Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 167: The public funds for the fire consumption must be used correctly to force the conservatives to reform!
The time goes back to the beginning of October in the first year of Jiajing.

When Zhu Houcong sent Guo Xun and others to the south to survey the land, the six ministries and other central government offices set their sights on the income after the fire consumption was returned to the public.

"The Ministry of Revenue requests that the fire-consumption silver be temporarily withheld to make up for the deficit caused by the relief of Liaodong, and that the money be allocated to the local areas when they need it."

"The Ministry of Works requested that the fire-consumption silver be temporarily cut to make up for the deficit caused by the reconstruction of the Qianqing Palace."

On that day, the cabinet chief Liang Chu mentioned this matter before the emperor.

"No!"

"If we don't give the local governments enough money, they will be bold enough to continue to be greedy!"

"The central government departments should find a way to solve their deficits! Don't expect to use this money to clean up your own mess!"

Zhu Houcong rejected the requests from various court departments without even thinking about it.

He knew very well how severely the lower-class people would be extorted if the local government had no money.

Anyway, it's just layer upon layer of exploitation.

If he dares to leave the local government without money, the local government will make the people even more miserable.

but……

Zhu Houcong therefore made up his mind to reorganize the central government offices such as the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Works, the Ministry of Rites, the Imperial Household Department, and the Ministry of Rites in the future.

Because these government offices should have had considerable income, but in the end they all suffered serious deficits.

Not to mention the land tax and salt tax of the Ministry of Revenue.

Not to mention the Ministry of Works’ bamboo and wood tax and fishery tax.

even if...

The Guanglu Temple, which was in charge of the palace's meals, had an annual tax revenue of 240,000 taels!

It’s almost half of the profit from Lianghuai salt!

But the reported expenditure was as high as 400,000 taels of silver!

Zhu Houcong had never expected that he and the people in the harem would spend so much silver just on food.

But Zhu Houcong is unable to rectify the situation now.

Because reforms must be carried out step by step, the tax reform in Nanzhi has not been completed yet, and the local governments have not been put in order. How can we rush to deal with the financial problems around us and paralyze our own central government?
As the saying goes, make friends far away and attack those nearby.

The same is true for restructuring.

The problems of the central government offices such as the Six Ministries, the Imperial Household Department, and the Imperial Household Department will have to wait until the future to be resolved.

Zhu Houcong neither followed the example of Wanli and let the government offices run rotten by not filling vacancies of officials, nor did he follow the example of Yongzheng and drag the princes of the royal family to manage the affairs of the departments and then rely on the power of the royal family to forcibly rectify the affairs and completely solve the problem of deficits caused by the imbalance between income and expenditure of the central government departments. He just let their officials find ways to keep the departments running by pasting together.

If you can’t maintain it, change people!
Back to the topic.

After Zhu Houcong said this, Liang Chu just nodded in agreement.

As the chief minister of the cabinet, he knew that the current emperor was good at wielding power, so he took the initiative to return authority to him.

Whenever it came to important memorials, such as the fire consumption financial issue just mentioned, he would take the initiative to request an audience first, then elaborate on each suggestion in front of the emperor, ask for his opinion, and then draft a document based on his opinion.

This means...

The outer court originally hoped that he, the Prime Minister, could, by mastering the power of drafting, draft decisions that were in line with the will of the outer court bureaucratic groups, and then force the emperor to agree in order to show that he trusted the Prime Minister, so as to achieve the purpose of limiting the emperor's power.
result……

As the prime minister, he became the emperor's hand, only drafting decisions that were in line with the emperor's will, allowing the emperor to exercise power through cabinet decrees rather than imperial edicts.

If the emperor exercised power directly through eunuchs issuing handwritten edicts, the outer court officials would reject them on the grounds that the eunuchs' edicts were not authoritative because they came from the hands of eunuchs.

After all, when the cabinet issues an edict, it seems that the emperor has consulted the opinions of the cabinet ministers before making a decision, so it has authority, or credibility.

but now……

Liang Chu allowed the emperor to control the cabinet through him, turning decisions that were actually imperial decrees into decisions that were ostensibly decreed by the cabinet. This also meant that the outer court could no longer refuse to execute the decisions on the grounds of lack of authority.

of course.

This also resulted in Zhu Houcong becoming more centralized.

Zhu Houcong now also enjoys the feeling of holding great power.

For him, it was like a spring breeze and drinking nectar.

now.

This was how he felt after he overturned the proposal of officials from various ministries to withhold local fire consumption silver.

However, the ministers of the six ministries, the chief censor of the Censorate, and the powerful officials of the central government offices such as the Imperial Household Department and the Imperial Household Department were naturally very disappointed when they learned that the emperor did not agree to their proposal.

"No!"

