Chapter 95 Financial Issues

"I will see you, Your Majesty!"

Wang Yangming, Wang Hao, Fei Hong, Liang Chu, Mao Ji, Jiang Mian, Jin Gui, Wang Zuo, Gui E, Hu Shining, Liu Yu, Yan Song, Gu Dayong, Shi Wenyi, Zhang Cai and others came to the Leopard Room one after another.

"No gift!"

"Give me a seat!"

"Tea!"

Zhu Houzhao turned his attention away from the map and looked at everyone: "First Qi Kangping, then King Jingjiang, what do you think of this matter?"

The people present here are all his loyal ministers and confidants, so he didn't hide it and raised the topic directly.

Everyone looked at each other in confusion, not understanding what Zhu Houzhao was thinking, and did not dare to speak rashly for fear of offending the holy face.

"Your Majesty, I believe that Qi Kangping's incident is worthy of his punishment, but there are many doubts and puzzlings in it!"

Wang Yangming was the person Zhu Houzhao trusted the most. He was the first to speak, and his words hit the point directly, hitting Zhu Houzhao's thoughts.

"What does your Majesty mean?"

Wang Yangming asked tentatively, and everyone turned their attention to Zhu Houzhao. Although they all knew that the Fanwang Group was not a good company, it was better to remain silent until they could figure out what Zhu Houzhao was thinking.

This question stunned everyone!

What kind of thing are the vassal kings from all over the world in people's minds? Fat pigs, borers, vampires, rice worms, trash, garbage, any bad terms can be slapped on the lord's head.

Zhu Houzhao looked at Wang Zuo, the Minister of Hubu, and said: "Wang Aiqing, you are the Minister of Hubu, and you know the most about the imperial finances. I am right."

Not doing their best to stop Zhu Houzhao was already their biggest concession and loyalty. If it were Liu Jian and Xie Qian, they would have started a quarrel with Zhu Houzhao!

They are also human beings and have their own thoughts. They are not puppets in Zhu Houzhao's hands. They just follow what Zhu Houzhao says without any thoughts of their own.

Making money and enclosing land, killing people and setting fires, harming one party, and even human trafficking, there is nothing that the feudal lord group would not dare to do, as long as it is unimaginable.

"Since there is any doubt, go and investigate. Once you find out the clues, you will never tolerate it."

The remaining one-third is needed for military pay for armies in various places, salaries for officials at all levels, and various miscellaneous expenditures.

Talking about royal family members is a serious crime!

He did not intend to hand over the case to the Ministry of Punishment or Dali Temple. Three words: Don't worry. There are too many people in the civil service group who are closely related to the Jiangnan gentry in the Six Ministries. Let them investigate. It may not take decades to investigate.

You can find out shit.

"If this continues, the number of members of the royal family will increase, and the amount of money the court will need to bear will also increase. Until one day, it will become a key link that drags down the government's finances."

The charges brought against Jingjiang King Zhu Yueqi by the court today are only an insignificant part of his career as a vassal, a drop in the bucket.

Not only did he notice Qi Kangping's problem, everyone else was also aware of it, but they just didn't dare to say it!

Regarding Zhu Houzhao's plan to clean up Jiangnan, everyone remained silent, neither opposing nor supporting it, and reserved all their opinions.

Moreover, he is going to carry out a big purge this time, not really to find out the truth. Since it is a big purge, he will not let anyone go regardless of whether he is innocent or not. It is most appropriate for Gao Feng to do such dirty things!

Gao Feng, one of the Eight Tigers in the Chamberlain, has a poor reputation to begin with, so it doesn't hurt to be a little more stinky.

How did Qi Kangping get dragged into the water?

During his tenure as governor of Yingtian, Qi Kangping committed many illegal things. Why did no one expose them in the past, but why did they suddenly come out at this time?

Everyone knew the answer in their mind and roughly understood Zhu Houzhao's purpose of coming to them. The emperor was completely angered and was ready to make a big move.

