Chapter 31 Cabinet Proceedings
Xu Jing smiled awkwardly. After managing Zhu Houzhao's internal funds, he began to discover that the Ming Emperor's previous internal funds were less than his own family's treasury.
Fortunately, Zhu Houzhao is not as embarrassed as before. In addition to the income from the royal exposition and the soap business, he has more than 300,000 taels of royal private wealth. Plus the internal money returned by the Ministry of Revenue, although I don’t have much savings anymore, but I can still make up 400,000 taels in total.
Moreover, Zhu Houzhao now has three institutions that make money, one is the Royal Industrial Company, the other is the Royal Taxation Administration, and the other is the Royal Bank.
It goes without saying that Royal Industrial Company only produces industrial products and then sells them to make money.
The Royal Taxation Administration and the Royal Bank are what Zhu Houzhao wants to arrest now.
The Xu Jing family, the Wang Hua family, Liu Jin and other eight tigers have all become the major shareholders of the Royal Bank in addition to the royal family.
What Zhu Houzhao didn't expect was that the Wang Hua family, the Minister of Household Affairs, would be so far-sighted. However, in fact, this was a gift from Wang Yangming.
And this basically laid the foundation for several wealthy families that were formed after the Ming Dynasty's Zhengde era.
Now Zhu Houzhao still has to arrange tax collection matters for the Royal Taxation Administration for Xu Jing and the "Eight Tigers".
"As you know, the main job of the Royal Taxation Bureau is to collect taxes for me. The more taxes you collect, the more gold and silver will be stored in the Royal Bank;
What's more, we collect commercial taxes, consultation taxes, and mining taxes, so in the future, the Royal Taxation Administration will collect mostly taxes from wealthy businessmen. These people either have a gentry background or are court officials, nobles, or even members of the royal family; < br>
Therefore, I decided to establish a tax corps, which is affiliated with the Royal Taxation Bureau! This is used to maintain tax collection order.
Before rectifying the commercial tax and mining tax, Xu Jing, you will first use 10% of my tax bank to recruit people of good character to establish a tax team. At that time, it will be derived from the provinces, and each province will set up a royal tax bureau and tax detachment. , each prefecture has a royal tax branch and a general tax flag, and each county has a royal tax office and a small tax flag! ”
Xu Jing was quite surprised. He did not expect that His Majesty the Emperor Zhu Houzhao would also equip the Royal Bank with officers and soldiers. In this way, the Royal Bank would undoubtedly be able to have military protection for tax collection. Naturally, he was also quite happy and hurriedly said that he was complying with the order.
Zhu Houzhao made Ma Yongcheng the first member of the tax corps, and asked Ma Yongcheng to assist Xu Jing in recruiting. After all, Ma Yongcheng was the eunuch around Zhu Houzhao who was most familiar with the market and could help Xu Jing set up the tax corps in the shortest time.
As the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Houzhao's main task was to control the power of the government. After arranging the next tasks of the Royal Bank, Zhu Houzhao continued to ask Gu Dayong, Zhang Yong and others about the progress of the plan to overthrow the eunuch Zhang Zhao.
"Your Majesty, don't worry. The minister has found a dead man named Wu Cha. His wife was killed by Zhang Zhao, so he is willing to work for the court," Gu Dayong reported at this time.
"Under the instigation of the internal ministers, the officers and soldiers of the imperial army and the regiment are now increasingly resentful about the owed Lumi, and some people have even proposed to cause trouble," Zhang Yongye reported.
Zhu Houzhao smiled slightly after hearing this: "Now the day of Emperor Daxing's funeral and burial is approaching. People such as the Chief of Ceremonies, the Royal Horse Supervisor, the Cabinet, and the Ministry of Rites are all busy arranging the funeral ceremony of Emperor Daxing. These days are perfect. If you have a chance, I will go to the regiment camp the day after tomorrow. Gao Feng, you are responsible for bringing the forbidden soldiers to the regiment camp. When the time comes, I, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, will give them money uniformly!"
……
Zhu Houzhao began to prepare 300,000 taels of cash, and the cabinet also began to discuss matters, mainly regarding the regiment camp and the forbidden soldiers Lumi.
Zhu Houzhao often referred matters directly to the cabinet for discussion. This made it appear that he was not interested in politics, and the cabinet was naturally happy to do so. Now, the matter of the regiment camp and the forbidden soldiers Lumi was naturally handed over to the cabinet for discussion. That is to say, the cabinet organized several department officials responsible for the matter to discuss and then draft a resolution and submit it to the emperor Zhu Houzhao.
