Chapter 239: The interests

Beiding Niangniang Temple.

Taking a breath, Wu Jie didn't talk nonsense and asked directly: "Are your Majesty worried that once the army has financial power, it will not be controlled by the central government and cause great trouble?"

He was still a little nervous when he said such direct words.

However, this level can be passed no matter what.

After all, Wu Jie still doesn't want to be a simple jester or a favorite.

First of all, his goal was to get into the civil servant team and enter the official position on the road to the imperial examination. The civil servant group of the Ming Dynasty was the biggest force that determined the direction of politics and public opinion, and even the imperial power would be subject to it. If Wu Jie had positioned himself as a Dongfang Shuo character from the beginning, it would have a great impact on his future development.

As the saying goes, the emperor and the ministers of the emperor, Emperor Jiajing will live in a few years. When the new king ascended the throne, there will be nothing wrong with Wu Jie.

Therefore, he currently has two things to do. One is to pass the Jinshi and get the qualification to enter the Hanlin Academy; the other is to make his own voice in the political arena and have a certain impact.

As a modern person, he is not used to so many twists and turns. Instead of tricking it, it is better to hide his weaknesses and just say something.

Among the monarchs of the Ming Dynasty, Jiajing was at least in the top three in terms of his political ability and power struggle, second only to Taizu and Chengzu. Although his words could cause his displeasure, the reason should be understood.

Therefore, without caring about Jiajing's ugly face, Wu Jie said slowly: "It makes sense for Your Majesty to think so, but in my opinion, this move is just a temporary measure. The Lijin system is only to solve the problem of suppressing Japanese Japanese in the southeast. Once the Japanese turmoil is suppressed, it can be cancelled. Could it be that after the war is pacified, will the court still retain hundreds of thousands of standing troops in Jiangnan?"

Indeed, for example, the Zhejiang Governor's Office, who is currently in charge of the war in the Southeast, is not a permanent institution. He originally had the title of Minister of War, but for this battle, he was specially sent from the central government to the local government. Once the war ends, the Governor's Office will be immediately abolished.

Unlike the Qing Dynasty that followed, the governor system was implemented. The governor and governor were in charge of the overall situation, and the governor was in charge of local government affairs.

"A temporary solution?" Jiajing's face relaxed a little. When he thought, it was indeed the reason. The Zhejiang Governor's Office could be abolished at any time, and he was not afraid that someone would have the power to gain a self-respecting force and conduct separatist affairs after he had economic power: "However, once this case was opened, the country would have war in the future. The Ministry of War, Ministry of Revenue, and Cabinet would also handle this as it should. Wouldn't the world be in chaos? Those people are smart!"

The emperor sneered: "Once the country needs money, it will pay them, and they will be mourning each other, saying that they are poor when they see the sky. They even put their ideas on my head."

Jiajing's anger over Wu Jie can be understood, which is related to the financial system of the Ming Dynasty. On the first day of the twelfth lunar month of the Ming Dynasty, the cabinet, the rank of the ranks and the emperor will sit together to make this year's fiscal budget. There are regulations on how much money each department and local government need to spend. Of course, some margin should be left in this for emergencies.

The problem is that although there is a lot of spare money, it can't help but reach out. Therefore, the reserved department will usually be misappropriated before June. Once there is an emergency in the second half of the year, everyone will have to catch it.

At this time, civil servants will focus their eyes on the emperor's wealth and money. Anyway, you are the emperor, and the world is yours, so what do you want to do? If you are reluctant to bleed, you are a fool, waiting to be scolded by the imperial censors.

Therefore, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty were forced to become a fortune by these civil servants. They really borrowed too much. They borrowed it but did not return it, and their lives were hard!

Of course, there are also people who are unlucky, such as Wanli. Not only do they not borrow, they instead change their methods to enrich their wealth. The consequences of offending civil servants are very miserable. Therefore, Wanli's classmates are all in a group of bad names, mediocre lords, and tyrants, and become reactionary typical of the nine five masters.

"It's not messy, it's not messy." Wu Jie suddenly smiled: "Your Majesty is not thinking about it."

Jiajing knew that Wu Jiezheng was talking about the most critical moment and was not angry. In fact, he was now overwhelmed by the central government's bad financial situation, and he would not let go of any mistakes. The Lijin system is really tempting. In such a big battle, the military expenditure alone will cost 8 million taels per year.

It is pitiful that the current Ming Dynasty's annual fiscal revenue is only 320,000.

When Zhang Juzheng in Wanli reformed, the bank standard system was implemented and the one-whip method was the first to rise to 400 to 5 million taels.

The Southeast Battle has been delayed for a long time. The imperial court has demolished the east wall and repaired the west wall, and the loopholes are getting bigger and bigger, and there are signs of a complete collapse.

As for Emperor Jiajing, even a glass of poisonous wine must be drunk.

Jiajing: "If you continue, tell me where I am wrong, why can't it be messed up? This year, Mongolian Altan hit me directly under my nose. The southeast is not stable, and I think the north side will have to use troops for a long time. Once your Lijin system is released, the Xuanfu and Datong border troops will also handle this. By the way, there are Yan'an, Yulin, Shanhaiguan and Ningyuan in the northeast. The entire nine borders have set up their own checkpoints to collect taxes. I am afraid that even one soldier and one horse will not be able to control it by then."

