Business tax? tariff? what happened?
Zheng Zhilong looked confused. He looked at Zhu Cixiang and found that the boy was looking at him with a smirk on his face. He seemed to be holding back his energy to dig money out of his pocket! Look at Emperor Chongzhen again, why is he a little gloating about his misfortune? Your son is going to be a stupid king who exacts excessive taxes and you don't care about him?
Of course Emperor Chongzhen will not care about levying business tax! How big of a stir did the Emperor Wanli's collection of commercial and mining taxes cause? Now the traitor dares to have this idea even before he usurps the throne. Just wait, wait for everyone to shout for a fight! By then, I will be able to come back and take back all the power...
Of course Zhu Cixiang knows that commercial tax is a hornet's nest!
Didn’t the scholar-bureaucrats of the Ming Dynasty make their fortunes by evading taxes? If they have the reputation of being a scholar or a scholar, they can use it as a shield to evade taxes, not only to evade land taxes, but also to evade business taxes. I don’t know when the Chaoguan in various places in the Ming Dynasty started to follow the principle of not accepting officials, not eunuchs, not accepting talents, and not accepting scholars. Moreover, these guys not only want to evade taxes themselves, but also help other businessmen to evade taxes!
Most of the Ming Dynasty's intellectuals, scholars, and scholars would lend their brands to businessmen, allowing them to openly evade taxes. The principle of operation is similar to that of Sending and Spreading. There were so many scholars, scholars, and scholars in the Ming Dynasty. If they all worked together to evade taxes, could the imperial court not die in poverty?
And Zheng Zhilong, the richest man in the Ming Dynasty, has never known that the Ming Dynasty had such things as commercial taxes and tariffs since he started doing business... This tax is not only paid by farmers who have to work hard to live in a few fields. Of? He is a rich man, he is also the general military officer of Fujian, and soon he is the Duke of Quan and the father-in-law of the country. How can he still need to pay taxes if he is so awesome?
Moreover, I have already promised to give the prince an "annual tribute" of 1 million taels every year, and I have also promised to give him 1 million acres of land, so why do I still have to pay taxes?
"Master Qiansui," Zheng Zhilong frowned, "I have promised to pay an annual tribute of one million taels a year..."
"That's the annual tribute from Quanzhou Prefecture and Nanyang Minister's Office," Zhu Cixiang smiled, "Add the two together, one million taels is not much, right?"
not much? Zheng Zhilong said in his heart: Not a lot! In addition to one million taels a year, there is also one million acres of land! The annual land rent alone is around one million taels...
If it weren't for the recent favor of the Zheng family, with his son becoming the Crown Prince's "senior brother" and his daughter immediately becoming the Crown Prince's chosen attendant, which would make it impossible to send out the bribes from the Zheng family, he wouldn't have spent such a large sum of money. Well - businessmen can feel at ease and not pay taxes, but they dare not not pay bribes!
So Zheng Chagu and the one million acres of hustle and bustle were bribes given to Zhu Cihong by Zheng Zhilong!
"Prince Zheng, Lao Taishan," Zhu Cixiang looked at Zheng Zhilong and said affectionately, "We are our own people. I always take care of my own people. I cannot let you and senior brother suffer at any cost! If these commercial taxes and customs duties are collected, It will actually be of great benefit to the Zheng family."
Zheng Zhilong said in his heart: My good son-in-law, can I not take this advantage? I am not greedy at all!
Zhu Cixiang smiled: "First of all, the money collected is not sent to the warehouse of the household department to mold."
Where to send it?
Emperor Chongzhen looked at his son with wide eyes and thought to himself: Do you want to put money in the inner treasury like the emperor's grandfather?
"After commercial taxes and customs taxes are raised, they are all deposited into Maritime Bank." Zhu Cixiang asked, "Old Taishan, has Senior Brother told you about Maritime Bank?"
Zheng Zhilong nodded: "As I said, they are in the business of making money and lending just like the Salt Merchant Bank."
In fact, the Zheng family has always had a loan and exchange business, but this business was not very big and was only carried out among merchants from Quan, Fujian and Hainan.
"There are also coins to be minted!" Zhu Cixiang said, "Silver coins like Franji Kabo can also be minted to make money... As long as commercial taxes, customs duties, and salt taxes can be collected smoothly, the Ministry of Household Affairs will cast them The power of silver and copper coins is delegated to the Maritime Bank and the Salt Merchant Bank! Moreover, the Account Department will no longer set up a bank bank. All bank coins will be deposited in the two banks, and only a small amount of interest will be charged!
Lao Taishan, this is great profit! You are someone who knows the inside story of Western countries. You must know how profitable their banks are, right? "
"This..." Zheng Zhilong was a little moved. It's not because the bank makes more money, but because it has the power to manage and mint money for the Ming Dynasty!
