How can one be Emperor Chongzhen without money?

Chapter 97 I've won! The Ming Dynasty is saved! (Seventeenth update)
The oil lamp in the Henan Guild Hall flickered in the wind. Niu Jinxing gripped a rough porcelain wine bowl, his knuckles turning white. "The court is beyond saving! Corrupt officials are in power, and they're increasing the Liaodong levy! Heaven isn't even giving us food. In Henan, a bushel of wheat costs three qian of silver, while the poor in Shaanxi are starving and gnawing on tree bark..." He gulped down a mouthful of cheap wine, his throat burning. "No matter how solid my writing is, what good is it! Those people in the cabinet only care about the silver in Jiangnan and the military merits in Liaodong. Who cares about the lives of the common people?"

Niu Jinxing's fellow Henan native, Li Xin, a scholar from Kaifeng Prefecture, Henan, snatched the wine bowl: "Brother Juming, be careful with your words! Didn't you say in your essay 'Asking about the Vastness of Imperial Salaries' that 'the border troops and military households are the foundation'? As long as the court upholds the foundation of military households, the country will not fall into chaos?"

"Border soldiers and their households?" Niu Jinxing slammed his hand on the table and sneered. "Border soldiers will rebel when they're starving, but the common people won't? Take Henan, for example. At least seven or eight out of ten acres of land belong to princes and gentry. And princes, officials, scholars, and licentiates all have ways to avoid paying taxes, leaving the entire burden of taxes on the shoulders of ordinary people!" He swished his wine on the table. "Although the official land tax isn't heavy at all, if most of the land isn't taxed, what about the remaining two or three tenths? They have to bear the entire tax burden? Add to that the bureaucrats' kicking and shoving, the fire loss and deductions... After paying the imperial taxes, how many grains of rice will be left in the pot?"

He became increasingly agitated as he spoke, his eyes reddening: "And then there's that 'treasonous land registration'! Wealthy households register their land under the names of scholars who passed the imperial examinations to evade taxes. Even large merchants would hire a scholar or a graduate to accompany them when transporting goods, so they could pass through customs without paying taxes based on their academic qualifications!" He gave a cold laugh, "With this kind of practice, the refugees in Shaanxi and Shanxi are just the beginning! Henan, Shandong, Beizhili... sooner or later, war will break out everywhere!"

Li Xin lowered his voice: "Lifting the ban on the four occupations of members of the imperial family might alleviate the situation..."

"A drop in the ocean!" Niu Jinxing scoffed. "How many members of the imperial family are below the rank of general? How many of them can actually do business or farm? And shouldn't they be exempt from taxes? In the end, it's just another group of tax evaders."

"What truly needs to be addressed are the corruption of officials, the tax exemptions and concealment of land by gentry, and the land hoarding by princes and military families. If these mountains aren't removed, the Ming Dynasty will collapse sooner or later!" He suddenly leaned closer, his breath reeking of alcohol on Li Xin's face. "Believe it or not? Imposing a land tax on gentry would increase annual revenue by three million taels! A strict investigation into official corruption could reduce grain losses by 30%! Forcing princes and military families to relinquish half of their estates to military households would significantly reduce the deficit in grain and provisions for the nine border regions! If we can plug the hole of evaded commercial taxes, the soldiers of the nine border regions and thirteen garrisons could potentially have full rations and pay!"

Li Xin gasped, "Are they trying to eradicate the very foundation...?"

"The fundamental thing?" Niu Jinxing's eyes squinted drunkenly. "The fundamental thing is that the people have enough to eat! And that the border troops don't rebel! Now even these two things are almost impossible to maintain, so what is the fundamental thing?" He grabbed a wine jar and poured wine with a splash. "Take the imperial examination for example—the selection of officials only focuses on the eight-legged essay, regardless of whether you understand money, grain, or criminal law! Of the hundreds of candidates in Henan, less than ten know how to farm, and at most twenty know how to do accounting! What can such people do as county magistrates besides extorting money from the land?"

Before the words were even finished, a gong suddenly sounded outside the hall! The sound of horses' hooves was as fast as a torrential rain, and a shout came: "Good news! Master Niu from Lushi County, Henan Prefecture, has achieved the top rank in the imperial examination of the year Wuchen!"

Clang! The wine bowl shattered into pieces.

