Chapter 157: The Thirty-Fourth Fiscal Conference of Orthodoxy

Zhu Qizhen can prevaricate Liu Dingzhi.

After all, Zhu Qizhen is the emperor, and the emperor has many privileges.

For example, Wang Gu talked about him left and right, such as staying in the middle and not sending it.

With a heavy snowfall, the battlefield in the Western Regions can only wait for the snow to melt. And the dark tide in the court seems to have been frozen. In other words, Zhu Qizhen's procrastination strategy worked.

However, in the 34th year of the orthodox fiscal meeting, it was affected by this and the decision was delayed for a long time.

In the system that Zhou Chen reformed at the beginning, around October every year, the account books of various places had to be reported to the imperial court. Generally speaking, it is the autumn tax of the previous year, and the summer tax of the current year.

This is because, before October, the autumn tax of the current year is not enough to collect it. Generally speaking, the local government will pay the autumn tax to the imperial court before May of the following year. And before the autumn harvest, the spring tax was handed over to the imperial court.

It's just that this year's fiscal meeting has been delayed for a long time.

This was originally a matter of the household department, but first of all, the household department could not make a decision. Later, there were disagreements in the cabinet meeting. In the end, the Imperial Council had to be convened.

The biggest disagreement was the rebellion in the Western Regions that broke out suddenly after the autumn of last year, and in this counterinsurgency war, the Household Department and the Privy Council of the Ministry of War jointly discussed and allocated as much as 12 million taels of military spending.

However, this number of households cannot bear it, so it wants to weaken the budgets of other departments.

The rest of the part no one wants.

The Ministry of Rites said that schools in various places have just been built, and the trial is coming soon. It also requires a large expense. It's impossible to abate.

In addition, the court's various etiquette expenses, banquet expenses, and so on.

The Ministry of Criminal Affairs said that the expenses of the Criminal Department were not much, but they were prison fees, as well as various administrative expenses, so how could they be reduced? And even if tens of thousands of taels are reduced, can this hole be filled?

The officials don't need to talk much, the household department doesn't dare to offend the officials, and the cost of the officials is not much.

It's just some office expenses.

But the following departments are all very expensive, but each one does not want to be reduced.

Even above this imperial meeting, he didn't speak at all, but Wang Yonghe fought on their behalf.

Although the Ministry of War has a lot of expenses every year, the power of the Ministry of War has been usurped by the Privy Council.

In fact, although these ministers all have their own interests, they can sit in this position because they have a view of the overall situation, and the reason why they can't drag it out for a long time.

Not these planned projects, but some unplanned projects.

To be precise, it is the cost of some of Zhu Qizhen's law change projects.

It can even be said that this is the undecided decision of the hundred officials for Zhu Qizhen, hoping to drag this matter over silently

Should.

In the face of a sudden financial shortfall, Daming's finances were a little more difficult. But not to the point where you can't squeeze out the money.

Zhu Qizhen knew it in his heart.

At this moment, in the Wenhua Palace.

Zhu Qi sat calmly on the throne, looking at the long mahogany table, the cabinet scholars sat on the left and right, and the six Shangshu and several generals of the Privy Council also sat at the far end of the mahogany table, and there were stacks of account books in front of each of them.

And the squires of the various ministries, and even the chief officials of the subordinate yamen, were not qualified to sit on this mahogany table at all, but there was a row of tables behind these ministers. There is also a collection of books here.

At today's meeting, there is bound to be a war of words.

Liu Dingzhi first got up and saluted Zhu Qizhen, and then made a flat salute to the ministers on both sides, and said, "Your Majesty has an order, and I will preside over this meeting." Without further ado, this matter should have been resolved before it was sealed years ago. It's the end of the first month. All the yamen have opened their seals, and they have been delayed for a long time, and many things in the imperial court have been delayed, and they can no longer be delayed. ”

"Last year, the income of the imperial court was 15.35 million yuan in silver, 39 million stone in grain, and 1.3 million stone in grain and grass were exempted from various places."

"Silver is actually collected, and grain is transported to the principle of seven and three remaining, there are 2,000 stone into the granary of various places, 12 million stone left in the place, and there are still several million stones, either directly supporting the local garrison, or sent to local projects."

