Emperor Ming Dynasty

Chapter 542 Food Burden
After a while of haggling and haggling, the last of the six films cost a total of 400 million silver dollars.

The final surplus is 200 million yuan.

As for food, there is a lot left, and among the six ministries, only the Ministry of War likes it. The army consumes too much. If the court does not supply it, the expenditure will double.

Even if the consumption of the army is removed, there are still nearly 400 million shi.

The 200 million silver dollars is indeed a little short, and if there is an emergency, I am afraid that it will not be able to support it.

"Your Majesty, the price of grain in Beijing is now about one silver dollar per stone. If we slowly sell last year's stored grain, we can collect three or four million silver dollars."

For the emperor's worries, Zhao Shuxin understood and immediately came up with a solution.

In order to move the capital, almost all the grain stored in Shaowu, Nanjing, was transported to Beijing in the second year, which was enough for the people in the city to eat for one year.

Now that the autumn grains are here, last year and summer grains will naturally not be seen, so it should be sold.

The biggest advantage of sea transportation is that it allows Beijing to eat new food.

If it was transported by water before, the local government must collect all the taxes at the end of October, and then according to the distance, the taxes must be transported to Beijing in one year at the latest and three to five months in the shortest.

Therefore, except for some dignitaries and emperors, there is basically no new rice in Beijing.

"There is still great potential for commercial taxation, and the Ministry of Households still needs to work hard!"

Zhu Yixi nodded, looked at Zhu Mou, and sighed.

The reason why we don’t talk about the customs and Chaoguan is that the Chaoguan is still in the hands of the inner court and belongs to the transitional period, and the customs is where the future emperor’s internal funds are located, and the Ministry of Households can’t get a single hair.

"Your Majesty, don't worry, the ticket salt law will be fully rolled out next year, and the Changlu Salt Field, Fujian Salt, Jieyan, Liangzhe Salt, etc. will at least double."

The emperor's eyes were full of regret, and Zhu Mou was deeply stimulated, and he immediately assured: "The humble minister is only counting on a small amount, and he can get at least 800 million yuan."

"Good!" The emperor praised: "The salt industry is the lifeblood of the imperial court. It must be managed well. Just do your best, don't force it."

For the salt tax, Zhu Yixi has high expectations, this is definitely a cash cow.

The salt tax in the Qing Dynasty directly exceeded 3000 million taels after the Ticket and Salt Law. In the Guangxu period, it exceeded 5000 million taels, and the Xuantong reached [-] million taels.

Don't ask so high, there are always tens of millions!

However, the imperial court is so tight that the north is too dilapidated to provide for the imperial court. After two or three years of recuperation, the situation will inevitably change.

Zhao Shu even optimistically estimated that after the fall of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the population of Taiping in the north would multiply, taxes would increase greatly, and the annual surplus of the household department could exceed 500 million yuan.

And food will pile up like mountains.

A budget meeting ended perfectly.

Finally, Zhu Mou asked to see the emperor himself, and spoke his mind:

"Although the price of food is still high, it seems to be falling, so the household department loves silver dollars and despises food."

"Food needs to be guarded by someone, and the granary is repaired, and it needs to be dried from time to time, but the silver coins are delivered directly in boxes, counted, or weighed, saving time and effort."

"did you mean?"

Zhu Yixi frowned.

"What the Hubu said is that the provinces of Shandong, Shaanxi, Gansu, Shanxi, Henan, and Northern Zhili have insufficient water power, inconvenient transportation, and too much wear and tear on grain trucks."

"Rather than this, it's better to directly collect silver."

Zhu Mou looked at the emperor cautiously and asked tentatively.

Speaking of this, I have to mention the silver and grain tax divisions that divided the world when I entered Nanjing at the beginning of the year, that is, the tax division law.

It is improved by learning from the disadvantages of a whip method, because in some places, copper is expensive and silver is cheap, such as Jiangnan, and in some places, silver is expensive and copper is cheap, such as Jiangxi.

Therefore, for example, economically developed areas such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Yingtianfu mainly collect silver, because they do not produce enough grain, but there is a lot of silver.

As for the large grain-producing provinces such as Huguang and Jiangxi, the water conservancy is well developed and there is enough transportation capacity to transport grain, so they still receive grain.

Adapt measures to local conditions, nothing more than the case.

If this is still the case, Shandong and Henan are both large grain-producing provinces, and there are canals and the Yellow River, so they should be harvesting grain.

There is no need to mention Beizhili, there must be food under the nose.

Only in the three provinces of Gansu, Shanxi, and Shaanxi, where the roads are difficult to walk, money is worth the money.

But Hubu was unwilling.

Because with the development of the commodity economy, the economy is active, and silver is more and more useful, food is becoming less and less popular.

Just like what Zhu Mou said, not to mention the food takes up space, but someone has to be sent to guard and serve it, and the cost is too high.

As the imperial court used silver to distribute salaries to officials, the importance of food decreased again, and the biggest role was to supply the city of Beijing.

And this role can be handled by non-governmental grain merchants, especially with active shipping, the food crisis will go further and further.

Zhu Mou said solemnly: "No matter how much food there is, it can only be a burden. If the northern Zhili recovers as before, even the south will not need to harvest grain."

Although this statement is somewhat decisive, it is indeed true.

Therefore, the food dilemma for thousands of years has now become a food burden.

The biggest expense of the household department now is to repair the granary.

"no--"

The emperor thought about it and directly rejected the proposal.

"Don't have shallow eyelids, but think about the future."

Speaking of this, the emperor said in a deep voice: "Sea transportation is convenient, but if the sea is blocked, wouldn't it be at the mercy of others?"

"Your Majesty, how can there be such a person in the world?" Zhu Mou blurted out in disbelief.

If they sit idly by and do nothing, so will the Western countries.

Muttering in his heart, the emperor said directly: "Walk on two legs, and transport by sea and water in parallel. This is a national policy and must not be changed."

"By the way, Kaifeng has broken its embankment for many years, and it is urgent to control the Yellow River."

After all, the emperor directly asked the Ministry of Households to set up a special fund for the management of the Yellow River, and invest at least 50 yuan in the management of the Yellow River every year.

In this way, Zhu Mou had no choice but to leave.

After returning to the household department, several servants surrounded him, their faces full of anticipation.

Shaking his head, Zhu Shangshu sat down helplessly.

The left and right servants sighed.

"The thirteen clean-up departments are in charge of various provinces, and they all have warehouse departments. The warehouse department is extremely expensive, and the other departments are just rumors. Your household department is in charge of money and food, so you must not spend a lot of money."

Zuo Shilang muttered: "Who would have thought of our suffering?"

"That's it."

Zhu Mou took a sip of tea and talked about the management of the Yellow River. When he learned that there would be an additional 50 yuan a year, the two servants looked extremely ugly.

"The ample days are only a few days away, and I have to tighten my belt again."

"Stop complaining."

Zhu Shangshu said angrily: "How about I talk about it again?"

"No, you've worked so hard. If you go again, our Curry will really be gone."

"Huh!" Zhu Mou waved his hand and said, "Instead of sighing here, it's better to go directly to the Yellow River and set up a few more warehouses, so as not to be dizzy from being too busy in the coming year."

In order to increase revenue and reduce expenditure, we still have to make money quickly!
(End of this chapter)