Chapter 483 Establishment of the Commercial Division
"My lord, do you want to reinstate the order of complaint?" Mi Zhu looked at Wang Yu in surprise, with a trembling voice in her words.
Chinese civilization has always tended to be restrained rather than expanded, and it is not without reason.
Since Qin Shihuang swept across Liuhe and unified the world, a huge empire unprecedented in the world's history was born. Therefore, the problem of how to make this empire long-term and stable has also surfaced.
One conclusion can be drawn from the experience of Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, that is, governing the world is often more difficult than conquering it. The rise and fall of Qin seems to have also verified this rule.
In terms of dealing with merchants alone, neither Shang Yang, who sought strength through reforms, nor Emperor Qin and Emperor Wu of Han, who were powerful and powerful, could solve this problem well.
Shang Yang's method was to emphasize agriculture and suppress commerce, desperately weakening the status of merchants and insulting their personality. The outstanding ones were for example not allowing merchants to be officials, not allowing merchants to ride in carriages, horses, clothing, silk, or purchase land, in order to combat commerce.
Ying Zheng was basically a loyal believer of Shang Yang. After unifying the world, he promoted Shang Yang's policy of suppressing business throughout the country. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was more ruthless than his two predecessors, and he directly issued a warning order.
Gao Min is an extension of Suan Min, and from the perspective of later generations, it can be regarded as a kind of property tax. To put it simply, the government counts and accounts for the property of merchants, and then compiles a list as the basis for taxation.
The property mentioned here includes the family's money, goods, vehicles, ships, and transportation, etc. Anyway, as long as you are a businessman and there are no officials, elders, or soldiers in the family, you will have to pay heavy taxes on all valuable things in the family.
Because the tax rate was very high, businessmen tried every means to hide their property to avoid taxes. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty responded by encouraging whistle-blowers. He ordered Yang Ke to take charge of his affairs. Those who ordered people to complain would pay half of it, and those who were reported would be punished.
If the property is confiscated, the whistleblower will receive half of the amount.
This decree is the result of the extreme development of the anti-business policy. It is basically the same as grabbing money. As a business family, the Mi family naturally hates such freaks as the sue order. Unexpectedly, it has always advocated giving equal emphasis to agriculture, industry and commerce.
Wang Yu suddenly proposed this, even though Mi Zhu City was a good place, he was still frightened.
"A warning order? What is that?" Wang Yu is a novice in history, and of course he knows nothing about such a profound thing.
Seeing that he didn't seem to be forging, Mi Zhu put down his thoughts and briefly explained the decree.
"I see." Wang Yu had to sigh. The ancients were not stupid at all. Later generations always felt that the ancients emphasized agriculture and suppressed business. It was purely a matter of concept, but it was not the case. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was very powerful, but the country was too big.
It is impossible to find a taxation method that will allow the country to benefit from commerce while maintaining a steady stream of revenue.
"Of course this method cannot be used." Wang Yu shook his head and relieved Mi Zhu's heart.
The complaint order is worse than killing the goose that lays the egg. The ultimate outcome of this law is to kill private business with a stick, causing businessmen to merge with landlords and bureaucrats. It has spawned a large number of officials and businessmen, and in the end it has become ineffective. The country and the people have
Unable to benefit from commercial activities, the government's finances are increasingly in embarrassment, and the gap between the rich and the poor is widening.
Putting aside the romantic or thrilling colors of the Age of Discovery, it was actually a comprehensive commercial expansion carried out by European countries like a competition. Wang Yu's Qingzhou New Policy was formulated based on this. He wanted to use this
How can China be so eager for quick success and instant benefits if it will dominate the pattern of China for hundreds or even thousands of years in the future?
Business is the only way to circulate wealth, and wealth is like water. It becomes more and more when it flows, and a pool of stagnant water will only gradually disappear.
"As long as a reasonable tax rate is set, the calculation method is not so unacceptable, right?" Wang Yu certainly couldn't solve the problem that all the heroes of China could not solve easily. He could only try his best to come up with reasonable methods.
"However, businessmen are seeking profits. If no one reports them and they do not strictly supervise them, even if they are registered, the registered values may not be reliable. The tax rate is already low, and if people evade taxes, the yamen in various places will work hard to collect the taxes.
