Chapter 267 266 Chang Yingku

Wei Guangde naturally knew about the financial difficulties. After all, this was related to the purse of civil and military officials in Beijing, but it was unscrupulous.

As the end of the year approaches, officials are naturally concerned about this most, because not only involve their own salary, but also the rewards from the palace.

On that day, I made an appointment with Chen Ju to have a drink, and I just talked about the lack of money in the court.

Relying on the drunkenness, Wei Guangde also asked.

Chen Ju is in the Sili Supervisory Bureau. Although he may not know everything about the Ministry of Revenue, no matter what, the palace must ask about money.

Don’t forget that Emperor Jiajing of Xiyuan had to reach out to the treasury for silver if he had something to do.

In the six months since Wei Guangde returned from Baoanzhou, he knew twice and took more than 300,000 taels of silver from the Ministry of Revenue.

Everyone knows what they are used for, and practicing is really costly.

Emperor Jiajing practiced Taoism, which was a local religion founded by Zhang Daoling, the Heavenly Master of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and combined with the original worship of ghosts and gods.

Taoism adheres to the doctrine of "the immortal path is worthy of life and infinitely conserve people". While practicing Taoism in order to achieve longevity, it is also responsible for saving others.

However, as the saying goes, "Saving others first, saving yourself." If you want to save others, your own Taoism must first practice to a certain extent.

Cultivation is not an easy task. It is not enough to rely solely on sincerity. It also requires four factors: "wealth and partner Dharma land".

Since it is called "Finance" and "Finance is first, it is naturally reasonable.

Wealth: It is money. You need to have certain economic conditions to practice Taoism. If you do not have a certain material foundation, it is difficult to practice Taoism.

The ancients said: No wealth is not enough to nourish the Tao.

Some people will say that "fa" is the first priority. If there is no real Dharma, your practice will be empty.

Dharma is very important, but if you want to practice, you must become a disciple. Apprenticeship requires money. Why?

Because the master also needs to spend money on his practice, otherwise he would have the above sentence, "No wealth is enough to cultivate the Tao."

The methods taught by each master are different, so you have to find a reliable master and teach you a good method so that you can continue to practice smoothly. You will naturally not be able to find a good master without money.

As for other couples and land, it seems very common for the emperor who is the 95th emperor.

A partner refers to a partner who practices Taoism together. During the process of practicing, if you do not have the support or motivation of your partner, it will be difficult for you to practice for a long time, because it is easy to feel tired, your heart will feel lonely, and it will not be easy to persevere.

However, as long as you have an extraordinary and persistent heart, it is the same whether you have a partner or not.

But this couple is not the kind of male Yang, but the one who practices Taoism together.

The last land, an imperial edict will continue. As long as this land is within the control of the Ming Empire, regardless of who was in the past, it is now the emperor's.

The wealthy and partner Dharma land are the four elements of practice. They are not casually mentioned, and even the order is not randomly arranged. They all have some reason.

"Brother, it's the end of the year, and this salary and New Year's Day reward will be given to the Ministry of Revenue."

Wei Guangde did not finish his words, just started, and Chen Ju naturally knew what it meant.

"The salary is easy to talk about. The Ministry of Revenue and the various government offices have already reserved it. The annual gift is a little troublesome. It is said that it is the emperor's reward, but it all falls on the head of the household. Now the blunt hair is almost gone, haha."

Chen Ju didn't hide anything and said everything he knew, "But then, I really have no money, I just took it from Taipu Temple. Anyway, it's all the money from the court."

Speaking of the Ming Dynasty's financial system, it was also quite distinctive. When Wei Guangde first started to learn the Ming court system, he was once blinded by the complex financial system. When he encountered similar situations, he could only study the tax service system and was still full of money, but he only had some understanding.

Unlike later Ministry of Finance that unified the management of state revenue, a major feature of the central fiscal system in the Ming Dynasty was the dispersion of fiscal management.

Although the Ministry of Revenue is the most important part of the central financial management system, it has failed to govern all the finances of the Ming Empire.

In addition to the Ministry of Revenue, the Central Department of the Ming Dynasty, the Ministry of Works, the Ministry of War, Taipu Temple, the Inner Mansion, Guanglu Temple, etc. all had financial management functions.

Although the Ministry of Revenue can supervise the income of most yamen, the Ministry of Works, Ministry of War, and Taipu Temple have independent financial resources and their own income and expenditure system are not interfered by the management of the Ministry of Revenue.

The Ministry of Works' finance mainly comes from the distribution of work materials and silver and bamboo and wood income from various places; the Ministry of War's income is mainly the firewood and silver for officials in Beijing, which is collected and stored in the Arsenal Department of the Ministry of War, and distributed to officials in Beijing by the Ministry of War; the Taipu Temple income is mainly the price of silver for horses from various places.

