The saint has stopped running around in the past two years. The ministers were surprised and felt a little uncomfortable.
There is no other reason. After the sage went to court, he often asked people to ask questions.
Today is one group, and tomorrow is that group. As time goes by, no one has not been scolded, and everyone is disgraced.
Sometimes, they even hope that the saint will make a tour of the capital to make them feel relaxed and relaxed.
But Shao Shude let them down. His butt seemed to be welded to the dragon's throne. He would not leave. He was looking for someone to come over every day to ask questions - today he was looking for someone from the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The six-year-old Liao King Shao Xiu Shou also looked like a little adult, sitting next to Shao Shude with a serious face, looking at this person and that person with his dark eyes, very curious.
"After Wang Heizi leaves with the envoy, you will find two or three more people in Liaodong and ask them to restrain the merchants and fishermen from harming Silla, Baekje, and Taifeng." Shao Shude said: "As for who to harm.
, I don’t care, and I don’t want to know, there is only one thing, don’t make trouble in the coastal waters of Daxia, and don’t destroy the trade routes. If such an incident occurs, I will directly order the officials of the Huaihai and Hebei Provinces to ransack their homes, and there will be no mercy.”
Maritime merchants/fishermen/pirates are a trinity that is difficult to distinguish. Shao Shude knew this clearly.
Does he want to fight these people? Absolutely not.
To put it bluntly, this force developed step by step with his connivance. The local government has a list of the key elements who went to sea. If they really want to destroy them, they can just arrest their families on the shore.
Of course, things have gradually changed since the settlements appeared on Sakhalin Island, but it is still in its infancy, the problem is not serious, and no special management is needed.
He doesn't want to govern these people either.
As the saying goes, if you catch them, they will die, if you release them, they will be in chaos. If you really control them, it may have the opposite effect. This is not an exaggeration.
Pirates are probably a group of people in the world who like to pursue freedom the most, and they are very unruly.
Therefore, he now only adopts indirect influence methods, secretly manipulating, and letting the people who go to sea take care of themselves as much as possible, grow wildly, develop freely, and even provide some conveniences to help increase their momentum.
Mainland countries naturally don't like to go to sea. It is not easy to raise such a batch of seedlings. They really need to be taken care of carefully.
"I obey the decree." Zhongye, the supervisor of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, responded.
He is not very good at business, but he still has some experience in building relationships and exchanging benefits. At this moment, several names have flashed through his mind, and he plans to go to the Bohai Trading Company in two days and let them think about it.
Methods to contact "sea heroes" from all walks of life.
"Now let's talk about several trading companies." When he said this, Shao Shude glanced at his grandson from the corner of his eye and saw that he was still sitting there upright. He was very satisfied and continued: "Bohai Trading Company's profit has been more than 100,000 yuan in the past two years.
, last year it reached more than 127,500 yuan, which is very good.”
After saying this, he looked at another account book and said: "Annan Trading Company also started to make money last year, which is very good."
Because the prince's investment policy was too radical, Annan Trading Company suffered huge losses in its first year of business activities (the first year of Tongguang). In the second year of Tongguang, the loss was greatly reduced, but it was still in the red. state.
It was not until last year that I finally turned around. Although my profit was only 800 yuan, I finally digested the huge pit I had made in the previous two years. I also paid off the money I owed to the Accounts Department one by one, and even paid interest, which is very good.
"As soon as Your Majesty came back, Annan Trading Company started to make profits. It was all thanks to His Majesty's blessing." Chu Zhongye said with a smile.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs is a common shareholder of Bohai Trading Company, Annan Trading Company and Xiyu Trading Company, and is also the actual operator. Chu Zhongye knows these accounts clearly, and he is busy flattering them at this time.
The big eyes of Liao Wang Shao Xiu Shou fell directly on him.
Chu Zhongye's heart skipped a beat, couldn't he? His Highness is only six years old, so he wouldn't understand this, would he? What did he expect from me?
"Don't talk about these useless things all day long." Shao Shude also gave him a disgusted look and said: "I looked at the details and found that the prospects of Annan Trading Company are obviously better than that of Bohai Trading Company. Pepper alone is not meat or fish. The medicinal materials, wild products and other products from Liaodong are comparable. Perhaps they can even outperform whales, sea animals, and furs. Anyone who underestimates this trading company will be surprised in the future."
"We don't want to build new ships for the time being. The shipyard company has designed a new ship and it is undergoing trial trials. Maybe it will be finalized next year. Let's talk about it then."
