Chapter 302: Auditing Capital Officials, Proposing the Establishment of a Bank

Throughout the Ming dynasty, the court's collection of commercial taxes never ceased—on the contrary, it kept intensifying.

In the early Chongzhen years, the court imposed dozens of new taxes targeting merchants, such as the shop tax. In the second year of Chongzhen, the tax on every tael of commercial goods rose to two mace; by the eighth year of Chongzhen, the Hongwu-era rate of one-thirtieth was even changed to one-tenth.

Many scholars wrote poems and essays on this basis, saying that merchants across the realm were all groaning in discontent.

In fact, the one-tenth rate was already extremely heavy. The present Chongzhen Emperor had originally assumed that issuing an edict to collect commercial taxes would let him sit back and watch the money roll in, but thinking it over now, he realized he had still been too naive.

The fundamental crux of the empty treasury today was not whether the court collected commercial taxes, but rather upon whose heads these commercial taxes—which could well be called "exorbitant levies"—actually fell: the common people, or the merchants.

The present Great Ming court, though on its last legs, was like a centipede that died but did not stiffen; it was also like a dike riddled with ant nests—leaking everywhere, yet still standing.

If the dike were to be reinforced anew, these "ants" had to be thoroughly cleared away.

After two days of discussion, the Chongzhen Emperor had come to understand that if commercial taxes were to be collected now, the most fundamental thing was to apply the tax laws set down by the Old Ancestor truly and earnestly to those plutocrats, rather than spreading them all onto the common people.

The court's current intensity of commercial tax collection was already considerable; the Chongzhen Emperor had no need to levy any other taxes on top. A matter that had once seemed very simple had now become difficult at every step, involving so much. Whenever he thought of this, Chongzhen grew vexed beyond measure.

He was an emperor too—how was it that those Manchu bastards were so unfettered, able to do whatever they pleased?

The Wanli Emperor, disheartened by the infighting among civil officials, devoted himself to handling state affairs within the inner palace, only to be written up by the Donglin Faction as the worst sovereign in ten thousand ages. That pockmarked Kangxi spent his days swanning about in disguise chasing women and showing off, going down to Jiangnan at the drop of a hat and spending silver by the fistful—yet he ended up celebrated as an emperor for the ages.

It was amusing to think of it: a Han Chinese emperor going down to Jiangnan twice in his whole life was "wasting manpower and resources," becoming the fatuous act that doomed the nation, while the Manchu emperors went down to Jiangnan almost twice every single year, yet were praised as having had so much money they did not know what to do with it, and their trips were hailed as farsighted measures to ease court finances and currency inflation.

Are you fucking kidding me? You can't grovel that thoroughly! People who refuse to be slaves, it's time to stand up. The Manchus haven't crossed the pass yet—I've transmigrated here, so they'll never be able to cross it at all!

Wei Zaode requested retirement, and this reason was actually quite excessive.

Since the Wanli reign, very few civil officials of the Great Ming had managed to reach the point of honorable retirement; most were dismissed by the emperor, ending up in the awkward position of having neither salary nor title.

The Chongzhen Emperor's approval of Wei Zaode's direct request for retirement was already an act of great magnanimity, and adding the honorary title of Grand Preceptor of the Heir Apparent, with monthly salary and service allowances, was an even greater mark of Wei Zaode's unbroken favor.

Wei Zaode also understood that the Chongzhen Emperor's doing so was precisely a signal to the entire court: that he, Wei Zaode, was different from the Chief Grand Secretaries of the past—he was hanging up his cap and going home, not being dismissed and stripped of his wealth.

For a moment, Wei Zaode, who considered himself of no great talent, was moved to tears, thinking to himself that all the countless big and small pots he had carried on his back these past two years had not been carried in vain after all.

The other officials still mired in the muck cast looks of extraordinary envy at Wei Zaode—to serve as an official all one's life and still die a natural death in one's bed was indeed a blessing that ordinary folk could hardly hope to match!

"Counting all the officials in the various ministries and yamen within the capital, what is the total number?" After approving Wei Zaode's request, the Chongzhen Emperor had someone see Wei Zaode out, then turned to ask the newly appointed Chief Grand Secretary of the Grand Secretariat, Jiang Dejing.

No matter how dangerous the seat of Chief Grand Secretary was, anyone who managed to climb to it—even if they stayed only a single day—would leave their own page in history, counted as having earned immortal fame.

