I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 301 Entry Point

The Ministry of Revenue was a relatively large office. As mentioned earlier, there were only 51 official officials with ranks in the Ministry of Revenue of the Ming Dynasty, plus 160 clerks. These 211 people were responsible for managing the entire Ming Dynasty's finances.

These two hundred people did not take up much space in the Ministry of Revenue's office, and more space was taken up by various account books and documents.

Zhu Houxuan's arrival was extremely sudden, and Shi Jie had no way to notify the officials of the Ministry of Revenue to make preparations, so the officials of the Ministry of Revenue were caught off guard.

It's already this late, but many officials haven't come to work at the Ministry of Revenue.
This made Shi Jie lose face and look embarrassed, but Zhu Houxuan did not bring up the issue and just pretended not to see it.

This made Shi Jie breathe a sigh of relief, and he secretly made up his mind to seize this opportunity in the future.
Shi Jie took Zhu Houxuan on a tour of the Ministry of Revenue and introduced the work process of the Ministry of Revenue.
To be honest, Zhu Houxuan had long been interested in the working model of the Ministry of Revenue. He really couldn't understand how the Ministry of Revenue, with only more than 200 people, among whom the chief officers were all from the liberal arts field, could manage the national territory, fields, household registration, taxes, salaries and all financial affairs of such a large empire.

But after the visit, Zhu Houxun was extremely disappointed. In his opinion, the management level of the Ming Dynasty's Ministry of Revenue was not high and the management methods were very crude.

However, this is the normal management level in this era. The management level of other departments is not much higher.
As the visit progressed, Shi Jie gradually felt relieved.
"That's not right. Isn't it said that the Ministry of Revenue has only 160 clerks? The number is obviously more than this?" Zhu Houxuan asked.

"Reporting to the prince, the clerks in the Ministry of Revenue are hereditary, and each clerk has a family background, so they are so familiar with the business of the Ministry of Revenue. The extra people in the yamen are the sons and nephews of the clerks, who are to take over their jobs, so they first get to familiarize themselves with the business of the Ministry of Revenue so that they can take over their fathers' jobs. They can also help their fathers now, which can be regarded as showing filial piety," Shi Jie explained.

Zhu Houxuan nodded, but in fact he was shaking his head in his heart. It was a position of a clerk that was hereditary. As we all know, hereditary power is prone to corruption. Moreover, each clerk guarded his position very closely, which showed that there was a lot of money involved.
He walked to a table with a thick stack of account books on it.

The people sitting behind the table were obviously a father and son. They became a little nervous when they saw the dragon robe on Zhu Houxuan. They immediately stood up and knelt on the ground beside the table.

Zhu Houxuan was not interested in the father and son. He was most interested in the account books on the table. He picked up an account book and started to read it.
"Does the Ministry of Revenue still keep running accounts in its account books now?" Zhu Houxun suddenly asked.

Shi Jie did not answer, but looked at the clerk and his son who were kneeling on the ground and said:
"Yao Fuyou, please answer His Highness' question."

Yao Fuyou, who was called by name, quickly replied: "Your Highness, the account books of the Ministry of Revenue have always been recorded in running accounts, since the founding of the country 150 years ago."

Zhu Houxun heard a hint of pride in his tone and was speechless: After using such a backward method of keeping a running account for more than a hundred years, what is there to be proud of?

Zhu Houxuan closed the account book in his hand, pondered for a moment and said: "The running account method is still a bit too backward. It just so happens that I have a new accounting method called double-entry bookkeeping, which is widely used in the Royal Group and is very easy to use. In the future, why not use this accounting method for the Ministry of Revenue's account books."

Zhu Houxuan stated the purpose of his trip. He came here to promote the double-entry bookkeeping method in the Ministry of Revenue.

In history, China has never developed the technology tree of double-entry bookkeeping, which has led to a very low threshold for financial fraud, and fiscal revenue and expenditure are basically muddled accounts. Not only did the emperor not understand it, but the chief minister and his group of liberal arts students also did not understand it, and they probably couldn't even do the four arithmetic operations. Double-entry bookkeeping is a method that is still used in modern times. Its core is that each transaction is recorded in at least two different accounts. The result of each transaction is recorded in at least one debit and one credit account, and the total amount of the debit and credit sides of the transaction is equal, that is, "there must be a debit for every credit, and the debit and credit must be equal."

Double-entry bookkeeping can comprehensively and clearly reflect the ins and outs of economic transactions, and comprehensively and systematically reflect the process and results of economic activities.

Double-entry bookkeeping has been gradually promoted in European countries during this era, and the government's financial efficiency has been continuously improved. This is also a prerequisite for the Industrial Revolution.

For Zhu Houxuan, the most practical significance of double-entry bookkeeping is that it greatly increases the threshold for falsifying accounts. The Ministry of Revenue still keeps running accounts, so it is too easy to falsify accounts.
The Ming Dynasty's financial system was already a mess, so Zhu Houxuan planned to start from this point to promote the reform of the Ming Dynasty's financial system.

Shi Jie was full of confusion when he heard this, and Zhu Houxuan gave a detailed introduction to the double-entry bookkeeping method, which Shi Jie quickly understood.

Although he was not very proficient in mathematics and accounting, he understood human nature. Comparing the two bookkeeping methods, he quickly realized the advantages of the double-examination bookkeeping method.

This also made him understand Zhu Houxuan's purpose.
This made him start to feel hesitant.
"Your Highness, this accounting method is good, but it is complicated to learn," Shi Jie began to think of reasons to refuse.

"It's not complicated, and I can send people from the Royal Group to teach the clerks of the Ministry of Revenue, hand in hand, until they learn it," Zhu Houxuan interrupted him directly.

"Oh" Shi Jie was somewhat silent, but he still wanted to reject Zhu Houxuan. He did not want Zhu Houxuan to reach out to the Ministry of Revenue.
"Your Highness, this method is good, but if the Ministry of Revenue uses it rashly, it will definitely cause many problems. Besides, isn't the current accounting method working well?" Shi Jie continued to refuse.

The smile on Zhu Houxuan's face slowly disappeared. He looked straight at Shi Jie and said slowly: "Since Lord Shi is unwilling to implement it, I will not force you to do so."

Shi Jie immediately breathed a sigh of relief. He was also a little surprised that Zhu Houxuan could be so easy to talk to.

"Take this stack of account books away!" Zhu Houxuan turned around and said to Chen Hong who was accompanying him.

Chen Hong immediately stepped forward and hugged the huge pile of account books in his arms. Yao Fuyou and his son wanted to stop him, but four guards immediately stepped forward to block them.

Chen Hong returned to the team holding the pile of account books.
Shi Jie was stunned by this scene. He did not expect Zhu Houxuan to do this and actually snatch it directly.
"What is your highness going to do?" Shi Jie said angrily.

"Nothing, I just took a look at the account book of the Ministry of Revenue and found it very interesting, so I wanted to take it back and observe it carefully." Zhu Houxuan smiled again.
(End of this chapter)