With the high pragmatic requirements of canceling the abolition of food and the submission of all in-kind taxes except cloth and silk, the court meeting finally reached a rare consensus. Even officials from the Xin School had to stand up and applaud this - after all, officials all over the world are "Hongwu type"
For the victims of "finance", what Gao Wushu is doing now is entirely to serve them. Even if everyone usually has different ideas, at this moment they are always standing in the same trench.
After all, interest is the fundamental criterion for deciding whether to be a friend or an enemy.
However, you can cancel it, but how to cancel it, or how to make up for it after cancellation, is very interesting.
Gao Pragmatic was extra generous this time, saying that the first step was to cancel all physical conversions in official salaries. Officials would only be given silver taels, copper coins, and at most cloth no more than 20% of the total salary, and in
Within five years, we will gradually cancel the cloth discount and completely monetize the salary.
Regarding this item, although many officials doubted in their hearts whether the Ministry of Revenue had so much cash, at least the answers were very consistent: civil and military officials all praised Gao Situ for being extremely responsible and "the pioneer of new trends in the founding of the country."
The praise of the officials from the Xin School was a bit reserved, but the officials from the Practical School were really bold and boastful. According to them, Shang Yang was unmatched in front of Gao Pragmatic, not to mention Wang Anshi.
Gao Situ's farts taste better than him.
Of course Gao Pragmatic knew that this was not because of his handsomeness, but entirely because of the charm of money. The Ministry of Household Affairs was willing to spend such a large sum of money to improve their salary problem. Of course they felt that Gao Situ was extremely handsome and was simply a popular idol.
However, everyone will be murmuring about the next thing. For example, Gao Pragmatic not only wants to convert the physical taxes in various places into silver coins, but also needs to collect all these tax coins to the Account Department first, and then forward them to the needy users.
In Du's yamen, this aspect is extremely controversial.
The Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of War are the only two yamen that have remained quiet. Among them, the Ministry of Personnel is okay, after all, they are in charge of civil affairs. The power of personnel appointment and dismissal has little to do with physical taxes, and the usual expenses are actually average.
In addition, the official department is the headquarters of the Practical School. Of course, no one thinks that Gao Pragmatism will get in the way of the official department once he has the power, so it is reasonable for the official department to remain silent.
The Ministry of War actually kept quiet, which shows that Liang Menglong managed it well. Of course, Gao Pragmatic's recent resignation from the Ministry of War may also be a key factor.
Why is it so difficult for the Ministry of War to remain silent? Because the Ministry of War’s financial power is actually quite large—militaries, ordnance manufacturing and other matters all over the world were originally directly managed by the Ministry of War, and the most critical financial power is the military cantons.
How important are military camps? Under the "Hongwu-style finance", Zhu Yuanzhang originally arranged the food problem of the soldiers and horses in the world to be self-sufficient, so the scale of the military camps in the Ming Dynasty was very large: "from Liaozuo in the east to Xuanyuan in the north
It is large, extending to Gansu in the west, ending with Yunnan and Shu in the south, and ending with Jiaozhi. In the middle, it is bounded by the great river north and south, ending in Xingtun."
There were more than 1.8 million military sergeants throughout the Ming Dynasty (this was in the early Ming Dynasty), and the number of military camps was more than 900,000 hectares, accounting for about one-tenth of the country's cultivated land. In border areas, the proportion of military camps was even higher, and some
Military villages in military towns can occupy more than 60% of the province's cultivated land.
For example, during the Jiajing period, the number of military registered households in Guizhou was 140,000, accounting for 51% of the total population of Guizhou. When Gao Pingshi compiled the "Da Ming Huidian", he once saw records that the total land in Shaanxi was 310,000 hectares, and the military settlements occupied 16
Thousands of hectares.
The system of military settlements played a huge role in the early Ming Dynasty. In the early Ming Dynasty, the country's financial sources mainly relied on agriculture, and military settlements were the largest source.
For example, in the first year of Yongle, the national tax on grain was 31 million shi, but the grain paid by military fields was more than 23 million shi, which means that the revenue from military fields accounted for a little more than 70% of the national tax on grain.
In border areas, the importance of military fields is even more prominent. In the early Ming Dynasty, the country had 1.8 million troops. By the Yongle period, the number had increased to 2.7 million. At that time, there were more than 60 million people in the country, and the number of troops accounted for 3% of the population.
%.
Such a large army will inevitably require a large amount of finance to supply. In the late Hongwu period, the annual military grain requirement reached more than 32 million dan, while the annual tax and grain tax in the late Hongwu period was only more than 30 million dan. Therefore, it can be seen that the dynasty's farming system solved the problem for the army.
Huge food supply problem.
"History of the Ming Dynasty? Food and Huo Zhi" said: "The land of an army is enough to support a year." This statement was true at that time.
With large-scale farming, it was possible to maintain a huge army across the country. This also allowed the Ming Dynasty to avoid the situation of poverty and weakness during the Song Dynasty. After all, the Ming Dynasty at that time was still constantly attacking Mongolia, the northeast, the southwest, and the northwest.
