Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 51: The Poor Ming Dynasty
In front of Zhu Changluo, Ma Tang began his performance.

"For example, at Linqing Customs, let me give you an example. If a big merchant brought silk and satin worth ten thousand taels from Jiangnan to Linqing, he should be taxed three hundred taels according to the rules. But when declaring at the customs, he can lie about the category and the amount. The customs will turn a blind eye and only collect thirty taels. The big merchant can prepare another hundred taels and bribe people."

"Your Highness, please understand! Every year, there are endless cargo ships coming and going in Linqing Customs, but only about 80,000 taels of silver are collected each year. Your Majesty sent us out just to see these tricks. Why can we only get one out of ten of the tax silver we should collect?"

"Another example is mining. Although the mining ban is strict, the profits are huge. Local big families often mine privately and manage the local area without paying taxes. The mining ban should not be lifted lightly, because the gathering of mine thieves is easy to cause chaos. However, the whole world belongs to the king. Many local people mine privately but never pay mining taxes. How can Your Majesty tolerate this? That's why I sent the slaves out and only allowed them to mine..."

Zhu Changluo listened quietly. When the mining supervisors and tax collectors spoke in person, the context behind it became clearer.

The results indeed confirmed Zhu Changluo's judgment.

The Ming Dynasty had many financial problems, but one of them was particularly fatal, and that was the tax quota system.

In the early Ming Dynasty, after several years of recovery, land tax revenue reached more than 30 million shi. Zhu Yuanzhang was very satisfied with this and subsequently announced that newly reclaimed land in the northern provinces would never be taxed again.

Later, the annual land tax quota was raised to 27 million shi.

From then on, the Ming Dynasty had a very stable land tax income. No matter how the size of the farmland changed, no matter whether there were natural disasters, no matter how the labor force increased, and no matter whether the farming level improved, the land tax income of the Ming Dynasty remained at around 27 million shi.

Along with this, other taxes are also generally the same and have become ancestral teachings that have been implemented to this day.

But did the Ming Dynasty stand still?

The data on the surface is like this: the population and land size of the Ming Dynasty have always been stable, and the income of the Ming Dynasty is of course also very stable.

Zhu Changluo now clearly understood the reason why the mining supervisors and tax collectors were being attacked by the public: the contradiction between the ever-growing scale of fiscal expenditure and the extremely stable fiscal revenue.

Zhang Juzheng's new policy had not yet touched the deep waters when the people died.

The three major expeditions began, the two palaces and three halls were lost, and Zhu Yijun needed to raise money.

It doesn't matter whether he spends it for the country or for himself. What matters is that he must make money and he cannot bear to see the money being taken away by officials, gentry and wealthy people.

In this respect, he is the same as his grandfather: it's all my money!
The method is just too rough.

Zhu Changluo looked at Tian Yi and said, "After listening to what he said, do you still think that the mining supervisor and tax collector should be removed?"

Tian Yi bowed and said, "Your Highness, I think we should withdraw them! These slaves have been sent down, and they have no real ability except to collect taxes and embezzle money. The taxes that should be collected should come from the rich merchants and big families, but when they are sent to the local areas, they only cause public outrage and only treat the symptoms but not the root cause!"

He looked at Zhu Changluo deeply and said, "Even Lord Zhang didn't have this ability back then. Can we collect all the taxes we should collect by sending these mining supervisors and tax collectors out?"

Zhu Changluo said nothing.

Tian Yi became more and more forthright in speaking his mind.

Tian Yi suggested removing these. He was doing so from the perspective of maintaining imperial power, and did not want the emperor to lose the support of the people because of this money.

The annual revenue of 300,000 taels was magnified to the local levels, and I am afraid that the general level would be around this: each place would suffer several times the burden.

All the officials, regardless of their party affiliation, rose up in opposition to this, because it was to their advantage to stick to the annual fixed tax quota.

How much did the population and wealth of the Ming Dynasty grow? The emperor and the court officials did not see the extra people.

When the mining supervisors and tax collectors arrived at the local area, they intervened and obtained money mainly to destroy the existing system.

Although there are many ways to shift the burden back to the people, the rules are being broken and the benefits that everyone has steadily gained in the past are shrinking.

Taxes that "did not" have to be paid in the past now have to be paid more, and the money that could have been collected in the past was taken away by eunuchs.

And since the tax collectors are the same in practice, only allowing the emperor to take 10% or 20%, and have a "long list of bad deeds", why not impeach them?

