Longevity begins with Jinyiwei

Looking at the tax revenue of these two places, the emperor rarely showed joy, but soon, when he saw the expenditure figures below, the joy in the emperor's expression disappeared without a trace in an instant.

In Zhaowu's three years and one year, the disaster relief consumed 410 taels of grain and 2605 million taels of silver. The grain for disaster relief alone accounted for one-third of the total taxed grain!

According to his instructions, disaster relief has always been based on work, that is, organizing disaster victims from various places, repairing roads, repairing city defenses, or organizing land reclamation...

If there is excess land, it is even more like Liaodong, allocating land, giving rations, and allocating farm tools.

This is why the disaster relief also consumed more than 200 million taels of silver!

In a country, the food consumed for disaster relief accounts for one-third of the total annual tax revenue, which is obviously an extremely dangerous figure.

After all, for a country, disaster relief should only be a very rare situation, not like the current Daheng. Disaster relief consumption has almost become a normal figure for each year's finances, and it increases every year, and the more relief is, the more!

The Son of Heaven put down the ledger and said in a deep voice, "Go, bring over the summary of natural disasters in various places this year!"

The eunuch immediately trotted to the main hall, picked up a book from the emperor's table, trotted back, and handed it to the emperor.

Looking at the shocking disaster reports one by one, the emperor's expression became more serious.

Although he had a rough idea of ​​the current natural disasters, when the details of the disasters of this year were put together, the emperor couldn't help but tremble.

In the third year of Zhaowu, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, and Sichuan provinces, almost half of the north, were under the influence of drought!

The only difference is the severity of the drought.

But... the Son of Heaven has also struggled at the bottom, so how can he not know that in this era, there is not much difference between whether the drought is serious or not.

In this era, there is no such a complete water conservancy system as the later generations, and the crops of this era are not as good as the later generations, coupled with high rents and fixed small farmers.

Under such circumstances, ordinary people in this era have the ability to withstand natural disasters...or in other words, they have no ability to resist natural disasters at all!

A slight natural disaster will result in crop failure or even crop failure.

In both cases, no matter which one, it must obviously be unquestionable disaster relief!

If not, it will inevitably evolve from a disaster victim to a refugee, or to a civil disorder!

And as far as he knows, the impact of this little ice age on the climate is far from reaching its peak, and the end of it is even more distant!

Chapter 5 Thirty

"The disaster will still be serious..."

"After the reform, the land is divided, and the people's ability to resist disasters should be able to increase..."

"But...the people's ability to bear is absolutely limited, and under the impact of the disaster, taxation, money and grain income will definitely be affected..."

"In any case, sufficient food for disaster relief must be guaranteed..."

Thoughts swirled in the emperor's mind, and immediately, the emperor took out a booklet from his arms, a book that could be said to be a copy of the house forged with blood!

In the third year of Zhaowu, with the help of major tax cases, the world was investigated, and the income from house raids in one year was recorded in this booklet!

Two thousand nine million and forty taels of silver!

More than 83 million stones of grain!

His gaze was fixed on this shocking number for a long time, but the emperor was not at all happy.

This time, although the ransacking of the house has gained a lot, it has also played a great role in the reform and the stability of the world.

As for the house raids, Jin Yiwei was in charge, and he had also served in Jin Yiwei, so he naturally knew the unspoken rules.

The real number obtained from ransacking the house definitely greatly exceeds the reported number.

Although this period was the period when a large amount of overseas silver flowed into the Central Plains, such a terrifying amount of wealth definitely dealt a huge blow to the wealth of the people.

Of course, this is only a secondary matter, and it is not unreasonable to regard it as a redistribution of wealth under strong means. After all, no matter how much money and food is in the country, he will not pile it in the warehouse to turn it into ashes. In the end, Will still use it.

The most important thing is that no matter how much the house is copied, it is only a one-time income after all.

In fact, Zhaowu's total income from taxes, money and food for three years was still beyond his means.

In the first year of Zhaowu and the second year of Zhaowu, the battle for the establishment of the country spanned two years. Although the country's fortunes were stabilized, the financial emptiness it caused could not be resolved in one or two years.

Moreover, since he took charge of the army, he has formulated a complete system of rewards.

From the early years of Chongzhen to the third year of Zhaowu, there have been countless wars over the years, and more than [-] soldiers have been killed in battle.

According to the Pension Regulations, there were more than [-] relatives of the sacrificed soldiers who had to be supported by the imperial court.

And this is still a necessary hard expenditure every year!

In addition to the huge amount of disaster relief money and food, Daheng's other hard expenditures, and the huge financial deficit caused by the battle of the founding of the country...

And... natural disasters that will only get worse...

Not to mention, the education system needs to be changed, and there are many, many things he wants to do.

Even if the reforms are successful in the coming year and tax revenues skyrocket, it will still be extremely difficult to achieve a complete balance of payments and even a fiscal balance.

Of course, if the huge amount of income from house raids is included, there will naturally be a huge surplus, but the income from house raids is only a one-time income. If you really want to achieve a virtuous circle, you have to rely on tax revenue.

Thoughts were swirling, the emperor stood up suddenly, and his gaze was instantly fixed on the land in the south of the Yangtze River on the map in the palace!

Jiangnan is very rich!

After his cleansing and massacre, Jiangnan, which has absorbed more than a million gentry and landlords, is even richer!

There is a lot of money and food for him to plunder!

Recover Jiangnan, complete reform, sustainable taxation, money and food, and more!

Also, after the recovery of Jiangnan, the sea trade will be completely liberalized, which will inevitably become the sea trade tariff where the focus of taxation is!

