Alliance of the Heavens and Ming Dynasty

Chapter 95 Financial Issues
"I see you, Your Majesty!"

Wang Yangming, Wang Jia, 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 Leopard Room one after another.

"Free gift!"

"Give a seat!"

"Have some tea!"

Zhu Houzhao turned his attention away from the map, looked at the crowd and said, "Qi Kangping first, and then King Jingjiang, what do you think about this matter?"

Everyone here is his vassals and confidantes, so he no longer hides it, and directly raises the topic.

Everyone looked at each other, not understanding what Zhu Houzhao was thinking, and they didn't dare to speak rashly, lest they offend Shengyan.

"Your Majesty, I believe that although Qi Kangping deserved his crime, there are many doubts in it, which is puzzling!"

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

Qi Kangping's problem was not only noticed by him, but everyone else was also aware of it, but they didn't dare to say it!

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

How did Qi Kangping get dragged into the water?
During Qi Kangping's tenure as governor of Yingtian, he committed many illegal things. Why did no one expose them in the past, but they suddenly broke out at this time?
Everyone knew the answer in their hearts, and they roughly understood the purpose of Zhu Houzhao's visit to them. The emperor was completely enraged and prepared to make a big fuss.

"Since there are doubts, then go and investigate. Once you find out the clues, you will never tolerate it."

Zhu Houzhao directly made it clear that he wanted to set up a Jiangnan gentry group, "delivered an order to Gao Feng to strictly investigate the Qi Kangping case, and everyone involved in the case, regardless of officials, gentry, princes and generals, will be strictly dealt with!"

He doesn't intend to hand over the case to the Ministry of Criminal Justice or Dali Temple. Three words: don't worry, there are too many civil servants in the six departments who are closely related to the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River. Let them investigate. It may not be possible to investigate for decades. Can find a fart.

And this time he is going to carry out a big cleansing, not really wanting the truth, since it is a big cleansing, no matter if he is innocent or not, he will never let it go, it is most suitable for Gao Feng to do such dirty things!
Gao Feng, one of the eight tiger servants, has a bad reputation, so it doesn't matter if it stinks a bit.

Regarding Zhu Houzhao's plan to purge Jiangnan, everyone was silent, neither opposed nor supported, and reserved all their opinions.

Except for Liu Jin, Gu Dayong, Shi Wenyi, Zhang Cai, including Wang Yangming, most of them are scholars who accept orthodox Confucianism. It is really difficult for them to make up their minds to help Zhu Houzhao clean up the Jiangnan where the literary style is flourishing.

Not stopping Zhu Houzhao with all their strength is already their biggest concession and loyalty. If it were the old Liu Jian and Xie Qian, they would have quarreled with Zhu Houzhao long ago!
They are also human beings with their own thoughts, not puppets in the hands of Zhu Houzhao. They follow what Zhu Houzhao says without thinking of their own.

No one objected to the plan to purge Jiangnan, so Zhu Houzhao took advantage of the heat and asked everyone, "What do you think of the vassals everywhere?"

This question stumped everyone!
What do the princes of various places look like in everyone's minds? Fat pigs, moths, vampires, rice worms, waste, garbage, anyway, any bad terms can be put on the prince's head.

Making money and enclosing land, murdering and setting fire, harming one party, and even trafficking in people, there are only unexpected things, and there is no feudal lord group that dare not do it.

The Fanwang Group, together with the Civil Service Group and the Xungui Group, can be listed as the three major cancers of the Ming Dynasty. It is based on real skills. They will not do good things, and there are countless bad things.

Today's court's charges against Jingjiang King Zhu Yueqi are just a small part of his vassal career, which can be called a drop in the bucket.

"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 product, it was better to keep silent until they understood what Zhu Houzhao was thinking.

Talking about the royal family is not a small crime!

"Since Emperor Taizu founded the country, the vassals and relatives of the Ming Dynasty have always enjoyed the support of the court. As the number of people increases, the financial expenditure for supporting the royal family is also increasing."

"If I remember correctly, last year the support money allocated to the vassal princes in various places was as high as several million taels of silver."

"If this continues, there will be more and more members of the royal family, and the court will need to pay more and more money. Until one day, it will become a key link that will bring down the court's finances."

"Therefore, I decided to cancel the support for the royal family members and let them find their own way of life. This will not only give the royal family children a certain degree of exercise, but also ease the court's financial expenditure."

Zhu Houzhao looked at Wang Zuo, the Minister of the Household Department, and said, "Wang Aiqing, you are the Minister of the Household Department, and you know the finances of the court best. I'm right."

Regarded by Liu Jin as a miser, Wang Zuo, who has always been upright and upright, smiled wryly. It was obvious that the job of offending the feudal lord still fell on him in the end.

"What Your Majesty said is very true. With the increase of royal family members, it is indeed a huge burden on the imperial court's finances. I have roughly estimated that the money for supporting the royal family members each year is equivalent to one-third of the imperial court's annual income. .”

One-third of the total annual income of the imperial court, what a frightening figure, but this is the harm of the vassal king group!
Playing songs every night and giving birth continuously, the number of births of royal family members has increased significantly every year. For one child born, the court will have to pay an extra child of the royal family for support. wear down.

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 continue to squeeze rich businessmen and gentry from all over the place. Zhu Houzhao is not short of money. I don't even know.

But Zhu Houzhao's wealth does not mean that Daming's finances are rich. Under many restrictions, Daming's annual fiscal revenue can reach 2000 million taels of silver, which is considered a bumper harvest.

And for the 2000 million taels, the Fanwang Group will take one-third of it, and the officials of the various ministries of the court will use various names to request funding from the treasury, and then you will take some, I will take some, and another third will be taken;

For the remaining one third, the military salaries of the troops in various places, the salaries of officials at all levels, and various miscellaneous expenses all need money.

Rolling around in a circle, the imperial court has little money left in a year. This is why Zhu Houzhao will move all the silver mined by Iwami Yinshan into the Leopard House after he conquered Fusang, and none of it will go into the national treasury.

If you really want to deposit a lot of money into the treasury, the vassal king group and officials from various ministries will empty the treasury in a short time. They have that ability.

At that point, Zhu Houzhao will probably be like Chongzhen, humbly going to courtiers to collect donations!

The problem of vassal kings is not only a problem of too many royal family members, but also an out-and-out financial problem. Wang Zuo also came.

(End of this chapter)