Chapter 281 The Returned Japanese Emperor (84) Discussing Additional Expeditions
People are not saints, how can they have no desires? Maybe they are seeking profit, fame, or peace of mind.
However, no matter whether you are seeking profit, fame, or peace of mind, there is no conflict at all when facing the "Eternal Emperor" or "Eternal Famous Minister". It can even be said that no matter what you seek, in fact, the "Eternal Emperor",
"Famous ministers throughout the ages" can be satisfied!
This is not only a good reputation for eternity, it is also beneficial and can even bring peace of mind.
A good reputation is never limited to the good name itself. It can bring huge benefits. Moreover, this benefit can be explicit or implicit, as long as you are willing.
Confucius's "eternal teacher" created the "Shenggong Yan" who would never be absent in all dynasties with Confucianism as the "state religion". This is the power of a good reputation; during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, the No. 1 scholar of Qin paid homage to Yue Fei's tomb and wrote:
"Since the Song Dynasty, people have been ashamed to be named Hui, and when I go to the grave, I am ashamed to be named Qin." This is the impact of notoriety.
A name is never just a name. Especially in the special social and cultural system of Chinese civilization, no one can accurately measure the power it possesses, but no one dares to underestimate it.
As for peace of mind... the five pavilion elders have studied Confucianism all their lives. Who doesn't have the lofty ideal of "establishing a heart for the world and the world, establishing a destiny for the people, inheriting the unique knowledge for the saints, and creating peace for all generations"?
Whether you do it or not is another matter, but at least you must agree with this ideal in your heart. Especially when you don't have to pay a huge price, who doesn't want to prove that he is also such a Confucian child?
"Within! North Korea must be included!" Wang Jiaping suddenly took a deep breath, with his beard and hair spread out, knelt on his knees, kowtowed and played loudly: "Old minister cried with blood. No matter how difficult and dangerous the road ahead is, the imperial court must overcome all difficulties.
, to ensure the successful completion of North Korea’s internal annexation! Anyone who dares to express dissent in the whole court will be killed!"
"Killable!"
The ministers were like a flock of birds in the forest, singing in unison. As Wang Jiaping expressed his firm support for North Korea, they all expressed their support, especially the three words "killable", which were said with such determination and murderous intent that they seemed to be facing the challenge.
Together we will take revenge on the enemies of heaven.
Zhu Yijun was extremely satisfied, raised his chin, and said proudly: "Now that my great Mingde is known to the world and is powerful in all directions, it is natural for me to accept the annexation of North Korea. I will accept your request."
He narrowed his eyes slightly, stretched out his right hand, opened his palm and grasped it suddenly, and said slowly: "God has given me this gift, how dare I refuse it!"
"My Holy Emperor!" The five pavilion elders prostrated themselves on the ground and chanted in unison.
"All my dear friends, please be free." Zhu Yijun waved his hand, showed a smile, returned to the throne and sat down, and said with satisfaction: "Originally, Nissin also has an attachment, talking about the future direction of North Korea's economic development. However,
That appendix is much longer than this one, so I won’t show it to you all to read it one by one. Later, I will ask the Supervisor of Ceremonies to send a copy to the cabinet, and I hope you will review it carefully.”
Wang Jiaping said happily: "When it comes to economic issues, I am convinced by the Nanning Marquis. Since it was written by the Nanning Marquis, there must not be any major omissions. The veteran can only say that he will try his best to fill in the gaps and strive to make it better.
Perfection at its best.”
The results of the highly pragmatic reforms over the years are obvious to all, but anyone who is not blind or deaf really has nothing to say on the issue of economic development, so they all express their opinions modestly.
But then, Shen Yiguan, who was born in Ningbo, Zhejiang, "had to" stand up and plead for the "people of Jiangnan".
"Your Majesty, the matters surrounding Korea are very important. It would be inappropriate not to have a large army stationed there. However, I heard that the Marquis of Nanning still intends to continue to conquer the Japanese mainland... In this case, I have to express my opposition."
Zhu Yijun raised his eyebrows: "Oh? Mr. Shen, what do you think?"