The use of troops cannot be carried out without a large local army.
Therefore, these farmland made a huge contribution to the Ming Dynasty's national defense construction and the stability of the border areas. In Liaodong, the farmland system accelerated the development of the Liaodong region, making Liaodong a stronghold for the Ming Dynasty to control the entire Northeast. In Yunnan, large-scale
The farming system was the basis for the Ming Dynasty to defeat the rebellion of the Luchuan chieftains; in the northwest, the farming system allowed the Ming Dynasty to control the Hexi Corridor and then establish exchanges with the Western Regions and Central Asia.
In addition, the Ming Dynasty's farming also accelerated the transformation of the southwest region. For example, in the Yunnan-Guizhou region, due to the far distance from the Central Plains, the previous courts generally could only implement the policy of restraint. After long-term development, the Yunnan-Guizhou region
Large and small chieftains were formed. Although they appeared to be subordinate to the Central Plains, they were actually small local kingdoms, which was not conducive to the unification of the country.
After the Ming Dynasty carried out large-scale military settlements, a large number of troops were stationed in Yunnan and Guizhou for a long time, forming a large number of guard posts and firmly controlling the major chieftains. Once the opportunity was ripe, the imperial court could carry out reform and return to the southwest.
For example, during the Yongle period, the Tian family in Sizhou was eliminated, which directly promoted the establishment of Guizhou Province (Chief Envoy Division).
The reason why Gao Pragmatic was able to move most of the Guangxi chieftains to Annan actually had this premise: Guangxi's military settlements resulted in about half of Guangxi's territory being in the hands of the imperial court, and these areas directly under the imperial jurisdiction would also have a de facto influence on the chieftains.
Despite the oppression, the chieftains also wanted to be more "free", so Gao Pragmatic deceived others, and in the end most of them were deceived by him to go to Annan.
At this time, because the imperial court had enough military garrison as a foundation, it could follow up relatively smoothly, occupy and develop the original chieftain territories. All these prerequisites were actually brought by the garrison.
But as Gao Minggong saw when he was in Guangxi, most of the guardsmen were almost "beggar soldiers", which actually showed that the military settlements were gradually heading towards destruction - because the military settlements themselves were actually built on the basis of the military households.
Based on cruel exploitation.
In addition to the grain produced by the military villages, they must also pay for the "grains from the fields". During the Hongwu period, it was stipulated that "people were given forty acres of land, half of which was collected every year, and the remainder was for self-sufficiency." That is, half of the output of military households
They need to be handed over. Military households themselves have always been in service, which makes the state's exploitation of military households much higher than that of ordinary civilian households.
If a military household loses its land, it will be even worse, because the military household has to "guarantee compensation for the grain of the farmland." Starting from the middle of the Ming Dynasty, a lot of land was abandoned due to barrenness, but the military household had to "serve as a lifelong servant to transport grain."
Those who are insufficient". This situation has been discussed earlier in this book and will not be repeated here.
In short, as has been said many times before, the fields in the garrison camps gradually changed from collective ownership to officers' ownership. After the officers took control, they would hide the fields under various names, which ultimately led to the loss of what the Ministry of War could actually obtain.
Military rations were reduced year by year, until the previous acres of land were cleared.
In addition to clearing out many civilian fields hidden by officials and gentry, the Qing Dynasty also cleared out a large number of military fields. In the past few years, Zhu Yijun frequently exempted taxes from disaster areas. Part of the reason was this. But even so, because many military fields have been
It is impossible to find out the origin, and the current military settlement is still not as grand as it was in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China.
One of the most fundamental reasons why the Ministry of War was able to suppress internal opposition despite losing such a large amount of income was that Gao Pragmatic made a promise: since the financial power is handed over to the Ministry of Household Affairs, the Ministry of War will control the local guards.
The office's expenditure responsibilities will also be transferred to the Ministry of Accounts.
In other words, in the past, when the guards could not pay military salaries, local officers and soldiers would blame the Ministry of War. But if this happens again in the future, they should blame the Ministry of Household Affairs.
For the Ministry of War, if Gao Pragmatic changes like this, their power will definitely be reduced, but looking back, the corresponding responsibilities will also be reduced. Whether it is cost-effective or not depends on what you think.
Not counting the Ministry of Revenue itself, the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of War are now considered stable. The problem lies with the other three ministries.
The performance of the Ministry of Rites is worthy of the word "ritual", at least there is no swearing. They are mainly worried about the lack of supplies for the Ministry of Household Affairs. In addition to daily office work, the expenses of the Ministry of Rites mainly include three aspects: one is scientific examination; the other is sacrifice; and the third is reception
.
Needless to say, the Ming Dynasty attaches more importance to the imperial examination than any other dynasty, and the imperial court is responsible for many of the expenditures of the candidates. For example, even after the implementation of the "Huyi Road Shu", the rural examination and the general examination candidates rushed to take the examination.
