Chapter 333: The Wailing of the Minister of Revenue

Zhu Youjian nodded, picked up the wooden mallet, and struck it once.

"Approved. From now on, we shall proceed according to this template."

"Henceforth, for all revenues and expenditures — whether they involve local or central authorities, regardless of which ministry or court they fall under — the Ministry of Revenue shall have the authority to inquire, demand the account books, and unify all budgeting."

His gaze slowly swept across the faces of the several high ministers seated before him.

"Begin with the Nine Border Garrisons and the six provinces of North China."

"Then gradually extend to every ministry, every court, and every prefecture and county across the realm — all must follow this method, one by one."

"Only in this way can the Ministry of Revenue truly become the ministry that measures the realm."

This seemingly ordinary exchange was, in truth, the Emperor openly and unequivocally backing the Ministry of Revenue.

The Ministry of Revenue of the Great Ming differed from that of past dynasties; its actual scope of authority and affairs was, in reality, not very large.

In terms of fiscal control, below it were the provincial governors and local magistrates; on the same level stood the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Works, the Court of Imperial Entertainments, and other such bodies.

These institutions, like a spider's web, extended in all directions, each possessing its own channels for the inflow and outflow of funds and grain.

Now that the Ministry of Revenue sought to consolidate fiscal authority from the hands of these various departments, it naturally met with subtle resistance from the original institutions.

The high officials present in the hall had not, originally, harbored much selfish departmental interest.

After all, the Great Ming's bureaucratic rotations were so rapid — one followed the office, not the person — that there was hardly any such thing as departmental interest.

But the New Policies' project-based system and performance-based system, while strengthening administrative efficiency, had also given birth to this very selfishness.

No one wished to see a department that controlled the purse strings suddenly appear above their heads, thereby impeding the progress of their various projects.

Thus, when faced with the Ministry of Revenue's intervention and entanglement, most people would evade and dodge as much as they could.

This was dictated by interest, and would not shift according to any man's moral character.

And the reason this fiscal budget proposal for the first year of Yongchang had been repeatedly rejected and revised —

was, in truth, precisely because Zhu Youjian was using this critical case to compel every ministry and department to cede a portion of their fiscal and taxation powers to the Ministry of Revenue.

Guo Yunhou breathed a slight sigh of relief and respectfully accepted the decree:

"This subject shall not fail Your Majesty's expectations. The Ministry of Revenue shall also not fail Your Majesty's expectations."

Zhu Youjian nodded: "Continue."

Only then did Guo Yunhou turn around, face the assembly, and resume speaking.

"The sorting-out of Xuanfu is merely a template."

"The Ministry of Revenue's current fiscal and tax consolidation can, for the most part, only focus on broad strokes, and cannot yet achieve a unified whole."

"Therefore, this budget report has also been compiled under the existing fiscal and tax system."

"It must still be presented under the two separate headings of old levies and new levies."

With a wave of his hand, the young eunuch beside him turned another page of the enormous screen-paper.

"Let us first examine the new levies."

"They can be divided into three categories: the per-mu land surcharge, the old levies, and miscellaneous revenues."

"Among these, the per-mu land surcharge originated in the forty-sixth year of Wanli."

"After two subsequent increases, it was finally fixed at nine li per mu, with an annual quota of five million two hundred thousand taels."

"However, many localities, unable to bear the heavy burden, applied for reductions."

"After successive adjustments, the final quota settled at slightly over five million taels."

Guo Yunhou's voice was steady and even.

"Subsequently, the eight prefectures of Northern Zhili, being the key region around the capital with heavy labor duties, were exempted from four hundred thirty thousand taels."

"After that, upon the petition of the Prince of Lu, the Prince of Lu's estates were further exempted from ninety thousand taels."

Upon the imperial dais, Zhu Youjian sat upright, his face betraying not the slightest ripple of emotion.

The Liaodong levy's surcharge was nine li per mu — that is, 0.009 taels per mu.

For the Prince of Lu's estates to be exempted from ninety thousand taels, that meant ten million mu of land — one hundred thousand qing!

