How can one be Emperor Chongzhen without money?

Chapter 290 This is outrageous! Two hundred million mu of land only pays two million in taxes?!
An audience with the emperor is underway in the East Warm Pavilion of the Qianqing Palace.

The Chongzhen Emperor sat on his imperial couch, not in his usual attire, but in a dark blue Taoist robe with the sleeves rolled up. He didn't look at the high-ranking officials standing below, his eyes fixed on the enormous map of the Ming Dynasty before him. His expression was extremely grim—it was clear he was about to cause trouble again!
The Grand Secretary Huang Lijie, the Second Grand Secretary Shi Fenglai, Minister of War Wang Zaijin, Vice Minister Li Banghua, Minister of Rites Qian Qianyi, Grand Secretary and Left Censor-in-Chief Sun Chengzong, Minister of Revenue Bi Ziyan, Vice Minister Hou Xun, Duke Yansheng Kong Yinzhi, Duke Dingguo Xu Yunzhen, Prince Qin Zhu Cunshu, Prince Tang Zhu Yujian, Vice Minister of Rites Xu Guangqi, and the Grand Eunuch Wei Zhongxian, who held the seal of the Directorate of Ceremonial. Almost all the most influential people in the Ming Dynasty were present.

"They've all arrived." Chongzhen spoke, his voice not loud, yet it sent a chill down everyone's spine. "The road to Shandong is blocked. The Grand Canal is paralyzed." He spoke plainly, as if discussing a common occurrence. "I've summoned you all here today to discuss how to proceed and how to defend the region."

He stood up, walked to the map, picked up a vermilion pen, and drew a line from Beijing down, around Shandong, through Henan, emphasizing Wuchang.

"The Emperor will not travel through Shandong. He will take the western route, passing through Zhengding and Shunde, entering Zhangde and Weihui in Henan, crossing the river to Kaifeng, then heading south to Xuzhou and Nanyang, and from Xiangyang into Huguang. The temporary capital will be located in Wuchang."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over Qian Qianyi and several other officials from the south, the tip of his pen forcefully pointing towards the location of Huguang:
"This road allows us to witness firsthand the devastation in the north. It also avoids the impassable Yellow River floodplains. More importantly, it leads us directly to the heart of the matter! We can see this land, with its unparalleled fertile fields, yet its meager tax revenue—a place that is a 'heartache' for us!"

Suddenly changing the subject, he abruptly turned to look at Bi Ziyan, the Minister of Revenue, his tone suddenly sharp:
"Bi Qing! Tell me, just how serious is this 'heartache' in Huguang? In the land survey of the sixth year of the Wanli reign, how many acres of land were there in Huguang? How much tax was levied annually? Give me, and all my ministers, the truth!"

So they were planning to cause trouble for Hubei and Hunan. Thank goodness!
There were no officials from Huguang present, nor had anyone benefited from Huguang's century-old bad debts, so they all breathed a sigh of relief.

Bi Ziyan quickly stepped forward, bowed, and said, "Your Majesty, I...I remember."

He took a deep breath, as if holding a heavy ledger, his voice low and deep:

"In the sixth year of the Wanli reign, a land survey was conducted, and the registered official and private land in Huguang amounted to approximately 2,201,619 qing, totaling 220,161,900 mu. The annual summer tax and autumn grain tax totaled 2,162,220 shi."

"How much?!" Chongzhen's voice suddenly rose, filled with disbelief and sternness. "More than two hundred million mu of land? And only two million shi of grain?!"

Of course he knew about the mess in Huguang! He knew it in his previous life, but back then he was just an emperor who grew up in the deep palace in Beijing, out of touch with the people and detached from reality, so he didn't know what those people in Huguang were really like.

In his previous life, he was a deputy director-general in Huguang. Although he was in the political and legal system, he had traveled all over Huguang and knew all too well how good the rice harvest was in the Jianghan Plain and Dongting Lake Plain.

Perhaps the 220 million mu of land was overstated (it's normal for subordinates to overstate the area to gain credit when Zhang Juzheng was conducting land surveys), but a tax amount of over 2 million shi is outrageous!