You can use the post station for free, and the post station will provide accommodation, travel and other services to candidates according to standards, and the money will eventually go to the etiquette department for expenditure.
Now Gao Pragmatic wants to collect financial rights. Although the various physical objects originally provided to the Ministry of Rites do not need to be converted and sold by the Ministry of Rites, this expenditure will be collected by the Ministry of Accounts. The Ministry of Rites is worried that if the Ministry of Accounts cannot get it, it will be affected.
Talent promotion ceremony, who can bear this responsibility?
Xu Xuemo, the Minister of Rites, did not say anything harsh, but a Yuanwailang from the Heart School in the Ministry of Rites named them by name in his memorial and said this: "In the future, if the talent promotion ceremony is limited by the financial constraints of the Ministry of Households, it will suffer setbacks.
, Gao Budang, would you like to express your gratitude?"
If in the future the Talent Recruitment Ceremony is affected because your Ministry of Revenue cannot come up with the money, would you, Gao Situ, be willing to offer your own head to thank the world?
Compared with the Ministry of Rites, which always engages in "infinite promotion", the performance of the Ministry of Punishments is very "lawful". There is no big reason, nor does it talk about who should own the financial power.
branch register, and proactively provided details: excluding the direct deduction of the in-kind tax last year, the final deficit of the Punishment Department for the whole year was seventy-five thousand six hundred and forty-seven taels and four cents of silver.
Shu Butang also stated very strictly that if the Ministry of Revenue was willing to make up for all the previous deficits of the Ministry of Punishments, he, on behalf of the Ministry of Punishments, would fully agree to hand over the financial rights.
As for your question about the total deficit of the Ministry of Punishment over the years? Shubutang's accounts are very clear. They took out all the accounts from the Yongle period (counting from the emergence of the Beijing Punishment Bureau) to the 14th year of Wanli. The total deficit is more than 640,000 taels.
At the same time, Shu Butang also said very seriously and responsibly: Many of the previous deficits have become dead debts, and even the creditors cannot be found, so these can be regarded as debts that can be repudiated. But even if these are removed, the Ministry of Accounts still wants to take over.
The Ministry of Punishment's financial power must first help the Ministry of Punishment make up for the shortfall of more than 274,000 taels of silver.
This leaves the Ministry of Industry.
The Ministry of Works is probably the government agency that has the loudest opposition this time. This is because they consider that the fighting power of the Gao family's servants is too strong and there are too many people. People from the Ministry of Works may even attack Baiyulou.
As we all know, in terms of the status of the six ministries, the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Husbandry and the Ministry of Rites have a relatively high status; the Ministry of War is medium, but once a war breaks out, its importance will immediately increase; as for the Ministry of Punishment and the Ministry of Work, the status is generally relatively low.
Especially for the Ministry of Industry, in the history of the Ming Dynasty, there has never been a situation where the Minister of the Ministry of Industry directly joined the cabinet. Under normal circumstances, the Minister of the Ministry of Industry needs to be promoted to the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel or the Minister of Rites first, and then has a better chance of becoming the Minister of the Cabinet.
Scholar. Therefore, in terms of status, the Ministry of Industry has the lowest voice among the six ministries.
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! However, in terms of actual "profit", other institutions are not as good as the Ministry of Industry. Even key departments such as the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Household Affairs are not as good as the Ministry of Industry in this regard
.Because the work scope of the Ministry of Industry is very wide, and all involve huge profits.
The Ministry of Revenue may be responsible for the most money, but it is actually quite difficult for the Ministry of Revenue to get some money. Unless the current Minister is really solid and directly withholds some money and keeps it for the Ministry's own use - then you are the boss and have nothing to say.
The money directly managed by the Ministry of Industry may not be as much as that of the Ministry of Household Affairs, but it handles various national-level major projects. With just one stroke of the pen, the price of hiring labor is a bit higher, buying and selling materials is a bit more expensive... That's a lot of money, and even if you still have
Isn’t it easy to investigate: As a scholar, it’s normal for me to be unfamiliar with the market!
The work scope of the Ministry of Industry is very wide, including the construction and maintenance of palaces, the construction and maintenance of city walls, the excavation and maintenance of canals, the construction and maintenance of roads, the construction and maintenance of imperial tombs, etc. These are all under the management of the Ministry of Industry. Even iron mines,
The development of gold mines (operated by the imperial government) was also managed by the Ministry of Industry.
These are very profitable projects, and each project generates a lot of income. The Ministry of Industry is in charge of these projects, and both the big businessmen and the local yamen are inseparable from the approval of the Ministry of Industry. For example, if a local official wants to repair a city wall,
Without the approval of the Ministry of Industry, construction cannot start at all.
Gao Wuchen now wants to transfer all these financial rights to the Ministry of Household Affairs, and only reserves the approval power for the Ministry of Works, but does not allow the Ministry of Works to directly intervene. How can the Ministry of Works agree?
You must know that Shi Xing, the Minister of Industry and Industry, was "exposed" last time. He is a member of the Xin School.
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