My uncle is Zhu Di

Chapter 184 Where is the money?

Xu Qin frowned when he saw Zhu Di like this, and then said to Zhu Di: "You are like this, I feel pressured, how can I know the situation at sea? Right? It's better to be safe than sorry."

"Shut up and don't talk. It's okay. I won't blame you if something happens. Let's not talk about this. Anyway, remember to get me food, copper and iron when the time comes. I need them to fight." Zhu Di stretched out his hand to Xu Qin to stop him from continuing.

Xu Qin looked at Zhu Di helplessly.

"Shakyabao, you just wait and see. The boss is in charge of the money, and he doesn't give me money and food to go to war. Now I'm counting on you. But don't be anxious or worried. There's still time to grow. At worst, we can go out to sea a few more times. You just prepare as much money and food as possible for me, and then I'll go to fight." Zhu Di said to Xu Qin with a smile.

"Then can't you manage your own money?" Xu Qin looked at Zhu Di in confusion.

"That won't work. I'm not proficient in this area. Managing the Ministry of Revenue is too complicated and detailed. I don't want to be delayed by these trivial matters. So it's best to let the eldest brother manage it. The eldest brother is careful, patient, and has a good temper. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't be able to do so many things." Zhu Di said very firmly. He really had never thought of taking over the Ministry of Revenue from Zhu Gaochi. Zhu Di thought that he could not manage it well.

Upon hearing this, Xu Qin nodded.

"You are responsible for getting money for me to fight the war. If you can't get it, I will take you to fight." Zhu Di threatened Xu Qin.

"What the hell? I'm not married yet and I don't even have a child. You want me to follow you to fight. Will my aunt agree?" Xu Qin immediately looked at Zhu Di and asked with a smile.

When Zhu Di heard this, he agreed. He wanted Xu Qin to follow him to fight in the war, but the Empress would probably not agree unless he gave birth to three or five sons.

"Well, then hurry up and have a baby!" Zhu Di said while holding the teacup and drinking tea.

Xu Qin smiled and continued, "I've been very busy recently. My family just moved a few days ago. I'm currently living at the Duke of Wei's Mansion. I'm still a little uncomfortable with it."

Xu Qin's family moved a few days ago and returned to the former Duke of Wei's Mansion. The happiest person was Xu Huizu. Now he could take a carriage every day to see the scenery and people along the way. He hadn't been out for many years, and now he could take a carriage out and take a look. Xu Huizu was very content.

"Well, how is your father?" Zhu Di asked Xu Qin.

"It's okay. I have to come to the new mansion every day to supervise the construction. Anyway, I'm never idle. My mother is in charge of all the affairs of the cloth workshop, and I manage this workshop." Xu Qin said with a smile.

"That's good!" Zhu Di felt much more relieved when he heard Xu Qin say this.

Then Xu Qin began to talk about the Trade Bureau. The Trade Bureau was going to go to sea in the next two days. At this moment, Xu Qin also reported those young men who had completed their tasks. Some of them had been appointed, and some had not. Xu Qin's appointment this time was very fair. Of course, there were some shady operations, but compared with so many people, Xu Qin's point was nothing.

After Xu Qin finished his report, Zhu Di looked at Xu Qin and asked, "There is one thing I can't understand. Before, those civil officials impeached you, saying that the salary of the Trade Bureau was too high and opposed the Trade Bureau going out to sea. But now, they are silent. I guess it started from the day Xia Yuanji visited you in your house. What did you say to him?"

Xu Qin smiled and repeated to Zhu Di what he had said to Xia Yuanji. After listening, Zhu Di stood up and began to pace in the open space outside with his hands behind his back.

Xu Qin mentioned that he wanted to increase the salaries of those officials. Zhu Di's first reaction was to oppose it, but after hearing the reasons given by Xu Qin, Zhu Di felt that it made sense. However, increasing their salaries would require money, and the court did not have that much money now.

It is impossible to say that the salaries of civil officials should be increased, but the salaries of military officers should not be increased, right? The annual salary of the Ming Dynasty is about two million taels of silver. If it is doubled, it will need to be increased by two million taels. But according to Xu Qin's idea, it will not only be doubled, but probably five times. Although Xu Qin had told himself when he set up the Trade Bureau that the salary of the official would reduce corruption.

But where does the money come from? It cannot be supported by taxes from the Ministry of Revenue.

"Shakyabao, what you mean is that they have no objection and are just waiting for me here?" Zhu Di said to Xu Qin.

Xu Qin nodded: "Probably!"

"But have you ever thought about it? Where does the money come from? And even if you increase the salary, can you ensure that those officials will not be corrupt? Or, can you ensure that most officials will not be corrupt? They are restricting me so much now, and they want me to increase their salaries and bonuses. Isn't this a bit inappropriate?" Zhu Di looked at Xu Qin and said. "Taxes, taxes don't have this little money?" Xu Qin looked at Zhu Di and asked.

