Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 733 Transferring Funds Across the Land
"When did this happen? How come I've never heard of it before?" Wang Yingjiao was getting old and was inevitably a little forgetful about some minor things, but he would never forget something as big as sending troops to Korea, as long as he had heard about it.

“It’s normal that you don’t know.” Wang Ji tugged at his collar, letting a few gusts of lukewarm wind blow into his chest. “I only heard about this in the cabinet the day before yesterday. At that time, our Chief Minister Fang even used your request for an audience as an excuse to flee to the palace to avoid trouble. Ha, he even got a written edict.” Wang Ji added to himself, “He really has a thick skin.”

"So, this matter is only just beginning to be discussed?" Wang Yingjiao's mind started working, and he quickly recalled the incident when he went to report to the Ministry of Personnel but did not see the Minister of Personnel.

“No,” Wang Ji’s smile became even more bitter. “The matter has already been accomplished. They just informed us to tell the Ministry of Revenue not to forget to provide provisions and pay for the additional troops in Korea.”

"It's already done!?" Wang Yingjiao was completely taken aback. "When?!"

“I think the plan must have started last year, otherwise how could our Grand Secretary Xu have been appointed Minister of Rites as soon as he returned to Beijing?” Wang Ji said sarcastically.

“Grand Minister Xu.” Wang Yingjiao did indeed find Xu Guangqi’s rapid promotion unusual, but he had never been able to figure out why. “What does this have to do with Xu Zixian?”

“Don’t you know?” Wang Ji said, “It was around this time two years ago. Our Grand Minister Xu submitted a memorial entitled ‘The Peril of Liaodong is Extreme,’ requesting to lead several hundred skilled craftsmen to Korea to oversee the country. This memorial was not reported at the time, but after the Emperor ascended the throne, he took it into consideration. The several hundred skilled craftsmen mentioned in the original memorial were transformed into 30,000 soldiers.”

Wang Ji had made many speculations about Xu Guangqi's promotion.

At first, he assumed Xu Guangqi had followed the path of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. Although Xu Guangqi himself had never served as the emperor's lecturer, he had spent some time in the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, befriended someone there, and then been recommended by that person to rise to power—that was to be expected. The only oddity was how quickly he had risen. Not only had he skipped the ranks within the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, but he hadn't even held the positions of Vice Minister or Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites; he had directly filled the vacancy of Minister.

Subsequently, Westerners were summoned to Beijing, and the emperor issued an edict to open Tianjin as a treaty port. Wang Ji then added economic and religious speculation to his existing concerns. For a time, Wang Ji even worried that the emperor might suddenly engage in Western superstitious practices in the palace in pursuit of immortality.

Such speculation and unease persisted until the day before yesterday. With the announcement of the military expedition to Korea, Wang Ji immediately overturned all previous assumptions, directly attributing Xu Guangqi's promotion to the memorial submitted in the 47th year of the Wanli Emperor's reign regarding the supervision of Korea. Only then did Wang Ji realize with some surprise that, from that time onward, a pair of eyes in the palace had been silently observing everything, waiting for the right moment.

“I really don’t know much about it.” Wang Yingjiao shook his head. “Back in the 47th year of the Wanli reign, I was at home preparing for my 70th birthday.” Wang Yingjiao had been retired for nearly 20 years. Not to mention his 70th birthday, he had already made almost all the preparations for his funeral.

"Hmph." Wang Ji sulked twice, then, seeing Wang Yingjiao looking over, he looked away somewhat guiltily. "When you passed through Shandong, you must have encountered the Beijing garrison soldiers preparing to cross the sea to Korea, right?"

"They're going to Korea." Wang Yingjiao stroked his white beard. "Weren't those Beijing garrison soldiers supposed to go to Shandong to reinforce the coastal defenses?"

“It seems you’ve been misled as well.” Wang Ji picked up the cup of tea that had gone cold and took another swig. “Those Beijing garrison soldiers said they were going to Shandong to reinforce the coastal defenses against Japanese pirates, but actually they were going to Dengzhou to prepare for their sea crossing. The day before yesterday, I heard from the cabinet that they set sail on the first day of the fifth lunar month.” Wang Ji hesitated for a moment, “…set sail in May and leave the capital in March… wait! You only arrived in the capital the day before yesterday, you shouldn’t have run into them, right?”

Wang Yingjiao nodded and said, "I didn't encounter them. I heard from the people at the post station when I was passing through Linqing that the capital had transferred tens of thousands of troops to Shandong to prepare for the Japanese pirates. I originally wanted to find some time to ask about the details, but now it seems unnecessary." Wang Yingjiao paused for a moment, then asked, "Is the operation in Korea going smoothly?"

