Chapter 304 Relief and Observation! The Origin of the Story and the Storm!
"My treasury of the Ming Dynasty can only take out 20,000 taels?" Emperor Jiajing laughed in anger and said, "Where has the silver gone? Have you asked Fang Sinong to move?"
"If Your Majesty does not believe it, you can send someone to the treasury and go to the house of Weishi. " Fang Du said indefinitely aggrievedly: "If the Weishi has a trace of corruption, let Your Majesty deal with it."
"Will you be guilty if you don't embezzle?" Emperor Jiajing suddenly said, "In such a big country, you, as a financial expert, have only 20,000 taels of silver left. With this, no one will complain if you kill you now!"
Fang Dun was in his fifties and had been with money and grain for more than 20 years. He could be said to be the authority in the finances of the Ming Dynasty. When he heard the emperor belittle him like this, he certainly had to argue with reason. He took out a book of accounts from his sleeve and presented it with both hands: "The Ministry of Revenue has just finished the treasury income and expenditure this year, and has compiled it into a book. I respectfully ask Your Majesty to read it."
Jiajing nodded, and Huang Jin submitted the account book. Jiajing looked down and saw several neat regular characters in "Jiajing 34th Year General Account Book" written on the royal blue cover.
His slender fingers slashed silently on the cover a few times, as if he was thinking about whether to open it and take a look... This bad account was written.
'The ugly daughter-in-law always has to see her parents-in-law.' Emperor Jiajing sighed inwardly and opened the first page. Fang Dun on the other side also said: "As Your Majesty saw, in the 34th year of Jiajing, the total tax revenue of the two capitals and 13 provinces was 33.75 million taels in silver. At the same time, the budget for each province at the beginning of the year was 29.75 million taels, so the tax silver transferred to the national treasury was only 4 million taels."
"But the total amount of silver spent by each department in the annual report reached 11 million taels, and the income and expenditure were 20% off. The annual deficit reached 7 million taels!" Fang Dun's back was a little hunched, and his wrinkles on his face were dense and deep, mostly for the mess to worry.
After Fang Dun finished speaking, Emperor Jiajing still read the account book. After reading the last page, he simply threw it on the ground, then closed his eyes and said, "These bullshits will be over for the New Year, and fooled the moment in front of him first..." He glanced at Huang Jin standing next to him and said, "Didn't the Copper and Iron Bureau have already released the silver from the beginning of spring into Beijing in advance?" As the name suggests, the Copper and Iron Bureau is a department that supervises the national mineral production, and is spread all over the country. The mining supervision is all eunuchs, and is affiliated with the inner court's ritual supervision, so the emperor asked Huang Jin.
Huang Jin said respectfully: "Report to Your Majesty, you just sent it to the treasury the day before yesterday, and Lord Fang's receipt was still collected by me." There was no treasury in the Ming Dynasty, which means that the emperor's income was also sent to the treasury. Similarly, the emperor had to spend money and took it directly from the treasury.
"Although I'm consuming the food of the mother, I'll be in a hurry," Emperor Jiajing waved his hand and said, "Fang Aiqing, take out this money."
"Report to Your Majesty, the money has been ordered by various ministries." Fang Dun said helplessly: "So there are only 20,000 taels left in the treasury to use."
"Which hand is so fast? My money is not warm yet!" Emperor Jiajing's slender eyebrows trembled, and his voice was angry: "Speak quickly!"
"Your Majesty, it is the Ministry of Works, the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Personnel." Fang Dun said slowly: "The Ministry of Works demanded 500,000 taels, the Ministry of War demanded 700,000 taels, and the remaining 300,000 taels, plus the original deposit of 200,000 taels, and allocated them to the Ministry of Personnel."
"What do you want to make money so anxiously?" Emperor Jiajing said in a very unkind tone.
"The 700,000 yuan of the Ministry of War is the one who repairs the city gates and walls of the capital," Fang Du said muffled: "The four city gates, the city walls of more than ten miles have collapsed, and the rest of the places must be reinforcing. They reported one million taels, and in the end I pressed it to 700,000 taels, and I just waited for the cabinet to issue the invoice and allocated funds."
The emperor snorted without comment: "Where is the Ministry of Works, why are you joining in the fun?"
Fang Dun swallowed and said to himself: 'Why are you so unlucky? You have to come to me for any department's problems.' He didn't dare to neglect it on his face, so he quickly said: "It's for Your Majesty to repair the West Garden." The West Garden is the hidden residence of Master Cheng. Although the lottery is good, it has been no one for more than 150 years. After Emperor Jiajing moved in, he spent a lot of money to renovate every year, but there were still many broken houses. He fell down in a flash during this earthquake.
The emperor frowned slightly and pondered for a moment, saying, "Where is the Ministry of Personnel?"
Fang Dun finally breathed a sigh of relief. Li Mo, the Minister of Personnel, was here, so he naturally did not need to replace him. Li Mo went out and said: "Report to Your Majesty, the salary owed by the Ministry of Personnel has reached more than 2 million taels in the past years, and the 500,000 taels are only one-quarter."
