Gao Gong thought for a moment and then asked more in-depth: "This management fee or commercial tax must have a charging standard, right? How to set this standard?"
Gao pragmatically said: "Regarding this issue, my nephew has two considerations, and he is about to ask his third uncle to help him decide: The first is to tax according to the building area or business area. For example, if your shop covers an area of one acre, then I will first set a tax standard, say one tael of silver per month. If you just set up a small stall, the business area may be far less than one acre. In this case, I may only charge you ten cents a month - of course This number is just a casual reference made by my nephew. Oh, by the way, if the area is one acre, but the store actually has two floors, then it must be counted as two acres."
Mr. Xiao Gao, you are really a talented person who can make two cents out of one penny.
Gao Gong thought for a while and replied: "I think this idea is not bad, but one acre of land is too big, and a store with a radius of five feet is already very large. It is no problem to collect one tael of silver a month."
Well, it seems that Mr. Gao Ge is not delicate either...
Gao Pragmatic just smiled and nodded. In fact, he knew better than anyone else that the Ming Dynasty would die because of lack of money. In fact, except for military households and farmers, the wealth of the people in the Ming Dynasty was quite amazing. These "citizen" classes, especially the merchant class there, were not short of money at all! If they were short of money, what would they do with so much money? How to prepare a banquet and use hundreds of sheep to prepare a dish of mutton?
To put it bluntly, there is no place for private wealth to be invested or consumed, and all life is turned into dead money or wasted. At that time, Chongzhen was so poor that his yellow robe was even patched. He borrowed money from the princes and ministers in the face of the emperor. How many did he borrow? As a result, after Li Chuang entered Beijing, he ate tens of millions of taels just by taking advantage of large households. Later, when the Tatars entered the country and occupied North China, they collected more taxes than the entire country combined during the Ming Dynasty. Where did the money come from?
Various scholars of later generations have written countless monographs and articles. Although they have disputes about some figures, one point that is almost uncontroversial is clear: the Ming Dynasty was not short of money, and the only one who was really short of money was the imperial court! The tax rate of the Ming Dynasty was even more amazing. Not to mention the low commercial tax that shocked future generations, even the agricultural tax was actually quite low.
So why did there still be a raging peasant uprising in the end? It’s not because there’s something wrong with the tax payer! People with little land are tightening their belts and paying taxes, while those who really occupy a lot of land pay very little tax, or even pay none at all. If it were the Taiping Era, they might still be able to survive, but it happened to coincide with the Little Ice Age, and natural disasters continued throughout the north. With the Ming Dynasty's financial strength being as poor as pants, it naturally had no ability to provide disaster relief. How could it not be revolted? The sky is full? What a coincidence, the Tunguska wild boar skin outside the customs also rebelled...
Therefore, Daming's problems are interrelated serial diseases, or complications. It is not just a matter of solving them, and everything will be fine. There are too many things to solve. But although there are many problems, Gao Pragmatic, a man who served in politics in later generations, knows very well that the solution to most of the world's problems must ultimately come down to money: as long as you have money, these things can be dealt with; without money, Everyone is just waiting for the Fengyang ancestral grave of Lao Zhu’s family to be dug up, and there will probably be no escape from the Yangzhou Ten Days and Jiading Three Massacres.
As for him, Mr. Gao, turning into a military god, fighting in all directions and sweeping the world... Are you kidding? He, Mr. Gao, originally studied law and studied economics at the party school. Let him give up his own talents and lead troops to fight. ? He didn't graduate from the Army Command Academy!
As for the military, Gao Pragmatic himself estimates that the most important thing is to reform some military systems, guide the research and development of firearms, supervise the quality of military industry, and then improve the treatment of the military. The specific matters of fighting have to be done by specialized people-not to mention far away, now "Yu Long, Qi Hu" are all still there. Although historically, the later years of these two people are not good, but since I intend to save the Ming Dynasty, I naturally want to make good use of these two talents.
At this time, Gao Gong remembered something again and said, "Also, I just talked about some measures to utilize the canal. You haven't mentioned the reason for building a dock at Dagukou."
Gao Pinggong said sincerely: There are too many aspects involved in this matter, and I don't know if the third uncle will support it?
Gao Gong saw that Gao Pragmatic was hesitant, thinking that he had received so many unexpected surprises today. Although it was just some ideas, in fact there were still many problems. If he really wanted to do it, he would have to be cautious, but at least he could see that he This nephew is really talented in political management. Maybe his idea of building a port can also give me some inspiration?
He immediately smiled and said, "It's just a small talk at home. If you have anything to say, just say it."
Gao pragmatic thought for a while and asked tentatively: "I heard that in July last year, the Yellow River burst, and the floods spread from Kaocheng, Yucheng, Caoxian, Shanxian, Fengxian, and Peixian to Xuzhou. Because the river water flows sideways, the canals around Xuzhou Everything was silted up, and the water level in the river south of Xuzhou dropped, eventually causing more than 2,000 grain ships to be blocked in Pizhou and unable to move forward?"
Gao Gong reacted very quickly this time: "Hmm...why, do you also think that water transportation should be changed to sea transportation?"
"This issue is indeed more difficult." Gao pragmatic thought for a while and said: "But in general, I do agree with using sea transportation instead of water transportation. This matter... the long-term pain is worse than the short-term pain."
"Long-term pain is worse than short-term pain?" Gao Gong raised his eyebrows and shook his head: "I'm afraid this matter is not as simple as you think. Do you know how painful this short-term pain you mentioned can be?"
Gao pragmatically said: All I know are some arguments from later generations, and I don't know whether they are comprehensive or not. It's better to listen to what San Bo said and then make plans.
So he said respectfully: "My nephew is afraid that he doesn't know much about it and has not thought carefully about it, so I would like to ask my third uncle for advice."
Seeing that his attitude was correct, Gao Gong nodded, sighed, and said quietly: "Sea transportation originally started from the Yuan Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty of the previous dynasty. After Taizu drove away the Tartars and restored China, due to some relationships, it stopped repeatedly. , the last time it was completely banned was in the 45th year of Jiajing."
Gao Pangshi was surprised: It turns out that the "South-to-North Grain Diversion" in the Ming Dynasty was carried out by sea transportation, and it was "repeatedly stopped". It was not completely banned until a few years ago? But why?
"Actually, the complete suspension of maritime transport this time is not without controversy. There are different views on this issue both inside and outside the court. In general, whenever water transport is blocked, the call for resumption of maritime transport becomes louder. The maritime transport had just been suspended. , the court officials discussed the matter one after another. The reason was that the Cao River frequently burst, water transportation was repeatedly blocked, and a large amount of grain from the canal ships drifted away, which in turn caused Taicang to be empty and the officials and people in the capital to be fearful and uneasy. After the emperor succeeded to the throne, the floods in the Yellow River did not get better. It still happens from time to time, and this time the Cao River is heavily silted up in Xiapi... Alas, my country has rice grains in the southeast, and the annual income is no less than several million. Once it silts up, the capital will be trapped."