This is deceiving Heaven! No, it's courting disaster!
Historically, after the Manchus entered the Central Plains, Huguang was an important battlefield in the tug-of-war between the Southern Ming and the Manchus. The main battlefield of the later Revolt of the Three Feudatories was also in Huguang, where countless people died!
So this time, for the good of our fellow villagers in Hubei and Hunan, we must ask them for more taxes!
He strode from the map to the imperial desk, his knuckles striking the sandalwood surface with a dull thud.

"How much farmland does Zhejiang have? How much tax does it pay?"

Bi Ziyan answered truthfully: "There are 51,695,100 mu of farmland in Zhejiang, and the annual tax is 2,522,627 shi."

The figure of 50 million mu in Zhejiang might be inflated, Chongzhen thought to himself. But the quota of more than 2.5 million mu was still too low.
"What about Southern Zhili?" Chongzhen asked again.

"The total land area in Southern Zhili is 77,235,000 mu, and the annual tax is 6,024,672 shi."

This number is definitely too low! Emperor Chongzhen knew perfectly well that Southern Zhili included what later became Jiangsu and Anhui provinces! Over 70 million... Anhui alone had more than that! The land survey missed an entire province.
After the numbers were announced, the atmosphere in the warm room became quite strange.

After all, it sounds like Southern Zhili is relatively "conscientious," while Huguang is the one that truly deceives the heavens!

Emperor Chongzhen coldly replied, "The land in Huguang is four times that of Zhejiang! Three times that of Southern Zhili! Yet its tax revenue is less than that of Zhejiang province! Only 30% of that of Southern Zhili?!"

He turned abruptly, pointing again at Huguang on the map, his finger trembling slightly as he feigned anger:
"What a fine saying, 'When Hubei and Hunan are bountiful, the whole country is well-fed'! But does this bountiful harvest truly fill the granaries of the entire nation, or just the private pockets of the corrupt officials in Hubei and Hunan?!"

He seemed to recall something else, his gaze growing even colder: "What about the Liaodong tax? I remember the Liaodong tax was levied on a per-mu basis, with an additional nine li of silver per mu. There are over two hundred million mu of land in Huguang, how much should be levied? And what was actually collected?"

Bi Ziyan said with a wry smile: "Your Majesty is wise... In theory, if Huguang were to pay the full amount, the annual Liaodong tax should be around 2.1 million taels. However... However, the total Liaodong tax revenue is only a little over 4 million taels per year, which needs to be distributed across the country. Huguang... In recent years, Huguang has actually paid about 450,000 taels of Liaodong tax per year."

What does it mean to court death? This is courting death!
If Huguang had paid the two million taels in full, the Later Jin wouldn't have been so arrogant!

"Four hundred and fifty thousand taels?!" Emperor Chongzhen practically roared, his voice filled with absurdity and rage. "Theoretically, we should have paid over two million taels, but we only paid four hundred and fifty thousand?! Less than one-tenth?!"

He grabbed a teacup from the imperial desk and smashed it violently onto the gold-brick floor! Porcelain shards flew everywhere, and tea spilled everywhere!

"This is outrageous!" His eyes were bloodshot, veins bulging on his forehead, as he glared at the gloating officials. "The land tax has been embezzled! The Liaodong military pay has been embezzled too! The people of the north are resorting to cannibalism! The soldiers on the nine borders are guarding the nation's gates on empty stomachs! The court is so poor it's practically selling its pants! Where is the root of the problem? Right here! Right here in Huguang! Right here in this corrupt tax system, where there is no law and order!"

He was panting heavily, his chest heaving, and asked, word by word, "Are there any other provinces like Huguang?!" Bi Ziyan hurriedly replied, "Yes...yes. Guangdong has 25.6 million mu of farmland, and collects more than 1.01 million shi of grain annually. Sichuan has more than 134.87 million mu of farmland, and collects more than 1.02 million shi of grain annually...the situation is similar to that of Huguang."

"Good! Good! Good!" Chongzhen said three times, his voice growing colder and harsher with each utterance. "Huguang! Guangdong! Sichuan! I've remembered them!"