When the Minister of Works Zhao Huang saw the two words as big as duck eggs on the draft bill of his Ministry of Works, his eyes suddenly widened.

"Liang Shunde! You are a three-point husband!"

Zhao Huang couldn't help but curse Liang Shunde in his heart.

The story of the Three-Emperor Prime Minister comes from Wang Gui, the Prime Minister of the Northern Song Dynasty.

Because he only did three things: receiving imperial edicts, accepting imperial edicts and delivering imperial edicts, Song Shenzong, who loved to control various major policies, was able to control various major policies successfully. He was ridiculed by the literati of the time as the "Three-Edict Prime Minister".

At this time, someone from the inner court came to tell Zhao Huang: "Your Majesty, please summon the Grand Marshal to see you!"

After hearing this, Zhao Huang had no choice but to put down the glaring draft and quickly went to the inner court.

Zhu Houcong summoned Zhao Huang to discuss the reconstruction of the Qianqing Palace.

It took several years to collect and transport wood and stone materials for the Qianqing Palace after the fire. In addition, the emperor passed away and the new emperor ascended the throne. It was not until now that the main building was completed, and only the interior decoration and exterior paint remained.

But this is exactly what Zhu Houcong cares about most.

Therefore, he needed to summon Zhao Huang to give him some instructions and at the same time ask Zhao Huang for his opinion on building warships.

The Western colonists, now referred to as the Portuguese, have appeared in the South China Sea and have fought two battles with Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers in Guangdong.

These Portuguese initially wanted to occupy Tuen Mun by force, but were repelled by Guangdong Deputy Envoy Wang Hong. Then, the Portuguese were unwilling to give up and led five warships and more than a thousand people to invade Xicaowan in the spring of the first year of Jiajing.

After all, the Portuguese who were heading west had never encountered setbacks in invading other countries, so they wanted to regain their face.

What's more, the Ming Dynasty was the land of wealth they had long coveted and the biggest motivation for them to explore the East despite the risks at sea. The motivation was so great that even the royal family got involved.

However, Zhu Houcong had no intention of letting the Ming Dynasty just passively counterattack on land, so he planned to strengthen the construction of warships.

If the decisive factor in land battles in this era is the number of war horses, then the decisive factor in naval battles is the number of warships.

Therefore, he needs to prepare for the construction of warships in advance.

"Your Majesty! The Ministry of Works has been in a huge deficit since Liu Jin and other powerful eunuchs instigated the late emperor to build the Leopard House and many palaces in various places. Now the construction of the Qianqing Palace has further increased the deficit."

"Therefore, I believe that the new dynasty is still not good at saving money, and we should reduce construction costs as much as possible."

Zhao Huang said at this time.

Zhu Houcong was not angry after hearing this, he just rubbed his hands and said: "So, the Grand Marshal does not support strengthening the maritime defense?" "Your Majesty, I do support it!"

"My ancestral home is in Taizhou, so I know better than anyone the importance of strengthening maritime defenses. If the Ministry of Industry had sufficient financial resources in previous years, I would have been the first to come forward and request the construction of warships after hearing that the Western Barbarians were frequently invading the seas!"

"It's just that the Ministry of Works is indeed short of financial resources right now, so I think we can let Guangdong repair the old ships first, and then build new warships after the survey is completed this year and the bamboo and wood tax is paid!"

Zhao Huang replied.

"As expected, he is a wise man who is good at planning for the country!"

"I want to accept it, please write down your daily records!"

Zhu Houcong said with a smile.

When Zhao Huang heard Zhu Houcong say this, he was very happy, thinking that in the future, when history is compiled, his reputation of successfully persuading the monarch to be frugal and thrifty will be recorded.

Zhu Houcong then said, "I have actually thought about doing this a long time ago, so I rejected your proposal and let the local government have money to repair the warships! Because we can't let them levy money from the local people to repair the warships, right?"

Zhao Huang was stunned after hearing this.

"Can you understand what I mean by this?"

Zhu Houcong asked.

Zhao Huang now just wanted to slap himself.

But he could only reply: "Your Majesty is wise and compassionate to the people. I can't wait!"

"Speaking of saving money, I think we should just not paint the Qianqing Palace with cinnabar! Keep it simple!"

"Besides, I have heard that cinnabar is poisonous if used for a long time. This is why no emperor of this dynasty has lived a long life since Taizu and Taizong. Taizu and Taizong fought in wars for many years and had strong physiques, so they could resist. But the emperors of later generations who maintained the status quo naturally could not do that."

"So, I decided to be cautious and not use cinnabar. I think it will save a lot of money and promote frugality. It will also meet the wishes of you, my loyal ministers. Isn't it the best of both worlds?"

Zhu Houcong said another sentence at this time.

