Chapter 645: Time to Start Burning Silver!

"Your Majesty, if that is so, where is the tax revenue of Shandong province to come from?"

"Your Majesty, if there are no public fields, where are the office fields of Shandong's local officials to come from?"

Shandong Governor Gao Hongtu and Denglai Governor Su Guansheng raised objections at the same time to Emperor Zhu's land policy for Shandong.

Gao Hongtu added, "Shandong has suffered years of continuous war, its industry and commerce are in ruins, and its finances depend entirely on the land tax. If it is exempted for five years, how are the officials and soldiers of Shandong province to be maintained?"

Su Guansheng said, "Local officials in every province of the realm all have office fields to supplement their incomes. If Shandong alone has no office fields, I fear the officials will be resentful and slack in their duties!"

Hearing their questions, Zhu Cilang merely sighed lightly, then smiled again. "These past few years the court has fallen into the money pit, running local administration entirely by profit and loss. The provinces directly administered by the Grand Secretariat are all rich and peaceful places. The Four Rivers (Jiangnan, Jiangbei, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang are collectively called the Four Rivers), the Two Lakes, Guangdong and Fujian, and the two capitals, east and west — all are like this."

At present, the provinces directly administered by the Grand Secretariat of the Great Ming court were eight: Jiangnan, Jiangbei, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Hunan, Hubei, Guangdong, and Fujian. In addition, there were two directly administered prefectures, Yingtian Prefecture and Wuhan Prefecture.

These eight provinces and two prefectures had always been rich places fairly dripping with fat. The strategic plan Zhu Cilang had made while in Beijing was to temporarily abandon the loss-making northern territories and withdraw to the profitable southern territories to manage them with care.

Such an approach was of course bound to draw abuse politically, but with the Qing army entering the pass, roving bandits running amok, the northern climate harsh, and famines unending, if the "profits" of the southern provinces were not fully extracted, what was to be used to fill the deficits of the north?

The Chongzhen Emperor's failure, while certainly due to causes such as blind meddling and poor use of men, and also to the combined assault of natural and man-made disasters, had one quite important factor: the court failed to profit from the great prosperity of the southern economy, and even became a victim of that prosperity — the prosperity of the southern economy was to a large extent brought by the Age of Discovery, and the inflow of as much as several hundred million taels of silver not only brought prosperity to all trades in the south, but also caused inflation!

And the taxes collected by the Great Ming court were mostly converted into silver. Against the background of inflation, the tax revenue the court collected from the southeast, even with the three levies added on, was in real terms declining.

In the northwest, the situation was very different. Although the grain-price rise caused by inflation and natural disasters also reached the northwest, years of famine meant the northwest peasants had no surplus grain to sell, so the rise in grain prices did them no good. At the same time, because of the prosperity of the southeast textile industry and the Ming's near-total absence of commercial transit taxes, cheap and fine southeast textiles easily destroyed the northwest's "men plow, women weave" economy, making it very hard for northwest peasants to earn silver income.

Moreover, the northwest had always been a key border-defense region of the Ming, with many guard stations, many military families, and many princely estates (the rich southeast, by contrast, had hardly any princely estates). Large amounts of land were seized by officials, gentry, and the imperial clan, and the tax burden was pressed entirely onto the common people at the bottom, who could hardly obtain silver. It was entirely natural that official oppression drove the people to revolt.

Therefore, fully extracting the "profits" of the south to make up the deficits of the north was the only option — in fact, even into the 21st century, was China not following the same path? If 21st-century Shaanxi were made to hand over eighty percent more tax than Guangdong, could the people of Shaanxi even survive?

And before the south's profits could be fully extracted, there was no choice but to temporarily abandon the north to stop the losses — not correct, but unavoidable. Because the Great Ming court had no real power to issue paper money, nor the ability to issue national debt for financing, the deficits could not be passed on to the future. Instead, they were passed down level by level, until they reached the soldiers at the very bottom. And as the ultimate bearers of the deficits, it was entirely natural that the bottom-level soldiers would collapse and desert.

Of course, if Zhu Cilang were a military genius, he could also confiscate a few corrupt officials' households to raise some silver, then in a very short time train twenty or thirty thousand elite troops capable of thrashing the Eight Banners, and in the deployment of forces possess the ability to crush Dorgon and Dodo (considering the advantages in mobility and battlefield reconnaissance of the cavalry-based Eight Banners, nothing less than a military genius would do). In that case, he could indeed stay in the north to pacify the barbarians and exterminate the bandits.

But Zhu Cilang simply did not have that kind of military ability. Making money was what he did best. So now he had brought the south's profits to fill the north's losses.

