Chapter 201 Your Majesty should learn from Chen Youliang and Zhang Shicheng!
Zhu Yuanzhang’s eyes moved.
What Xia Zhibai said does make some sense.
But it’s easier said than done.
The economy in the south is already developed. He has been suppressing it hard these years. He is just suppressing the next one in eastern Zhejiang and the other in Huaixi. They are all people who follow him to conquer the world. Even if he turns against him and is ruthless, It is also impossible to ignore one's own Longxing Land.
Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Xia Zhibai and said vaguely: "Some things are easier said than done."
"Do you know how difficult it is to collect commercial tax?"
" There are all the peddlers in the world, as well as the rich local businessmen. If we hadn’t made a desperate move this time and plundered a fortune from them, otherwise the money would never have reached our hands, and they would have continued to evade taxes.”
“Do you really think we don’t know how to make huge profits in business?”
“But no matter how huge profits a businessman makes, it will be difficult for the court to collect enough business taxes.”
"If we were not still in charge of salt and iron, the commercial taxes collected by the imperial court would be even less."
"The economy of the Jiangnan region will be more developed, but the imperial court will not be able to collect money from it. What is the use of such development? ”
Zhu Yuanzhang is very realistic.
Commercial taxes have been difficult to collect since ancient times.
The business taxation of the Ming Dynasty was equally difficult. Didn't he make calculations when formulating the business tax?
If he really wanted to collect money from those treacherous merchants, the court would have to invest a lot of manpower and material resources. In this case, it would basically be beyond its means. It was precisely because of the calculation that he finally collected the business tax symbolically.
Because it cannot be closed.
Xia Zhibai smiled, flashing a sharp look.
Indeed.
The cost of collecting business taxes is high.
And there are costs in all aspects, not only businessmen intending to evade taxes, but also the obstruction of local officials, which will also encourage collusion between officials and businessmen.
But commercial tax must be collected.
In today's world situation, the commodity economy has become more and more developed. If we do not collect money from commercial taxes and still cling to the three melons and two dates in the hands of the people, sooner or later the people will be sucked dry, and How much oil and water do the people still have?
Xia Zhibai said: "It is precisely because it is difficult to collect commercial taxes that the court wants to collect them more."
"Since the Song Dynasty, the commodity economy has become more and more prosperous and developed. In one year, the Song Dynasty collected The commercial tax amounted to tens of millions and hundreds of millions of silver. If the Ming Dynasty gave up such a huge commercial tax, sooner or later it would be crushed by the financial embarrassment. "
"It's true."
"It's difficult to collect commercial taxes, but it's not impossible."
"The easiest."
"Like the street vendors Pawns, their annual income is only enough to make ends meet, so it is basically undesirable to collect money from these people, but local merchants are rich, and there are gentry who run land business, the amount of money these people earn in a year But there are quite a few.”
“The imperial court’s commercial taxes mainly come from them.”
"And we must catch the big ones and let go the small ones."
"Catching those traffickers and lackeys will basically make ends meet, but if we can collect taxes from these gentry, merchants, and rich people, the court can collect a large amount of money every year."
“The Ming Dynasty’s commercial economy has not yet fully recovered.”
“With the current situation, it is still difficult to collect commercial taxes.”
“ So we have to find another way.”
"Since it's hard to collect, let's make it easy to collect business taxes."
"If you can't collect the small ones, then don't collect them. If you collect the big ones, collect those that can't move or run away."
< br>"And the current local economic situation is average, and the scale of business is basically not large, so let them grow bigger, and the court will use this to collect taxes. As I said before, when the number of salt companies in the Jiangnan area is large enough, it will definitely It will become the big fish eating the small fish, and the small fish eating the shrimp, and continue to crowd out other salt companies."
"Eventually it will become a few large salt companies"
"From the hands of these people. Collecting taxes is not that difficult.”
"In addition."
"For opening the sea, the court also has to collect taxes."
"Several customs are set up. All ships transporting goods must enter the customs and dock. The court then Taking advantage of the opportunity to impose heavy taxes, anyone who dares to transport privately will be strictly investigated and punished. The imperial court's economic cuts are not to crack down on the commodity economy. "
"But to collect taxes."
"To a certain extent, the court must allow annexation."
"It's nothing more than annexation of land to make local businessmen rich."
"But at the same time, strict restrictions must be implemented to prevent these companies from becoming dominant. There must be at least one within the Chief Secretary to compete with them. , or companies established by the imperial court, otherwise these companies will be severely suppressed. "
"It is very important to do this."
" One thing is to cut down the 'Shifan'!"
Zhu Yuanzhang closed his eyes slightly.
