Wanli Youming

Chapter 105 Changes brought about by Qingzhang Tianmu

Chapter 105 Changes brought about by Qingzhang Tianmu

"It must not be imposed!"

Hai Rui said at this moment.

Ma Ziqiang was silent for a moment after hearing this, and then asked: "But according to your record, the proportion of businessmen in Nanzhi County is quite large, and many of them have hired hundreds of workers, and even some large towns , such as Nanxun, there are more than [-] merchants and no less than a hundred large workshops, which are far more than a city in the north!"

"Isn't this still taxable?"

Hai Rui said: "Mr. Ge, let's see the identities of the owners of these workshops again!"

"Big workshops and big business houses all have backgrounds of rich and powerful gentry, who are either their domestic slaves or their relatives. Many overseas Chinese merchants are even people from the vassal clan and the dignitaries in Beijing. Although there are many merchants, they operate on a small scale. It is mainly trading, and the profit is not high.”

"Because the imperial court's business tax is low, but the local officials exploit it heavily. Therefore, there are various types of miscellaneous taxes, and there are also vassal kings, wealthy families, etc. who set up cards to illegally collect lijin."

"In addition, the rich and powerful often take advantage of their monopoly of commerce and rich financial resources to deliberately hoard and speculate on the price of land and goods."

"So throughout the year, even though some small traders earn a few taels of silver, it's only enough to make ends meet!"

"What's more, after a year of hard work, it is better to let the mulberry vegetables grow in the ground, because once they are sold, the gain will not be worth the loss!"

"Don't look at the prosperity of Jiangnan, but this prosperity is just the prosperity of scholar-officials."

"The so-called, being able to spend thousands of dollars for an oiran on the Qinhuai River, and spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to build gardens and stack stones into mountains in Suzhou, is not something that ordinary people can participate in."

"Actually, in this prosperous land of smoke and willows, there are also poor households who died of hunger and cold."

"Rao is a middle-class family, and he can barely make ends meet."

"A woman who weaves diligently does not rest all year round, and the homespun cloth she sells can only meet the small silver tax demanded by the officials, and after payment, she has no savings."

"If you are sick, you can procrastinate if you can, not to mention making clothes and shoes. If you can patch them, you won't replace them. The so-called 'a person who is full of silk is not a silkworm farmer'!"

"In addition, even if a strong man in a family relies on his wife's weaving income, he can pay small silver and work in agriculture, but the income is only enough to support the high-ranking children, and the savings can at most support one son's education."

"But now, those who start their careers in the south of the Yangtze River are like crucian carp crossing the river. If a child from a small family wants to gain fame, the money he spends is no less than the fee for paying the tax and tax of the small family. few."

"In short, no matter whether the common people have land in the countryside and are farming households, or they have no land in the city and are employed as workers, most of the hard earned money earned by their wives for a year is exploited by the officials and gentry and provided for their children. Studying and hoping to use it to leap the dragon's gate. Those who really earn it are used for their own bodies, and very few of them are nothing more than food and clothing."

"Not to mention townships and markets."

"People don't have much money in their hands, and what they can buy is limited. Therefore, in these places, merchants who open chicken feather shops or serve as street vendors naturally cannot make huge profits. The huge profits are all made by tooth shops or pawnshops that can go overseas and operate across provinces. earn."

"But these dental pawnshops are all the property of the powerful, gentry and subordinates!"

After Hai Rui finished speaking, Ma Ziqiang nodded and did not speak.

After a while, Ma Ziqiang said: "So, if the business tax is increased, unless it can be collected on these powerful gentry and subordinates, otherwise it will only further oppress the common people, and even force them to rebel?"

"It's not enough to conscript the dignitaries, gentry and subordinates!"

"Once the commercial tax is levied, even if it is levied on the powerful, gentry and subordinates, it will not only take the benefits of the powerful, gentry and subordinates, but also the interests of the common people, and make the two unite against the imperial court."

"And this way of robbing the common people is bound to be more ruthless, because the rich and powerful, the gentry and the subordinates must find favors from the humble people, and the common people will seek favors from the humble people for their own livelihood and persecute each other."

"If this is the case, the grievances of the ordinary people will be even heavier, and the powerful gentry and subordinates will definitely encourage the ordinary people to rebel against the government, and even deliberately breed popular uprisings."

