Zhejiang and Susong areas have always been important tax sources in the Ming Dynasty. About one-tenth of the land tax was collected from Zhejiang, one-tenth from Suzhou Prefecture, and one-twentieth from Songjiang Prefecture. At that time, Susong was not under the jurisdiction of Zhejiang Province. In total, the taxes in the Soochow region accounted for a quarter of the national taxes, which was not unimportant.
Although the taxes in Suzhou Prefecture are quite heavy, with the tax amount being twice that of Songjiang Prefecture, the heaviest one is Songjiang Prefecture, because Suzhou Prefecture governs one state and seven counties, while Songjiang Prefecture only has two counties, and its cultivated land area is only that of Suzhou Prefecture. A quarter of that of Suzhou Prefecture. In comparison, the tax burden of Songjiang Prefecture is twice that of Suzhou Prefecture.
Of course, there are historical reasons for the heavy taxes in Soochow. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the people in Susong area followed Zhang Shicheng and resisted Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Yuanzhang conquered the world, so he naturally had to clean up the country. Heavy taxes were inevitable. In addition, there were many officials in Susong area. Naturally, the land tax on official land is higher than that on private land.
What's more important is that Zhejiang and Zhejiang have always been prosperous and developed industry and commerce. However, for the Ming court, commercial taxes were really not enough to collect. For their own convenience, they folded commercial taxes into land taxes. In this way, This resulted in the chaos of uneven taxation. In the final analysis, it was because the Ming court really did not understand the laws of economics, let alone collect taxes.
It is said that wool comes from sheep. Jiangnan has a developed economy, so it is natural to pay more taxes. After all, taxation also pays attention to the principle of fairness. Those with more incomes pay more, those with less incomes pay less, and those with no incomes do not pay taxes. Economically developed areas pay more taxes, and the economy Less developed areas pay less tax.
The failure of the Ming Dynasty's tax policy was that the tax was spread to the land instead of directly levying it on specific people. As a result, wealthy households engaged in industry and commerce paid less or no tax, while those who rented government land paid less tax. The poor have to pay more taxes, which results in serious uneven tax burdens, natural resentment among the people, and frequent displacement of people.
Now that the Republic of China has taken over Zhejiang and Zhejiang, Wan Lei not only merged Suzhou and Songfu into Zhejiang Province, but also adjusted the tax policy, directly exempted all land tax and corvee, and set up investment promotion bureaus in various prefectures and counties, while selling official positions To raise funds, on the one hand, we encourage businessmen to invest in building factories and vigorously develop industry and commerce, so that the government can collect commercial taxes.
If industry and commerce want to develop greatly, there must be a broad market. After all, goods must be sold after they are produced, otherwise there will be overproduction, which will cause an economic crisis. In order to further expand overseas markets, Wan Lei on the one hand sent the sea to the south to Southeast Asia. , expand trade routes, and on the one hand send expedition teams out of the Pacific to explore the New World.
Since they have to cross the ocean, the expedition sent this time consists of two Xia-class battleships and four Hua-class cruise ships. These ships are all large ships with a displacement of more than 1,000 tons, with a draft of more than six meters, and can withstand strong winds and waves at sea. As long as there is no typhoon, there will generally be no accidents.
The reason why Wan Lei sent this expedition team was not only to open up new routes and new markets, but also to search for new species on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, such as corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes and other high-quality and high-yielding crops. Wan Lei has been eyeing it for a long time, and Rubber tomatoes, peppers and other cash crops, but what makes Wan Lei even more enticed are gold and silver.
This expedition team named Qihua by Wan Lei will set sail from Zhoushan Island on March 15th. Wan Lei took time out of his busy schedule to come to Zhoushan Island to see him off in person. The leader of this expedition team is Liu Wan , she took the initiative to go out to sea, and Wan Lei couldn't help but dampen her enthusiasm.
Although the Qihua Expedition only has five or six ships, its firepower cannot be underestimated. Not only are the two warships equipped with a large number of artillery, but a thousand of the navy's most elite officers are equipped with new muskets, and more than a thousand expedition members The team members are also carefully selected from the army. These people can go into battle to kill the enemy with a gun, and can do research with a pen when they put down the gun. They are professional expedition members.
With two thousand people going to sea, supplies cannot be neglected. Among the four Hua-class ships, two are supply ships. One ship is filled with coal, the other is filled with grain and fresh water, and there are also large ships in the other ships. The space is used to store coal and food, so that even if something unexpected happens, it can survive at sea for a long time.
"Mr. President, everything is ready. Can we lift the anchor?" At the military port, Liu Wan was wearing a well-fitting navy uniform and looked quite dashing. This time she was the expedition leader and was responsible for the entire expedition team. Her responsibilities were also Very important.
"Weigh the anchor. Remember, this time we are just exploring the road. Go quickly and come back quickly, and try your best to come back alive." Wan Lei suppressed the excitement in his heart, because this voyage was different from the previous trip to Xiananzhou. This was an epoch-making feat that marked the true coming of the Age of Discovery and the Age of Colonization.
"Sir, please rest assured that I will live up to my expectations." Liu Wan performed a military salute and then quickly boarded the ship with her deputies. Most of her deputies were female guards from the Jingzhong Guard, and they were all Wan Lei. Sent to supervise the army to prevent certain people from seizing ships and setting up overseas as pirates.
"Weight anchor. Turn on furnace." The high-pitched and long voice of the order echoed around the military port. With the whine of steam, the anchor was pulled up, and six huge ships slowly left the military port under the tug of the tugboat. , Wan Lei watched the fleet gradually go away, his heart still filled with ups and downs.
"Brother, the ship going south has started to weigh anchor. Let's go. According to the plan, we have to take a ship to Fuzhou." Seeing that Wan Lei was in a daze, Zhao Xueer reminded him in a low voice.
"Oh, yes, I almost forgot about this." Wan Lei slapped his head and said to Jing Zhongwei beside him: "Inform Commander Gao to prepare to sail!"
According to the southern tour plan, after Wan Lei completes his inspection of Zhejiang, he will take a boat south to Fuzhou to inspect Fujian. The most important thing is to agree on the establishment of the Fuzhou Shipyard. You must know that once production in Jiangnan is restored, maritime trade will It became one of the most important trade routes, and cargo ships became one of the most important means of transportation.
Although there is also a shipyard in Liaodong Province, this shipyard specializes in the production of Hua-class ships, while the military port in Dagukou only assembles and repairs warships. In the current price range, the majority of civilian cargo ships are still sailboats. After all, the cost of steamships is really high. If it is too high, the quantity is also limited, so it is not cost-effective to use it to pull general goods.
The shipbuilding industry in Fujian is also developed. The Fu Chuan produced in Fujian was once one of the standing warships of the Ming Dynasty. Moreover, the performance of the Fu Chuan was also good. It could travel across the ocean without hindrance and was suitable for use in maritime caravans. Lots of equipment.
Of course, in addition to considering the use of ships, Wan Lei's purpose of building a shipyard in Fuzhou is also to adapt to local conditions and use the shipbuilding and navigation industries to boost the local economy. After all, Fujian has many mountains and dangerous roads, and narrow and winding roads. In the southeast, the peaks, ridges and mountains are all spread out in Fujian. Since ancient times, the Fujian people have mostly used the sea as their farmland, and Wan Lei cannot take away the work of these trend-setters.