Chapter 639: Ama, the Great Qing Has Run a Deficit

"To answer Your Highness, last year the Plain Green Banner suffered a huge loss. All four Gushan Ejen offices reported deficits! The worst hit was the Gushan Ejen office under the Prince Who Pacifies the South's household — the accounts are simply unreadable!"

As Fan Wencheng spoke, he sighed. Under the Plain Green Banner there were four Gushan Ejen offices. Three were old Gushan, with their yamens located respectively in Liaocheng in the Eastern Depot Prefecture, Shangqiu in Guide Prefecture, and Dezhou in Jinan Prefecture. There was also a newly established Gushan beyond the Pass, responsible for administering the Plain Green Banner households who had opened up and farmed lands beyond the Pass. All four Gushan Ejen offices had reported deficits in the fourth year of Shunzhi.

The one with the largest deficit was the Gushan Ejen office under the jurisdiction of Kong Youde, the Prince Who Pacifies the South. The whole thing had been wiped out by the Ming army, and even Kong Youde himself had committed suicide for the Great Qing — how could things possibly be good?

And while the Gushan Ejen office beyond the Pass had not had its nest destroyed, it had lost the territory of Jinzhou Guard. Moreover, since this Gushan Ejen office was newly opened, its early days were difficult: large investment, little return, so a small deficit was only normal.

But the two Gushan Ejen offices administered by Shang Kexi and Geng Zhongming had also reported deficits, which greatly exceeded Dorgon's expectations.

"How did Shang Kexi and Geng Zhongming also run deficits?" Dorgon asked, his voice weak and listless.

No one knew whether he had encountered something unclean while tomb-robbing, but this Ama of the Great Qing had fallen ill before the new year and had been recuperating all along in the Mansion of the Duke for Perpetuating Sage within Qufu city. In the past couple of days his spirits had improved somewhat, but his complexion was still a waxy yellow, and he had little strength in his voice when he spoke.

He deepened his tone again: "Their territories were never occupied by the Ming army, their casualties weren't large, and what's more, they spent a whole month digging up graves here in Qufu. How can grave-digging and tomb-robbing run a deficit?"

Tomb-robbing could indeed run a deficit. The good things dug up all went to the banner lord, the Gushan Ejen, the jalan janggin, and the niru janggin. The worthless stuff was handed over to the banner — how could it not run a deficit?

Of course, Fan Wencheng could not say this aloud!

"Ama, the two of them lost only a little," Fan Wencheng said. "Shang Kexi reported a deficit of three hundred thirteen thousand shi of wheat, and Geng Zhongming reported a deficit of two hundred eighty-eight thousand five hundred shi of wheat."

Because of the full implementation of land enclosure and allotment, and the granting of land by headcount, as well as the drastic decline in population, commercial activity within the Great Qing was extremely depressed. Many goods were no longer priced in silver, but in wheat and cloth. It was wheat, not milled flour. Because wheat was easier to store and transport than flour, although the Great Qing's land tax was recorded in flour on the books, what was actually collected was wheat.

The combined deficit of over six hundred thousand shi of wheat reported by Shang Kexi and Geng Zhongming converted to roughly four hundred thousand shi of flour — not a small amount by any means.

"That's still little? That's four hundred thousand shi of flour!" Dorgon asked angrily. "What about the things dug out of the graves?"

Fan Wencheng sighed and explained on behalf of the corrupt officials of the Plain Green Banner: "Ama, the treasures dug out of the ground are very hard to convert into cash right now! With war and chaos everywhere, apart from the southeast where some people will still buy them, no one elsewhere cares for such things dug out of the earth. So these treasures have not yet been sold, and since they have not been sold, they cannot be entered into the accounts."

In truth, the Nine Great Imperial Merchants had followed Dorgon's army all along, and had arranged expert appraisers. Any good treasure could be converted into cash immediately, and how much it could be sold for in the southeast was the business of the Nine Great Imperial Merchants.

And Fan Wencheng had of course taken his cut, so now he had no choice but to speak vigorously on behalf of the Plain Green Banner. He added: "The bannermen of the Plain Green Banner have neither booi bondservants nor many tenant farmers to help them out. Once they go on campaign, farm work inevitably suffers. But even when they stay home they cannot farm well — they are all desperadoes living for today with no thought of tomorrow."

