The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 530 A shocking case
Is there something wrong with Minister of Revenue Chen Sheng?

There's definitely something wrong with this guy.

Wanli saw a hint of panic in this guy's eyes.

If there is no problem, why panic?
Besides, the surplus of silver and money in the national treasury is already a big problem.

Are you kidding? More than seven million taels, this amount of money is just a small fraction.

I don’t know how much this guy has greedily taken!
The reason why he let this guy retreat without making a fuss was simply because he didn't want to alert the enemy.

If we alert the enemy, we will definitely not be able to recover much of the money that the Ministry of Revenue has lost.

As for the reason, it is very simple. It is impossible for these corrupt officials to store all their money in their mansions in the capital and wait for him to confiscate it.

He had suffered a great loss once. The three great families in Puzhou were all rich enough to rival a country, but because he alerted the enemy, he didn't make much money at all.

He won't make that mistake again this time.

He frowned and pondered for a while, then said loudly: "Send it to the Minister of War Liang Menglong."

Minister of War?

Upon hearing this, little Zhu Changxun couldn't help but ask curiously, "Father, is the Ministry of Revenue's affairs related to the Ministry of War?"

Of course.

The Ministry of Revenue has a close relationship with the Ministry of War. According to previous rules, the soldiers' food and wages would be paid by the Ministry of Revenue. At that time, most of the Ministry of Revenue's expenditures were related to the Ministry of War.

At this moment, the soldiers' food and wages were borne by the Neiku, but he had forgotten when the Neiku started to bear the food and wages of all the soldiers.

He wanted to investigate the deficit of the Ministry of Revenue, so he had to clarify this issue first.

Wanli nodded slightly, then patiently explained: "Xun'er, there is obviously a big problem with the surplus silver in the national treasury. After so many years, it is impossible for the national treasury to have a surplus of only more than 7 million taels.

If we want to get to the bottom of the problems with the Ministry of Revenue, we have to do some careful calculations to see how much surplus the national treasury should have had.

The Ministry of Revenue originally had two major expenditures: one was the salaries of officials, and the other was the food and wages of soldiers.

The salaries of officials have not changed much in recent years and are easy to check, but the food and wages of soldiers are different.

Your Majesty, I can't even remember when the Imperial Treasury started solely responsible for all the soldiers' food and wages. You'll have to ask the Minister of War about this."

While they were talking, Liang Menglong, the Minister of War, walked in quickly.

After the emperor and his ministers exchanged greetings, Wanli asked directly, "Qianji, do you remember when the Ministry of Revenue stopped paying for the soldiers' food and wages?"

This time is a bit long.

Liang Menglong tried to recall for a while, then said carefully: "Your Majesty, I remember that before the 16th year of the Wanli reign, I occasionally allocated some food and wages from the Ministry of Revenue. After the 16th year of the Wanli reign, all the food and wages for the soldiers were allocated from the inner treasury, and no more from the Ministry of Revenue."

This means it’s been almost ten years!
Moreover, he did not allocate much food and wages from the Ministry of Revenue in the previous few years.

How much did Chen Sheng embezzle?

Wanli nodded slightly, then asked, "Qianji, how is your relationship with Kong Zhen?"

what?
Why did His Majesty suddenly ask this?
How do you say this?

Liang Menglong thought about it carefully, then said carefully: "Your Majesty, both I and Master Chen are from the Yuanfu Master's school, so we have a pretty good relationship."

This is still okay, it means the relationship is very good.

Upon hearing this, Wanli said solemnly: "Remember, don't let Kong Zhen know what I asked you today, and don't have any contact with him in the future."

Something big is going to happen to Chen Sheng!
What could possibly happen to this guy?

What could happen to the Minister of Revenue?

Corruption!

Don't get involved in this kind of thing.

Upon hearing this, Liang Menglong bowed repeatedly and said, "I will remember this."

Just remember this, I don't want to punish you as well.

Wanli nodded slightly and then waved his hand.

Liang Menglong quickly bowed and took his leave.

When little Zhu Changxun saw this, he couldn't help but feel confused again.

Isn't asking the same as not asking?
He thought about it and couldn't help asking, "Father, can we calculate how much surplus the national treasury should have had?"

This surplus is not so easy to calculate.

Wanli shook his head slightly, thought about it carefully, and then said loudly: "Send it to the cabinet chief minister Shen Li."

The cabinet duty room is inside the palace, so Shen Li can arrive faster.

After a while, this guy walked in quickly, bowed and said, "Your Highness, I pay my respects to you, Your Highness, and to His Royal Highness the Third Prince."

Wanli nodded slightly, then asked, "How much is the annual income of the national treasury now? Do you have any idea?"

what?
How do you say this?

Shen Li thought about it carefully, then explained: "Your Majesty, this is difficult to give an exact number.

Because the distances between the two capitals and the thirteen provinces are different, and the autumn harvest seasons are also different, the time for each place to pay taxes is also different.

For example, the prefectures in Northern Zhili, which are closer to the capital, can basically pay all the taxes for the year before the New Year, while the most remote Yunnan Provincial Administration Commission can only pay taxes in March or April of the following year.

After their taxes are paid, there might still be problems. The Ministry of Revenue and even the Censorate would have to send people to verify them, and this round trip could take three or four months or even longer. Furthermore, the treasury wasn't just about money flowing in; every month, the treasury had many expenditures, and these expenditures weren't fixed.