"Your Majesty, since the Longwan period, the Ming Dynasty has been revitalized. Although the country is now at its peak, wars have continued for the past ten years. Your Majesty, please think carefully. In these years, there were first the wars of cutting down the plains, which consumed nearly ten years of savings; and then Bozhou, North Korea,
The three regions south of the Yangtze River used troops at the same time. Although the rebellion in the south of the Yangtze River was stopped due to the reputation of the imperial guards, it still cost more than 300,000 taels.
The cost of the Battle of Boshu was about five million taels, not counting the post-war peace expenses. It is said that there was another million taels, that is, six million taels.
In the Korean War, from the time of Renchen's initial rebellion to the end of the war and canonization, the cost was about 4.6 million taels; from the time of Xinyou's rebellion to the present, although the specific expenditure needs to be calculated by the Ministry of Household Affairs, according to the official's rough estimate, it may have exceeded 6 million taels.
.
Taken together, the cost of the Korean War alone exceeded tens of millions. Even with Nanning Hou's financial management skills, he had to impose additional business taxes in the five provinces south of the Yangtze River. However, if the taxes were high, the people would be in decline and the people would suffer.
Unspeakable…”
"Wait a minute." Seeing that Shen Yiguan started talking about the decline of the people again, Liang Menglong couldn't help repeating what he said in the cabinet again, saying: "The merchant tax of Nanning is levied on wealthy businessmen, and it does not add a single penny to ordinary people. This is
The matter was already discussed at the cabinet meeting, so why did Mr. Shen Ge come to bother the Sacred Heart again?"
"Otherwise." Shen Yiguan looked indifferent and said: "The Nanning Hou tax is certainly levied on the wealthy gentry, but since ancient times, the wealthy gentry and wealthy people have always been able to pass on the taxes, right?
Although this money seems to come from the wealthy gentry, in fact, it is inevitable that the wealthy gentry will use it as an excuse to lower the salary of their employees, or to force the employees to extend their working hours under the pretext of the imperial war. People will arrive before the rooster crows, and the sun has set and they cannot
Return."
Liang Menglong said: "These situations may indeed occur, but the root cause is not taxation, but governance. If there are no deficiencies in local governance, why would anyone dare to do such an illegal or immoral act? This matter should be convened by the Cabinet of the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Three
The Justice Department will discuss regulations instead of blaming it on additional taxes."
*** *** Shen: "The imperial court issuing a regulation to restrict it is certainly the right principle for governing the country, but it cannot be achieved in a short period of time. So how can the people's resentment in Jiangnan be relieved now?"
Liang Menglong frowned and said: "Shen Ge always talks about the decline of people's livelihood, but keeps silent about the boiling public resentment. Where is the evidence? The emperor and we both know that this increase in taxes to aid the DPRK is just a door-to-door tax, banknote tax and customs tax.
The tax has been increased, and this stall tax is also exempted for small stalls within a radius of five feet. Is it really as harmful as what Mr. Shen Ge said? I don’t see it.”
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Here we need to briefly introduce the commercial tax of the Ming Dynasty. Although the mainstream statement in later generations has always said that the commercial tax of the Ming Dynasty was approximately zero, this statement is still too much.
There are definitely still some, and they are not even particularly small in terms of types. It is just that the tax rate is relatively low and the tax exemption scope is wide.
In the early Ming Dynasty, policies were implemented to encourage the development of industry and commerce, so the commercial tax system was simple. Commercial tax collection agencies were local taxation bureaus. Although the state set limits for taxation bureaus, it did not seek to increase surpluses.
The tax collection methods vary depending on the objects of the tax. For various handicrafts sold by merchants and merchants, the value of the goods is generally estimated and levied on an ad valorem basis; for bamboo, wood, firewood, etc., points are drawn; for products produced in rivers and lakes
, levy fish lessons.
There are various methods of taxation, and some are different. Generally, payment is made in cash. The tax rate is generally one-thirtieth, and the scope of tax exemption is extremely wide.
