On June 15, after the end of the Wangri Dynasty meeting in the Jianji Palace, Li Guowei, the first assistant of the cabinet, took the cabinet minister Xu Guangqi and the household secretary Bi Ziyan to the Wenhua Palace, the fixed place where the cabinet performed to the emperor, and reported in detail to Emperor Chongzhen the progress of the summer tax collection and the current financial situation of the imperial court.

Nowadays, although the majority of the income of the household department still depends on the summer and autumn taxes issued by the provinces in the world every year, with the dredging of the canal and the abolition of other local banknotes, the income of the seven major banknotes of the household department on the canal is increasing month by month.

At the same time, the imperial court had the customs revenues of the five new treaty ports, the revenues of several farms along the border, and the taxes of various factories and mines in Gyeonggi, plus the difference between the three mints in the household department from the Chongzhen silver dollars recovered and exchanged for loose silver. In this way, the loss of tax and silver caused by the reduction and exemption of taxes and the change of silver into grain in Beizhili is not a problem.

Besides, after more than two years of continuous accumulation, the amount of silver stored in the Taicang Treasury has reached a level that has not been reached for many years.

The nine-sided silver reissued at the end of the seventh year of the Apocalypse was the military salary of Emperor Chongzhen from the silver that was confiscated after he got rid of the eunuchs.

The military expenses for the whole year of the first year of Chongzhen and the first half of the second year of Chongzhen's Jiubian military salaries and the recruitment of people and reclamation were all paid from the harvest of Emperor Chongzhen's confiscation of the eunuchs, the rectification of salt affairs, and the cleaning up of the nobles of the two capitals.

Including the increase in the first year of Chongzhen, the increase was given to all the incumbent officials, and the part of the increase was also subsidized by the silver that Emperor Chongzhen confiscated from the internal transportation treasury.

Therefore, in the past two years, the household department of Taicang has entered more and released less, and the amount of silver stored in the Taicang treasury has naturally changed greatly, and it is no longer empty and hungry to death of rats.

Moreover, the silver that came out of the Taicang treasury, in addition to the officials' money, was basically exchanged for grain and stored in the Hubu warehouse in Tongzhou.

Therefore, when the summer tax was levied in June of the second year of Chongzhen, the ministers of the cabinet and the household department were no longer as competitive as in the past.

Especially in Beizhili, there has not been much tax and silver paid over the years.

In such a large place as Beizhili, with so many prefectures and counties, the summer and autumn taxes and silver paid by the whip law every year in the past were only six or seven hundred thousand taels, and even if the Liao salaries were added after the rise of the Liao affairs, the tax silver sent to Taicang every year never exceeded one million taels.

Think about it, the entire Northern Zhili, including Shuntianfu, Yongpingfu, Hejian Fu, Baodingfu, Zhendingfu, Shunde Fu, Guangping Fu, Daimyo Fu, eight prefectures, subordinate to a bunch of seventy or eighty counties in Zhili Prefecture, the cumulative tax and silver paid in a year is less than one million taels of silver.

This pitiful amount of tax silver is not even as much as the silver that the emperor harvested by casually copying his family.

is a year's tax and silver are all exempted, and for the current Emperor Chongzhen, it is easy to find it back, but it is just to find a rich businessman who collaborated with the enemy and betrayed the country, and copied his family property.

And a rich merchant like this still has a lot of money on the list of copyists listed by Emperor Chongzhen.

For example, the Fan family of Jiexiu, as well as those big businesses that started with the Fan family of Jiexiu in Zhangjiakou, Dushikou, Kill Hukou and other border passes, can be copied at will, and they are worth the annual taxes of Beizhili.

The reason why Emperor Chongzhen has not yet attacked these traitorous profiteers is that he is not very short of silver for the time being.

When the money that has not been realized from the nobles of the north and south capitals is almost spent, it is time to wipe out their families and clans.

From the reports of Li Guowei and Bi Ziyan, it was learned that the silver deposit in the Taicang Treasury of the Household Department had exceeded 12 million taels, and after all the summer taxes were released in the next step, the silver deposit in Taicang of the Household Department was expected to exceed 15 million taels, and Emperor Chongzhen also breathed a long sigh of relief.

Li Guowei, the first assistant of the cabinet, Xu Guangqi, the cabinet minister, and Bi Ziyan, the head of the household department, who came to report the situation, also looked happy and relaxed.

The obvious improvement in the financial situation of the imperial court is certainly a cause for celebration.

Emperor Chongzhen listened to Bi Ziyan's recital of the head of the household, and his heart was happy, and he immediately praised Bi Ziyan and Li Guoyan, the first assistant of the cabinet, without hesitation, and said to them: "I have heard that although silver is not omnipotent, it is absolutely impossible without silver. Although this statement is vulgar, the truth in it is irrefutable. In particular, the Taicang Silver Treasury of the Ministry of Household is related to the livelihood of the imperial court, and it is impossible to do it without silver.

