Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 210 Acquiescence
After scolding Wei Zhongxian a few words, Emperor Tianqi had to turn back to consider the issue of silver and money.

After he succeeded to the throne, Liaodong suffered successive defeats and the Ming army suffered heavy losses in Liaodong, but the war in Liaodong had to continue. In addition, local and central governments had daily expenses and money was needed everywhere. However, the tax revenue from below was not collected and the people had to eat the grain they earned. This problem had to be solved no matter what.

After Wanli's death, a lot of wealth was left in the inner treasury. From this point of view, the emperor still had plenty of private money. Otherwise, Emperor Tianqi would not have taken out 1.3 million taels from the inner treasury for emergency relief due to the Liaodong war when the Ministry of Revenue could not come up with money.

One million three hundred thousand taels is no small amount. You should know that the annual income of the entire Ming Dynasty is only seven million five hundred and fifty thousand taels.

But emergency relief is emergency relief, and the Emperor Tianqi is not a sucker. How could he allow the Ministry of Revenue to keep an eye on the private money in his pocket? The court of course uses the court's money to do things. What do you officials mean by always thinking about taking money out of the emperor's pocket?
If this becomes a routine, the landlords will have no surplus food, and Emperor Tianqi will never take money out of the treasury unless it is absolutely necessary. Therefore, facing these current problems, the most important thing is to solve the fiscal deficit and increase fiscal revenue.

In fact, it is impossible to say that Emperor Tianqi was not at all interested in the matter of mining and tax supervision that Wei Zhongxian just mentioned.

He had carefully studied the purpose of Emperor Wanli's actions and the benefits he gained from it, but there were several problems. On the one hand, his words when he scolded Wei Zhongxian showed that the court had already made a decision on the issue of mining and taxation supervisors a year ago, and two emperors had issued decrees in succession (regardless of whether Wanli's will was true or not, Taichang's was real). As a son, filial piety is particularly important, especially since Emperor Tianqi did not want to be attacked by his ministers for filial piety because of his denial of his father's policies. Emperor Tianqi would never do that and would put himself on the edge of a volcano by changing this policy.

Secondly, the vested interest groups of the abolition of the mining and tax supervision are naturally the civil service group and the local gentry group. How can they spit out the fat meat that has already been eaten by these people? Once this is done, it will inevitably be greatly resisted. Let's not talk about other things for the time being. The strong opposition of the Donglin Party alone is enough to make Emperor Tianqi drink a pot.

At present, Emperor Tianqi has only made some progress in his fight for power through Wei Zhongxian, but he is still far from being able to directly compete with the Donglin Party.

Take the cabinet for example. The cabinet was still dominated by the Donglin Party, and the censors were also controlled by the Donglin Party. Even if Emperor Tianqi wanted to do this, the cabinet would not approve it. In addition, the censors spread rumors and threw dirty water everywhere, so Emperor Tianqi ended up getting into trouble without doing anything.

In addition, although Wei Zhongxian is an old dog, he is not capable of killing the Donglin Party with one bite. It is far from the right time to stimulate the Donglin Party. The balance between the two sides is still necessary. It is not worth the loss to destroy the subsequent plan for a small profit. Therefore, Emperor Tianqi did not want to immediately provoke a dispute because of such a thing, so as to give the Donglin Party the opportunity to seize the moral high ground and turn the tables.

As for the others, Emperor Tianqi thought they could try them, such as the feasible ones among the ten suggestions put forward by the Ministry of Revenue. Whether they could be successful or not, Emperor Tianqi himself did not know, but no matter what, since it was the Ministry of Revenue that put forward the suggestions, he, as the emperor, picked out a few to implement, and even if they failed, the responsibility would not be on the emperor.

Thinking of this, Emperor Tianqi had a plan in mind. He gave some instructions to Wei Zhongxian and asked the Imperial Household Department to negotiate with the Cabinet to discuss some of the ten points proposed by the Ministry of Revenue and implement them appropriately.

After hearing the Emperor Tianqi's instructions, Wei Zhongxian quickly agreed and replied that he would do it right away and would make sure it was done for the emperor.

"Wei Banban, how much of the taxes owed by this place do you think can be recovered?" Emperor Tianqi suddenly asked this question.

"Your Majesty, I think that since the Ministry of Revenue has proposed it, once the cabinet approves it, the local governments will be able to collect some of it..."

"Haha, collect some? How much can these be? A state or a prefecture have dozens or hundreds of taels? How much can the entire Ming Dynasty have added up?" Emperor Tianqi asked with a wry smile.

Wei Zhongxian didn't know how to answer for a moment. The question of Emperor Tianqi hit the nail on the head. Yes, the accumulated tax arrears in the entire Ming Dynasty were too much. If you really calculated it, it would not be a small number. And there were also rules for arrears of taxes. For example, the arrears of taxes in the remote and impoverished areas of the northwest were fine. After all, there was not much production there, and the people's lives were not easy. In addition, due to frequent natural disasters, it was understandable that they could not pay the taxes and thus owed them.

But the tax arrears in the Jiangnan area is a little unreasonable. It is a wealthy land of fish and rice! The wealth of Jiangnan is known to the world, but such a place actually owes a lot of taxes every year, and it accounts for the majority of the total tax arrears. This is really beyond words.