How wide is this "extremely broad"? Just give a few examples: all things for weddings and funerals, self-woven fabrics, farm equipment, food and taxable things (used for paying taxes), and transportation by car and ship
Items, as well as fish, vegetables, and fruits are tax-free as long as they are not sold. Only the purchase and sale of land, houses, and livestock are taxed, and the deed paper is subject to a production fee.
In addition, the Ming Dynasty also abolished and merged tax agencies many times. In order to prevent the intrusion of tax officials, it also stipulated that store calendars (i.e. registers) should be set up in places where commercial taxes were collected to record the names, number of merchants, dates of travel, etc.
Prepare for verification; at the same time, clearly indicate the names of goods subject to commercial tax. All goods that are not marked as requiring tax are exempt from tax.
However, there were also new commercial tax items in the Ming Dynasty, among which the main ones were: shop gate bills, banknote duties, industrial taxes, and deed taxes. As for customs taxes, this item was only introduced after the opening of the sea in Longqing, and started in Gao
Arch, it is determined by high pragmatism. Here we only introduce the three temporary increases of high pragmatism. Industrial taxes and deed taxes will not be mentioned for the time being.
The so-called shop stall money is the "door stall tax" just mentioned by Liang Menglong, which is a tax levied on urban and rural shops and shops based on their turnover. It was also called "household money" in the Ming Dynasty.
The specific method of collecting this tax is that "Business Houses" pay monthly to the local "Metropolitan Tax Propaganda Department" or "Tax Department Bureau", and then the government "grants you a license every month."
After an inspection, if anyone fails to pay within the prescribed time limit or conceals anything and fails to report, he will be punished and fined one thousand guan."
Therefore, this is also a fixed tax, but its tax rate is not fixed. It often increases or decreases depending on the time and place. It is usually "levied based on the value of the goods", and it often depends on the nature of the store.
It varies depending on the goods sold.
The reason why Gao Pragmatic chose to temporarily increase the stall tax in the five Jiangnan provinces is precisely because this tax item has a "tradition" of variable tax rates. In doing so, as long as the proportion of the increased tax rate is not particularly high, the private sector will not
There will be great repercussions.
The so-called banknote tariff was one of the newly added commercial tax items in the fourth year of Xuande (1429 AD). At that time, the imperial court set up tax checkpoints at important places along the river and canal, and "those who were hired to load the boats, calculated the amount of materials they carried."
If the amount is large or small, the money will be paid for the road near and far." The banknotes or silver levied are called banknote tariffs.
The purpose of setting up the banknote tariff is actually to popularize the currency law. When the banknote tariff was first implemented, it was only taxed on passing ships hired to load goods. The tax amount was calculated based on the number of beams and the length of the ship's hull. This tax was called "
Ship materials" or "ship money". Ship money tax generally does not tax goods, only ships.
The reason why high pragmatism will increase banknote tariffs this time is mainly because the cost of water transport trade is lower than that of land transport trade, and the profit is relatively high. A slight increase of "one hundred and three" will not bear great pressure.
Another little calculation is that Gao Pragmatic hopes that through this small-amount collection, the circulation range and volume of small-amount banknotes of the Federal Reserve Bank of China will be increased, which will be helpful for the full spread of banknotes.
The credibility of paper money actually has a kind of "path dependence", which means that the more you use it, the more you will get used to it. When later generations of Americans overturned the Bretton Woods system and the petrodollar system had not yet been fully established, the U.S. dollar's global currency share
The ratio has not dropped significantly. This is because people have become accustomed to using it in the past few decades, forming path dependence.
Gao Wuchen also wants to play this trick now, so that people will get used to banknotes in a subtle way. After waiting for a long time, they will find that the value of the small-denomination silver notes of the Ming Dynasty Federal Reserve has always been strong, and they will no longer consider its anchor (gold,
How much silver reserve do you have? Anyway, just spend it.
Finally, there is the customs tax. This tax was first created by Gao Gong (discussed in Volume 1 of this book). It was initially divided into two categories: inbound and outbound. Many years later, Gao pragmatically standardized it during the reform of the Ministry of Large Households and clearly defined it as
Customs tax (also mentioned above).
