Wanli Emperor Chapter 55 Part 1 (Patreon)

Chapter 55 Part 1: Methodical and Assured, a Meeting of Minds

To begin with, such a monumental task—targeting the Lianghuai Salt Administration—was not because Zhu Yijun wished to bully an honest man.

Rather, it was born of necessity. Someone had to shoulder this great responsibility.

The court was desperately short of funds.

Consider the matters now before Zhu Yijun: reforming the bureaucracy, revising the tax system, surveying the land, opening the seas, re-establishing the Privy Purse, nurturing the seeds of natural philosophy, dismantling the Southern Directly-Administered Region, improving the tributary system... the list went on.

Every single initiative required the solid backing of military power.

And training an army demanded gleaming silver.

This brought him back to the fundamental question—before considering where to spend money, one must first determine: where will the money come from?

The first task he had assigned Zhang Juzheng upon making him head of government was to provide a complete accounting of the funds in each ministry's treasury.

Zhang Juzheng harbored no intention of concealment. The moment he obtained the figures, he reported them.

Among the various treasuries, the Court of Imperial Entertainments was in the most dire state.

In the seventh month, Zhu Yijun had dispatched Feng Shi, the Right Supervising Secretary of the Office of Scrutiny for Revenue, to investigate the Court of Imperial Entertainments.

By the ninth month, the results had arrived. The report stated that the Court of Imperial Entertainments had always balanced its annual income and expenditures, leaving no surplus whatsoever.

That alone would have been troubling, but from the first to the fifth year of the Longqing era, the total arrears owed by various provinces exceeded 195,200 taels.

【TN: When "tael" appears as currency, it usually refers to tael of silver】

In essence, they were spending next year's income today, without a single coin to spare, while provincial accounts became increasingly difficult to collect.

Next came the Grand Treasury of the Ministry of Revenue—the national treasury itself.

Following Zhang Shouzhi's retirement, Wang Guoguang had assumed office as Minister of Revenue and immediately launched a thorough investigation of the Grand Treasury.

The results had arrived the previous month.

As of the end of the sixth month, the Grand Treasury held a total of 2,525,616 taels of silver, 465 taels of gold, and 16,199,408 copper coins.

Converting everything to silver, even with generous calculations, the sum barely reached five million taels!

This was the national treasury! The treasury of a celestial dynasty, with merely five million taels in reserve!

Not long ago, in the second year of the Longqing era, annual expenditures had reached 4.4 million taels. The previous year alone had seen expenditures exceeding 3.2 million taels.

The national treasury held barely one year's worth of silver. Small wonder Gao Gong had declared they could not lightly initiate warfare. A single campaign would empty the state coffers.

The other treasuries, large and small—such as the Imperial Stud under the Ministry of War—all existed in a similar state of living beyond their means, with expenditures exceeding income.

The Privy Purse was no exception; otherwise, the late emperor would never have gone begging the Ministry of Revenue for funds.

Particularly after one million taels had been disbursed in the eighth month, only 2.3 million taels remained.

Zhu Yijun had long possessed a rough understanding of this dire situation.

Thus, he had made early plans to open new sources of revenue.

But how to accomplish this?

Whether tax reform, land surveys, or opening the seas—these true sources of revenue—all required substantial seed money and extended periods of preparation.

Therefore, for the first round of startup capital, Zhu Yijun had set his sights firmly upon the Salt Administration!

Six Salt Distribution Commissions existed: Lianghuai, Liangzhe, Changlu, Shandong, Fujian, and Hedong.

Regardless of which wells produced the salt, these six commissions handled its collection and transport.

The bulk of the empire's salt revenue fell upon Lianghuai.

While the Salt Administration generated money rapidly, this did not mean its tax revenue ran high.

During the Hongwu era, thirty salt fields operated in Lianghuai, producing 350,000 yin annually, which converted to 140 million catties.

Now, only the unit of measurement had changed—from one yin representing four hundred catties to one yin representing two hundred catties.

Though it appeared production had increased to 700,000 yin, in reality, it remained 140 million catties.

Exceptionally stable.

