Chapter 148: Questions and Answers between Zhu Yijun and Huang Laifu

The East Warehouse is warm and peaceful, and you can't feel the chilly winter outside at all.

At this time, Huang Laifu saw the scenery in the pavilion clearly, the antique bookshelf, the voluminous books, and the large plaque with blackboards and mud gold on the wall. It seems that this place is where Emperor Wanli usually handles political affairs. It is indeed the soho clan who works from home. Here, there is no boring trouble of court officials, and he can do things freely. It is indeed a clever one.

However, Huang Laifu didn't have the heart to pay attention to this at the moment, and he devoted himself to the question and answer with Emperor Wanli.

Huang Laifu introduced to Emperor Wanli how Wuzhai Fort developed and his two battles with the Mongols. He heard that Emperor Wanli was interested in it and had a thought of flying outside the border. Moreover, he had a subtle feeling in his heart. He was very relaxed with Huang Laifu, and even felt a little lazy, just like two friends were chatting, without being wary or restrained, this feeling was something he had never felt before.

"Huang Aiqing, I heard that the merchants of Wuzhaibao are already developing outside the border?"

Emperor Wanli finally mentioned the point.

"Yes, the emperor."

Huang Laifu knew from history that Emperor Wanli seemed to be indifferent to the matter, but with the developed Jinyiwei system, nothing in the world could not escape his eyes. Moreover, if there was anything that harmed the imperial power, he had always taken decisive action and showed no mercy, making the opponent unable to turn over. In front of him, it would be best not to hide anything, otherwise he would leave him a bad impression and his future would be worrying. Of course, Huang Laifu was a time traveler's business, and he would not say it even if he was beaten to death.

Huang Laifu said frankly: "Now in the Ming Dynasty, I have many people and few lands, and disasters are endless, so refugees gather in all places. And the land in the north and the land in thousands of miles is mostly fertile land. What a pity to abandon it?"

Huang Laifu introduced some rich resources in the Hetao area to Emperor Wanli: "Only the Huangpuchuan River (the former name of the Ming Dynasty in the Zhungeer Banner) area west of the Guanguan, there are more than one million acres of arable land and more than one million acres of good pastures. Not to mention that the entire Shuofang land has tens of millions of fertile land and countless pastures. If it is fully cultivated, it will be enough to feed the tens of millions of soldiers and civilians in Ningxia Town, Yansui Town, Shanxi Town, Datong Town and other places, and save countless national treasuries."

Emperor Wanli was very moved when he heard this. Hetao was so good. In his previous concept, the land outside the border was always unknown. Now it seems that his concept is about to change. As Huang Laifu said, the land outside the border can feed the military and civilians in the border areas, then...

The situation at that time was that due to the continuous shortage of food in the north, the large amount of food needed by the capital and the army of each town had to be transported from the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, which was a staggering cost. Moreover, the food in the south of the Yangtze River is getting less and less, and even the land of Fujian and rice and grain must be taken in Guangdong. If the land of the north could solve the food problem by itself, most of the country's fiscal crisis would be solved and the rule of the Ming Dynasty would become more and more stable.

He hesitated for a while and said, "I am afraid that the captives will be nervous, and the country will be born again on the side. Now, the state is unable to use troops outside the frontier."

Huang Laifu said: "The emperor is wise, so the method I came up with is to use merchants as the forefront, manage foreign countries, and then eat whales and swallow them, and slowly restore the entire Shuofang land. In this way, the dynasty can restore the land of the ancestors without spending a single public fund. Even if there is any movement in the captives, the merchants will lose their losses, which will be without worries about our Ming Dynasty."

Emperor Wanli said: "Will merchants worry about harassment from the captives?"

Huang Laifu said: "The emperor is worried, but after the Battle of Ningxia, the Northern Barbarians feared our Ming Dynasty like a tiger, and they dared not harass them lightly. Even if they harass, the escorts of merchants are enough to repel them. Moreover, the chiefs from all over the Northern Barbarians are all people who forget their righteousness when they see profit. As long as they give them enough benefits, they will cooperate with us. After all, the enemy is not good at farming, and the land is useless to them. Instead of abandoning them, they are also happy."

Of course, Emperor Wanli understood what Huang Laifu meant, and he did not expose it. Since Yang Dawei, a thousand household of the Jinyiwei in Wuzhaibao, reported this matter to Emperor Wanli, Emperor Wanli, has been paying great attention. Huang Laifu used this method to slowly recover the Hetao land, and Emperor Wanli's eyes were also lit. He was worried about the reaction of the Mongols, and would cause any war disasters. He was really out of money now. After hearing Huang Laifu's words, he felt relieved.

As the worries faded, Emperor Wanli's thoughts surged into his heart. He said excitedly: "Building the Shuofang land is a matter that benefits the country and the people. Huang Aiqing just let it go, and I will support you with all my strength."

