My Portable Ming Dynasty

Chapter 263 The Number One Governor in the Land?

Su Ze then asked, "May I ask, Grand Secretary Zhang, which of the debts collected by the Governor of Jiaxing and Huzhou—the debts of the provincial treasury, the provincial judicial treasury, the national treasury, or the imperial treasury?"

Upon hearing Su Ze's question, Zhang Juzheng stroked his handsome beard and looked at Su Ze with satisfaction.

Zhang Juzheng nodded and said:
"Min Qing, the governor of Jiaxing and Huzhou, reported that after taking office, he cleared up the arrears in the treasuries of Jiaxing and Huzhou prefectures, and wrote off 30% of the arrears of the provincial judicial office. The arrears in the national treasury did not decrease, but the arrears in the imperial treasury were paid off by 10%."

The reason Su Ze asked such detailed questions was because the Ming Dynasty's finances were also tiered.

The lowest level of financial unit in the Ming Dynasty was the county, which was the county treasury.

However, under the Ming Dynasty's fiscal policy, county-level finances consisted mainly of grain tax transfers, and the county government had very little funding to maintain its operations.

Above the county treasury is the prefectural treasury, which is the main unit at the grassroots level. This is also why the position of prefect is so important. When the county needs to spend a lot of money, it will usually borrow from the prefectural treasury. If it is a large-scale project involving multiple counties, the prefectural government will also provide the funds.

The next level up is the provincial finance department.

In the Ming Dynasty, the provincial level was established as the Provincial Judicial Office, headed by the Provincial Surveillance Commissioner. This was originally a provincial-level supervisory department, so the work of managing provincial finances was handed over to the Provincial Surveillance Commissioner's Office, which was also known as the Provincial Treasury.

However, as the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty developed to this point, the provincial-level government offices were basically nominal. The so-called provincial governors and provincial judges, without the title of governor-general overseeing the military and political affairs of a province, were merely transitional positions for high-ranking civil officials.

The Jueku was mainly a statistical department, and in addition to its work of assessing the economic indicators of lower-level government offices, it didn't actually have much money.

Therefore, the two most important levels of finance in the Ming Dynasty were the imperial treasury controlled by the Ministry of Revenue and the treasury controlled by the local government.

This is also why the position of governor is so important.

The governors often managed the affairs of several prefectures and controlled the treasuries of these prefectures, which meant they held great financial power. In addition, they had the power to supervise and evaluate prefectural and county officials. Therefore, the governors of the Ming Dynasty had far more say in local affairs than the provincial treasurers.

There was a saying in the Ming Dynasty officialdom: "If the provincial governor does not contend, there is no policy to implement. If the provincial governor does not patrol, there is no matter to govern."

This refers to the fact that the position of Provincial Administration Commissioner has become largely meaningless, while the position of Provincial Governor has become more regular and powerful, and is now the highest-ranking official in the Ming Dynasty who is close to the people.

The reason for this was that the Ming court was unwilling to have a provincial-level administrative unit that simultaneously held administrative, financial, and military power, so it had been continuously weakening the power of the Provincial Administration Commissioner's Office since the beginning of the Ming Dynasty.

However, even the Ming Dynasty court couldn't directly manage all the prefectures and counties; this is impossible even in modern society, let alone the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, it is necessary to set up one or more prefectures and counties with a governor.

The Governor of Jiaxing and Huzhou was the governor in charge of the most prosperous areas in Southern Zhili, namely Jiaxing and Huzhou. He was the most important local official besides Wang Zhihuan, the Governor of Huai, and Hai Rui, the Governor of Yingtian.

The Jiahu region was also one of the areas with the most severe debts in the Ming Dynasty.

Su Ze directly asked Min Qing which warehouse's backlog had been cleared. After hearing Zhang Juzheng's answer, Su Ze immediately understood.

Isn't this the number one governor of the Ming Dynasty?

Good heavens, was this Nomin's past life?

The treasury is under the jurisdiction and control of the governor's office. Min Qing cleared up the treasury's debts. Isn't that just a game of accounts?
It's so easy. All you have to do is find some merchants to lend you silver, store it in the treasury, and let your superiors check it. That's all it takes to complete the recovery.

However, the silver owed to the national treasury by Jiaxing and Huzhou, as well as the silver owed to the emperor's private treasury, all had to be handed over, so Min Qing only completed a small portion of it.

It's June now, not the time for grain collection, so it goes without saying that this money was probably either levied on or borrowed from local wealthy households, all for the purpose of gaining credit.

After Su Ze finished speaking, he looked at the five elders present and knew that they all shared the same idea as him.

Everyone had come from the path of the imperial examinations, and then reached the pinnacle in the shrewd and capable officialdom of the Ming Dynasty.

How could they not understand Min Qing's little tricks?
This reminded Su Ze of his past life, where many places would set up shell companies to trade with each other, all to inflate GDP figures.

There are also instances where local governments "lend" money to businesses to pay local taxes, which then circulates back to the local government, thus embellishing local economic indicators.

It seems that the same method has been used throughout history.

Su Ze understood Min Qing's tricks, and so did the Grand Secretaries, but the Emperor did not.

