixiang to let civilian officials and the cabinet control the military expenditures of the army.
However, in the future, in some important industries such as salt and iron, the imperial government will definitely have a large shareholding, and the dividends from these shares will be used to fund military expenditures and scientific research.
"Your Majesty is wise, I understand."
Ma Shiying bowed to the end and replied sincerely.
"I understand, so let's talk about the money and what the cabinet plans to do with it?" Zhu Cixiang nodded and looked at him again.
"Because of His Majesty's trust, such a huge sum of money should naturally be deposited in the bank to prepare for emergencies." Ma Shiying thought for a moment and replied.
"Ma Aiqing, you are wrong again. Have you ever thought about it. If you deposit all your money in the bank and deposit 20 million this year, after the new policies are implemented in the southern provinces next year, you may have a balance of 40 million.
And after the New Deal is implemented throughout the country, the annual balance may reach tens of millions. If accumulated like this, in ten years, all the wealth in the world will probably belong to the imperial court."
Zhu Cixi shook his head and explained slowly again.
This time, the expressions on the faces of the three people were even more confused. Isn't it good to think that all the wealth in the world belongs to the imperial court?
"Have you ever thought about it? If the money eventually reaches the court and is not spent, it will be just a pile of stones and a string of numbers, meaningless.
Moreover, the imperial court has saved all the wealth, and the wealth is increasing year by year, which will cause the wealth of the people to become less and less year by year, and eventually dry up.
Therefore, the cabinet must not only learn how to increase taxes, but also learn how to spend the money reasonably. Not only can it not have a balance every year, but it can also run a deficit. It is best to borrow more from the bank to spend more money so that it cannot make ends meet every year."
The three of them were all dumbstruck, and they couldn't help but think, how could they spend all their money like this and still borrow money to spend it? Isn't this a prodigal?
Obviously, Zhu Cixiang's economic theory was so advanced that even the three of them could not understand it for a while.
Ma Shiying even asked directly: "I am stupid, my majesty, please tell me how the cabinet's money is going to be spent."
"Most of these taxes come from the rich. The cabinet should follow two principles in spending money in the future. The first principle is to spend money with the purpose of increasing tax revenue. Of course, the tax increase here refers to expanding the group of people who pay taxes, not
Random tax increases.
The second principle is to spend money with the purpose of benefiting ordinary people, which means taking money from the rich and using it for the poor. I hope the cabinet will firmly remember these eight words."
Seeing that he didn't seem to understand, Zhu Cixi could only rub his forehead and said again: "I will give you two examples, such as regulating the Yellow River. Now the Yellow River has taken over the Huaihe River, causing lakes and swamps all over northern Jiangsu, and the people have suffered greatly.
If the imperial court could allocate funds to redirect the Yellow River from the north to the sea, it would allow large areas of fertile land to be reclaimed in northern Jiangsu, and the imperial court could collect more agricultural taxes.
Secondly, the Yellow River diversion project is huge and requires countless people to work on it. The imperial court can organize people from various places to work during slack seasons and pay them wages.
In this way, when people have spare money in their hands, they will buy more goods and promote business prosperity. Then the court can collect more business taxes. In this cycle, the court's tax revenue will only increase, the people will only get richer, and business will only
It will become more and more prosperous.”
"In addition to regulating the Yellow River, we can also expand canals, renovate official roads to facilitate commodity transportation, build water conservancy projects, and promote high-yielding crops. Increasing food production means increasing people's income. When people's income is high, business will eventually flourish."
"Your Majesty, veteran minister, I am bold. As your Majesty said, business is prosperous and the court's taxes are high, but this will definitely encourage a large number of people to go into business and then abandon farming.
And agriculture is the foundation of the country. Once food production decreases and the people in the world don't even have enough to eat, everything will be at a loss, and no matter how much money you make, it will be in vain. This is why all dynasties have chosen to focus on agriculture and suppress business. I hope your majesty will think twice!"
Ma Shiying obviously really thought about the future of Ming Dynasty. He gritted his teeth and said everything in his heart. After speaking, he knelt on the ground.
"Ma Aiqing is right. Agriculture is the foundation of the country. If there is not enough food to eat, it will be useless no matter how good the economic development is. However, there is no contradiction between promoting business and focusing on agriculture. Both can be achieved.
As for why business is prosperous, everyone goes into business instead of farming. This is simply ridiculous.
Because once there are more people doing business, they will naturally not be able to make money, and if they can’t make money, they will naturally start farming, so don’t worry about this, just let it develop.”
"Your Majesty, I still have something unclear. As Your Majesty said, if the cabinet spends all the money every year, what should we do if there is a war or a year of great disaster?"
"Didn't I just say it? Isn't this simple? Naturally, you need to borrow a loan from the bank and then pay back a little every year."
After Zhu Cixiang finished speaking, Princess Kunxing's eyes suddenly lit up, she couldn't help but smile and nodded, and said to Ma Shiying: "That's right, Mr. Mage, from now on the court will be short of money, so just come and borrow as much money as you want from the bank...
" Halfway through, he quickly covered his mouth.
Zhu Cixiang did not blame her for talking too much this time, but nodded, looked at Ma Shiying and said: "Ma Aiqing, do you have any questions? Just speak freely and don't have any worries."
"Thank you for your teaching, Your Majesty. I will know what to do in the future."