“I don’t know. The cabinet didn’t say, but I don’t think there should be any major problems,” Wang Ji said. “Throughout May, there were no reports from the Ministry of Revenue of any large-scale capsizing of grain or supply ships due to storms. There haven’t been any major emergency military reports from Liaodong recently either. Moreover, given the military strength of Korea, even if the deposed king wanted to defy the will of Heaven, he probably couldn’t cause any major trouble.”

"The deposed king!" Wang Yingjiao, who had been slowly falling into deep thought, widened his eyes once again.

“That’s right. Depose the king, take control of Korea, and support Liaodong.” Wang Ji counted on three fingers.

“Even if we are to oversee North Korea, there’s no need to depose the king, is there?” Wang Yingjiao frowned and pondered.

“You’re right,” Wang Ji countered, “but what if the king is guilty?”

"What crime?"

“Of course it’s treason.” Wang Ji said slowly, “Our Grand Minister Xu accused Korea of ​​colluding with the enemy and secretly befriending them two years ago. Now we have found clear evidence that the reason why Liu Ting suffered a crushing defeat during the Eastern Expedition was because the Korean generals received secret instructions from the king and made peace with the enemy on the battlefield.”

"I can't believe such a thing exists!" Wang Yingjiao suddenly felt like a wild man from the mountains, completely ignorant of current affairs and politics.

"The Embroidered Uniform Guard says they've found a key witness, so it shouldn't be false," Wang Ji said with a hint of ambiguity.

Wang Yingjiao's eyes darted around, but he didn't press the matter further: "So, how did the Ministry of Revenue originally plan to allocate the extra two million, and the eight million from Liaodong?"

“Let’s start with the original eight million.” Wang Ji pressed down on the edge of the desk, picked up an account book that was conveniently located on the right side of the chair, and easily found the summary page. “The three million two hundred and forty thousand in military pay is no longer a concern. Last year, the Eastern Depot confiscated the property of Zheng Guotai and the mining tax eunuchs. Their gold, silver, valuables, real estate, farmland, workshops, and shops were all sold for silver, amounting to about eight or nine million. About four million of that has already been allocated, plus the two million in treasury funds issued at the beginning of the Emperor’s reign. This has covered all the long-standing arrears in the salaries of officials in the capital and the back pay owed to the nine border regions. The remaining money was also decided at the beginning of the year’s imperial financial meeting to be used to pay this year’s Liaodong military pay. How it will be used and how it will be purchased are all written in this book. Take a look.” With that, Wang Ji handed the book to Wang Yingjiao.

Wang Yingjiao stood and flipped through the pages for a while, feeling his legs go numb. After all, he was seventy-one years old, and standing for so long inevitably caused him fatigue. He looked up and saw a pair of guest seats on the left side of the hall, so he waved to Wang Ji, "Weili, let's go sit over there and talk." "Okay," Wang Ji agreed immediately. He took two steps, then turned and called out towards the outside of the hall, "Someone come here!"

Huang Yingxiang from the Office of State Affairs arrived as before. This time, he jogged in, first bowing respectfully to Wang Yingjiao on his left, before turning to Wang Ji and asking respectfully, "What are your orders, Junior Minister?"

Wang Ji didn't speak, but only glanced at the coffee table beside him.

"Yes," Huang Yingxiang was perceptive and immediately understood Wang Ji's meaning. "This subordinate will have someone bring the tea." Huang Yingxiang walked towards the outside of the hall. When he reached the threshold and was about to step out, he suddenly remembered that there was still a cup of cold tea on Wang Yingjiao and Wang Ji's table. So he quickly walked back and took the two cups of tea, one large and one small, with him.

The guest room was set up by the window, and the morning sunlight shone through the windowpanes, illuminating the fine dust particles in the air and the account books in front of Wang Yingjiao. His finger traced the lines of records: "400,000 shi of grain intercepted from Huai'an and the six prefectures of Shandong; 500,000 shi of rice purchased with silver from Southern Zhili, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Shandong, and other places; as for the military rations needed in Liaoxi and other places, they were purchased from Luanzhou, Yongping, Jizhou, Miyun, and other places as usual..." He looked up at Wang Ji, "So it seems that, apart from the intercepted grain, all the grain supplied to Liaodong was purchased with cash?"

“We can only purchase it,” Wang Ji explained. “Before the war in Liaodong, the imperial court allocated a total of about 200,000 shi of grain to Liaodong every year. Now, withholding 400,000 shi at once is already far more than in previous years.”

Wang Yingjiao pointed to the number "400,000 shi" and asked, "Then where did this extra amount come from?"

Wang Ji immediately replied, "The extra portion was originally intended for Jizhou."

Wang Yingjiao understood: "Then how should we fill the gap in Jizhou?"