"The business in Annan should be stable for a few years. Then, you can find ways to expand to other places, such as Chenla."
Shao Shude said several things in succession, and Chu Zhongye said yes repeatedly.
In fact, he also knew that the profits of pepper were underestimated by everyone. It can be seen from this that how much money Dashiren made in the past - of course, they did not make it for a few years. After all, the amount of pepper was not so large in the past, but now The fact that it can become a big business has a lot to do with the popularity of the three-crop rotation system in the north and its gradual flowering and fruiting.
"Ali, sit down." Shao Shude turned to look at his grandson and said: "After the world is at peace, the expenses of the court will increase day by day. Some things that did not cost money in the past will cost money in the future. As a king, there is one thing Ability is very important, and Aweng calls it 'financial management'. If you don't manage finances well, you will have to exploit the people, which will cause public resentment. Those who are good at managing finances can use money to drive people to work, fight, or anything else. For most people In other words, money can communicate with ghosts and gods, do you understand?"
"I understand." Shao Xiu Shou nodded obediently.
Shao Shude smiled and touched his grandson's little head again, knowing that he couldn't understand these words yet. But it doesn't matter. Let's sow the seeds first and educate him slowly in the future. He will always be able to understand.
I don’t know how many countries in history eventually died of financial collapse, not only China, but also a large number of foreign countries.
People die for money, and birds die for food. If you don't have money, who will do your work?
Daxia's current financial foundation is still farmers. What continues is the Two Tax Law that was implemented for one or two hundred years in the mid-Tang Dynasty, that is, it is mainly property taxation and levied on a household basis.
This is a very good tax collection method. For this reason, Tang Dezong suffered a huge loss. His pants were almost stripped off and he ran away in a hurry.
The prime minister Yang Yan who presided over this reform also ended badly. Two years after he proposed it, he was demoted and sentenced to death on the way to Yazhou.
Every time there is a reform, there must be a "sacrifice".
Since Tang Dezong, Yang Yan and others have paid the price, and this system has been adhered to until now, Shao Shude certainly has no reason to abolish it.
Shouldn't we continue to collect money based on head rather than property? That would be robbing the poor to give to the rich and damaging the foundation of the empire.
In addition to the normal household tax and local tax, the commercial tax, which has been rising steadily since the late Tang Dynasty, cannot be ignored. In fact, since Yizong of the Tang Dynasty, without commercial tax subsidies, the Tang court would have been finished long ago, and it would have been impossible to persist until the end of the Tang Dynasty.
The generation of Prince Le'an.
As far as Daxia is concerned, Shao Shude actually doesn't attach much importance to the profitability of several trading companies. That one is really not the big one. He even asked the Ministry of Household Affairs to distribute the dividends he received to the civil and military officials of the fifth rank and above as a welfare to boost morale.
.
The bulk of what the imperial court really acquired was actually the taxes paid by these trading companies.
They are run by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and are theoretically "quasi-state enterprises". There is really no need to evade taxes. Even if they evade taxes, it will not fall into their own pockets and it will affect their career, so why bother?
Commercial taxation has become increasingly important since the Han Dynasty.
In the middle and late Tang Dynasty, probably because the warriors needed to make money, business suddenly experienced explosive growth. The growth rate was astonishingly higher than that from the Han Dynasty to the early Tang Dynasty. It reached a peak in the Northern Song Dynasty.
Shao Shude has no doubt that commercial tax will account for an increasingly higher proportion of national fiscal revenue. It is an important part of finance and must not be ignored.
It is said that feudal society suppressed business, but this is not absolute.
At least, the middle and late Tang Dynasty did not suppress business, and businessmen could serve as officials. The Northern Song Dynasty did not seem to suppress business, and the government even deeply intervened in business, which was a bit excessive.
We are all realistic. When faced with a huge financial gap, will the prime ministers be willing to give up the big fat business tax?
Unless they collectively degenerate, only have their own private interests, and do not care about the court. Or there is a lack of professional talents in the early stage of the dynasty, so they can only copy the previous dynasty, and the system design has serious flaws, so that the ruling class has enough reasons to paralyze themselves and give up commercial taxes.
Shao Shude had a very open attitude towards business and even took the initiative to promote its development.
The concept of son and grandson has also been cultivated by him since childhood, and he naturally attaches great importance to business taxation.
The dynasty made a good start in the early days, but sometimes it became inertia.
