Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 731 Transfer of Seals by the Ministry of Revenue
The man under the candlelight was taken aback at first, then a flash of understanding crossed his eyes. He immediately put down his pen, rose from his seat, and strode forward, stopping three steps away from Wang Yingjiao: "May I ask if you, sir, are you the Minister Wang of Wuyuan?"

Wang Yingjiao stopped, his gaze lingering briefly on the other man's face before he nodded slightly: "I am Wang Yingjiao. You must be Minister Wang Weili?"

"Your humble servant, Wang Ji," Wang Ji said solemnly, bowing deeply. "Greetings, Minister Wang!"

Without further ado, Wang Yingjiao reached into his robes and took out a silk pouch. He untied the drawstring and pulled out a slender, hardwood cylinder from the pouch. Then he unscrewed the cap, gave it a gentle shake, and revealed a roll of yellow paper with dragon-patterned edges, tied with a thin ribbon.

"Minister Wang, this is the imperial edict. Please take a look." Wang Yingjiao carefully took out the imperial edict, untied the ribbon, and handed it to Wang Ji.

“Alright.” Wang Ji quickly stepped forward and accepted the imperial edict with both hands.

Unrolling the scroll, Wang Ji did not read it carefully. His gaze quickly swept over the three characters "Wang Yingjiao" clearly written at the beginning of the scroll, then moved to the left to the end of the text, landing on the seal with its full ink and bright red cinnabar, bearing the inscription "Guangyun Treasure".

"No problem. Please keep it safe." After confirming that everything was correct, Wang Ji returned the imperial edict with both hands. Only after Wang Yingjiao rolled up the edict again, tied it securely, and stuffed it back into the wooden tube did he step aside, face the hall, and shout in a loud voice, "Someone come here!"

The sound of hurried footsteps rang out. Before long, an official with a lean and capable build, wearing a black gauze hat and a green quail-patterned robe, appeared at the entrance of the main hall, jogging along.

The moment the newcomer stepped across the threshold, his keen eyes spotted the unfamiliar elderly man in the hall, dressed in a second-rank scarlet robe and exuding a composed demeanor. He subconsciously glanced at Wang Yingjiao a few more times, but still went to Wang Ji and bowed respectfully: "What are your orders, Junior Minister?"

"Officer Huang." Wang Ji gestured for the newcomer to look in Wang Yingjiao's direction. "This is our newly appointed Minister, Lord Wang Yingjiao. He hereby summons all the officials in the various departments of civil service to come to the hall for an audience!"

Upon hearing this, Huang, the clerk, immediately narrowed his eyes. He turned around abruptly, opened his robe, and knelt before Wang Yingjiao: "This humble clerk, Huang Yingxiang, of the Office of Clerks, pays his respects to Your Excellency! Congratulations on your new appointment!"

"No need for such formalities, Mr. Huang," Wang Yingjiao said with a smile, making a gesture of support. "Go and inform them quickly."

"Yes! I'll go right away." Huang Yingxiang stood up briskly, bowed to Wang Yingjiao and Wang Ji, then patted the dust off his knees and ran quickly out of the hall.

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Before long, a group of officials, including the senior officials, assistant senior officials, and principal officials of the thirteen circuits of the Ministry of Personnel, arrived at the main hall and lined up in an orderly fashion.

Under Wang Ji's introduction, nearly fifty officials from the thirteen circuits of the Ministry of Personnel respectfully bowed to the newly appointed Minister Wang Yingjiao and announced their official titles and names. The entire process was solemn and orderly, without any noise, only the steady footsteps and clear announcements could be heard. Wang Yingjiao sat upright behind his desk, his expression serene, nodding slightly to each official and occasionally asking a brief question about the affairs of his office. After all the officials had paid their respects, Wang Yingjiao offered a few words of encouragement, such as "be diligent in your duties," and then gestured for everyone to return to their respective offices.

The officials retreated like the tide, and the main hall returned to its empty state. By this time, it was already broad daylight, and the morning light shone through the high windows, illuminating the blue brick floor.

Wang Ji beckoned, and Huang Yingxiang, who was waiting below the hall, immediately stepped forward. "What are your orders, Junior Minister?"

"It's dawn, remove all the candlesticks," Wang Ji instructed.

"Yes." Huang Yingxiang nodded in response and deftly directed two junior officials to carefully remove the candlesticks that had been placed on Wang Ji's desk and throughout the hall.

Before the candlesticks were removed, Wang Ji returned to his side desk where he had been handling official business and solemnly picked up a wooden box. Holding the box, he walked to the main desk and gently placed it in front of Wang Yingjiao, saying, "Minister Wang, this is the official seal of this ministry. Please inspect it."

Wang Yingjiao nodded and took the square box. He first removed the wooden cover from the seal knob, then turned the seal over, his gaze falling on the intricate nine-fold seal script at the bottom—the seal of the Ministry of Revenue. He examined it intently for a moment, his expression somewhat complex. After confirming that the inscription was clear and the seal was intact, he placed it back on the base lined with vermilion ink.

