I, Jiajing, successfully cultivated immortality

Time flies so fast, and in the blink of an eye, it’s mid-December.

Due to the recent continuous rainy weather, the temperature in the capital has dropped sharply, and the sky is gloomy, making people feel inexplicably depressed.

And today is the day when the imperial meeting is held.

Outside the cabinet, a group of members of the Supervisor of Ceremonies, headed by Lu Fang, were eagerly awaiting the arrival of everyone in the cabinet.

Although Feng Bao had put on a chang to keep out the cold, he could still feel a biting chill.

At this moment, a gust of cold wind blew past, causing Feng Bao to shiver and secretly sighed: "Hey, it's so cold. Why haven't Mr. Yan Ge and the others come over yet? Do they have to wait here all the time?" ?”

Then, Feng Bao came to his senses and unconsciously looked in the direction of Lu Fang.

At this time, Lu Fang, like Feng Bao, was wearing a large cloak to keep out the cold.

Compared with Feng Bao's slightly shrinking figure, Lu Fang stood as straight as a pine tree.

Time passed by slowly. I don’t know how long it had passed. I saw six sedans of different colors stopping not far from the cabinet.

After the sedan stopped, Yan Shifan stepped forward, carefully helped Yan Song out of the sedan, and reminded him: "Father, it has been raining for several days, and the ground is a little slippery. Please walk slowly." , pay more attention to your steps!”

"Ah."

When Yan Song heard the words, he responded in a subtle way, and then everyone in the cabinet marched in the direction of the cabinet together.

Seeing Yan Song and others arriving, Feng Bao couldn't help but cheer up, because next, he wouldn't have to freeze outside in vain.

Then, Lu Fang's face was filled with a warm smile, and she took the initiative to say hello to Yan Song.

"Mr. Yan Ge, you are here!"

"I've met Eunuch Lu!"

When Yan Song heard this, he immediately leaned down and bowed to Lu Fang.

Yan Song and Lu Fang walked side by side, and behind them were a group of ceremonial supervisors and cabinet members.

Compared with the last imperial meeting, the expressions on everyone's faces this time were obviously much more relaxed, and they chatted from time to time.

After a few words of greeting, Lu Fang looked away from Yan Song and said with emotion: "Mr. Yan Ge, for some reason, our family always feels like we are in another world. It seemed to be the same last time!"

When Yan Song heard what Lu Fang said, he stroked his beard and responded with a smile: "Eunuch Lu, to be honest, I have the same idea!"

When Yan Song said this, he paused for a moment and continued: "At this time last year, disasters occurred frequently in various parts of Ming Dynasty."

"Droughts, floods, floods, and locust plagues came one after another. In order to provide relief to the affected people, the imperial court was so exhausted that the treasury was depleted!"

"But in just one year, under His Majesty's hard work, not only has the state treasury deficit been reversed in one fell swoop, but the country has also achieved military victories. It is truly a blessing for our Ming Dynasty!"

When Xu Jie on the side heard Yan Song's words, a trace of disdain flashed across his face, and he thought: "This Yan Song is really shameless. He started to flatter you even before he even saw His Majesty's face! "

At this moment, Lu Fang approached Yan Song and reminded him: "Don't worry, Mr. Yan Ge, today is just a formality!"

When Yan Song heard Lu Fang's words, his face was filled with gratitude. He immediately leaned down and respectfully said, "Then I'll bother you, Eunuch Lu!"

Lu Fang didn't seem to care about this. He just waved his hand and said in agreement: "Why, Mr. Yan Ge is so polite. In this way, everyone can have a good New Year!"

After that, Lu Fang looked around and said in a deep voice: "Everyone, stop standing outside, let's go in first!"

After the words fell, Lu Fang was seen supporting Yan Song and climbing up the steps.

Feng Bao, who was wrapped tightly in a big cloak behind him, felt as if he had received an amnesty after hearing Lu Fang's words, and quickly followed Lu Fang step by step.

Seeing this, everyone followed the steps of a few people and stepped onto the stairs.

……

Today's cabinet seems a bit crowded compared to the past. Just like the last imperial meeting, there are two tables facing each other in the room, with five seats behind each table.

At this time, Jiajing was sitting on the dragon chair behind the bead curtain. Next to him was a rock made of jade.