"Finally, I want to talk about the Western Region Trading Company." After Shao Shude taught his grandson, he turned his attention to Chu Zhongye and said, "It's about the same as Annan Trading Company in the first two years, and it's still losing money now."
"Your Majesty..." Chu Zhongye was a little aggrieved: "The Western Region Trading Company now only has merchant villages. They recruit people, purchase agricultural tools, livestock, seeds, level the wasteland, and dig ditches, which costs a lot of money. This is all to cooperate with Shule Yang Shuai and Bei
Ting Fushuai, if it weren't for these two things, the business wouldn't be so stumbling. There are some caravans outside that go to the Western Region trading villages in name, but actually go to plunder slaves, so they make a lot of money. But the Western Region trading companies can't do that...
…”
"Okay, I don't mean to blame you." Shao Shude said with a smile: "Fu Cunshen's memorial has greatly praised the Western Region trading companies. You have helped a lot by producing tens of thousands of grains in Shangtun at the northern foot of Tianshan Mountain.
.”
The extra food consumption in Beiting is mainly due to the resettlement of the troops and their families in Shuanghe Town, the fifth town in Anxi.
In the first and second years of Tongguang, Beiting added 1,000 government soldiers and 2,000 Shuanghe town soldiers.
In the third year of Tongguang Dynasty, because Shangtun was more powerful, the households resettled in the early stage gradually began to produce results, and an additional 4,000 soldiers were added to Shuanghe Town. Counting their families, there were a total of 20,000. They were stationed in Shuanghe Town, and Yehe was guarding the capture.
, Donglin guards the three places.
As a result, there are already 6,000 soldiers in Shuanghe Town. Among them, 2,000 troops are stationed in Shuanghe (today's Bole), 1,000 troops are stationed in each of the four cities of Heishui Shouchuo, Xilin Shouchuo, Yehe Shouchuo and Donglin Shouchuo.
It can be said that the defense system in the western half of Beiting has been roughly completed - the defense troops mainly come from the four armies of Hengye, Pinglu, Luoyan and Guangjie.
This year, we will continue to increase the number of town soldiers and relocate their families, and the expenses will still have to be supported by the merchant villages. Therefore, the Western Region Trading Company really takes the overall situation into consideration, and Shao Shude is also well aware of their contribution, so he will not place too much emphasis on its early profits.
State-owned enterprises must sometimes bear policy losses. Political interests come before commercial interests. There is no way around it.
After Chu Zhongye heard what Shao Shude said, he felt relieved and immediately expressed his position: "Your Majesty, as long as the Ministry of Revenue pays the money in time this year, the Western Region Trading Company can turn its losses into profits."
After hearing this, Shao Shude was silent for a while and said: "Okay. If you still don't make money after three years, I might lose the credibility of the court. Don't blindly recruit people to expand farming this year. Make the accounts look better first."
After finishing speaking, he looked at his grandson again and said: "Ali needs to know that although these trading companies are a very handy tool, they cannot be used to death. Many things require weighing the pros and cons and considering multiple aspects, and cannot be left to chance.
Temper comes. Aweng has always believed that everyone can make money. Even if you are an emperor, you can't be too greedy or too unscrupulous. Restraint, remember, restraint is a virtue."
"I understand, Aweng." Shao Xiu Shou said softly.
Chu Zhongye listened with emotion.
When the sage said these words, he did not avoid him, which showed his trust. He was also impressed by the sage's philosophy. He never ate alone and would share any benefits, which made everyone very motivated.
The great power of an emperor lies in gathering the crowd - Chu Zhongye remembered a sentence his daughter once said, which obviously came from the mouth of a saint.
To put it bluntly, people's opinions are against each other.
If the emperor and his grandsons can deeply understand this principle, Daxia's foundation will be very stable. They, as ministers, will also live a very comfortable life.
Thinking of this, he secretly glanced at the emperor's grandson. Maybe it was a psychological effect, well, he did have the qualifications of a great emperor.
This is normal. How can the eldest grandson of the Supreme Emperor, who taught by words and deeds, be any different?
"That's basically all." Shao Shude put down his account book, looked at the people from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and said: "Bohai Trading Company doesn't have to worry, Annan Trading Company is on the right track, and Western Region Trading Company is expected to turn around this year. After another year or two, it will be stable.
In the fifth or sixth year of Tongguang, we will try to find a way to start a Yunnan trading company. That's it. If nothing happens, you can retire."
"I obey the decree." Everyone responded one after another.