Ming Dynasty: Is a mere unruly commoner rebelling against heaven?

Chapter 17: Your Imperial Director has returned!

Wang Zhi quickly stood up, his face, which had been as still as an ancient well, finally revealed a hint of excitement.

He strode forward and knelt to receive the decree.

“Your subject, Wang Zhi, respectfully accepts the imperial decree!”

Receiving the bright yellow imperial edict from the East Depot eunuch, Wang Zhi's heart surged.

Years of waiting and蛰伏 were for the sake of today's rebirth and soaring wings!

The surrounding old subordinates knelt down to congratulate him, all with joyful expressions on their faces.

“Congratulations, Director! Congratulations, Director!”

“Returning to the capital, to oversee the West Depot!”

Even the East Depot eunuch who came to deliver the message bowed and saluted this legendary Director, who made hundreds of officials tremble with fear.

“Congratulations, Director Wang, on your reinstatement!”

Wang Zhi stroked the imperial edict bestowed by Zhu Youtang, the joy on his face completely disappeared, replaced by a hint of cruel killing intent.

“West Depot, listen to my orders, follow this Director back to the capital!”

“Yes, Director!”

Wang Zhi turned around, not even taking his luggage, and directly mounted his horse, galloping towards the capital.

Dozens of West Depot's old subordinates who remained, followed closely behind, traveling day and night to reach the capital!

Those corrupt officials who deceived their superiors and subordinates, formed cliques for personal gain, fought for power, and sold official positions…

…

A few days later.

The Forbidden City.

Qianqing Palace.

The Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, Mou Bin, was reporting to Zhu Youtang about the Embroidered Uniform Guard's seizure of property.

“Your Majesty, the Embroidered Uniform Guard has confiscated thirty-four residences in the past few days, including the Zhou family of Earl Qingyun, the Zhang family of the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, and the Liu family of the Vice Minister of the Court of State Ceremonial.”

“A total of 670,000 strings of household banknotes, more than 47,000 taels of silver, jewelry, antiques, and paintings, fourteen boxes, were seized.”

“A total of two hundred and seventy-six family members, young and old.”

Zhu Youtang sneered and slammed the memorial in his hand on the table.

“Good, they are all my good ministers!”

Zhu Youtang was so angry that he laughed, he really hated these civil officials to the extreme.

Don't look down on only forty thousand taels of silver, but this is already a sky-high price.

In the early and mid-Ming Dynasty, before the opening of Longqing, when a large amount of silver had not yet flowed into the Ming Dynasty, silver was still relatively precious.

A farming household only spent about five taels of silver a year on clothing and food.

Officials who embezzled ten thousand taels of silver were considered huge corrupt officials.

During the Zhengde period, Liu Jin, the biggest corrupt official in the world, only had 13,000 taels of gold and 1.5 million taels of silver seized from his home.

During the Jiajing period, Yan Song and his son, who held great power and were known as the number one corrupt officials in the world, only had 30,000 taels of gold and 2 million taels of silver seized from their homes.

Those Ming officials who seized hundreds of thousands or millions of taels of silver from their homes at every turn were all Arabian Nights.

Even after the Wanli period, there were almost no officials who could seize millions of taels of silver in one go.

When Li Zicheng entered Beijing, he tortured all the officials, nobles, relatives of the emperor, and wealthy merchants in the entire capital, looting the imperial treasury, the Ministry of Revenue's granary, and only plundered 70 million taels of silver.

During the Hongzhi period of the Ming Dynasty, the annual tax revenue converted into silver was only more than four million taels.

From the homes of these thirty-odd officials, they seized 47,000 taels of silver and 670,000 strings of household banknotes.

They were really unscrupulously embezzling.

At the same time, Zhu Youtang also thought of another problem, which was about household banknotes.

During the Hongwu period, Emperor Taizu Gao issued the Ming Dynasty Treasure Notes to alleviate the court's financial problems.

Because there was no reserve, the issuance was unlimited, and the face value of the treasure notes was huge.

Moreover, the imperial court only issued banknotes to the outside world, but did not recycle the Ming Dynasty Treasure Notes.

The common people could exchange gold, silver, and copper coins with the country for treasure notes, but they could not exchange treasure notes with the country for gold, silver, and copper coins.

Therefore, after the Ming Dynasty Treasure Notes were circulated, they quickly depreciated, and the people returned to using silver and money, or simply bartered.

Emperor Taizu Gao, in order to alleviate the depreciation of the treasure notes, once ordered the prohibition of the circulation of silver and money among the people, and also prohibited bartering.

But it didn't have much effect. The Ming Dynasty Treasure Notes had already depreciated to one-sixth of their original value during the Hongwu period.

Eighty percent of the people's wealth vanished.

