.The light passed by in a hurry, and in the blink of an eye, more than a year had passed. When the sound rang twelve times, it meant that another year had passed, and the Ming Dynasty had entered the fourth year of Hongguang. (Professional Provided

The three years of Hongguang were a stable year, and it was also a year of good weather. It was also the year when everyone felt that the tax was the lightest. It was said that it was stable, not that it was not that there was no war, but that the world was still in chaos, but the scale of the war was much smaller than before.

Li Zicheng and the Qing Dynasty fought in Shanxi for more than a year, and both sides were finally tired. Li Zicheng took the initiative to withdraw his troops and only occupied several cities on the border of Shanxi. The Manchus were not able to drive Li Zicheng out of Shanxi, defended one side and accumulated strength. Zhang Xianzhong wanted to capture Yunnan, Guizhou and other places several times, but was driven back by the officers and soldiers. He could only continue to be a local emperor in Sichuan. The rebel uprising in Shandong was one after another, and he could not stop.

What are truly stable are the provinces of Nanzhili, Huguang, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, and Guangdong. These provinces are the essence of the Ming Dynasty and are also the provinces with the largest population. If these provinces are stable, the Ming Dynasty will be stable.

In the third year of Hongguang, the East China Sea Fleet and the South China Sea Fleet jointly dispatched to recover Taiwan. After two years of hard work, the strength of the East China Sea Fleet and the South China Sea Fleet increased sharply, with more than 50,000 officers and soldiers, more than 1,000 warships, more than 1,000 artillery pieces, and half of the revenue from the court customs was used to raise the navy. Faced with such a strong force, the Dutch in Taiwan surrendered for only more than half a month.

Hongguang's regaining Taiwan in three years was more than the year the emperor gave Zheng Sen. However, this was because the emperor himself repeatedly delayed the time. Wang Fu always felt that he had to be cautious and cautious to recover Taiwan. He repeatedly suppressed Zheng Sen's request to send troops. Before sending troops, Wang Fu was worried that the East China Sea Fleet would be frustrated to capture Taiwan alone, so he asked the two fleets to jointly dispatch. However, he knew that the Dutch in Taiwan could not defend even for half a month.

If the Dutch governor of Taiwan knew the thoughts of the Ming Emperor, they would definitely vomit blood. Although they occupied Taiwan during the Apocalypse period, they had just driven the Spanish and occupied the entire Taiwan for only four years. All the Dutch people on the island had a total of 2,800 people. This force was unprecedented for European countries in the colonies. However, facing tens of thousands of regular Ming troops, thousands of cannons, tens of thousands of muskets, the Dutch's strength was less than one-tenth of the Ming army, and their weapons had no advantage. There were more than 100,000 people looking forward to the victory of the Ming army. It would be strange if they could defend it. It was already a miracle that they would not bully people without fighting.

After regaining Taiwan, Wang Fu thought that it would be natural for Zheng Sen and Gu San to win titles together, but unexpectedly, he was firmly opposed by the ministers. If he regained a small Taiwan, he could win two titles. What should he do if he regained various parts of the north in the future? How many people want to win titles? How can the titles of the Ming Dynasty be so worthless?

Although Wang Fu repeatedly explained the importance of Taiwan to the ministers, the ministers did not think so. Taiwan was just an insignificant island. No matter how important it was, how could it be compared to land? Even Zheng Sen and Gu San themselves believed that they could not bear the reward of regaining a small Taiwan, so they repeatedly resigned.

With Wang Fu's prestige, the ministers could not stop him from being awarded the titles to the two, but they were not convinced but affirmed. Since the parties involved all thought so, Wang Fu had to give up, but he was unhappy. It seemed that when should this national hero be divided?

This battle to restore Taiwan, which is sufficiently recorded in history, seems to be somewhat a bit like a killer in the eyes of the ministers. Except for the people of Fujian coastal areas, others do not even regard this war as a topic of discussion. When asked where Taiwan is, at least nine of the ten people were confused and ignorant. If it weren't for the customs income and the navy had a large surplus, perhaps some navy had just won the victory, some ministers would submit a memorial to cut the navy.

With the use of Lianghuai Salt Administration, the emperor set off a storm in the court in August of the second year of Hongguang. Most of the officials of Lianghuai Salt Administration Commission were sentenced to beheading and a part of them were exiled to Hainan. The Salt Administration Commission was selected by the Ministry of Personnel to take office again. No salt was left before, and soldiers were cut off from the army to serve as the land. Re-clearing the salt administration.

In addition to the salt administration system, this storm broke into the court. There were more than 300 new Jinshis in the land that year. There were no official positions assigned for several months. The emperor ordered them to go to the emperor. In addition, the selection of Yulin Guards, formed a team of 600 people to inspect all parts of the country. All officials who exploited the local government and increased the tax on the court were found by the inspectors. At that time, more than 300 officials were dismissed, exiled, demoted, and demoted. They were criticized. There were as many as 1,000 officials in the area of ​​the Yin period.

