Gao pragmatically believes that the problems of northern merchants are easy to solve, while the problems of southern merchants are difficult to solve. This is not just because he is sure to convince the core of northern merchants - the Shanxi merchant gang. There is also a deeper reason, that is, the north-south
The commercial trade that merchants engaged in was inconsistent in many aspects.
Northern merchants mostly engaged in trade in bulk grain, salt, cotton, fur, ginseng (produced by Jurchen), etc. In the later period, thanks to Anda's tribute and the intervention and guidance of Jinghua, cattle, sheep, horses and other trade were also included.
In addition to participating in the above trade, Jinghua itself also has a large number of ironware (including military industry), ships, cement, soap, porcelain, etc.
In addition to overlap with northern merchants in food, salt, cotton cloth, porcelain, ships, etc., southern merchants also overlapped with northern merchants in other areas such as silk, silk, silk, silk (differentiated) production, weaving (ready-made clothing, shoe and hat processing industry), printing and dyeing, paper
Industries such as manufacturing and printing (books) are projects that northern businessmen are less involved in.
Some officials may want to ask, what does these differences have to do with whether both parties are willing to pay commercial taxes? Why does Gao Pragmatic think that northern businessmen are easier to persuade than southern businessmen? Is it possible that northern businessmen have a higher level of consciousness than southern businessmen?
?
Of course it's not a question of consciousness, the question here is how much to pay.
As I have said before, it is not that scholars and senior officials have not discussed whether or not commercial taxes should be paid, how to pay them, etc. In fact, there have been many discussions, but there has been no customization.
From the perspective of Gao Pragmatic, a time traveler, the most representative discussion on commercial taxation in the Ming Dynasty could not escape the two different opinions of Qiu Jun and Wang Fuzhi.
Those who supported "closing the city without conscription" included Qiu Jun and others, while those who agreed with the view of conscripting business included Wang Fuzhi and others.
Qiu Jun has previously introduced that he advocates raising the status of merchants, but on this issue he advocates following the etiquette of the ancients and supports "closing the city without conscripting".
Is he contradicting himself? That's not the case, because he believes that the tax system for "markets" in ancient times was a "policy to suppress business."
It’s not beneficial.”
This means that in ancient times, customs cities were established to regulate and manage merchants, and part of the tax collection was also for the purpose of "suppressing business," not for profit. "Later generations will use it exclusively to benefit the country, which is not what the ancients intended." Therefore.
, he proposed to improve the status of merchants, but did not agree to comprehensively levy commercial taxes - southern merchants now strongly support his idea.
But in fact, Gao pragmatically knew that Qiu Jun's "closing the city without levy" was not a complete and complete non-levy.
Gao Pragmatic is quite familiar with Qiu Jun's writings. Qiu Jun once said, "People grow grains and have already paid taxes, so there is no reason to pay taxes anymore. It is not the same as bamboo, wood and livestock. There is no taxation for bamboo, wood and livestock."
, so merchants sell their goods to Guanshi, and the officials can tax them. Now that the people pay rent to the official warehouses, but Guanshi also levies taxes on them, isn’t it unreasonable? This is not only not the rule of the king, but also not the law of heaven.”
So what Qiu Jun actually means is not "no taxation", but "not all taxation". There must be a distinction here. For example, for grain, farmers have already paid taxes and land taxes, and if they sell the surplus grain on the market, you still have to
If you ask him to pay another tax, then you are double taxing, which is not only unreasonable, but even immoral.
Gao Pragmatic agrees with this view, and believes that not only food should not be "double taxed", but also necessities of civilian life such as cotton should be taxed at low levels, or even preferably tax-free.
But he couldn't just consider one person's point of view. Although Wang Fuzhi was not even born yet, the points of view he advocated were not unproposed by others, and Gao Pragmatic himself also knew those points of view.
What views does Wang Fuzhi hold? Unlike Qiu Jun of the Practical School, Wang Fuzhi, who prefers "moral practical learning" (but he cannot be considered to be from the Xin School), has a more traditional anti-business attitude. He believes that "businessmen are like villains" For the sake of cleverness, they despise the nature of others and thieves the survival of others for their own benefit... The barbarians benefit the merchants, and the merchants rely on the barbarians to become arrogant, but humanity is almost destroyed forever."