Only when Jiangnan is recovered and stabilized, and the north and south are complemented and connected, can Daheng's finances form a virtuous circle and support his various major policies related to the foundation of the country's destiny.

"One year...two years?"

The emperor murmured softly, as if he had already made a decision in his heart.

"Let the cabinet ministers enter the palace."

The Son of Heaven put down the playbook in his hand and made a sound slowly.

"Old slave, go here."

Wang Wu took the order and resigned.

The emperor got up, and finally stopped before the picture of Daheng Qiankun.

"Disaster relief..."

At this moment, the Son of Heaven is not thinking about how to calm the south of the Yangtze River. Instead, he is thinking about the natural disasters of these years.

If the Little Ice Age does not recede, natural disasters are unavoidable, and in this era, the ability to withstand natural disasters is extremely limited.

When there is a disaster, we must provide disaster relief.

But since ancient times, natural disasters have meant that countless people have been displaced and their families have been destroyed. However, for some people, natural disasters have been a feast, a feast of moistening and greed.

No matter how strict the control is, it is impossible to ban this kind of corruption.

Just like the three years of Zhaowu, such a huge cost of disaster relief, a considerable part of it definitely went into the pockets of some people.

As the emperor, he can't do much, he can only supervise as strictly as possible, and then kill the pig after finding out.

Since ancient times, the most effective means of disaster relief is work instead of relief.

Gather the disaster victims and carry out the engineering work.

In a sense, it is not much different from the large infrastructure of later generations.

The great infrastructure of future generations lies in stimulating domestic demand and revitalizing the economy.

In this era, work-for-relief can also be regarded as an ancient large-scale infrastructure, but the ultimate goal is to allow the food for disaster relief to truly reach the hands of the victims in need.

"Build roads, build water conservancy, manage rivers..."

The emperor murmured to himself, these major infrastructure projects he wanted to do were, in fact, the same thing as work-for-relief work.

As long as these infrastructure works are done in a systematic and organized manner, there is no doubt that it will greatly increase the people's ability to withstand natural disasters and revitalize the place.

Moreover, with the advent of cement, it is possible to solve many engineering problems that were impossible in the past.

However, the collection of corvée and the implementation of construction projects are completely different concepts from the actual implementation of construction projects and relief.

"Money and food..."

In the end, the Son of Heaven sighed softly, but his gaze was once again fixed on the land in the south of the Yangtze River.

Work-for-work relief, whose actual purpose is disaster relief, costs such a huge amount of money, and infrastructure construction, whose actual purpose is engineering, disaster relief has become a incidental matter, and the cost will inevitably be even greater.

With Daheng's current finances, it is obvious that it cannot support large-scale infrastructure construction, even if it is simply infrastructure construction in the disaster area, it cannot support it!

If it is really going to be implemented, it must be supported by the money and food obtained from the raids.

Although it can be regarded as redistribution of wealth, it is taken from the people and used for the people.

But what the house raids are after all is an unsustainable one-time income, which will always be exhausted.

In the end, we still have to rely on a good financial system to support these various major policies.

Undoubtedly, if this is the case, the pacification of Jiangnan must be put on the agenda as soon as possible.

At this point in his thoughts, the emperor shook his head and chuckled, went around and around, and finally returned to the original point.

Jiangnan has been in chaos for so many years, and it really is time to sort it out...

Chapter 531 Time Doesn't Wait For Me

"Your Majesty, all the ministers are waiting outside the hall."

Wang Wu quickly walked into the hall, stood behind the emperor, and bowed to worship.

"Let them in!"

The emperor turned around and glanced at the wind and snow on Wang Wu's body: "Let the imperial dining room prepare a few bowls of ginger soup, and you can drink a bowl too."

Wang Wu trembled, fell to his knees with a puff, and shouted loudly.

"The old slave thanks His Majesty Long En."

The emperor's eyes flickered slightly, he waved his hand, then turned and walked into the side hall.

"Sir, see Your Majesty."

Soon, several cabinet ministers entered the hall.

"sit down."

The emperor pointed to several chairs in the hall.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Several cabinet ministers bowed again, and then sat down respectfully.

The emperor put down the notebook in his hand: "How is the reconstruction progress of Qianmen Street?"

"In the inner court, the supply of materials is sufficient, and it is almost completed."

Chen Qiyu immediately got up and said.

The emperor nodded, then got up, and stood in front of this picture of Daheng Qiankun.

Seeing this, several cabinet ministers looked at each other, got up one after another, and followed closely behind the emperor, looking at this magnificent picture of Daheng Qiankun, they were all a little puzzled.

"Ai Qing, do you remember those places that were affected by disasters in the early years of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty?"

The emperor still stared at the map and asked aloud.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, in the early years of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty, the disaster-stricken areas were mainly concentrated in Mizhi and Fengxiang in Shaanxi Province. However, the disaster relief was not good that year, which led to the erosion of the disaster..."

"Yes."

The emperor nodded.

"In the early years of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty, there were only droughts in several places in Shaanxi. In the second year of Chongzhen, the disasters spread to almost half of Shaanxi, and even spread to Shandong. After so many years, the disasters have become more serious every year!"

"This is a summary of the disaster situation in the third year of Zhaowu, you must have read it."

"Most of the north is under the influence of drought."

"Since the founding of Daheng, the money and food for disaster relief have been increasing year by year. This year, the food for disaster relief alone has reached more than 400 million shi, accounting for one-third of the total tax revenue for the year!"

Speaking of this, the emperor turned around and looked at the cabinet ministers: "Several love ministers must know that this is the result of not fully launching the relief."

"If the relief is completely released, the consumption of food, and an additional 200 million shi, I am afraid it is still a small amount!"