Chapter 516 I’m going into seclusion
After Hai Rui finished speaking, Emperor Jiajing also had a faint smile on his lips.
Emperor Jiajing shook off his Tao Te Ching gold-patterned Taoist robe, and then said without raising his head: "Okay, let's not say these high-sounding words here. We are not holding a large court meeting in Huangji Hall now, so we need some High-sounding reasons.”
"Now we are discussing specific feasible national policies in front of me. I don't need you to talk about big principles. I just want to ask you how much money can you receive if this toll-hardened road is built? Will there be any losses?"
Emperor Jiajing said this, and he was able to stop Hai Rui.
Strictly speaking, this was the second time he had attended an imperial meeting with only a few people in front of the emperor, so he didn't know much about Emperor Jiajing's deliberation method of holding such a meeting.
So when speaking, Hai Rui tried his best to explain everything clearly.
Who would have thought that Emperor Jiajing actually didn't follow the routine and directly asked how much money he could collect after the road was repaired, and whether he would lose money.
Hai Rui looked up at Emperor Jiajing in shock, and then looked at the expressions of everyone else in the palace who had no reaction. He took a deep breath and tried hard to adjust his state in his mind.
Hai Rui bowed: "Your Majesty, the court cannot just talk about interests like merchants. Please take back what you just said."
As soon as Hai Rui said this, the others who had been expressionless couldn't help but turn their attention to Hai Rui.
At the same time, Emperor Jiajing, who was sitting on the throne, also laughed.
Emperor Jiajing said: "The imperial court can't just talk about profits like merchants, but I can't. I have to be responsible to the people of the world. If this road cannot create profits, then the more this road is built in the future, the greater the burden will be on the court." ”
"If this burden is unsustainable and the court wants to insist on the convenience of these hardened roads, then the burden will be passed on to ordinary people."
"When that time comes, if you tell me that you don't want to be greedy, do you think you should be a saint or a sinner?"
When Hai Rui heard what Emperor Jiajing said, he couldn't help but be suppressed by Emperor Jiajing's momentum. He immediately knelt on the ground, "I have no status, but I still think that your majesty cannot show the courtesy in front of you."
Emperor Jiajing looked at Hai Rui like this and was too lazy to argue with Hai Rui.
They are not rich and don't know how hard it is to make money. They think that the court can get things done just by opening their mouths. But what about the reality? Everything the court has to do cannot be separated from money.
Emperor Jiajing said: "Okay, okay, let's get down to business. You'd better talk about the situation of this road. Now the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Household are here. Do you think you are going to build a road that will cost money for the court to pay for? The Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Revenue are here. Will the Ministry of Revenue approve this? ”
When Hai Rui heard this, he couldn't help but tremble in his heart. From his usual position, he really didn't stand at such a high level to see the problem.
Now that Emperor Jiajing has held an imperial meeting for this road, and also called the cabinet, the Ministry of Industry, and the Ministry of Rites, this is enough to show that Emperor Jiajing also attaches great importance to this road.
Otherwise, there would be no need for him to summon so many people and come to Yuxi Palace to discuss the final decision on this road.
Hai Rui immediately said: "I will report back right now."
Then Hai Rui told the statistics of the number of business car fleets traveling between Tianjin Wei and the capital every day that he had collected during this period, and then also told the time and cost saved after the road was repaired. Finally, the toll standard for each mile of this road was also stated.
Hai Rui's data indicates that if this road can be built smoothly and save so much time and cost, even if a certain fee is charged per mileage, the fleets of merchants or ordinary people who use this road will not be able to use it. You can get even more benefits than before.
And based on the calculation of the fees collected for each mile, this nearly 400-mile tolled hardened road can recover its cost in only eight to ten years, and this includes the daily maintenance of the road. fees, as well as the labor and administrative expenses of hiring a toll collector.
When Hai Rui told all these data one by one, the eyes of everyone present, whether it was Emperor Jiajing himself, Yan Song, Xu Jie and others, or people from the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Household Affairs, couldn't help but shine.
If these data are true, then this road must be repaired.
And with this road, it is equivalent to developing a new tax source for the court, which will not only make the court's treasury richer, but also make it easier for the court to use this road to strengthen its control over all parts of the world.
