Buried alive in the Qing Dynasty

Page 208

Their means of resistance are firstly to incite the common people to resist the investigation of the land and households—if the households cannot be checked, of course there is no way to equalize them; Therefore, I can no longer pay the autumn tax and ask for a reduction or exemption.

So last year, the autumn tax of the three southeastern provinces was completed less than one-third...

"Prime Minister Zhuge, Prime Minister Yu's annual accounts department for last year has been completed."

Hubu Shangshu Ma Chenglong, that is, Ma Xiucai who joined the revolutionary team when Zhu Heqi was the "Great Warlord of the Five Villages", was reporting to Zhuge Sanhe with a bitter face at this time.

"Although the various revenues last year were more than 300 million, the money spent was incredible! It exceeded 500 million, and the deficit was more than 100 million! Fortunately, there were some surpluses in the previous two years, which can make up for the hole. But this year..."

"What's the matter this year? How dare the gentry in Jiangnan and Zhejiang not pay their taxes?" Mr. Yu became angry when he heard this, "Who do they think they are? Do they dare to resist the heavenly soldiers? It really pissed off my Qizi, There is no way for them to survive!"

Ma Chenglong shook his head, "Before the completion of the land clearing and household investigation, the taxes and grains of the four provinces of Jiangnan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, and Jiangbei can only be collected according to the six-year quota of Wanli. The four provinces plus one is about 1000 million shi...according to the six The price of one stone is 600 million taels. The land tax quota in Guangdong and Fujian is almost 600 million taels. The land tax of the six provinces together is 200 million taels.

The remaining customs duties, salt tax, business tax, real estate tax, mining tax, profit tax... It would be nice to collect 800 million together.So this year's income budget is 2000 million, and the expenditure budget is 850 million, with a surplus of 150 million.If it can be realized, then the deposit silver of the household department can exceed 250 million taels.

But after Army Master Yang came back, King Ming immediately planned to give 400 million taels to Dengzhou Tianwang Mansion, and also planned to give Wu Yingqi 100 million taels.This is an increase of 500 million taels, not only the deposit of 250 million taels is gone, but also owed 250 million taels... Two prime ministers, I really can't do it anymore as the secretary of the household department! "

Yu Zhongxian sighed: "I thought we, Ming Dynasty, were the richest among the third in the world, but we were actually the poorest. At the end of last year, the national silver inventory was only 100 million taels..."

Prime Minister Zhuge also sighed, tears were about to come down: "I, Zhuge, really don't have the talent to govern the country... How can I become the poorest in the world when I guard the richest provinces in the world?"

As soon as he finished speaking, he heard Zhu Heqi's voice suddenly coming from outside the door: "Prime Minister Zhuge, who are you talking about is the poorest in the world? Is it Kang Mazi or Wu Gouxiong?"

Zhu Hechi is here!

The three people who were having a small meeting in Zhuge Sanhe's study hurriedly got up and left their seats, and walked towards the door.

At this moment, Zhu Heqi came in with a smile on his face.Zhuge Sanhe, Yu Zhongxian and Ma Chenglong were all taken aback when they saw King Zhu Daming.

Because this "sage" is not wearing a Confucius suit today, but is dressed as a talented Jiangnan scholar, holding an unfolded paper fan in his hand. The sword is empty and the hammer, but the jade pendant sachet.

"Your Majesty," Zhuge Sanhe still came to his senses, and quickly replied, "I just said that our Ming Dynasty is the poorest in the world! Your Majesty, there is less than 100 million taels of silver in the treasury now... the treasury of Kangxi and Wu Yingxiong In any case, it’s impossible to have such a little money in it, right?”

Chapter 480: A plan to pile up debts!

Zhuge Sanhe was really right!

