Immediately after Ilya and Joseph returned, they called a meeting of the Jewish elders in Yeniseisk. In fact, there was no need for them to convene. All the Jews were waiting for the news.
The meeting took place in a Jewish tavern, and all the prominent figures in the local Jewish community came. Because military control is currently implemented in the city, military police wearing red armbands can be seen everywhere on the streets. Residents of Yeniseisk generally stay at home except for going out to buy daily necessities, so few people come to drink these days.
Except for the tavern owner who is a winemaker, most of the Jews attending the meeting were engaged in tinsmiths, watchmakers, glassmakers, tanners, grain trade, timber trade, and even two small landowners who made a living by farming.
Agricultural labor does not play an important role in Jewish life. The long-term guest life has to some extent led to the Jews' alienation from the land. This is a common phenomenon in various guest countries in Europe.
In general, the Tsarist Russian government prohibited Jews from engaging in agriculture. The several insignificant agricultural immigration settlements established were not so much to attract Jews to engage in agricultural labor, but to develop Siberia and resettle Jews who had moved from rural areas in Europe.
After everyone listened to Rabbi and Joseph's account of their meeting with Zhao Xin, a wine merchant suggested: "Well, since the new Chinese will not let us engage in the loan sharking business, then I think it is better to leave here. wonderful."
"Leave? It's freezing outside right now. Where can we go? Kolivan is thousands of miles away from here!"
"Wait a minute, Lieberman. The gentleman also said that he allows us to farm here, and each family can have a share of one hundred acres of land."
"Hell, I don't want to be a farmer!"
"Yes, they only give us use rights but not property rights. If one day the Chinese become unhappy and take away the land, what will happen then? Will the Queen still take us in?"
"What's wrong with farmers? I think it's good to be a farmer. Without farmers farming, where will the food for wine come from?"
"I said, you have never thought that although the Chinese have occupied this place, they are challenging the entire Tsarist Russian Empire. It is hard to say whether they can stand their ground."
"I think the Chinese are not bad. Although I don't know them at all, they did not confiscate my property and drive me out of my house. You know, the Russians did this in Lithuania."
"Stop having sweet dreams. How many days have the Chinese been here? You won't even have time to cry when they take action!"
...
Everyone debated for a long time with no result. Most people, led by Rabbi Elijah, decided to wait and see. After all, the Chinese ruler was only talking about whether there would be a new decree. The regulations will be announced at the appropriate time before making a decision.
In these days, most Jews had not yet developed the "Zionist movement", and many people would not think of returning to Palestine even if they were persecuted. In recent years, only some Hasidim and Berushims living in southern Russia have returned to Palestine to settle.
We must know that in another time and space, those Hasidic sects with long sideburns and black hats were rejected by Orthodox Judaism in this era, and they were even expelled from the church 18 years ago.
Interestingly, though, the Hasidim are the center of the movement that wants to turn Palestine into Zion, while the Belushim are the center of the anti-Hasidic movement that wants to establish Palestine.
After the tavern owner Martov saw off the attendees, he immediately put up a sign that the tavern was open. However, until dark, except for the Beihai navy who served as military police who were still standing guard and patrolling on the muddy streets, there was almost no trace of a local person.
Martov stood at the doorway and looked around for a long time, and finally sighed helplessly. He put out the oil lamp in the tavern, then walked out of the doorway, preparing to lock the door and go home. At this moment, I heard someone behind me say: "What kind of wine do you have here?"
Martov turned around and used the light of the pine oil torch stuck on the wall beside him to see clearly that the person standing in front of him was a tall man who looked quite young because he had no beard. However, this man was wearing the same dark green uniform as the other Northern Marines, and a fur hat without military insignia. From this attire, people who didn't know him wouldn't know whether he was a soldier or an officer.
"Chinese?" Martov was very surprised. He had never received any Chinese since the Northern Navy entered the city.
"The beer's out, there's vodka, sir."
"I'm not a master," the man opposite smiled and said in fluent Russian, "How do you sell wine?"
"3 per barrel..." Martov hesitated for a moment, then insisted: "Good wine costs 5.5 rubles per barrel."
"Just give me two cups. I can't drink from one bucket." These days, a bucket is almost 12 liters.
After that, the man walked into the doorway. Martov also hurriedly pushed open the closed door. After entering the room, he lit a few more oil lamps. Then he took a wooden cup from behind the counter, opened another bottle of vodka still stained with barley husks, and put them together. on the table.
The man poured himself half a glass of wine, took a sip, then nodded noncommittally, then took out a North Sea silver coin from his pocket and placed it on the table. Martov curiously picked up the shiny silver coin and looked at it carefully in front of the oil lamp.
