Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

"Shake your mother's head!" Emperor Chongzhen grabbed a plate and threw it at Zhang Shikang.

But what he was aiming at was the air around Zhang Shikang.

But he was really angry, so much so that he actually used swear words even though he hadn't sworn anything for years.

"Tell them to wait outside!" Emperor Chongzhen sent Wang Chengen away.

There were several cabinet ministers gathered outside. Ni Yuanlu and Fan Jingwen looked at each other, and both showed surprise in their eyes.

It was the first time they saw the emperor so angry with Zhang Shikang.

"Did the Duke of England tell you that? Of course he did!

This Duke of England does nothing at court, yet he dares to deceive you.

“I…I…” Emperor Chongzhen was so angry that he wanted to punish him directly, and fining his salary was the lightest punishment. But then he remembered that the fellow was Zhang Shikang’s father, and he became so angry that he stuttered.

"I will issue an order to reprimand him immediately!"

As he spoke, Emperor Chongzhen walked up to the imperial desk, picked up the brush and began to write rapidly, his hands shaking as he wrote.

A moment later, he wrote a letter of reprimand and immediately asked Wang Chengen to send it.

Then he frowned and looked at Zhang Shikang who was stunned by the plate and said:

"Shikang, remember this: I am not an ungrateful person and will never do such a thing as putting away the bow after the bird has been killed.

Stop talking nonsense, I won't let you down, and you mustn't let me down!"

Zhang Shikang was really confused. He didn't expect that the word would make Brother Chongzhen so angry.

"Oh." He responded honestly.

This guy is becoming more and more abnormal. Today, he got angry twice in just a short period of time.

It is true that serving the emperor is like serving a tiger. I am not lying to you, Zhang Shikang thought to himself.

Several eunuchs and palace maids came in and cleaned up the food and broken plates. After Emperor Chongzhen tidied his appearance a little, he summoned the cabinet ministers who were waiting outside the hall.

A long table and chairs had been set up on the west side of the Qianqing Palace main hall, and everyone sat down in the order in which they entered the cabinet.

Seeing that all the cabinet ministers had taken their seats, Zhang Shikang also stood up and walked over.

He was originally nominated by Emperor Chongzhen as the Grand Secretary of Wuying Palace, but due to his relatively short qualifications and age which was less than half that of the other grandfathers, he wanted to sit in the lowest position.

"Marquis Guanjun, you sit here." Emperor Chongzhen pointed to the seat next to him.

Sitting to the lower left of Emperor Chongzhen was the chief minister of the cabinet, Li Banghua, and next to Li Banghua sat the Minister of Personnel Ni Yuanlu and the Minister of Rites Cai Guoyong.

At the lower right was the Cabinet Deputy Prime Minister Fan Jingwen, and sitting next to him were the Minister of Punishments Fan Fucui and the Minister of Revenue Hai Zhongqi.

However, after Emperor Chongzhen spoke, Fan Jingwen, Fan Fucui and Hai Zhongqi stood up one after another and moved their seats to the back.

Zhang Shikang had just angered Emperor Chongzhen twice, so he did not refute and sat obediently opposite Li Banghua.

"Let's first talk about last year's expenses," said Emperor Chongzhen.

At this time, Wang Chengen came over with a teapot and poured tea for the ministers present, while the chief minister of the cabinet, Li Banghua, took out a notebook from behind him and opened it.

“Your Majesty, this year’s total expenditure has been checked, and the total converted silver is 18,763,200 taels, which is more than 8,500,000 taels more than last year’s budget.

The expenditure that exceeded the budget came partly from the Ministry of Revenue and partly from the Ministry of Works, but this part was only 30%, and the rest came from this year's campaign against Xu Hongji and other Jiangnan rebels."

Hai Zhongqi and Fan Jingwen reported successively that the extra expenditure of the Ministry of Revenue was mainly due to the expenditure on tax system reform and land reform.

Haizhong's return is more detailed, including the additional officials required to cope with the tax and land reforms, as well as other losses during the reform process.

For example, although many people were allocated land, they had no grain seeds to use. He then reported to the emperor and asked the Ministry of Revenue to mobilize grain and seeds. Emperor Chongzhen was aware of this.

Part of the overspending of the Ministry of Works came from the renovation of the Xishan Camp and a newly planned workshop area next to the Xishan Camp, and the other part came from the additional 20,000 Rumi guns purchased by Zhang Shikang.

Seventy percent of this batch of Rumi guns have been produced, and they will also be used in the Beijing camp.

It’s not that Zhang Shikang didn’t want to replace the firearms for the border troops, but the efficiency of the Ministry of Industry in producing muskets was too low, so he just wanted to use them in the Beijing camp first.

After all, if the central army is weak and the border army is strong, it will lead to chaos.

After the explanation was clear, the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of War each explained the total expenditure of their own government offices this year. After verification, they drafted a bill on the spot, and Emperor Chongzhen approved it with a red pen, thus putting an end to the matter.

This process took nearly half an hour. Zhang Shikang hated such boring meetings with a bunch of numbers. He was about to yawn, but when he turned around and saw Brother Chongzhen staring at him, he held back his yawn.

"Your Majesty, this year's farm taxes, summer taxes and autumn taxes are 620,000 dan of wheat and barley, 180,000 dan of wheat, and 260,000 dan of rice and silk, all of which are significantly lower than the previous year.

The above amount is 3,842,460 taels of silver in original value and 1,962,630 taels of silver in cash value, totaling 5,766,849 taels.

The actual amount of money imported into Taicang, the capital city, was 3.62 million.

The amount for the same period last year was 15,698,130 taels.

The reason for the sudden drop is mainly because the land reform this year delayed the farming season, and Jiangnan was in rebellion under the leadership of the traitors Xu Hongji, Zhang Shenyan, Qian Qianyi and others, and the grain transport was cut off. "

The Minister of Revenue Hai made a mid-term report.

The so-called original tax is the tax in kind, and the discounted tax is the tax in kind converted into silver, banknotes or copper coins.

The Ming Dynasty emphasized agriculture and suppressed commerce, and had long been a country based on agricultural taxes, but the Ming Dynasty's annual income had been on a downward trend.

The period with the highest annual revenue of the Ming Dynasty was the sixth year of Wanli, when a series of reforms implemented by Zhang Juzheng began to show results, and the annual revenue that year reached more than 39 million taels of silver.

However, these short-lived reforms were eventually overturned after Zhang Juzheng's death. Since then, the Ming Dynasty's annual revenue has taken a sharp turn for the worse.

In the first year of Chongzhen, nearly 20 million taels of silver could be received in cash and discounted, but last year only more than 15 million taels were left.

If it weren't for Zhang Shikang's efforts to put out the trouble, a few years later when the bandits became even more rampant, the Ming Dynasty's annual revenue would have been only a mere 4 million taels.

Zhang Shikang frowned when he heard this.

"Master Hai, I have a question.

It is understandable that the land tax this year is not much, but why is it that out of the total amount of 5.76 million taels, only 3.6 million taels were actually transported to the capital?

Where did the rest of the silver go?"

He had doubts just now, but he didn't want to interrupt Hai Zhongqi's words.

He originally thought that it might be due to the rebellion in Jiangnan that caused the interruption of the grain transport, but if this was really the reason, the land route could probably be used.

And Haizhong didn't mention this at all.

……