In the corner of the room, there were several stoves with charcoal fires burning brightly.

As soon as everyone entered the cabinet, they felt a warmth coming over them, dispelling the chill that enveloped everyone.

Afterwards, both parties took their seats one after another. On one side was the cabinet headed by Yan Song, and on the other side was the ceremonial supervisor headed by Lu Fang. Behind the bead curtain, Jiajing sat.

Taking advantage of the gap before the imperial meeting started, Yan Song stood up from his seat tremblingly.

Then he leaned down, saluted Jiajing behind the bead curtain, and said respectfully: "The reason why our Ming Dynasty has been able to create this great situation depends on your majesty's wise leadership and the sincerity of everyone here!"

"Under your majesty's wise leadership, our Ming Dynasty not only reversed the current situation of national treasury deficit, but also successively completed the feats of suppressing Japanese pirates, resisting Tatars, and pacifying Bozhou. Your majesty is wise, long live my emperor!"

After Yan Song finished speaking, he knelt on the ground with unusual respect. Seeing this, everyone immediately stood up from their seats, knelt on the ground, and said in unison: "Your Majesty, your Majesty, long live my emperor!"

Then, from behind the bead curtain, Jiajing's Gujing Wubo voice came: "Well, dear friends, please get up!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

After receiving Jiajing's permission, everyone stood up from the ground one after another and sat back down in their seats.

Soon after, there was a crisp sound of "ding", and Jiajing, who was sitting behind the bead curtain, knocked on the jade rock in front of him.

And this also means that this imperial meeting has officially begun!

After Lu Fang calmed down, she looked in the direction of Yan Song and said slowly: "Let's start the discussion!"

"Ah."

When Yan Song heard Lu Fang's words, he responded in a subtle way, and then, only Lu Fang's voice was heard. "Mr. Yan Ge, please hand over all the tickets first!"

"The votes drawn up by the cabinet are all here. Let's clear the accounts of each department for this year first, and then we will discuss the expenditures for the coming year!"

After Yan Song finished speaking, he stretched out his skinny hand and neatly stacked the tickets that were almost piled up into a hill on the table.

After doing this, a subordinate soon came forward and handed these tickets into Lu Fang's hands.

After taking over the tickets, Lu Fang was seen methodically distributing the tickets to Huang Jin, Feng Bao, and the remaining two members of the Supervisor of Ceremonies.

Then, Xu Jie on the side slowly took out his account book, faced everyone, and said loudly.

"This year, the taxes collected by our Ming Dynasty totaled 36.92 million taels, which also included a salt tax of 15 million taels."

"The proceeds from various types of house confiscation totaled 283,756,000 taels. In addition, the imperial court's expenses this year totaled 53,580,000 taels!"

When everyone present heard from the mouth of Xu Jie, the Minister of the Ministry of Finance, about the amount of silver obtained from the confiscation of the house, they couldn't help but take a breath, and their faces were full of shock.

If the taxes collected by the Ming Dynasty this year are included, then the amount of silver in the treasury now reaches as much as 300 million.

This much money was enough for the Ming Dynasty to last for more than ten years without collecting any taxes!

"Sure enough, a man can't be rich without windfall, and a horse can't be fat without night grass. The imperial court didn't steal so much money this year!"

After sighing secretly, Yan Shifan calmed down and looked at the ground casually.

At this moment, what is in front of Feng Bao is the expenditure of the Ministry of War where Zhang Juzheng is located this year.

When he saw the expenditure of the Ministry of War this year recorded in the accounts, a look of shock flashed across his face: "The expenditure of the Ministry of War alone this year has reached 12.26 million. This war is really hard." It’s enough money!”

After confirming that there were no problems with the accounts reported by the Ministry of War, Feng Bao picked up the ink pen, followed the suggestions given on the draft, and wrote the two characters "standard".

After approving the accounts submitted by the Ministry of War, Feng Bao worked non-stop to approving the accounts submitted by other departments one by one.

Time passed slowly like this, and after the Chief of Ceremonies, all the votes submitted by the cabinet were reviewed.

Lu Fang looked in the direction of Yan Song and nodded, indicating that he could start the next item.

Seeing this, Yan Song's face was full of relief, because the imperial court's expenses for this year were finally over.