Corresponding to this stability was the daily increase of illicit salt from unknown sources, as if pirates were drying sea salt along the coast.

That might have been tolerable. If the full amount of taxes had been collected, Zhu Yijun could have endured the situation temporarily.

But according to the current Salt Certificate System, one yin was taxed at six mace and four candareens of silver, with additional levies of three taels for public funds and three taels for administrative expenses.

In total, one yin bore a tax of six taels, six mace, and four candareens of silver.

This meant Lianghuai should have delivered at least 4.6 million taels in taxes.

【TN: Chinese monetary units 1 tael = 10 mace = 100 candareens. A yin was a salt certificate representing 200 catties (about 265 lbs) of salt】

What was the reality?

The previous year, the total delivered to the Ministry of Revenue, the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, and other treasuries combined amounted to a mere 1.1 million taels!

Twenty percent of what appeared on the official records! And this figure did not even account for what was sold illicitly!

Such corruption defied Heaven itself!

From salt merchants and salt fields to local governments, from distribution commissions and transport offices to parasites in the central government—inside and out, from top to bottom, who could say how much they had stolen!

This was precisely why he had summoned Hai Rui.

For corruption of this magnitude, even Zhang Juzheng might not support a thorough investigation.

Where personal feelings were involved, one would inevitably hear talk of "prioritizing the greater good."

Especially in the Great Ming Dynasty, where making private entreaties had become a practically universal custom.

Zhang Juzheng commanded the backing of the Chu Clique, with countless students and former subordinates whose connections formed a tangled web. He would inevitably be swayed by the crowd.

Not to mention the Zhejiang and Jin Cliques, who would desperately drag him down.

For the Lianghuai Salt Administration, besides Hai Rui, no one else could handle the task.

Anyone holding an official rank understood at least something of these twisted machinations.

Hai Rui, naturally, was no exception.

He grasped the situation instantly and asked in a voice thick with emotion, "Has the central government truly reached such a state?"

Dealing with the Lianghuai Salt Administration proved far more challenging than exploiting common people.

To move against the Lianghuai Salt Administration now must mean that the central government's situation had become desperately urgent.

Zhu Yijun secretly praised him.

This was why he so admired Hai Rui.

The man possessed unwavering principles, yet also demonstrated uncommon political wisdom.

An incorruptible official who was also supremely capable.

If one could properly direct him, what ruler would not cherish such a minister?

Zhu Yijun nodded and spoke with complete candor, "Hai Qing may not fully comprehend the extent of the central government's financial deficit."

"If we do not take advantage of what strength we still possess to find means of collecting these taxes, I fear..."

Zhu Yijun allowed his words to trail off meaningfully.

He then proceeded to detail the silver reserves in the various treasuries.

Hai Rui's expression grew increasingly grave. The situation described was truly shocking.

Seeing Hai Rui listening with rapt attention, Zhu Yijun continued.

"That represents but one concern. The tax silver collected from various regions has decreased year by year, with arrears mounting steadily."

"In many provinces, when a Provincial Administration Commissioner is replaced, his successor refuses to acknowledge his predecessor's accounts."

"When the predecessor transfers elsewhere, he claims to know nothing of outstanding matters."

"Consequently, only eighty percent of this year's summer taxes were collected."

"The matter of military pay nearly sparked a major disturbance."

"In the seventh month, when officials and soldiers inside and outside the capital learned of the late emperor's passing, they all began clamoring, demanding back pay from various governors, seeming on the verge of mutiny."

"In the end, the cabinet and I had no choice but to scrape together funds from every available source."

"At the court conference in the eighth month, the Grand Treasury of the Ministry of Revenue produced three hundred thousand taels, the Ministry of War extracted three hundred thousand taels from the Imperial Stud's horse purchase funds, and the Ministry of Works, by petitioning to lower specifications for the imperial mausoleum, saved twenty thousand taels from the Frugality Treasury."

At this point, Zhu Yijun held up one finger, his tone heavy with complexity. "My Privy Purse contributed one million taels."