Precisely because he advocated suppressing business, he advocated Liu Bang's view of "embarrassing and humiliating merchants" in his writings, and believed that "merchants must be restrained by kings."
However, he also admitted that merchants were an important part of the economic field and that everyone (including merchants) had the obligation to pay taxes. The defeated generals will serve as kings and people."
Here, Wang Fuzhi abandoned the traditional idea of a single agricultural tax and insisted that commercial taxes were legitimate fiscal revenue. Not only should they be taxed, but some "get more for nothing" commodities should also pay heavier taxes.
He also emphasized that the expenditure of the national army should come from commercial taxes. For example, he once said in "Nightmare": "Like the Zhou system, the money for the military chariots comes from the merchants, and the profits for the chariots, horses and cattle are earned by the merchants. , and leather, money, silk and linen, bamboo wood, feathers, cloth, etc. are all handled by merchants, and they are the expenses of weapons, leather, and firearms. There is no doubt that merchants should be held responsible."
In addition to Wang Fu, Ma Qing also explained that levying business was in line with the laws of ancient sages and kings from the perspective of focusing on agriculture and suppressing commerce. He said: "According to the establishment of our country's banknotes, non-direct taxation is required to meet the needs of the country. In order to suppress the farmers who were driven away and returned to the countryside, the ancient sages and kings thought of the support of the people and cherished grains but despised gold and jade. This is a sincere and good law. Therefore, the king's law will not be abolished in the battle against the waste."
Based on the emptiness of the national treasury at that time, he also believed that the collection of commercial taxes "can help the public use and expand the people's power." He also said: "Currently, the money expenditure has been exhausted, the supply of the high wall is absolutely indispensable, and the people's power has been exhausted, which is really unbearable." "The remaining profits from the merchant expedition are far different from the benefits of dredging the people." It provides a moral explanation for the rationality of the merchant expedition.
Later, he also suggested that "the merchants all over the world who travel between the north and the south are taxed through Linqing and other places. Why should those who only follow the Huaihe River and the west through Zhengyang, the gains will not be taxed, and it will be uneven." Taking the average commercial tax as the The reason is to open Zhengyang Customs.
Putting together the representative ideas and views of these two people, we can see how "distorted" Gao's pragmatic attitude was in the eyes of the people at the time - Gao pragmatism advocated improving the status of businessmen and could not suppress business, but But he insisted that businessmen should pay business taxes.
In the eyes of ordinary people, since you want to focus on business, you should provide businessmen with a good business environment. And in the eyes of the world, the best business environment is, of course, no need to pay taxes. While you are pro-business, you must also ask businessmen to pay taxes. , are you schizophrenic?
Of course Gao Pragmatic is not schizophrenic, he is just "pragmatic and pragmatic" - it is useless to analyze this kind of thing theoretically, you have to be able to implement it in practice, and what is the current reality like?
First of all, it is impossible not to collect commercial taxes. If a cripple wants to outperform a person with sound legs, how developed should his leg be? The Ming Dynasty is a lame now, relying only on the support of agricultural taxes. However, the Ming Dynasty
Although our farmers are indeed very strong from a global perspective, no matter how strong they are, they can't stand such exploitation, and sooner or later this leg will be broken.
Secondly, commercial tax is levied to relieve the pressure on the country, not to bring down the country. If the tax is fully paid and the tax rate is the same, can those who sell food make more profits than those who sell technology (printing and dyeing, weaving, papermaking, etc.)?
Can the profit of a cotton seller be compared with that of a silk seller, or can the profit of a bamboo and wood seller be compared with that of a porcelain seller? Obviously there is no comparison.
If you can't compare, the problem arises. The current main business of northern merchants, except for Gao Pragmatic's own Jinghua Department, most of them should be summarized as "raw material trading", or at most "rough processing industry". This kind of business generally has
Two characteristics: one is large volume, and the other is low value-added products.