We must know that in ancient societies with underdeveloped road transportation, even the most powerful central court had to delegate power to local governments and let local governments exercise part of their private rights to maintain local stability and governance.
But decentralization of power means simply dividing money. The more power is given to local governments, the fewer benefits the court can get.
Therefore, the policy of the imperial court is obviously good, but when it comes down to it, it becomes out of shape.
To put it bluntly, the game between the central and local governments has changed, which is why these policies that were supposed to be good have turned into a bad policy that exploits the people at the bottom.
And the most obvious example of this is "tax"!
In ancient dynasties, whether it was the earliest Qin and Han Dynasties or the late Ming and Qing dynasties, the tax laws enacted by the court were only one-tenth tax at the most. In human language that can be understood, it was a ten percent tax.
However, even such a low tax can make the common people breathless. This shows that the real tax burden is by no means the one-in-ten tax or one-in-thirty tax prescribed by the court.
When the real taxes were collected, I don’t know how much they were added layer by layer, and even the court itself didn’t know how many exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes were added.
This shows that in an ancient feudal society with relatively backward management, no matter how powerful the dynasty was, there would inevitably be some unacceptable facts.
Now if the imperial court can build this road, then the imperial court's control over the world will increase by one point, and this increase can solve many problems that could not be solved before.
Therefore, regardless of whether this road is profitable or not, the court will find a way to quietly build it, but the time for this repair may not be known.
Emperor Jiajing looked at the officials in the palace. His eyes swept over Yan Song, Xu Jie, and finally Li Chunfang and others.
Emperor Jiajing said: "Now that Hai Rui has finished speaking, you can also share your opinions."
Yan Song, who used to wait for a while to see other people's actions before speaking, could no longer hold back and spoke first.
Yan Song said: "God bless you, Your Majesty! This is really the auspiciousness given by God to the Ming Dynasty! I think this road should be repaired, but before repairing it, the court still has to find a good reason to collect money." Emperor Jiajing heard Yan Song's words After a sentence, I couldn't help but He hummed and said: "What Mr. Yan Ge said is absolutely true. Road tolls have never been implemented since ancient times. If this road is really going to be built, then the court should really find a suitable reason to give the money to Received.”
"Let's discuss it and see what kind of reason should be used so that people in the world will not feel abrupt or surprised?"
Yan Song and Xu Jie looked at each other, and Li Chunfang and Hubu Shangshu Gao Yao looked at each other. They seemed to have a clear understanding of each other at the moment, and they immediately saw each other.
Then Li Chunfang stepped forward while Yan Song and Xu Jie were still thinking.
Li Chunfang said: "Your Majesty, there is a Customs Clearance and Promotion Department under the Ministry of Industry. The main power of this department is the tax collection in Tong County of the capital. The business travel goods between the capital, Tianjin and Wei will pass through the customs clearance department. When entering a county, a portion of the customs tax must be paid.”
"So I think we can take the Grand Customs Clearance Division as an example to set up different checkpoints in Tong County and all entrances to the toll-hardened roads to collect detailed tax revenue."
"In this way, even if the commercial trucks that go on this road pay the money, they will think that this is the tax fee that they should have paid."
When Li Chunfang said this, it was indeed an idea.
Emperor Jiajing also nodded slightly, but then asked another question.
Emperor Jiajing: "Travel trucks traveling this road can charge according to your method, but what about ordinary people? You must know that the original intention of this road is to collect everyone's money. If this reason is followed, then those who do not carry goods How do ordinary people charge for driving? ”
"And if some people think that this road is free for them, and they occupy this road when walking between two places, how should they be evicted? You can't say that you have to pay taxes even if you walk on the road, right? If word spreads, wouldn’t everyone in the world think that the imperial court is just a den of thieves who block roads and rob people?”
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As soon as Emperor Jiajing said these words, Li Chunfang was embarrassed. The reason he just said was indeed somewhat inappropriate.
The customs clearance department can collect taxes, but they can only collect taxes from vendors who bring goods, but they cannot charge ordinary people.
So the proposal is flawed.
At this time, Xu Jie also came to his senses. Xu Jie said: "Your Majesty, since the cash customs method does not work, why not use another method? I will clearly inform the generals of the general customs clearance. I believe that as soon as this news comes out, merchants going to and from the capital will inevitably I will also rejoice.”