"Since Emperor Taizu founded the country, the Ming vassal princes and clans have been enjoying the support of the imperial court. As the number of people increases, the financial expenditures for supporting the royal clansmen also become larger and larger."

The feudal lord group can be ranked as one of the three major cancers of the Ming Dynasty together with the civil servant group and the Xungui group. It was created by relying on real skills. They did not do any good things, and there were countless bad things.

Wang Zuo, who was considered a miser by Liu Jin and had always been upright, smiled bitterly, and it was clear that the job of offending the feudal king fell on him after all.

No one opposed the plan to clean up Jiangnan. Zhu Houzhao struck while the iron was hot and asked everyone: "What do you think of the vassal kings in various places?"

You must know that the finances of the Ming Dynasty are not equal to Zhu Houzhao's personal wealth. Gao Feng, Qiu Ju, Luo Xiang, Wei Bin and others continued to squeeze wealthy businessmen and gentry from all over the country. Zhu Houzhao was not short of money. How much wealth did Baofang accumulate? Even Zhu Houzhao

I don’t even know myself.

"If I remember correctly, the amount of silver allocated to vassals in various places last year alone was as high as millions of taels of silver."

But Zhu Houzhao was rich, which did not mean that the Ming Dynasty was financially wealthy. Under various restrictions, the Ming Dynasty's fiscal revenue could reach 20 million taels a year, which was considered a bumper harvest.

Except for Liu Jin, Gu Dayong, Shi Wenyi, Zhang Cai, and Wang Yangming, most of them were scholars who accepted orthodox Confucianism. It was really difficult for them to make up their mind to help Zhu Houzhao clean up Jiangnan, where the literary style was flourishing.

Qi Kangping's hometown is in Shanxi. How did his hometown neighbors come to Jiangnan to seek help from him? In this era, as long as they are not fleeing famine, basically no one will choose to leave their hometown to make a living.

"What your Majesty said is true. With the increase in the royal family, it is indeed a huge burden on the court's finances. I have roughly estimated that the money spent on supporting the royal family members every year is equivalent to one-third of the court's total annual income.

.”

One-third of the imperial court's total annual income is a terrible figure, but this is the danger of the feudal lord group!

Singing and singing every night and constant births have led to a significant increase in the number of births of royal family members every year. When one child is born, the court will have to pay an extra royal child for the support of the royal family. If the care continues like this without restraint, the Ming Dynasty's finances will sooner or later be destroyed.

Drag down.

As for the 20 million taels of silver, the vassal group wants to take one-third of it. Officials from various ministries and ministries of the imperial court use various names to request allocations from the treasury. Then you take a little, I take a little, and another third is taken away;

Zhu Houzhao directly made it clear that he wanted to establish a Jiangnan gentry group, "Send an order to Gao Feng to strictly investigate the Qi Kangping case. All those involved, regardless of officials, gentry, clans, princes, generals, and ministers, will be dealt with severely!"

"Therefore, I have decided to cancel the support of the royal family members and let them find their own way to make a living. This will not only allow the royal family's children to get a certain degree of training, but also ease the court's financial expenditure."

After all, the imperial court had very little money left in a year. This is why after Zhu Houzhao conquered Fusang, he would move all the silver mined from Shijian Yinshan into the Baofang, and not a cent of it would go into the national treasury.

If we really want to deposit a large amount of money into the national treasury, the feudal princes' group and the officials of various ministries will empty out the national treasury in a short time. They have that kind of ability.

At that point, Zhu Houzhao would probably be like Chongzhen, humbly going to his officials to collect donations!

The problem of the vassal king is not only a problem of too many royal family members, but also an out-and-out financial problem, which must be solved. Otherwise, Zhu Houzhao will not treat the upright-tempered Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, who has always been disliked by him.

Wang Zuo also came to find him.
Chapter completed!