Businessmen in the South are different. They are engaged in either high value-added industries, such as silk, porcelain, and papermaking; or "finishing industries" such as dyeing, weaving, printing, and even pen-making. To put it simply, "
The "unit efficiency" is very high, and the added value of the product is very high. Even if it is a small trade, the amount involved is not small.
As a result, if a one-size-fits-all approach to taxation was implemented according to the Ming Dynasty's past taxation methods, merchants with low added value would simply stop doing it, because their profits might become negative after deducting taxes.
For this reason, the Practical School made a not particularly detailed classification of these things in the commercial tax that was previously implemented.
To put it simply, with the commercial tax currently implemented, the tax rate levied on southern merchants is much higher than that on northern merchants. Only a very small number of "northern merchants" are taxed heavily - for example, there are many in Jinghua, such as cement
, soaps, etc. are all heavily taxed, otherwise Gao Pragmatic would not have paid more than 1.7 million taels of tax every year.
However, Jinghua has its own special characteristics, and has always been viewed as an "exceptional theory", so it is not truly representative. In the eyes of the outside world, the commercial tax currently promoted by the Practical School is a typical example of "the north is light on the south and the south is heavy."
”——The tax rate paid by northern merchants is very low, while the tax rate paid by southern merchants is very heavy.
In fact, if we look at the absolute value of this thing, the north is "extremely light", but the south is not heavy either.
Why? The average commercial tax in the north (excluding Jinghua) is only about one hundred and two (1%, 2%), but the southern merchants only collected one hundred and fifty (5%) after Zhang Siwei took the opportunity to launch a sneak attack, and did not
It does not cover the entire south, only South Zhili and Zhejiang are collecting it. Neighboring provinces such as Jiangxi, Huguang, Fujian, etc. have not implemented it, let alone Guangdong and Guangxi.
Can a 5% tax rate be called a heavy tax? Of course not, but that’s not how the problem is viewed. There is a saying that “worry not about scarcity but inequality.” In the eyes of southern businessmen, this matter is very simple: Why do your business taxes only have 10%?
One hundred and one, when it comes to me, I will become one hundred and five? Is I so easy to bully?
Of course it’s not easy to bully him, there is a huge school of thought behind him!
The contradiction between the Practical School and the Heart School is difficult to reconcile. "Orthodox" is on the one hand, and interests are on the other.
Gao Pragmatic has always advocated a steady approach, and this time he has to work hard on commercial taxation. One of the main reasons is that he knows that it is impossible to reconcile this contradiction, and he can only "take advantage of the opportunity to attack" like his uncle Zhang Siwei did.
To take advantage of the opportunity, you must first have the opportunity, so is there now?
have.
The imperial court is usually eager for money when it is waiting for the rice to be cooked. This is an opportunity.
Originally, if the court was eager to ask for money to do other things, such as repairing the three main halls, the Xin School would have many reasons to refuse. However, now the court's reason for waiting for the money is very legitimate. To deal with the clan
The problem is that the Heart School cannot refuse the temptation, and the deeper reason is to defeat Can Yuan. Although the Heart School is indispensable for this, on the surface it is difficult to say no - this is the last wish of the second ancestors, you refuse.
?
This is why Gao Pragmatic chose to do it now. If this opportunity is missed, it will be even more difficult in the future.
Hu Zhili was a little uncomfortable with Gao Pragmatic speaking so straightforwardly. He always felt that Gao Pragmatic treated him directly as a member of the Pragmatic School, and he always felt a little restless after listening to it.
Of course Cheng Wen didn't feel this way. He just pondered and thought hard about whether this matter could be done.
As one of the top leaders of the Practical School, Cheng Wen knew very well that Shen Shixing was forced to agree to Zhang Siwei's previous tax collection of 150 yuan in Zhili and Zhejiang, and then Shen Shixing himself was under tremendous internal pressure.
The reason why he was obsessed with introducing Wang Xijue into the cabinet was also due to this pressure.