"Alright. No problem." Wang Yingjiao neatly placed the silver seal in a convenient position. From this moment on, Wang Yingjiao officially took over the management of the Ministry of Revenue's seals and became the Minister of Revenue in charge of managing the nation's finances.

Wang Yingjiao stood up, left the large main desk, and strolled into the hall, his gaze sweeping over the huge shelves standing on both sides of the hall.

“Wei Li, could you please introduce them?” Wang Yingjiao turned his gaze away and smiled at Wang Ji. “What kinds of documents are stored on these shelves?”

"It's my pleasure to serve you," Wang Ji replied, bowing. He then led Wang Yingjiao to the largest and most fully stacked wooden shelf located between the main table and the secondary table on the left.

“Minister Wang, what’s stored on this shelf are the general ledgers of money and grain from the two capitals and thirteen provinces,” Wang Ji said, pointing to the various volumes and books on the shelf. “The land, population, and tax amounts for each province are roughly recorded here. However, these general ledgers are very rough; they are just general ledgers for each province and can only be used as an index. If you want to verify them in detail, you need to go to the back office’s archives to retrieve the original general ledger files. Moreover,” he paused, then picked up a slightly new yellowed book and showed it to Wang Yingjiao, “these books look quite new, but they are actually from nine years ago; they were just copied again this year.”

Wang Yingjiao leaned closer to examine the densely packed numbers on the pages. "Hmm, provinces, prefectures, counties, population, land area," Wang Yingjiao nodded slightly, then looked away. "Well said. If I remember correctly, next year should be another year for the major compilation of the Yellow Registers, right?" In the fourteenth year of the Hongwu reign, Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang created the Yellow Register system based on the household registration system to document the taxes and corvée labor of the empire for the court's levy. Taizu stipulated that the Yellow Registers be compiled every ten years, collected level by level from the village headman to the Ministry of Revenue. Except for the major compilation in the first year of the Yongle reign, which was twelve years later due to the Jingnan Rebellion, and the major compilation in the tenth year of the Yongle reign, which was only nine years later, all others were compiled every ten years. From the fourteenth year of the Hongwu reign to the fortieth year of the Wanli reign, the Yellow Registers were compiled a total of twenty-four times.

“Exactly.” Wang Ji understood and put the booklet back in its place. “Before Grand Minister Li left the capital, he sent a document to the provincial administration offices in various regions, requesting them to prepare to compile new Yellow Registers. The Ministry of Revenue in Nanjing should have received the notification by now, right?”

After the Jingnan Campaign, Emperor Chengzu moved the capital of the Ming Dynasty from Nanjing to Beiping. However, for various reasons, the Imperial Register of the Realm, located at Xuanwu Lake in Nanjing, did not move north with the capital but remained in its original location, managed by the Ministry of Revenue in Nanjing. After each batch of Imperial Registers was completed, apart from the general registers of each province which needed to be presented to Beijing, the other registers remained stored in Nanjing.

Therefore, starting from the 20th year of the Yongle reign, the process of compiling the Yellow Registers was to have the Ministry of Revenue in Beijing send documents to the provincial administration commissioners in each province, ordering them to compile the Yellow Registers, and at the same time send a note to the Ministry of Revenue in Nanjing, asking the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue to prepare for the compilation.

Upon hearing this, Wang Yingjiao's gaze sharpened slightly, and he almost immediately recalled the emperor's decree from yesterday's audience at the Hongde Hall regarding the land survey, the reconstruction of the Yellow Register and the Fish Scale Register, and the establishment of numerous Ministry of Revenue offices in all provinces. His lips parted slightly, but he immediately felt that now was not the time to discuss these matters, so he swallowed back the words that were about to come out, and instead smiled and said, "I think the Ministry of Revenue's notification will not arrive as quickly as an imperial edict."

Wang Ji didn't notice Wang Yingjiao's momentary hesitation, but he understood the implication. He smiled and said, "There should still be archives of the official document in the archives, Minister Wang, would you like to take a look?"

"No rush. Please continue." Wang Yingjiao pointed to another row of shelves next to it.

“Alright.” Wang Ji nodded and moved over as instructed, saying, “These shelves contain official documents from the various government offices of the two Zhili provinces in the north and south, as well as the thirteen provinces. Most of them are routine reports and replies from the ministries. In addition, there are some dispatches and petitions from the provincial governors or judicial commissioners, or rubbings of memorials related to the Ministry of Revenue. They are all from the last three months. Those that have expired will be regularly cleared and archived.”

Wang Yingjiao strolled slowly along the shelves, his gaze sweeping over the compartments categorized and labeled with the names of different provinces and prefectures, filled with various document bags and files. "Is there anything particularly noteworthy?"

“It’s not here.” Wang Ji said as he strode across the hall to a shelf placed to the left of the main desk, opposite the routine official documents from various provinces. “...It’s all here.”

"What are these?" Wang Yingjiao followed and moved over, noticing that this shelf was relatively small, but the files inside seemed to be more densely packed.

