Regarding the tax evasion in Nandu City, originally only most of the merchants were involved. After the scholars started making a fuss, the remaining merchants who planned to wait and see joined in and were no longer willing to pay even one copper coin in commercial tax.
Emperor Chongzhen was now certain that no merchant in the city was willing to take the initiative to pay taxes, and even if they were passively called for payment, they would have to shirk it again and again.
A certain filial son once said that in the event of an avalanche, no snowflake is innocent!
In view of the current situation in Nandu City, a certain emperor can now say that no merchant is innocent.
If people really died because the Yongwei camp and the factory guards went to collect taxes, the merchants who died because of this would not be a pity!
Have mercy on him?
Did the merchants ever show mercy to the court when they evaded taxes all year round?
Have you ever had mercy on the precarious Ming Dynasty?
Have you ever felt pity for the soldiers of the King's army who were starving and had to resist the invasion of Donglu?
Since there is no such thing, then at this moment, such profiteers do not deserve any sympathy or mercy!
Emperor Chongzhen did not intend to kill merchants. As long as they were willing to pay taxes in full, they would be exempted from both death and living crimes.
If there is a difference, the goods will be replenished according to the difference.
If the goods are still poor, you can go to the Yamen to issue an IOU as proof.
Those who refused to pay taxes had their property confiscated and the whole family was assigned to mine in Ma'anshan.
The Yongwei camp and factory guards can take necessary measures to eradicate those who violently resist taxes!
Regarding the bizarre taxation measures that he had just heard about, the first assistant, Qu Shichun, hurriedly met with the emperor to verify the authenticity.
The emperor had previously said that he would give the people three days to petition, and now there was still one day. How could he act like this without informing the people first? It would be a bit too hasty.
Regarding Qu Shichun's question, Chongzhen's explanation was very simple, that is, he did not target the petitioning people, and dispatched the Yongwei camp and factory guards only to target profiteers in the city who evaded taxes.
As long as the tax payment certificate is provided and verified to be correct, both parties can naturally live in peace. Otherwise, if they owe taxes for decades and still try to resist the imperial court, they will be the targets of this round of punishment and elimination of evil.
Punishment is a profiteer who evades taxes!
Chu Di is a villain who fights against the imperial court!
After today, whoever dares to continue petitioning is a villain!
Chongzhen believes that the thunderous move taken today is not inconsistent with the previous promise...
Qu Shishu knew that if this move started, it would be difficult to stop, but he still advised the emperor to think twice.
In this regard, Chongzhen just dealt with it perfunctorily. Jiangnan merchants began to fight against the emperor since the Wanli period.
Today, it has been no less than fifty years. In the long run, the emperor himself will inevitably be poor and will beg for food from merchants. Wouldn't it become a decoration by then?
The fact that the country is poor but the country is rich is putting the cart before the horse, not to mention that the prerequisite for the country's wealth is to evade taxes for many years. This is something Chongzhen is determined not to tolerate!
Like the merchant's policy to protect the security, taxation is also divided into three stages.
First, a pilot project was conducted in Nandu City.
Secondly, it was implemented in Yangzhou, Suzhou and Hangzhou.
Finally, it was implemented throughout the entire southern Zhili area, even covering eight corners of the south.
The current situation is that as long as no thunderous measures are taken, merchants will not pay taxes at all.
If you can't even collect taxes from Nandu City, how can you give Beiting five million taels of silver?
I'm afraid I won't even be able to afford five million copper coins by then...
As for the innocent people mentioned by Qu Shishu, Chongzhen's answer is, are the farmers in the Central Plains who are displaced and exchange their children for food innocent?
If I didn't increase taxes on farmers, how could such a tragedy happen?
I have made mistakes, the court has made mistakes, and the merchants have not made mistakes, right?
I am writing the "Edict of Sin" to reflect on myself!
The imperial court exempted and levied agricultural taxes!
How do merchants adjust?
Continue to evade taxes?
Persistence?
None of the merchants in Nandu now take the initiative to pay business taxes!
What’s the explanation?