Therefore, it is difficult to keep a summary of the national treasury accounts by year. We can only estimate a rough amount, which may be off by tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of taels.

There's no other way. If any corrupt official appears in any local government, it's possible that this year's bill will be delayed until next year or even the year after."

This seems to be really no way.

Because there was no instant messaging tool at that time and the speed of transportation was not very fast, it would take ten days or half a month to send a message from Yunnan across 800 miles, let alone escorting taxes and money.

This problem can probably only be solved after the ship is built.

Wanli nodded slowly and said, "Then tell me roughly how much money the national treasury earns in a year."

Uh, what year are you asking about?

Shen Li thought about it carefully, then said carefully: "In the past few years, the annual revenue of the national treasury should have exceeded six million taels. Last year, the revenue of the national treasury dropped sharply by more than one million taels, only about five million taels."

The court's tax revenue has indeed increased significantly in the past few years.

The question is, why did it drop sharply by more than one million taels last year?
Upon hearing this, Wanli frowned slightly and said, "There didn't seem to be a severe drought anywhere last year, so how could the tax revenue drop by over a million taels?"

This is all because of you.

Shen Li explained carefully, "Your Majesty, originally, ordinary farmers were required to provide a young and strong man to perform labor for one month each year.

After we implemented the Single Whip Law, this labor service was converted into silver and included in the tax. We set a requirement that each household pay six cents of silver per year to offset the labor service, which was calculated based on the lowest wage at the time.

Your Majesty, didn't you transfer over three million peasant households last year? This means that the silver for labor service is about two million taels less. After deducting the losses from collection and transportation, the amount that can be added to the national treasury should be over one million taels."

what?
He converted more than three million farmers into garrison troops, which reduced the annual tax by more than one million taels!

This is not right.

Wanli frowned and pondered for a while, then asked, "How many farmers are there in the Yellow Book of Taxes and Labor Service? You should know this, right?"

Of course I know this.

Shen Li said without hesitation: "There are still more than 4.7 million farmers in the Yellow Book of Taxes and Labor Service."

There is indeed a big problem.

Wanli pondered, "If we calculate based on the number of farmers before the migration, the tax silver for labor service for more than 8 million households is more than 4 million taels, nearly 5 million taels.

Even if the losses from confiscation and transportation are deducted, there should be more than three million taels that can be included in the national treasury.

You mean, the tax to offset labor service accounts for the majority of tax revenue, while the land tax only accounts for a small half of tax revenue?

No, there are also salt taxes, commercial taxes, and the revenue from the Maritime Customs Office, etc. This means that the land tax has not increased, but is actually much less than before the implementation of the Single Whip Law?"

How do you say this?

Shen Li explained carefully: "Your Majesty, the money that the national treasury earns is actually earned after deducting a lot of expenses.

For example, in the past, when local governments built bridges and roads, developed water conservancy projects, or even recruited yamen runners, they did not have to pay money. They just directly conscripted young and strong people to perform labor.

It is different now. Labor service has been changed to paying taxes to offset the labor, so local government offices have to pay people to do work.

This is basically deducted from the taxes paid by various places, which means that this is an expense that has not been paid into the national treasury.”

This isn't right either.

It seems that you don't understand the essence of this problem at all.

Forget it. As the Prime Minister of the Cabinet, you can't just focus on the Ministry of Revenue and the National Treasury. You can't take care of this matter. You should just go about your own business.

Wanli nodded slightly and then waved his hand.

Why did you stop talking about this?
Shen Li was stunned for a moment before he quickly bowed and took his leave.

Little Zhu Changxun was even more confused and said, "Father, the account hasn't been settled yet, why don't you settle it now?"

You don't understand the essence of the problem either.

Wanli shook his head slightly and sighed, "Xun'er, you don't know yet that in the tenth year of Wanli's reign, the national treasury income was more than five million taels.

We have surveyed the land and expanded the territory in recent years, and the land tax should at least double.

As for labor service, this cannot be the bulk of the burden, because including the more than three million households conscripted to the Nurgan Regional Administration, the more than eight million farmers would need to pay four to five million taels a year to offset the labor service.

We now have more than 10 billion mu of farmland. Even if only half of the land pays land tax, it would be at least 50 million shi of grain. Even if it is converted at one tael of silver for two shi, it would be 25 million taels.

In other words, even if we do not count the salt tax, commercial tax and the income from the Maritime Customs, the tax deducted for labor service accounts for less than 20% of all taxes.

By this calculation, if my father transfers half of the farmers, the tax revenue will be reduced by less than 10%, at most 500,000 or 600,000 taels.

Now it has turned into a reduction of more than one million taels. There is a huge trick here, and the trick in the expenditure before it is paid into the national treasury is even bigger.

In addition, since the expenditure before the revenue was collected into the national treasury was so large, the remaining expenditure of the tax money collected into the national treasury was basically the salaries of officials.

Even if we ignore these tricks in revenue and expenditure, there are still big problems if we calculate based on Shen Li's estimate of treasury revenue.

This is easy to calculate, because now the national treasury's expenditure is basically only for the officials' salaries. In the past few years, the national treasury's income was more than 6 million taels a year, and the officials' salary expenditure was at most 2 million taels a year. By this calculation, the national treasury's surplus is at least 30 to 40 million taels.

The Ministry of Revenue has a huge problem; this is definitely a shocking case."

Shocking case!

How much did these guys embezzle?

(End of this chapter)