Niu Jinxing stood frozen in place, all the blood rushing to his head. The messenger rushed in like a whirlwind, unfurling a large red proclamation: "Congratulations, Scholar Niu! His Majesty has praised you, saying 'every word is absolutely true,' and personally appointed you as the top scholar!"

Li Xin gave him a hard shove: "Brother Niu! Quickly thank the emperor! You're the top scholar!"

"I passed! I passed! I even became the top scholar!" Niu Jinxing shook his head repeatedly. "Impossible! Impossible! I didn't write my eight-legged essay well, how could I have become the top scholar? I must be drunk!"

Li Xin had already received the bright red news report. He slipped a silver ingot to the messenger to send him away, then examined the report closely before turning to Niu Jinxing and smiling, "Brother Juming, you really passed! You're the top scholar in this year's imperial examination, first in the spring!"

"Really? Really?" Niu Jinxing still found it unbelievable. He knew his own writing skills; passing the exam was already a stroke of luck. How could he possibly be first in the provincial examination? Could it be that this year's provincial examination was truly lacking in talent? And it was his turn, Niu Jinxing, to be first?
"Really! Really, Brother Juming! It seems your essay was correct, which is why you got the top score!" Li Xin was quite capable and immediately guessed what had happened. He also showed surprise—his essay was also excellent, and he might even pass the imperial examination!

Niu Jinxing finally came to his senses, knelt down with a thud, and kowtowed repeatedly towards the Forbidden City. His forehead was swollen from the repeated kowtows, and his voice was trembling with tears: "Your Majesty, I... thank you for your divine grace!"

When he looked up, tears streamed down his face, and his eyes burned with loyalty. The resentment he had felt earlier, cursing the court as "hopeless," had now transformed into burning loyalty—His Majesty is wise! His Majesty understands me! There is still hope for the Ming Dynasty!

Outside the gates of the Imperial Examination Hall in Beijing, crowds of people were packed together.

The policy essays copied on yellow paper hung high on the wall, and candidates from all over the country would stand on tiptoe to see them—those were the policy essays of the first and second place winners in the imperial examination!

The scholar in the blue robe clicked his tongue in amazement and said, "Niu Jinxing's 'fight for every grain of rice' strategy is brilliant! In western and southern Liaoning, we should fortify our defenses and clear the fields. In Ji, Xuan, Chang, and Da, we should build deep trenches and high walls, so that the Jurchens will not be able to seize a single grain of rice. If we do this, the Jurchens will not be able to plunder, and they will be impoverished in five or ten years!"

Someone nearby shook their head: "Armchair strategist! At this rate, when will Liaodong be recovered? Are we going to collect Liaodong taxes for another ten or eight years?"

Another person lowered their voice and said, "Huang Zongxi's 'lifting the ban on members of the imperial family' is truly ruthless! Those below the rank of quasi-general are left to fend for themselves. Isn't this cutting off the lifeline of the Zhu family's descendants?"

"What path to survival?" An old scholar in worn-out Confucian robes smiled bitterly. "It's more like opening up a way to make a living. Among the imperial family, only the princes live comfortably, while the lower-ranking members are as miserable as beggars." He stroked his beard. "But if the restrictions on the fiefdoms are really lifted, these imperial family members will probably act recklessly, relying on their ancestral tablets!"

On the periphery of the crowd, several officials in plain clothes stood silently. These were Yuan Chonghuan, Sun Yuanhua, Sun Chuanting, and others who had been summoned to the capital by imperial decree and were awaiting an audience with Emperor Chongzhen.

Yuan Chonghuan stroked his beard and pondered, "This strategy... I'm afraid it will force all the tribes outside the Great Wall to submit to the Jurchens."

Sun Yuanhua said in a low voice, "Fortifying the walls and clearing the fields, building deep trenches and high ramparts, will cost a huge amount of money."

Sun Chuanting, who had just been transferred back from Datong, shook his head and sighed: "Shanxi and Shaanxi are facing a severe drought, but the court does not think about disaster relief and only knows how to reinforce the border walls." The three of them looked at each other with questioning expressions—how could Qian Qianyi dare to select such a deadly policy essay as the top scholar?

In a corner of the crowd, "Zhu Siming" (Emperor Chongzhen), dressed in a blue cloth robe, accompanied by Xu Qinian, who was dressed as a steward, and two strong attendants (Zhou Yuji and Huang Degong), listened quietly to the scholars' discussions.