Different from the silver rubles issued by the Tsarist Russian government with the image of the empress in a shawl and curly hair, the image lines on the silver coins in Beihai Town are more concise and clear, and the Xuanyuan Huangdi statue in Wuliang Temple looks chubby. Martov turned to the back and found a ring of wheat ears and an Arabic "1". He immediately understood that this should be the basic currency unit of the Chinese.
Although the silver content of one dollar Beihai silver coin is 6.9 grams, using 925 silver, and the silver content of one ruble is 7.38 grams, there is not much difference in weight between the two, and the brightness of Beihai silver coin is higher than that of ruble. , so Martov did not question its value.
The man took a sip of vodka and suddenly said, "What's the drink?"
"There's sausage and pickles."
"Okay, give me a little of everything, not too much."
When the food and wine were served, Martov felt a little funny when he saw that the other party was drinking as if he were tasting medicinal soup.
"It seems that this person rarely drinks." He thought to himself, then bowed to the other person and said: "Sir, this is the best vodka in the local area. How does it taste?"
The man put down his cup and said with a smile: "How about we chat for a while? Why don't you pour me a cup too, and I'll treat you to it."
After so many years of running a tavern, this was the first time someone invited me to drink. Although Martov was a little uneasy, he was under the rule of the Chinese now, so he took the empty cup and poured himself a full cup until it reached the edge of the cup.
Martov raised his glass and said, "Do you want to say something?"
The young man thought for a while and said: "The wine in the morning is stone, the wine at noon is copper, the wine in the evening is silver, and the wine you drink once in three days is gold. Then cheers to silver."
Martov was stunned when he heard this and blurted out: "Have you read the Talmud?"
The young man clinked glasses with Martov, took a sip, and then explained: "Oh, I heard it said before."
After drinking a glass of vodka, Martov started talking more. He smiled and said, "How can you live without wine in Siberia? Young man, you speak Russian very well. Where did you learn it?"
"Uh, Irkutsk."
"I know that place. I have a relative. In the first few years..."
As he drank one glass after another of the fine vodka he was being treated to, Martov's chatterbox gradually opened up. The young man first talked about the tavern business, and then turned the topic to the tax farming system.
It is said that the tax farming system was a very common form of taxation in Europe from the 17th to the 18th century. The French tax farmers in the 18th century can be said to be the most familiar group of businessmen.
For the Tsarist Russian Empire, the origin of the tax farming system was closely related to the rule of the Mongols. The rise of Muscovy in the fourteenth century was, to some extent, due to its role as the most powerful tax collector of the Golden Horde. After getting rid of the Mongolian rule, this tradition of tax farming was inherited.
There are many tax targets under the tax package system, including customs duties, salt tax, and wine tax. The wine tax was the bulk of the state treasury revenue during the Ekaterina era, exceeding 10 million rubles and accounting for one-third of the total revenue. . At the same time, the government's tax farming law strictly stipulates the sales price of alcohol for tax farming companies. Its purpose is to reduce the profits of tax farming companies while increasing the government's revenue. But contrary to expectations, such regulations not only failed to increase government revenue, but also caused the government's alcohol tax revenue to decline year by year.
Martov, who had already drank two bottles of vodka, blushed and complained to the young man: "Those gentlemen and officials have no idea about the total sales volume of vodka in this area...Young man, how much was sold?" Only we know best.”
The young man nodded and said: "In other words, the amount of alcohol tax revenue depends entirely on you tax collectors."
"You're absolutely right! Young man, have a drink!"
Since the mid-eighteenth century, Yeniseisk, like other Tsarist Russian regions, has basically been tax-packed for the retail sale of alcohol. Each region holds a bid every four years, so tax collectors have a monopoly on the retail sales of alcohol in a certain region.
The tax-packaged model of alcohol retailing encourages tax-packaged merchants to expand the sales volume of vodka by any means necessary in order to obtain more profits; on the other hand, they openly or covertly increase the price of vodka. For the government, this model has greatly reduced the administrative costs required for alcohol tax collection, but as vodka sales continue to increase, the government has also lost control of the profits from alcohol sales and its social impact.
In other words, the Tsarist Russian government was short of money, which promoted the development of the alcohol tax package system; and the lack of control over alcohol sales caused ordinary Russians to gradually become greedy.
So having said that, Russians are not actually naturally fond of drinking vodka. It doesn’t mean that you must like wine if you live in alpine areas. Getting enough food is the first priority. In an era when there was not even enough food to eat, wine made from food could only be a luxury product. Even if the early Russians drank alcohol, they only drank beer and mead.
