The sun outside is scorching, but the palace of the King of Qi is full of trees and flowers, and walking under the corridor at the top of the vines, there is a slight feeling of coolness.

Walking in the palace of King Qi, the small bridge flows, the weeping willows are lightly blowing, the Taihu Lake stone rockery and the bamboo forest reflect each other, such a beautiful scenery, Chen Yue can't help but be fascinated by it.

Follow the curved corridor path to the west side of the palace, and enter the annex through the heavily guarded side door.

This is a courtyard with three entrances and three exits, which was originally used to house a large number of servants and subordinates in the palace. Now the entire compound has been vacated and temporarily used as the office of the president. The main room of the first courtyard is used as the office room of the officials under the presidential palace.

The second is the office of the President and the Vice Presidents, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the Government Council, and the Left and Right Governors.

The last entrance is the inner house, which is used as a dormitory and serves as a temporary resting place for high-ranking officials such as the vice president and the presidents.

When the president was first established, there were not too many subordinate officials, and the subordinate institutions such as the six ministries had their own yamen, so it was more than enough to accommodate the office.

Surrounded by the guards, Chen Yue entered his class room. When I sat down at the large desk, I saw the large stacks of music piled up on the table. Although he is the president who does not deal with practical affairs, many decrees require the president's seal before they can be issued. In addition to the seal of the president, the appointment and dismissal of some major events involving the whole country and important officials must also have the emperor's jade seal before they can take effect.

"President, these are urgent matters handed over by the Government Council, and you need to deal with them, and the lower officials have been classified according to their priorities." Zhang Huangyan said that now his official position is the counselor of the Great Presidential Palace, and he is the fifth grade, which is equivalent to Chen Yue's assistant.

"Good work." Chen Yue nodded and started working.

Ordinary music doesn't need to be ignored at all, just take out the big seal and cover it. The most important thing is that the government council has already written a proposal to deal with it, and Chen Yue will take a second look at it, and then click and seal it as well.

A large number of notes were processed in less than half an hour, and the efficiency was quite amazing, Zhang Huangyan sighed slightly on the side, but he was used to it. The president's trust in his subordinates is really incomparable, Zhang Huangyan said secretly in his heart.

"President, Lu Zhenfei asks to see you." The guard on duty at the door said.

"Hurry up, please." Chen Yue also stood up from his seat to greet him, asked Lu Zhenfei to sit down opposite, and then asked people to serve tea.

"President, Fujian, Zhejiang, Susong and other Jiangdong prefectures have been poisoned by rebels this year, and the local damage has been serious, countless fields have been abandoned, and the summer tax is about to be levied, I am afraid that these places will not be able to collect and pay it normally. The officials of the household department suggested that these places be exempted from taxes this year, but the lower officials did not dare to make their own decisions, so they came to report to the president. Lu Zhenfei was very busy and didn't have time to greet him, so he made his intentions clear to Chen Yue.

Chen Yue nodded: "These places have been affected by military disasters, and they should be exempted from taxes, so let's reduce them." “

Lu Zhenfei said: "But half of the taxes of the Ming Dynasty come from these places, if it is reduced or reduced, I am afraid that the treasury revenue will drop sharply this year. “

After that, Lu Zhenfei looked at Chen Yue with blazing eyes.

Seeing Lu Zhenfei like this, Chen Yue sighed, knowing that he was fighting for his own money again.

Everyone knows that the Qi Wangfu got a huge amount of wealth from the Zheng family from the southeast rebels, so the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion can send troops everywhere and does not need to allocate money and grain through the household department.

How much this wealth is, many people guess in their hearts, but no one dares to ask.

After all, this wealth was captured by Chen Yue with his troops, and many of the sources of wealth could not be declared at all, and had nothing to do with the imperial court.

If Chen Yue is the emperor, the royal family is the world, and the government affairs and the household department can confidently ask for this wealth to be handed over to the treasury. But Chen Yue is not an emperor after all, but a great president, although one person is above 10,000 people, but after all, he is only an official, not a king. Let Chen Yue use his wealth to make up for the treasury, even Lu Zhenfei can't say it. Not to mention that most of this wealth is of unknown origin.

Therefore, these days, Lu Zhenfei often bothered Chen Yue with various things, the intention was to let Chen Yue loosen his mouth and take the initiative to take out the silver for emergency.

For Chen Yue now, these silvers were originally intended to be used for various affairs, so Lu Zhenfei could repeatedly "succeed".

"Don't worry about the money and grain, this king still has a sum of silver earned from sea trade in his hand." Chen Yue said, he can only attribute this silver of unknown origin to the income of sea trade. Chen Yue's domain, Dongfan, and the business of the Wa Kingdom, many people in the court knew about it. Although the Ming Dynasty has the ancestral system of the forbidden sea, but in this era, the forbidden sea has been reduced to empty talk, and it is not a big deal to say that this money is not a big deal, it is better than saying that it was snatched from the gentry's house.

"President, the officials in the capital have not been able to pay their salaries for three months, you see?" Lu Zhenfei said tentatively.

"Okay, I still have a sum of silver in my hand, about 500,000 taels, is it enough to pay salaries?" Chen Yue waved his hand and said impatiently.

"Enough is enough, thank you to the prince, the lower officials will issue an IOU in the name of the Government Affairs Yuan, and return it to the prince when the treasury is abundant in the future." Lu Zhenfei said happily, and then made a guarantee.

Chen Yue shook his head, these days, the amount of silver spent from his hands is not three million but two million and eight million, counting on the treasury to repay his own money, and he has to wait until the Year of the Monkey? Besides, in the future, the entire Ming Dynasty will be his own family, isn't it a joke to pay back the money?

"Then the next official will retire." After finishing the business, Lu Zhenfei didn't sit down much, and immediately made his resignation, there were a lot of things waiting for him to deal with in the Government Council, and he really didn't have time to chat.

"Master Lu, wait a minute." Chen Yue hurriedly opened his mouth and called out to him.

"What instructions does the Great President have?" Lu Zhenfei had to sit back.

Chen Yue thought for a moment and sorted out his thoughts a little: "Lord Lu, this king knows that Daming has to use money everywhere, and there are too many places to use money. Although this king also has some money in his hand, he also has a lot of money after all. If the imperial court wants to operate normally and the treasury is sufficient, it must think of its own open source. “

"Please also ask the President for advice." Lu Zhenfei knew that Chen Yue was not untargeted, sat up straight, and asked with a serious expression.

"The two most important sources of revenue for the Ming treasury are the land tax and salt tax, and there are very few other taxes. Daming's fields are limited, and the annual output of salt is also fixed, and the increase of these two taxes is also limited.

However, there is a tax that has always been ignored by the imperial court, that is, the commercial tax, if the imperial court levies the commercial tax, even if it is taxed at the ratio of eleven, the income that can be obtained is ten times that of the field tax, and the treasury is still scarce. “