Liu Jian, the first assistant of the cabinet, Li Dongyang, the second assistant of the cabinet, and Xie Qian, the third assistant, sat in the center, while Wang Hua, the secretary of the Ministry of household affairs, and Xu Jin, the minister of the Ministry of war, were on both sides. The first one to speak was Xu Jin, the minister of the Ministry of war: "The three cabinet ministers "My lord, the regimental camp and the imperial soldiers have been in debt for a long time. Now that the new year is approaching, if we don't pay out the salary, it may cause a mutiny!"
"How much food does the Ministry of Household Affairs have left to distribute?" Liu Jian, the chief assistant of the cabinet, asked at this time.
"Xiaguan just checked the accounts a few days ago. Emperor Daxing has spent more than half of the money on food for repairing the mausoleum and burying him. Now he only has about 200,000 taels of Taicang silver left," Wang Hua, Shangshu of the Ministry of Revenue, replied.
"That's just right. It can even out the lumi I owe, and it can also solve an urgent need!"
Xu Jin, the Minister of War, said hurriedly that he had just taken up the post of Minister of War and was eager to make drastic changes to the military affairs. Naturally, he was eager to replenish Lumi for the officers and soldiers, so as to gain the prestige of reorganizing the military affairs.
But Li Dongyang, the second assistant to the cabinet, said at this time: "This money cannot be used to distribute rice. It must be used by the Ministry of Industry to repair the Qianqing Palace! Have you forgotten the reason why His Majesty moved to Baofang? The reason is that the Qianqing Palace is dilapidated. We can't escape the cold and heat. Now three months are coming. When the time comes, we will persuade His Majesty to return to the palace. What should we do if His Majesty asks if the Qianqing Palace has been repaired? What should we do if we find reasons not to return to the palace? "
"Exactly, do you still want His Majesty to stay outside the palace and be led by Liu Jin and others to do unsexy things? If His Majesty goes to sell some royal property or even beg, how will we officials be able to do it ourselves? At that time, more than one minister of the Ministry of Revenue resigned! ”
Xie Qian was also busy talking.
"In this case, let's use the money to build the Qianqing Palace first, and let the Ministry of Industry build it immediately!" Liu Jian decided to build the Qianqing Palace for Zhu Houzhao without hesitation this time.
When Wang Hua, the Minister of Household Affairs, saw this, he could only say so.
Xu Jin, the Minister of War, had just been promoted to Minister of War and was eager to revitalize the Ming Dynasty's armaments. Replenishing Lumi for the officers and soldiers was his first step to revitalize the Ming Dynasty's armaments. However, he did not expect that the cabinet decided to use the money to repair the Qing Palace first. Although he did not object to the construction of the Qianqing Palace for His Majesty the Emperor Zhu Houzhao, he believed that the most important thing was to distribute rice to the officers and soldiers. After all, once the officers and soldiers had trouble with their pay, it would affect the safety of the Ming Dynasty capital.
"My lords, not long ago, the Ministry of War asked for 400,000 taels to be allocated to Shaanxi Governor Yang Yiqing to build the border wall, but you turned it down on the grounds that Suzhou needed relief for the floods. Now the Tuanying and Forbidden Soldier Lumi owes three months, but you still refuse to pay! How can you tolerate The Ming Dynasty's armaments are so depleted! If you don't build border walls, Xuanhua Zijin Pass and other fortified cities can protect the capital, but if the officers and soldiers of the capital are not exposed, the safety of the capital will be affected if an incident occurs. "
"And if you let the officers and soldiers know that Your Majesty would rather use the money to build the Qianqing Palace than use it to distribute rice to the officers and soldiers, what is the trap of your father!"
Xu Jin, the Minister of War, argued vigorously.
"Which is the lesser of two powers that are harmful to each other. The officers and soldiers are more important than the Majesty. Mr. Xu needs to understand this. If the Qianqing Palace is not repaired, the Majesty will have to live outside the palace. If the emperor does not sit in the center, the world will be unstable. , and the officers and soldiers’ money has been delayed for three months, so why not delay it for a few more months? Sir, please work harder, comfort the officers and soldiers, and tell them that they will definitely be able to receive their money before the end of the year!”
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Liu Jian, the chief assistant of the cabinet, stopped talking to Xu Jin after saying this.
Seeing this, Xu Jin, the Minister of War, knew that the cabinet was unwilling to use the money to distribute the money to the officers and soldiers. He was very angry and left the cabinet directly.
(End of chapter)