"The annual tax revenue of the imperial court is only about 30 million taels of silver. If it is as you said, the civil officials will need to take 10 million taels. My Ming Dynasty has such an army. It is estimated that the military pay plus machinery and food will cost more than 10 million taels a year. Then the imperial court will not need other expenses. If a disaster happens in my Ming Dynasty in the future, we will just watch helplessly.

I can't use the money from the Trade Bureau to subsidize those civil officials, right? This is unrealistic. It's not that I'm not willing to do it. The Trade Bureau is a business, and business is about making losses and profits. If it makes a profit, it's fine, but what if it loses?
"Sakyabao, this is not possible!" Zhu Di said to Xu Qin with his hands behind his back.

"No? Impossible. The annual tax revenue of my Ming Dynasty converted into silver is only 30 million taels? How is that possible?" Xu Qin stared at Zhu Di and asked.

"How could I lie to you? If you don't believe me, go ask your cousin. You can find out the truth about this kind of thing by just asking any official in the Ministry of Revenue." Zhu Di immediately said to Xu Qin.

"That's not right!" Xu Qin said with a frown.

"What's wrong?" Zhu Di looked at Xu Qin in confusion and asked.

"I asked the craftsmen in my workshop about the money they paid to the court for farming in a year. For example, a family of six needs to pay six taels of silver to the court. There are more than 80 million people in the Ming Dynasty. Theoretically, the tax should be at least 80 million taels. What about the money? In addition, corvée and labor service are actually the work done by the common people to help the court. A lot of silver can be saved here.

I asked the workers here, and they told me that they need to perform corvee and labor service for about 60 days every year. Of course not everyone has to do this, depending on the family. There are a total of 12 million registered households in the Ming Dynasty, and the wage is 40 cents a day. Moreover, the people have to bring their own food, quilts, etc. If you do the math, if it is converted into wages, it would be about 30 million taels.

The taxes imposed on the people by the Ming Dynasty amount to 100 million taels. Have you ever calculated how much corvée and labor service the court actually assigned to the people? How much silver is converted? The known difference is 50 million taels. I estimate that the difference in corvée and labor service is another 10 or 20 million taels. Sixty percent of the taxes are distributed to the people, but where is the money?" Xu Qin looked at Zhu Di and asked.

Zhu Di looked at Xu Qin dumbfounded at this moment. He had never thought about this question before. Then he murmured, "So many?"

"Yes, where did the money go?" Xu Qin continued to ask Zhu Di.

"Is what you said true? If there are 100 million taels in a year, then, then, what should I worry about?" Zhu Di stared at Xu Qin and asked.

"You go and check it out. The people paid so much money and performed so much corvee and labor service. This is well documented. If it doesn't work, you can ask the Jinyiwei to investigate secretly and find out where the money went. Why the people are taxed so heavily and live such a hard life, but the court still has no money? There must be something wrong somewhere, right?" Xu Qin looked at Zhu Di and continued to ask.

Zhu Di was dumbfounded at this moment. He sat down and thought carefully about Xu Qin's words. After a while, Zhu Di stood up and said to Xu Qin, "You go ahead and I'll make arrangements. How come my money is gone? I need money for the war, but they won't give it to me. But the people are living so hard, they need to give me an explanation."

"Also, commercial taxes are not included here. Commercial taxes are over 10 million taels a year. The commercial taxes in my Ming Dynasty are very low, but the money has been received. How could it be such a small amount of tax? There are always people who take advantage of it." Xu Qin stood up and said to Zhu Di.

Zhu Di looked at Xu Qin, nodded, then turned around and left.

Xu Qin had wanted to talk about this problem a long time ago. The workers here were really poor. Although he paid them very high wages, if there were two laborers in the family, life would be a little better. If there was only one laborer, life would be difficult.

Logically speaking, if I give them fifty cents a day and provide them with food and accommodation, they can earn more than fifteen taels of silver in a year. For a family of six in the Ming Dynasty, ten taels of silver would be enough for a year, but the people still had no money. They earned fifteen taels of silver, but they still had to pay taxes. Even if you didn't have land, you still had to pay taxes. You had to perform corvee labor and labor service.

If you don't want to perform labor service, you need to pay the government.

As to whether this money was handed over to the court or embezzled by local officials, no one knows, but many people paid the money.

In total, a family of six could earn about 15 taels of silver a year, but after paying taxes converted into silver, they would need to pay about 7 taels of silver, leaving them with 8 taels, which was still two taels short. In order to keep their families alive, some families had to sell their land or their children.

Just like the thirty-three taels principle of the Qing Dynasty, the average household expenditure of the Qing Dynasty citizens was thirty-three taels a year, but most families could only earn thirty taels. Gradually, all the land and resources were concentrated in the hands of officials, landlords, and merchants, and the people had a hard time surviving.

(End of this chapter)