Ming Dynasty 1627

Chapter 52 Old debts unresolved, new debts already arise

The brief awkwardness was eventually broken by Zhu Youjian, who took the initiative to say, "Ahem."

“Minister Guo,” he suddenly spoke, “but the Ministry of Revenue is actually unaware of the distribution of the Mindong Fund, isn’t that right?”

Upon hearing this, Guo Yunhou let out a long sigh, then bowed and said:
"Your Majesty is wise... The silver for the people's movement was all transported from the local areas, and the money did not pass through the hands of the Ministry of Revenue. Therefore, the Ministry of Revenue had no idea whether there was a shortage."

"Therefore, the so-called border troops being able to rely on the people's movement is nothing but self-deception and burying one's head in the sand."

Zhu Youjian nodded, not wanting to go too far.

After all, according to Zhu Yuanzhang's financial design, the Ministry of Revenue was an incomplete department and did not live up to its name in terms of managing the nation's finances and taxes.

“When the platform summoned me last time, the Grand Secretary already told me about this matter, and an imperial edict was issued at that time,” Zhu Youjian continued. “Let’s start the audit once the subsequent rosters arrive at the Ministry of Revenue.”

Guo Yunhou began hesitantly, "Your Majesty, the Ministry of Revenue currently has insufficient manpower..."

Zhu Youjian interrupted him before he could finish, saying, "Don't worry, the local authorities will send the account books after the order is issued. It will take at least ten months. Before that, I will definitely provide you with the necessary manpower."

Guo Yunhou breathed a sigh of relief and continued speaking.

"Through the previous method of repaying new debts with old ones, the annual amount is actually only about half of the two-year quota of 3.28 million taels of silver, approximately 1.5 million taels."

"At this point, the method of 'balancing before and after' is needed."

"For example, in Ningxia Town, only eleven out of ten were paid in wages in the sixth year of the Tianqi reign."

"So this year, the Ministry of Revenue will allocate more, and in the end, it will issue seventeen."

"If we add these up over two years, we'll have received almost a year's worth of pay, which should be enough to keep the soldiers barely making ends meet."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Youjian suddenly felt something was amiss.

He immediately pressed on, "You mean, the military pay for the Nine Garrisons in the seventh year of the Tianqi reign, which is this year, has already been distributed?"

Fearing the other party might misunderstand, he added, "So, according to this method of balancing, everything has already been distributed?"

"Your Majesty, that's right." Guo Yunhou cupped his hands and said, "The situation in each town is different this year. A total of 1.27 million taels of old salary have been paid out, which is about... four-tenths of the total amount."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Youjian immediately felt a great weight lifted from his heart.

His tense nerves finally relaxed a little at this moment.

After all, Apocalypse didn't leave him with a completely messed-up situation.

He thought that none of the military pay for the Nine Border Regions had been paid out yet, but it turns out that nearly half of it had already been distributed.

Based on Guo Yunhou's explanation, the 9.68 million can actually be put on hold for now, at least for the next month or two.

This is fantastic news! The debt structure has instantly changed to:
Long-term liabilities: 9.68 million.

Recent liabilities: zero

Awesome! Anyone who has worked in finance knows that forward liabilities and short-term liabilities are not the same thing.

Once liabilities are converted into forward debt, they will automatically be discounted, resulting in much greater liquidity and significantly increased room for maneuver.

However, before he could fully relax, Guo Yunhou's next words plunged him into an icy abyss.

Guo Yunhou continued, "His Majesty ascended the throne this year, marking the beginning of a new dynasty and a new era. According to custom, he should bestow rewards upon the border troops and all civil and military officials."

"After the border troops' reward money is allocated, it is customary to divide it into five parts as a reward and five parts as pay."

"In this way, the old pay for the nine border regions can be considered to have been paid out by now, at least this year."

Zhu Youjian's expression froze instantly.

Reward the border troops?

Convention?

He frantically searched through the original owner Chongzhen's memories, finally finding a vague recollection.

When the Tianqi Emperor ascended the throne, he did indeed allocate a large sum of money from the imperial treasury to reward the border troops and civil and military officials throughout the country, and the amount was 1.8 million taels of silver!
Zhu Youjian's heart felt as if it had been squeezed tightly by someone, and he suddenly felt a pain.

If he were to give away all 180 million taels of his wealth now, he would instantly be left with only 80 taels.

After factoring in the various expenses reserved within the palace, the operating funds will probably only amount to 30...