Zhao Huang immediately objected after hearing this: "Your Majesty, no!"

Cinnabar is the main material needed for palace construction, the main source of income for the Ministry of Works, and the main source of extra income for officials.

Even if Zhao Huang did not benefit from it directly, he would have benefited from it indirectly.

He didn't dare to let the Ministry of Industry lose such a large source of income and thus offend the entire Ministry of Industry.

"Why not?"

"Didn't you all advise me to save money?"

Zhu Houcong asked with a smile.

Zhao Huang said: "Your Majesty, the Ministry of Works will not agree."

"As long as you, the Minister of Industry, agree, that's all."

"Don't you think you, the Minister of Industry, can manage the Ministry of Industry?"

Zhu Houcong asked.

Zhao Huang was too anxious, so he blurted out: "I can't really do anything about it."

Zhu Houcong couldn't help but look back at him.

Zhao Huang quickly changed his words and said, "What I meant is that the Ministry of Works is not my Ministry of Works, but your Majesty's Ministry of Works. Other officials in the Ministry of Works will dissuade your Majesty from doing this."

"Why, do the officials of the Ministry of Industry want me to be poisoned in the future?"

Zhu Houcong asked.

Zhao Huang quickly denied it, saying, "Your Majesty, that's not true. I just think that the royal family should have the dignity and solemnity of the royal family! Although I support your majesty's thriftiness and respect your majesty's efforts to save money, I think it is more important to show the dignity of the royal family!"

"So, you want me to be poisoned?"

Zhu Houcong asked.

"His Majesty!"

"Death penalty!"

Zhao Huang immediately knelt down, then trembled and said:

"I just spoke out of turn!"

"But this is not what I meant. What I meant is that vermilion is a noble color, which is exclusive to the royal family. If vermilion is not used for the Palace of Heavenly Purity, it would be against the will of heaven and human nature! If the royal family does not use vermilion, then I am afraid that the common people would not even dare to use blue, white or other colors!"

"So, tell me, should I be poisoned or should I be economized?"

Zhu Houcong asked Zhao Huang.

Zhao Huang thought for a moment and gritted his teeth and said, "Your Majesty, if that's the case, I think we can use the red and blue flowers used to make rouge instead."

Zhu Houcong knew about red and blue flowers.

This is a natural raw material for making red pigment that Zhang Qian brought back from the Western Regions during the Han Dynasty.

Not only is it safe, it also has medicinal value. According to the "Golden Chamber" and "Proven Prescriptions for Milk Production", this medicine is very effective in treating gynecological diseases and can stimulate milk secretion.

The "New Compendium of Materia Medica" also says that it can help preserve a live fetus and abort a stillborn fetus.

This is completely different from saffron, because saffron belongs to the Asteraceae family and was used as cooking oil in later generations, which shows that it is absolutely safe.

If the harem really widely used paint made from this flower, it would naturally be more beneficial for offspring.

However, the reason why it is not used is because it is expensive. It is currently mainly produced in Gansu and later Qinghai and Xinjiang.

Of course, the cost of cinnabar is also expensive. After all, in later generations, natural cinnabar is worth hundreds of yuan per gram, not to mention the Ming Dynasty, which could only mine natural cinnabar.

It’s just that cinnabar is mainly produced in the south.

The red and blue flowers are mainly found in the northwest.

Therefore, if red and blue flowers are used, it means that the benefits of this huge luxury market mainly used by the royal family will go to the northern families, and the southern families will lose this benefit.

Although Zhao Huang was also a southerner, he had no choice now. Compared to giving up using vermilion to decorate the palace walls, he could only make this compromise.

What Zhu Houcong actually wanted Zhao Huang to propose this idea out loud, forcing this conservative to take the initiative to propose a reform plan.

Because using red and blue flowers can not only prevent him and the people in the harem from chronic cinnabar poisoning and promote offspring, but also develop the value of the northwest. Maybe in the future he can use this opportunity to recover the Western Regions and restore the prosperity of the Han and Tang dynasties in the west, and even further develop it.

Of course, red and blue flowers alone are not enough. In the future, we can use this to develop the cotton planting industry, transfer the cotton planting industry in the south of the Yangtze River, and allow more land in the mainland to be used for growing grain.

So, the red and blue flowers are just an opportunity.

But Zhu Houcong knew that as a high-ranking official, he sometimes had to play hard to get in order to lure Zhao Huang further into his trap.

Therefore, Zhu Houcong rejected it first and said, "Not appropriate! Using red and blue flowers is too extravagant and too labor-intensive. After all, we have to send people to the northwest to buy them! It is better not to use vermilion to save manpower!"

"Why don't you allow me to cherish the people's strength and be a frugal ruler?"

"Your Majesty! This is not extravagant!"

(End of this chapter)