Chapter 381

Taihe Hall.

The great morning assembly had just reached the halfway point, and it was the time when the hundred officials were arguing most fiercely, when the war report from the front lines suddenly broke the deadlock.

The rebel leader Fu is dead!

The White Lotus Sect chaos that has plagued the Great Dayu Dynasty for many years has entered its final stages.

The rich Jiangnan land has returned to the hands of Great Dayu once again.

In the face of this good news, the Emperor and the hundred officials all had flowers blooming in their mouths.

"Reward!"

"Ministry of War, verify the military records as soon as possible and reward the meritorious officials!"

Emperor Yongning issued the order heroically.

Having been on the throne for so many years, this time the reward was the smoothest time he had spent money.

The Ministry of Revenue, which always loves to cry poor, rarely jumped out to sing the opposite tune.

Rewards are one-time, but tax payments are continuous.

The government army recovered Jiangnan, and the Great Dayu's financial income next year will definitely increase significantly.

With money in their pockets, the Ministry of Revenue can stand up!

"Your Majesty, the Jiangnan land has just experienced the flames of war and is at a time when everything is waiting to be done.

I implore Your Majesty to exempt the eight provinces of Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Nanzhili, Huguang, Fujian, and Liangguang from tax payments for the next three years."

Left Censor-in-Chief Ding Yushi proposed first.

On the issue of tax exemption, the Qingliu group has always been the vanguard.

If it were placed at the time of just ascending the throne, Emperor Yongning would definitely agree in one mouthful.

Having just experienced the flames of war, exempting tax payments to let the people rest and recuperate sounds completely politically correct.

But it can't stand the fact that the imperial court has no money!

The rebel army in the Jiangnan region has been wiped out, but the world of Great Dayu has not truly become peaceful.

Internally, there are rebel armies causing trouble in Shu and Shanxi; externally, there is Annan invading and the Northern Barbarians eyeing covetously.

Solving these troubles requires money.

Exempting the eight provinces from taxes means that after recovering the lost territory, the imperial court's finances have not improved, but instead increased the burden.

During the war period in the past, these eight provinces were all self-raised funds to solve administrative expenses and military expenditure.

Now that the war is over, the high degree of autonomy in the past must be taken back.

If the imperial court implements tax exemption, then the administrative expenses and military expenses of the eight provinces must be paid by the central government.

"Lord Ding, these words are wrong!"

"Currently, the above eight provinces are all collecting taxes themselves to raise funds for suppressing the rebellion.

Relying on the newly added tax payments, they completed the great cause of suppressing the rebellion and supported hundreds of thousands of troops.

If these taxes are exempted, the imperial court needs to allocate 21 million taels to the eight provinces every year to cover daily expenses.

But besides these eight provinces, the total income of the Ministry of Revenue is less than 21 million taels.

Where can this huge financial gap be filled from?"

Pang Chengjie refuted immediately.

Knowing that the Qingliu faction is unparalleled in eloquence, he simply was too lazy to argue and directly used data to speak.

No matter how sufficient the reasons for tax exemption are, the imperial court has no money to implement it now.

"Why is the expenditure so high?"

"In the past, the total administrative expenses of these eight provinces were only three or four million taels!"

Ding Yushi's questioning aroused the resonance of the hundred officials.

Having just experienced the flames of war, it is understandable that administrative expenses have increased, but they cannot be increased without limit.

You must know that in a bad year, the total tax payments of the entire Great Dayu Dynasty, when converted, were less than 20 million taels.

"This question can be asked to the Ministry of War."

Pang Chengjie said calmly.

War is the biggest gold-swallowing beast; the great war has just ended, and the biggest expenditure is naturally military expenditure.

"The garrison troops in various places are rotten and unusable; to suppress the rebel army, we can only expand recruitment.

Liangguang Six Towns, Huguang Five Towns, Jiangxi and Zhejiang two towns each, Nanzhili and Fujian three towns each—a total of 21 towns of recruited troops.

Plus the military strength of the Governor's standard and the navy, the total military strength of the recruited troops in the eight southern provinces exceeds 300,000.

The food, drink, and maintenance of weapons and equipment for these 300,000-plus people—the per capita annual expenditure is about 50 taels, and this part alone took 16 million taels.

After the war ends, grain prices will gradually fall, and it is expected that future military expenditure can be compressed to within 15 million taels."

Luo Zefeng said frankly.

The military expenditure of the Great Dayu Dynasty has always been very magical; the treatment between different units is a world of difference.

There is no doubt that these recruited troops formed by the nobility faction are all paid in full.

When civil officials are in charge, everyone has to live a bitter life; when their own people are in front, they still have to live a bitter life—who is willing to sell their lives?

Even if it is a newly formed unit, it has considerable combat effectiveness; the core reason is that the soldiers are full.

"The big head is clear; the rest doesn't need this official to explain, right!

Post-war reconstruction needs money, and the increase in expenditure is inevitable; this part cannot be saved."

Pang Chengjie's voice sounded, directly detonating the court.

Especially the officials in the southeast region, they couldn't accept it even more.

At the beginning, everyone accepted the additional levies, partly due to survival pressure.

On the other hand, several Viceroys made promises that all newly added tax payments were temporarily levied, and the imperial court would cancel them at an appropriate time in the future.

But looking at the meaning of the Ministry of Revenue, it is clearly not prepared to cancel them.

If they were in the position of Minister of Revenue, they would also do the same.

It was not easy to withstand the pressure and get money from the local area; how could they say they wouldn't collect it if they didn't collect it.

Even if the provinces have huge expenses, the Ministry of Revenue can still net a few million taels of income every year.