Zhu Youjian's expression shifted, but only for a moment before he forcibly suppressed the turmoil in his heart. He raised his eyes, his face regaining its unfathomable calm, as if he had known about this all along.

"I was just about to discuss this matter with you all," he said calmly. "But there's no rush; we can put it off for now."

He turned his gaze back to Guo Yunhou and asked, "My dear minister, besides these two methods, are there any other methods?"

Upon hearing this, Guo Yunhou showed a hint of shame on his face and bowed, saying, "Since I became Minister of Revenue in the sixth year of the Tianqi reign, I have relied on these two methods to barely make ends meet and to maintain the status quo. I have truly failed Your Majesty's grace."

He sighed.

"In May of this year, I met with the censors and officials to discuss ten policies, many of which were aimed at increasing revenue and reducing expenditure."

"If Your Majesty is interested, I may try to speak to you on your behalf."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Youjian's spirits lifted slightly, and he reluctantly put aside the major crisis of 180 million.

Ten strategies? That sounds pretty impressive.

He made a gesture of listening attentively, signaling Guo Yunhou to continue.

Guo Yunhou cleared his throat and said in a deep voice:

"Of the ten policies, the first is to ensure adequate supplies! Nothing is worse than the lack of funds for soldiers and soldiers on the border..."

"Secondly, there is the issue of performance evaluation! Loans and taxes are rampant throughout the land, and the imperial decrees are not being heeded by the lower levels..."

Thirdly, ...

Zhu Youjian listened quite attentively at first, nodding repeatedly.

But as he listened, his brows furrowed involuntarily, his gaze gradually wandered, and his thoughts drifted far away.

It's not that Guo Yunhou is wrong.

On the contrary, he was absolutely right; every single one of his points was invaluable and could be put into practice.

The problem is that these solutions are all too ambitious.

Take the "Qing soldiers' pay" for example. Who doesn't know that the misappropriation of soldiers' pay in the Nine Garrisons was serious and needed to be cleaned up?
But the key questions are: how to clean it? Who will do the cleaning? Where to start cleaning? And to what extent is it considered finished?

The intricacies involved are far more complex than these three words suggest.

The Qing dynasty's approach was similar to that of Yuan Chonghuan, who managed to reduce the silver price from 520 million to 480 million. This not only kept the silver price down but also boosted the army's fighting strength and minimized the impact on morale.

If not handled properly, the disbandment of the Jizhou garrison could directly lead to the Yisi Incident, where troops surrendered at the mere sight of the enemy.

Furthermore, the concepts of "performance evaluation" and "land reclamation" are old clichés. Everyone understands the principles, but in practice, it's hard to say how much of them will actually be implemented.

These strategies are all on the right track, but there are probably problems with the organization and personnel responsible for implementing them.

Otherwise, it has been almost four months since May of the Tianqi era, and there has been no improvement whatsoever.

Zhu Youjian grew increasingly sleepy as he listened, his thoughts circling back to the 1.8 million taels of silver reward.

Compared to these ten strategies that are all logically sound, he is now more concerned with that more practical problem.

How can I protect my money in a dignified and polite way?
Or, if it is destined to be lost, where can it be made up for?

　The ten strategies proposed by Guo Yunhou at the conference on Confucianism and Taoism:
　　One proposal was to reduce expenses, another was to clear military pay, another was to stockpile salt, another was to establish border granaries, another was to return precedents, another was to clear tax deeds, another was to sell grain warehouses, another was to buy grain and store it, another was to use tax revenue to offset wages and food expenses, and another was to strictly assess performance.

　　-
　　Apocalypse's reply was, "It's all OK, it's fine, go do it."

　　And then that was the last thing I heard.

　　Because there was no one in charge, once things were scattered, no one cared and no one did anything.

　　-
　　The only thing that was accomplished was Guo Yunhou's application to establish an "Accounting Bureau" to take stock of the nation's military forces and finances.

　　Emperor Tianqi appointed him as a Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue to oversee the matter, and then added two more Vice Ministers of the Ministry of Revenue, along with titles from the Ministry of War and the Censorate, to facilitate his work.

　　-
　　These two events happened on the same day, but the results were completely different, which is quite interesting.

　　-
　　Starting today, I will be posting two chapters together. If I really can't finish writing them, I will explain.

　　I don't have the ability to add more chapters, so this is the only way I can repay you.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)