Wei Zhongxian was not the kind of eunuch who knew nothing. He did not enter the palace as a teenager. He was a eunuch who castrated himself and entered the palace as a eunuch after he reached adulthood.

When he was young, Wei Zhongxian lived in the local area for nearly 30 years. He was a farmer and a ruffian. In particular, he spent many years in the market, and he knew many things better than others. Others might not know what the local tax arrears were, but he, Wei Zhongxian, was very clear about it. Some tax arrears could not be brought to light.

Seeing Wei Zhongxian speechless, Emperor Tianqi smiled faintly, and his guess became more certain in his heart. "Have all the local mining supervisors and tax supervisors been recalled?" Emperor Tianqi suddenly asked this question.

For a moment, Wei Zhongxian didn't understand why the Emperor Tianqi asked this question. Wasn't his advice to the Emperor Tianqi rejected just now? And he was scolded. Why did the Emperor suddenly mention this again?

But since the emperor asked this, Wei Zhongxian had to respond. He thought about it and told Emperor Tianqi that it would take time to recall the local mine supervisors and tax supervisors, and that many places were far away from the capital, making it inconvenient to pass on information. In addition, when recalling the mine supervisors and tax supervisors, they had to be handed over to the local governments, and there were procedures for this.

It has only been a year since Emperor Tianqi ascended the throne, so this matter has not been completed in other places except Zhili.

After hearing Wei Zhongxian's answer, Emperor Tianqi nodded slightly and said immediately: "Let these people hold back their return to Beijing. Isn't the Ministry of Revenue going to collect the local taxes next? These people have been in the local area and I think they know a lot about the local area. Tell the Imperial Household Department to tell them to stay in the local area temporarily to cooperate with the Ministry of Revenue and the Provincial Administration Office, do their work well, and don't disappoint my expectations."

After saying this, Emperor Tianqi looked at Wei Zhongxian meaningfully, and Wei Zhongxian quickly responded, saying that he would arrange it right away.

"Wei Banban, you should do this with all your heart and pass on my words. I will remember who has done a good job in the local area. Do you understand?"

Wei Zhongxian was puzzled. Why did the Emperor Tianqi repeat this simple matter so solemnly? He nodded in agreement and thought hard in his head. Suddenly, a light flashed, and Wei Zhongxian suddenly realized.

After leaving the Qianqing Palace, Wei Zhongxian couldn't help but sigh in his heart that although he understood the emperor's thoughts, he still lacked some means to do things.

Actually, this cannot be blamed on Wei Zhongxian. After all, Wei Zhongxian had a low level of education. He was a gangster and illiterate before entering the palace. After so many years in the palace and now holding a high position, Wei Zhongxian can only barely write his own name.

He had advised the Emperor Tianqi to make more use of the mining and tax supervisors, which was a good idea, but he did not consider the impact of doing so. So it was right for the Emperor Tianqi to scold him, because the reason was simple, Wei Zhongxian's actions were too contradictory.

Now Emperor Tianqi took advantage of the suggestion made by the Ministry of Revenue and cleverly used another method, which was to temporarily postpone the recall of the previous mining supervisors and tax supervisors, and let them cooperate with the Ministry of Revenue and local governments to investigate the tax arrears. In name, there was nothing wrong with doing this, and the benefits were self-evident.

On the surface, this was to cooperate with the court, and the suggestion was made by the Ministry of Revenue, so all the responsibility was on the Ministry of Revenue. The eunuchs worked for the official business of the court, which was completely different from their previous roles as mine supervisors and tax supervisors.

But in fact, the Emperor Tianqi used a trick of pretending to build a plank road but secretly marching through Chencang, and achieved the real purpose behind the high-sounding reasons. In other words, keeping these eunuchs in the local area can still play the role of mining and tax supervisors, and can also urge the Ministry of Revenue and local governments to clear up local tax arrears, killing two birds with one stone.

Even if someone in the court later attacked these eunuchs for still serving as mine supervisors and tax supervisors in the local areas, Emperor Tianqi was able to deny it completely.

Anyway, the imperial court had already made the decision to abolish the mining and tax supervisors, and these eunuchs had never been allowed to continue doing such things. If they did, they were the private actions of the eunuchs in the local area, and he, the emperor, knew nothing about it.

The emperor was never wrong, only his subordinates were wrong. In this way, Emperor Tianqi would not have any responsibility. Even if the civil officials asked the emperor to investigate the matter, Emperor Tianqi would only agree on the surface, but actually delay it. In addition, it would take time to send people to the local area to investigate. It was possible that it would take a year or two, and this period of time was enough for his subordinates to do many things.

In the end, even if a few eunuchs were punished, what would it matter? After they were punished, eunuchs were sent from the palace to help clear the tax arrears. Wouldn't it be different? Moreover, after these eunuchs returned to the palace, wouldn't their final punishment still be in the hands of the emperor? Or in other words, in the hands of Wei Zhongxian, the eunuch.

Punish them on the surface, make promises in private, and wait half a year until the storm has passed before re-employing these people. How can an outsider interfere in so many matters in the palace?

(End of this chapter)