Zhang Juzheng looked in a good mood. He had half a fan on the window of the study, reflecting the bamboo forest behind the mansion. The crystal lampshade was hung on the wall to make it matte, emitting a faint light, reflecting the slowly burning smoke from the pipe in the palm of the Minister of Revenue Wang Guoguang.

In front of Chen Mu, there were thirty or forty books on the table, which was a hard-working work compiled by Wang Guoguang and his minister Li Youzi and others. It was named "Wanli Accounting Record", which included the secrets of the entire empire's finances.

"This set of books uses the region, first the whole country, then the provincial government, and the government, and the government; the amount, the total number is the total number, and the fraction is combined with the fraction; the income and expenditure are first, the total amount of the country's old land and grain is entered and exported annually, the provincial government, prefectures and counties are scored, the border towns are paid, the treasury, the treasury, the vassal, the second position, the second position, the second position, the second position, the second salary, the second grain transportation, the second warehouse, the second warehouse, the second warehouse, the second warehouse, the second warehouse, the second warehouse, the second warehouse, the second warehouse, the second warehouse, the second warehouse, the second warehouse, the second warehouse, the second warehouse, the second warehouse, the second salt method, the second tea method, the second money method, the second cash method, the second miscellaneous course."

Zhang Juzheng restrained his finely trimmed beard and praised Chen Mu: "The prince should obtain the great achievements of this generation when editing this book!"

"It is only one step away from now on. The situations in various places overseas and the prices of products cannot be relied on princes. The court still needs to rely on Jinghaibo." Zhang Juzheng said, turning around and taking out two books from the table and pushing in the direction of Chen Mu, saying: "My Emperor Taizu once said that many children of civil, commercial, industrial and agricultural peasants and farmers do not know how to read. They should use their direct comments to make agricultural skills and merchants' books, so they ordered Confucian scholars to make these books."

Chen Mu lowered his eyes slightly, and the two books Zhang Juzheng recommended were called "A List of Shangcheng" and "Discribing Suspicion of Water and Land Travel". He knew that these two books were almost the business manuals of middle school in China, and it was not an exaggeration to regard them as textbooks for merchants in the Ming Dynasty.

But... Chen Mu showed confusion and blurted out in surprise: "Emperor Taizu, isn't he valuing agriculture and suppressing commerce?"

Zhang Juzheng glanced at Chen Mu, expressionless, and smiled when he turned to Wang Guoguang. After a moment of silence, Chen Mu thought he had said the wrong thing. Then he turned his head and said, "In the court and the country, everything must be respected by ancestors. Do you know why?"

"At the time of war in the world, my ancestors raised an army to expel the Yuan gangs, restored China, and when the people were drooping, the people were hungry, and the fields were still not afraid to farm. Even if they value business, how could they get wealth? The first time the world was at peace, our ancestors encouraged merchants, but this was not what you said about focusing on agriculture or suppressing commerce, because it was because raising commerce earlier, causing harm to farmers, and then focusing on commerce can benefit farmers - this is the so-called ancestor's method."

Chen Mu nodded repeatedly and bowed, "I'm here to learn."

He followed him and said: "Don't worry, the master and the prince, and the overseas accounting records will be compiled by the Beiyang Military Office. They will be divided into the Western, Southern and Beiyang for a period of five years. The prices of the world will be found within five years."

In fact, the truth that Zhang Juzheng said was not much to teach for Chen Mu. What really made him feel was Zhu Yuanzhang, who was the starting point and mentality of what the people in power did - some people acted freely, while some people knew what was right and what was wrong, policy expediency, and could do it.

"There will be a set of telegrams used in Beiyang to send you a secret message. There are still some things to do with the Ministry of Works. I will talk about it later." Zhang Juzheng nodded slowly and reached out to Wang Guoguang and said, "Prince Wang should continue to talk. Jing Haibo is proficient in finance, or he should have a vision for the country."

Chen Mu didn't think so. He spread the Wanli accountant record on the table, sat down very well, waiting for Wang Guoguang to say the following.

"I compiled taxes last year, taking Henan and Shaanxi provinces, and Nanzhili as examples, the tax law is a matter of silver redeeming. The Ministry of Revenue once discussed that after the money law is passed across the country, the country should be able to change silver, and the area of ​​border vulgarity should be less silver redeeming, and the original color is still the original color; at the beginning of wealth and prosperity, the original color is paid more silver, and the original color is paid less."

The true nature here refers to the so-called physical tax. Chen Mu frowned and glanced at Zhang Juzheng, and found that he had the same expression as his own - shouldn't it be like this? Where can I get the money in the verge of contempt?

“Quality on the contrary.”

Wang Guoguang shook his head, raised his hand and pointed to the book on the table, saying, "Last year, Shaanxi was the most expensive place to distribute silver. Secondly, Shanxi, Henan, Yu Ji submitted accounts for the provinces. Looking at the situation, the price of silver was different. Taking Henan as an example, two counties in the province were affected, transporting 4,200 stones of grain, of which 30% were disproportionate. The taxes in Henan were as high as 40% of them, while Shaanxi was as high as 50%.