They are all waiting to see what happens, thinking that the imperial court is easy to bully, and they also think that I am easy to bully!
How about changing to a prince?
Who dares not to hand over, at least they will be distributed to mine, or at worst, they will be killed directly, how about it?
I'm just worried that I'll be scrambling to pay business tax!
Am I being alarmist?
No!
Isn't this the scene in Beidu?
Nowadays, merchants from all walks of life in Beidu pay taxes honestly.
Even the excrement dealers who were exempted from taxes also used their own efforts to build public toilets.
Are there such merchants in the south?
Who has seen it?
I invite him to his residence and admire his calligraphy treasures, which can be hung in the shop!
Is it possible?
My ink does not need anyone to sharpen it, and my pen does not need to be touched by myself!
All because no merchant has ever been so respectful!
The merchants had ulterior motives towards the imperial court, so how could the imperial court treat the merchants well?
With the two sides in such opposition, how can the Ming Dynasty ever be revived?
In another eight hundred years, three thousand years, or even ten thousand years, the Ming Dynasty will not be able to revive!
Chongzhen almost said "ZTE is a piece of shit"...
Maybe there is no need to wait eight hundred years. Just as the Book of Heaven says, in five or six years, the Ming Dynasty was destroyed by the rogue bandits and Donglu!
The word "ZTE" is the most ridiculous thing in the world!
The imperial court couldn't even collect taxes and money. How could the Ming Dynasty still be a bird egg? ? ?
After Chongzhen finished speaking in one breath, he saw that the chief minister's face was not good, so he calmed down and said that as long as the chief minister could find a way to raise 6 million taels of silver, 5 million taels would be given to the Beiting, and the remaining 1 million taels would be used for the Nanting. Operation, such taxation can be stopped immediately.
Qu Shichun was speechless and could only listen quietly. If he had a way, he wouldn't be so depressed.
The current situation is that the prince finally led his army to defeat Huang Taiji's army of 300,000 people. However, Nanting could not get the five million taels of silver that he had ordered.
He is stuck on the threshold of commercial tax, unable to survive!
Qu Shiqi was not completely unaware of the merchants' attitudes.
Not to mention other places, even the merchants in Nandu City are quite stubborn.
If you dare to kill my whole family, I will pay taxes!
Otherwise, we will not accompany you!
Do you dare?
Don't you dare?
Then I won’t pay taxes, what can you do to me?
Such a one!
Ten like this!
Hundreds of them!
Thousands of people do this!
This resulted in the current deadlock!
There is no doubt that the emperor sending troops to collect taxes is enough to break the deadlock, because none of the Yongwei camp are locals, and if ten thousand local merchants die, what does it matter?
What's more, the Yongwei Camp is not another branch, but the emperor's teacher, and they have been in battle. To him, the stubborn merchants are actually like chickens and dogs.
Qu Shishu was powerless to stop such a tax collection, and could only pray silently in his heart that the Yongwei camp and the factory guards would not go on a killing spree, otherwise there would be a river of blood in Nandu City.
In the past, Qu Shishu would have fought tooth and nail to stop such an act. After all, the emperor ordered the emperor's army to loot Minzhi Min paste, which was really an act that made people stupid.
But now, I really think what your Majesty said is true. Without dispatching the Yongwei camp and factory guards, the merchants will just sit back and watch. The tax money will not go to the box in Taicang, the Ministry of Revenue.
The situation in Nandu City was not much different from Qu Shichun's guess. The sounds of ghosts crying and wolf howling could be heard one after another, and in some places there were billowing smoke rising into the air.
All thanks to the fact that at the last moment, the profiteers still did not want to pay the taxes, and they obstructed the tax collection efforts of the Factory Guards and the Yongwei Camp in every possible way.
Is money or life more important?
Many profiteers and their families failed to make the right choice until their death!
In the eyes of profiteers, money is more important than life. Just think about Zhou Guozhang and you will understand.
These merchants in Nandu City are determined to be Zhou Guozhang's confidants, the kind who can communicate with each other even though they are separated from each other...
