In Chongzhen's eyes, there are no truly wise ministers.
Employ those who are virtuous when they are needed, and dismiss those who are not.
What is virtuous?
I can only barely pass my job if I do it well.
In the eyes of Emperor Jiajing, those who can get money are wise ministers.
But in Chongzhen's eyes, he could only be considered a half-virtuous minister.
A person who can get money but does not plunder the people is a truly wise minister.
Some people would say that currency reform is taking money from the people and is plundering them.
But the question is...how much money do the people have?
Most of their already limited money was in copper coins, with very little cash.
Most of the silver was hidden in the cellars of gentry, landlords and merchants.
The currency reform has two purposes.
One is to count the total amount of currency, and the other is to cut the flesh from the gentry, landlords and merchants.
On the eighth day of the sixth month of the twenty-fifth year of Chongzhen, he held an early morning court session.
The officials of the Honglu Temple were the first to come out and report to Chongzhen the officials who came to the capital to express their gratitude and those who left the capital to ask for favors.
Chongzhen chose not to meet him as usual.
The next step is the second step: handling urgent reports from the border.
There is a lot of news from the border, the most important of which is the great victory in Liaodong.
After the Minister of War Wang Jiayan finished reading the report, the ministers present immediately congratulated Chongzhen, and then congratulated each other.
After the congratulations, the discussion on subsequent governance issues began.
It is easy to attack Liaodong, but difficult to control Liaodong.
The army to pacify Liao came from all over the country.
Sooner or later they will return to their place of origin.
Before they leave, a mature early warning and defense system needs to be established in Liaodong.
Early warning relies on sentries near the Great Wall, and defense requires guard posts.
The prerequisite for establishing a garrison is to have sufficient population.
No one is talking nonsense.
After years of war, only one in ten people there are left.
It is impossible to set up a guard post.
In order to stabilize the local situation as quickly as possible, the people had to be relocated there.
This requires a lot of money.
In addition, due to the small population, there is less cultivated land.
Local food production was insufficient to supply the army.
For a long time afterwards, it was necessary to transfer grain from the interior to Liaodong.
This also requires a lot of money.
As the discussion deepened, more and more troubles arose, especially money issues.
In order not to affect the court meeting, everyone agreed to go back and discuss the matter carefully before discussing it again.
Seeing this, Fan Jingwen, who was presiding over the meeting, announced that the next issue to be discussed was: whether to enter Korea to pursue the Jiannu.
After discussion, most people present agreed to send a large army into Korea to pursue the Jiannu.
The cabinet chief Fan Jingwen was one of the opponents. He said to those who agreed, "It is not impossible to go to Korea to fight, but the prerequisite is that there is money. Now the national treasury is empty and there is not enough money to support the war."
Someone asked: "Excuse me, Mr. Fan, how much deficit does the treasury have?"
Fan Jingwen replied, "To be honest! According to estimates, the deficit of the national treasury this year will be as high as 3 million taels. I dare not say how much silver is needed to fight in Korea, but 1 million taels is still needed. If we order the army to fight in Korea, the deficit of the national treasury this year will be as high as 4 million taels!"
Hearing this number, Chongzhen frowned deliberately.
All the civil and military officials in the court frowned and were very pessimistic.
If a deficit of this magnitude cannot be filled in time, we will have to eat up the food for the next year before we earn it.
If they keep eating, the Ming Dynasty will be destroyed.
After a moment, Gao Shiming, the Chief Seal of the Imperial Household Department, asked, "Does the Ministry of Revenue have any methods to increase revenue and reduce expenditure?"
Minister of Revenue Xie Sanbin walked in front of the crowd with confident steps.
He bowed to Chongzhen and said, "Your Majesty! I have indeed thought of a way to solve the deficit."
"Oh?" Chongzhen raised his voice: "Since there is a way, please tell me, Minister Xie."
"Yes," Xie Sanbin bowed again and said slowly, "The currency reform was implemented in the 21st year of our dynasty, and it has been almost five years now. Although most places have already used the Ming Yuanbao, there are still a few provinces that continue to use silver."
"This not only caused a lot of inconvenience to the court, but also caused trouble for merchants doing business between provinces."
"Therefore, I propose that currency reform be enforced throughout the country."
"Force?" Chongzhen pretended to be puzzled: "How to force?"
"Yes, how do you enforce it?" The cabinet chief Fan Jingwen suddenly became more talkative. He asked, "You can't go to the people's homes and dig three feet deep to find silver, and then take it to the mint to make Ming Yuanbao, right?"
"Of course we can't go to the people's homes to dig for silver!" Xie Sanbin explained quickly: "My method is to issue an edict, announcing that after a certain day, the Ming Yuanbao must be used and ordinary silver must be banned."
"Before the deadline, the people can take out the silver in their homes and exchange it for Yuanbao at the mint. It doesn't matter if the mints in various places are unable to mint in time, as long as the people register in advance."
"For every Ming Yuanbao exchanged, the court will make a profit of 6 cents. Assuming that 50 million pieces can be exchanged, the court will gain 3 million taels of profit, which is just enough to make up for the deficit in the national treasury."
"This way, the dilemma is solved!"
"No, absolutely not!" Fan Jingwen immediately objected: "The silver in the hands of the people is earned by their hard work, how can we force them to exchange it for Ming Yuanbao?"
"Why not?" Xie Sanbin asked back.
"Because this is plundering the people!" Fan Jingwen said with his eyes wide open, "Everyone knows that one Ming Yuanbao only costs nine cents of silver, and the rest is copper and white copper! Forcing the people to exchange one tael of silver for nine cents of silver is not acceptable."
"Currency reform is a national policy. If it is not enforced, then this national policy will never be fully implemented! For the sake of the court, it must be enforced."
Fan Jingwen asked coldly: "What should we do if some people neither exchange nor register?"
"Confiscate the silver!"
"It's not that simple!" Fan Jingwen sneered, "It's okay if this decree doesn't leave the capital. Once it leaves the capital, it will be misinterpreted by local officials."
"Some officials will tell the people the truth and allow them to exchange for Ming Yuanbao smoothly. Some officials will plot against the people and not tell them before the deadline, or they will collude with the local mint and neither exchange Yuanbao for the people nor register them, and then go directly to the people's homes to search and confiscate their property after the deadline."
"In this case, the people will suffer."
Fan Jingwen's point of view was so convincing that it shook the minds of many officials in the court.
Xie Sanbin was well prepared, and he immediately retorted: "Master Fan, what you said is wrong!"
"Once the decree is issued, officials must convey it and not conceal it. Otherwise, the local land and inspection departments will immediately initiate impeachment and make them lose their heads."
"Also, the so-called plundering of the people is not true. One tael of silver can buy the same amount of things as one Ming Yuanbao. How can it be said that it is plundering of the people?"
"Besides, how much silver can ordinary people have? Even if they did have silver, they would have exchanged it for Ming Yuanbao under the intimidation of officials."
"The ones who really have money are the evil gentry and powerful people who are against the imperial court. Why not make money from them and fill the deficit in the national treasury?"
......
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