If you want to meet the prince's requirements, you must continue to increase the budget.
Yao Ji was basically satisfied with this amount, so he asked with a smile: "Li Aiqing, I wonder how much the household income can be after the 'three rates' are banned?"
Li Daiwen broke out in a cold sweat when he was asked. "Three wages" were the bulk of the annual income. Without this largest income, the Ministry of Household Affairs would simply become a beggar.
"I'm afraid...it's not enough...six million taels!"
In the end, Li Daiwen felt ashamed.
During the Ming Dynasty, the annual income was so low. It was really sad!
During the Wanli period, the Ming Empire's annual income was only about four million taels of silver, which was far lower than that of the Southern Song Dynasty.
The main reason is that the tax burden is low and tax evasion is serious. In addition, the rat-like vassal kings are giving birth to more and more people, and each of them is super edible...
For example, Shanxi's local fiscal revenue is about 1.5 million shi of grain, but the annual salary consumption of Shanxi princes is more than 3 million shi!
This is not only the case in Shanxi, but also in Henan, Shandong, Huguang, Shaanxi and other places with a large number of clans. The salary deficit alone is as high as more than six million dan every year.
Madan!
He really deserves to be named Pig!
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the twenty-eight vassal kings scattered throughout the empire, together with their children and relatives, were a group of unstoppable eating machines!
"Then I dare to ask Li Aiqing, how to make up for the gap of ten million taels?"
Anyway, the land tax must be reduced or reduced. You can use any other method you can think of. Whether it will work or not will be discussed later.
Li Daowen secretly complained that it was unlucky. The prince waived the "three wages", but in the end he let himself make the decision. If he was not careful, he might be dismissed from the official position. It was obvious that Tian Fu could not be raised again. How could this happen? OK.
A group of courtiers kept silent in a very cooperative manner, and the hall immediately became silent. Everyone was eagerly hoping that the little prince would be trapped alone, so as not to accidentally hurt these "loyal and good people".
Seeing that Li Daiwen's face was red from being suppressed and he still couldn't come up with a solution, Yaoji didn't deliberately embarrass this conscientious minister: "Well, it doesn't matter if you can't think of anything. I wonder if Xue Aiqing has any good ideas. ?”
If I form a cabinet according to your new ideas, you have to help me solve my problems, otherwise I will really make beef stew for you self-righteous "carrots"!
Xue Guoguan suddenly felt that he had been struck by a thunderbolt from the blue. He trembled slightly and tried hard to hide his inner displeasure. He replied: "I would like to report to Your Highness the Crown Prince. I believe that increasing commercial taxes, mining taxes, and customs duties can solve the current urgent needs." !”
Lord Chief Assistant is far behind Wen Tiren in terms of tact, and his speculation about the Holy Will is not as good as his pursuit of the goal, but he can't bear to say that today is his auspicious day, and he can do whatever he wants, even if it is a crooked attack.
The Ming Empire could only handle four major categories of taxes - land taxes, commercial taxes, mining taxes, and customs duties!
The first target of exploitation is farmers, and the last three are businessmen. Farmers do not have their own spokespersons, and businessmen are different.
As a result, the empire's commercial taxes, mining taxes, and customs duties were in name only, leaving only land taxes as the main source of tax revenue.
It is known which gang helped the business group to exempt such huge taxes and fees...
Anyway, before the fall of the Ming Dynasty, there was a severe drought in the northern region, which meant that within five years, the land tax in the northern region was almost zero, leaving only half of the country to collect taxes. Fortunately, the northern region was exempted, leaving It is enough to collect rent in areas south of the Yangtze River.
The land tax cannot be increased any more, otherwise I will be sent to the Palace of Hell.
Yaoji's current established strategy is to try to protect the entire empire and avoid running away to Nanjing. In that case, there will inevitably be a situation of Northern and Southern Dynasties. After settling down, it will be too difficult to think about the "Northern Expedition".
The worst thing is that, like our time traveler Wang Mang, we were driven into the sea by Dorgon, the son of the plane, and had to run away to Treasure Island. That would be extremely embarrassing. After all, we are also young and promising young talents!
What's even more embarrassing is that the treasure island is still occupied by the Dutch, and they don't have a navy, so they have to rely on the former pirate Zheng Zhilong. His son Zheng Chenggong is loyal, but he still has no real power in the Zheng family.
If you don't have a navy, you can't escape. You can only fight to the death with Donglu and rogue bandits on land. A decisive battle requires enough troops. Military pay is an indispensable thing. Where does the money come from? This is the question.
Yao Ji nodded with satisfaction and praised: "I deeply believe what Xue Aiqing said. Agriculture is the foundation of a country, and commerce is the foundation of prosperity! Today, the various places in the south of the Yangtze River have not been affected by the war, and are still prosperous, with merchants gathering. It’s time to collect business taxes!”
Although Zhu Yuanzhang killed Shen Wansan, he gave considerable preferential measures to businesses and merchants. The business tax was set at only "one tax per thirty" and stipulated that books, pens and ink, agricultural tools, boats and carts, silk cloth, etc. were all tax-free.
Although there was a strategic intention to restore production, increase people's income, boost the imperial economy, and stabilize the prosperous areas south of the Yangtze River, it had an extremely significant role in promoting commercial development in the early and even middle and late Ming Dynasty.