A big problem with the wine tax package system is the serious corruption associated with it. For example, the Tsarist Russian government stipulates that tax collectors must sell vodka with a standard strength of 40 degrees, and the price of each barrel is required to be three rubles.
Martov, a former tax collector, told the young man that the cost price of a barrel of vodka must be at least 4.4 rubles, plus his own operating costs, so that he would not lose money if he sold at least 5 to 6 rubles per barrel of vodka. .
Under this situation, tax collectors under Tsarist Russia either adulterated and watered down the wine, raised the price, or bribed government officials. Therefore, the tax farming system in Tsarist Russia has become "institutional corruption." For tax farmers, the overall environment is like this, and no one will abide by the regulations. Everyone only thinks about one thing, how to take advantage of the legal loopholes to earn the maximum benefit.
It took more than an hour to drink this drink. Zhao Xin, who was traveling in disguise, also roughly understood that the tax farming system must be abolished under the rule of Beihai Town, and at the same time, the grain trade and the production of the brewery must be controlled from the source.
At the same time, he also became more aware of what losing the entire Siberia meant to the Russian government. A huge amount of treasury revenue was gone!
When Zhao Xin felt that it was about the same, he was about to get up and leave, when he heard someone shouting again from the doorway: "Is there any beer?"
Before he finished speaking, two local Cossacks walked in.
Martov was already a little drunk at this moment. He stood up holding the table and said: "There is no beer."
"Don't worry, Jew, we'll pay you."
Martov now saw clearly that he knew the two guests, so he shouted: "Oh God, can I still lie to you? Master Kryuchkov, please believe in honest Jews, there is no beer!"
Another Cossack shouted: "Nonsense, you Jew!"
"Really, Master Kryuchkov! I told you so."
"You still..." The two Cossacks were furious and were about to rush over and grab each other's collars when they saw the Chinese man looking at them expressionlessly. The two endured it and then put their hands into their trouser pockets. Give out a few copper coins.
"Bring us drinks!"
Martov pressed the copper coins on the palm of his hand with his little finger, put down his rolled eyelids, and staggered to the back of the counter, muttering: "What's the air? It's just a defeat at the hands of the Chinese."
Two days later, a notice signed by the Northern Navy Military Control Commission was posted on notice boards throughout the city. Its content immediately shocked the Jewish brewers and tax merchants in Yeniseisk:
1. The tax-packaging model of all monopoly commodities during the rule of Tsarist Russia was abolished. The tax arrears of the previous tax-packaging merchants must be paid within one month; 2. The grain used for brewing every year must not exceed one-tenth of the local agricultural grain production; 3. It is strictly prohibited to smuggle grain for brewing; 4. All pubs or hotels that serve alcohol must apply for a "liquor monopoly license" from the Military Control Commission.
A group of tax collectors headed by Martov were immediately confused after seeing the notice. They knew exactly what this notice meant to them, and the basis for their survival for centuries was deprived.
However, before they woke up, only one day later, the second notice came out.
The content is that the Beihai Town Military Control Committee will provide state-owned land to Jews who are willing to stay and work in agriculture, with each family having one hundred municipal acres, equivalent to approximately 6.11 dessiatines. However, the location is not local, but hundreds of kilometers away in the Nizhniyutinsk and Tulun regions. At the same time, the Military Control Commission will also provide loans for agricultural production. In addition, a Jewish school teaching Chinese will be opened in Beihai Town, and all children of school age must attend the school.
This policy of giving a slap in the face immediately aroused controversy within the local Jewish community, which also divided the originally tight-knit Jewish community into Orthodox and Reform sects.
The promulgation of the previous decree eventually led to the bankruptcy of the brewers in Yeniseisk and Krasnoyarsk, and their original loan sharking business could no longer be maintained. Some of the bankrupt Jews left Beihai Town and returned to the territory of Tsarist Russia, continuing to engage in commercial activities or turning into handicraftsmen, intensifying competition in the local industry.
Then the promulgation of a decree made the originally poor Jews extremely excited. Beginning in the spring of 1791, approximately more than a thousand families and more than 6,000 Jews left the town, dragging their families with them to the above two locations.
Compared with the Russian farmers who settled before, the Jews almost did not use hired labor, but their sowing area was twice that of the Russian farmers, and they were as diligent as the new immigrants from the Qing Dynasty.
At the Siberian Regional Agricultural Exposition held by the Ministry of Civil Affairs in 1792, Jewish livestock breeding, forestry cultivation, grains, tobacco, silkworms, etc. were highly praised.
The bumper harvest in agriculture and the policies of Beihai Town allowed these people to see a way out of poverty, and closely linked their hopes for life to this land.
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Set a small goal first, such as remembering in 1 second: Shukeju
