Zhu Yijun's commercial reform had a total of thirteen strategies. The current decree implemented by the Ming Dynasty was to emphasize agriculture and suppress commerce. In the eyes of the emperors of the past dynasties, merchants did not engage in production, but merchants had a lot of wealth, which was the root cause of the country's turmoil.
Zhu Yijun's decree was to free up the commerce. Other than salt, iron, grain, and armaments, all other businesses were lifted and no longer completely controlled.
Zhang Juzheng looked at the business reform strategy, and his face showed some urgency.
Zhang Juzheng said after reading Zhu Yijun's business reform strategy.
"Your Majesty, in my opinion, the root of the country lies in agriculture and not commerce. I think that we should thoroughly investigate the land and fertile land, formulate stricter agricultural taxes, and not untie the shackles of commerce…"
Zhu Yijun knew that Zhang Juzheng wanted to implement a whip law to collect taxes by mu to prevent the squires from embezzling and concealing good land…
" Your Majesty, I think Zhang Juzheng is right. Commercial plundering has always been the source of national chaos. The bandits and pirates in Guangdong and Guangxi are mostly supported by merchants…" Gao Gong echoed Zhang Juzheng.
" According to my suggestion, we should cultivate fertile land and make the people rich…If the people are rich, the world will be stable…" Gao Gong said again.
"If the ban on commerce is lifted, I'm afraid it will attract the dissatisfaction of the officials of the imperial court…"
The two cabinet ministers did not support Zhu Yijun's business reform strategy. They were scholar-bureaucrats and had always looked down on businessmen. Moreover, among the soldiers, industry, and commerce, businessmen's status was extremely low...
Zhu Yijun looked at Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng and smiled."The two beloved ministers are right. Agriculture has always been the foundation of the country, but in my eyes, commerce is also indispensable.”
After Zhu Yijun finished speaking, he looked at Zhang Juzheng and said reproachfully,"Just now, I saw the report from the Ministry of Revenue. There are only 14 million taels of silver left in the national treasury? You are the second assistant of the cabinet and have the responsibility of supervising the Ministry of Revenue. Where did my silver go?”
"There are 20,300,000 taels of silver in the national treasury. How come there are only 14,000,000 taels of silver left in less than half a year? Two elders, you are simply too good at spending money. Where did you spend my money!!”
When Zhang Juzheng heard Zhu Yijun ask where the silver from the national treasury went, he was so angry that his beard stood on end. He immediately spoke loudly.
"Your Majesty!" Zhang Juzheng's voice instantly raised an octave.
"Your Majesty, have you forgotten? When Meng Gu attacked Da Tong Prefecture, the Ministry of Revenue had allocated 300,000 taels of silver. The 200,000 taels of silver owed for repairing the Yellow River had also been repaid in time! In order to boost the morale of the Bing Province Legion, you will reward each soldier with ten taels of silver. The Bing Province Legion will have 30,000 soldiers and 300,000 taels of silver…"
"The agricultural tax is only 13 million taels of silver each year, but this amount of silver is just enough to pay the soldiers. The Ming Empire has more than 800,000 soldiers, and each soldier's annual salary is 7 taels of silver.”
" At the end of the year, 3.3 million taels of official salaries were paid…"
"You supported Yin Zhengmao in fighting against the bandits and allocated 300,000 taels of silver.”
"You said to increase the defense of the Forbidden City, and you used two million taels of silver. Even now, I don't know what His Majesty used these two million taels of silver for!”
"Yesterday, an edict was sent to the Ministry of Revenue, and another two million taels of silver were taken away by Qi Jiguang.”
" Your Majesty wants to know where the silver in the treasury has gone. I can only tell you that you've spent all the money. It's already not easy for our treasury to save 14 million taels of silver…"
Zhang Juzheng listed out the whereabouts of last year's national treasury money in one breath.
Zhu Yijun listened to Zhang Juzheng's answer without blushing or jumping. Yes, Zhu Yijun had spent all the silver in the national treasury, but Zhu Yijun could not blame himself. Moreover, solving the lack of silver in the national treasury was the cabinet's matter. Zhu Yijun only hoped that he did not have to worry about spending money...
This 14 million taels of silver seemed like a lot, but in less than eight months, he would have to pay 800,000 soldiers. At that time, he would have to spend another 5.6 million taels of silver…
And the salary of the officials…
Now, it was impossible to catch corrupt officials and get money out of them. That was because the big rats had been killed last year. The remaining corrupt officials had nothing to gain…
If there was no tax revenue, he would have to tighten his belt next year…
In the imperial garden, Zhang Juzheng and Zhu Yijun started fighting.