Wu Jie: "The Lijin system I am in is only temporarily adopted when the army is fighting internally, but foreign wars are not used. For example, if the nine borders use troops to the north, even if the Lijin Bureau is set up and the checkpoints are set up, there is no place to collect money. The north is full of military towns, and the place is in decline and merchants are not good. Mules and horses are specialized in the court, so it is impossible for the army to set up checkpoints on the grassland. They really have the ability to kill the grassland, and the country has no border troubles."

"As for internal wars, the local area will be decayed. Not to mention commercial taxes, even land taxes, I am afraid I can't collect them. Lijin is just to collect the lost troops of the court. Not only does it have any losses for the country, but it is a good thing. Therefore, the Lijin system is just designed to deal with rebellions and civil rebellions. At that time, the country will be in chaos, and are you still afraid of warlord separatism? Besides, a righteous king has the ability to rule the army, so-called generals and generals. If the king can't even control the commander in the army, even if there is no Lijin system, warlords will appear."

Wu Jie finally threw out a sugar-coated shell: "Besides, if you really want to implement the Lijin system and set up the Lijin Bureau, it is impossible for the army to decide on its own. They will collect as much as they say they want, and use whatever they want. That is impossible. The court will inevitably send officials to preside over the use of taxes. Once the war is over, the army will be disbanded or each will be established, and it will be impossible to privately divide the use of unused parts and return it to the national treasury. Take the five southern provinces under Governor Hu for example, all are fertile lands. In a year, it is possible to collect tens of millions of taels of silver. If you are increasing the lijin, it is possible to have 20 million taels of taels. The military expenditure on the front line is only a million taels. Once the war is over, the national treasury will increase at least tens of millions of taels of gold to the treasury."

Before he finished speaking, Jiajing stood up suddenly: "Take it seriously!" A dead face had completely changed color.

Tens of millions of taels are the income of the imperial court for three years!

Of course, there must be many variables in actual operation, but it is still possible to get three or four hundred taels a year.

Why doesn't it touch people?

In just a moment, Jiajing's mind turned countless thoughts, but all of them were covered by the light of white silver.

Poor, it's so poor.

Jiajing and Jiajing, every family is pure.

Emperor Jiajing is not a deaf person, so why don’t you know how the outside world is talking about himself, and how can you not know what his family is going on?

As Wu Jie said just now, the Lijin system was just a temporary measure in the civil war. When it was really a civil strife, the country would not know what it would become. As long as it could eliminate the rioters, it would not be possible to take care of anything else. As for the emergence of warlords, it was not uncontrollable. The Ming Dynasty had already accumulated a complete set of political experience in the civil and military commands and the large and small counterparts. Emperor Jiajing was still confident in this regard.

"Report to Your Majesty, I have been thinking about this for a long time and it has been brewing and mature." Wu Jie nodded affirmatively. Seeing Jiajing's spirited expression, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that this level had passed.

Perhaps, this is an opportunity for me. After that, even if I had made my own voice in the political arena of the Ming Dynasty.

Once this Likin system is released, no matter whether it is supported or opposed, it will definitely not be a minority.

With the Ming Dynasty officials' spirit of fighting against the differences, Wu Jie will definitely have a large number of comrades. This is the foundation for his future foothold in politics.

"Okay, okay." Emperor Jiajing finally showed a bright smile and sat on the cushion loosely again. He pointed to his side: "Wu Qing, sit down, let's talk about you in detail."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Wu Jie also sat cross-legged as the emperor, and started to speak up the Lijin system from beginning to end.

Of course, Wu Jie completely copied the set of Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang back then. The data are detailed and well-founded, and naturally they are extremely persuasive.

Of course, he was not afraid of making mistakes. In fact, the data copied completely was conservative when it came to the Ming Dynasty.

After all, most of the GDP, which accounts for more than half of the world's GDP, comes from agricultural taxes, and is based on high-yield crops such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, and corn. As for business, it is still not as good as the Ming Dynasty.

Today, the Ming Dynasty is in the budding stage of capitalism, and the entire commercial society is in a booming rise. Lijin only collects commercial taxes, but in terms of quantity, it is much larger than in the Qing Dynasty.

Jiajing also saw this, interrupting Wu Jie's statement from time to time, correcting his data errors, and smiling: "Wu Aiqing is a steady person and refuses to speak full words. However, it is better to say such things as numbers, so there is no need to deliberately lower them."

Wu Jie was a little surprised. He didn't expect Jiajing to be so sensitive to numbers. This guy has a bit of the technocratic temperament of later generations!

Soon, Wu Jie and Jiajing discussed a practical solution. The Governor of Zhejiang Province sent people to set up a Lijin Bureau. However, the court had to send an envoy to supervise the use of funds and could exercise the veto power if necessary.

Of course, the emperor also sent a eunuch to extract 10% of the lijin collected to enrich the enemy.

Emperor Jiajing still did not forget to gain personal benefits from it. Otherwise, once the war is over, the surplus will be filled into the national treasury, and it will be difficult to reach out.
Chapter completed!