This unprecedented storm shocked all officials. The emperor was not blindly harsh on officials. Wang Fu naturally knew that it was impossible to both want the horse to run and not eat grass. During the Taizu period, he peeled corrupt officials and took over the corrupt officials. Corrupt officials continued to go one after another. The key point was that the salaries of officials were really small and he had huge power in his hands. There were always people who were lucky.

A high salary may not necessarily support integrity. It is just a low-paying official but it will definitely be bad. He studied hard for ten years and then selected from layers of choices.

There are few officials on the road who can truly defend the poverty. The court has increased its territory rapidly. Such salary is naturally far inferior to the income from corruption. However, officials in the land of integrity do not have to be like Di Hairui during the Jiajing period. Only when their mother celebrates her birthday can they cut two kilograms of meat. As long as it is not too luxurious, they can basically support the family and the county-level land chief. With their salary, they also have the extra money to hire several servants at home.

In the third year of Hongguang, the court once again raised salaries for officials. This time the scale was not as high as the second year of Hongguang, but it also increased by nearly 50%. The happiest thing was the officials of the Censorate of the Capital, the Imperial College, and the Hanlin Academy, who had no chance to make extra money and basically relied on their salary. The court's anti-corruption efforts could not be overwhelmed, but the increased salary was real. These people were in control of the remarks, and many of them were moral models, and they praised the emperor one after another. The emperor's reputation was very good for a while, and he was not affected by the previous punishments of hundreds or thousands of officials.

This large-scale salary increase did not cause too much financial burden on the court. In the third year of Hongguang, the court's fiscal revenue reached more than 40 million taels, of which the agricultural tax and other various taxes accounted for the majority, reaching more than 15 million taels, and customs tax revenue exceeded 9 million taels. In addition to its own development, the bank contributed more than 9.5 million taels of profit. The fastest growing was the salt tax, which increased from 500,000 taels in the first year of Hongguang to more than 7.5 million taels, totaling more than 41 million taels. Even if 30% of the regular tax left to the local area was 4.5 million taels, the income of the court still reached more than 36.5 million taels.

This income exceeded the best period since the founding of the Ming Dynasty. However, except for bank and customs income, only tax revenues such as land tax, salt tax, etc. are recorded, there is still a big gap from the 33 million stones during the Yongle period. After clarifying the administration, the people did not feel the aggravation, but instead felt unprecedented relief.

The salt tax was raised to every two taels of silver, allowing salt merchants to trade salt freely. The court no longer restricted the salt intake. The salt merchants lost many exploitation, and the price of salt fell a lot, from the original twenty-four and five to seven or eight pounds per pound to less than twenty dynasties. The fu increased from more than seven million taels in the first year of Hongguang to 15 million taels. Most of the local gentry concealed and reported less. This number was just restored to the level in the south during the Wanli period, and the government had less additional tuitions and a huge amount of fire consumption. The burden on ordinary people was generally reduced.

In the third year of Hongguang, the court's salary for officials reached more than 9 million taels, and the real big part was the military expenditure. In the third year of Hongguang, the court's expenditure reached more than 22 million taels. Excluding the more than 5 million taels of navy, the army's expenditure was still as high as 17 million taels. In addition to the expenditures for education, roads, river affairs, etc., the court's income was high, but it was a slight surplus.

This slight surplus is exactly what Wang Fu needs. Whether it is salt tax, customs, or banks, the tax or profit potential of these items has not been dug out. It is expected that within at least ten years, Wang Fu will not have to worry about feeling that there is no money available.

There was no extra tax, no fire consumption, and the year was good. Many ordinary people felt relieved. By the end of the year, almost every household had some extra money, and there was food in the jar, and there was food in their hands. They were not panic. By the end of the year, every household would grind a few liters of good white flour, buy a few kilograms of fat meat, and also pull a few feet of cloth for their wives and children, and make a piece of clothing.

On the second day of the New Year, the sky was just dawn and the sound of firecrackers became tighter. The whole of Nanjing was quiet in the bustle. Almost all children put on new clothes and walked out of the house regardless of the cold. They couldn't wait to show off to their partners.

The palace was also full of joy. Princess Jieyou and her younger brother were already two years old. Early in the morning, Wang Fu had just finished washing up. Princess Jieyou and his younger brother had already jumped outside Wang Fu's bedroom. Before the people arrived, Princess Jieyou's tender voice had already sounded: "Father, Father, get up quickly, we want to greet the emperor and grandma."

Hearing his daughter's voice, Wang Fu's mood was warm. In the three years of Hongguang, the stability of the court gave Wang Fu more free time to play with his son and daughter. He watched his son and daughter learn from babbling, staggering until he smoothly opened his mouth and called out his father. Walking like the wind, the pride of being a father is no less prosperous than governing a country.

Wang Fu walked out of the bedroom, and there were two dolls that were like jade carvings. Behind them were two elegant young women. Wang Fu held the hands of the two dolls with one hand: "Let's go and greet grandma."

………………………………
Chapter completed!