Xia Zhibai's words gave him some inspiration.
It is indeed difficult to collect commercial taxes from traffickers and lackeys, and it is difficult for many people to support their families. If the court imposes more taxes, I am afraid that they will not be able to survive, but they cannot collect taxes from these traffickers and lackeys, so they will not consider these. If the business tax cannot make ends meet, the court can also start with those big merchants.
Just like Xia Zhibai said, most of the great merchants in the Ming Dynasty were related to the local gentry.
If you want to collect money from these people, you must reduce the privileges of scholars.
Zhu Yuanzhang thought for a while and nodded secretly.
In particular, Xia Zhibai also gave a solution, which is to set up local customs to collect commercial taxes on maritime trade. At the same time, by dividing the post station into military and civilian parts, he can collect a wave of commercial taxes on local trade while allowing local commerce to a certain extent. Expand and turn them into big businesses.
Once the business becomes big, it is not easy to escape.
Whether it is tax inspection or tax collection, it will be much easier for the court.
This is indeed much better than directly attacking business.
Seeing Zhu Yuanzhang's thoughtful expression, Xia Zhibai showed a smile at the corner of his mouth.
He continued: "From ancient times to the present, scholars have enjoyed too many privileges. Those with a little status do not have to serve, and some do not have to pay taxes. However, all dynasties have given these scholars enough preferential treatment, and even allowed them to have Hundreds and thousands of acres of land do not pay taxes."
"There are not many scholars in the Ming Dynasty now."
"But as the world stabilizes, there will definitely be more scholars."
“In order to govern the world and maintain local rule, the imperial court will impose more exorbitant taxes and levies on local areas. When the people complain, most people will probably put their fields under the names of these gentry to avoid High taxes."
"This will continue forever."
"The taxes collected by the imperial court are getting less and less."
"The exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes imposed on the people will only become more and more."
"Eventually."
"The imperial court could not collect the money at all."
"The money that was supposed to be handed over to the imperial court fell into the hands of the local gentry."
"The demise of all dynasties was basically caused by the court's lack of money."
"But the system designed by Your Majesty blocked the Ming Dynasty's national salvation from the very beginning, and blocked it from the very beginning. It’s a chance for Ming Dynasty to prosper and rejuvenate, because it’s impossible for Ming Dynasty to collect money.”
Zhu Yuanzhang looked unhappy.
But he didn’t say anything. As long as he had military power in his hands, would Ming be afraid that he wouldn’t be able to collect the money?
It was precisely because he had no money to raise troops that he adopted the "guard system" and established an army-building system that combined troops with farmers and garrison guards. This fundamentally solved the problem that the Ming Dynasty could not afford to raise troops.
As for tax collection.
Just like he did these few times.
As long as they have military power, all the rich merchants in the world are just cattle and sheep raised in captivity.
Anyone can harvest at any time.
Who dares to resist?
Seeing Zhu Yuanzhang's sullen expression, Xia Zhibai chuckled and said lightly: "Your Majesty should know that I had some unhappiness with King Yan in Peking, the most important of which was the military discipline of the Ming Dynasty. , and the main reason for the deterioration of military discipline in the Ming Dynasty is 'corruption'."
"The Ming army is no longer the army that your Majesty just led."
"They corrupted very quickly. "
"It won't take long for Ming's army to lose its combat effectiveness."
"The guard system established by His Majesty cannot last long at all. Sooner or later, it will be abandoned by the court."
"But the court is in big trouble right now, and it is not suitable to use troops again in the short term."
“So the main focus is still on reducing the privileges of scholars.”
“The privileges of scholars are too great.”
“The harm caused to the world is also extremely profound.”
"In the past, because there were few scholar-officials and few scholars in the world, it was understandable that scholar-officials would be given certain preferential treatment. But now it is not difficult to become a scholar. If you do a little reading or go to the government, you will have privileges openly. The Ming Dynasty The finances do not support so many privileges."
"But if it is cut directly, it will be very controversial."
"It will not happen at all. If it cannot be promoted, even if it is promoted openly, it will definitely cause local riots, involve interests, and many good things will turn into bad things, and it will cause many problems in the world."
"So it cannot be done. Urgent.”
"We can only do it step by step."
"As the saying goes, the route has been decided, the next focus is to employ people."
"The Ming Dynasty needs to cultivate a group of people who are not 'scholars' "Scholarships" are used to replace the "scholarship class" who occupy the government. "
"I chose workers and peasants, and some businessmen."
"Because they are workers and peasants. The imperial court can directly tax them, and not many people will object, but will applaud them. After all, this is making a distinction between status. Through this, it can weaken the hostility and vigilance of scholars towards some "state-owned enterprises" and carry out "dove occupation". Magpie's Nest'.