"The account books are here, if you don't believe it, you can check it. I won't talk about them all here. ”

"The silver dollar is mainly the salt tax, the tea tax, the customs tariff, and the canal and the Yangtze River tariff. These four items are about one million yuan more than the year, and this money comes from Nagasaki Pass, and the Japanese Governor Duanmu Rui is able to do things. ”

"This is last year's annual income. Let's talk about the original balance. ”

"Last year's balance, the imperial court Taicang silver treasury, there are 10 million silver odd, Beijing, Tianjin, Tongzhou warehouses, a total of 15 million stone odd, originally according to the practice of the imperial court, these Beijing warehouses, to store 20 million stone grain, but last year the Western Regions turmoil, the imperial court has temporarily allocated grain three times, a total of 5 million stone. One was transported to Dongshengwei to prepare a large amount of grain and grass for the expedition, and the other was transported to Luoyang from Beijing to Xuzhou through the gallop road, preparing to enter Shaanxi from Luoyang. Now some of it has arrived. And some more on the way. Therefore, this time for the grain, the Jingshi must intercept at least 10 million stones to replenish the Jingcang. ”

"The imperial court's spending this year can be at most, fifteen million yuan, fifteen million stone grain. The balance of 10 million yuan in the household department is absolutely untouchable. There are also 20 million stones in Jingcang, which is also prepared for the extraordinary. ”

Liu Dingyi determined the total number of spoils at the beginning.

Zhu Qizhen also understands this.

Some people may think that it is a great waste to store so many grain and silver dollars in the silver treasury and grain depot that are not used. But I don't know,

The ancients have always had the concept of having a three-year reserve.

This is not the future generations, the state finances in the future generations will not be enough, and there are ways to adopt temporary fiscal measures, issue treasury bonds, or simply overissue currency.

There is always a duty to deal with it.

But in the system of the Ming Dynasty, it is completely impossible. Daming raised so many soldiers. It's okay to be in arrears for a month or two, and if you owe it for a long time, see if the people below will be armed to collect debts.

And there are too many uncertainties in an agrarian society.

Not to mention anything else, let's just say that if there is a sudden catastrophe this year, and there are tens of millions of victims to be relieved, what will the imperial court do? Where does this money come from?

There is no way, the people below are going to rebel.

When Zhu Qizhen fought with the tile spur, the finances collapsed very tightly, but now that it is a little too peaceful, Liu Dingzhi made this kind of decision, keeping the household treasury and granary always have enough reserves.

This is also what Zhu Qizhen is referring to, it is not that the court does not have enough money, but that some things have not been explained.

Some things are difficult to achieve, but it is easy to fail.

Zhu Qizhen first determined the center and said: "Shoufu, now is an extraordinary time, don't stick to some things." ”

Liu Dingzhi's face was difficult. Said: "This --------"

Zhu Qizhen said: "That's it." ”

Liu Dingzhi then said: "The minister obeys the order." ”

Zhu Qizhen saw that Liu Dingzhi agreed so easily, and suddenly understood that Liu Dingzhi actually meant this. But I don't want to talk about the front, without him, there will be a big tear after that.

If Liu Dingzhi gave in too easily, the rest of the people would take it for granted.

Liu Dingzhi quickly said: "Even if it is halved, the financial expenditure available to the imperial court this year will only be 20 million yuan, as well as 25 million stone grain. ”

Although Liu Dingzhi agreed to Zhu Qizhen, he still left the bottom of the warehouse for the household department.

Zhu Qizhen said: "Since this is the case, let's start." Come one by one. ”

Liu Dingzhi seems to have started from a small part, among the six ministries and nine qing, the household department, the ritual department, the criminal department, the Taichang, the Taifu, the Guanglu Temple, the Tongzheng Division, the Hanlin Academy, the Guozijian, the Dali Temple, and so on.

The biggest expense of these yamen is the staff and office expenses. Liu Dingzhi calculated one by one, and gave a total purchase price of about two million taels.

It's all gone.

All the requirements of the yamen in various places have been discounted, although each yamen has some discomfort, but they dare not say anything in the face of Liu Dingzhi.

Without him, Liu Dingzhi was born in the old household department, how much money did he spend on that yamen, so when the door was clear and the court was rich, it was not impossible to let the following live better, but now it is natural to press the oil and water clean.