"How can I get the money?" Inside the Palace of Heavenly Purity, Chongzhen was dazed again.

Every dynasty has encountered the same problems, and every dynasty has been defeated by the same problems.

Can Chongzhen solve this problem completely?

Obviously not!

But he could find ways to delay the problem.

Open sea?

The timing is not right.

Putting aside the internal resistance of the imperial court, the first step to opening up the sea is to go around the southeastern coastal areas.

The biggest pirate leader in the southeastern coastal area was Zheng Zhilong.

He is half official and half gangster.

Huang Fei's navy lacked warships and the sailors were still in training, so they were not strong enough to fight against Zheng Zhilong.

He would not take action against Zheng Zhilong unless he was absolutely sure.

Moreover, if we want to deal with the Zheng Group, we cannot just start from the military aspect, but also have to launch an economic offensive.

Savings is not realistic either.

Because the budget of each place cannot be cut.

If the officials’ salaries are stopped, the government will come to a standstill.

If their salaries are stopped, soldiers may mutiny or even surrender to the enemy.

Especially the nine-border armies of the imperial court. Although there have been no major battles recently, there are several small-scale battles with the Jiannu and Mongols every month, and both sides suffer casualties.

It is neither reasonable nor moral to delay payment.

As for immigration,...

This is a long-term project. The sooner you plant trees, the sooner you can enjoy the shade.

None of the above budgets can be cut. It seems that the only thing that can be cut is the money for building the mausoleum...

But he is the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, the ruler of a country.

There are only eight sets of regular uniforms for all four seasons, so what's wrong with building a cemetery for yourself?

The most important thing is that many officials make money from this project.

They eat Chongzhen's food and will not ruin Chongzhen's business.

But after the construction is stopped, I can’t guarantee whether it will be smashed or not.

For the sake of internal stability in the court, this project cannot be stopped at any cost.

The relationship between the emperor and officials requires the maintenance of interests.

Be it money or power.

The transfer cannot be stopped.

Once the transfer stops, the relationship returns to zero.

Since opening the sea and reducing expenditure are both unsuccessful, the only option is to start with taxation.

If you want to levy more taxes, you have to change the tax law so that there is a law to follow!

For taxes related to land, a single whip system is sufficient.

There is only one difference between the Yitiaobian Law and the Yongzheng Period's Diluding Dingru Mu from the perspective of taxation:

The Single Whip Reform did not abolish the poll tax (ding tax).

The system of allocating land tax to each household "abolished" the poll tax on the basis of the Single Whip System.

At the beginning of his time travel, Chongzhen announced that he would continue to use the Single Whip System to levy taxes.

The worst thing about government orders is changing every day!

Therefore, he will not modify the Single Whip Law in the short term.

Business tax?

The Postal and Telecommunications Bureau was established not long ago and has finally started operating. It is not appropriate to make changes at this time.

What other taxes can be levied?

In other words, what other taxes can be improved?

It seems that there is no...

No, it is!

House search!

At the end of August, Chongzhen received an official document sent from Jiangnan.

"Your Majesty, Lord Li is getting weaker and weaker. He said in the official document that he is unable to continue collecting taxes and requests to return to the capital to report." Fan Jingwen, the second assistant of the cabinet, read out after opening the document.

Chongzhen was silent for a while.

Li Banghua is a workaholic and will not complain about his poor health unless it is absolutely necessary.

It is obvious that he really can't do it anymore.

"Which provinces are still not collecting taxes?" Chongzhen asked.

"Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi, Yunnan..." Fan Jingwen paused after talking about Yunnan, "Wen Anzhi is in charge of the overall situation in Yunnan. I don't think it is necessary to send an imperial envoy to Yunnan."

"in addition..."

"Just say whatever you want to say!" Chongzhen glared at Fan Jingwen.

"In his letter, Lord Li said that only a portion of the taxes owed by the gentry in Southern Zhili and Zhejiang were recovered."

"What do you mean by only chasing part of it?"

"These two places are important tax collection areas for the imperial court. Lord Li was afraid that chaos in these two places would affect the overall situation of the imperial court. Therefore, when collecting taxes in the past two years, he did not strictly collect taxes according to the amount of taxes owed. Instead, he discussed with the local gentry to come up with a figure that both parties could accept and asked them to pay the full amount."

Chongzhen said nothing and tacitly agreed.

The rule for being an official is that a new official does not have to settle old officials' debts. Li Banghua has done his best to collect tens of millions of taxes.

For example.

After the transfer of officials in the Ming Dynasty, the former officials would leave behind various problems.

The most serious problem is unpaid taxes.

There are people in Dynasty A who do not pay taxes.

B bribed the officials and did not pay taxes.

New officials have two choices when they arrive.

1. Collect outstanding taxes.

Second, ignore the tax arrears.

Collecting the unpaid taxes would offend A's backers, and might also involve B's bribery case and offend the previous officials.

It would be fine if the former official was demoted, but if he was promoted... the trouble is self-evident.

Therefore, new officials often choose the second option to avoid being involved and affecting their careers.

Although Li Banghua wanted to recover all the unpaid taxes, other officials did not want to.

Without officials to carry out his orders, Li Banghua could do nothing.

Therefore, Chongzhen tacitly approved of this matter.

"Minister Fan, I'd like to ask you for a favor." Chongzhen suddenly changed the subject.

Fan Jingwen's body trembled, and he looked alert.

Chongzhen seldom asked for help, and even less often did he ask for help.

So Fan Jingwen’s first reaction was: Who does Your Majesty want to harm?

Of course he would not say it out loud, but bowed and asked: "I am not worthy of a request, let alone a help. If your Majesty has anything to say, just tell me directly."

Chongzhen smiled and said, "You are from Wuqiao, Northern Zhili. You must have the support of merchants and gentry from Northern Zhili. When the interests of merchants and gentry conflict, who will you side with?"

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It’s even more exciting later!