If you only look at the "passbook", Zhu Hechi was indeed the poorest among the bosses of the Zhou family in the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Because in the treasury of Zhu Heqi, there is only a mere 100 million yuan in deposits... Fortunately, the Customs Department of the Ministry of Households and the Dongyin Money Factory established last year are two relatively powerful yamen, and these two yamen can hand in the money every month. More than 100 yuan (two) customs duty, vehicle and vessel tax (also collected by the Customs Department), interest tax.Otherwise, the [-] million taels of silver deposits would not be enough for the Ming court to turn around!

And after Emperor Kangxi received a donation from a group of Eight Banners children who destroyed their homes and rescued them, his household deposits have exceeded 800 million taels, which is seventeen times more than that of Zhu Heqi!

It is truly "the richest in the world"!

The Great Yuan Tianming Emperor Burni gained a lot from plundering Beijing, and now he has saved a "huge sum" of 800 million taels of silver.

As for Wu Yingxiong, he inherited his father Wu Sangui's savings for many years, and there are three or four million taels of silver in the treasury.

Zhu Heqi, who just took a boat trip on the Qinhuai River with Ms. Yang Ziyun and Yang Ziyun, and also ate dinner, listened to a play, exchanged gifts, and held hands (really holding hands), now finds that she is actually The poorest in the world, half of the good mood disappeared immediately.

Okay, why is it the poorest?

He originally had a good time with Yang Ziyun, so he wanted to come to Zhuge Sanhe and Yu Zhongxian to discuss the matter of proposing marriage, but unexpectedly found that he became "the poorest in the world"!

Now he is not in the mood to talk to Zhuge Sanhe and Yu Zhongxian about accepting concubines.So he pulled up a chair and took a seat in Zhuge Sanhe's study, ready to discuss financial issues with the three in front of him.

"Your Majesty," Ma Chenglong and Ma Dashangshu also said with a teary face, "If the court spends strictly according to the budget, then there should be some money saved by the end of this year, and the treasury's silver deposits can reach 250 million taels. Otherwise, the treasury There will be 250 million taels of fresh money! At that time, there will be no money in the treasury of the Ministry of Accounting, only IOUs... I don’t know how to be the home of the Ministry of Accounting.”

Bank of the Ministry of Finance?Zhu Hexi thought: "The household department has a bank? The household department only has an accounting room!"

"Your Majesty," said Yu Zhongxian, "if the household department's treasury runs into a deficit, there is no way to turn around... You should either use that little money to lend it to the imperial court, or stop the big projects in Nanjing."

"Internal money?" Zhu Heqian glared at the old man, "Master Qi, don't you know if there is any money in my internal money?

Although I have shares in Dongchang Guanyinhao, Beijiujiu, Neigunpowder Factory, West Nitrate Factory, Nanyi Factory, and Nanyang Trading Company, the dividends of these banks, factories, and companies are not many.Moreover, I paid for the repairs of the Imperial City and Heavenly King's Mansion, as well as the Weaving Girl's Palace, and also built a mortar factory, a brick factory, an iron factory, and opened iron and coal mines... all of which required a lot of money! "

Zhu Hechi started many careers, but not many really belonged to him.Among the factories, companies, and factories that he owns shares in, only Beijiu Factory, that is, the factory that produces Daming Spring Wine, Daming Yujiu, and Daming Royal Perfume, is owned by Zhu Heqi...he took [-]% of the shares. Shares, the remaining [-]% are "body shares", that is, shares that are distributed to the current management and employees.

Moreover, it has not been many years since these businesses opened, and they are still in the period of rapid growth. They need to invest a lot of money every year to expand production, and the dividend rate is not high.

In this case, Zhu and Qi can't get too much dividends.

After he arrived in Nanjing, he immediately started a new entrepreneurial project.The industries he is targeting this time are iron and steel, cement, coal mines, masonry and textiles... The stalls are very large and require a lot of investment.

In addition, Zhu Heqi also repaired the Forbidden City and Tianwang Mansion in Nanjing at his own expense.

This is another big expense!

Therefore, Zhu Hechi's own capital chain is also quite tight, and there is no spare money to lend to the court at all.