Huang Laifu was overjoyed, and all the last concern in his heart was removed. He shouted: "Thank you, the emperor, I will fulfill my mission and manage the land outside the border well."

Emperor Wanli lowered his voice and said, "Did the business outside the border really gain such a rich harvest? Those merchants are so eager?"

Huang Laifu also lowered his voice and said, "The emperor doesn't know that the land outside the border is vast and sparsely populated, and there are many land available. In the mainland of Ming Dynasty, even a hundred acres of land, the government and the people will cause countless disputes. Outside the border, even if it is occupied by a thousand acres or tens of acres of land, it is as if nothing happened. No wonder the merchants are extremely excited."

Emperor Wanli was even more moved and wanted to speak but stopped. Huang Laifu understood his intentions and said proudly: "All the king's land is under the world. The shores of the land are the king's ministers! Those merchants can occupy land in large quantities. As the emperor is the lord of tens of thousands of subjects, how can he... If the emperor wants to set up an imperial village, the weak ministers can handle it on their behalf, and the millions of acres of land are only covered by the ministers."

In the early Ming Dynasty, the treasury of the Ministry of Revenue in the Ming Dynasty was not divided between the treasury of the Ministry of Revenue and the treasury of the palace. All the money needed to be used in the palace had to pass through the Ministry of Revenue. After the mid-Ming Dynasty, due to the slow tightening of the national finance, the Ministry of Revenue's expense for the palace was tighter. At this time, there were more and more people in the palace, with tens of thousands of eunuchs and palace maids, and countless princes and grandchildren. The money allocated by the Ministry of Revenue can be said to be a drop in the bucket.

Therefore, in the mid-Ming Dynasty, the Huangdian Royal Village emerged and was used for direct management of the royal family. By the ninth year of Zhengde, there were more than 37,500 hectares of land in various places. In addition to the emperor's farmland, there were also some empress dowagers and crown prince's farmlands. However, the income was not high. The rent collected by the Huangdian was only tens of thousands of taels of taels of silver every year, and the imperial silver grains collected by the Huangdian every year were only 200,000 taels of silver. Moreover, among these silvers, such as disasters in various places and difficulties in the military's food and salary, they often had to allocate funds from the inner treasury.

These so-called imperial shops and imperial villages were always the targets of the Ming officials who were sick at that time. Although many officials had wealthier wealth than the royal family, from Huang Laifu's perspective, he felt that it was normal and reasonable. In fact, in later generations, whether it was Britain, Japan, or Thailand's royal family, the wealth they had was the leader in the world, let alone those rich royal families in Arab countries.

However, it was only Huang Laifu that could understand this phenomenon. If the civil servants in the court listened to Huang Laifu's suggestion, he would be the title of the world's number one treacherous minister. Fortunately, at this time, only Emperor Wanli and Huang Laifu in the cabinet, and even a group of palace maids and eunuchs had withdrawn, so there was no need to worry that this matter would be leaked.

Emperor Wanli looked at Huang Laifu's energetic appearance and felt that Huang Laifu was indeed a business expert, not like a general. If he only looked at his appearance, he would definitely be a fool. He nodded with a smile and said, "In this way, Huang Aiqing will do his best. Huang Aiqing can do things cheaply."

Huang Laifu said: "I will receive the order, and I will do my best to repay the emperor's great kindness."

It is said that birds of birds gather together, and people are divided into groups. Only in front of Huang Laifu did Emperor Wanli dare to talk to him about money so easily. If it were other officials, as long as they put forward this idea briefly, it would definitely be a huge advice. Of course, among the emperors of the Ming Dynasty, only Emperor Wanli dared to openly talk to him about business matters in front of Huang Laifu, the minister, and other emperors could not speak out.

From Huang Laifu's perspective, he is also selfish.

To put it bluntly, depending on the situation, your future official career will become bigger and bigger, and your influence on the Ming Dynasty will become deeper and deeper. I don’t know what the future prospects of myself and my family will be. If you have me and I have you, the safety of the family will be more guaranteed in the future. Even if there is one thing, if he manages outside the border, he can leave a way out for his descendants in the future. In the future, his descendants may be free outside the border, or in Southeast Asia, Australia and other places. Even if he goes far away from the Americas, he can retain his family bloodline.

To put it more deeply, the reason why he thinks about the Ming Dynasty in everything is to protect this civilization. How can he be overwhelmed by the collapse of the nest? He would not want his descendants to die in the future under the sword of bandits, or he would not want his descendants to leave a rat tail with money and be a pariah for the Manchus. The Ming Dynasty would never die.