Heh heh…

You should know that I, the majestic Emperor of the Great Ming, have imperial estates that total only twenty-seven thousand qing!

You goddamn Zhu fatcat, you've already sealed your own death warrant!

Guo Yunhou, naturally unaware of the bloody storm now raging in the Emperor's heart, simply fixed his eyes on the figures and continued his presentation.

"After that, the She-An Rebellion erupted in Yunnan and Guizhou, and the new levies from the four provinces of Huguang, Yunnan, Sichuan, and Guangxi were diverted to serve as the Guizhou levy."

"Of which, Huguang contributed seven hundred twenty thousand taels, Guangxi eighty-four thousand taels, Sichuan one hundred twenty thousand taels, and Yunnan sixteen thousand taels."

"Thus… another nine hundred seventy thousand taels were lost."

"After that, in the seventh year of Tianqi, it was further resolved that Shandong's levy quota be reassigned to Denglai and Dongjiang, to serve as the island levy."

"By this point, of the five million two hundred thousand originally intended for the Ji-Liao region, only three million remained."

Having said this, Guo Yunhou paused for a moment and sighed involuntarily.

Within the hall, several officials' eyelids drooped slightly.

Especially Yang Sichang and Bi Ziyan.

Both had personally handled the Liaodong levy, and knew better than anyone the despair one felt when facing those account books.

On paper, revenues and expenditures always appeared to balance.

But when it came to actual implementation, there were always reasons — of one kind or another, irresistible — that whittled away and stripped off the revenue, bit by bit. This was why, in the past, few in the eunuch faction had ever been willing to meddle in the Ministry of Revenue.

To throw one's own official career and future into such an unfillable cesspit was simply courting death.

Guo Yunhou raised his hand once more, and the young eunuch turned another page.

An enormous grid-filled table immediately appeared before everyone's eyes.

"This final portion of the Liaodong levy account books has now been fully sorted out by the Ministry of Revenue."

"In the seventh year of Tianqi, the land tax due to the New Pay silver treasury from all provinces and directly administered prefectures was 2,993,700 taels. The amount actually delivered was 2,598,855 taels." "The arrears rate: 13.19 percent."

He paused briefly at this point and added:

"In the sixth year of Tianqi, this arrears rate was in fact only 6.64 percent."

(Image attached — the table is very long; I'm showing you the first part. The Southern Directly Administered Prefecture's individual prefectures are listed separately because it is a directly administered province, so its subordinate prefectures are effectively on the same administrative level as Henan Province and Shandong Province. The Northern Directly Administered Prefecture is the same, but all eight of its prefectures were granted remission, so they do not appear on this list.)

Guo Yunhou highlighted the arrears rate, laying the groundwork for the report to follow, and was about to turn the page when a voice interrupted him. "Minister Guo, I have a question."

Guo Yunhou turned to look. It was Han Yiliang, Supervising Secretary of the Office of Scrutiny for Personnel.

This man was a jinshi of the forty-seventh year of Wanli, initially appointed as a County Magistrate.

And for the next eight years, he had been County Magistrate, County Magistrate, County Magistrate, County Magistrate.

Had the Ministry of Personnel not been stockpiling talent for the second phase of the Yongchang era, this man might still be spinning his wheels out in the provinces.

Han Yiliang was seen to ask, puzzled:

"Let the arrears of the various provinces and directly administered prefectures pass. But why has Jiangxi Province delivered a mere 8,400 taels, fulfilling less than one-tenth of its tax quota?"

Guo Yunhou shook his head inwardly.

Just as one would expect from the muddle-headed fool who, immediately upon entering the capital, had submitted two memorials in succession — the 'Memorial Exhorting Integrity and Punishing Corruption' and the 'Memorial Rectifying the Avarice of Civil Officials.'

He cast a discreet glance at Yang Jingchen, Minister of Personnel, and indeed saw him frowning slightly as well.

But on this occasion, appearances had to be maintained.

Guo Yunhou spoke gently:

"Supervising Secretary Han, there is something you do not know."

