The servants and maids lived and cooked on the boat, and the smoke and smoke spread everywhere.
Shao Mianren felt bored staying in the cabin, so he put down his copy of "Liu Guest's Speech" and went to the deck to enjoy the breeze.
"Liu" is a miscellany written by Wei Xuan, the governor of the Yiwu Army during the Yizong Dynasty of the former Tang Dynasty.
The book mentions that a man named Li Yue met Hu Shang on a boat while sailing on the river. At that time, Hu Shang was seriously ill, so he repeatedly invited Li Yue to board the boat, and then entrusted him with two daughters, "all of different colors."
He also left behind a large pearl, which is priceless.
After Hu Shang died, Li Yue sent tens of thousands of his money to the official, found a husband for his two daughters, and secretly stuffed the priceless pearl into Hu Shang's mouth and buried it, "I held it in the night light,"
No one knows this."
A few years later, Hu Shang's family came to ask for money. Li Yue asked people from the government to excavate Hu Shang's tomb. "The night light is there" - well, the whereabouts of the tens of thousands of coins were not explained, so it was probably considered a donation...
…
When ordinary people read this story, most of them will be moved by Li Yue's keeping his promise. But after Shao Mianren read it, he was only amazed by the depth of Hu Shang's tentacles in the jewelry industry.
Hu people are good at appraising treasures, which can be seen in many stories of the Tang Dynasty. They are also good at processing jewelry. Taking Jiangnan as an example, the largest jewelry stores in Yuezhou, Runzhou, Xuanzhou, Yangzhou and other places are all opened by Hu merchants.
, they have overseas jewelry resources and exquisite processing skills, so their works are very popular.
Hu Shang, who was entrusted to Li Yue, made tens of thousands of dollars by running the jewelry business, which shows how profitable this business is.
In Yangzhou today, there are still many jewelry stores opened by Hu merchants!
"Wow!" There was a sound of water on the river.
Shao Mianren looked for his voice and saw a small boat rowing over, with Wang Zhenbai standing on the bow.
He suddenly couldn't help laughing.
The river port is dirty, with vegetable leaves, rotten wood and chicken and duck carcasses floating everywhere. In this smelly environment, Wang Zhenbai can be so calm and composed, which is also his skill.
"Your Highness, I walked around the city and was filled with emotions." After boarding the boat with the help of sailors, Wang Zhenbai said repeatedly: "Jewelry, spices, incense, seafood, etc., Hu Shang made everything. Even
There are also those who open restaurants and sell rice and noodles, and make huge profits."
By the end, I was a little angry.
It is enough for Hu merchants to do business that is not available in the Central Plains, and it will not make people too jealous.
Selling jewelry is actually a bit jealous, but considering that many of their jewelry come from overseas, I can tolerate it for now.
But he actually did business in rice and noodles, opened a restaurant, and made a lot of money, which made people jealous.
Xia people can also do these businesses, so why should Hu merchants make money?
After hearing this, Shao Mianren reminded: "The sage does not prohibit Hu merchants from doing business. He can do anything, as long as he pays taxes."
Wang Zhenbai was speechless.
"Furthermore, Hu merchants came to sell goods and had three expenses: parking, bringing in goods, and closing the market. When they left, they left with almost a load of goods from the Central Plains. They may not have earned us much gold and silver, but they even subsidized a lot of gold and silver.
." Shao Mianren said again: "Why do you worry about being a long history?"
Bojiao is equivalent to tariffs. The value of the goods brought by Hu merchants is calculated, divided into different categories, and different proportions of taxes are levied.
Jinfeng was the property that Hu Shangjin presented to the emperor. He might also give a share to the merchants privately, but this was not publicized.
Closing the market means that the shipping company has the right to purchase a batch of goods brought by Hu merchants at a low price, up to 30%, and sell them themselves, which has nothing to do with Hu merchants.
In addition, taxes must be paid when trading.
It can be said that there are "exorbitant levies and miscellaneous taxes", which are too much. Unfortunately, the profit of this business is too great, and Hu merchants are still happy with it, and they can't drive them away. In the first year of Shangyuan (760), Pinglu Jiedu envoy Tian Shengong went to Yangzhou to quell the rebellion.
, killed thousands of Hu merchants and plundered a large amount of property. The remaining Hu merchants just fled to the south of the Yangtze River and continued to do business, with a very stable mentality.
The Great Xia court's attitude towards Hu Shang was just that: encouragement.
Selling silk, porcelain, etc. to them can be sold at a higher price, and the court can collect more taxes.
The foreign goods brought by Hu merchants were sold at very high prices domestically, and the imperial court could also collect large amounts of taxes. Moreover, most of the consumers were wealthy people. Ordinary people would use borneol, ambergris, sandalwood, etc.
Shark skin, glass, rose dew, coral, gems and other luxuries?
For every transaction, the court collected a tax, which was equivalent to taking money from the pockets of the rich to meet various national expenses. Historically, in the early Southern Song Dynasty, the revenue of the Customs and Shipping Department accounted for 15% of the total fiscal revenue of the court.
At that time, it was close to one-third, which may have been the period with the highest customs revenue in all dynasties.
At this time, maritime trade was not as developed as it was in the Song Dynasty. Shipping companies in Daxia cities collected about three to four hundred thousand yuan in taxes every year - the customs duties in the early and mid-Northern Song Dynasty were about more than four hundred thousand yuan.
The goods donated by foreign merchants to the emperor were worth millions of dollars - this was tribute, not "tax".
You can make more money under the closing system - the Ministry of Internal Affairs usually sells them on your behalf, and the proceeds go to the treasury of the Ministry of Household Affairs.
In order to encourage trade, Shao Shude had just issued an order to stop the bad rules of entering and closing the market that continued until the Southern Song Dynasty, and integrated them into the tariff, that is, to increase the tax rate and reduce the irregular plundering system.
Taking into account the total income of the Shipping Company of 10 million yuan in the late Southern Song Dynasty, the total income of Daxia was less than 2 million yuan per year, which was really dwarfed and there was still huge room for improvement.
"A dignified Chinese businessman can't make as much money as a Hu businessman, which makes people angry." Wang Zhenbai was a little annoyed, his chest heaving, obviously he couldn't bear to see a Hu businessman opening a shop to make money from the Xia people.
In his opinion, just come and buy things, don't do anything else, just give him money.
"You don't understand." Shao Mianren smiled and said: "That's not how the accounts are calculated. The sage's idea is that the shipping companies in various cities can provide more taxes to the court. The more the better. Moreover, this tax has no impact on the people.
hurt."
He didn't want to dwell on this subtle point.
Any fool knows which is better: taxing the rich or taxing the poor.
Anyone with a discerning eye knows which one is better, a simple and crude direct tax or allowing you to pay taxes willingly when you buy things.
Rich people, just spend more money. The money you spend will be reviewed by the court, levy some taxes, and then hire the poor to work and fight wars, so that the cycle can last longer.