Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 24 The People's Living Income and Expenditure

"Just like that?"

"That's all..."

Inside Xuqin Palace, Zhu Youjian was in a trance while holding the ledger sent by Wang Chengen.

He thought of many ways for next year's taxation, and finally decided to start with the Yumajian, after all, the Yumajian still has a lot of pasture and arable land.

However, he waited for another half a month, and after half of the national funeral, Wang Chengen delivered the ledger to him.

Originally, he thought that his family was very rich, but when he saw the various pastures and acres in the ledger, he instantly didn't know what to say.

“草场42万4600亩，田地68万7423亩，皇庄146万5520亩……”

Zhu Youjian murmured about all the data of the Imperial Horse Supervisor on the ledger, and wanted to slap the table angrily.

He was not the Qiyu Horse Supervisor, but thought of another department that was also in charge of raising horses, Taipu Temple...

The same is for raising horses, the Royal Horse Supervisor is for the four guards and one to nourish horses, and the Taipu Temple is an official horse breeding institution run by the imperial court.

Horse politics was a major national event in ancient feudal dynasties, and horses were an important military weapon. Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Youjian's ancestor, once said: "Ma politics is the most important thing in the country."

During the Jiajing period, Xia Yan, the chief minister of the cabinet, also said: "The great affairs of the country are in the army, and the great affairs of the army are in the horse."

Taipu Temple is the same as Yumajian, not only to raise horses, but also to make money.

As one of the important sources of state finance in the Ming Dynasty, Taipu Temple held a large amount of state financial resources because of the need to manage horse affairs. Since the fourth year of Chenghua, it has built a warehouse dedicated to storing fiscal revenue "horse price silver"... Changying library.

After the mid-Ming Dynasty, with the reform of "paying tax for silver" and the monetization of silver, the financial resources held by Taipu Temple were also converted into silver income.

Therefore, starting from the Longqing period, the horse administration system of Taipu Temple gradually changed from physical management to currency management.

As a result, the original pure horse administration organization also derived the function of financial management, which also has the nature of a financial institution.

If Zhu Youjian remembers well, during the Hongzhi period, Taipu Temple had more than [-] horse breeders and more than [-] million mu of land.

However, the Taipu Temple, which has ten times the number of fields in the Yumajian, Zhu Youjian remembers that the tax payment in the highest year was only [-] taels, and it was only more than [-] taels in the Wanli period.

Such a quantity is not as good as the Yumajian in Zhu Youjian's hands, so it is not difficult to imagine how greedy these guys are!
Zhu You was so angry that he wished he could take the people from the Yumajian to copy the Taipu Temple, maybe he could copy several million taels.

But this kind of thinking is just thinking about it, and it is impossible to actually do it.

There was no other way, he could only hold his breath and ask Wang Chengen: "The mansions that were confiscated are all sold out?"

"I sold part of it and received [-] taels of silver. Right now, there are still [-] taels in the treasury of the Yumajian."

"Two hundred thousand taels..." Zhu Youjian was a little depressed, he couldn't do anything with this little money.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian could only get up and said: "Go, go to the Ministry of Industry to see how they want to repair the imperial tomb."

"Yes." Seeing this, Wang Chengen quickly asked someone to arrange a carriage.

After all, it is a national mourning, and elephants are not allowed to ride, but horse-drawn carriages and human-powered sedan chairs are still allowed.

Soon the eunuchs and Jinyiwei of Xuqin Palace were ready, and Zhu Youjian also got into the carriage, ready to go to the Ministry of Industry outside the imperial city to have a look.

Although it is a national funeral for the prince to travel, he still needs to pay attention to the ostentation.

Fifty brocade-clothed guards in scarlet attire, with yanling sabers on their waists, stood guard on both sides of the carriage, and Wang Chengen personally drove the carriage for Zhu Youjian.

Soon, they walked out of the Ciqing Gate of the East Palace, and after being checked by the left guard Huben of the East Palace, they hurriedly let them go.

At this time, a large square and a high wall came into Zhu Youjian's eyes.

He glanced at the high walls of the Forbidden City, and then glanced at the Wenhua Palace not far away, thinking that his dear brother was still in class at the Wenhua Palace.

He closed the window, then sat in the rickety carriage for a few minutes, and the carriage stopped after a while.

He opened the car window and saw that the general on duty at the Donghua Gate who was about to inspect was startled immediately, and hurriedly edited:
"The last general didn't know that His Highness Fifth was out of the palace and offended His Highness Fifth, please forgive me."

"It's okay, check it quickly, I'm still waiting to leave the palace and go to the Ministry of Industry." Zhu Youjian didn't pay attention, the stricter the inspection, the more comfortable he lived in the palace.

Seeing this, the general on duty quickly checked the token and let people go all the way.

Zhu Youjian's carriage quickly walked out of Donghua Gate and came to the street.

At this time, there was a bit of smoke and fire, but the people living around the imperial city were all officials' mansions, so there was nothing to see.

The ostentation of Zhu Youjian's trip can be said to be the grand one during the national mourning period, and people passing by on the street can't help but look at them.

In the late Ming Dynasty, the common people did not pay much attention to most of the rituals stipulated by the court, and Zhu Youjian didn't care, but looked at these common people.

They are not skinny and ragged like the ones in the photos in the late Qing Dynasty. On the contrary, some people carrying firewood and pushing carts are well dressed.

Even if it's not new, the clothes have been carefully washed.

All of this is because the severe drought in the Little Ice River has not yet come. In the current Ming Dynasty, even in the remote northwest and southwest regions, the people can still survive.

Zhu Youjian questioned a maid from Yunnan in the palace. According to her, in some counties in Yunnan, she can earn fifteen or sixteen Wen for a day's work.

Fifteen or sixty Wen can buy two catties of rice, half a catty of beef and mutton, and there are two or three Wen left in the end, which is not bad.

Similar to the capital city, whether it is Shuntian Mansion or Yingtian Mansion, the wages are around [-] Wen a day, and the maids and eunuchs who work for the royal family can occasionally get fifty or sixty Wen.

Although the prices are a bit higher than those in Yunnan, they are not much higher.

Zhu Youjian became interested, and asked a general banner of Jinyiwei: "Hey!"

"Your Highness is called a low-ranking officer?" Zong Qi was stunned for a while, and hurriedly walked while replying.

"Well, I want to ask you something." Zhu Youjian said with a smile:

"What's the current price in this capital city? With your salary, is it enough to live?"

"Ah... this..." Zongqi smiled wryly and replied to Zhu Youjian:
"Returning to Your Highness, we Jinyiwei, as the head of the general banner, are as humble as they are, and are of the seventh rank. We can receive a salary of eighty shi a year, which is almost forty taels of silver."

"Forty taels a year, the monthly salary is 3 taels and 3 renminbi."

"For example, there are six people in a humble family, and only one of them works for the court. My father and brother barely survive on two acres of Susukida."

"The monthly salary of three taels of silver is naturally enough for one person in a lowly position, as long as he doesn't look for flowers."

"Right now, rice in the capital costs 4 renminbi a catty, premium pork costs only 20 renminbi a catty, premium mutton costs 15 renminbi, beef 16 renminbi, and a live chicken costs 40 renminbi."

"Three liang of silver is not much, but the life of the six members of the family is compact, so we can still eat meat every few days."

(End of this chapter)