"Allocate funds to allow the prefecture responsible for supplying provisions to the Jizhou garrison to purchase and replenish them independently. The relevant budget and detailed accounts are in a separate relief booklet," Wang Ji said. "If Your Excellency wishes to see it, I will go and find it for you now."

Wang Yingjiao waved his hand and continued to ask about the procurement: "So, the funds for these grain purchases were all drawn from the embezzled funds seized last year?"

“Yes, but not entirely,” Wang Ji explained. “In the north, the purchases made in Beizhili and Shandong, the purchases made in Luan, Yong, Ji, and Mi for Liaoxi, and the purchases made to fill the gaps in Jizhou, were all paid for with the confiscated illicit funds. However, the purchases made in the southern provinces such as Nanzhili, Zhejiang, and Jiangxi were paid for with the additional Liaodong tax. There are detailed records in the booklet you have; you can see them by flipping back.” As he spoke, Wang Ji made a forward flipping gesture.

"I remember reading in the official gazette that the total amount of the additional tax levied on Liaoning this year has been halved," Wang Yingjiao said, flipping through the documents. "With all this buying and purchasing everywhere, is it enough?"

"The total amount of additional taxes has indeed been halved. But the reduction varies from province to province," Wang Ji said after a moment's thought. "Provinces like Shaanxi and Shanxi, which are close to the front lines and have suffered from disasters and arrears for years, have the heaviest burden and have already waived all the additional taxes levied on Liaoning this year. As for wealthy provinces like Southern Zhili, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Fujian, the reduction is only symbolic, by one li compared to last year. The only provinces that can truly be described as 'halved' are the capital and the prefectures of Northern Zhili. The specific details of the reduction are recorded in another booklet."

"In general," Wang Yingjiao continued flipping through the pages, "that is, the northern provinces saw larger reductions, while the southern provinces saw smaller reductions?"

“Yes.” Wang Ji pursed his lips and nodded slightly. “After all, the southern provinces are far from the war and have much more abundant grain production.”

Wang Yingjiao nodded noncommittally and soon saw the section on soybeans: "For the use of soybeans, Yongping is ordering 120,000 shi, Jizhou is ordering 60,000 shi, Miyun is ordering 20,000 shi, Tianjin is ordering 120,000 shi, Zhenzhou, Baoding and other places are ordering a total of 120,000 shi, Shandong and other places are ordering a total of 350,000 shi."

"Yongping has 120,000, Jizhou 60,000, Miyun 20,000, Tianjin 120,000, Zhengding and Baoding 120,000, and Shandong 350,000. That only adds up to 790,000 shi," Wang Yingjiao said after a quick calculation. "If I remember correctly, Xiong Feibai asked the court for 900,000 shi of beans back then, didn't he?"

“We can’t give him 900,000. We didn’t give him 900,000 last year either.” Wang Ji thought for a moment and said, “Last year, we only sent a total of 660,000 shi of soybeans to Liaodong. The shortfall was made up with sorghum.”

"Why weren't you able to give enough?" Wang Yingjiao asked in detail.

“Because we couldn’t buy them,” Wang Ji said. “Nine hundred thousand shi is far too much. There simply aren’t that many beans available for sale in any region. Even these six hundred thousand shi were only barely enough because some of the beans originally intended for the Imperial Stud were diverted.”

"Why is the price going up again this year?" Wang Yingjiao looked up and saw Huang Yingxiang carrying a wooden tray. Huang Yingxiang had originally wanted to greet them, but seeing that Wang Yingjiao and Wang Ji were talking, he shut his mouth and quietly placed two cups of hot tea and a plate of snacks next to them.

Wang Ji picked up his teacup, tested the temperature of the cup, then put it down, frowning slightly. He said, "The price increase is naturally due to the encouragement of planting. Starting as early as the year before last, the Ministry of Revenue has been sending documents to the bean-producing prefectures and counties in Beizhili, Shanxi, Henan, Shandong, and northern Nanzhili, asking them to send people down to encourage the planting of soybeans. So this year, we have raised our expectations for what we can purchase. Moreover, this booklet was originally just a budget, and it's hard to say whether we can ultimately get 790,000."

"The Ministry of Revenue is short of beans for Xiong Feibai. Hasn't Xiong Feibai sent a letter urging the Ministry of Revenue to pay up?" Wang Yingjiao closed the account book and placed it on the coffee table.

“It’s no use urging him.” Wang Ji scoffed. “Beans grow in the ground, they don’t magically appear from the Ministry of Revenue.”

Wang Yingjiao immediately sensed the resentment in Wang Ji's tone and laughed, "That's just how he is; he gets easily agitated when things happen. But if he didn't have that kind of temper, he wouldn't be able to handle such urgent matters well."

(End of this chapter)