"In Jiangnan, the color of the fold is only 10%.

The Minister of Revenue put down his pipe and raised a finger and said, "Collection of accounts, summoning officials, and discussing with colleagues many things, only then did they know that the south of the Yangtze River has a prosperous trade, the people have a variety of silk cotton, and the rice prices are also cheaper than those in the north, so they are more willing to share their true colors. However, the northern provinces make a living by farming, and the border is despised and poor, and the people are suffering from farming, so their true colors are not enough to pay taxes, so they will have to lose their true colors."

No problem?

Zhang Juzheng nodded and said, "This is to make the northern people more convenient. The land, rice, grain prices are higher, and the discount on silver is beneficial to the people."

"But in the past, the people's movement was difficult to impose taxes due to the long-term taxes due to the grain; now, the people's movement was difficult to impose taxes due to the people's greed, deduct, deduct, and consume. Under the four urgent situations, one tael of bank payment should have been paid, and the court could only collect one tael of silver. Of course, the Ministry of Revenue could only enter the account and could not see this tael of silver, but the people had to pay two taels or even three taels to pay, which was a heavy tax."

"The more people are, the more they need to pay the silver and tax. The more they pay the silver and tax, the more they are, the more they are poorer they are."

"That alone is not the problem. The wealthy families of landlords rely on merchants. When the government collects taxes, the grain prices will become lower and hurt farmers; the price of grain will rise after the taxes is raised, which will hurt farmers. This is because of people's natural desire for profit."

Zhang Juzheng frowned, but Wang Guoguang did not stop, and his tone became heavier.

"When it is time for chaos, wartime, merchants, grain merchants, and ordinary families with full food and clothing, anyone with gold and silver must store silver to avoid the disaster of the clan."

As the leading financial family in the Ming Dynasty, Wang Guoguang, the Minister of Revenue, seemed to travel through time and space to see the scene decades later. His tone was slow and worried: "There is little silver on the market, the silver is expensive, the grain is cheap, the rich are few in the world, and the poor are more poor, and those who pay taxes are less and those who owe taxes are heavy. If there are internal and external troubles, the government needs silver and grain for military use, but the silver is insufficient, and there is no way to do it..."

"If you have no choice but to do anything, you have to pay more taxes, military training, and military use. The people can no longer pay taxes, so they will become bandits."

Chen Mu suddenly understood everything. He took the conversation and said, "If you become a bandit, the court will use troops in the inner world and send additional bandit suppression money. If the court has a way out, it will not do this, but there is no other way to do it. If the court gives the people a way out, they will not only not become a bandit, but also help the government capture it. But once the people become a bandit, they will be able to extort money and destroy more bandits."

Chen Mu's words not only made Zhang Juzheng look sideways, but also surprised the elderly Wang Guoguang. Zhang Zhang almost couldn't speak. After a moment of exchanging glances with Zhang Juzheng, he laughed and said in a daze: "Boss Jing Hai is a little alarmist. He can't pay taxes, so he won't do that. Even if he is really as I said, he will have a few years of rest and recuperation. At that time, officials will have better tax laws. The southern Japanese and northern Japanese have been in chaos for so many years, which is based on our generation's equality... Haha!"

Speaking of this, Wang Guoguang looked at Chen Mu with a stern look and said with a reminder: "Are you improving the tax law at this moment?"

Chen Mu, who had always been slow, had a quick head spinning. It took him a long time to understand what the old man from the Ministry of Revenue did so severely. The tax law was decided by Zhang Juzheng. He said that the tax law would destroy the country. Isn’t he saying that Zhang Juzheng has a problem?

However, his performance was of great use at this time. He pretended not to see Wang Guoguang's reminder, shook his head slowly with a gloomy face, and said, "It's not that there is a problem with the tax law, there is no problem with the tax law, it is in currency, silver, and financial transportation."

"Oh?" Zhang Juzheng's brows were still not relaxed, and he quickly deduced the situation in his mind. In fact, he didn't care whether Chen Mu felt that there was something wrong with the tax law and said casually: "Jing Haibo speaks freely."

"The state circulates silver in the world, and silver and copper coins are parallel, but silver is not minted in the court, and it is mostly inflows overseas and difficult to regulate. Therefore, the court has low ability to fight risks; the same is true for fiscal transportation. The silver is not in the treasury, regardless of its true nature or color, each province qualifies it, and each province will transport silver and grain yamen on its own. The silver and grain are not managed by the treasury, which is not conducive to the concentration of power, and the finances are therefore chaotic."

"And the court has two sets of finances, the central and local governments, and only a few officials received salaries from 100,000 households. The soap officials who helped them manage the local government recruited themselves and fed themselves, which was not conducive to centralization, nor to finance, and even to administration."
Chapter completed!