Hearing Fan Wencheng's explanation, Dorgon could only shake his head. The two Gushan yamens administered by Shang Kexi and Geng Zhongming had run a deficit of over six hundred thousand shi of wheat. Kong Youde's son Kong Tingxun (who had succeeded his father) reported over two million three hundred thousand shi of wheat. The three Gushan together had lost over three million shi. In addition, the Plain Green Banner Gushan beyond the Pass was of course also in deficit — over five hundred thousand shi of wheat!

Three million five hundred thousand shi of wheat! Converted to flour, that was over two million shi. How much land tax did the Great Qing collect in a whole year?

After reading through the annual report of the Plain Green Banner that Fan Wencheng had submitted, Dorgon's mood instantly turned utterly foul.

"Ama, there are also the accounts of the old Eight Banners... some deficits there too," Fan Wencheng said, watching Dorgon's expression, and added in a low voice, "Will you look at them today?"

"I'll look! Even if they're in deficit, I still have to look." Dorgon gritted his teeth. "Give me the number — how much is the total deficit?"

"The total deficit is over three million shi of wheat, which converts to over two million in flour. Adding all nine banners together, the total deficit is about five million."

"Five million?" Dorgon's breathing grew rapid. "How much did the court take in last year? Nine banners lost five million — doesn't that mean..."

Because Zhang Xianzhong had entered Henan Prefecture and the Third Prince had come down from the Lüliang Mountains, the autumn grain of Pingyang Prefecture and Henan Prefecture had not been fully collected last year, and the salt tax from the Xie salt lake had suffered another huge loss. The trade at Tianjin could not be conducted either, and commercial taxes had fallen considerably. So last year the Great Qing's land tax and commercial tax combined came to only a little over three million shi of flour plus seven or eight hundred thousand taels of silver.

Because the north had few people and much land, and even fewer city-dwellers who needed to buy grain, the price of flour was relatively low. The average grain price was about one tael of silver per shi of flour.

In other words, the Great Qing's total tax revenue last year was not even enough to cover the deficits of the nine banners!

And the Great Qing had more than just nine banners — there was also the court, the hundred officials, all manner of major construction projects, and all manner of ceremonies.

Furthermore, whenever troops were mustered for a campaign above a certain number, the court had to issue subsidies to each banner that sent troops.

All told, last year more than three million shi (of flour) had been spent!

"Doesn't that mean a deficit of over four million?" Dorgon's face was ashen!

A feudal state could be without money, but it could not lose money in great quantities! When the Great Qing rose, it had no money; when the Mongols rose, they had no money either. Without money, one could go plunder! Without money, there was the motivation to plunder, and it also meant having a low-cost army of bandits.

But losing money in great quantities was another matter entirely. The Great Qing of today basically had no ability to raise funds — that is to say, once the state treasury was exhausted, the losses would spill downward. There was no way to keep the losses on the state's books through borrowing. They could only be absorbed by the nine banners and thirty-six Gushan below, and the nine banners and thirty-six Gushan did not have much in reserve either. Once exhausted, the losses would press down upon the ordinary bannermen.

Once ordinary bannermen were bankrupted by losses, they would be unable to bear military service, and the Great Qing would be lost through deficits. Now the Great Qing would perish if it lost a war, perish if it won a war, and even if it neither won nor lost, it would still perish through deficits!

Why could it never escape a situation of destruction? This Great Qing Ama of Dorgon's was truly not an easy role to play!

"No, not that much." Fan Wencheng hurriedly said to Dorgon, who was sweating anxiously. "Ama, we seized a great deal of grain and goods in Qufu city. When pursuing Kong Yinzhi, we also captured several dozen carts of silver — altogether about one million four or five hundred thousand taels. Adding the value of the grain and goods, it is enough to cover more than half the deficit. Our Great Qing only lost less than one and a half million last year."

Still a deficit!

Dorgon's vision went dark for a moment, and he barely managed to steady himself. "How much of our old reserves are left?"

"After covering this deficit," Fan Wencheng said with a bitter face, "there will be almost nothing left. At most a little over a million taels will remain. This year the spring planting of the Plain Green Banner is certain to be delayed, and the war with the Southern Court must still be fought — subsidies will inevitably be needed again. Ama, it seems we must levy some additional taxes."

"How much can be added?" Dorgon asked.

"Add a million..." Fan Wencheng thought for a moment, then added a bit more, "two million shi at most."

Dorgon rubbed his big bald head, his brows nearly twisted into a ball. Last year they had plundered Qufu and obtained the Kong family's savings, and only thus had they barely scraped through. Where could they go plunder this year? If they could not plunder anything, how was the Great Qing to sustain itself? This Ama was truly not an easy role to play...

(End of Chapter)