"By the established system of our dynasty, the summer tax is to be collected from the opening of the granaries on the fifteenth day of the fifth month, and be paid in full by the end of the seventh month. The autumn grain tax is collected from the opening of the granaries on the first day of the tenth month, and paid in full by the end of the twelfth month." "However, in Jiangxi, for reasons unknown since some unknown year or month, the majority of prefectures and counties do things differently from other places. They employ the method of deferred collection."

"The so-called method of deferred collection means that the current year's autumn tax only begins to be collected and transported in full in the first month of the following year."

"Therefore, in these statistics, Jiangxi naturally shows only 8,400 taels delivered."

Having clarified the matter, Han Yiliang sat back down, fully satisfied.

Yet this interlude stirred certain thoughts in the Emperor's mind.

Zhu Youjian's gaze, dark and deep, swept across Guo Yunhou's face.

This man possessed consummate professional skill and worked tirelessly without complaint, but he lacked the single most important thing...

Ambition!

The ambition meant here was not ambition for power, but the ambition to rectify the ills of the age, to act boldly and decisively, and to establish great achievements.

It was with this kind of ambition that Wang Anshi became Wang Anshi, and Zhang Juzheng was able to become Zhang Juzheng.

Beyond talent, this is the most critical factor determining whether a man can accomplish great undertakings.

Take this Jiangxi matter, for example.

If Zhu Youjian were the one handling this, he would certainly have gotten to the root of it, figuring out why Jiangxi had developed this habit.

And then he would have striven to resolve the matter from every angle.

Not like Guo Yunhou, who turned a blind eye and treated it as normal.

From this perspective, although Yuan Chonghuan had character flaws and was unsuited to serve as a regional grand minister, in terms of ambition, he was indeed fully qualified.

Therefore... Guo Yunhou is not the best candidate for Minister of Revenue!

His talent and ambition only qualify him to be a comptroller, not the CFO of the Great Ming as it enters a phase of asset restructuring.

Zhu Youjian's gaze passed in turn over the faces of Bi Ziyan, Yang Sichang, Lu Xiangsheng, and the others.

He calculated in his mind, but was in no hurry to change the appointment immediately.

In employing men and conducting affairs, everything, from top to bottom, must be properly prepared.

To casually promote talent based on a single policy essay, a single memorial, or personal preference is not the proper way to employ men.

Guo Yunhou had no idea that his political future had already dimmed.

He simply proceeded methodically and continued speaking.

"The second item concerns the collection of the Old Pay."

"The Liaodong Regional Military Commission originally belonged to the Nine Border Garrisons, and naturally had its own Old Pay quota."

Yes, the Great Ming's fiscal and taxation system was just that bizarre.

Liaodong, the birthplace of the New Pay, naturally belonged to the Nine Border Garrisons before the rise of the Later Jin.

And after the New Pay was established, due to the Ming's bizarre fiscal mechanisms, the portion of Liaodong's financial accounts that originally belonged to the Old Pay still existed! Even after the loss of Liaoyang and Shenyang, even after the loss of Guangning.

This financial account continued to operate silently, drawing tax revenues from various sources.

Consequently, in that strange place called Liaodong, two systems — the New Pay and the Old Pay — currently exist simultaneously.

Some soldiers even draw both Old Pay and New Pay on the account books.

Taking it a step further, because of the mechanism for deploying defense troops (Region A goes to Region B to help guard the home front).

When corrupt officials push their manipulations to the limit, a single soldier can simultaneously belong to the Ji Garrison rolls and the Shanhai Pass rolls, drawing three portions of pay. This is the high-difficulty maneuver, unachievable by non-veteran embezzlers — 'one soldier, three pays.' Of course, that 'soldier' himself certainly had no idea he was so wealthy.

Guo Yunhou, following the table, stated each item in turn.

"Among these, the the the Taicang treasury treasury treasury capital disbursement silver: 520,000 taels."

"Shandong civilian transport silver: 130,000 taels."

"Shandong surplus salt silver: 14,000 taels."

"Kaizhong salt certificate silver: 41,000 taels."

"Yongping civilian transport silver: 934 taels."