Taxes may not be worth the gain.”
Guoyuan was a very standard Chinese scholar. His understanding of business was not much higher than that of Shang Yang. He always felt that encouraging business was not doing his job properly. Although he could enjoy some conveniences during the war, when the war was over, business would eventually have to take a back seat.
wèizhi, to guide the national policy back to the right track of focusing on agriculture.
In his opinion, Wang Yu's previous decrees should have been preparations for this.
Wang Yu distinguished merchants from bureaucrats and strictly ordered officials and their families not to engage in business. During the war, he owed a large debt to the Mi family. He undoubtedly planned to use his official position to repay the debts of the Mi family in the future.
Therefore, Guoyuan has never paid much attention to commercial reforms, but today it seems that his lord is seriously discussing the feasibility of establishing commercial laws, so he has to cheer up and pour some cold water on his lord.
"What Zini said is true." Wang Xiu agreed: "For a businessman to make money, it does not depend on keeping his business at home. He must run around and run the business. If he is determined to avoid taxes, he can stay away from home all year round. In this way, his hometown is located
, and how to calculate its business income and make it pay taxes?"
Among Qingzhou's staff, in terms of internal affairs, apart from Tian Feng, Guoyuan and Wang Xiu were the oldest. As soon as these two people opened their mouths, they talked about the views that had been agreed upon for a long time, and the atmosphere suddenly changed. Except for
Except for Tian Feng, everyone else was nodding, and there were also many people who were eager to speak.
Seeing that the momentum was not right, Mi Zhu hurriedly retorted: "Even Emperor Gaozu said: If wealth does not return to its hometown, it will be like walking at night in brocade clothes. Businessmen sleep in the open and are frightened to work outside. Isn't it for the sake of prospering the family? How can it be that they don't go home to avoid taxes?
The truth?"
"Besides, except for me, Qingzhou, other regions all pursue the traditional policy of focusing on agriculture and suppressing business. My lord's kindness to businessmen is like reincarnation. No matter how much businessmen value profits and neglect justice, they cannot be completely untouched, right? Businessmen are also human beings.
, they may have some influence, but they are definitely not all ruthless people!"
Wang Yu has not been in charge of Qingzhou for a long time, and has spent even less time working on internal affairs. Currently, among the shogunate, except for the Mi family brothers, only Guan Ning is a businessman, and the others are traditional scholars.
people.
The latter is new here. As an architect and contractor, he almost sleeps on the construction site these days. He has no time and is not qualified to participate in political discussions. And Mi Zhu knows that his brother's ability to do bad things is far stronger than having a positive effect, so he doesn't bring him to see him.
At this moment, it seems quite weak.
"Mr. Zizhong's argument based on the basic goodness of human nature has its own problems; expecting others to repay kindness by showing kindness is even more like seeking fish from a tree, which is not the basis for legislation."
As a surrender minister, Shen Pei has always been very self-conscious and seldom speaks when discussing politics. He just listens with his ears. However, after all, he is not a person without ideas. In the previous few times, it was basically Wang Yu who was talking.
Just digesting the novel ideas he heard was enough for the reviewer to be busy. Today, Wang Yu was obviously more inclined to let everyone express their opinions, so the reviewer naturally did not hesitate to speak.
The angle of his speech was different from that of Guoyuan and others, because he was a follower of Legalism and advocated the inherent evil of human nature. His main refutation was Mi Zhu's argument about human nature and sophistication.
"If you can save more money by not going home, more people will naturally be willing to leave home. If paying taxes is to reward favors, then businessmen will definitely put a price tag on the favor. When the favor is repaid,
Once it's over, they will have nothing to feel sorry for if they continue to evade taxes."
Mi Zhu was speechless. Guoyuan and others put forward their opinions from the perspective of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing business. Naturally, he had to argue hard, even if he showed off his merits and qualifications; but the review was from the perspective of legislative implementation. Among them,
There were so many things involved, how could he think clearly at the same time?
"Then...how do you think we should deal with this matter?"
The examiner said solemnly: "There is no other way. We can only strengthen the connections between various places, separate the commercial department proposed by the lord from the local government, cooperate with the local government, but not be completely bound by it, and specialize in dealing with various places.
businessmen to manage, collect taxes, and punish profiteers.”