Zhang Juzheng said:
"His Majesty has personally written an imperial edict to commend Min Qing and will also appoint him as the 'Number One Governor in the Land,' so that all local officials in the Ming Dynasty will learn from him."

After saying this, the five elders present all showed expressions of pain on their faces.

To dampen the emperor's spirits at this moment is to slap him in the face.

Moreover, although everyone believed that Min Qing was problematic, the Ming Dynasty also valued evidence. Without evidence, even a Grand Secretary could not arbitrarily attack a local official who was in charge of a region.

All five cabinet ministers' eyes fell on Su Ze.

Su Ze was speechless. Good grief, you don't want to offend the emperor, so you're sending me, right?
Besides, Su Ze has no evidence.

At this point, it was Zhang Juzheng who spoke:

“Su Zilin, we are not asking you to take the lead, but to come up with a way to expose Min Qing. We are not asking you to submit a memorial to impeach him.”

Su Ze asked:

"Can't we transfer Min Qing away?"

At this moment, Gao Gong said:
“Min Qing’s performance evaluations have always been good, and he has a good reputation in the local area.”

Li Chunfang said:
"The censors and officials also questioned him, but Min Qing seems to be a truly honest official."

Su Ze shook his head and said:

"Min Qing was not an honest official."

"However, among these corrupt officials, some are greedy for money, some are greedy for sex, and Min Qing is greedy for fame."

"Such corrupt officials can fabricate documents for fame or exploit the people to achieve their own political goals. Sometimes, the harm caused by such corrupt officials is even greater than that of ordinary corrupt officials."

The other elders nodded in agreement. Su Ze was right. Officials like Min Qing were indeed more terrifying; they would stop at nothing to achieve political success.

Su Ze continued:

"I do have a solution."

Su Ze didn't keep them in suspense and said directly:

"This spring and summer have been rainy, and the imperial court is determined to carry out water conservancy projects."

"It is permissible for Minister Lei to order the construction of water conservancy projects around Taihu Lake, with funding provided by the treasuries of the five prefectures of Suzhou, Songjiang, Changzhou, Jiaxing, and Huzhou."

“Since the three prefectures are under the jurisdiction of Governor Hai Rui of Yingtian, this matter should be presided over by Governor Hai. The court can issue an edict to have the two prefectures of Jiaxing and Huzhou transport the silver from their treasuries to Governor Hai Rui’s treasury.”

After the senior ministers finished listening, Zhang Juzheng clapped his hands and said;

"Wonderful!"

Su Ze's suggestion was not abrupt at all. The imperial court had appointed Lei Li as a special minister to be in charge of water conservancy affairs.

The five prefectures of Suzhou, Songjiang, Changzhou, Jiaxing, and Huzhou are all located along the shore of Taihu Lake. They all rely on the Taihu Lake water conservancy project, so naturally, they would all be built together.

The court officials were naturally at ease entrusting this matter to Hai Rui.

Most importantly, this is tantamount to requiring Minqing to hand over the treasury silver of Jiaxing and Huzhou prefectures.

If this money was indeed borrowed by Min Qing, then even if Min Qing agreed, those who lent him money to boost his political achievements would not agree.

They're just helping you meet your targets; they're not really trying to make up for the government's deficit!
Even if we assume that Min Qing can actually hand over this silver, it would indeed be a great achievement, and the emperor would reward him accordingly.

Su Ze continued:

"Such an incident in Jiahu will surely cause discussion among the people. The court can send people to investigate the situation in Jiahu and find out the true nature of Min Qing's official conduct." The Grand Secretaries nodded, and Gao Gong asked:
"Who should we send? Wouldn't it be too conspicuous to send an official?"

Su Ze said:

“Shuai Jiamo”.

After a while, Gao Gong remembered who Shuai Jiamo was.

Isn't he the scholar who kept appealing in the Huizhou silk case?

It was precisely because of this incident that Emperor Longqing was determined to compile the "Accounting Records".

In recognition of Shuai Jiamo's advocacy for the people of the county, the Longqing Emperor later bestowed upon him the title of Juren (a successful candidate in the imperial examinations at the provincial level).

Later, Shuai Jiamo was recommended by Hai Rui to take up an official post as the educational commissioner of Southern Zhili.

Su Ze said, "Shuai Jiamo is a master at auditing accounts. If he can find out about the silk case in the prefectural and county treasury, he can definitely find out about the confiscation of funds in the Jiahu treasury."

Gao Gong immediately understood what Su Ze meant.

Min Qing is the governor, and he cannot accomplish this alone. He needs the cooperation of his subordinates, the prefects and magistrates, and the concerted efforts of all the officials in Jiaxing and Huzhou.

Gao Gong said, "Then tomorrow I will have the Ministry of Personnel issue a document to transfer Shuai Jiamo to Jiahu Prefecture as a county magistrate."

Su Ze said quickly:

"Your Excellency's insight is truly remarkable."

Gao Gong was indeed a master of personnel matters. If Shuai Jiamo were to be directly appointed as the county magistrate, it would be considered a promotion beyond his rank. Moreover, the county magistrate is the local official in charge of the people, which would inevitably arouse Min Qing's suspicion.