……

Later, Yan Song organized the words in his mind, looked around, stood up, and suggested: "Now that the court's accounts have been settled this year, let's start discussing next year's expenses!"

Seeing that no one raised any objections to this, Yan Song faced everyone, nodded, and sat back in his seat.

After Yan Song sat down, Zhang Juzheng stood up from his seat, first bowed his hands to Jiajing, who was sitting behind the bead curtain, and then faced the crowd and said in a deep voice.

"Your Majesty, I suggest that the court's expenditures should be appropriately reduced. Last year, the total expenditures of our Ming Dynasty totaled 46.5 million taels, and this year it has reached an astonishing 53.58 million taels. !”

"Although there are natural disasters and the use of troops, it is an indisputable fact that the imperial court's expenses are increasing."

"In the final analysis, it is because of the excessive spending by the officials at all levels and the many shortcomings in the inns that Ming Dynasty has opened across the country!"

Everyone was extremely shocked when they saw Zhang Juzheng drop such a bombshell when he came up. Just as everyone was stunned, they heard Zhang Juzheng's voice sounded again.

"The post station is responsible for the tasks of document delivery, military information transmission, horse replacement, cargo transfer, etc. Among them, the large-scale post station is even equipped with more than a hundred rooms. Most of the post stations have two or even three entrances. , for officials to rest!”

"And those officials who lived in the inn also took this opportunity to indulge in extravagance. Although the court stipulated the entertainment expenses for officials at all levels, overspending was still inevitable. The entertainment expenses alone remained high."

"The living environment of some inns is even better than that of local officials. Those who can live in inns are appointed by the imperial court and have official duties. Therefore, the inns need to reimburse the expenses for travel."

"As time went by, many people came up with clever names and asked for more money from the post station."

"The inn itself has no profit-making projects. The expenses of the inn are allocated by the imperial court to various levels of government."

"Governments at all levels have naturally allocated the cost of the station to the common people. Generally speaking, a family has to bear at least two yuan of expenses!"

"And the specific expenses of the post station are all decided by the post chief. There is no fixed amount for charging more or less. The people are quite complaining about this, and they even often get up and cause trouble because of this!"

After Zhang Juzheng's words fell, everyone present couldn't help but fell into silence. After all, they were all well aware of the shortcomings of the station.

The reason why they turn a blind eye to this is because there are too many people involved. It can be said that millions of tankers are dependent on their food and clothing, and no one dares to attack the inn rashly.

If you are not careful, this big thunder will explode in your hands, and your career will be completely ruined!

Then, Yan Song opened his cloudy eyes, looked in the direction of Zhang Juzheng, and said slowly: "So, what you mean is to eliminate part of the inn?"

Facing Yan Song's gaze, Zhang Juzheng nodded and said in a deep voice: "Yes, Mr. Yan Ge, I think some of the inns with remote roads and low usage rates should be eliminated, and the remaining money should be used to Put it into other stations located on major transportation routes!"

"In this way, all the money of the imperial court can be spent wisely!"

After listening to Zhang Juzheng's thoughts, Yan Song nodded and motioned for Zhang Juzheng to continue.

"In addition, in view of the phenomenon of officials being extravagant and wasteful, as well as making clever excuses to ask for money from the inn, we can take advantage of this and include it in the official assessment!"

"The most important point is that the management rights of various post stations must be transferred to the central government!"

"After the post stations are transferred to the central government, the post stations in each region must truthfully report the previous year's revenue and expenditure to the court, and the court will decide how much funding should be reported to the post stations in the coming year. The court can allocate a separate amount each year A sum of money came out and was used for the finance of the post stations all over the country."

"The amount of silver is fixed. If it is not enough, it will be reported to the Ministry of Household Affairs, who will then consider it, or dispatch postmen from other states and counties to balance it."

"If a state or county does not have a post station, then a part of the land tax paid by it will be allocated to those states and counties that have a post station."

Xu Jie on the side was also quite emotional after hearing Zhang Juzheng's thoughts. Then he lowered his head and said silently to himself: "Well, that's fine. Anyway, those inns only complain about not having enough money every year!"

"With their way of spending money, no amount of money is enough to spend it!" (End of Chapter)