"But in this case, the labor cost will be too high." Guoyuan and Wang Xiu both frowned: "The exchange of personnel consumes a lot of money. According to Zhengnan, there is a lot of data traveling between various places.
Moreover, in the Department of Commerce, there are also a large number of civil servants who are good at calculations, so they go to war in such a big way just for the sake of commercial tax. Isn’t it a bit of a small gain to make a big gain?”
The object of their questioning was Shen Pei, but it was Wang Yu who was looking at him.
"In addition," Tian Feng, who had always remained calm, also spoke up: "If the Department of Commerce is really to be established, the criminal law must also follow up. Otherwise, even if the Department of Commerce operates normally, it will not be able to prevent a few profiteers from bribing officials.
Let the latter harm the public and enrich his private life."
There are many people with many plans, and these people here are all highly intelligent people. Although they each hold different views and concepts, you and I talked about everything related to commercial tax.
Let Wang Yu recall it by himself, he really couldn't figure it out for a while. Now that everyone is discussing it like this, his thoughts are gradually becoming clearer.
When everyone had finished talking and could no longer offer any new opinions, Wang Yu raised a finger and said meaningfully: "If you want to make a profit, you must invest, so the establishment of the Commercial Department is imperative. Zini
The concerns of several people are certainly justified, but you have overlooked one thing, that is, the standard you use to judge the scale of commercial taxes is the past, when policies to suppress business were implemented, rather than the future of comprehensive commercial development!"
Guoyuan's eyes showed a trace of confusion. He couldn't imagine what big business development would be like, because there were no examples in history to learn from.
Take the Mi family as an example. Yes, the Mi family in Donghai is a world-famous rich man and played a vital role in the logistics supply of the Hebei War. But does anyone know that the Mi family's family business is owned by several generations?
Is it the result of hard work?
The answer is five generations!
Generally speaking, twenty or thirty years can be regarded as an era. The development of the Mi family can be traced back to the Guangwu Zhongxing period of the Eastern Han Dynasty. From an ordinary powerful man, he obtained the position of a local official, and then worked hard and experienced
It took more than a hundred years for the Mi family to reach its current size.
This is the usual way for Chinese powerful people to get rich.
The seemingly huge wealth, if spread over more than a hundred years, is actually nothing. The Mi family's support for Qingzhou is very powerful as a kind of political investment, but if it is replaced by the transaction tax advocated by Wang Yu,
The wealth that the General's Mansion can get from the Mi family is not very impressive.
The Mi family is still like this. Although the Central Plains is huge, how many Mi families are there?
Therefore, Guoyuan was not very optimistic about Wang Yu's plan to mobilize people. He believed that unless he made a fortune like Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the so-called Commercial Department would only create a group of redundant people.
Now, Wang Yu suddenly asked such a question, and naturally he couldn't answer it.
Seeing that Guoyuan could not answer, Wang Yu turned to Mi Zhu: "Zizhong, what do you think?"
Mi Zhu replied loudly, his expression and tone full of confidence: "If there was no restraint in the past, with the current situation in Qingzhou, it would be enough to build a Mi family in twenty years! If the overseas wealth is indeed what the lord said,
, How difficult is it to build a Mi family in ten years? When the world is at peace in the future, wherever the great Han army is heading, it is not impossible for a rich man like the Mi family to appear overnight, even if it happens overnight!"
There was a commotion at the scene.
The staff were all frightened by Mi Zhu's words.
They rarely pay attention to business, so they don't have a clear concept. However, everyone, including Shen Pei who was born in the first place, has a very deep understanding of Mi Zhu's character.
This man has a sharp vision, full of courage, and quite a sense of magnanimity. There is no trace of the philistineness of an ordinary businessman in him. What he says is reliable. What he says with such a sure tone, even if it cannot be fully realized, it is
It won't be too different.
If there is such a huge amount of wealth circulating, then the tax rate set by the Lord is not only not low, but also very considerable. (To be continued...)
ps: Note, the three elders: "Book of Han. The First Chronicle of Emperor Gaodi" says: "If the people are over fifty years old, have spiritual practice, and can lead the people to do good, they will be appointed as the three elders and one person from the village; the three elders from the village will be selected as the county's three elders.