“Niu Huiyuan is right!” A scholar with a Shaanxi accent exclaimed to his companion, “The Ming Dynasty truly shares the empire with its military households. When the border troops protest for their pay, the whole country is shaken! And the root of the border troops’ hardship lies in the fact that their land has been seized by princes and military families! If we follow Huang Zongxi’s strategy, we can relocate the military households from Shaanxi and Gansu to Sichuan and grant them land, and then relocate the princes to pacify the remote and uncivilized areas…” He lowered his voice, “This is indeed a way to alleviate the crisis!”

The old scholar beside him sighed, "The strategy is good, but Qian Muzhai's audacity to accept it is truly remarkable! This is not selecting officials; it's clearly taking the blame for His Majesty!"

Upon hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen's lips curled up slightly, but he remained silent, continuing to move forward and listen.

Several candidates with Jiangnan accents were engaged in a heated debate:
"Imposing a land tax on gentry? And rigorously investigating corruption among officials? Niu Jinxing really dares to write this!"

"Otherwise what? In Henan, out of ten acres of land, seven or eight acres are in the hands of princes and gentry who don't pay taxes, leaving the burden of taxes entirely on the shoulders of ordinary people! If this isn't addressed, war will break out everywhere!"

"But my Jiangnan..."

Mentioning the few scholars from Jiangnan with their Jiangnan accents only evokes sighs. If a prince from Henan came to Jiangnan, wouldn't he be forced to accept Jiangnan's taxes and provisions?

Upon hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen gave a bitter smile—the revolution had come to their own doorstep, and not everyone had the experience of "climbing a tree" to make the decision to carry out the revolution.

Suddenly, the discussion of several candidates with Shandong accents caught Chongzhen's attention:

"I heard that His Majesty intends to establish three fiefdoms: Ningyuan, Jinzhou, and Lushun, with each fiefdom receiving an annual stipend of 760,000 taels of silver?"

"If this really reduces the Liaodong levy, that would be a good thing. The only fear is that the old levies won't be reduced, and new levies will be added..."

"If the Three Feudatories are established, at least the remaining eight border regions and twelve garrisons will be able to have enough to eat..."

Chongzhen's eyes flickered slightly. Xu Yingyuan was quite capable; he had managed to get the news out in such a short time.

At this moment, Xu Qinian suddenly came up and whispered, "Master, Niu Huiyuan has arrived."

Emperor Chongzhen turned his head and saw Niu Jinxing, clutching a report of victory, hurrying towards him with a handsome young scholar in his twenties. Chongzhen quickly strode forward to greet him.

When Niu Jinxing saw Chongzhen, he cupped his hands and asked with a smile, "Brother Zhu, are you here to read the policy essays as well?"

Chongzhen smiled and returned the greeting: "Congratulations on passing the imperial examination, Niu Huiyuan." He glanced at the report of victory in Niu Jinxing's hand, "Brother Niu's article is likely to stir up a storm."

Niu Jinxing smiled wryly: "My humble writings are presumptuous, yet they have received the Emperor's favor..." He looked at the noisy crowd, "Brother Zhu, listen to their discussions, are they praising or criticizing?"

“There are few curses, but many sighs.” Chongzhen pointed to the crowd. “Everyone says that your and Huang Zongxi’s articles are full of courage!” He suddenly looked directly at Niu Jinxing. “If the court were to send you to Shaanxi to implement the ‘relocation of fiefdoms to Sichuan’ policy, would you dare to do it?”

Niu Jinxing, still intoxicated, sang with burning eyes: "What is there to be afraid of! Moving a military household to Sichuan will save the court a portion of rations; relocating a vassal will divert the flood of trouble westward, and the Central Plains will be spared a volcano!" He pointed sharply at the high walls of the examination hall, "Even if a thousand people point fingers at me, if it can be exchanged for a bowl of porridge for the people of Shaanxi and a coat for the border soldiers—Niu Jinxing will do it for the emperor!"

Emperor Chongzhen nodded approvingly: "Niu Huiyuan is truly a loyal minister!"

He then cupped his hands in greeting and disappeared into the crowd.

Li Xin gazed at the departing figure and murmured, "This man has an extraordinary bearing; I wonder which noble family's young master he is..."

(End of this chapter)