"A total of one million eight hundred thousand taels. For the six hundred sixty-four thousand three hundred and nineteen officials and soldiers inside and outside the capital, each received two taels of silver."

"We barely managed to suppress the unrest."

He fixed his gaze upon Hai Rui. "Hai Qing, I truly cannot bear for the Great Ming Dynasty to end in my hands."

Hai Rui observed the young emperor, so deeply concerned for the nation's welfare, and was momentarily lost in contemplation.

When he had been reinstated this time and was preparing to leave his hometown, many people had told him that at nearly sixty, he could no longer bear such heavy responsibilities. They had urged him to remain home and recuperate, to serve his elderly mother.

Yet now, seeing the young emperor—in his tender and fragile body, shouldering the weight of the entire realm—was his situation not far more difficult than Hai Rui's own?

Having described the hardships and explained the necessity, Zhu Yijun finally reached his central point. "Therefore, I wish for you, Qing, to begin with the Lianghuai Salt Administration and bring clarity to our tax policies."

This task was, one might say, difficult to the extreme.

Unless heads rolled, it could not be accomplished.

The dangers involved were self-evident.

Hai Rui finally returned to his senses, but he did not offer a glib promise.

Instead, he sat straighter and asked with careful deliberation, "To what extent does Your Majesty wish this subject to proceed?"

In agreeing to undertake this matter, he was also offering a subtle reminder.

Today marked his first audience with the new emperor.

Though the emperor had treated him with great courtesy and sincerity, he ultimately did not yet know the emperor's true character.

Hai Rui feared that the emperor, being young, had oversimplified the complexity of the task.

Dealing with Xu Jie alone had inadvertently sparked a "popular uprising."

That had involved merely three hundred thousand mu of fertile land. What the emperor now wished to address affected the livelihood of one million canal workers!

Hai Rui did not fear the gravity of the matter; he only feared that if he mishandled it, he would both harm the greater good and fail the emperor's trust.

Zhu Yijun did not answer directly.

Observing that all dishes had been served, he paused their conversation.

Turning, he said, "Hai Qing, you have endured a long journey and must be famished. Let us eat first and discuss matters afterward."

Hai Rui was about to speak again, but Zhu Yijun quickly stopped him. "After our meal, we shall change locations and continue our discussion. I will take you to meet several people."

Hai Rui immediately fell silent, performed a proper salute, and began his meal with appropriate restraint.

Throughout the meal, Hai Rui repeatedly observed the emperor.

Hai Rui was no dull-witted, simple-minded man.

On the contrary, Hai Rui possessed brilliant intelligence coupled with an unwavering moral core.

When serving as a county magistrate, if he encountered a provincial governor's son who had accepted bribes but whom he dared not openly offend, he would pretend the man was an imposter, bind him, and send him to the governor.

Later, when he remonstrated with Emperor Shizong, he had known to began with praise, establishing that the emperor was fundamentally good by nature but had grown lax in later years.

And subsequently, in the Southern Directly-Administered Region, when confronting Xu Jie, though narrowly defeated, he had still demonstrated flexible methods.

Hai Rui naturally understood that the young emperor's various performances before him contained, to some degree, elements designed to win hearts and minds.

Nevertheless, he remained prepared to accept this assignment without reservation.

This was not because he was quick to submit, but because Hai Rui adhered to his own principles of conduct—Hai Rui judged only by observing one's actions.

No matter how flowery one's words might be.

If he, Hai Rui, were asked to whitewash corruption or serve as a mere yes-man, he would turn and leave without a word, with no room for negotiation.

Conversely, if the task assigned to him truly benefited the country and its people, then even if it meant being smashed to pieces, he would not hesitate!

Therefore, when he heard he was to cleanse the parasites of Lianghuai, he felt not the slightest hesitation and immediately resolved to accept the responsibility!

Hai Rui had always done only what he believed to be right.

He would live and die for justice and righteousness alone!

Would you like to read in advance? Join as an Enforcer on Patreon to access content before anyone else.

If you are enjoying the story, please leave a 5 rating on Novel Updates!

[Terminology]

[Index]

[Prev] || [Next]