Father and son had a good understanding, so Zhu Gaochi immediately arranged for the eunuchs to prepare the meal. The prince's dinner must be cooked by top chefs carefully selected from the imperial kitchen, and it would not be the same every day.
The prince rarely gets angry, and he is mostly kind to his eunuchs and servants, but if you do something unpleasant, he will definitely get angry. A man must have his own principles and bottom line.
Chen Xuan looked at Zhu Zhanzhen curiously. He had seen His Highness from a distance before, but had not paid close attention to it. It could be said that this was the first time he had met up close.
"Your Highness, Fifth Prince."
"Are you Mr. Chen Xuan and Mr. Chen?" Zhu Zhanchen already knew that Mr. Chen was here on the way here.
"It's Wei Chen."
"A few days ago, my second uncle said that you were in Jinan Mansion, otherwise I would have wanted to meet Mr. Chen."
Chen Xuan was a little surprised when he heard that Zhu Zhanzhen called him second uncle, because he knew that the relationship between the King of Han and the prince was not harmonious, but the emperor's grandson called him "second uncle" in a friendly manner. However, seeing that the prince had no objection, he naturally had no objection.
"Yes, I was in Jinan Mansion a few days ago due to official duties and only returned yesterday."
Then he added: "I went to see Zheng He this morning and saw the steam engine. Zheng He and I praised the Fifth Highness."
"Zheng He exaggerated. I just came up with the idea. Otherwise it would have been impossible for him and the craftsmen to build the steam engine. It was beyond my expectation that it could be built in three months."
"Zhan Zhan, Mr. Chen just discussed some water and sea transportation matters with us. We would like to hear your opinion." Zhu Zhanji took the words.
"Brother, what's the matter?"
"General Chen will soon be appointed as the Chief Officer of River Transport and Maritime Affairs. Not to mention maritime affairs, it is mainly river transport. The emergence of steamships will make water transport ships faster. It is expected that ships will become more frequent. The gentry in the south of the Yangtze River are the most engaged in water transport. Compared with
Most relevantly, how to negotiate with them is the key to water transport reform."
Zhu Zhanji said it very vaguely. In fact, the reform of water transportation would affect the interests of the noble families. These people are all large taxpayers. It was fine for one family and two families, but Chen Xuan couldn't do anything if they all offended them.
"Could Mr. Chen tell us what the current situation of water transportation is and how it is managed?"
At present, the busiest and busiest water transportation is the Grand Canal. After all, it runs from north to south, and grain and palace transportation accounted for a large part. In addition to these, commerce and trade gradually developed in the Ming Dynasty.
Huizhou merchants started out in the tea trade, while Shanxi merchants started out in the salt industry. Silk, ceramics, and various local specialties were all busy being transported on this Grand Canal. As the Ming Dynasty became more and more prosperous, these commercial activities continued to increase.
Due to the lack of attention paid by literati to merchants and the "notoriety" of merchants, although merchants made money, their status was not high and their reputation was generally not good. Gradually, some merchant groups emerged to protect their own interests.
They also began to use the power of the group to increase their own interests.
But these people are the big tax payers.
Although the literati suppressed business, the court needed taxes and the increase of private capital, which could not be stopped. Therefore, even under suppression, commercial activities continued to increase in these years of Yongle's prosperity.
There are many noble families and they have backers. They rely on the big backers and find some small officials who are in various key links to tie them up in the form of cash or dividends. This also forms a whole chain of interests, which affects the whole body.
At this time, there were four main taxes in the water transport commercial system: commercial tax, ship tax, points, and gate tax.
Commercial tax is levied based on the selling price of items. There are more than 200 commercial tax collection stations on the canal alone, so I'm afraid of escaping.
The maintenance of these tax collection stations alone requires a lot of people and a lot of salary. Of course, it is the clerks at these tax collection stations who are most likely to be bribed by the powerful and powerful.
After all, the money for these valve plugs is much higher than the salary of the petty officials themselves.
Ship bills are classified according to the size of the ship and the total carrying capacity. The charges are divided into five sections from Peking to Hangzhou. Even if the ship travels from beginning to end with an empty ship, it will cost 8 taels of silver.
The draw is a charge for shipbuilding materials, which must be paid in kind.
The door stall tax is a license tax levied on urban merchants' warehouses and stalls. This tax must be levied on non-court food tributes that want to flow into market shops. This is also a key item for evasion. The petty officials responsible for tax collection have leaked
If you declare more or under-report, you can reduce a lot of taxes.
The imperial court's suppression of trade is obvious. If an ordinary merchant ship is fully paid and only carries local specialties, the tax from Yingtianfu to Peking may be five or six levels above the cost of the goods or even higher.
The noble clans used some means to underreport the quantity by three or four levels and avoid the gate tax, so they could enter the markets of other cities at cheaper prices. Over time, they would form a monopoly, and small traders would not be able to compete with them at all.
When you monopolize a market, you will find ways to prevent any changes, because any variables may have an adverse impact on you.
Chen Xuan dredged the river, which made it easier for the court to collect grain tribute, and at the same time increased taxes from various places. Although the clan became larger and some of the taxes were leaked, there was still a lot of taxes paid.
In addition, these clans were powerful in the local area, and Chen Xuan served as the chief water transport officer. It was not easy to maintain the relationship between these clans and the imperial court.
Looking at Chen Xuan's analysis of the current water transportation situation, with a mixture of love and hatred for the wealthy nobles, and a more helpless look, Zhu Zhanzhen knew that he had thought about truly changing the status quo, but he was just too willing to do it.
According to the current capabilities of the court, it is indeed difficult to change.
When Chen Xuan was about to say it, the food was served. Although Zhu Gaochi was sad, he still had to eat the food first.
The prince likes to eat. As we all know, although Zhu Zhanji has no choice but to stop him, he talks while eating.
"Mr. Chen, let's eat together."
"Your Highness, I will go home and eat later."
"When you came here at noon, it was just after lunch. I guess you didn't eat at noon during the journey. You can't do anything when you're hungry. Let's sit down and eat together."
Of course, the prince's dinner is not one where the king and his ministers sit together at the same table. Each person has a table. The food is divided into small portions and is exquisite.
"Mr. Chen, try this dish. It was made by a chef from Fujian. A bunch of ingredients and seafood are simmered in an earthen pot. It tastes extremely delicious."
Zhu Zhanzhen took a look and found that this dish was very similar to Buddha Jumping Over the Wall, but Buddha Jumping Over the Wall hadn't been invented yet, so it was somewhat similar.
During the meal, Zhu Zhanzhen kept talking to Chen Xuan. With the development over such a long time, the existing gentry clans have formed a certain scale, and they also have a monopoly effect in all walks of life. Through bribery or marriage, the officialdom is also somewhat complicated.
The relationship cannot be beaten to death with a stick.
But neither monopoly nor oligopoly is conducive to economic diversity, so Zhu Zhanzhen came up with an idea.
Is it feasible to use collective economy to fight against oligopoly?