At this time, Emperor Wanli was more intimate with Huang Laifu. He thought about it and said strangely: "I have something unknown. Compared with the Wuzhai Fort in northwest Shanxi, the land of my imperial villages is more fertile. Why is Wuzhai Fort harvesting every year, but my imperial villages are not harvesting every year?"

Huang Laifu pondered, based on the relevant historical materials he had read before traveling through time, and after traveling through time, the various historical materials of the Ming Dynasty were carefully investigated. The poor management of the imperial villages in various places was due to the problems of the relevant systems. Generally, dozens of people in charge of the imperial villages were eunuchs, official schools, village heads, peasants, family members, etc. These people did evil deeds, surrected taxes, enslaved farmers, and cruelly exploited farmers, which caused the farmers to continue to resist.

In addition, the operation of the imperial village is actually different from the local people's land. It doesn't matter if we work together to build water conservancy and collectively use oxen, etc., and it is still the same small farmers' business method, and they are unable to deal with frequent natural disasters. It would be strange if such a business system can have a good harvest.

Finally, Huang Laifu sighed and said, "It is hard to say anything. I have to conduct a field investigation before I can put forward relevant opinions. But one thing is certain, if I ask me to come to manage, the relevant management must be changed."

Emperor Wanli said: "I intend to hand over the imperial villages in various places to Huang Aiqing after the chaos in Korea is pacified. I don't know what changes Huang Aiqing refers to?"

Huang Laifu was delighted and thought to himself: "The emperor is really paying more and more attention to himself, and even his private industries are left to him to manage."

He thanked Emperor Wanli for his importance and said solemnly: "Taxes are included, and how much silver is paid every year, and then the management of the imperial village is fully responsible for the management of the imperial villages, just like the fields of each village in the Five Villages and Forts. Otherwise, the officials will not be able to let go, and the management of the imperial villages in various places will not be a good harvest."

Emperor Wanli nodded, stood up, paced back and forth in the cabinet with his hands on his back. Finally, he sighed: "The expenditure of the state and the country's consumption is increasing day by day. If you are sanitary in Ningxia, you will spend millions of silver and sanitary in North Korea, but you don't know how much silver you need. The treasury is empty, and the officials of the Ministry of Revenue are helpless. I wonder what Huang Aiqing has?"

In fact, he should ask the Ministry of Revenue for this question, but officials of all major and small departments of the Ministry of Revenue are clearly powerless. Emperor Wanli only hopes that Huang Laifu has some wonderful methods.

Looking at Emperor Wanli's expectant eyes at himself, Huang Laifu's mind was also running rapidly. The biggest heart disease of the Ming Dynasty was that the financial difficulties were tight, and this problem was laid since the beginning of the country. The various financial systems formulated by Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty were based on the local small peasant economy. However, hundreds of years have passed, and I have not adapted to the development of society and cannot be changed. The rigidity and chaos in the financial situation in the Ming Dynasty have long reached an unimaginable level.

In addition, the Ming officials made fraud and the basis for collecting taxes in the Ming Dynasty, the fields and population in the Yellow Book and Fish Scale Book are no longer real, and are almost purely fabricated. It is a joke that the population on the list in the middle and late Ming Dynasty was not as good as the population in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China. In fact, if there was a good financial system like later generations, not to mention the current income of tens of millions of taels of silver per year, it would be very easy to have a tax of hundreds of millions of taels per year.

Solving financial problems generally involves increasing revenue and reducing expenditure. In fact, it is basically impossible for a huge country to reduce expenditure when it develops in the later stages. In September last year, the military officers of the Beijing Camp mutiny, and even the Minister of Works Zeng Tongheng was beaten up, which is the so-called rebound in reducing expenditure.

However, there are many problems in terms of open source. The biggest taxation aspect is that the land mu grains are no longer real. Landlords and officials from all over the country conceal the land and pass on the taxes to the common people. The richer the richer the poorer the poorer the poorer.

There are also commercial taxes in various places, and the profits in them were all divided by major merchants and officials. The sea ban had been lifted long ago, and the country did not get much benefit except for increasing profits from coastal officials and maritime merchants. The country also had its own mines in various places, and the country could not receive any money. What's even more terrifying is that these officials and merchants who benefited have occupied the key points of public opinion. If the country imposed taxes, it would be strongly backfired by them and they would often criticize them for competing for profit with the people.

Regarding financial issues, Emperor Wanli in history solved the problem by using the tax on mining and the additional tax on three payrolls. To be honest, Huang Laifu was very supportive of the tax on mining and the tax on mining. If the matter is handled well, the benefits outweigh the disadvantages. But he did not agree with the additional tax on three payrolls.

Thinking of this, Huang Laifu said: "Emperor, the national use issue is complicated and difficult to explain at the moment. If you need to solve the national wealth problem in the long run, I need to think carefully and write a memorandum. If you only need to solve the current cost of North Korea, I have a way."
Chapter completed!