Chongzhen Daming: Starting from Coal Mountain

Chapter 68 Where Did Daming's Money Go?
After all, Liu Zongzhou was already at the end of his life, and he was exhausted all the way. After talking to Chongzhen, he couldn't hold on anymore, and was soon sent by Chongzhen to the posthouse in the city to rest.

But before leaving, he repeatedly advised Chongzhen and hurried back to Nanjing to stay.

He also made serious criticisms of Chongzhen, thinking that, as an emperor, he should not have mixed up with Qianshou in Qianmo. Doing so would be undignified for a king, let alone the norms of monarchs and ministers.

After seeing off Liu Zongzhou, Zhu Cihong seemed hesitant to speak.

"Lang'er, what do you want to say to father?"

"Father, my son does have something to say."

"You said."

"My son also thinks that what Mr. Ji Shan said is right. Father should maintain the majesty of the king, and should not be in the company of the head of Guizhou, let alone eat, live and practice with the soldiers of the border town."

After Zhu Cihong finished speaking, the tent fell silent.

The eunuchs standing around instantly became alarmed.

Since ancient times, the most difficult people to get along with are the emperor and the prince.

In the past, the prince was young, so Long Live only loved him.

But now that the prince is about to reach adulthood, he already has his own ideas and unintentionally challenges the monarchy, which is very troublesome for these servants.

Sure enough, Lord Long Live started driving people away.

"Gao Banban, Han Banban, you all go out."

"Wang Daban, you guard the tent door, no one is allowed to come within ten steps."

After sending away several eunuchs, Chongzhen asked Zhu Cihong's three brothers: "Father is testing you today, why do you think Daming has fallen into such a state today?"

Zhu Cizhao looked bewildered, obviously never thinking about this question.

Zhu Cihong had a pensive look on his face, obviously he hadn't thought it through yet, or he might have made a new discovery.

Only Zhu Cijiong said with certainty: "Father, my ministers know that the reason why our Ming Dynasty has become what it is today is because civil servants are greedy and despicable, generals are cowardly and afraid of fighting, and natural disasters continue."

Chongzhen turned his gaze to Zhu Cihong, and asked, "Lang'er, what's your point of view?"

Zhu Cihong raised his head and looked at Chongzhen and said, "Father, my ministers think that the biggest problem of my Ming Dynasty is the lack of national expenditure, and the expenditure is increasing day by day, so I can only levy three rates, which ultimately hurts the foundation of the country."

"That's right." Chongzhen nodded happily, "The problem of my Ming Dynasty is ultimately a financial problem. As long as the financial problem is solved, all problems will be solved."

After a pause, he asked again: "So how to solve this dilemma?"

Zhu Cihong said without hesitation: "It is nothing more than two ways to increase income and reduce expenditure, and increase income is to increase taxes. Right now, the tax burden of our Ming people is already extremely heavy, and there is no way to levy more, so we can only reduce expenditure."

Chongzhen said noncommittally: "Then tell me, how should we reduce expenditure?"

Zhu Cilang thought for a while and said: "One time when I was attending a Sutra banquet, my minister once heard from the officials of the Ministry of Household Affairs that my Ming's national expenditures in that year were worth more than 1800 million taels of silver, of which more than 900 million taels of silver were used for recruiting soldiers. The salary is more than 400 million taels, and the clan expenses are more than 500 million taels, mainly these three items."

Chongzhen nodded lightly, basically this number has been from the middle period of Wanli to the present.

The only exception is that in the year before Zhu Changxun, the king of Fu, took over as a feudal clan, the clan's expenditure suddenly swelled to more than 1000 million taels, but this was not normal, and then fell back to more than 500 million taels in the second year.

Zhu Cihong went on to say: "Among the three, the military salaries for recruits can only be increased but not decreased, and the salaries of officials cannot be reduced. Therefore, the only thing that can be reduced is the clan's expenses."

"Then you have been fooled by the civil servant group."

"Ah? Been tricked by a civil servant group? What does the emperor mean by this?"

"I just want to ask you, how did you get the 300 million taels of domestic money every year?"

"Inner money? Isn't the money in the inner money collected by the servants of the palace through the tax inspector, the mine inspector, and the weaving bureau?"

"Tax Supervisor, Mine Supervisor, and Weaving Bureau? That's right. In the first few years when the tax supervisor and mine supervisor were reinstated, they added some money to the internal funds, but now there are only three melons and two dates left, and sometimes they can't even make ends meet. Especially the Weaving Bureau, since the seventh year of Chongzhen, there has never been a profit of one or two taels of silver from the internal funds."

"Ah, this? So the inner money comes from..."

"That's right, the annual 300 million taels of domestic money is deducted from the clan's expenses. If it weren't for the 300 million taels of domestic money each year, we would die early tomorrow."

Now Zhu Cihong and Zhu Cijiong's three views were shattered.

It is said that the officials of Ming Dynasty are corrupt and despicable, but the most corrupt official is their father?
Only Zhu Cizhao had already dozed off, and was not interested in the topic of his father and the two emperor brothers, but Chongzhen did not criticize him either, people don't like politics, don't force it.

The most taboo thing about choosing a prince is to drive ducks to the shelves.

Chongzhen asked again: "Then do you know where the 300 million taels of internal money were used?"

