Chapter 55: Stay Inside, All of You

That the Ministry of Works conceded was hardly surprising. The bamboo and timber transit tax was originally a form of circulation tax. During the Yuan Dynasty, its collection fell under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Revenue. In the Ming Dynasty, because the Ministry of Revenue gained control over the transit tax barriers, the bamboo and timber tax was transferred to the Ministry of Works.

Now, with the unification of commercial taxation, the Ministry of Revenue had to relinquish control over the transit barriers, and correspondingly, the Ministry of Works had to hand over the bamboo and timber tax. In short, future authority over commercial taxes had to be unified and absolute, rather than issued from multiple conflicting sources.

Xia Yuanji also nodded and said, "Very well, but hereafter, the revenues of the Office of Transmission must be submitted in full to the national treasury, and the Ministry of Revenue will verify the amounts. Should there be any discrepancies, the Office of Transmission shall bear full responsibility."

Xu Jingchang smiled and replied, "What belongs to the Office of Transmission shall naturally be accounted for by the Office of Transmission. However, there is a matter I wish to raise: should the fines and confiscated assets collected by the Ministry of Punishments also be incorporated into the national treasury?"

"Naturally!" Xia Yuanji immediately turned to Minister Zheng Ci and said, "Did you hear that? The Ministry of Punishments uses legal cases to levy fines and confiscate the property of criminals. From now on, all such matters must be meticulously recorded and handed over to the Ministry of Revenue. If there are any discrepancies, your Ministry of Punishments will not escape blame!"

"You!" Zheng Ci was so enraged that he rolled his eyes. "Xia Yuanji, do not push this too far. The authority of the Ministry of Revenue is already too vast; it should not meddle in everything. I refuse."

Xia Yuanji merely offered a faint smile and glanced at Xu Jingchang. "Director Xu, how do you propose we handle this?"

Xu Jingchang also said calmly, "How else? Originally, various offices harbored tax evasion, chaotic revenues, and rampant corruption. I have already sealed numerous account books, which can easily be submitted to His Majesty to investigate corrupt officials and execute them until heads roll. However, I believe that unless responsibilities and powers are clearly sorted out, whoever succeeds next will only plunge things into chaos. Emperor Taizu Gao executed countless officials, yet in the end, he failed to resolve the root of the problem. If you all feel my approach is inappropriate and prefer to follow the methods of Emperor Taizu, then I will simply transfer the account books to the Brocade Guard and let the Office of Transmission wash its hands of this. What do you all say?"

Hearing this, Zheng Ci was left speechless.

Under most circumstances, he would fight desperately to defend the interests of the Ministry of Punishments, refusing to yield even unto death...

But not this time, because mishandling this could genuinely cost him his life.

"The Ministry of Punishments seconds the motion!"

As soon as Zheng Ci spoke, everyone shifted their gaze to the Minister of Rites, Song Li.

Song Li panicked. "I am from the Ministry of Rites, an office that has always remained aloof from money—a pure and impoverished department. What more could you possibly want from me?"

At this moment, Xia Yuanji let out a cold chuckle. "Minister Song, we are all fellow inmates in this celestial prison; what harm is there in speaking the truth? Your Ministry of Rites is responsible for receiving foreign vassal states, and the tributary trade is entirely monopolized by you. Although the imperial court has always been generous in its rewards to vassal states, the silver and silks distributed come from the Ministry of Revenue, while those tribute goods ended up in your Ministry of Rites. Are you not going to hand them over?"

Song Li was stunned for a moment. "Then... then how shall we conduct exchanges with vassal states in the future?"

Zheng Ci, the Minister of Punishments standing nearby, coughed. "Minister Song, several months ago when His Majesty launched a campaign against Korea, your Ministry of Rites uttered a great deal of bizarre nonsense. Now His Majesty's prince has returned in triumph, projecting our national might and military prestige. If you still believe the Ministry of Rites can monopolize foreign relations, I shall be compelled to submit a memorial impeaching you, forcing you to take responsibility for your words and deeds!"

"You!"