“Minister, these are special documents from the governors and provincial officials, as well as grain transport officials, agricultural inspectors, and Qing military inspectors.” Wang Ji’s tone became noticeably more serious. “These special documents often involve the collection of taxes and grain, local disasters, military supplies, and reports of local malpractices. They require extra attention and careful handling.”

Wang Yingjiao stopped and looked the shelf in front of him up and down, which was crammed full of things. He raised his eyebrows almost imperceptibly and said, "Heh, there are quite a few troublesome things here."

Upon hearing this, Wang Ji gave a slightly helpless, bitter smile: "Yes, as you know. Liaodong has been in turmoil, and people all over the country are complaining... Hehe..." He chuckled twice, then immediately felt that the laughter was inappropriate and stopped. "But in any case, compared to the situation a few years ago, it's actually better. At least the palace has started to respond to the Ministry of Revenue's memorials and no longer keeps them in the central government."

Wang Ji's words were clearly a criticism of the late emperor, but they were not entirely wrong. If the late emperor had followed his previous style, Li Ruhua would likely have died in office from overwork. Then the cabinet and the emperor would have been bogged down in the issue of who would succeed him as Minister of Revenue for some time. During this period, either a vice-minister would temporarily assume the position, or the position would be left vacant and filled by a minister from another ministry or someone acting as regent for the Ministry of Revenue.

Wang Yingjiao wholeheartedly agreed with this. However, he didn't continue the conversation, only nodding slightly before changing the subject: "So, the documents from the Tianjin Provincial Governor and the Ministry of Revenue are also in here?"

"Yes, of course." Wang Ji composed himself, his gaze quickly sweeping across the rows of cubicles in the Beizhili region before pinpointing a conveniently located cubicle with noticeably thicker stacks of documents than the surrounding ones. "Look, this is it. Liaodong military supplies, transporting grain, widening the canal, building new ports, restoring wasteland, strengthening coastal defenses." As he rummaged through the documents, Wang Ji muttered, "Things in Tianjin lately have been so numerous and complicated that we need a separate cubicle to hold them all." He reached the top and casually pulled out the two topmost documents, making a gesture as if to hand them to Wang Yingjiao. "These two arrived this month; would the Minister like to take a look?"

Wang Yingjiao's gaze lingered on the two thick booklets for a moment, then he waved his hand and said, "I'd better not look at them for now. I'm new here, so I need to familiarize myself with the basics first. Weili, you can continue with the introduction."

“You’re right, Minister.” Wang Ji casually stuffed the two official documents back into their original place. “Those stored over there,” Wang Ji then raised his hand, pointing to a row of independent shelves closer to Wang Yingjiao and also closer to the entrance of the main hall, “are the general ledgers of income and expenditure for all the granaries and warehouses in the capital.”

Wang Yingjiao looked in the direction he pointed. The increasingly intense morning sunlight shone through the high window onto the row of shelves, making him squint slightly. Wang Ji had already walked past him and stood in front of the shelves, expertly pointing them out.

“These few squares are the general ledgers for the Taicang Treasury,” Wang Ji said, tracing the clearly labeled squares. “This square is the general ledger for the Baochao Guanghui Treasury. Next to it are the Guangji Treasury, the Zangfa Treasury, the Guangying Treasury, the Chengyun Treasury…” He spoke steadily, as if reciting a familiar list, but after listing several warehouse names, his breathing became slightly labored. He took a short breath before pointing to the last few squares. “These few squares are the general ledgers for the Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding, and Wu Treasurys, in that order. As for the Chang’an, Dong’an, Xi’an, and Bei’an gate granaries, they mainly handle the transfer and distribution of provisions for the garrison troops in the capital. Their affairs are relatively simple, so their accounts are combined in this last square.”

As Wang Ji rattled off the rapid-fire introduction, Wang Yingjiao's gaze swept over the densely packed cells filled with files. His face showed no obvious impatience, but neither did he reveal any interest in examining them closely. Once Wang Ji finished, he asked directly, "These are the accounts for each warehouse and storehouse. What about the accounts for the storage areas themselves?"

Upon hearing the question, Wang Ji immediately turned around and pointed to a relatively independent, slightly smaller shelf near the side table where he had previously handled official business: "The general accounts for the granary are over there."

Wang Yingjiao's gaze followed Wang Ji's pointing finger and landed on the small pavilion. He paused slightly, as if he had thought of something, and turned to look at Wang Ji: "Weili, if I remember correctly, you are still concurrently serving as the governor of the granary, aren't you?"

Wang Ji's face immediately showed a slightly embarrassed bitter smile: "Minister, you remember correctly. Last year, when the Emperor ascended the throne, he summoned me to the capital, which was indeed for matters concerning the granaries. However..." He shook his head, "Since taking office, I have only visited the granary governor's office once, when I was summoned to the capital and passed through Tongzhou. Since then, I have been busy with ministerial affairs and have not been able to take charge of any matters."

(End of this chapter)