During the Yongle period, the current Emperor Taizong, the future Emperor Chengzu, in order to alleviate the depreciation of the Ming Dynasty Treasure Notes, implemented the “Household Salt Law”.

Large households purchased one catty of salt every month and paid one string of treasure notes.

Salt was allocated according to the household registration, and salt tax was collected.

The household salt notes did indeed suppress the depreciation of the Ming Dynasty Treasure Notes in the short term when they were first introduced.

However, the depreciation of the treasure notes was a fundamental problem with the issuance system, because the imperial court stipulated that it could not be exchanged for gold and silver, and the people could not accept it, so the price of the notes could not be stabilized.

In April of the nineteenth year of Yongle, Emperor Taizong ordered the temporary cessation of the manufacture of Ming Dynasty Treasure Notes.

Until the tenth year of Chenghua, salt notes were escorted and money and notes were collected together.

Household banknotes existed in name only.

However, until the Hongzhi period, the official currency of the Ming Dynasty had always been the Ming Dynasty Treasure Notes.

However, the imperial court had relaxed the control of silver, and silver and copper coins had become the de facto currency of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Youtang felt that his reform should start with currency.

The economy is the lifeblood of a country. To save the Ming Dynasty, the most important thing is to get enough money for the court and the Zhu family.

And currency is the foundation of the economy, starting with currency reform to increase the tax revenue of the Ming Dynasty.

The tax revenue of the Ming Dynasty was really so low that it could not be lower.

It can be said that the Ming Dynasty was starved to death.

Taking the Hongzhi dynasty as an example, the tax revenue in the first year of Hongzhi was roughly divided into two parts.

One part is tax in kind: about 19.87 million shi of rice, about 8.96 million shi of wheat, about 3,600 catties of silk, about 2.65 million catties of cotton…

One part is monetary tax revenue: about 52,380 taels of gold and silver, about 88.43 million strings of household banknotes, and about 73.93 million strings of miscellaneous tax notes.

All converted into silver, it is about four million taels.

Terribly poor.

Now that Zhu Youtang is in power, the most important thing is to get some silver for our Ming Dynasty to spend...

While Zhu Youtang was conceiving the currency reform of the Ming Dynasty, a young eunuch from the Directorate of Ceremonial hurried over and whispered.

“Your Majesty, Wang Zhi requests an audience.”

“Summon him.”

After a while, Wang Zhi strode into the Qianqing Palace and walked towards Zhu Youtang.

His feminine and handsome face showed an undisguised look of excitement.

“Your subject, Wang Zhi, pays respects to Your Majesty!”

Wang Zhi walked to Zhu Youtang and knelt down respectfully.

Seeing Wang Zhi, the gloomy look on Zhu Youtang's face finally showed a hint of a smile.

Zhu Youtang raised his hand, grasped Wang Zhi's arm, and helped him up.

“Wang Zhi, you have worked hard these past few years.”

“Your Majesty!”

“The late Emperor gave me special treatment, and I have nothing to repay, only to die for Your Majesty!”

Wang Zhi's face moved and his expression was excited.

He was a descendant of the Yao people who were taken to the capital during the Tengxia Rebellion.

In the third year of Chenghua, he entered the palace after being净身.

He had no foundation in the court, so he could only cling to imperial power and become a mad dog under Emperor Xianzong, biting whoever he caught, often confiscating property and exterminating families.

Zhu Youtang's birth mother, Ji, was also a Yao from Datengxia, and was also taken into the palace by the Ming army.

Wang Zhi and Ji, as fellow villagers, and having the same experience, naturally had a sense of closeness.

After Zhu Youtang revealed his identity, Wang Zhi did his best to secretly protect Zhu Youtang in the palace.

Until the eighteenth year of Chenghua, Wang Zhi was deposed by Emperor Xianzong and demoted to Nan Zhili.

Emperor Xianzong demoted Wang Zhi, not to harm him, but to protect him.

And he was always ready to reinstate Wang Zhi again.

Unfortunately, Emperor Xianzong lost the protection of the West Depot, and died suddenly after only five years for no reason.

At this time, how could Wang Zhi not be excited to see Zhu Youtang again?

Zhu Youtang smiled slightly, turned his head to look at Mou Bin.

“The embezzled silver will be put into the inner treasury, as for those family members, the men will be sent to the army to garrison the border and must not leave the border towns. The women will be sent to the Jiaofang Division to be slaves forever.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Your subject takes his leave.”

Mou Bin secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He was really afraid that Zhu Youtang would come up with something like confiscating property and exterminating families again.

Mou Bin saluted and took his leave.

Wang Zhi glanced at the flying fish suit on Mou Bin's body, frowned slightly, and a sense of crisis arose in his heart.

No!

He must not let the Embroidered Uniform Guard take away all of His Majesty's favor.

He wants His Majesty to know that the West Depot is the most loyal and fiercest hound under His Majesty!