Emperor Chongzhen certainly knew about Guangdong and Sichuan, those two provinces that were courting disaster long ago!

Guangdong was incredibly wealthy at the end of the Ming Dynasty! It was the most important ironware supplier in Southeast Asia and the world's most important sugar producer (sugar was more expensive than beef back then), yet it only paid such a small amount of tax to the Ming Dynasty each year?
As a result, the Ming Dynasty fell, and the Manchus came, killing people without blinking an eye and massacring them in various ways. The people of Guangdong could no longer bear it and turned into a major province for anti-Qing and restoration of the Ming. Later, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom broke out (the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was started by a group of Hakka people from Guangdong who migrated to Guangxi). If they had known this would happen, they would have just paid more taxes at the end of the Ming Dynasty.

As for the claim of over 100 million mu of land in Sichuan, that's definitely an inflated figure, but the tax revenue of one million shi is far too low!
Sichuan is the Land of Abundance!

As soon as the Ming Dynasty fell, the Manchu butchers stormed in, killing and killing until everyone was gone!

Thinking of this, Chongzhen sneered, "Some of you are afraid that if I go to Southern Zhili, I will touch your hometowns. Don't worry! This time, I will go to Huguang first! While I'm at it, I'll also clean up Sichuan and Guangdong! Let's settle these three messy accounts first!"

His gaze was sharp as a knife, resolute and decisive: "Take things one step at a time! Settle accounts one by one! I want to see whether the corrupt officials in Huguang are more deeply entrenched, or whether my hoe is sharper!"

Emperor Chongzhen's gaze swept over the crowd before he spoke again. He spoke quickly, leaving no room for discussion.

"The people accompanying the emperor will be decided as follows."

"Secondary Assistant Shi and Grand Secretary Sun are in charge of all government affairs in the capital."

"Mr. Qian from the Ministry of Rites is in charge of ceremonial documents."

"Hou Xun of the Ministry of Revenue will assist in the management of grain and provisions."

"Mr. Xu from the Ministry of Rites, please advise on matters."

"The King of Qin, the King of Tang, the Duke of Yansheng, and the Duke of Dingguo will accompany you."

"Wei Banban is in charge of the officials in the imperial palace. Xu Qinian is in charge of the affairs of the imperial guard accompanying the emperor."

These words struck a chord, and everyone present felt a chill. Officials from both the north and south, the eunuch faction of the Donglin Party, members of the imperial family and nobles, those in the inner and outer courts—no one was spared. The Emperor was trying to tie everyone to the same boat, ensuring no one could cause trouble behind the scenes.

After speaking to those who accompanied him, Chongzhen turned to those who remained behind.

"Those who remain in the capital," he said, looking at Huang Liji and the others, "are all under the overall command of Grand Secretary Huang."

"Mr. Bi of the Ministry of Revenue is in charge of the nation's finances."

"This soldier, Mr. Wang, is stationed at the central command, overseeing the nine border regions."

He emphasized, giving special instructions: "Leave 10,000 Imperial Guards under the joint command of Supervising Eunuch Cao Huachun and General Zhou Yuji to garrison the capital region. The border troops of the four garrisons of Ji, Chang, Xuan, and Da will be under the command of Lu Xiang-sheng and Sun Chuanting, implementing the strategy of 'attacking from the east and west, preserving people while losing territory.' The northern frontier must not be lost!"

The framework for those remaining behind was now firmly in place. Huang Lijie, Wang Zaijin, and Bi Ziyan understood that this was not only a matter of trust, but also a tremendous responsibility.

With everything arranged, Chongzhen added a final sentence, his voice low but carrying weight.

"Tell Niu Jinxing that we'll start a new column in the next issue of 'Huangming Daily'."

"Let's take the three provinces of Huguang, Guangdong, and Sichuan as an example. I've already thought of a question: These three provinces are so vast and prosperous, why is the land tax so disproportionate to their status?"

"Zhu Siwen knows how to write the opening question. First, create a buzz!"

(End of this chapter)