"Denglai assistance for Lushun troop pay: 9,640 taels."

"The above six items total 724,808 taels."

Guo Yunhou's voice echoed through the empty great hall.

"Within this broad category, some items involve civilian transport, or are remitted through the salt distribution commissions — the Ministry of Revenue has not yet received the local account books and cannot yet examine their arrears rates in detail." "But the largest portion among them is the 520,000 taels transported to the capital from the the the Taicang treasury treasury treasury."

"This portion has always fallen under the Ministry of Revenue's unified accounting, and the ledgers are perfectly clear."

"Taking just this item alone, the arrears rate for the seventh year of Tianqi was 36.24 percent."

"And in the sixth year of Tianqi, that figure was… 15.97 percent."

When those two numbers landed, the atmosphere in the great hall finally underwent a subtle shift.

The invention of percentages, the invention of tables, and even the invention of bar charts made those muddled accounts, originally buried beneath a tangle of complex ledgers, starkly and piercingly visible.

Every person in that hall was shrewd to the bone.

Some had not participated in the discussions related to this budget proposal, but hearing this far, they too gradually sensed that something was amiss.

This report on the budget proposal for the first year of Yongchang…

was clearly about far more than simply reporting revenue and expenditure!

Guo Yunhou visibly quickened his pace.

The junior eunuch turned another page.

"However, even if the two aforementioned items were remitted in full, without a single fen of arrears, that would only amount to 3,710,000 taels — still falling far short of the expenditures for Ji and Liao."

"Therefore, an additional levy of 320,000 taels in salt certificate silver was imposed on the Lianghuai and Changlu salt distribution commissions."

"An additional 30,000 taels in reed tax silver was also imposed, along with 65,000 taels in customs pass silver."

"Altogether, a total of 420,000 taels."

The junior eunuch continued turning pages, and Guo Yunhou's speech grew faster and faster.

"Now the sum has reached 4,140,000 taels — but it is still not enough!"

"Thus, from the third year of Tianqi onward, in every province directly administered, beyond the original land-acreage silver apportionment, eight additional miscellaneous levies were imposed." "Item one: guard station military farmland. For all military farmland under heaven, an additional eight fen of silver was levied per shi of grain, totaling 230,000 taels."

"Item two: commutation of exemption labor grain. With the exception of government students, the exemption labor grain for all officeholders was abolished. All civil and military officials, provincial graduates, Imperial Academy students, clerks, and sub-official functionaries were required to pay silver, only exempted from actual labor service. Total: 400,000 taels."

"Item three: price-stabilization granary grain. Originally, each prefecture and county accumulated silver in autumn, winter, spring, and summer for famine and emergency relief. Now, half of it must be turned over to supply military pay. Total: 146,000 taels."

"Item four: property deed tax. On all private sales of houses and land, an additional two fen was levied per tael. Total: 300,000 taels."

"Item five: pawnshop levy. All private shops were divided into five grades and charged according to grade. Total: 195,000 taels."

"Item six: governors-general, governors, and regional inspectors' public funds. The public funds and confiscation and penalty silver from the various provincial governors-general, governors, regional inspectors, tea and horse trade commissioners, and other posts were donated. Total: 148,000 taels."

"Item seven: deduction from militia wages. The wage silver for each militia unit was slightly reduced by several fen, with the deducted amount contributed as military pay. Total: 652,000 taels."

"Item eight: groom and attendant levies. Each prefecture, subprefecture, and county's chief and assistant officials were allotted grooms by regulation. However, most pocketed this silver, while still pressing the common people into service as grooms for daily use. Therefore, this groom service silver was deducted and diverted to frontier pay. Total: 95,000 taels."

Guo Yunhou finished reciting it all in one breath and finally paused.

In the hall, one could hear a pin drop.

"The above miscellaneous levies total 2,160,000 taels. After deducting the 480,000 taels allocated as Guizhou military pay from provinces such as Sichuan and Huguang, 1,680,000 taels remain."

"Adding that to the previously stated sums, and disregarding arrears, the total amount due for the use of Ji and Liao is…"

"5,816,602 taels!"