Song Li turned green with rage. Damn it, these were his own colleagues! When they struck, they were even more ruthless than Xu Jingchang—every move was fatal, every blade cut to the bone, aiming straight for the most vulnerable spots.

With them around, he had no choice but to agree.

"Then how shall we manage relations with vassal states from now on?"

Xu Jingchang replied, "The Ministry of Rites shall only be responsible for ceremonial receptions. As for all tributary goods, aside from a small number of state gifts presented to His Majesty, the rest must be handed over to the Maritime Trade Supervisorate to be uniformly classified under customs duties."

Song Li gritted his teeth. "Fine, I concede!"

Having reached this point, Xu Jingchang looked around. The basic division of taxes and the reshuffling of authority had finally begun to take shape.

"Minister Xia, since matters have reached this juncture, you shall draft our reform proposals. Then, the heads of the Six Ministries and Nine Offices will jointly sign them and submit them together to His Majesty."

Xia Yuanji looked at the others. Though every single one of them harbored a hundred reservations, they still nodded in agreement.

Liu Jun, the Minister of War, even urged, "Hurry up. Being in this celestial prison gives me the creeps all over. Once I get back, I must hire a few Daoist masters to exorcise the evil spirits for me."

Xu Jingchang could not help laughing out loud. "Minister Liu, Preceptor Yao is right here. Wouldn't it be even better to ask for his help?"

Liu Jun instinctively shook his head. "No way. Preceptor Yao's fees are far too exorbitant; I cannot afford him."

A wave of laughter swept through the room. Xia Yuanji had already begun writing with flying speed, quickly jotting down every aspect they had just discussed. He passed the document around for everyone to inspect, and after they signed their names one by one, he handed it over to Xu Jingchang.

"The deed is done, gentlemen. We can all go home to sleep and face the Emperor tomorrow."

As Xu Jingchang turned to leave, the others beamed with smiles, feeling immensely relieved.

"Wait!"

Jian Yi, the Minister of Personnel, who had remained silent all this time, finally sat up with a start, glaring fiercely at this gang of scoundrels with wide-open eyes!

"Director Xu, have you forgotten why you came to the celestial prison? Let me tell you, the Ministry of Personnel does not agree! Not a single word of what you have discussed shall I accept!"

Everyone suffered a shock. Oh no, how could they have forgotten him?

Zhu Di had thrown Jian Yi into prison, but he had not stripped him of his office. He was still the Celestial Official of the Ministry of Personnel and the head of the Six Ministries. Without his consent, everything they had negotiated was worth no more than a blank sheet of paper.

They stared at one another in dismay. What was to be done?

In the end, it was Xu Jingchang who walked up to Jian Yi with a smile on his face.

"Minister Jian, we have reached an agreement and the problem is solved. His Majesty will naturally release you once this is over; there is no need to be afraid."

"Bullshit!" Jian Yi actually cursed aloud. "You lot have been wining and dining outside while I am stuck in here! And you expect me to just agree? Besides, you are worried about failing to collect enough money, whereas I have too much money—is that the same thing? If I foolishly agree now, you will sell me out the moment a new Minister of Personnel is installed. I've seen right through your petty tricks. Rather than being dismissed sooner or later, I'd rather we all go down together and ruin each other!"

This celestial prison truly was a magical place. Once inside, everyone shed their veneer of elegance and pretense, revealing their most ferocious countenances.

Since Jian Yi was determined to drag everyone down with him, Xia Yuanji panicked. "Minister Jian, my dear Celestial Official, there was truly no alternative regarding the stipend; we have already promised to disburse it. If we take it back now, the officials will be outraged, especially the Censorate, the Six Offices, the Imperial Academy, and the Hanlin Academy—they will fight us to the death, and you will undoubtedly be utterly disgraced."

Jian Yi sneered, "Then let us all sign a joint petition! If we die, we die together!"

"Minister Jian, you cannot be so devoid of integrity," Liu Jun blurted out anxiously.

Jian Yi scoffed coldly, "Integrity? This is the imperial court, not the Gathering Hall of Mount Liang. Spare me that nonsense!"