Zhuge Sanhe's face was serious, as if he was engaged in an ideological struggle, now that Zhu Heqi said that he had no money, he could only sigh: "Your Majesty, it is really impossible to pay Liao's salary!"

"No!"

"You must not increase the dispatch and increase the levy!"

Yu Zhongxian and Ma Chenglong raised their objections loudly immediately.

How did Emperor Chongzhen die?

Didn't they send three additional salaries to force the Shaanxi people to rebel, making internal and external difficulties, exhausting their lives, and finally hanging Meishan when they had nowhere to go.

"What is Jiapai doing?" Zhu Heqi waved his hands, "It's not necessary."

"Your Majesty is wise," Ma Chenglong said, "Then please spend your money within your means, and maintain a balance of income and expenditure no matter what."

"How can it be possible to balance the income and expenditure?" Zhu Heqi smiled and waved his hands, "It's wartime now! And it's still a four-nation war, competing in the world, and the fight is so big, how can it be possible to live within our means?

Now is the time to spend more than money, whoever spends more and harder will get the upper hand! "

Zhuge Sanhe shook his head again and again, "But..."

Mr. Yu was very anxious, "Qizai, where did the money come from?"

Ma Chenglong looked helpless, "My lord, we can't conjure money out of thin air!"

Zhu Heqi laughed: "The imperial court can borrow it!"

"Borrow?" Zhuge Sanhe was taken aback, "Borrow from whom?"

Zhu Hechi laughed and said, "Borrow from the merchants! That King Zhou Nan who is heavily in debt knows, right? The lonely family plans to learn from King Zhou Nan, and also use a trick to build up debt!"

A plan to pile up debt?Does this mean that you have to borrow or not?

There is no one else!

Zhuge Sanhe, Yu Zhongxian and Ma Chenglong didn't know what to say.

"If you want to give 400 million to Dengzhou and 100 million to Wu Yingqi...how much is the household shortfall?"

"At least a loss of 350 million..." Ma Chenglong said, "This is a shortfall for this year."

"There will be a big envoy this year!" Zhu Heqi said, "Now the land in Jiangnan, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang can't be moved. In the final analysis, there is still a lack of competent officials. You must take the lenient!"

"The deficit will exceed 400 million!" Ma Chenglong almost gritted his teeth and reported this figure.

Zhu Hechi nodded: "400 million is not much...a 500 million national debt!"

"500 million national debt?"

"This this this..."

"My lord, why are merchants willing to borrow?"

Zhu Heqian smiled: "You don't need to worry about this matter, the lonely family will take care of it... Tomorrow when we hold the small court meeting in the Hall of Martial Arts, let's discuss how to spend the money together!"

……

Zhu Heqi's daily court meeting is to hold meetings with the heads of the two governments, the six ministries, and the Jiuqing in the Wuying Hall, and add a few attendants to the sky.Including Zhu Heqi himself, there were probably more than [-] people present at the meeting.

These people sat around a rectangular table, among them Zhu and Qi sat facing south, at the top of the conference table, and the others sat on both sides.

As for the important content to be discussed at the meeting, the attendants will inform the officials below through official documents in advance.

So everyone already knew that they were going to discuss with Zhu Hechi how to spend the "non-existent" money today!

This is really a bit ridiculous!

Therefore, when the meeting started, the people below didn't know how to speak for a while, and the scene was a bit cold.

"Zuo Chunqiu," Zhu Heqi was still confident as always, so he simply opened his mouth and named Zuo Chunqiu, who was about to go to Wu Yingqi's place as an envoy, "The lonely family has prepared a list...there are materials that can be provided to Wu Yingqi The directory and the upper limit of each item he can get. He can get a total of 100 million taels worth of materials!"

Zuo Chunqiu stood up and punched Zhu and Qi, "My lord, Wu Yingqi can really get so many things?"