(Attached is a chart to give everyone a comprehensive picture — this is the full scope of the Liaodong levy, not merely the 5.2 million taels initially levied.) Guo Yunhou swept his gaze over the assembly.

His brow was deeply furrowed. As he announced this colossal figure of over 5.8 million taels, his face bore not a trace of joy, but rather a profound gravity. "Then what, exactly, is the military expenditure for the Ji-Liao region?"

The screen turned again.

"For troops beyond Shanhai Pass, commuted monthly pay: 2,690,000 taels."

"Fodder silver was originally 180,000 taels. Fortunately, Lu Xiangsheng went to Yongping to straighten matters out, and it has now been reduced to 72,000 taels."

"Grain provisions in kind: 870,000 shi. Of this, 150,000 shi is retained from tribute grain; the remaining 720,000 shi is procured by purchase, converted to 576,000 taels of silver." "Bean fodder in kind: 430,000 shi, procured by purchase, converted to 215,000 taels of silver."

"Furthermore, the above grain and beans, transported from Tianjin to Shanhai Pass, incur a shipping cost of two qian per shi, converted to 260,000 taels of silver."

"Plus 100,000 taels in appeasement and reward silver for the Kharchin and other tribes beyond the passes."

"The above totals: 3,910,000 taels."

"Also, the Ji Garrison… 620,000 taels."

"Also, Miyun… 300,000 taels."

"Also, Yongping… 240,000 taels."

"Also, Tianjin… 240,000 taels."

"Also, Tongzhou… 270,000 taels."

"Also, the commuted value of rice, cloth, and other goods shipped to Korea: 200,000 taels." Guo Yunhou flipped through seven or eight pages in succession, laying bare the expenditures of each military garrison with absolute clarity.

Then, at last, he concluded:

"Thus, the total expenditures for all the above garrisons within the passes amount to 2,322,094 taels."

"Added to the expenditures beyond Shanhai Pass, the grand total is… 5,784,102 taels."

(Also attached is a chart, for a more intuitive view. It must be specially noted that the troops receiving the new pay are not all stationed in the area from Shanhai Pass to Jinzhou. Within Shanhai Pass, there are also many troops deployed in layered defensive positions who draw the new pay.)

Having said this, he could not help but shake his head with a bitter smile.

"Thus, the Ji-Liao expenditure is 5.78 million taels, while the new levy, scraped together by every possible means, is 5.81 million taels."

"Calculating the two against each other — had Secretary Lu not made that trip to Yongping and cut 110,000 taels from the fodder silver, there would in fact still be a shortfall of 70,000 taels." Lu Xiangsheng sat upright in his chair, his back ramrod straight, silent and wordless.

He had never supervised the Liaodong levy before.

He only knew, from the Capital Gazette and from his colleagues' accounts, that the Liaodong levy was a disaster.

But he had never imagined it had reached such a catastrophic extreme.

Yet Guo Yunhou's words were not finished.

"However… if the shortfall were truly only 70,000 taels, that would be one thing."

"Where under heaven does such good fortune exist?"

"The fiscal policy of our dynasty has always been to set expenditure before revenue."

"But within these figures, the outflows are mostly inflated and wasteful, while the inflows are mostly diminished and shaved down."

Guo Yunhou's voice sank.

"The land tax silver is in arrears on its principal quota — in arrears by 394,000 taels."

"In the old military payroll, the annual stipend silver for the capital and the frontiers is in arrears by 190,000 taels."

"The salt certificate surcharges are in arrears by 53,000 taels."

"Miscellaneous items are scraped together from every possible source and have never had a fixed quota, but in the third year of Tianqi they brought in 1.68 million, and by this year they have fallen to only 970,000." "If we calculate by arrears, the shortfall is 710,000 taels, and the arrears rate is fully 42.27 percent!"

"Therefore… in the seventh year of Tianqi, reckoning by the new payroll alone, the shortfall from beginning to end, counting only what is recorded in the account books held by the Ministry of Revenue —"

"— the total shortfall is 1.35 million taels, an arrears rate of 24.43 percent."

