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

Chapter 433 Do you want money?
Emperor Chongzhen's attitude made Yuan Chonghuan feel a little confused. He looked happy on the surface, but he was complaining in his heart.

I was just bragging, but now you don't even give me any way out. Could it be that I really solved the Liaodong Jiannu in five years? If I really had this ability, I would have done it long ago. Why would I wait until today?

But at this point there was no way to stop. Emperor Chongzhen was as excited as if he had been injected with chicken blood, as if he, Yuan Chonghuan, could punch Huang Taiji and kick the Eight Banners as soon as he went to Liaodong.

Not only did he agree to all his requests, he also bestowed Yuan Chonghuan with the Imperial Sword, allowing Yuan Chonghuan to go to Liaodong boldly and confidently without any worries. He, the emperor, was his most solid backing, and he was looking forward to Yuan Chonghuan's victorious return in the capital.

Helpless, Yuan Chonghuan could only swallow his anger and accepted the imperial sword bestowed by the emperor happily. Then he said goodbye to the emperor and went back to prepare to take up his post in Liaodong as soon as possible.

After Yuan Chonghuan left, the excited Emperor Chongzhen ate a few more bowls of rice for dinner that day. His appetite was so good that he couldn't help laughing in his dream after falling asleep.

Emperor Chongzhen felt that he would definitely become the ruler who would revive the Ming Dynasty. Now that Wei Zhongxian's eunuch party had been wiped out, there were no more treacherous ministers in the court and everyone was a gentleman. With wise ministers inside the court and great generals and capable people like Yuan Chonghuan outside the court, how could the Ming Dynasty not be revived?

Five years later, when Liaodong is pacified, the entire Ming Dynasty will surely prosper, and his name will be remembered by history as an emperor of all ages. Isn't this what Chongzhen has always wanted to do?
In the following days, Emperor Chongzhen summoned the cabinet elders and officials, asking them to cooperate with Yuan Chonghuan's plan to pacify Liao. When he learned that Yuan Chonghuan had asked for 800,000 taels of silver and that another 4 million taels of silver would be needed for military expenses, the Minister of Finance Bi Ziyan almost fainted, and in front of Emperor Chongzhen, he turned pale and said directly that he had no money.

Bi Ziyan told Emperor Chongzhen that the Ministry of Revenue had long been a big hole, with an annual fiscal deficit of more than 1.3 million taels. As the Minister of Revenue, he couldn't eat or sleep well every day because of the money, and he couldn't fill the gap no matter how hard he tried.

Four million eight hundred thousand taels of silver? How much was the annual fiscal revenue of the Ming Dynasty? Even if he sold the Ministry of Revenue, including himself, he still couldn't come up with this much money, let alone such a large sum. He couldn't even come up with the first batch of 800,000 taels of silver.

Bi Ziyan couldn't help crying in front of Emperor Chongzhen, saying that he really had no money. Even if the emperor wanted to kill him, he still wanted to find a place to get money. He kept saying that he had no money and that he would have to live if he wanted money. Otherwise, Emperor Chongzhen would just chop off his head and save himself from worrying about this matter.

Hearing Bi Ziyan's answer, Emperor Chongzhen was dumbfounded. He had already promised Yuan Chonghuan, but now Yuan Chonghuan was about to go to Liaodong, and the Ministry of Revenue could not come up with the money. What should he do?
As an emperor, you can't go back on your word, right? How can Yuan Chonghuan explain if the money is not in place? In desperation, Emperor Chongzhen could only force Bi Ziyan to find a solution. Since 4.8 million taels could not be taken out now, it would be good to take out a few hundred thousand taels first to help out. You can't let Yuan Chonghuan go to Liaodong empty-handed, right?
But unexpectedly, Bi Ziyan was a stingy person and refused to take the money.

It's not Bi Ziyan's fault. The Ming Dynasty's finances were already in deficit. As early as the time of Emperor Tianqi, Liaodong's military expenses were tight. If it had relied on normal taxation, it would have been impossible to maintain it. In order to solve the problem of Liaodong's military expenses, Emperor Tianqi had no choice but to ask Wei Zhongxian to find a solution. Wei Zhongxian obtained silver from all over Jiangnan through trade and the collection of commercial taxes, and was able to barely maintain the military expenses of Liaodong.