If you don’t pay taxes, then I won’t pay taxes either. Let’s see who can carry it to the end.
Even if you really paid the tax, I have to take another look, otherwise wouldn't you be blackmailed by the court?
This is what profiteers think and do, even when factory guards and brave guards come to visit.
The emperor originally ordered the arrest of the scholars who petitioned, which was an obvious signal.
According to fortune telling, this is called a "sign"!
There are three types of signs: heavenly signs, earthly signs, and human signs!
The sign in the sky is that someone is about to die, and a bright star in the night sky suddenly turns dim.
The signs of the earth are like a drought in the Central Plains, which proves that the people of today are ignorant and immoral, and the imperial court imposes excessive taxes.
Human signs are easier to understand. A person or a group of people suddenly die...
Nearly a thousand scholars had been arrested before, but the merchants still turned a blind eye, thinking that Emperor Chongzhen was inferior to Wanli in all aspects.
As long as tens of thousands of merchants and scholars join forces, unite as one, and share the same hatred, they will not even be afraid of the arrogant Wanli, let alone the dog emperor Chongzhen? ? ?
But these people all made a misjudgment, and this was a very fatal misjudgment, that is, Chongzhen may be inferior to Wanli in many aspects, but far surpasses Wanli in only one aspect.
More ruthless!
Push forward a hundred years, and no emperor during this period was as ruthless as Chongzhen!
Kill the Minister of War inside, and kill the border generals outside!
Even the famous Yuan Chonghuan dared to kill. Who else in the world would not dare to kill Chongzhen?
After screening, only Royal Chicken is left!
It's not that Chongzhen didn't dare to kill, it's that Chongzhen couldn't beat him...
If he had been able to beat him, Huang Taiji would have been caught and shown off to everyone at the Meridian Gate!
Another point is that the profiteers miscalculated, that is, Chongzhen's rebellious psychology was activated by them again.
The less profiteers don't want to pay taxes, the more the dog emperor in their eyes wants to collect taxes!
On the contrary, if the profiteers really paid 70% to 80% of the tax and left 10% to 20%, they might be exempted.
Now, it is a good achievement to be able to keep one or two taels of family property, but the bulk must be confiscated!
Because many officers and soldiers of the factory guards and Yongwei battalion opened their mouths to offer fifty thousand taels when they saw the profiteers!
Can't hand it in?
That's just right, all the people and belongings will be taken away!
All personnel involved in the operation were informed in advance that during the tax collection process, killing and setting fires were strictly prohibited, otherwise they would be regarded as silencing and corruption.
Even if there is stubborn resistance, the opponent cannot be killed. There must be both physical and personal evidence, otherwise the tax collector will be sent to the Metropolitan Procuratorate for trial.
Huang Degong completely pretended that he didn't hear or see the benefits received from his subordinates during the tax collection process. This is human nature and the flaws cannot be concealed.
No matter when and where, all the soldiers of the Yongwei Battalion are loyal to the emperor, and will go through fire and water without hesitation. Even if each person receives dozens of taels of silver, his reputation will not be affected.
The prince had paid for the unpaid wages before, but now that they were escorting them to Nandu, the emperor gave them relatively less. It was understandable that they took advantage of the situation and scraped some profits from profiteers.
Some profiteers were very clever. As long as the emperor was serious this time, they would give each soldier ten taels of silver and as many as a hundred taels to the officers leading the team, in order to reduce the total amount of taxes they should pay.
After reaping the benefits, the leading officers of the Factory Guards and Yongwei Battalions would be more generous. Generally, merchants who came to business would enjoy the minimum amount of 10,000 taels of tax payable.
It didn't matter that he had lost everything and could not pay ten thousand taels. The owner of the house took the money and goods to the Yamen to pay the IOU, and the merchants were waiting there all day long to "come to visit."
Emperor Chongzhen's goal was to collect taxes of one million taels of silver in each of the four cities of Nan, Hang, Su, and Yang.
Calculated based on a total of six million taels of silver, the remaining balance of two million taels can be collected from various places.