Zhu Cilang revealed a smug smile and said, "Fortunately, the court now has silver. Last year we earned 6.55 million taels, enough to bear Shandong's deficit!"

"The reason I have invited you all here today is to discuss how best to use these 6.55 million taels of silver!"

What? All 6.55 million taels to Shandong?

The Hongxing Emperor's generosity is truly grand!

The ministers present were all startled by Zhu Cilang's words.

This was 6.55 million taels of silver!

And it was to be paid in full, with absolutely no arrears, and no ministry fees either — the silver was not even taken from the Ministry of Revenue's treasury, but transferred directly from the Ministry of Revenue's accounts at the two banks.

"Your Majesty, all 6.55 million taels to Shandong?" Shandong Governor Gao Hongtu was still somewhat uncertain, so he asked again.

Zhu Cilang smiled. "These 6.55 million taels will all be spent in Shandong province, but of course they cannot all be placed at the disposal of the Shandong governor's yamen."

"Naturally, naturally," Gao Hongtu said overjoyed. "The Shandong governor's yamen could not spend that much anyway."

Zhu Cilang continued, "We have now also taken Jinzhou Guard in southern Liaoning, so we can establish a Liaodong governor's yamen. On the Liaodong side, we can arrange another three or four million in deficits. In the first year of Hongxing, we plan to run a deficit of 10 million in Shandong and Liaodong!"

"In addition, most of the two prefectures of Nanyang and Runing in Henan are also in the court's hands. We can establish a Henan governor's yamen and plan for a deficit of 2 million there as well!"

Minister of Revenue Chen Rui's brows were already knitted, his face full of distress. "Your Majesty, that is 12 million taels! Last year the Ministry of Revenue's tax-silver income was only a little over 13 million, and this year's budget is already set, with a surplus of only three or four million. Even adding last year's 6.55 million, it comes to only about ten million, still more than two million short!"

"Moreover, Wu Sangui and the Prince of Dai's household have both sent men south to ask for money, and Ma Shiying in Sichuan has also sent men to ask the court for money. Wu Sangui and the Prince of Dai are both up to their ears in usurious debts and both want the court to take them on. Ma Shiying, because the remnants of Zhang Xianzhong's forces have entered Sichuan, is under sharply increased pressure and can hardly cope, and urgently needs the court to send troops and pay."

His job at the Ministry of Revenue had not been easy. He was a scholar by background, and even reading the ministry's reports was a strain. He had worked hard to produce a little surplus, and now people demanding money from all sides were flooding in — even His Majesty the Hongxing Emperor had begun spending with a lavish hand.

Zhu Cilang glanced at Chen Rui and laughed. "Master Chen need not be troubled. Once We return to Nanjing, We shall send you out to govern Zhejiang. The Ministry of Revenue's mess can be left for someone else to clean up!"

Chen Rui breathed a sigh of relief. Being Governor of Zhejiang would indeed be more comfortable than being Minister of Revenue. He just wondered which unlucky fellow would be stuck filling this vacancy.

Zhu Cilang then continued, "We had originally planned to draw Dorgon's main force to Shandong and then land at Dagukou. We did not expect Dorgon to withdraw on his own initiative. Moreover, Wu Sangui has been badly defeated by the remnants of Zhang Xianzhong's forces and is temporarily unable to campaign east, and the Prince of Dai has also fled to Yulin. It seems the five-route northern expedition can only stop here. We shall return to court in triumph before long!"

Could this count as "triumph"? The ministers present were inwardly uneasy, though of course none dared say so aloud, and each had to put on a joyful expression.

Zhu Cilang also wore the smile of a victor. He had of course won — one day this would surely leave a bold and brilliant mark in the annals of history!

"Before We return to court, arrangements must still be made for the two provinces of Shandong and Liaodong." Zhu Cilang said, "Today we shall first discuss Shandong. Shandong can no longer have one province with two administrations; establishing a single governor's yamen will suffice. For the post of Governor, We wish to appoint Gao Hongtu, Minister Gao! Su Guansheng, Minister Su, shall have another important assignment."

"In addition to the governor's yamen, Dengzhou shall also house two governor-general yamens: one is the Office of the Governor-General of Shandong and Liaodong Military Affairs; the other is the Office of the Governor-General of the Northern Seas. Shi Kefa shall serve as Governor-General of Shandong and Liaodong, and Shen Tingyang shall continue as Governor-General of the Northern Seas."

"Furthermore, We also intend to establish a Shandong Land-Reclamation Office, with Left Maodi, Minister Zuo, serving as Land-Reclamation Commissioner, in charge of land-reclamation affairs in the two prefectures and eleven counties of western Shandong. As for how the 6.55 million for Shandong is to be spent, the few of you should first discuss it and prepare a budget for Us."

(End of Chapter)