Looking at the indignant expressions of the ministers, Chongzhen said calmly: "Ladies and Gentlemen, this time the mining tax will only be levied on mining, not commercial taxes."
"The eunuchs in the inner court will be in charge of the overall situation, the Ministry of Industry will send people to do feng shui, the Censorate will be responsible for supervision, and the Ministry of Revenue will be responsible for checking the amount of mining taxes."
"All the mining taxes collected will be sent to the national treasury, not a penny will go into the private treasury!"
"Is the method I have come up with for your cabinet feasible?"
The meaning of Chongzhen’s last sentence is very profound.
In his view, the national treasury was managed by the cabinet, and the deficit should be resolved by the cabinet, not by him, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
He is helping the cabinet.
Fan Jingwen opened his mouth but couldn't find any reason to object.
Fang Yuegong, Qiu Yu, and Huang Jin looked at each other, but couldn't think of the right words to refute.
"Please give us your opinions on whether this is feasible or not?" Chongzhen asked again with a gloomy face.
"This..." Fan Jingwen thought for a moment and said, "If it is really as your Majesty said, I think we can give it a try."
"What about you?" Chongzhen looked at the others.
"We also think it is worth a try." The other three cabinet ministers replied.
They couldn't refuse.
First, all the money was sent to the national treasury and controlled by the Ministry of Revenue.
Secondly, many departments were involved, not only the eunuchs in the inner court, but also the Ministry of Works, the Ministry of Revenue and the Censorate.
With multiple supervisions, it is difficult for something like what happened before to happen again.
It does not disrupt civil order and can generate revenue for the court. Why not do it?
"Since everyone has no problem with this, let's arrange for some personnel to go. We will set off in five days to open a mine in Nanzhili."
"Your Highness obeys your order."
The ministers bowed and left.
As soon as they left, Chongzhen recruited Wang Zhixin.
"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you!" Wang Zhixin knelt down and saluted.
"Zhang Tongchang sent a list of evil gentry from Nanzhili. Have you seen it?" Chongzhen asked.
"Your Majesty, I have read it."
"Five days later, we will go to Yangzhou Prefecture in Nanzhili to open a mine. On the surface, it is to open a mine, but in reality, it is to convict these gentry. As long as the guilt is confirmed, immediately confiscate their homes and arrest them."
"I understand." Wang Zhixin kowtowed again.
The next morning court session.
At the same time as announcing the trial collection of mining taxes, Chongzhen also issued an edict to the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Personnel: officials at all levels, whether promoted or transferred at the same level, or demoted, must pay off local overdue taxes within the prescribed time before leaving office, otherwise they will be retained or even severely punished.
This decree is a sure kill.
Many officials do not seriously collect taxes while in office, and try to use the unspoken rule that new officials do not have to settle old officials' debts to be lazy and negligent in their work.
It’s no longer possible now. If you want to get promoted, you must pay your taxes.
Even if they are demoted and leave office, they must pay back their taxes, otherwise they will be severely punished.
After hearing the decree, the officials sighed.
"Gone are the days when new officials could not settle old officials' scores."
"Yeah, I can't be a nice guy anymore!"
"Hurry up and send an official document to the local government to ask them to pay the taxes, otherwise no one will be promoted!"
"It's not so bad in the north, most people don't dare to default on their taxes. But it's hard to say about the landlords in the south, they will use all kinds of methods to delay."
"That depends on whether the local governors dare to order the arrests!"
"They shouldn't have any concerns, right?"
"Haha, hard to say."
Four days later, Wang Zhixin took a group of officials, both big and small, and sailed to Nanzhili.
Chongzhen had two purposes in sending Wang Zhixin south: one was to confiscate his property and arrest people, and the other was to get him away to carry out currency reform.
Chongzhen felt uneasy with him around.
On February 25, Chongzhen asked Li Ruolian to take out 500,000 taels of silver from the treasury and exchange them for copper coins in the market.
Because the money exchange was carried out on a high-profile basis, it caused quite a stir in the capital.
Inside the Duke of England's mansion, Zhang Shize stood there in a daze after receiving the news.
"Master, why do you think His Majesty wants to exchange silver for copper coins again?" asked the Lady of the Duke of England.
The reason why she said "you" was because Chongzhen changed his name several times.
The first time he took out one million taels of silver and asked Wang Zhixin to exchange them for copper coins.
The nobles in the capital immediately heard the news and spent a lot of money to get first-hand information from Wang Zhixin: His Majesty asked him to exchange the silver for copper coins.
The nobles had different reactions.
The clever nobles immediately followed suit and exchanged their silver for copper coins in the market.
The only places on the market where copper coins can be exchanged in large quantities are money houses, businesses, and pawnshops.
Most of the remaining copper coins were in the hands of the people.
Money houses and pawnshops were not fools. Seeing that copper coins were in short supply, they adjusted the exchange rate at the first opportunity.
Under their leadership, the copper coins in the capital began to appreciate slightly.
Chongzhen did not take the opportunity to sell off, but continued to take out one million taels of silver to exchange!
At a ratio of one to fifteen hundred, two million taels of silver could be exchanged for copper coins worth three billion.
There are one million people in the capital, and the average amount of money per person is three thousand coins!
The impact is quite small!
When the first group of people who exchanged coins saw that it was profitable, most of them threw away their copper coins.
With the influx of the second wave of silver, many businesses, pawnshops, and money houses experienced a brief shortage of copper coins, so they began to exchange coins among their peers and with the general public.
The more people who participate in the money exchange, the wider the news will spread.
Humans are the most astute animals.
When they learn that something is in short supply and they already have it in their hands, they will subconsciously raise its exchange value.
It was silver before, and now it is copper coins.
In fact, there is no shortage of copper coins in the market, but people have consciously appreciated the value of copper coins, so copper coins must appreciate.
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It’s even more exciting later!
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