In the cabinet meeting room of the Wenhua Palace, the tables and chairs that had been removed were restored again, and Zhu Youzhen arrived here early in the morning to prepare to participate in the first cabinet plenary meeting after the festival, and the first meeting after the establishment of the new cabinet.

At the time of the festival, Zhu Youzhen distributed the first batch of grandfather clocks developed by the Wensi Institute to the cabinet and the official offices of the six ministries.

It is based on the striking clock brought by Matteo Ricci and Kinney Court, a small mechanical clock with a coronal escapement, plus the principle of gravity pendulum invented by Galileo, and the precision of the craftsmen of the Bunsi Academy.

The error of these pendulum clocks reached an astonishing 1 minute a day, but the cost reached 35 taels of silver each, which is still the price after Zhu Youzhen ordered to remove all unnecessary decorations.

This kind of Western chiming bell the size of a 12-year-old child is no stranger to Qian Qianyi and other high-ranking officials. There are about 50 taels per seat in the market, and it is not uncommon to make hundreds of taels of small and gorgeous ones, and if you add gold and silver and other decorations, it can be as expensive as thousands of taels.

With such a high price, the chiming clock is seen more as a high-value work of art than as a timepiece.

Compared with the cheapest timer in the folk - incense leakage, the latter "a plate of incense can be used for 24 hours, and the cost is no more than three cents", and the Western self-striking bell with an error of up to 15 minutes a day actually costs 50 taels, which is really a flashy thing.

However, the emperor seemed to have a soft spot for the implementation of this kind of Western chiming clock, and even though Guo Yunhou, the head of the household department, refused to buy Western chiming bells for the yamen in the capital to pay the bill, the emperor still decided to allocate funds from the inner treasury to equip the yamen in the capital with chiming bells.

Along with this, there was a timetable for the commuting of each yamen in the capital, and the 12 hours of the day were divided into 24 hours. Working hours are also fixed at 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., with a one-hour break at noon.

The chiefs of the various ministries objected to the emperor's novel regulations, while the officials of the middle and lower ranks expressed their support in private.

Huang Liji, as the first assistant, is also ready to advise Chongzhen on this issue after receiving many letters.

Before walking up the steps of the Wenhua Palace, Zhu Youzhen nodded to the ministers standing on both sides of the steps, and then said, "Please Guo Shangshu come in first, I want to talk to him." Half an hour later, we will have a full cabinet meeting. ”

Without waiting for Huang Liji to speak, Zhu Youzhen had already walked into the Wenhua Palace. Several ministers paused for a while before they understood what the emperor meant by half an hour.

Guo Yunhou gave a few words to an official standing behind him, and then followed the emperor into the conference room in the Wenhua Palace.

Guo Yunhou hadn't sat down yet, and Zhu Youzhen couldn't wait to say: "Guo Shangshu, what I want to talk to you about official subsidies is the issue. I think you should know that since Taizu set the official salary, the Ming Dynasty has not adjusted the official's income, but the current price is more than several times that of the Taizu period.

If we don't adjust the salaries of our officials, won't they use the power in their hands to adjust them for themselves? For more than 200 years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, there is only one Haigang Peak. I really don't understand, why should the household department oppose it? ”

Guo Yunhou was obviously prepared for the emperor's question, and he said unhurriedly: "In previous years, the summer tax was about 1.5 million taels of silver, and the autumn tax was about 2.5 million taels.

Last year, the harvest in various places was quite normal, deducting the annual silver and various expenditures of the border army that had been issued, Taicang had about 1.39 million taels of silver, plus the proceeds from the sale of Changlu Salt Farm, Taicang now has 1.99 million taels of silver.

However, after the beginning of spring, the first emperor mountain mausoleum resumed work, 300,000 taels should be allocated, 100,000 taels should be allocated for the renovation of the Haihe River, and about 1 million taels will be allocated to the six ministries according to the practice of previous years, and the remaining 590,000 taels in Taicang will be supported by this summer's tax revenue.

With all due respect, the money was used to deal with the emergencies encountered by the imperial court, and it was barely enough. But if it is used to distribute subsidies to officials, if something happens to spend money, won't the household department be helpless?

What's more, there is a surplus in Taicang this year, which still depends on the sale of Changlu Salt Farm. But where will the Ministry of Households finance this next year? As for His Majesty's statement that the fire consumption is attributed, the minister is still deeply skeptical. The minister thought that if the officials below could collect all the positive endowments, the household department would be thankful..."

Zhu Youzhen was dumbfounded, in fact, Guo Yunhou's concerns were not groundless, when the local State Taxation Bureaus had not yet been established, the household department was neither aware of the local economic situation nor could it control it.

The household ministry's restraint on local officials in taxation is nothing more than a fixed amount of taxation prescribed by a fish scale atlas.

The reluctance of household officials to tax industry and commerce was, on the one hand, the merging of the merchant group and the bureaucracy.

On the other hand, industry and commerce, unlike the fields, are a living economic activity, and in addition to a few merchants, there are also very mobile merchants.

If you want to tax industry and commerce, you need to have a tight tax organization. However, in the agricultural era, when commerce was not developed most of the time, it is likely that there will be more tax collectors than merchants in most places, so that the collection of industrial and commercial taxes will become more than worth the losses.