Since sea trade is extremely profitable, and sea-going ships are often much larger than inland water vessels, customs duties, even on a single basis, far exceed banknote duties. In other words, a ship owner who can engage in sea trade can own only one ship.
, must also be a wealthy businessman in the area.
Since he is a wealthy businessman and his sea trade profits are high, imposing a "130" tax rate is obviously not a problem.
However, in fact, the reason why Shen Yiguan came out to oppose was not because of the stall tax and banknote tax, but because of the customs tax.
Those previous statements were just Shen's inconvenience to speak out, and he was just holding back. Now that all the truths have been refuted by Liang Menglong, he has no choice but to clarify his words.
Shen Yiguan was silent for a moment, and finally said: "As we all know, the number one maritime merchant in the world is none other than the Marquis of Nanning himself. And the number one maritime merchant alliance in the world is also the Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance. However, this time the increase in customs duties was not
However, the northern provinces were not added, and only the five provinces south of the Yangtze River were added. What is the rationale for this?"
His question is very fatal to a certain extent. After all, there is an old saying: Don’t worry about scarcity but inequality. Why should the five provinces south of the Yangtze River impose customs duties, while the provinces in the north of the Yangtze River can get away with nothing? Is there anything else?
Wang Fa?
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Even after Shen Yiguan asked this question, even Zhu Yijun seemed to feel something was wrong and looked towards Liang Menglong with a slight frown.
Fortunately, Liang Menglong received pragmatic advice on this matter, so he acted very calmly and said with a slight smile: "The trading areas of the Jiangbei provinces, or the Beiyang Sea Trade Alliance, are limited to the East, and the East is currently
It is a war zone, and trade has already shrunk significantly. Is there any reason to impose additional taxes at this time?
This is not the case for the maritime merchants of the five Jiangnan provinces. Although they also run the Eastern route, their bulk is always in the Nanyang area, and Nanyang is the main source of their profits. Even if Korea and Japan are at war, it will not affect the Nanyang trade of the five Jiangnan provinces.
, after weighing it, it is natural that additional levies can be imposed.”
It should be added here that after the Beiyang Sea Trade Alliance sent troops to Luzon, the trade in the Philippine Islands area in later generations was also pragmatically assigned to the Beiyang Sea Trade Alliance. However, in the customary perception of the Ming Dynasty, Luzon did not belong to Nanyang but to the East.
Therefore, the explanation given by Liang Menglong, the pragmatic teacher of Gao, is actually taking advantage of a loophole to some extent.
Fortunately, Shen Yiguan himself was not familiar with business-related issues. He only represented Jiangnan Haishang to express his grievances. Now that Liang Menglong was blocking him like this, he was speechless for a moment.
Zhu Yijun listened for a long time, but the result was a compromise made by Gao Pragmatic based on the actual situation. He couldn't help but feel a little bored with Shen Yiguan and the Jiangnan maritime merchants behind him, so he couldn't help but waved his hands and said: "Okay, okay, let's get together."
But I added a hundred and three, and it’s not an economic method, so I will naturally withdraw after the war is over.”
Shen Yiguan couldn't help but remind him: "But Your Majesty, if you still want to conquer the Japanese country..."
"So what!" Zhu Yijun seemed to be getting angry, his tone was obviously more serious, and his voice was also louder: "It is a small country with a small land, so why is it so difficult to get it? I think it can take a few months at a time, and it can take more than a year at a time. It will happen soon.
But after all, Jiangnan has been prosperous since ancient times, so why can’t we wait even this little time?”
Shen Yiguan had not been in the cabinet for a long time, and his qualifications were not deep, and his political achievements were not good. When he saw that the master of the Ming Dynasty and the Zhongxing Dynasty in front of him showed signs of anger, he couldn't help but retreat, and he hurriedly bowed and said: "I don't know how to deal with this."
No such intention, just a warning..."
"I understand."
After all, Shen Yiguan had been an official in Japan. Seeing that he had surrendered, Zhu Yijun didn't care much and waved his hand and said: "This matter will not be changed for the time being. We will discuss it after Rixin returns to the court."
"The Romance of Fairy Wood"
"Yes, I obey your order."
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