From this point of view, in fact, during the Tianqi Dynasty, the Liaodong military expenses were not supported by the Ministry of Revenue, but by Wei Zhongxian. The expenditure of the Ministry of Revenue was only a small part, and most of it was the money obtained by Wei Zhongxian.

Because of this, the Ministry of Revenue was able to barely survive, but even so, there was still a fiscal deficit every year, and it never improved. When Emperor Chongzhen ascended the throne, it didn't take long for Wei Zhongxian and the eunuch party to be overthrown. After Wei Zhongxian and the eunuch party fell, the government was gone, and naturally the previous source of silver was gone.

Bi Ziyan knew this clearly, but he could not tell the truth to Emperor Chongzhen. He could not tell Emperor Chongzhen that it was wrong to overthrow Wei Zhongxian and the eunuch party, and that it was because of the downfall of Wei Zhongxian and the eunuch party that the military funds in Liaodong were gone.
How could this be possible? Political correctness is still necessary. It has been concluded that Wei Zhongxian and the eunuch party brought disaster to the country and the people. It is absolutely impossible to overturn the verdict on Wei Zhongxian and his party. Otherwise, not only Emperor Chongzhen would not agree, but also the civil and military officials in the court would not agree.

In addition, where did Wei Zhongxian and the eunuch party get the money? Didn't they take it out of the pockets of the Jiangnan gentry? And who was behind the Jiangnan gentry? Wasn't it these civil servants?
Bi Ziyan was also a member of this group. If he revealed the truth, wouldn't that be tantamount to betraying his class? So no matter how difficult it was, he would never think of doing this, let alone imitate Wei Zhongxian's actions.

The emperor and his ministers bargained hard, and Bi Ziyan had no choice but to squeeze out 120,000 taels of silver from his teeth. If he offered more, he would have lost all his money, so he refused to give in.

Chongzhen was helpless upon seeing this. He calculated the amount of money and found that it was still far from what he had promised Yuan Chonghuan. He could only ask Bi Ziyan for other good ways to get the money.

Bi Ziyan gave Emperor Chongzhen an idea. He told Emperor Chongzhen that the Ministry of Revenue was indeed short of money. The promised 120,000 taels of silver were vacated by him, and he would have to find a way to pay it back later. The Ministry of Revenue did not need to think of a solution. It was definitely impossible.

The only way to deal with it is to use the emperor’s inner treasury, which is the emperor’s private money.

As early as the Wanli period, Emperor Wanli had the habit of hiding his own money. At that time, he sent many mining supervisors and tax supervisors abroad to collect wealth, and after accumulating a lot of gold and silver in the treasury over the years.

After Emperor Taichang ascended the throne, the war situation in Liaodong changed. Emperor Taichang used the silver in the inner treasury at that time. Later, Emperor Tianqi also used the inner treasury at the beginning of his accession to the throne, which stabilized the situation in Liaodong. But later, because of Wei Zhongxian, Emperor Tianqi never took out half a copper coin from the inner treasury again. Instead, he took a lot of silver from the people through Wei Zhongxian. Now the country is short of silver again. As the saying goes, what is taken from the people should be used for the people. Bi Ziyan hopes that Emperor Chongzhen can consider using the silver in the inner treasury for the overall situation, first borrow one million taels from the Ministry of Revenue, so that the Ministry of Revenue can take a breath, and at the same time solve the 800,000 taels of silver needed by Yuan Chonghuan. When the Ministry of Revenue is well-off in the future, the silver will be returned to the inner treasury. Wouldn’t this be the best of both worlds?
After listening to Ziyan's suggestion, Emperor Chongzhen was so angry that his nose was crooked, and he wished he could smash Bi Ziyan's head with the teacup at hand.

What? You want to use the inner treasury? And borrow one million taels from the Ministry of Revenue? This is a joke!

The Ministry of Revenue belongs to the imperial court, and the Liaodong war is a national affair, so of course the money used is from the state. But the inner treasury belongs to the emperor himself, and it is the emperor's personal money. How can he put national affairs and personal affairs together?