"Which is to say, over the course of a year, for a full three months the officers and men of Ji-Liao receive no pay or provisions at all."

(Attached illustration: by the way, we are recruiting the next Minister of Revenue for the Great Ming)

Guo Yunhou's expression was grave. He turned and cupped his hands toward the throne:

"Fortunately, Your Majesty's grand accession bounty was distributed to the Nine Frontiers."

"Of the 1.8 million taels in reward silver, the portion that fell to the Ji-Liao region cost nearly several hundred thousand taels — barely enough to cover two months' pay."

"Moreover, the various imperial commissioners sent out were, for the most part, incorruptible and capable, and were able to distribute the full amounts."

"In this way, those two months' pay could barely stretch to serve as three months' pay."

Zhu Youjian was silent.

He had not thought through all these complexities back then.

He had simply, out of habit, delivered a rousing mobilization speech from a later age, wanting to see how many of the Great Ming's young men could actually be drawn over and put to use. And, incidentally, to see whether he could squeeze the best possible effect out of the meager private savings he had on hand.

He had not expected that the speech's effect would seem to exceed all expectations…

Of the ten imperial commissioners he sent out, a full eight actually managed to stay clean.

And among those eight incorruptible men, occasionally one or two proved to be remarkably capable pragmatists.

Yuan Jixian, Mao Maocai, Gong Tingxian, Chen Xiance…

Many of the able officers now serving in the Secretariat were sifted out from that cohort of messengers and Secretariat drafter-clerks who had delivered pay to the Nine Frontiers.

And they, in very real and tangible ways, were now steadily shining and bringing their heat to bear in every arena.

After the new-payroll project came the traditional old payroll of the Nine Frontiers.

Guo Yunhou turned the screen pages one by one.

He meticulously enumerated the arrears accumulated over the years in each of the Nine Frontier garrisons.

At last, he stilled his hands, looked at the assembled ministers in the hall, and summarized:

"Take Xuanfu as an example. Of its military payroll, civilian-transport silver accounts for 55 percent, capital-transport silver for 26.4 percent, military farmland for 12.5 percent, and the kaizhong salt system for 6 permil." "Of these, the three items of civilian transport, military farmland, and kaizhong are all ledgers that the Ministry of Revenue has not yet finished clearing, and they cannot be itemized as clearly as the new payroll." "But looking only at the single item of capital-transport silver that the Ministry of Revenue can audit —"

"— since the Wanli era, the old payroll of the Nine Frontiers has accumulated arrears of close to ten million taels."

"The old payroll's annual remittance quota is 2.8 million taels, but in the seventh year of Tianqi, the actual remittance was only 1.79 million taels — a shortfall of one million, an arrears rate of 36.24 percent."

"And in the sixth year of Tianqi… that figure was 15.97 percent."

(Attached illustration: the old payroll and the new payroll are actually levied together, but officials will certainly be more inclined to meet the new-payroll targets, so the arrears on the old payroll will be far higher than on the new. In this chart, South Zhili is not a top taxpayer but rather a top arrears offender. Even the salt-tax silver, usually quite reliable, will fall into arrears on this front.)

At this point, he finally began his concluding remarks for this section of the report.

"Therefore, by the Ministry of Revenue's estimate —"

"— reckoning only the two items of the capital-and-frontier old payroll and the new payroll that fall under the Ministry of Revenue's purview —"

"— in the seventh year of Tianqi, the new payroll is in arrears by 1.35 million taels, and the old payroll is in arrears by one million taels."

"In the first year of Yongchang, estimating by the revenue of the seventh year of Tianqi, the new-payroll shortfall will be 1.35 million taels, and the old-payroll shortfall will be one million taels."

"Add to that Your Majesty's pledge to repay, over the next five years, twenty percent of the Nine Frontiers' old-payroll arrears each year — that is, two million taels per annum."

Guo Yunhou's voice was rough and strained as he announced the final figure.

"All of the above, in total… in the first year of Yongchang, the fiscal shortfall for the old and new payrolls is…"

"Six million seven hundred thousand taels!"