In addition, merchants are unable to engage in business when they lose money, or some merchants turn to local masters after they have become prosperous. However, according to the taxation principle of the Ming Dynasty, once the amount of tax in a certain place is determined, even if the local business suddenly declines, this tax cannot be reduced, and it must be evenly distributed to other local merchants.

Because the power to adjust the amount of taxes rested with the household department and the emperor, not in the hands of local officials. In such a situation, every local official would rather set the tax as low as possible, or at least not have to make up the shortfall himself.

Compared with the itinerant merchants, the peasants who cultivated the fixed fields were the best targets for the fixed tax. At least not as a last resort, these farmers will not leave their fields and run away. And as long as it is not a year of famine, the output of the fields is always stable.

Although Guo Yunhou is nominally the head of the household, he can only manage all kinds of materials sent to Jingcang, as well as the silver taels in Taicang. He doesn't have the ability to manage the taxes in kind and the taxes collected in various places.

Zhu Youzhen thought about it again and again, and found that he really couldn't convince this Hubu Shangshu, because he also didn't know how much of the fire consumption from all over the country could be sent to the public.

He had to take a step back and said: "Then it is better to do this, the monthly subsidy of 30,000 yuan for officials in Beijing will be lent to the household department by the inner treasury, but the household department must recognize this account." After the two taxes are collected, the household department will withdraw and return the items from the fire consumption to the public, and if it is insufficient, it can be postponed to the next tax postponement. What do you think? ”

Guo Yunhou suddenly smiled and said, "What Your Majesty said is naturally excellent, and the minister has no objections. ”

Guo Yunhou began to like this face-to-face way of talking about things, at least he didn't have to guess what the emperor was thinking all day long, and the actual affairs reported would have a conclusion, instead of being shelved in a corner of the celebrant and waiting for everyone to forget it, as if there was nothing to do.

Zhu Youzhen shook his head, and then instructed Wang Chengen beside him: "Go and inform the first assistant to come in and prepare for a cabinet meeting." ”

Guo Yunhou hurriedly stopped: "Your Majesty, before convening the cabinet meeting, the minister has one thing that I hope to report to Your Majesty first. ”

Zhu Youzhen immediately asked Wang Chengen to stop, then turned to Guo Yunhou and said, "Guo Shangshu, please speak." ”

"The Household Grain Bureau has been established, with one person in charge and three in charge. Lang Zhong Ji Liang, has arrived in the capital before the New Year, he has been staying at home these days, referring to the household literature, and drawing up a grain warehouse scheduling plan.

At this moment, he is outside, and the minister hopes that His Majesty can summon him and listen to the content of this plan first. ”

Zhu Youzhen subconsciously looked at the table clock on the side, and then said: "There are more than 10 minutes left to leave, this is not enough, right?" Why don't you talk about it after the meeting? ”

Guo Yunhou hurriedly said: "Your Majesty can take it back and read it slowly, but the minister hopes that Your Majesty can listen to Ji Langzhong's thoughts, this plan can't be done by the household department alone." ”

Zhu Youzhen hesitated, then nodded and said, "Since Guo Shangshu said so, then invite him to come in and talk about it." ”

After Ji Jiliang came in and said his thoughts, Zhu You knew why Guo Yunhou had to report this before the cabinet meeting.

Di Jiliang believes that since ancient times, there has been a saying that millet is not sold for thousands of miles, and if the grain bureaus themselves have to bear the cost of grain transshipment in various localities, then in order to reduce the cost of grain transportation, the grain bureau's general warehouses in various localities should be set up in hub areas with convenient water and land transportation.

The areas with relatively high grain production in the Ming Dynasty are none other than Sichuan, Huguang, Jiangxi, Suhu and Henan. The need for grain import is Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, Beizhili, Liaodong, and Phidao.

If Sichuan's grain is to be transported, it is necessary to rectify the Yangtze River waterway, otherwise there is a danger that three ships will be lost if ten ships leave Sichuan, and the grain transportation will become a move for the remnants of the people.

Although Huguang, Jiangxi, Suhu and Henan can use the Yangtze River and the canal channel to go north, the capacity of the canal cannot meet the transportation of so much grain.

Moreover, the Huguang area is adjacent to Henan, but the grain has to go around a big circle to reach Zhengzhou, and then turn from Zhengzhou to the Yellow River into Shaanxi, which is really time-consuming and laborious. He thought that a road should be built between Hanyang and Zhengzhou to save the canal's capacity.

Although the section of the Yellow River from Henan to Shaanxi is navigable, the land transportation in Shaanxi has been in disrepair for many years, and it is difficult for grain trucks to drive, so he also feels that it should be renovated.

What Ji Jiliang said very well, basically said the concept of the north-south transportation artery, but this is not the work of the Food Bureau, but the work of the Ministry of Industry.

Guo Yunhou, as the head of the household department, obviously wanted to find out Chongzhen's opinion on this matter first, and then take the leading power of this work from the hands of the Ministry of Works. After all, as long as you are on the project, it means more money and power, the same in ancient and modern times.