When Jiajing heard this, hehe, everyone has their right, everyone wants money, what should I do? I can only have a cold meal. After a half-quarter of a silence, he whispered: "Just repair the two doors of the outer city, and wait for the inner city wall to come next year. Don't repair the broken houses in the West Garden. Just repair my Yuxi Palace. I'm not used to living there." As he said that, he looked at Li Mo a little embarrassedly and said: "As for the salary of the Beijing officials, don't hurry at this moment. Just pay some money enough for the New Year. We can wait until we breathe in the next year and make a living." As a big boss, it's really not a glorious thing to not pay employees' wages, although Emperor Jiajing has become accustomed to it.
When Li Mo heard the emperor say 'Only repair Yuxi Palace', he knew that he would definitely be deducting his salary again. His cheeks trembled, but in the end his arms could not resist his thighs, so he had to say in a muffled voice: "I wonder how much your Majesty can give?"
"Fifty thousand taels, what do you think?" Emperor Jiajing smiled guiltily. Seeing that Li Mo's face turned green, he added another 50,000 taels: "One hundred thousand taels is OK, right? The New Year is enough, so there can't be more."
Li Mo said depressedly: "It was barely enough, but after the disaster, prices will inevitably soar. I'm afraid that this little money will only be enough for colleagues to eat vegetarian dumplings during the New Year."
Seeing that his words were loose, Emperor Jiajing laughed and said, "During the national crisis, everything should be simple. You can explain this truth to them clearly. If someone doesn't accept it, you can ask them to come to me." '...I can treat you to the board.' Of course, this last sentence will not be said.
"I... abide by the order." Considering that his next plan still requires the strong support of His Majesty, Li Mo decided to agree... Although he would be scolded by his colleagues, Ge Lao Yan's experience has reminded him that it is really good for His Majesty to be good, and the rest are all over the world, so he is not afraid of being scolded by his colleagues.
"How much money can the Ministry of Revenue take out in this way?" Emperor Jiajing asked.
Fang Du pondered and said, "If you only build the outer wall, 400,000 taels are enough, you can save 300,000 taels; if you only build the Yuxi Palace, 150,000 taels are enough, you can save 150,000 taels; if you add the salary of 400,000 taels, you can take out 850,000 taels, Oh, plus the remaining silver is 870,000 taels."
"You can barely deal with it for a while, right?" Emperor Jiajing asked.
"Your Majesty is kind," said Master Yan, who had been in meditation, and finally said: "This amount is enough for 400,000 people to survive the winter."
"But it's not enough!" Li Mo interrupted: "Based on the 27-year experience of Jiajing, the court must be prepared to solve at least one million victims... and if the disaster area doubles, this number will also double, otherwise refugees will be formed!"
"Well," Jiajing nodded. Of course he knew this. He glanced at the ministers and said slowly: "Order officials and gentry to enrich the people and donate funds and provide relief." There is no way, but now he is in a hurry and doesn't care about so much.
The ministers looked at each other, Yan Song glanced at Li Ben, and Ge Lao Li had to whisper, "My Majesty, can the officials be excluded? The court still owes them their salary. It's not easy for others to pay for it?"
"Owning a salary means owing a salary, but it does not mean that the family is poor." Emperor Jiajing sneered: "Take you a few of you as an example. Since being appointed, the family has been quite generous. Don't think I don't know!"
Several people quickly knelt down and said that they were law-abiding and did not take every needle or thread from the masses. Although ghosts did not believe it, they would be able to see ghosts if they didn't do this.
"I didn't say I wanted to investigate you!" Jiajing said with a faint sarcastic expression: "I just used you as an analogy... In fact, as I said, there are many officials in Beijing, but this is not the most hateful. The most hateful thing is that these people are completely useless to serve the country. They are usually greedy and ruthless, and they are used to it. At this time, if they still 'no tips on the slightest reform', once they are found out, they will be investigated to the end and will never be forgiven!"
This obviously allows those high-ranking officials to lose money and eliminate disasters!
But most officials still have no money and rely on dead salaries to make a living. What should I do if I can’t afford to pay? This is easy. The emperor wants their money and wants to calm the anger of God.
After finishing the issue of disaster relief, Emperor Jiajing turned his eyes to the distance and said leisurely: "As the same thing, disaster relief is only a symptom. If it cannot be cured, there will be endless relief every few days! Only by correcting mistakes and praying for God's forgiveness can the disaster be eliminated... This year, there will be no celebrations for the New Year. I have been reflecting on my quiet room from the young year to the fifteenth day of the year. Although you are busy with disaster relief, don't be lazy in this matter."
"I will reflect on myself." The ministers and workers said in unison.
Emperor Jiajing nodded and looked at Li Mo and said, "As for Li Shangshu, you should not participate in disaster relief. Just do your job well." As he said that, his narrow eyes narrowed and said, "Do you know what it is?"
Li Mo said murderously: "I will take advantage of this opportunity to review the Beijing officials carefully and never allow any worms to stay in the court again. Please rest assured by Your Majesty."
Chapter completed!