PDLP Chapter 551: Lining your own pocket?
Chapter 551: Lining your own pocket?
Emperor Chongzhen was really getting restless. He spent as much money as he had spent in the previous ten years in just one year.
If we have to spend money the same way next year, what should we do the year after?
"Reporting to Your Majesty, there are currently 92,740,000 silver coins in the national treasury, and 1.06 million shi of grain in the Ministry of Revenue's Taicang warehouse." Hai Zhongqi said straightforwardly.
He didn't even look at the account book. As the Minister of Revenue, he was extremely sensitive to numbers.
Last year, the imperial court confiscated the property of most of the corrupt officials, landlords, gentry and illegal businessmen in the country, and at the end of the year, the remaining silver was more than 180 million taels.
Every expenditure was recorded in detail and was calculated multiple times by many colleagues in the Ministry of Revenue.
In any case, the Ministry of Revenue was not to blame for spending so much money. The emperor always nodded his approval.
But even so, Hai Zhongqi still reminded:
"According to the budget amounts submitted by various ministries, the total budget for next year will be around 74 million."
Look at this, Your Majesty, with the way you spend money, your treasury will be full of rats again by the year after next at the latest!
"Master Hai, stop being so sarcastic. The water channel and the General Manufacturing Bureau will be completed next year.
Moreover, these expenses cannot be saved. Digging canals in the north is a major event that will benefit the present and future generations, and will benefit both the country and the people.
As for the General Administration of Manufacturing, we cannot afford to save it. Whether our Ming Dynasty can take off in the future depends entirely on the General Administration of Manufacturing!" Zhang Shikang said dissatisfiedly.
When we were making the budget last year, you all kept silent when we asked you questions. Now that the money has been spent, you are complaining that we spent too much.
Don’t you think about the fact that this money is hard-earned?
If it’s gone, we can earn it again!
However, the Minister of Works Fan Jingwen and the Minister of Revenue Hai Zhongqi could no longer endure it this time.
"Mr. Zhang, the General Administration of Manufacturing is not under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Revenue or the Ministry of Industry, but all the expenses are charged to the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Industry. Isn't this a bit unreasonable?"
Financial meetings have always been a matter of bickering. For example, although the expenses were charged to the Ministry of Revenue, the money was not actually paid to the Ministry.
In the past, arguments would last for a long time. The old men with white hair and beards had particularly good memories and would bring up old grudges, making the breakups feel ashamed.
Now that we have Zhang Shikang as a big Buddha, most people know this guy's character and would try not to fight with him on a daily basis.
However, the expenses of the General Administration of Manufacturing are really high, and the definition of this agency is not clear, so it has become a lawless agency.
Seeing that the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works had expressed their opinions, the Minister of War Li Banghua also frowned and said:
"Master Zhang, the expenses of the Tiger Guards, the Imperial Guards, and the Navy can be recorded in the accounts. I have nothing to say.
But the sixty merchant ships you ordered are also counted in the Ministry of War's account, which is a bit inappropriate, isn't it? "
In fact, Li Banghua did not dare to say anything more extreme. Since merchant ships are used for business, they should be civilian ships.
You, Zhang Shikang, spent the court's money and put the bill on file with your Ministry of War, but you bought merchant ships for trade, but the court doesn't need merchant ships. Isn't this just embezzlement?
The Ministry of War, the Ministry of Revenue, and the Ministry of Works successively held Zhang Shikang accountable, but Zhang Shikang did not say anything back. When the three of them were silent, he said:
"Have you three finished speaking? It's my turn now.
If none of you want to take care of the accounts of the General Administration of Manufacturing, that's fine, the General Administration of Manufacturing can take care of it themselves.
In any case, the principle that the General Manufacturing Administration does not have any formal official position and is not under the jurisdiction of any government agency remains unchanged.
How about the accounts of each quarter being divided into two by the people of the General Administration of Manufacturing, one to be submitted to the Ministry of Revenue and the other to be submitted directly to Your Majesty?"
After Zhang Shikang finished speaking, he looked at Hai Zhongqi and Fan Jingwen.
The four bureaus under the Manufacturing Tools Bureau, namely the Industry and Agriculture Bureau, the Ordnance Bureau, the Firearms Bureau, and the Shipbuilding Bureau, not only took back the production functions of weapons and firearms from the Ministry of Industry, but also took back some functions from the Ministry of Revenue.
He actually knew what the two men meant. The General Administration of Manufacturing already had all the conditions to establish a new government office. If they really wanted to do so, they might as well set up another government office in addition to the six ministries.
But Zhang Shikang would not allow it, believing that bureaucratic thinking would ruin scientific research. Even with him watching over it now, it would not be a big deal to change it into a formal government office.
What can happen later?
Under the erosion of bureaucratic thinking, creativity will be curbed, and he will not allow such a thing to happen.
In his plan, the General Administration of Manufacturing will be an institution similar to the National Research Institute, and the people here will only be responsible for scientific research.
The various workshops under it are responsible for mass production of research results, including new firearms, improved warships, civilian equipment, etc.
But no matter what, Hai Zhongqi and Fan Jingwen achieved their goal, as long as the accounts were not handed over to their yamen. They could not convince the emperor anyway.
In their eyes, the emperor and Zhang Shikang were in the same boat.
"As for those merchant ships, it was indeed my negligence." Zhang Shikang looked at Li Banghua apologetically.
"You should know that I have established a chamber of commerce called Heliansheng with the nobles of the imperial court. Those merchant ships are what this chamber of commerce will use in the future."
By saying this, Zhang Shikang was admitting his crime of embezzlement.
But the five or six cabinet ministers present did not say anything. Who could punish Zhang Shikang?
Seeing that no one jumped out to criticize, Zhang Shikang said:
“I have already told His Majesty about the matter with the Liansheng Chamber of Commerce.
You should have heard of the East India Company of the Red Haired Barbarians. When our Ming Navy becomes strong in the future, He Liansheng will be the benchmark for the East India Company. "
Everyone looked confused when they heard this, and some of them didn't even know about the East India Company. But even so, what then?
Is this a reason to enrich oneself?
"The Dutch country of the Red Haired Barbarians is located on the western coast of Europe. Its territory is not even as large as the two provinces of Zhejiang and Fujian in the Ming Dynasty, and its total population is only over two million.
However, the profits earned through the East India Company's colonial and trade activities made the Netherlands the richest country in Europe.
What he said was not an exaggeration at all. Judging from later history, the entire seventeenth century was the golden age of the Netherlands. Some European historians even called the seventeenth century the Seventeenth Century of the Dutch.
Although the Netherlands was a small country, its total merchant ship tonnage accounted for three-quarters of Europe's total at the time, with a total number of more than 15,000 merchant ships.
The total number of Dutch naval warships is almost twice the total number of British and French navies.
Zhang Shikang ordered thirty galleons from the Dutch, and the Dutch delivered all of them in less than a year, which shows the strength of the Netherlands at sea.
It is no exaggeration to call it the coachman of the sea.
“Since we are competing with the East India Company, we will not be able to succeed without some strength. Please don’t always look at me like this.
As I said, the profits in the ocean are too huge, we can't always focus on our own little piece of land at home.
Of course, although He Liansheng is privately owned, the imperial court will also have a share if it starts to generate profits.
And it is the one with the largest share.
Do you know how much the East India Company's annual profit is in silver?"
……