"Of course!" Zhu Hechi said, "But Gu's family won't give him cash...he doesn't need it either! Shaanxi-Gansu output is limited, and fortunately prices are relatively low. If the silver flows there all at once, the goods If there is no increase, the price will definitely increase greatly. It is the same in Dengzhou, only supplies and bank notes are given, and no cash is given!"

Chapter 481 Stones, Capital, and Money Printing Machines!

"Your Majesty," Yang Qilong, who is about to be the governor of Jiangbei, but is currently the left military adviser, stood up and asked, "I don't know what should Wu Yingqi and Dengzhou Tianwang Mansion do with those supplies? Did the imperial court buy them for them, or let them buy it themselves? The imperial court only pays the merchants?"

As soon as he mentioned "paying money", Zhuge Sanhe, Yu Zhongxian and Ma Chenglong all looked melancholy...no money!

Zhu Hechi laughed and said, "It is possible to set up a purchasing office in Nanjing, which will be managed by Wu Yingqi's people, the officials of Dengzhou Tianwang Mansion and the officials sent by the imperial court. What to buy, Wu Yingqi's people and the officials of Tianwang Mansion will be from the list. As long as it is within the quota, the officials of the imperial court will be responsible for bidding and issuing contracts to merchants. As for the payment... of course, it will be transferred by the official bank account.

You can pay a deposit first, and wait for the goods to be delivered to the border between us and Wu Yingqi or to Shanghai Port in Songjiang Mansion, and the people in Wu's family or Tianwang Mansion will check and verify that the remaining money can be transferred to the merchant's account.

In addition, large-scale purchases by the imperial court and local governments must gradually implement centralized procurement, open bidding and contracting, and transfer payments.However, it does not need to be too tight. The original financial and administrative powers of each yamen do not need to be changed, and small purchases do not need to be managed. It is only necessary to set up a procurement office in Nanhai, Haijing and the provincial capitals to handle bidding and contracting. It's all right... What do you think? "

The current Ming court is still in its infancy, and all systems are not complete, and there are many loopholes.

Corruption in the court and local procurement process is simply unavoidable.However, the purpose of Zhu Heqi's establishment of the purchasing office to conduct centralized public bidding and contracting is not entirely for anti-corruption and saving purchasing expenses.Also to speed up the construction of the financial system!

The current financial system centered on Dongyin Qianchang and Dongchang Guanyinhao is only relatively spread in Nanjing, Guangzhou, and Chaozhou.In other places, it is at best to set up a point, not to mention the system.

Moreover, in Guangzhou, Chaozhou and Nanjing, the financial systems that have just emerged are still at a very early stage.

Although the interbank market and the commodity trading market have been established, they are still immature and relatively small in scale, and various systems are still being explored.There are not too many merchants who have opened accounts in bank accounts, banks, ticket offices, and pawnshops that have close capital exchanges with official banks in Dongchang or Heguan Banks, and are supervised by Dongyin Money Factory.

Therefore, Zhu Hexi hoped that through the establishment of the imperial court and the provinces' purchasing and bidding offices, they could help the Yidong Silver Factory and Dongchang Guanyinhao to extend their tentacles to every mansion under the rule of the Ming Dynasty.

If a supervision, lending, remittance, and issuance system centered on Dongyin Qianchang and Dongchang Guanyin can be formed, then issuing some public bonds will not be a problem at all.

Moreover, once this system is established, the huge amount of silver that flowed into Daming through trade in the past can be sucked into this system, and then it will start to operate, completing a gorgeous turn from "stones" to capital - and it is not necessary for all "stones" to be changed. In terms of capital, there is a base currency of [-] million silver dollars, plus a doubling of the multiplier effect, it is enough for turnover.

"My lord," Zhuge Sanhe didn't understand Zhu Hechi's intentions, but he still supported it, "I think this method is very good... But it's too late for this matter to be fully spread out this year. The imperial court is trying it out. The imperial court has a purchase budget of several million this year, and with the purchases from Tianwang Mansion and Wu Yingqi, there are tens of millions of taels. If the payment period can be delayed, maybe the turnover will be opened."