"Then the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development or the Ministry of Industry will use the new road to charge fees and formulate detailed toll rules, such as the number of people driving on this road for ordinary cars and the number of people driving trucks. In this way, this problem can be regarded as solved."
"Even if the people don't understand it at the beginning, as long as it becomes a habit, I believe that the people will be able to accept it gradually. After all, there are still only a few ordinary people who can really use carriages to travel between two places. Most of them have this The demand is still mainly from merchants.”
When Emperor Jiajing heard this, he couldn't help but nodded and said: "That's good. It really can't be hidden, and it really can't be charged repeatedly. Since this method is conceivable, let the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Household Affairs discuss their respective charges. Share, as well as management rights and responsibilities, and then write these issues up in a memorial. I will give it to you for approval after I read it.”
Li Chunfang and Gao Yao immediately bowed to Emperor Jiajing and said, "I obey the order."
But then Li Chunfang also said something more important.
Li Chunfang said: "Your Majesty, I still have something to report!"
When Emperor Jiajing heard Li Chunfang say that there was still a memorial, he stopped and continued to look at Li Chunfang and said, "Say it."
Li Chunfang said: "In the past few days when I have been the Minister of the Ministry of Industry, I have specifically checked the detailed maps of official roads across the country. I think that since Hai Rui and Pan Jixun said that toll-hardened roads are a great thing that will benefit the country and the people. I It is bold to suggest that the Ministry of Industry can undertake the planning of new roads nationwide, and then carry out gradual construction according to subsequent government plans to achieve the construction of a new road network across the country. ”
As soon as Li Chunfang said this, everyone present also paid attention to him.
Although this suggestion is easy to come up with, it is possible to have such preparations and strategies in such a short period of time. Li Chunfang also did a lot of homework after joining the Ministry of Works.
Rather than treating the Ministry of Works as an ordinary government office and an ordinary errand, I still put a lot of thought into it.
Emperor Jiajing also approved of this.
Emperor Jiajing said: "You are right. This matter can indeed be done. However, I also received a memorandum about this matter some time ago. Originally, I wanted to put this matter aside for a while. Since now We’ve already talked about it, so I won’t wait any longer. Let me tell you about it now.”
As soon as Emperor Jiajing said these words, Yan Song, Xu Jie and others immediately bowed again: "Your Majesty, please give me your instructions."
Emperor Jiajing said: "That memorial said that although large-scale national projects are important, people's power cannot be overused, otherwise the evil of Emperor Yang of Sui will inevitably occur. Therefore, to do these national projects, we cannot just Relying on the power of the court, we must also find ways to mobilize the power of the people.”
"When I saw these memorials, I deeply believed them. In order to connect the north and the south, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty dug the Grand Canal at all costs, which led to the demise of the Sui Dynasty."
"Also, when the Yuan Dynasty was governing the Yellow River, they did not have a good method or coordination method, so they rashly summoned the people from all over the world to repair the Yellow River that had burst its banks. As a result, it attracted a backlash from the world, and the country was less than a hundred years old. And absolutely.”
"Therefore, I think that if we want to do such a large national project, we should have new ways and ideas to handle it, and we should not put all the responsibilities on the court."
"The imperial court can first survey the world's road map for the construction of new roads, but when it comes to starting work on this matter, the imperial court can also make some changes and concessions. For example, the Ministry of Labor is in charge of the yamen, and it specifically supervises some capable and competent officials. Big money owners come to contract the construction of certain road sections.”
"The imperial court can also give these large households the right to collect fees for twenty to thirty years, so that they can also earn some money. However, on this basis, there must also be conditions, such as how much tax they have to allocate to the money they earn. The court must also calculate these clearly.”
"Otherwise, the court's tax sources will become less and less, and the places to spend money will increase. If things go on like this, the court will inevitably fall into a situation where it cannot make ends meet."
"So you should think about this matter carefully, and when you think about it, report it to King Yu, and let King Yu give you an idea."
"As for me, if you have nothing to do, don't come and harass me. I have recently felt something and am going to be in seclusion for a period of time. The state affairs will be fully handled by King Yu on my behalf."
"I will discover the decree in the next two days. You must assist King Yu in supervising the country and do not slack off at all."
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(End of chapter)