The fiscal revenue of the inner government and Guanglu Temple is mainly managed by the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Industry, but its expenses are not subject to the management of the Ministry of Revenue.

Among them, Taipu Temple is the most profitable department in all the yamen and the most advance funds. After all, your yamen is so consumed, and a large amount of financial surplus will be generated every year, and then borrowed by the emperor and other yamen for various reasons. The consequence is that the Ming Dynasty border troops did not have enough horses to be available.

Taipu Temple was an institution responsible for horse government and animal husbandry in the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, the important financial resources controlled by Taipu Temple are large amounts of horse government resources such as horse households, pastures, and horses.

According to statistics during the Hongzhi period, Taipu Temple controlled more than 680,000 horse-raising people, while the fields exceeded 160,000 hectares.

Since the Central Plains dynasty has always been deeply invaded by grassland tribes, the Ma Zheng belongs to the military and national affairs, and has been highly valued by rulers of all dynasties. Zhu Yuanzhang once said: "What Ma Zheng is valued by the Ma Zheng."

So how could Taipu Temple, as an institution specializing in Ma Zheng, become a financial management institution, and how did it become the richest department of the Ming Dynasty?

The Ming Dynasty implemented the two-metro system, so there were two Taipu Temples. The Taipu Temple in Beijing managed Ma Zheng in Zhili, Henan, Shandong and other places. The Taipu Temple in Nanjing was located in Chuzhou and managed Ma Zheng in Nanzhili.

According to the system, Taipu Temple is an institution that specializes in providing horses to the court, and actually does not have financial management functions.

However, there is a huge gap in horses breeding in northern and southern provinces of the Ming Dynasty. Horses fed in the south are not suitable for war horses. Their natural value has dropped significantly, and they are actually in a loss.

As a result, raising war horses in the south became a loss-making business. Not only horse households, but Nanjing Taipu Temple was unwilling to continue doing it. So there was a horse breaking color. Nanjing Taipu Temple no longer provided horses to the court, but changed to "Ma silver".

The source of this horse silver is also complex, not only horse folding colors, but also forage silver, horse farm rent, etc.

The amount of horse silver rose from only 30,000 taels in the second year of Chenghua to 180,000 taels a year in the eighth year of Zhengde. It continued to increase since then, reaching 360,000 taels a year in the seventh year of Jiajing. Now, it is said that horse silver earns 460,000 taels a year in the thirty-fourth year of Jiajing.

It can be said that the Changyingku of Taipu Temple was already the last reserve fund of the Ming Dynasty.

As for how much money Chang Ying Curry has, Chen Ju shook his head, he really didn't know.

Perhaps, only the Taipu Temple Minister can understand the accurate numbers.

But Chen Ju also quietly told Wei Guangde, "Although all the officials in the court were worried that the court would not be able to issue annual gifts because they had no money, in fact, the Taipu Temple Changying Kuli went to Changying.

The old warehouse of the Ministry of Revenue is empty and gone, but there is still an old warehouse in Taipu Temple. The old warehouse was sealed in the 13th year of Jiajing. Now the horse silver in Taipu Temple is piled up in the new warehouse. This is why the emperor is not worried about insufficient money at all."

Wei Guangde blinked and understood a little.

No wonder they lost to the court and had no money, but Emperor Jiajing still did his own thing and asked the Ministry of Revenue for the silver envoy. It turns out that they had known that the court had a small treasury there.

"If this silver exists, it won't be spent? Also, not many people know about this, right?"

Wei Guangde asked curiously.

"Ministry of War, the Ministry of Revenue must know that the Ministry of War still manages Taipu Temple, but it is not useful to ask for money directly. People will not give it to the border towns every year according to the annual regulations. It will only allocate more than 100,000 taels of silver to purchase horses or supplement military pay inadequately.

The emperor can ask for it, but it is also very troublesome. The cabinet and the Ministry of War will resist it, so the emperor only asked the Ministry of Revenue to ask for the money. If the Ministry of Revenue is empty, the money from the Taipu Temple will naturally be borrowed.

It’s just that this is borrowing money and it will be repaid later.

There shouldn't be many of the six ministries and nine ministers who know this. It's okay if it spreads. Each ministry has accumulated debts, so the little master dared not say this. After all, the money is intercepted by the court and is also the military expenses prepared by the court for possible wars after the war. He dare not spend it randomly.

The emperors of the previous dynasties could only knock and beat them out, but they wouldn't take too much. They still had to save the big head. Just tighten the court, as long as they could get through it."

Chen Ju said as she spoke, he felt that he was speechless and hurriedly reminded Wei Guangde: "I just heard from my godfather's mouth that I realized, don't say it out."

Think about it, Yan Shifan is a person who is greedy for money. Would he not know the silver treasury of Taipu Temple?