Wang Xijue is the richest man in Suzhou, and he can represent the interests of the "financiers" in the south better than him. Recommending Wang Xijue to the cabinet can, on the one hand, prove that he, Shen Yuanfu, has always been on the side of the funders, and on the other hand, it also allows Wang Xijue to
He shares the firepower - if something like this happens again in the future, you, Wang Xijue, should always be on the front line, right?
And because of the "lessons learned" from the last time, Cheng Wen felt that Shen Shixing would definitely be more cautious about commercial tax matters and would become more resolute in his opposition.
Cheng Wen sighed and asked in a low voice: "If Yuan Fu insists on refusing, does Situ plan to have a 'tax negotiation' with the Xin School?"
The term "business tax discussion" is obviously compared to "the great ceremony discussion". Of course Gao Pragmatic can hear it. This is Cheng Wen emphasizing the huge impact of this matter. Maybe it will be the same as the great ceremony discussion of the Jiajing Dynasty.
It has affected the whole country, and countless high-ranking officials have experienced ups and downs.
Gao Pragmatic also knew that Cheng Wen's words were not false threats. The most important reason why the great ceremony had a huge impact was that it divided the ministers. It was the largest and most obvious political rift in the Ming Dynasty.
What followed was a comprehensive political contest between the old and new forces, and they fought fiercely.
Will the "Business and Taxation Discussion" have an impact comparable to the "Dali Discussion"? It is very likely that it will, because once Shen Shixing and Wang Xijue choose to strongly oppose it, the political pattern since Gao Gong has been in power will be completely broken.
The struggle between the Practical School and the Heart School will never be the same again. Both sides stick to their own bottom line, test each other and strive for each other above the bottom line. Once this seemingly tender veil is completely torn off, both sides can only copy.
Guys go into battle and fight hand-to-hand. Unless one side falls, the war will never stop.
However, as one of the important ministers of the Practical School, Cheng Wen knew very well that the emperor probably did not want to see this scene now. He just wanted to raise money to open the vassal ban, and then go into battle lightly to accumulate the materials, money and silk needed to attack the residual Yuan.
, fulfill the last wish of the second ancestor and revive the Ming Dynasty.
If this great undertaking can be accomplished, perhaps the emperor's temple name will be "Ming Sheng Zong" in the future, or even "Ming Sheng Ancestor"!
Holy!
Why is it holy?
"Posthumous Laws" says: To promote good deeds and write simple words is called sage; to treat guests with courtesy is called sage; to humble oneself and follow advice is called sage; to worship and be polite is called sage; to practice Tao and transform people is called sage; to exhaust reason and nature is called sage; to be ignorant of gods
Transformation is called sage; understanding the prophet is called sage; being great and transforming is called sage; giving generously to everyone is called sage; studying a few things deeply is called sage; being able to listen to good counsel is called sage; cutting heaven and earth into pieces is called sage; being wise and upright is called sage; common people are called sage.
To be able to prepare something is called sage; to prepare things into instruments is called sage; to prepare a perfect way is called sage; to deify something difficult is called sage.
Simply put, it is perfect!
The temple title "Holy Ancestor" was founded in the Tang Dynasty. It was created by Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty and Li Longji specifically for his ancestor Laozi Li Er. Later, emperors of all dynasties specially named ancestors with great saintliness in their families. Later, it was named "Saint Ancestor".
Emperors with temple names with the word "sheng" are usually great men who have the ability to "redefine the world".
Completely destroying the residual Yuan Dynasty, conquering the sworn enemy of the Ming Dynasty for 200 years, bringing peace to the world, and then establishing a new heaven. Doesn't such an emperor deserve a "sacred" temple title?
On the other hand, with such a "prospect" in front of us, can the emperor allow a schism among ministers like a grand ceremony to occur at this moment? Cheng Wen was very doubtful.
But Gao Pragmatic's face was very calm, and he only said: "A gentleman has something to do and something not to do. Reforming the old system will never be a smooth road. No matter whether the road ahead is a stronghold with no horses, or an abyss, we only have the world in mind.
. Where righteousness lies, even if there are tens of thousands of people, I will go there."
Cheng Wen sighed and simply pointed out the main idea: "What if the emperor doesn't want to see my two factions arguing at this moment?"
"Then convince the emperor."
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