Of course he didn't know that Zhu Cixiang's job was an "investment banker" and he was very knowledgeable about the banking business of later generations. Once the two banks are established, with Zhu Cihong's open and covert shares, and if the head office is located in Nanjing, it won't take long for them to be firmly controlled by Zhu Cihong...
"Money is not only for saving, but also for spending!" Zhu Cihong continued to lie, "If the money is deposited in Maritime Bank and Salt Commercial Bank, it can ensure that it will not be spent indiscriminately or corrupted by corrupt officials. Then there is how to spend it. Money... In the past, the imperial court not only did not accept money, but also did not know how to spend it. The money was not spent wisely, and in the process of spending money, corrupt officials were exploited at every level.
This kind of thing will no longer be allowed in the future, because this palace is planning to implement the imperial merchant system. Except for the distribution of salaries, military pay, disaster relief, and rewards, merchants cannot be relied upon. Other expenses, such as large-scale construction, purchasing, building armor and warships, horse administration, etc., will be carried out through bidding and subcontracting from imperial merchants. And the Anping Zheng family was undoubtedly the leader of the Ming Dynasty’s imperial merchants! Doesn’t the business tax collected by the state have to be spent through royal merchants like the Zheng family? "
There are now more and more imperial merchants in the Ming Dynasty. At the beginning, they were Soy Sauce Huang and Su Laomi who followed from Beijing. When we were in Tianjin, we added Shen Tingyang's Shachuan Gang. After arriving in Yangzhou, we added Jiang, Shen, Wang, and Hu, the four major salt merchants of the Hui Gang, and the Shanxi salt merchant accountant Yun Shang Qian Yun San, who took the lead in defecting to Zhu Cihong. Now we have added The giant Zheng family in Anping.
In addition, the Cao family of Cao Huachun and the Wang family of Wang Zhixin were both officials, merchants and eunuchs, so they were also issued imperial merchant licenses by Zhu Cixiang.
In other words, Zhu Cixiang's imperial merchant system now has two Shen families, Huang, Su, Jiang, Wang, Hu, Cao, Wang, and Zheng He. There are ten imperial merchants in total, which is larger than the nine imperial merchants in the Qing Dynasty. One more family.
In terms of strength, if Zhu Cixiang brings out Shen Tingyang, he will be able to completely defeat the nine imperial merchants of the Qing Dynasty. If Zheng Zhilong is allowed to take action, he will definitely surpass the entire Qing Dynasty in terms of financial resources!
As long as he and Shen Tingyang can fully support Zhu Cihong, the southeast half of Prince Zhu will be firmly in control. Imperial businessmen like Zheng Zhilong and Shen Tingyang are not Zhu Cihong's minions, but Zhu Cihong's partners!
Therefore, Zhu Cixiang had to come up with a "win-win" approach, allowing imperial merchants like Zheng Zhilong and Shen Tingyang to profit from the tax bank management and expenditure after the commercial taxes and tariffs were levied. At the same time, the Ming court must also benefit from competitive bidding among imperial merchants.
But while the court and the royal merchants both win, someone will definitely lose! The levying of commercial taxes and tariffs ate up the interests of the bureaucrats and gentry, and the use of bidding methods by royal merchants to manage expenditures also seriously harmed the interests of officials, especially civil servants!
"Master Qiansui," Zheng Zhilong frowned, having already thought through the stakes, "the imperial court wants to levy commercial taxes and customs duties. As long as the tax rates are reasonable, I will not object. But the problem is... Wanli During the year, various places in the southeast were in turmoil due to commercial tax and mining tax. In the end, the tax was not collected at all, but it made people's hearts wander. It is really not worth the gain!"
Zhu Cixiang smiled: "As long as Lao Taishan's heart does not fluctuate, I have a way to cure those who have fluctuating hearts! Old Taishan, do you have a fluctuating heart?"
"Of course I support Mr. Chitose's levying of commercial taxes and customs duties..."
"That's good!" Zhu Cixiang said with a smile, "I'll go back and prepare a memorial asking for the collection of commercial taxes and customs duties, and I'll hand it over after the examination by the Ministry of Etiquette.
In addition, please do not spread what is being discussed today...the Ministry of Rites exam will be held soon, so don't spoil the mood of the candidates.
By the way, how are you preparing, senior brother? You have to take the test well this time! "
Take the exam well? What's the test?
Zheng Zhilong was stunned and looked back at his son. Zheng Sen smiled and said: "Sir, my child is now a candidate for the imperial examination and will also take the exam for the Ministry of Etiquette. If he can reach high school, he will be proud of his ancestors!"
Lift people? Zheng Zhilong blinked his eyes and thought: You are so good, you actually passed the exam... No, it was the fifteenth year of Chongzhen's reign, and you didn't take the exam, so why did you pass?