Jiang Dejing, always composed, was seized by an irrepressible secret joy upon suddenly receiving this news, thinking to himself: You old undying bastard, you've finally stepped down—you made me wait a hell of a long time.

Suddenly hearing the Chongzhen Emperor's question, Jiang Dejing hurriedly composed himself and stepped forward without a moment's thought, saying:

"Reporting to Your Majesty, the last verification was conducted in the sixth month of the tenth year of Chongzhen. Counting the capital's six ministries, the Hanlin Academy, and all other responsible yamen, the number of officials in the capital is ninety-six thousand seven hundred and four, of whom those of the third rank and above number—"

"That many? Nearly a hundred thousand officials?" Before Jiang Dejing could finish, the Chongzhen Emperor exclaimed in astonishment.

Chongzhen had known there would be many people, but he had not expected so many. His expression turning grave and his brow furrowing, he said: "Ni Yuanlu, have the Ministry of Revenue once again tally the number of serving officials in the capital, their native places, and whether they reside within the capital, and report all the detailed circumstances to me!"

Ninety-six thousand-odd people—and that figure was from nine years ago; by now it had probably already exceeded a hundred thousand. At this rate, the salaries paid out monthly and annually to officials and clerks in the northern metropolitan area alone were an astronomical sum, to say nothing of the countless more officials of all ranks across the realm who had to be paid on time.

The number of officials was far greater than the combined total of the underlings, runners, and soldiers below them. No wonder the finances could not make ends meet—feeding these utterly useless creatures was like raising the fattest cattle and sheep while constantly nursing calves that only knew how to drink milk; they would only grow thinner and thinner.

"According to what Wang Cheng'en has told me, since the Royal Newspaper was established its results have been outstanding and its achievements marked. I have long had an idea in mind: to establish a dedicated yamen for managing finances, to be called the Royal Bank. What do my ministers think of this?"

The Chongzhen Emperor paused when he said this, having nearly let slip "Royal Money House" out of habit—that would have been far too embarrassing. The common folk called them money houses; was the royal family supposed to call theirs a money house too? On reflection, "bank" sounded far more impressive.

At these words, the newly appointed Chief Grand Secretary Wei Zaode's brow furrowed, and he immediately felt something was wrong. Had he been too quick to rejoice? That old undying Wei Zaode had left, and after leaving had dumped a hot potato that no one wanted to touch squarely on him!

"This... Your Majesty, forgive your servant's dullness—what exactly is this Royal Bank for?" Wei Zaode's expression shifted; though he had an inkling, he still put on a look of utter bewilderment and stepped forward to ask.

After Wei Zaode asked, Feng Quan and the others hurriedly chimed in, and all the assembled ministers wore expressions of not understanding a word the Chongzhen Emperor was saying, as if they had all become three-year-old children.

The Chongzhen Emperor had no choice but to explain: "This Royal Bank is actually much like the private money shops among the people. Local authorities have long since reported that private coin-smuggling is rampant among the populace and cannot be stopped despite repeated bans, and that many local money houses, without this dynasty's permission, have privately profited greatly. I have thought this matter over for a long time, and I feel it must be handled together with the commercial tax."

"Whatever the local money houses do, the court's Royal Bank will do; and what they do not do, or dare not do, or cannot accomplish, the Royal Bank can still manage clearly and properly. Do you understand now?"

In his later life, the Chongzhen Emperor had been nothing but a novelist, and had not even paid off his own mortgage, so naturally he did not understand the rules of banking.

At this time, money houses reportedly already existed and seemed to be developing rather well. With such a business of turning one investment into ten thousand profits, not taking a share for himself would be doing a disservice to his identity as emperor—and an even greater disservice to the soldiers, runners, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard and Eastern Depot under his command.

The Chongzhen Emperor had not yet thought that far ahead. Relying on contemporary literati like Jiang Dejing to propose the institutions of later-era banking was clearly unworkable, but the collection of commercial taxes and reforms such as the bank were mutually reinforcing. For now, the only option was to use the court's authority to snatch business away from the local money houses by force, temporarily adopting the methods of the money houses of this era and gradually improving from there.

If it truly came to that, he had soldiers and power in his hands—confiscating their households and using their silver as his own startup capital was not out of the question.

In any case, the Chongzhen Emperor had already made up his mind: even if he had to change a hundred Chief Grand Secretaries, or dispense with the Chief Grand Secretary altogether, this absolutely had to be done! 【This chapter first published on Love·Has·Sound·Novel Website, please remember the URL】