The answer is of course no.

His position may not touch the core of Taipu Temple, but his father Yan Song cannot not know, the Prime Minister.

But the silver from Taipu Temple is to put it bluntly the war reserves that the Ming Dynasty has saved since the Chenghua period. Apart from military expenditure, there is no reasonable reason to call the deposited silver in it.

Yan Shifan can't do it either.

The Ministry of Revenue will also go to Taipu Temple to borrow money for turnover when there is insufficient money, but it will have to pay it back.

Wei Guangde nodded quickly with tactfulness, picked up the wine glass on the table and left one, picked up the wine pot and filled it with it. He then smacked his lips when he put it down.

Wei Guangde was a little confused at this moment. Since the court had always had the Taipu Temple, the reserve warehouse, how could Emperor Chongzhen not even get out 100,000 taels of silver in the late Ming Dynasty? It was so strange.

However, Wei Guangde's smacking gesture changed his taste in Chen Ju's eyes. He thought Wei Guangde had any thoughts because the court lacked money.

Wei Guangde was still very famous for writing strategy and ideas. After King Hui's shot, many Beijing officials remembered his ability to write strategy and theory.

"You have any idea to find money for the court?"

Wei Guangde didn't say it, but Chen Ju wouldn't ask.

Hearing this, Wei Guangde shook his head and denied, "No, I was worried about becoming an official before. Can I still get the first year of Ai Sui? Hehe."

He had a temporary method to raise money, which was a trick for later generations. At that time, because the court really had no money at this time, he thought about whether to raise some money and take the money he should have paid.

Wei Guangde settled the accounts and the expenses he had paid in the past year from leaving Jiujiang to the capital, and the salary he received in the court was definitely a huge loss.

Others have to make money when they become officials, but they are still losing money after being an official for half a year.

Now that we know that the court actually has reserves of reserves, it is just that it cannot be made public. Those who know this matter consciously banish their words. Wei Guangde is not a person who does not know the importance of it.

If you can really tell it casually, all the civil and military officials in the capital will definitely know it now, and your eyes will be staring at the Taipu Temple.

Since the news has been kept to this point, it shows the importance of this matter.

"Outside, I only know that Taipu Temple has a little money. No one knows the exact amount. I think it's a decimal of several thousand taels, so no one has any idea. Taipu Temple itself hides the news tightly. It has not spread for several generations over the years."

Chen Ju sighed, this is really not easy.

The Hongzhi Dynasty was pretty good at that time, and the court's income and expenditure were generally able to withstand it. Although there was a deficit, it was not much.

The Zhengde Dynasty's deficit increased a lot, mainly because Emperor Zhengde's expenditure on the border army increased greatly and the money spent on wars was also significant. In the years of Emperor Zhengde alone, there were few Tartars attacks along the Great Wall.

"Our master also wanted to work hard to govern at the beginning and wanted to reduce the deficit of the court, but things didn't go as expected. Disasters in various provinces every year were so they couldn't handle it. Alas."

Chen Ju shook her head and said a few words, then sighed.

After drinking and eating, Wei Guangde staggered back to his carriage.

The sound of the whip sounded crisply, and the carriage moved forward slowly, a little bumpy, but it could not stop the question that Wei Guangde was still thinking about. Taipu Temple prepared war funds, but why did the Ming Dynasty finally collapse due to financial collapse and was defeated by the refugee army and the wild boar skins of Liaodong because of lack of military pay?

Wei Guangde didn't know that during his reign, an emperor who ascended the throne more than 20 years later, he drew tens of millions of taels of silver from the Taipu Temple for the prince's marriage and the expenses for the vassal of the prince, and almost gave time to the money that countless generations of emperors had accumulated silently.

During his reign, the total amount of silver spent from the Changyingku of Taipu Temple was as high as 22 million taels. In addition to about four million taels used to purchase war horses, military pay and recruit troops, the emperor's reward of one million taels to the soldiers participating in the war, which should have been borne by the inner court, was also spent by the Changyingku of Taipu Temple.

For this purpose, he also issued a special order, and the reward of less than 10,000 taels will be paid by the inner court, and the reward of more than 10,000 taels will be paid by Changyingku.

After knowing the existence of Changyingku of Taipu Temple, Wei Guangde was not very panicked, and the court still had money.

According to Chen Ju, the worst thing is that the Ministry of Revenue will go to Changyingku to borrow money, and then pay it back next year after the tax and bank collection is collected.

However, it has been more than a month since Governor Lu Binglu, and he has not seen him take action against Li Bin. It is a strange thing. I don’t know whether he is waiting for the impeachment or collecting evidence.

At this time, in a heavily guarded yard not far from his carriage, Lu Bing sat on a chair and asked with a serious expression: "The evidence can be prepared. Are the locations of the money determined?"
Chapter completed!