Song Li's lips trembled. "Then... then you are even worse than mountain bandits!"

Jian Yi rolled his eyes and retorted angrily, "You call me a mountain bandit? Indeed, I am a mountain bandit! But what about you lot? You are national thieves and greedy parasites, even worse than I am!"

This truly gave everyone a taste of the Celestial Official's sharp tongue, leaving them exchanging helpless glances once more.

What could be done?

The stipends could not be reduced, Jian Yi refused to relent, and it would be difficult to explain the situation to Zhu Di.

Even Xia Yuanji broke out in a sweat.

Xu Jingchang took a deep breath and said helplessly, "We are left with only one final option." He turned his gaze to Xia Yuanji. "Minister Xia, what is the current amount of local financial retention across the provinces?"

Xia Yuanji was taken aback. The so-called "retention" referred to the portion of land and poll taxes that local administrations kept for themselves after collection, primarily used to pay the salaries of local officials, provide grain stipends for scholars, cover the allowances of imperial princes, and fund a portion of disaster relief.

Opposite to retention was the "remittance"—the portion sent to the Ministry of Revenue for the national treasury.

This was precisely the largest loophole in the Ming Dynasty's fiscal taxation system: the lack of a unified ledger for total revenues and expenditures. Localities constantly devised ways to retain more tax revenue, leaving fewer and fewer funds being shipped to the capital.

Consequently, a large number of provinces were chronically in tax arrears, with Jiangxi being the prime exemplar.

When Xu Jingchang brought this up, Xia Yuanji sighed. "This year, the agricultural taxes remitted or reduced across various regions are enormous, and the stipends for the imperial princes cannot be cut. In some places, local retention has reached seventy or eighty percent, leaving a pitifully small amount for the Ministry of Revenue. If I weren't at my wits' end, I would never have conceived of the idea of levying commercial taxes. My hardships are real!"

Xu Jingchang smiled and said, "Whether you are having a hard time or not is of no concern to me; my point is that we simply change the method of calculation. Local retention is also part of the imperial court's annual revenue; it is merely that the Ministry of Revenue cannot spend it at will."

Xia Yuanji frowned and asked, "What are you planning to do?"

"It is very simple: we calculate the grand total and present it to His Majesty. That way, although the Ministry of Personnel's expenditures remain the same in amount, their proportion of the total will shrink significantly, making them far less glaring."

Xia Yuanji sat dumbfounded for a long while before finally uttering a heartfelt remark: "Director Xu, you are truly a genius!"

To dare employ such manipulative accounting tricks to hoodwink Zhu Di was not merely talent—it was sheer genius!

With matters having progressed to this stage, a conclusion was finally reached. Once the Ministry of Revenue recalculated the annual revenue by incorporating local retention, the Ministry of Personnel's salary expenditures could be reduced to fifteen percent of the total, making it look vastly smaller...

Of course, it only *looked* smaller, since the salaries of local officials were conveniently ignored after all... Moreover, Xia Yuanji hit upon a brilliant stratagem: he separated the expenditures of the imperial princes and nobility into an independent category, and similarly isolated the salaries of military commanders and hereditary nobles. By making these comparisons, the stipends of the capital officials suddenly appeared entirely reasonable.

"Very well, does anyone have any objections now? We can jointly sign the memorial and submit it."

After a brief hesitation, Jian Yi finally wrote down his name... Overjoyed, the others hurriedly strode toward the exit.

However, they had not anticipated that at that very moment, the entrance to the prison was completely packed with Brocade Guards.

Furthermore, a brass lock the size of an ox's head had been fastened across the prison gates.

As the officials emerged in high spirits, Duke of Cheng, Zhu Neng, stood waiting for them. With a grin at the group, he announced, "By imperial decree: the interior of the celestial prison is cool and tranquil, ideal for contemplating state affairs and sharing the Sovereign's burdens. Therefore, in His Grace's boundless benevolence, all heads of the Six Ministries and Nine Offices shall spend the New Year right here in the celestial prison. None of you are to come out! Respect this!"