However, promoting Shuai Jiamo to the position of county magistrate would be a different story. As the governor of both prefectures, Min Qing would not pay attention to a mere county magistrate.

The county magistrate was the second-in-command of the county government, and had access to all the documents and materials in the county government, which also made it easier for Shuai Jiamo to investigate cases.

In just a few words, Su Ze helped the elders solve another problem.

Li Chunfang said:
"However, it would be better if you, Zilin, submitted the memorial regarding the construction of the Taihu Lake water conservancy project."

Then Li Chunfang continued:

"The cabinet owes you a favor."

Upon hearing this, Su Ze immediately agreed.

This is no ordinary favor from the cabinet.

Li Chunfang's public statement was tantamount to making a political promise to Su Ze. The fact that the other cabinet ministers did not object was a collective favor from the cabinet.

This is not as simple as a favor from a certain high-ranking official.

However, after giving his advice, Su Ze did not leave immediately.

The elders looked at him with suspicion.

Su Ze said:

"My esteemed ministers, the Jiahu incident is actually a long-standing problem in the finances of our Great Ming Dynasty. Even if we deal with Min Qing, such problems will still arise in the future."

Zhang Juzheng looked at Su Ze and said:

"Does Su Zilin have anything to say?"

Su Ze said:

"Our Great Ming Dynasty's finances, while grandly proclaiming that taxes will never be increased, have indeed collected very low land taxes."

"However, while the deficits in local areas are certainly caused by the corruption of officials, many local deficits are also due to the maintenance of the normal expenses of local governments. However, the Ming Dynasty's finances simply do not provide local government offices with any financial space. But when the superiors have orders, the subordinates have to carry them out. In the end, local government offices only have two options."

"Or they would create pretexts to levy exorbitant taxes on the people in order to maintain the operation of the county government."

"Or they could borrow money from all over the place and intercept the silver owed to the government treasury and the national treasury."

Zhang Juzheng nodded slightly. He had actually considered the issue Su Ze raised.

In reality, the promise of "never increasing taxes" was broken not only by local governments but also frequently by the imperial court.

For example, when Emperor Yongle (Zhu Di) conquered the grasslands, under the ancestral rule of "never increasing taxes," he raised military funds by issuing a large number of paper money and issuing excessive amounts of salt permits.

For example, during the defense of Beijing after Tumu Fortress, the imperial court in Beijing also used the method of donation to solicit money from the powerful and wealthy merchants in Beijing, which set a precedent for the donation of students to the Imperial Academy.

The so-called "never increasing taxes" only refers to the regular taxes.

When the Jiajing Emperor built the three main halls, the money collected for timber and donations was all apportioned to the local areas.

However, since the imperial court had a legal way to break the promise of "never increasing taxes," local officials could only raise funds through shady and unethical means.

The intense financial conflict between the imperial court and local governments, with local governments undertaking a large amount of grassroots affairs but not receiving sufficient funding, remained unresolved from the Ming and Qing dynasties to the Republic of China, and even before Su Ze's time travel.

Giving local governments too much financial power would have consequences that Su Ze had already foreseen before his transmigration.

The short-sighted pursuit of political achievements by local officials will only push the fiscal system toward collapse, since the achievements belong to the current officials and the debts to their successors.

If local governments are truly given more financial power, there will only be more officials like Min Qing, not fewer.

"Too much control leads to stagnation, too little control leads to chaos."

Clearly, Zhang Juzheng had also considered this issue.

Since he was in a position to fulfill his duties, Su Ze decided to leave this difficult problem to Zhang Juzheng.

But he said:
"My esteemed ministers, I still believe that after the commercial tax is levied, a larger portion should be retained by the local governments. It would be best to negotiate a fixed revenue sharing ratio. This way, local governments will have the incentive to collect commercial taxes and can also use the local commercial taxes for development."

"But prefectures and counties cannot spend money arbitrarily; important projects must be reported and approved."

Zhang Juzheng nodded slightly, acknowledging that Su Ze's method was sound.

Shanxi's commercial tax is in the preparatory stage, and it is just waiting for the arrival of the personnel from the civil service examination class before Shanxi will begin pilot collection.

Just as Su Ze said, Zhang Juzheng had to deal with specific issues such as how much commercial tax should be collected, how much should be divided between local governments and the imperial court, and how to assess the collection of commercial tax.

Su Ze also reminded Zhang Juzheng that after clarifying the "Accounting Records", the next fiscal reform should also leave room for local finances. This is also a process of bargaining between the imperial court and local governments.

This kind of power struggle does not mean that local officials can rebel against the imperial court.

Rather, it's because local areas lack funds that they can passively resist the imperial court's policies or voluntarily withdraw from local affairs.

This is how the local government of the Ming Dynasty has done things for nearly a century.

The imperial court needs to get things done and ensure the efficiency of local administration, but it also needs to delegate some power to local officials.

[Ding! New main quest completed!]

The relationships among all cabinet members have reached a close stage.

[Task Reward: Item Lottery Chance*1]

(End of this chapter)