"This minister knows." Zhu Cihong said without hesitation, "One is used to relieve the victims of disasters in various provinces, and the other is to give back military salaries and rewards to soldiers recruited in border towns."

"Brother Huang, isn't it?" Zhu Cijiong couldn't help but retort, "Didn't the border town already have 900 million taels of recruits? Isn't this much money enough? Is the emperor going to use the money from the inner money to make up for the hole?"

Zhu Cilang sighed: "Second brother, do you know how much the monthly salary for recruiting soldiers is? The Guan Ning Army only pays 2 taels, and the rest recruits only get 1 tael! Even according to the standards of the Guan Ning Army, a recruit It only needs 24 taels of silver a year, and 900 million taels of silver is enough to maintain an army of nearly 40 people!"

"Ah?" Zhu Cijiong exclaimed in disbelief, "But the Guanning Army had only 6 troops at its peak, and only [-] were left before the fall of the capital."

Zhu Cihong went on to say: "But the salary has not been reduced by one tael!"

Chongzhen then asked: "Then the question is, where did the 900 million taels go? And where did the 300 million taels I filled in go?"

"Yeah, where are you going?" Zhu Cijiong asked in a daze.

Zhu Cihong frowned, as if he had already thought of it, but he couldn't grasp the point.

At this time, Zhu Cizhao next to him yawned: "Where else can I go, I must have been embezzled."

"No, it's drifting!" Zhu Cihong finally understood the key point, "This is not what is commonly referred to as corruption, because the entire civil servant group has benefited."

"That's right, it's just gone."

Chongzhen said: "The 900 million salaries, together with the 300 million filled in internal funds, only a little more than half can be handed over to the border town supervisors and general soldiers, and then they will be deducted and divided up by military officers at all levels. The money actually used to raise soldiers is even less than one-third, do you know now?"

Zhu Cijiong asked with a look of shock: "So 900 million taels plus 300 million taels, half of which will be sent to border towns, and the remaining 600 million taels will be lost by the civil servants?"

Zhu Cizhao: "Why didn't my father arrest all these corrupt officials?"

"Hehe, good question, why didn't the father arrest these corrupt officials? Because it is impossible." Chongzhen sighed lightly, and said, "Take Liao's salary as an example, the 500 million taels of Liao's salary has not yet been paid. The Ministry of Household Affairs was lost [-]% by the cabinet, another [-]% was lost when it left the Ministry of Finance, another [-]% was lost by the Ministry of War, another [-]% was lost when it arrived in Shandong, and another [-]% was lost when it arrived in Jizhen. Cheng, this is already [-]% gone.”

"If the backing of the court is strong, and there is a chief assistant or a minister to say hello, there will be less drift."

"But no matter how small it is, it will never be less than [-]%. If the border town can get [-]% of the salary, it will be the sky. Most of the time, it can only get [-]% or even [-]%."

"So, is this money embezzled by officials at all levels?"

"There's definitely corruption in it, but not all of it is corrupt."

"Let's say that the [-]% lost by the cabinet is actually used to distribute benefits to officials in the capital."

"Welfare?" Zhu Cihong, Zhu Cijiong, and Zhu Cizheng all looked blank, what do you mean?
"It's all kinds of respect." Chongzhen said, "You also know that the salary standard set by Emperor Taizu Gao for officials at all levels is very low, and the price of the capital is too high. The living family members, such as the officials of the six ministries and other real power departments, are okay, but if the officials of the Qingshui Yamen such as the Imperial Academy and Zhan Shifu do not have the New Year’s Day, ice, charcoal, and respect, they will all starve to death. It’s a place of support for the Prime Minister, but who knows the hardships in it.”

Zhu Cihong finally understood: "This is the case for the cabinet, the six ministries, the local chief ministers, inspectors, and commanders, and even the government offices, state offices, and county offices."

"Yes." Chongzhen nodded, "Otherwise, what will I do to support the servants of the subordinate officials all over the world?"

Zhu Cihong said angrily: "So the salary expenditure of officials is far more than 400 million taels?"

"Of course it's more than 400 million taels, and even 1000 million taels. Official salaries are the big ones." Chongzhen sighed, "Emperor Taizu Gao dug a big hole for us future generations."

"He set the salary of officials low, and the original intention was good."

"I'm afraid that officials will erode the people's aspirations, and I want to reduce the burden on the people. This original intention is worthy of recognition."

"But his approach is too simple and rude. Officials hold power in their hands. Will they not benefit themselves? Expect them to supervise themselves? Isn't this nonsense."

"As a result, ostensibly administrative expenses are reduced,"

"But there's been a flood of hidden costs of all kinds."

"The last account, more than doubled the expenses! It's a big loss!"

"Father, you absolutely cannot sit idly by on this matter." Zhu Cihong said anxiously, "We must reform!"

"Reform?" Chongzhen said quietly, "You are going against the civil servants all over the world. This is to rob the entire civil servants of their wealth. As the saying goes, blocking people's wealth is like killing their parents. Have you thought about the consequences?"

"Ah this?" Zhu Cilang was dumb for a moment, he really never thought about the consequences.

But he knew that his great-grandfather, Emperor Wanli, and his great-grandfather, Emperor Jiajing, had fought against civil servants, and it seemed that they won and lost in the end?Anyway, he didn't dare to think about it.

(End of this chapter)