In this way, we will be very sure to achieve the set goals, otherwise it will still be out of reach and we will not be able to count on it in the next year or the next year.
But this was just a scare. Chongzhen was no longer the emperor who knew nothing about external affairs.
At least they know that those who sell steamed buns and those who open restaurants cannot be compared. After being arrested, they must carefully screen the merchant's identity and property, and then sign an IOU and issue a receipt.
Like a bun seller, an IOU of one hundred taels is enough.
If you are a grain merchant, you must first know how many people there are in your family, how many relatives you have, how many servants, servants, apprentices, helpers, etc. there are.
Then refer to the house deed, land deed, and light and dark accounts issued by it, and then determine the total tax payable after comprehensive consideration.
Generally speaking, the tax payable by a merchant who has employees, land, shops, and wealth should not be less than 10,000 taels of silver.
The more famous a businessman, the higher the total tax payable.
People are afraid of being famous, pigs are afraid of being strong!
What a coincidence that the famous profiteer got both!
In view of the successful example of a certain filial son in Beidu, the first task Chongzhen ordered for the Factory Guard and Yongwei Battalion was to find two books of accounts.
If they cannot be found, the person leading the team will be reprimanded, demoted, resigned, or even imprisoned. The merchants being audited will be subject to specific circumstances. In the most serious cases, the principal culprit will be punished!
As long as two books of accounts are found, any excuse made by the profiteer will be weak. If there is a capable witness to supplement it, it will be regarded as iron-clad evidence and it will be impossible to reverse the case.
It doesn't matter if you really can't find it. You can always search the account books from the merchants' homes upstream and downstream, so that the account books of this string of merchants will not be lost.
If this happens, it means that someone has tipped off the information and even deliberately helped the merchants to destroy it. Then this kind of bastard who cheated on others needs to be examined carefully.
Emperor Chongzhen now particularly hates the many profiteers who try to compete with him. If there are factory guards and officers and soldiers who collude with profiteers, the consequences can be imagined...
On the first day of the operation, more than 2,500 merchants were investigated and prosecuted, involving hundreds of thousands of suspects. More than one million taels of silver were found, not counting antiques, calligraphy and paintings, jewelry, and jewelry.
They found 550,000 shi of rice, 140,000 shi of salt, about 390,000 jins of tea, no less than 70,000 pieces of silk, satin, and cloth, more than 200,000 pieces of porcelain, and about one million jins of raw and wrought iron.
If you sell these goods and realize them, you can get no less than two million taels of silver!
Fishing when the lake is exhausted?
Even the ze is almost no longer his own, let alone the fish in the ze!
Chongzhen also learned to copy it. When the river is exhausted, no fish is innocent!
Thinking of the merchants who had colluded with scholars and officials to fight against him, Chongzhen became more and more angry and angry!
After using thunderous means, everything will come to light and the truth will be revealed!
There is no shortage of food, salt, tea, and silk cloth in Nandu City!
But there is a shortage of tax money!
The reason is that no one pays taxes!
Isn't it funny? ? ?
Aren’t you unwilling to pay taxes obediently?
I won’t let you behave even if you don’t behave!
The IOU will be issued ten years later!
If the Ming Dynasty will not perish and the 22nd year of Chongzhen really comes, I will have to collect taxes until then!
As long as I am in office, I have to collect taxes, and you have to pay taxes for one day!
Anyone who dares not to pay will be punished today!
In Nandu City, except for the merchants who had paid taxes in full, all the smart businessmen owed the court tax money.
The amount ranges from one hundred taels to fifty thousand taels, and the total amount owed reaches 20 million taels of silver!
This is just one city in Nandu. If you include the other three big cities, if they are all equal, the total will be 80 million taels!
Extending this example to the eight corners of the south, the total would probably be no less than 200 million taels!
But this is exactly the amount Chongzhen wants to get!
Averaged over twelve years, less than 20 million taels of business tax money a year is a lot of money?
Even if it is more, the extra part is the interest that the court should charge!
