Gao Gong thought for a moment and then asked more in-depth: "There must be a charging standard for this management fee or commercial tax, right? How to set this standard?"
Gao pragmatically said: "Regarding this issue, my nephew has two considerations, and he is about to ask his third uncle to help him think about it: the first is to tax according to the building area or business area. For example, if your store occupies an area of one acre, then
I will first set a tax standard, say one tael of silver a month. If you just set up a small stall, the business area may be far less than one acre. In this case, I may only charge you ten cents a month - of course
This number is just an analogy that my nephew said casually. Oh, by the way, if the area is one acre, but the store actually has two floors, then it has to be counted as two acres."
Mr. Xiao Gao, you are really a talented person who can make two cents out of one penny.
Gao Gong thought for a while and replied: "I think this idea is not bad, but one acre of land is too big, and a store with a radius of five feet is already very large. It is no problem to collect one tael of silver a month."
Well, it seems that Mr. Gao Ge is not delicate either...
Gao Pragmatic just smiled and nodded. In fact, he knew better than anyone else that the Ming Dynasty would die because of lack of money. In fact, in addition to military households and farmers, the wealth of the people in the Ming Dynasty was quite amazing. These "citizen" classes, especially the business class inside
There is no shortage of money at all! If they were short of money, what would they do with so much money? What would they do with a banquet and a mutton dish with hundreds of sheep?
To put it bluntly, there is no place for private wealth to invest or spend money. Every life is turned into dead money or a waste. At the beginning, Chongzhen was so poor that his yellow robe was patched, so he disgraced the emperor and asked the princes and ministers to borrow money.
, how many borrowed? As a result, after Li Chuang entered Beijing, he ate tens of millions of taels just from the wealthy households. Later, when the Tatars entered the customs and occupied North China, they collected more taxes than the whole country combined during the Ming Dynasty.
Where did the money come from?
Various scholars of later generations have written countless monographs and articles. Although they have disputes about some figures, one point that is almost uncontroversial is clear: the Ming Dynasty was not short of money. The only one who was really short of money was the court! And the tax rate of the Ming Dynasty was even more amazing.
, not to mention that the commercial tax was so low that it shocked future generations, even the agricultural tax was actually quite low.
So why did there still be a raging peasant uprising in the end? It’s not because there’s something wrong with the subject of tax payment! People with little land are tightening their belts to pay taxes, while those who really occupy a large amount of land only pay very little tax.
Or even refuse to pay them at all. If it was the Taiping Period, they might still be able to survive. However, it happened to be the Little Ice Age, and natural disasters continued throughout the north. The Ming Dynasty was so poor that it had only the financial strength to make pants, so naturally it had no ability to provide disaster relief.
, can it stop boiling and fill the sky? What a coincidence, the Tunguska wild boar skin outside the customs also rebelled...
Therefore, the problems of the Ming Dynasty are interrelated serial diseases, or complications. It cannot be solved by just solving it. There are too many things to solve. But although there are many problems, Gao Pragmatic, a man who served in politics in later generations,
We know very well that the solution to most problems in the world must ultimately come down to the word money: as long as you have money, these things can be solved; without money, everyone will just wait for the ancestral grave of Fengyang of the old Zhu family to be dug up, and what will happen next in Yangzhou Ten
Japan, Jiading Three Massacres and the like probably wouldn’t be able to escape either.
As for Mr. Gao, he is allowed to transform into a military god, fight in all directions, and sweep the world... Are you kidding? He, Mr. Gao, originally studied law and studied economics at the party school. Let him give up his talents and lead troops to fight.
?He didn’t graduate from the Army Command College!
As for the military, Gao Pragmatic himself estimates that the most important thing is to reform some military systems, guide the research and development of firearms, supervise the quality of military industry, and then improve the treatment of the military. The specific matters of fighting have to be done by specialized people-not to mention far away, now
"Yu Long, Qi Hu" are all still there. Although historically, the later years of these two men were not good, but since I intend to save the Ming Dynasty, I naturally want to make good use of these two talents.
At this time, Gao Gong remembered something again and said: "Also, I just talked about some measures to utilize the canal, but you haven't mentioned the reason for building a dock at Dagukou."
Gao pragmatically said: This matter involves too many aspects, and I don’t know if the third uncle will support it?
Gao Gong could see that Gao Pragmatic was hesitant, thinking that he had received so many unexpected surprises today. Although it was just some ideas, in fact there were still many problems. If he really wanted to do it, he would definitely have to be cautious, but at least he could see that he
This nephew is really talented in managing politics. Maybe his idea of building a port can also give me some inspiration?
He immediately smiled and said, "It's just a small talk at home. If you have anything to say, just say it."
Gao pragmatic thought for a while and asked tentatively: "I heard that in July last year, the Yellow River burst, and the floods spread to Zikao City, Yucheng, Caoxian County, Shanxian County, Fengxian County, and Peixian County all the way to Xuzhou. Because the river water flows sideways, the canals around Xuzhou
Everything was silted up, and the water level in the river south of Xuzhou dropped, eventually causing more than 2,000 grain ships to be blocked in Pizhou and unable to move forward?"
Gao Gong reacted very quickly this time: "Well... why, do you also think that water transportation should be changed to sea transportation?"
"This issue is indeed more difficult." Gao Pragmatic thought for a while and said, "But in general, I do agree with using sea transportation instead of water transportation. This matter... the long-term pain is worse than the short-term pain."
"Long-term pain is not as good as short-term pain?" Gao Gong raised his eyebrows and shook his head: "I'm afraid this matter is not as simple as you think. Do you know how painful the short-term pain you mentioned can be?"
Gao pragmatically said: All I know are some arguments from later generations, and I don't know whether they are comprehensive or not. It's better to listen to what the third uncle said and then make plans.
So he said respectfully: "My nephew is afraid that he doesn't know much about it and may not be careful about it, so I would like to ask my third uncle for advice."
Seeing that his attitude was correct, Gao Gong nodded, sighed, and said quietly: "Sea transportation originally started from the Yuan Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty of the previous dynasty. After Taizu drove away the Tartars and restored China, due to some relationships, it stopped repeatedly.
, the last time it was completely banned was in the 45th year of Jiajing."
Gao Pragmatic was surprised: It turns out that the "South-to-North Grain Diversion" in the Ming Dynasty was carried out by sea transportation, and it was "repeatedly implemented and stopped". It was not completely banned until a few years ago? But why?
"Actually, the complete suspension of maritime transportation this time is not without controversy. There are different views on this issue both inside and outside the court. In general, whenever water transportation is blocked, the call for resumption of maritime transportation becomes louder and louder. The maritime transportation had just been suspended.
, the court officials had discussed the matter one after another, and the reason was that the Cao River frequently broke out, water transport was repeatedly blocked, and a large amount of grain from the canal ships drifted away, which in turn led to Taicang being empty and the officials and people in the capital panicking. After I took the throne, the floods in the Yellow River did not get better.
It still happens from time to time, and this time the Cao River is heavily silted up in Xiapi... Alas, my country has a rice crop in the southeast, which is no less than several million per year. Once it silts up, the capital will be trapped."
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