But until the Wanli period, the total amount of salt tax, tea tax, shipping tax, transit tax, and business tax was only 3.4 million taels. Including mining tax and sea tax, the peak was less than 5 million taels.
Compared with the tens of millions of commercial tax revenue in the Southern Song Dynasty, the similar annual income in the Ming Dynasty is really unspeakable.
Assuming that the total amount of money in the Song Dynasty was approximately equivalent to one tael of silver in the Ming Dynasty, the income from just three items of "salt, tea, and wine" in the Song Dynasty was as high as more than 47 million guan, which is approximately equivalent to more than 47 million guan in the Ming Dynasty. Two pieces of silver.
From the business tax alone, you can earn nearly 50 million taels of silver per year!
What will be the concept of putting this money into the Ming Dynasty?
Regardless of internal or external troubles, Donglu are still rogues.
Fifty million taels of silver a year were thrown in, and everything was solved.
Why was the commercial tax revenue in the Ming Dynasty so low?
You can figure it out with your heels...
When Li Daiwen saw that the smug little prince was still dreaming of earning tens of millions a year, he couldn't help but remind him: "Your Highness, our court has already levied commercial taxes!"
The Minister of Revenue did not want to oppose the prince, but wanted the young prince to understand that the business tax issue had a long history and could not be solved overnight. When the emperor was in power, he also wanted to start from now on, but the resistance was too great and it was really difficult to touch the root cause.
Tax evasion has almost become a common thing, and because local officials can also get a lot of profits from it, they turn a deaf ear to local taxes. In the case of collusion between officials and businessmen, it is difficult for the court to reverse the current unfavorable situation.
In various parts of the empire, commercial taxes have actually become a formality. Merchants can pay as much as they want. As long as they feed the local officials, they can rest easy even if they claim that they are not businessmen, and there is no need to worry about being settled by future generations.
This guy didn't seem to want to find a job for himself, so Yaoji asked with a smile: "In that case, let Li Aiqing introduce to me how much was gained from the Zhejiang Tea Class (Tea Tax) last year?"
It doesn't take much. If it can exceed ten thousand taels of silver, I will change my surname to Cha. You tea merchants can be regarded as loyal when the empire is in crisis.
Li Daiwen hurriedly took out the account book he carried with him, rummaged through it quickly, and finally found the corresponding amount, and reported loudly: "Your Highness, the Zhejiang tea class last year was 921 taels of silver!"
After finishing speaking, Mr. Li was also beating a drum in his heart. If the prince saw through the loopholes in this, he would probably be furious again.
This is definitely not a deliberate lie to disturb Shengcong. The actual situation is like this. Even the Ministry of Revenue has nothing to do with it.
Li Daiwen had a clear conscience, but he could not guarantee that the young prince would not treat the minister as a scapegoat like his father.
Yaoji blinked meaningfully, then nodded calmly and commented: "I am very satisfied with Li Aiqing's answer!"
Zhejiang is the largest tea-producing province in the empire. According to the "thirty tax and one tax" standard, the total tea sales in the province should be less than 28,000 taels of silver.
Do you think this is possible?
The atmosphere in the main hall became even weirder. The courtiers were all aware of the flaws, but as long as the prince didn't say anything, there was no need for them to bother themselves and cause trouble for themselves.
Xue Guoguan also wanted to attack Li Daiwen on this matter, and wanted to win over the position of Minister of the Ministry of Revenue and install his own Tuan Yu.
This is the most important position among the Seven Ministers (Six Ministers plus Zuodu Yushi). As long as you can control it, you can make a lot of money every day.
However, after hearing the second half of the prince's words, the chief minister had not figured out the true meaning of the holy will, so he stood still for the time being. At this time, it was much safer not to make a mistake than to make a great contribution.
The prince's tone seemed slightly sarcastic, but he did not punish Li Daiwen, nor did he order the tea collection.
No one can guess what this maverick saint is thinking.
"Oh, well, the court meeting has been going on for a long time. Everyone can take a break for a quarter of an hour. There are chairs outside the hall. Dear ladies, you can sit down!"
The first task today is to deal with the nobles. As for the business tax matters, someone will go to the south to supervise them.
More importantly, Yaoji drank too much water in the morning, and after having such a long tea party, it was time to drink some water...
The ministers waiting in the square were also given the opportunity to sit and rest. When the time was up, the guards would remove the chairs.
The nobles who are waiting for their resignation are not so lucky. As the sun rises higher and higher, they are likely to wither.
Just now, everyone was righteous and indignant when they attacked the prince. Now, after being irradiated, everyone from the national warrior to the earl has become listless.
As a foreign minister, Sun Chuanting had already taken orders and did not want to get involved in anything at the court meeting. Therefore, after being led to his own chair by the eunuch, Sun Chuanting began to close his eyes and rest, unwilling to talk to anyone.
The handsome man is sitting on the first chair on the right side outside the main entrance. The back of the mahogany chair has a corresponding brocade label with the name of the person written on it.
Correspondingly, the first chair on the left belongs to the first minister Xue Guoguan, and next to it are the four junior ministers of the cabinet. The original names have also been removed and replaced by newly appointed cabinet members.