"Then I understand." Zhu Changluo looked at Ma Tang, "Father sent you out, aren't you the same as those people? You pointed these out just to save yourself. I heard that when Matteo Ricci passed through Linqing again, you really wanted to seize his things and present them to him yourself. You let him go only after knowing that he was ordered to enter the capital. At least you still know the power of heaven, so just wait for the prince to decide."

In recent years, the Tianjin Tax Supervision Bureau has only been in the middle of the ranking of local tax supervision bureaus in terms of "entering the silver industry".

Zhu Changluo estimated that this time he would probably earn a total of several million.

With just one family of foreign relatives and a group of eunuchs sent abroad, Zhu Changluo's treasury balance would quickly expand to more than three times its original amount.

He made money, but he was not happy. This was truly a "poor" Ming Dynasty.

Where did the money go? Do I need to ask?

……

On the other side of Shanhaiguan, Gao Huai was counting silver.

The money collected this year has not yet been sent to Beijing. Most of the money saved in the past is also here, and some of it was taken back to his hometown to buy land and houses.

Looking at the less than 200,000 taels of silver in the basement, Gao Huai's face changed under the candlelight.

"Tell them that the emperor's father is seriously ill, and everyone must show filial piety and loyalty! If the family property is more than 500 taels, every family must contribute at least 10%!"

"The horses and winter clothes collected in the past two months will be sent to the guards. The rebellion in Lonely Mountain Castle will be quelled soon. If any guards are not fully prepared, we will return to the capital to report!"

"As for North Korea, tell them to stop waiting and bring back all the good materials. The palace has skilled craftsmen who will prepare the gift!"

If I really want to return to Beijing, I am afraid that I will not be able to show my ability if I don’t have more than 100,000 taels.

But Gao Huai felt extremely painful when he was asked to give up most of it.

Turning back, he said, "Go to bed early, and visit each house tomorrow!"

Gao Huai, who had been wantonly wreaking havoc in Liao for ten years, was now aroused to even greater ferocity because of the unexpected development of the situation.

The royal family needs money everywhere. What's the point of relying on one million taels of Jinhua silver and local tributes every year?

The successor will understand this soon!
The tax collection situation of the tax inspectors is already very good. Currently, they can submit hundreds of thousands of taels of tax a year. In the future, millions or even tens of millions of taels will be a piece of cake. How can they be abolished now?

Gao Huai tried his best to plunder and delay the matter, hoping to use his "ability" to prove the necessity of the existence of the mining supervisor and tax collector.

Late at night, several people were having a secret meeting in the house in Dongluo City.

"Don't worry, I've received a clear reply. There's already a clear order, and that eunuch is delaying and not leaving, and even sending more troops to plunder in the name of suppressing bandits, which is a serious crime. It's natural to arouse public anger! Although it's a military city, Governor Xing and General Ma will not move their troops."

"Yes, before that eunuch came, the benefits of the Liaodong horse market and the merchants and travelers had originally belonged to them. Now that His Majesty is seriously ill and will pass the throne to the Crown Prince, the eunuch is no longer in the Emperor's favor, so why should we be afraid of him? Everyone wants to go back to the old days!"

"Has General Ma really said something clear? Where is the Governor?"

"Anyway, that eunuch has come out in person now. We are just looking for an opportunity to attack him in groups. We are not going to burn down the tax office like we did in Linqing. As long as we don't move the garrison, we will be fine!"

"He has many servants..."

"So we need to find more people secretly first..."

The palace's decree also reached the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Since the death of Zhang Juzheng, Liu Shouyou, the commander of the Jinyiwei who had always recognized and supported him, was also purged. Until now, the Jinyiwei has not had a commander who actually holds the seal of office.

Today, the Jinyiwei has Wang Zhizhen, the assistant secretary of the court, as the commander-in-chief of the Jinyiwei, who is in charge of the affairs of the Jinyiwei.

He called a centurion over and said with a serious expression: "The enthronement ceremony is imminent, and we can't spare many people. You are familiar with Liaodong, so you go and handle this matter!"

Luo Sigong saluted neatly: "I obey your orders!"

Then Luo Sigong quickly ordered everyone to set off.

"Luo Tou, the imperial decree has been issued. Do we need so many brothers to go and bring him back to the capital? At this critical moment, the ceremony of enthroning His Highness will be held in two days. We..."

On the road leading to Shanhaiguan in the east of the capital, Luo Sigong and a flag of ten Jinyi captains were galloping on horseback.

"Stop talking nonsense and get on with your journey!"

(End of this chapter)