Not to mention that the tax payments added by several Viceroys are mainly aimed at merchants and do not increase the burden on the people, belonging to high-quality tax sources.

With the end of the war and the recovery of commerce, these tax payments will continue to increase.

"No!"

"This is competing with the people for profit!"

"This is impoverishing the country and using force!"

"Since the war is over, why keep so many troops? It's clearly wanting to hoard troops to bolster one's own power!"

……

For a time, all kinds of opposition voices were endless in the court.

Facing the intense reaction of the hundred officials, Emperor Yongning hesitated instantly.

"Your Majesty, why not let Lord Pang introduce the tax composition of the southern provinces!"

Wan Junhui reminded tactfully.

It is not easy to be the Senior Grand Secretary; caught between the Emperor and the hundred officials, the interests of both sides must be taken into account.

Standing from the perspective of the imperial court, commercial taxes have finally been collected, so they certainly cannot be canceled just like that.

But the position of the hundred officials must also be considered.

The people standing in the court represent the interests of the gentry group.

Merchants are the money bags of the gentry, just for the sake of reputation, most are hidden behind the scenes.

"Granted!"

Emperor Yongning promised immediately.

He also wanted to figure out how the several Viceroys of the nobility faction were playing in the south, and specifically how serious the exploitation of the people was.

"The tax collection system of the eight southern provinces has some differences in details, but overall it is consistent.

Although it is under the name of Lijin, in essence, it is tax collection.

According to categories, it includes field tax, commercial tax, salt tax, tea tax, customs tax, mining tax, liquor tax, and iron tax; other taxes like poll tax and tooth tax account for a low proportion, so we will skip them directly.

Among them, the field tax converted to silver is about 7 million taels, mainly due to war factors, and it is expected to increase in the future.

However, there is a large amount of collection in kind; after grain prices fall, the conversion to silver will decrease by another step.

How much it can grow specifically needs to be discussed according to the actual situation.

Salt tax is about 6 million taels, customs tax is about 6.8 million taels, commercial tax is about 5 million taels, mining tax is about 2.3 million taels, liquor tax and tea tax combined are 1.8 million taels, iron tax is about 1 million taels, and other miscellaneous taxes combined are 2 million taels.

The total financial income of the eight provinces is about 32 million taels.

For our dynasty, this number is a record-breaking one, but compared to the previous Song Dynasty, it is still far behind.

Of course, these numbers are estimated by the Ministry of Revenue, and there may be discrepancies in the actual amount.

For example, salt tax—this is collected directly by the imperial court.

After the war ends, the newly added salt fields along the coast must also be included in the imperial court's jurisdiction.

Whether the military expenditure of the newly formed 21 towns is mainly allocated directly by the imperial court or by local government offices—these all need to be discussed.

Only after these things are determined can the tax distribution between the imperial court and local government offices be determined."

Pang Chengjie said unhurriedly.

Looking at the surprised expressions of the hundred officials, he was very satisfied.

In fact, when he first got the data, he was also shocked by the money-making ability of the several Viceroys of the nobility faction.

However, with the precedent of the Southern Song Dynasty, he didn't feel strange anymore.

That year, the Southern Song Dynasty was in a corner, and its territory was not much larger than these eight provinces, but its tax payments were much higher than this.

"Several beloved ministers, you are truly my pillars!"

The hundred officials were still in shock, but Emperor Yongning, who was afraid of poverty, took the lead in expressing his position.

With this financial income, even if it is extortion, he recognizes it.

The newly added tax payments are concentrated on customs tax, commercial tax, mining tax, and tea and liquor tax; the field tax is actually reduced.

Although it has the meaning of slapping his own face—after he ascended the throne, he abolished the tax supervisors, and the mining tax and commercial tax almost returned to zero.

High customs taxes clearly violate the maritime ban policy.

But in the face of huge tax payments, these small problems are all forgivable.

Deep down, Emperor Yongning couldn't help but sigh that at critical moments, it is still his own family that is useful.

"Your Majesty, such extortion will inevitably lead to the people having no way to live!

I implore Your Majesty to revoke the Viceroy positions of the Marquis of Wuyang, the Duke of Cheng, and the Prince of Zhenyuan, and order the Embroidered Uniform Guard to escort..."

Before Censor Lu Guoheng finished speaking, Emperor Yongning stood up from the dragon chair.

"Embroidered Uniform Guard, take this rebellious minister down and interrogate him strictly!"

Facing the furious Emperor, the hundred officials who were preparing to impeach stopped their footsteps.

It wasn't that everyone lacked backbone, but mainly that Lu Guoheng's words didn't pass through his brain at all.

Opposing tax collection—just say the reasons for opposition.

Rising to a political height and attacking meritorious officials with groundless charges is very easy to be interpreted as the imperial court wanting to kill the donkey after the millstone is put away.

For the Great Dayu Dynasty, the Marquis of Wuyang, the Duke of Cheng, and the Prince of Zhenyuan are all heroes who turned the tide at a critical moment.

The Emperor didn't kill the donkey after the millstone was put away yet; once it really happened, the history books in the future would definitely record it with heavy strokes.

No matter how much one covers it up, it's useless; with so many officials present, someone will definitely record it after going back.

There are even more records among the people, and they will likely brain-fill and arrange a pile of stories.

Whoever dares to join in the fun at this time—once the incident happens, that person is the Qin Hui of the Great Dayu Dynasty.

Things that stink for ten thousand years—even for officials of the Qingliu faction, they are avoided.

The hundred officials are afraid of bearing the infamy, and Emperor Yongning is also afraid.

If he doesn't make a reaction and lets the outside world think it's his intention, the political consequences are unimaginable.

(End of chapter)