Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

Chapter 550 It's Not Your Money

Although this uncle Hai Zhongqi disliked me, I still had to endure his contempt when I spent money. He was very stingy.

But there is one thing: this uncle, as the Minister of Revenue, is more familiar with the laws of the Ming Dynasty than the Minister of Justice, and he hates evil.

When Zhang Shikang formulated the tax reform, he emphasized that those who dared to evade taxes would be severely punished even if they were pursued to the ends of the earth.

Undoubtedly, Haizhong implemented this regulation very seriously.

"Of course. This year, more than 260 corrupt officials were punished, of which more than 240 were skinned as banners and hung in the government offices where the offenders worked for public display. I personally handled all of this."

Fan Fucui, the Grand Secretary of the Dongke Academy and the Minister of Justice, took over the conversation.

In order to set an example, at the beginning of this year, at the repeated request of Zhang Shikang and with the permission of Emperor Chongzhen, the cabinet held a special meeting to include the specific punishment measures for tax evasion and the penalties for embezzlement of silver into the Ming Dynasty Law.

The court has significantly increased the salaries of officials, which is enough to allow officials to live a more decent life than ordinary people.

What is given to you is yours. If it is not given to you, you cannot snatch it.

“The execution this year was indeed good, but we need to keep up the good work.

But if I remember correctly, among the more than 260 corrupt officials you punished, most of them were transferred by the factory guards, right?

What do the Censorate and the Dali Temple do?

If they can only talk big in the court, I think we should just cancel these two offices." Zhang Shikang said bluntly.

Of course, what he said was just an angry remark. The three judicial departments each had their own responsibilities. The Ministry of Justice handled cases in an autocratic manner, which was equivalent to the combination of courts and prisons in later generations. The Censorate was equivalent to the Anti-Corruption Bureau in later generations, responsible for reporting and exposing corruption. The Dali Temple was equivalent to the Procuratorate in later generations.

The Three Judicial Departments were equivalent to a complete self-inspection system of the imperial court, while the Censorate was independent of the imperial court and was an external monitoring system.

Although the Censorate was indeed much more capable than the Three Judicial Departments in terms of supervision, most corrupt officials were discovered through the Censorate, so the Three Judicial Departments cannot escape blame.

Zhang Shikang even had reason to suspect that the three judicial officials were embezzling money.

"Lord Fan, this is on record. At the court meeting tomorrow, the Supreme Court Minister and the people from the Censorate will conduct self-examination." Emperor Chongzhen said in a deep voice.

More than 260 corrupt officials were uncovered in one year, and the total assets seized were only a few million taels. Compared with the court a few years ago, this seems like nothing.

The reason why Zhang Shikang was so serious about this was that he didn't want to repeat the same mistake.

Human greed is endless. If corruption is not strictly investigated, within a few years, the Ming Dynasty's officialdom will become as bad as before.

Be greedy, be greedy, as long as you dare to be greedy, I will skin you alive.

Unless you don't get caught by me, and you keep the money and don't spend it, and become Zhao Dehan, sooner or later I will make you spit out what you have eaten.

After talking about the annual revenue, seeing that the emperor and other colleagues were very satisfied and did not raise any questions, Hai Zhongqi continued to look through the account books.

"Your Majesty, although this year's revenue has increased, it is insignificant compared to this year's expenditure!"

Hai Zhongqi looked at the shocking amount and couldn't help but raise his voice.

He also glanced at Zhang Shikang out of the corner of his eye.

"Why are you worrying? You have to spend when you have to. Just tell me how much you spent. It's not your money." Zhang Shikang responded bluntly.

"Hmph!" Hai Zhongzhong snorted coldly. He didn't have a chance, but continued to flip through the account book and said:

“Total expenditure this year…96,773,460 taels!

Among them, the Ministry of Revenue spent 14.32 million on salaries of officials, royal family members, and meritorious officials, and more than 2.4 million on plague relief in Xi'an.

The Ministry of War spent 14.24 million.

The Ministry of Rites spent 960,000.

The rest is spent by the Ministry of Industry.”

The annual expenditure was more than 96 million taels, and the deficit was as high as more than 60 million taels, which was nearly three times the total annual revenue. This was unprecedented in the entire 200-year history of the Ming Dynasty.

Next, each government office explained its own expenditures. The salary expenditures of the Ministry of Revenue were self-evident. The Minister of War, Li Banghua, said:

"Forty percent of the military expenditures were used by Lord Zhang, including the thirty galleons, as well as the weapons and equipment of the Tiger Guards and the Imperial Guards.

The formation and recruitment of the Yongning Army also accounted for 40% of the total. This year, the Yongning Army recruited more than 186,000 soldiers. The expenses included all the military uniforms, military salaries, resettlement expenses, military rations, etc.

The remaining 20% is the expenditure on food, fodder, rewards and pensions for this year's campaign against bandits.

I have reported the expenses of the above matters to Your Majesty and the ministers every month." Li Banghua said confidently.

Except for the accounts of logistical matters such as ordnance, food and fodder of the Huben Army and the Imperial Guards, which were still recorded by the Ministry of War, the Ministry of War no longer had the power to command and mobilize troops, or even the amount of replenishment of ordnance and food and fodder.

For example, if the Huben Army wanted to replace 10,000 Rumi guns, as long as the Huben Army commander Lu Xiangsheng reported to the Grand Marshal and the Emperor and obtained approval, the Ministry of War would only be responsible for recording the amount.

But the Ministry of War did not suffer a loss. The Yongning Army has a strength of 600,000 soldiers, and it is expected that all of them will be recruited within three years. This is a security force directly under the Ministry of War, responsible only for the public security of each province.

Seeing that all cabinet ministers had no objection, this expenditure was unanimously approved, and the expenditure of the Ministry of Rites was unremarkable and not worth mentioning.

When it was the turn of Dongke Grand Secretary and Minister of Works Fan Jingwen to report, Fan Jingwen also took out a very thick account book from behind him.

“Of the Ministry of Works’ expenditures, 58,417,000 taels were used for digging canals this year.

Sixty percent of the money was used to pay the monthly wages of more than 5.6 million laborers who were recruited one after another, and 25 percent was used to pay the food expenses of these 5.6 million laborers.

The remaining 15% was spent on canal digging, equipment and materials.

In addition to digging canals, this year's construction expenditures for various workshops of the General Administration of Manufacturing, including shipyards, military ports, civilian ports, etc., including laborers, craftsmen, materials, etc., totaled 7.44 million taels. "

While reporting, Fan Jingwen turned over a page of the account and continued:

“The canal excavation work in several northern provinces has been completed by nearly 60% this year, and it is estimated that more than 50 million taels will be needed in the budget next year.

Most of the projects of the General Administration of Manufacturing have entered the final stages of construction and are expected to be completed by the middle of next year. The project budget will probably require more than two million taels."

More than 60 million taels were spent this year, and more than 50 million taels will be spent next year, and this is just the Ministry of Industry.

Next, the Ministry of War also talked about next year's budget. The Yongning Army planned to recruit another 200,000 soldiers. The construction of military camps, military uniforms, food and weapons, military pay, resettlement expenses, etc. would require more than 7 million taels.

In addition, there was the balance of more than 4.6 million taels for the warships and artillery ordered by the navy from the Zheng family and the French.

Then there are other government offices such as the Ministry of Rites.

The Chongzhen Emperor was getting a little restless.

"Master Hai, how much silver is left in the national treasury?"

……