Kou Zhun entered the palace today mainly to report to the Shipping Department.
Previously, the imperial court did not pay much attention to the Shipping Department, so the management system was also in chaos.
For example, when it comes to taxation, the Guangzhou Shipping Department applied unified extraction (taxation) standards for all goods from Tibetan merchants arriving in the Song Dynasty.
Regardless of the value of the goods, 10% will be charged.
In fact, the tax rate of one out of ten is not too high. After all, sea trade is very profitable, but there are disadvantages in using unified standards for taxation.
Overseas merchants usually only sell valuable items of relatively high value.
No one cares about things like grain and rice seeds at all.
The Champa rice now promoted by the imperial court was first brought back to the Song Dynasty by merchants from Fujian.
However, the introduction of Champa rice was not intentional, but an accidental product.
Spontaneous actions by the people will obviously be less efficient.
If the official comes forward and is responsible for guiding, the efficiency will definitely be much higher.
Just like sea trade, merchants who have tasted the benefits of sea trade will participate deeply even without the guidance of the court.
However, for those merchants who have not participated in maritime trade, if they rely solely on word of mouth, they will probably not believe everything.
At first, Kou Zhun didn't quite understand why His Majesty wanted to promote sea trade.
Even though His Majesty had pointed it out, he still didn't quite understand.
It wasn't until recently, when he saw the grand scene of Beijing's wine shops, that Kou Zhun suddenly realized what he was doing.
A gentleman values righteousness, while a villain values profit.
The vast majority of people in the world are profit-seeking people. Scholars, farmers, industry and merchants, and businessmen, profit is the most important.
The fundamental reason why the officials promoted maritime trade was to liberate the wealthy locals from the land.
Although the risks of sea trade are not small, the profits are high enough.
As for how high it is?
High enough for people to ignore the risk.
The income from farming is simply not comparable to that from sea trade.
certainly.
Land income is incomparable to sea trade.
Stablize!
Except for years of disaster, there will be little fluctuation in land income.
It is necessary to guide the landowners to turn to commerce and induce them to make profits.
However, pure inducement is definitely not enough.
Relevant supporting policies must also be followed up.
And this is the content of Kou Zhun’s report today.
"See Your Majesty."
After some greetings, Kou Zhun and Zhang Dexiang took their seats one after another.
"Kou Qing, I have read the letter submitted by Zhongshu."
"However, there are a few points that need to be improved."
"Your Majesty, please give me your instructions."
Li Jie said bluntly without being polite.
"First of all, the proposal to jointly go to sea is good."
"During Yongxi's reign, Emperor Taizong also issued an edict and sent eight of his servants to carry edicts, gold and silk, divided into four categories, and each went to the vassal states in Hainan to recruit and sell incense, rhinoceros horns, ivory and other items.
"
"Of course, there are countless vassals and small countries overseas."
"Only eight people are sent, which is too few. Sixteen people are also not many."
"I believe that we should use several large ships with thousands of materials as the main force, supplemented by a dozen warships with 400 materials as auxiliary, and send hundreds of people to dispatch various groups in the South China Sea to promote the power of the Song Dynasty."
Material is a unit of measurement for ships. One thousand materials is converted into current ship tonnage, which is about 500 tons.
Five hundred tons, in future generations, can only be regarded as a small ship among small ships.
But to talk about tonnage regardless of the times is to be a hooligan.
At this time, the tonnage of the ship can reach 500, and it will definitely stand out from the crowd when placed in the port.
the other side.
When he heard that the government was going to send several large ships with thousands of materials, Kou Zhun couldn't help but feel a little headache.
The imperial court simply does not have a large ship with thousands of materials.
It’s not surprising that Kou Zhun had a headache. After all, the imperial court didn’t pay much attention to the sea. Although Emperor Taizong sent envoys to the South China Sea.
But just once.
Because if you do this, you will lose money.
During the Yongxi period, the overseas trade was more of a tribute trade, which was a typical example of generous gifts and low tributes.
Song Taizong only did it once, and then he never did it again.
During the Zhenzong Dynasty, Song Zhenzong lost even more interest in the ocean.
If the people above don’t pay attention to it, how can we expect the people below to take the ocean seriously?
If you ignore the ocean, you will naturally not pay attention to shipbuilding.
During the Taizong Dynasty, the Song Dynasty officially had several large ships, but those were decades ago. Today, the Song Dynasty does not even have a thousand-material sea-going ship.
There is a navy in Dengzhou, but Dengzhou's navy only operates offshore, and the largest warship only costs 600 pieces.
Seeing Kou Zhun's face look sad, after thinking about it, Li Jie roughly guessed the reason.
"Kou Qing, are you worried that there is no ship in the court?"
"Your Majesty has a keen eye."
Li Jie smiled: "It is true that the imperial court does not have it, but that does not mean that the people do not have it. Kou Qing can rent ships from Guangzhou and Zhejiang."
"certainly."
"In addition to the necessary rent for renting sea-going ships, the imperial court can also promise that any maritime merchant who is willing to accept the renting of sea-going ships can participate in this trip to Southeast Asia."
That's right.
Li Jie intended to have a Song Dynasty version of "Zheng He's voyages to the West" in advance, and this trip to Nanyang was not entirely an official event.
The government and the people were mixed, and they all went to Nanyang.
The official brought the goodwill and promise of the Song Dynasty, and the maritime merchants brought porcelain, silk, tea and other items from the Song Dynasty.
Rent a civilian ship?
This is indeed a path that Kou Zhun never imagined.
In the eyes of traditional scholar-bureaucrats, disturbing the people is definitely one of the taboos.
If the policy implemented disturbs the people, it will not only lose public opinion, but also become black material for political opponents to criticize oneself.
After pondering for a moment, Kou Zhun felt that the recruitment seemed pretty good.
After all, shipbuilding takes time, especially when building a giant ship with more than a thousand materials, it often takes years.
Directly recruiting civilian ships is indeed the best solution in the short term.
"Your Majesty is Holy Ming."
Seeing this, Li Jie nodded slightly and continued.
"Secondly, the issue of taxation also needs to be changed."
"Most of the goods brought by Tibetan merchants into the Song Dynasty were valuables such as fragrant medicines, rhinoceros horns, and ivory. For this kind of goods, the old tax rate of 10 per cent was still continued."
"However, if it is commercial goods related to people's livelihood such as grain and rice seeds, part of it can be reduced or reduced as appropriate. One out of twenty is enough."
"In addition, porcelain, silk, tea and other items from this dynasty are also subject to tax when they are sold to Tibetan countries."
"The tax rate is also 1 out of 10."
"Of course, it can be relaxed a little in the early stage. Although the tax rate is still 1 in 10, the court can refund part of it in the coming year."
Kou Zhun really didn't understand when he heard that he should withdraw first and then withdraw.
Doesn't this add one more procedure?
There is one more procedure, which means that someone needs to be specially assigned to handle the tax refund.
However, Kou Zhun soon understood the profound meaning of this policy.
Although there is one more procedure, the base tax rate has been set.
Tax rebates are just one of the incentives.
When sea trade expands, this policy can be withdrawn.
(PS: According to literature research, maritime trade in the Song Dynasty was indeed taxed bilaterally, and this was also the reason why Kou Zhun did not object to export taxes.
However, during the Northern Song Dynasty, the court did not pay much attention to maritime trade, and its management was very chaotic)