As the Minister of Revenue, you didn't try to find a way to get money for the country, but instead you set your sights on the emperor's private money? It's simply outrageous! Moreover, I had previously discussed with Bi Ziyan that we should first solve the problem of the 800,000 taels of silver that Yuan Chonghuan wanted, but now you are doing the opposite. On the surface, you said that the Ministry of Revenue could only raise 120,000 taels, but you are going to borrow 1 million taels from your own treasury?
By this calculation, not only did your Ministry of Revenue not pay a penny, but it actually earned 200,000 taels? Even the 120,000 taels promised before became a mirage. Isn't this just fooling people?

Besides, it's easy to borrow money from the inner treasury and then pay it back when the finances get better? This kind of talk is only for fools!
Can the lent money be returned? Wasn't the Ming Dynasty's finances in deficit that year? Once the money left the inner treasury, it would be like throwing meat buns at a dog and never come back. Emperor Chongzhen looked extremely unhappy and immediately opposed this suggestion, refusing to pay out the money.

"Your Majesty, there is nothing I can do. I really cannot come up with the money." Bi Ziyan replied dejectedly.

"You are the Minister of Revenue. I don't care. You have to help me find a way. The silver must be found no matter what." Emperor Chongzhen ordered in a domineering manner.

"I am really powerless. How about your Majesty put me in jail? I don't want to be the Minister of Finance anymore." Bi Ziyan was like a dead pig that was not afraid of boiling water, and he just threw in the towel.

"You...you..." For a moment, Emperor Chongzhen really wanted to call for someone to kill Bi Ziyan, but he finally held back the words. He knew that even if he took down Bi Ziyan, it would be useless. A new minister would still not be able to do the job. Besides, Bi Ziyan was a very capable person. He had worked hard as the Minister of Revenue since he ascended the throne. Only with him could the finances be maintained. If he replaced him with someone who was even less capable, he might not be as good as him.

"Bi Ziyan!"

"The minister is here."

"Let me ask you, what good solutions do you have for the current financial situation?"

"Your Majesty, our Ming Dynasty has had financial problems for many years. The solution is nothing more than increasing revenue and reducing expenditure. I have been thinking deeply about this in recent days, and after careful consideration, I have some ideas. For this purpose, I have compiled twelve points. I hope Your Majesty will take a look." Bi Ziyan seemed to be prepared. He took out a memorial from his arms and handed it to Wang Chengen. Wang Chengen stepped forward to take it, then returned to Emperor Chongzhen and handed it to him.

Emperor Chongzhen opened the memorial and took a closer look. It was filled with many financial suggestions. It was obvious that Bi Ziyan was sincere and competent as the Minister of Revenue.

Among these twelve articles, Bi Ziyan sorted out the financial situation and also put forward his suggestions, which included increasing salt permits, ordering merchants to transport millet to the border, cutting redundant soldiers and labor, checking the false military pay, developing paddy fields in the east of Beijing, investigating hidden fields throughout the country, and establishing military settlements.

It has to be said that these suggestions are targeted and feasible. If all of them can be achieved, they can indeed alleviate some of the financial problems.

However, Emperor Chongzhen noticed that many of the measures here would take time to implement and would not be effective immediately. What should he do now that the Ministry of Revenue could not come up with the money?
After thinking for a while, Emperor Chongzhen immediately told Bi Ziyan that these measures looked good and asked him to make a specific plan, which the Ministry of Revenue could implement. In addition, the most important thing at present was to solve the problem of military expenditure. The 800,000 taels could not wait too long and had to be taken out first. He asked Bi Ziyan to go back and think about what other immediate solutions were available.

From then on, Bi Ziyan bid farewell to the emperor and went back to think of a solution. Soon the news spread, and soon it spread outside the palace and was known by many officials.

In the evening of the same day, the Censor Mao Yujian happened to hear about this matter. Mao Yujian, who was worried about the troubles at home, suddenly his eyes lit up, as if he had thought of something. He slapped his thigh and ran to the study. In a few moments, he wrote a memorial and delivered it directly to Emperor Chongzhen early the next morning.

(End of this chapter)