amaotonovel Chapter 1166 Isn't this all your fault, Yang the Madman?
Chapter 1166 Isn't this all your fault, Yang the Madman?
Emperor Zhu was furious when he saw Yang Shaofeng, Wang Guangyang, and Hu Weiyong all together.
Do any of these three people have anything good?
No!
One of them is always thinking about how to make things difficult for us.
The remaining two constantly complained about a lack of manpower and funds.
Nothing good!
Emperor Zhu snorted coldly with a dark face, then looked at Li Shanchang and said, "We've finished talking about those things. Now let's talk about the second five-year plan."
As Emperor Zhu finished speaking, all the officials, including Yang Shaofeng, Wang Guangyang, and Hu Weiyong, immediately perked up their ears.
The Second Five-Year Plan, though only seven simple words, represents the entire Ming Dynasty court, from the Grand Secretariat to various ministries, directorates, temples, and academies. It also signifies the imminent start of the third Yellow Register census and the adjustment of official positions in numerous government offices and among officials.
Li Shanchang cupped his hands to Emperor Zhu and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, the Cabinet's second five-year plan mainly focuses on four aspects: governance, people's livelihood, economy, and education."
"In terms of governance, the cabinet plans to complete the adjustment of the cabinet and various ministries, directorates, temples, and academies and their officials within the next six months, and the adjustment of the provincial administration offices and the offices and officials of prefectures, states, and counties within one year. It is expected that the establishment and operation of township and town-level government offices will begin within the next five years."
"In addition, the cabinet plans to promote a system for the transfer of officials, focusing on addressing problems such as laziness, corruption, and cruelty among local officials."
"In terms of people's livelihood, in the next five years, we will promote the benefit-the-people pharmacies, almshouses, and sanatoriums to the county level, and at the same time begin preparations for township and town-level government offices, and completely complete the reform of the household registration system."
"At the same time, we must strengthen local security by establishing separate security bureaus in government offices at all levels, which will be responsible for local security and managed by the Security Department under the Cabinet, while also being managed and guided by the Grand General's Office."
"Promote cooperation between local authorities and local garrisons. For example, if a local police station encounters bandits that it cannot handle, the local official in charge can seek help from the local provincial governor or military command, which will then dispatch garrison soldiers to assist in resolving the issue."
"In terms of the economy, the focus is mainly on four aspects: industry, transportation, mining, and taxation. In terms of industry, the main focus is on continuing to promote the five small workshops in various places, while in terms of transportation, the focus is on straight roads, railways, and river bridges."
"..."
Li Shanchang slowly and deliberately presented the five-year plan that the cabinet had discussed countless times.
Liu Bowen and Xu Da also submitted their second five-year plan to the Censorate and the Grand Military Commission.
The heads of various departments, supervisory offices, temples, and monasteries were not spared the fate of having to report on their work on the spot.
Emperor Zhu listened with a smile, but Yang Shaofeng felt a growing headache as he listened.
Is this the true strength of the founding team of the Ming Dynasty?
None of my family members understand that Li Shanchang, that old scoundrel, actually set key performance indicators in his five-year plan—is it because he has hardly any hair left, so he plans to ruin all the officials of the Ming Dynasty?
If it were just that old scoundrel Li Shanchang who could come up with new tricks, that would be one thing, after all, he was the founding prime minister of the Ming Dynasty, and his strength was obvious.
But how come you, Xu Da, can come up with new tricks?
The petition requests that a military department be established in each provincial administration commission, prefecture, state, county, and even future township government office, directly under the jurisdiction of the Grand Military Commissioner's Office, responsible for recruiting soldiers, managing retired soldiers, and logistics management.
The petition requests that officials from the Military Affairs Department be appointed as assistant officials in all provincial administration commissions, prefectures, states, counties, and even future township governments. These officials would only listen and not speak, but would have the right to speak and veto any matters that might arise.
The petition requests that the numerous guard posts throughout the land be divided into different regional command posts, with each regional command post having jurisdiction over two to three or even more provincial administration commissions. The responsibilities of each local guard post should also be further subdivided, with some specializing in military campaigns, others in local affairs, and still others in railways and fire prevention.
Compared to Li Shanchang and Xu Da, who were clearly not quite normal, Liu Bowen, who only proposed "promoting the establishment of disciplinary and supervisory offices to various provincial administration commissioners, prefectures, states, counties, and even future township governments," became the most normal one.
Yang Shaofeng whispered again, "This five-year plan is really good, it's really complicated, all the officials will be rolled up like cattle."
As soon as Yang Shaofeng finished speaking, Wang Guangyang and Hu Weiyong glared at him angrily.
We are also among the "ox-and-horse officials" you, Yang the Madman, are talking about!
And how dare you, Yang the Madman, say such a thing?
Who proposed the first Five-Year Plan of our Great Ming Dynasty?
Who wrote the first "Work Report" and the first "Year-End Summary" of our Great Ming Dynasty?
Who was responsible for setting up the first county-run five small workshops in our Ming Dynasty?
You've been rolling around like crazy until you've ended up in this mess, and you still have the nerve to stand on the dry bank and say things like "officials all have to be rolled up like oxen and horses"?
Isn't this all your fault, Yang the Madman?!
Seeing the murderous glint in Wang Guangyang and Hu Weiyong's eyes, Yang Shaofeng chuckled dryly and said, though his words lacked conviction, "Weren't all these things caused by Prime Minister Li? Why are you two looking at me like that?"
Li Wenzhong quietly tugged at Yang Shaofeng's sleeve and whispered, "You should say less. Minister Wang is getting old, but Governor Hu is not. His martial arts skills are not necessarily worse than yours."
Yang Shaofeng snorted and let Li Wenzhong pull him back two steps.
I won't stoop to your level, you two old scoundrels!
Just then, Emperor Zhu turned his gaze to Yang Siyi and said, "Have last year's statistics and this year's budget been prepared?"
Yang Siyi adjusted his hat and stepped forward to report: "Your Majesty, in the seventh year of the Hongwu reign of the Ming Dynasty, after excluding the taxes from the Dengzhou border market and the silver reparations paid by Japan, the total amount of taxes and levies from other localities amounted to more than 58.76 million strings of cash."
"If we include the silver paid by Dengzhou and Japan, the total amount of taxes and levies can be converted into more than 158.76 million strings of cash."
"Last year, the total expenditures for various local government operations, road repairs, bridge construction, workshop building, and relocation of people amounted to more than 131.5 million strings of cash."
"..."
As Yang Siyi recited one number after another, the Fengtian Hall fell silent once again.
More than 105,876,000 strings of cash.
This number truly shocked many people, even Yang Shaofeng looked at Yang Siyi with a blank expression.
According to Yang Siyi, after excluding the taxes collected at the border markets and the silver paid by Japan, the total tax revenue of the Ming Dynasty last year amounted to more than 58.76 million strings of cash.
In other words, the total value of the taxes from the Dengzhou market, plus the silver paid by Japan, was approximately one hundred million guan.