"Now that the imperial court is open source and throttling, the Taicang silver savings are becoming more and more abundant, and this is all due to Qing and other contributions, I am very gratified!"

Li Guoyi, the first assistant of the cabinet, saw that the emperor was happy, and his heart was also much more relaxed, although the emperor in front of him was young, but the various means since he ascended the throne made him, an important minister who had been up and down in the sea for many years, more and more unable to see through, and felt more and more unfathomable.

His position as the first assistant seems to be extremely stable, but in fact, it is completely in the thought of the emperor in front of him.

In terms of qualifications, he is not as good as Sun Chengzong, and even inferior to Xu Guangqi in front of him.

In terms of experience, he is not as good as Li Banghua, who was once a governor, and now he is a supervisor, and he has also made great victories on the front line of Shanxi's thief suppression.

Including the current governor of Zhili, Nan Juyi, his status in the emperor's mind has also risen to the top during this period of time, and sooner or later he is also a candidate for the cabinet and auxiliary government.

So, what are the advantages compared to these people?

For a long time, the first assistant to the cabinet, Lee Kook-ho, has been considering this situation.

After thinking about it, he found that he might have only one advantage, that is, no matter what the circumstances, he supported the decision of the young emperor in front of him more firmly than others.

The previous confiscation of the eunuch party, the dispatch of the superintendent army to the nine sides, the rectification of the two capitals, and the later reform of the guard in the land of Gyeonggi, and then the opening of the sea and trade, and the cleaning up of Donglin, he chose to support the emperor every time without exception.

Even if you have an opinion in your heart, you never easily express your opposing opinions.

This may be the reason why he has been able to sit firmly in the position of the first assistant of the cabinet.

Although the current emperor is young, he is very assertive, and he doesn't want a Shoufu who is too strong, so he is always the first assistant who is the emperor's horse, which is what the emperor wants.

Because of this, Sun Chengzong was constantly sent outside the Beijing Division, whether it was patrolling the borders or rectifying the defense, in order to use his prestige and connections, but also not to let him stay in the Beijing Division, stay by the emperor's side, provide advice to the emperor's various decisions, and affect the efficiency of decision-making.

The same is true for Li Banghua, who stayed by the emperor's side, and the emperor had one more person to persuade when he made decisions.

It would be better to send him out so that they can play their full role, without having to keep them around and express their opinions on things they are not good at.

After Li Guowei figured out these problems, he also had a deeper understanding of his role, knowing what he should say and what not to say in front of the emperor.

And what you need to do is to figure out the emperor's mind as much as possible, and then express your understanding and support in a timely manner.

At this time, after listening to the emperor's words of praising the cabinet and the household department, Li Guowei immediately said: "Your Majesty is waiting for the ministers!" The country is rich in Taicang, and His Majesty has made great efforts to eat and drink, and to strategize, and the ministers dare not be! ”

Xu Guangqi and Bi Ziyan also hurriedly said: "This is all the work of Your Majesty, and the ministers will not dare to do it!" ”

Listening to the modesty of these people, Emperor Chongzhen said with a smile: "How can I be the kind of person who is greedy for merit!" Qing and others are too cautious! ”

After saying this, seeing that a few people were about to be polite again, Emperor Chongzhen waved his hand to stop them, and said: "Now that the Taishu warehouse is rich in silver, and I still have silver in the inner transportation warehouse, I have an idea in my heart." Today, since the ministers and the household department are here, let's talk to a few secretaries to hear about it.

"I have recently summoned Condenius, a missionary from the Netherlands, and I have heard from him many novelties in the kingdoms of Ctessi, and in Condenius's hometown of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, there is a novelty called a bank.

"This bank is not a common pawnshop in my Ming Dynasty, not a silver shop in the streets and alleys, but a place where the bank deposits and deposits the bank or the private government, the bank issues a bank bill as a voucher to receive the deposit of the government, merchants or ordinary people, and pays interest according to the length of the deposit time and the size of the amount of deposited silver.

In this way, the silver of the world can be deposited in the bank, which can solve the silver shortage of the imperial court, and for the north and south merchants, it can be deposited here and taken in other places, which can also save the inconvenience of carrying and transporting on the journey.

At the same time, for ordinary people's homes, silver can not earn interest when it is stored in the home, but there is an extra place for money to be made in the bank.

"Banks can also lend to merchants, and interest will also be calculated according to the length of the loan period and the size of the amount."

"After hearing this, I have thought carefully for the past two days, and the opening of this bank is very convenient for both the Shimin Industrial and Commercial Bank. Not only did they all end up with the government's silver shortage, but they also opened up the scourge of private lending, that is, usury. It's really a lot to kill. ”