"Cults will also take advantage of the opportunity to breed."

"Therefore, to increase business tax to make it a good government, it can only be levied on the dignitaries, nobles, gentry and subordinates!"

"Small traders should be reduced or exempted, and even the imperial court will subsidize their operations, so as to prevent them from being too heavily exploited by the usury of Haoyou Buddhist Temple!"

Hai Rui replied.

Ma Ziqiang smiled wryly: "I'm afraid it will be difficult! Let the officials in the world only increase taxes on the powerful, gentry and subordinates. Taking your own benefits to the court without making it harmful to the convenience of the people means that there is no fertile ground for this government to work!"

After speaking, Ma Ziqiang sighed again: "My servant is from the north. I know that the people in the north are not easy. I thought that the people in the rich and prosperous places in the south of the Yangtze River are better, but I didn't expect that the people in the south of the Yangtze River have a hard life."

"Although Jiangnan is prosperous, it has nothing to do with the common people, and the imperial court has not benefited much. Then this Jiangnan is really just the Jiangnan of scholar-bureaucrats."

After saying that, Ma Ziqiang left the house, came to Xianxia Pass, looked at the endless stream of merchant porters on the official road outside Xianxia Pass, and said to Hai Rui:

"However, the seven major banknotes of the Ming Dynasty and the total tax revenue last year were only more than 20 taels, which is really too little!"

"It's embarrassing that so many merchants can only bring so little tax to the imperial court!"

Ma Ziqiang didn't say directly that his cabinet minister took 20 taels of bribes at one time, which was almost equal to the income of the banknotes of the Ming Dynasty, but he just lamented that the income from the banknotes was indeed too little, and it was not as good as that between the rich and powerful. A power-for-money transaction.

"This has increased by tens of thousands of taels compared to Mumiao, at least reaching more than 20."

Hai Rui said, "It's all because of Qingzhang Tianmu's administration."

"Although it is only clearing the land, it is actually forcing the wealthy people not to exploit the common people. The common people no longer have to bear the extra land tax that was handed over by the wealthy gentry and subordinates. Therefore, the common people can still increase their savings."

"Although ordinary people are afraid of buying because they are worried about changes in the year, their ability to buy goods is still much higher than before the implementation of the New Deal."

"As a result, there are many more market places in the countryside, gradually becoming a big town, and there are more merchants in this Xianxia Pass, and they don't hesitate to bring goods across provinces for transactions, which also increases the customs tax. .”

"Good!"

"It can be seen that although the interests of the world are not in the officials, but in the people, if you can fight for the interests of the common people and increase the interests of the common people, you can also increase the interests of the court officials!"

Ma Ziqiang said with a smile.

Hai Rui nodded: "Therefore, we must implement policies that benefit the people in order to enrich the country and strengthen the army!"

"Yuan Fu's plan for the country can be said to be very good."

Ma Ziqiang nodded, not forgetting to be politically correct.

"There are more people engaged in business in Fujian. Mr. Ge might as well ask the Fujian people again. Is the situation similar to Nanzhi?"

"It just so happens that my friend Wang Runlian is going to set up a road to sacrifice in Yanping Mansion because he heard that his mother is old. At that time, Elder Ge can ask him, a Fujianese."

At this moment, Hai Rui made a sudden suggestion.

Ma Ziqiang nodded: "Alright! If you want to carry out major national policies, you must not only ask about the situation in one place."

"Wang Yongji from Fujian has met the elder Ge!"

When Wang Yongji saw Ma Ziqiang, he gave a big gift first, and then Ma Ziqiang helped him up: "Runlian doesn't have to be like this, you are not only Gangfeng's friend, but also my friend."

Ma Ziqiang said, after chatting with Wang Yongji and Hai Rui for a while, he asked Wang Yongji, "Are there many merchants in Fujian?"

"To tell you the truth, Fujian is mountainous, and businessmen stop six times out of ten, and most of them go to sea."

Wang Yongji replied.

"Is it Lifeng?"

Ma Ziqiang asked.

Wang Yongji shook his head with a smile: "If it is Lifeng, Yuegang doesn't need to pay only tens of thousands of taels of tariffs every year."

(End of this chapter)