"Let the workers and peasants enter the officialdom step by step, and eventually the soldiers will be completely replaced."
"The world will completely ban the scholars."
Zhu Yuanzhang sneered and did not comment on these suggestions.
He put his hands behind his back and said: "It's easy for you to say. You promoted those craftsmen and farmers, do you expect them to do anything? What can they do? What can they do? I'm afraid Lien Jun They are not as good as those old men."
Xia Zhibai smiled mysteriously: "What if these people can read?"
Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes darkened.
Xia Zhibai said: "The Ming Dynasty should educate the world to a certain extent. However, the current financial support of the Ming Dynasty does not support it. However, it can still be achieved in a small area, that is, in these salt companies and coal mines. Wait, when these companies merge, many of these people may manage thousands of people.”
“This is not a small number.”
“Even comparable to some small companies. County.”
“But one thing must be clear, each of these people must pay taxes.”
"In order to distinguish them from officials, I suggest setting up a 'business staff'. This part of the workforce, as well as the management, are all business staff, that is, they all serve the factory. They are still workers and peasants in essence, but they are paid by the workers and peasants." Rent, they pay taxes.”
In fact, the best thing is to directly pay the rent to the gentry. ”
“It’s just that Ming Dynasty does not support it at present. "
"First of all, the resistance is great, and everyone in the court will resist. Even if His Majesty puts pressure, I'm afraid the effect will not be good. Secondly, it is too urgent and there is no buffer time, which will easily cause turmoil in the world. It had a great influence on Ming Dynasty. "
"So we can only figure it out slowly. ”
"We will conduct step-by-step experiments by setting up some state-owned enterprises."
"Eventually, people from these state-owned enterprises will be assigned to serve in the government, but these people still have to pay taxes."
"In addition."
"It is to widen the salary gap between the workers and peasants in the business class and the scholars, so that the income of the workers and peasants in the business class is higher than that of the scholars as officials, and even the career The salary of workers and peasants after tax is still higher than that of scholars, which will make more and more scholars take the initiative to ask for a salary increase. "
"If you ask for something, you will lose something. .”
"The imperial court can take the opportunity to reform the existing salary system."
"At the same time, we will launch a unified payment system for the gentry."
"I do not recommend that the Ming Dynasty act too eagerly, nor do I recommend that it be too urgent. Too eager for quick success."
"Step by step is the best."
"But no matter which way, the ultimate goal is to take back the privileges of scholars. Gentlemen do not have the privilege of tax exemption, and they will never help others to evade taxes. Your Majesty has forced so many gentry and merchants in the world to make a lot of money this time. If Ming Dynasty can always take money from the gentry, Ming Dynasty can do many things well. ”
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded.
He knows this better than Xia Zhibai.
The common people only have a little money in their hands, but the real rich are the gentry.
It is not easy to get money from these people. The method he is currently thinking of is to use force to force it.
Zhu Yuanzhang said in a deep voice: "What you mean is that the imperial court will take advantage of the small population in the north to give the north certain policy support, implement what you said, and when the time is right, promote it step by step to The South, or even the whole world? ”
"Your Majesty is wise." Xia Zhibai said.
Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Xia Zhibai and was silent for a long time.
A long time.
Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly said: "Are you really not afraid of death?"
"The suggestions you made today may make you become Sang Hongyang, Liu Yan and others."
< br>
Xia Zhibai said with a smile: "Actually, these things should not be done by me, they should be done by me. Confucius once said that when three people walk together, there must be my teacher. On the road of His Majesty's unification of the world, There have been several 'enemies', but these are also His Majesty's 'teachers'."
"Zhang Shicheng and Chen Youliang."
"One of them is violent and the other has no ambition. "
"They were all defeated in the hands of Your Majesty."
"Without these two people, His Majesty would not have made such rapid progress. However, after the Ming Dynasty unified the world, His Majesty did not take these two people as a lesson. , Instead, he followed the path of these two people. Your Majesty came out of the strong winds and waves, and the world was also won from the strong winds and waves. "
"What Ming Dynasty has to do now is to cross the river."
"It's just that there are no bridges or boats in front of Ming Dynasty."
"But this river can't be crossed?"
"If we don't fundamentally solve the problem of bridges and ships, Ming will always be trapped on the other side of history. No matter how much preparation your Majesty makes, no matter how good the world is, it will be just wishful thinking in the end. Although I am not talented, But I have the heart to build bridges.”
“I aim to knock down the ‘shi’ mountain that is weighing on the people!”
(End of this chapter)