It was said that the officials of the Ming Dynasty were smelly and tough. Today, Zhu Yijun finally saw it…
This Zhang Juzheng actually dared to contradict him…
Zhu Yijun finally felt the helplessness of the previous emperors. When Wei Zheng and Li Shimin fought head-on, Li Shimin was probably in the same situation.
Zhu Yijun recalled a legend.
The ministers of the Ming Dynasty loved to go against the Emperor. It was indeed the case today…
……
At this moment, the Minister of Rites opened his mouth to act as a peacemaker and gently tugged at Zhang Ju Zheng's sleeve.
Zhang Juzheng turned his head and looked at the fish swimming in the pool…
"I want to build a navy, and money is indispensable. My two beloved ministers, please think of a solution for me. I want a satisfactory answer.”
When Zhang Juzheng heard this, he instantly turned around and cupped his hands."Your Majesty still wants silver from me? Where can I conjure it for you?"
"This is something you have to worry about. I don't care. No matter what method you use, I only want silver! Go and think of ideas for me. I want the country to be stable and have a bumper harvest! We also need to have an ample treasury, be able to fight tough battles, and be able to feed an army of a million…"
Zhu Yijun looked at Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng." I won't insist on business reform, but I have to spend money."
No money! Show me your cabinet!
I don't care what the cabinet does, I just want money.
Zhu Yijun had used the emperor's privilege to act shamelessly in front of Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng. When the emperor acted shamelessly, it was fatal…
After Zhu Yijun gave the order to Zhang Juzheng, he waved at Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng.
"Your Majesty, aren't you making things difficult for me? The emphasis on agriculture and suppression of commerce has always been a national legacy. How can we reform it? "If we lift the ban on commerce, I'm afraid we'll be despised by the aristocrats in the world…"
Zhu Yijun said,"This is something you have to consider. I only have money and a perfect solution!"”
……
The Minister of Rites had been watching from the side. He covered his mouth and laughed.
In his eyes, this was a battle.
In the battle between the cabinet and the emperor, no matter what, the cabinet would always be the unlucky one. After all, the cabinet was responsible for the operation of the entire country...
Zhu Yijun left the imperial garden first. Gao Gong and Zhang Ju were standing there, trembling with anger. They had long known that nothing good would come from the Emperor summoning them.
Now, it really came true.
If he had known this would happen, he would not have come to the imperial garden on the pretext of illness. Every time he came, he would find a lot of things for himself.
Now, the emperor had thrown another mess to them. Last year, the little emperor had spent the national treasury extravagantly. Now that he could not hold on any longer, he asked them to find a solution. Wasn't this making things difficult for them?
There would definitely not be any changes to the agricultural tax…
Was he really going to reform the business?
Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng looked at each other. Although Zhang Juzheng had just fought the Emperor and was full of energy, the Emperor had already issued an edict. No matter how difficult the matter was, they could only do as he said.
"Elder, how do you think we should deal with this?”
"What can I do? I'm not a god, and I can't conjure money. For the sake of the national treasury, we can only be officials…"
"The pavilion elder already has a solution?" Zhang Juzheng asked.
Gao Gong waved at Zhang Juzheng. Zhang Juzheng leaned over and Gao Gong whispered," Corrupted officials usually sell their official positions for money. Now that the Emperor wants to lift the ban on commerce, it seems that the Emperor has eaten a rock and is determined. Why don't we give it a try…If it doesn't work, we'll take it back…"
"Please speak frankly, Grand Secretary Gao…"
"Since the ban on commerce is about to be lifted, let's reset the tax on all kinds of goods and sell some of the rights to buy and sell goods to some merchants to fill the emptiness of the national treasury and let the emperor be happy for a few days…"
"What's the difference between this and selling an official position!" Zhang Juzheng's expression changed drastically.
"Of course there's a difference. Selling an official position is dereliction of duty, and selling a portion of the rights to manage the goods is just an experiment…If it doesn't work, we'll take it back.”
"Then where do you think we should start?”Zhang Juzheng asked.
" Let's start with the water transport…first, lift the ban on merchant ships in the canal…"
Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng began to think about lifting the ban on commerce step by step. In order to satisfy the little emperor's appetite, they racked their brains to figure out where to deduct some silver to fill the deficit in the national treasury.
After Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng left the Forbidden City and entered the cabinet, they formulated the steps to lift the ban on water transport and pondered how to sell the rights of water transport in exchange for the greatest profits. However, they could not let the water transport lose control. In the end, the one who controlled the water transport had to be the imperial court...
While Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng were busy, Zhu Yijun took a bamboo fishing rod and went to the other end of the imperial garden to catch goldfish. He was very relaxed…
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