Zhu Hechi raised his voice and said in an intensified tone: "It's not tens of millions of taels, but tens of millions of yuan... The matter of abolishing the two and changing it to the yuan must also be carried out at the same time."

"Silver taels" and "silver dollars" are not the same thing!

This is a question of monetary sovereignty!

The silver coins are exclusively manufactured by Dongyin Money Factory, privately minted silver coins and privately minted copper coins are both capital offenses!

And silver is dug out of the ground, anyone can dig it, and the main place of origin is New Spain.

Using silver taels as a currency in circulation is nothing at first glance. After all, it is a precious metal, and it is not easy to dig in the backyard.

But in this way, the country cannot control the currency issuance, and it also loses the possibility of collecting inflation taxes in emergencies.

The "death of poverty" in Chongzhen and the loss of financial sovereignty in the Qing Dynasty in history were due to the fact that after silver became the currency in circulation, the country lost the ability to control currency issuance and manage finance.

In contrast, Japan next door has always been in charge of issuing currency and regulating finance because it has been casting "silver sentences" and "gold sentences" and is still issuing all kinds of strange vassals (banknotes). ability.Therefore, after the Meiji Restoration, the Japanese firmly grasped their own currency and finance, and guarded their money printing machine...

Zhu Heqi, who is well aware of the power of nuclear-powered money printing machines, of course knows that the country must firmly grasp the right to issue currency!

"Your Majesty," Ma Chenglong, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, stood up and asked, "The folks have used silver taels for many years, and it has long been a habit. We can't force the use of silver taels, right? Although silver dollars are indeed more convenient than silver taels, those who have used them are all I know...but if you haven't used it, it's better not to know it."

Eunuch Pang, the admiral of the Dongyin Money Factory, took over Ma Chenglong's topic and said, "Isn't it... There are still many people who cut up the good silver coins.

They obviously have a lot of small silver coins and copper coins, but they don't want to change them, they have to use scissors! "

Zhu Heqi smiled and said: "The Gu family knows that the common people are used to using silver and scissors, and many of them can melt and smelt silver by themselves, which is not a small skill! But the Gu family also has a way to speed up the matter of abolishing the two and changing it to a round one." a little!"

Mrs. Pang listened to Zhu Heqi and said that it is not surprising that there is a way, and she smiled and said: "It is difficult (for me) to know that the king has a way, and this way is..."

"Of course it's the imperial examination!" Zhu Hechi said.

"The imperial examination?"

"What is the relationship between the imperial examination and the abolition of the two reforms?"

Neither Eunuch Pang nor Ma Chenglong understood.It seems that the relationship between the imperial examination and silver coins and silver coins cannot be made public, right?

"Of course it has something to do with it!" Zhu Heqi said, "Since you want to take the imperial examination...you have to go far away! You can't take the imperial examination at home, right?"

"That's true." Eunuch Pang nodded, "It's difficult (I) understand, poor families are rich, and those who come to Beijing to catch the exam have a small family of assets, so they have to go out with tens of taels or hundreds of taels. If they can exchange these silver coins into silver dollars or bank notes, then the progress of abolishing the two yuan and changing the yuan can be greatly accelerated."

Zhu Hechi nodded: "Nine thousand years old's mind is still quicker, nine thousand years old, you can think about it for the lonely family again, what method should be used to get those juzi to change their silver into silver coins or bank notes?"

Eunuch Pang touched his bare chin, turned a pair of small eyeballs, and said: "We still have to find a way from the customs... Now the tax has given merchants a tax-free quota of 1000 taels of cash. I suggest that this The quota was adjusted downward to 50 taels.

At the same time, notify the local officials to change their silver into bank notes before going out... It is not necessary to exchange them all into bank notes from official banks, but they can also be exchanged with bank notes from big banks in various places.The official bank can take advantage of the opportunity of remittance for silver exchange for the children, and enclose these local big money houses in the interbank market, so that they can help them with the exchange.