Chapter 649 The Ming Dynasty Treasury

Hearing the emperor's question, the Minister of Revenue Ni Yuanlu smiled and held an ivory board in his hand and bowed to salute: "Your Majesty, since the founding of Hongwu, among all the Ministers of Revenue, I should be the happiest Minister of Revenue, all of this is because of my emperor's wise decision.

It can also be said that I am the only Minister of Revenue since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, who does not have to worry about the lack of silver in the treasury. So far, except for all expenses, the Ming Dynasty treasury still has eight million taels of gold and silver and nine million yuan in dragon coins.

In addition, the Ming Bank also deposits 50 million taels of silver and about 40 million yuan of dragon coins. Of course, the Ming Bank deposits and dragon coins do not belong to the court, and both are deposited by the private people.

But it is enough to show that the Ming Dynasty is not only prosperous but also rich in the people. This is a grand event that has never happened in history. It is a gratifying congratulations!"

All the civil and military officials in the court knew that the Ming Dynasty was not short of money now, but they never expected that there would be so much money to save. The words of the Minister of Revenue Ni Yuanlu immediately made the Huangji Palace boil.

"So much, the Ming Dynasty finally has no shortage of silver. Oh my God, agricultural taxes are so low. Where did these silver come from? Are they all commercial taxes? Didn't the Donglin Party say that merchants have no profit?"

What Ni Yuanlu, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, said was as expected by Zhu Youjian, who knew how much business tax was.

During the Chongzhen period, I wanted to impose commercial tax, but was firmly resisted by the literati and civil servants. They said that imposing commercial tax was to seize profits from the people, which would definitely cause unstable people in the upper class, prone to unrest, and even lead to unstable Ming Dynasty.

In order to fight against the Eastern Abduction and to pacify the world, Emperor Chongzhen had no choice but to increase the collection of agricultural taxes, which was exactly what he liked to the people.

The imperial court increased the collection of agricultural taxes, and local governments once again increased the collection efforts. They were still greedy for making money in the national crisis, which eventually led to bandits and even the Ming Dynasty was overturned.

Since Zhu Youjian traveled through time, he not only distributed land to the people, but also exempted agricultural tax, and only collected land use tax for the people, and 20% of the tax was levied based on his income.

In this way, as long as the people have income, they will have 80% of their food stored and can also go to farms and work in the city to earn money, and their income will of course increase significantly.

With the opening up of the Ming Dynasty, capital was everywhere, and the collection of commercial taxation was a huge amount of income, which also destroyed various smugglers. Smuggling alone brought 30 million taels of income to the treasury.

In this way, the Ming Dynasty will certainly not be short of silver. In fact, the Ming Dynasty now has far more silver than the Minister of Revenue said.

The emperor's treasury still has several million taels, and the Royal Chamber of Commerce will not hand over its taxes until the end of the year. Zhu Youjian system warehouse still has more than 10 million taels of gold and silver.

It can be said that most of the silver in the world has been owned by the Ming Dynasty and the people.

Seeing the proud look of the Minister of Revenue, Zhu Youjian would not be dissatisfied with her loss of composure. This would be the case for anyone.

He looked at Xia Wanchun below and saw them standing there seriously, and there was no idea that the boy was thinking, as if the money from the Ming Dynasty treasury had nothing to do with him.

"Ni Aiqing, do you know where most of the silver in the treasury of the Ming Dynasty came from?"

"Report to Your Majesty, I know that most of them are levied in commercial taxes. At that time, I was ignorant, but my emperor was still wise."

As Ni Yuanlu said, many ministers opposed Zhu Youjian when he collected commercial taxes.

But Zhu Youjian was not the Chongzhen Emperor at that time. As long as you dare to stop him and collect commercial taxes, the court will destroy you.

It was under Zhu Youjian's thunderous means that the Ming Dynasty commercial tax was successfully collected, and of course someone needed to firmly implement it. Xia Wanchun was his firm supporter.

"Okay, I understand. Continue to implement the policies formulated at the beginning. I will give you some rewards during the Chinese New Year. How is the population recovery in the Ming Dynasty now?"

The population of the Ming Dynasty was about 150 million during the Wanli period, which was also the peak of the population in the history of the Ming Dynasty.

Later, due to the arrival of the Little Ice Age, natural disasters such as drought and cold occurred frequently, which led to starving to death by many people.

Later, with the invasion of the East and the rise of the bandits, the Ming Dynasty continued to war, and the population dropped sharply again and only more than 70 million. It is estimated that nearly 30 million Chinese people would be massacred by the East.

Of course that is a historical record, because of Zhu Youjian’s problem, the historical process has been changed, and so many Ming people will not be massacred.

Even so, Zhu Youjian still took many methods to restore the population of the Ming Dynasty. If you want to develop, you must support the population, otherwise you will be able to rely on how to develop if you are exhausted.

After hearing the emperor ask about population issues, Ni Yuanlu reported again:

"Report to Your Majesty, the population of the Ming Dynasty was about 90 million in the early days. Later, many women were taken back from the Mongol Yuan. You distributed them to the soldiers and passed on the seeds. Now almost all have two children.

At present, the population of Ming Dynasty is close to 110 million. Because the problem of eating is solved, the population has grown very fast, and it should be able to return to its original level in two years."

Zhu Youjian nodded with satisfaction:

"There will be more overseas territory after the Ming Dynasty. We must ensure rapid population growth. While increasing the import of troops, we must also ensure the smooth progress of immigration."

"Abide by the order"

After receiving the order, the Minister of Revenue Ni Yuanlu returned to the class in a regular manner.

Meng Zhaoxiang, Minister of Works, gave a report:

"Your Majesty, the construction of Daming city streets is being carried out step by step. Almost all roads between major cities have been connected. Official roads in various provinces have been built, and more than a dozen trains have been opened.

The Weichen suggested that during war, more prisoners could be captured to build roads. There is a shortage of road construction workers in the Ming Dynasty, so it would be best if there is a free one.

In addition, this time, the inland waterways were almost inappropriate when transporting food from the south, and the speed could not keep up. It is recommended to increase the dredging of the canal and strengthen the transportation of inland waterways."

Zhu Youjian nodded slightly:

"This is no problem. Didn't the Minister of Revenue exaggerate the fact that the Ming Dynasty had a lot of money? It is necessary to increase investment in building roads and digging rivers. It is not necessary to deduct workers' wages at a high price. Workers' wages must be paid on time and in full."

Ni Yuanlu hurriedly bowed and bowed:

"Abide by the order."

When it comes to unblocking the canal, Zhu Youjian thought of Zhu Dadian, the Governor of the Canal Transport.

This man used to be a huge corrupt person, but because of his loyalty to the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Youjian exempted him from being fined 3 million taels of silver for death. Now he is very honest and dare not embezzle a penny.

Zhu Youjian looked at Zhu Dadian:

"Zhu Dadian, as the governor of the canal transport, you will talk about the situation of the canal transport."

Zhu Dadian hurriedly stepped forward and started a memorial:

"Report to Your Majesty, the canal transport is normal, because the northern heavenly stems also affect the water level of the canal, which does have some impact on transportation. Weichen has applied to the Ministry of Revenue to apply for the cost of unblocking the canal."

Zhu Youjian was very satisfied with Zhu Dadian's performance during this period:

"Okay, we must increase the transportation capacity of the canal. It is very convenient to transport materials from the south through water. There must be no problems with this transportation route. The river channel should be cleared as soon as possible. In terms of funds, the Ministry of Revenue must fully support it, but it cannot be wasted."
Chapter completed!