On the tenth day of September in the twenty-first year of Chongzhen, one month after the mining case was closed, Chongzhen received a letter from Wang Zhixin, the governor of the East Factory.
There was only one item in the letter: a list of Xu's family's properties.
Wang Chengen stood beside Chongzhen, holding his hands up and saying, "In addition to the land, a total of 51,245 taels of gold, 726,587 taels and 2 cents of silver, as well as collectibles, calligraphy and paintings, jewelry, jade, houses, shops, furniture, and grain were seized from Xu's mansion, totaling 797,426 taels, 8 cents and 4 cents of silver. There were also ships..."
"Stop!" Seeing that Wang Chengen was about to continue reading, Chongzhen interrupted him and said, "Tell me the total number."
"Except for the land, the total assets of the Xu family amount to more than 2.12 million taels of silver..."
After hearing this number, Chongzhen frowned and said, "Isn't this too little? It is far from the estimated number at that time."
Wang Chengen estimated the Xu family's assets at that time, and the total amount was about four million taels of silver.
Half of it is missing out of thin air, could it be that someone has embezzled money?
Chongzhen shook his head slightly to deny his previous speculation.
Wang Zhixin was indeed greedy, but all the money seized from his property was deposited into the national treasury.
Therefore, the house search was led by the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue, and the East Factory was only responsible for cooperation.
No matter how capable Wang Zhixin was, it would be difficult for him to embezzle two million taels of silver under the supervision of officials from the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue. If he really had this ability, Chongzhen would have wanted him to be the chief minister of the cabinet.
"Your Majesty," Wang Chengen said with a guilty look on his face, "When I estimated the Xu family's assets, I also included the land, and the Xu family's land is worth nearly two million taels of silver."
"The sum of the two is more than four million taels."
"Oh, I see." Chongzhen nodded. Although he felt somewhat unwilling, he had no choice but to do so.
Land is indeed a considerable fortune, but if it is not distributed to the people, the people will not be keen on fighting against the gentry.
Without the people taking the lead in charging, Chongzhen would have no way to fight against the gentry group.
If we cannot fight against the gentry group, all the tax reforms to be carried out in the future will be in vain.
Even if it can be implemented in name only, the actual effect will be greatly reduced or even exist in name only.
The game of Ming Dynasty is not easy to play!
"Write back to Wang Zhixin and ask him to continue 'mining'!" Chongzhen ordered.
"I obey your command." Wang Chengen bent over and turned to leave.
Although the Ming Dynasty's treasury was rich, the fiscal deficit in the 21st year of Chongzhen was 8 million taels of silver.
The Xu family's property only filled the hole of two million taels, and there was still a big hole of six million taels that had not been filled.
According to the standard of confiscating two million taels of silver from each household, three more households would need to be confiscated to fill the fiscal deficit.
Mining cannot stop until the balance of income and expenditure is reached.
Chongzhen stretched and saw that it was getting late outside. After drinking some tea, he went to Kunning Palace to have dinner and exercise at the same time.
Early morning court session at the end of September.
The cabinet chief Fan Jingwen came out and said, "Your Majesty, this year's autumn grain will be collected starting on October 1. The governor of the three borders of Shaanxi, Lu Daqi, wrote a letter to the court begging the court to allow the people of Guanzhong to pay taxes with grain instead of silver."
"Why?" Chongzhen was a little confused.
"Guanzhong is poor and its trade is already sluggish. After limiting the minimum price for merchants to purchase grain, the trade in Guanzhong has become even more bleak. When the summer grain was collected this year, many people could not sell their grain and had no money to pay the grain. They had to sell the grain to the gentry at a low price in exchange for silver to pay taxes."
"Also, although the drought in Guanzhong has eased somewhat, the situation is still there and people are living in extreme hardship."
"Lü Daqi begs Your Majesty to allow the people of Guanzhong to pay taxes with grain."
this...
Chongzhen was in trouble.
Logically speaking, he really wanted to agree to Lu Daqi's request.
But from the perspective of governing the country, this loophole cannot be opened.
Today, Guanzhong said that the situation is special and wanted to pay taxes in kind instead of silver, and the court agreed.
Tomorrow Henan will also say that there is a drought and trade is declining, and it plans to pay taxes in kind instead of silver. Does the court agree?
If you disagree, you will favor one over the other, which will make the people of Henan dissatisfied.
The popular support that Chongzhen had worked so hard to accumulate would be completely lost.
Is it okay if you agree?
No!
The trouble is yet to come.
If other provinces use this excuse the day after tomorrow, what will the court do?
There are pros and cons to collecting taxes in kind. According to the national conditions of the Ming Dynasty at that time, the disadvantages outweighed the advantages.
First of all, transportation is difficult, the transportation cost is high, and there is a lot of loss during the process.
In order to transport grain, local governments had to impose corvée labor, which was a waste of manpower and money.
Secondly, it will give local officials the opportunity to cheat.
In ancient times, grain was measured in volume rather than weight.
The same amount of rice weighs two shi in the common people's rice basket, but becomes one and a half shi in the grain collector's basket.
The people could only pay half a stone more.
It can be seen how serious the disadvantages are.
These problems were solved after the tax was changed to silver.
The most crucial point is that collecting silver will force the people to participate in economic activities and promote economic exchanges and development.
After thinking it over again and again, Chongzhen slowly shook his head and said, "No, this is a national policy, how can it be easily changed? Let Lu Daqi figure it out himself."
"But Your Majesty..." Fan Jingwen wanted to persuade him again.
Chongzhen coughed heavily and said, "No, that's not allowed. Don't discuss it anymore."
Fan Jingwen sighed and retreated helplessly.
Next, each department took turns reporting on their work progress and difficulties encountered.
If something can be solved on the spot, Chongzhen will solve it on the spot.
If something couldn't be solved on the spot, Chongzhen asked people to write it down and think about it slowly when they got back.
After the court was dismissed, other ministers left one after another, but Fan Jingwen stood there motionless.
Wang Chengen glanced back and said, "Minister Fan, the court is dismissed."
"The people in Guanzhong are suffering..." Fan Jingwen answered the question irrelevantly.
When Wang Chengen wanted to say something, Chongzhen, who had already left, came back.
He stood beside the dragon throne and smiled: "Minister Fan is really a good official who serves the country and the people."
"I am ashamed."
"Do you think I am a tyrant?"
"I dare not."
"I have already thought of a solution for the people of Guanzhong."
Fan Jingwen's eyes lit up, he bowed and asked, "Your Majesty, please enlighten me."
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