There is no stability without agriculture, and there is no life without business. In terms of agriculture and animal husbandry, Anton insists on solving the root cause. In terms of business, Anton also opens the door to convenience, especially the easing of taxation and the import and export of goods.
Since ancient times, successive dynasties have adhered to a policy of focusing on agriculture and suppressing business. This is a basic national policy and is determined by the self-sufficient natural economic foundation.
At the same time, for the ruling class, excessive commercial activities will not only affect the labor force engaged in farming and mulberry farming, but also increase population mobility, increase hidden dangers to public security, and most importantly, are not conducive to government governance and management.
To this day, the biggest trouble encountered by the government in various places in the Han Dynasty in public security management is still the commercial population who travels north and south and is always on the move.
Even if the imperial court resolutely and forcefully implements the household registration system, it is impossible to monitor without blind spots, and it is very difficult to handle cases across prefectures and even counties and towns.
Therefore, although officials all over the world know the benefits and necessity of commercial activities, for the sake of political performance and stability, they still prefer to restrict the governance of the people to the land, which can not only create the means of living, but also be more conducive to maintaining social security. Stablize. Some officials who adhered to Confucianism despised merchants even more.
This kind of deep-rooted thought was actually the norm in the Han Dynasty. Even though the business activities in the Han Dynasty were becoming more and more frequent and the business atmosphere was getting stronger, the essence has not changed. When it comes to the issue of agriculture and business, agriculture will always be ranked first. The forefront.
The prosperity of commerce is basically limited to Gyeonggi, major cities in various provinces, and some coastal states and counties. Outside these areas, in fact, it is still in a relatively solidified small-scale peasant economy.
At the same time, doing business is still accompanied by various tangible and intangible pressures. Most of the resources in industries such as salt, iron, tea, wine, sugar, etc. are subject to national monopoly policies, and merchants cannot participate at all.
Although salt and wine have long been banned, their production sources, especially salt production, are still firmly in the hands of the court, or even more firmly controlled. Even the big businessmen responsible for distribution must follow government regulations and lick the government's stinky feet. , can we operate normally without running into trouble.
The trade routes in various places have indeed been normalized, and the layers of taxes and customs have been abolished, but they have been replaced by severe and strict city taxes. Especially in big cities, if you don't pay enough taxes, you can't even enter the market. .
For example, the separation of entry and exit channels for people and goods implemented by Zhao Kuangyi in Kaifeng has now been imitated by governments across the country. This has indeed greatly reduced the possibility of tax evasion and tax evasion by merchants, unless they do not want to sell goods in the city.
Restrictions also mean regulations. At least, there has never been a dynasty that has such detailed and clear management of business personnel, activities and taxes, and has specially formulated a "Commercial Code".
Of course, the original intention of Zhao Pu and other ministers in formulating this bill was to cut off merchants' leeks and alleviate financial constraints, but it actually promoted the development of business to a certain extent.
After all, conducting legal commercial trade and engaging in commercial activities within the framework of the Commercial Law is itself an improvement and something that businessmen are willing to accept. Those who are unwilling to abide by commercial laws are profiteers and will naturally need to be punished. Those who are willing to comply are naturally good businessmen. As long as they obey management and pay taxes according to regulations, they can operate with peace of mind.
In fact, Emperor Liu played a great role in promoting the Han Dynasty's business. If he hadn't said good things to businessmen from time to time, the current business atmosphere in the Han Dynasty might not be so "relaxed".
But even so, it cannot change some fundamental problems. It cannot change that Dahan is a feudal agricultural empire based on natural economy. In the absence of breakthrough development in productivity, Dahan's business can only be limited to this. It is difficult to achieve more breakthroughs and developments, as policy restrictions are always there.
Even Emperor Liu, if excessive commercial development affected agriculture, mulberry, fishery and animal husbandry, affected agricultural output, affected social security, and threatened national stability, then he would not hesitate to raise his sword or even The butcher's knife, chop it down hard, nothing is as important as the safety and stability of the empire.
Under such circumstances, Liu Xu also adopted some radical policies to encourage business in Anton, such as significantly reducing business taxes and opening up various resources in Anton to merchants, including timber, leather goods and various types of goods. Animal and plant resources, including mineral deposits, were also open to the outside world, but Tokyo stopped it after hearing the news.
However, for precious metals such as gold and silver mines, it is still agreed to be mined and smelted by merchants, but supervision must be strengthened. In this regard, it really attracted a lot of people, and even set off a gold rush in Anton.
Resources such as mineral deposits have always been directly controlled by the state. The imperial court has also set up a large number of mining supervisors across the country to mine and smelt. Private mining is not allowed by the private sector. But this point has also broken down some barriers in Anton.
At the same time, for the merchants who came to Anton for trade and business, the Anton Governor's Office also agreed that they organize escorts, wear weapons, and escort the goods.
In general, Anton has shown great sincerity in relaxing the restrictions on team merchants. Many things that are difficult to achieve or even explicitly prohibited in other parts of the Han Dynasty can happen in Anton. Over the past few years, Liu Xu basically turned the Andong region into an adventurer's paradise.
Apart from its somewhat remote location, Anton is very friendly to merchants in every other aspect. The remoteness of the location is completely surmountable for businessmen who often need to travel around. The key is to be profitable.
The business promotion policy of the Anton Governor's Office has really attracted merchants from all over the world. Even if they have a trying mentality, there is an endless stream of merchants going there.
In fact, a large number of merchants from the south traveled thousands of miles to Anton after hearing the news. Especially for some merchants on the southeast coast, the business atmosphere in the south is already strong, and those engaged in business, especially maritime merchants, are even more enthusiastic, especially merchants in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian and even Guangdong and Guangxi.
With the rise of maritime trade and the development of Han Dynasty shipping, the sea route to the north has become very mature, and a lot of costs can be saved by sea.
In the past few years, a large number of merchants have come to Liaodong to do business. Northeastern fur goods, ginseng and deer antlers, shipbuilding and construction timber, etc. are the key business targets. Although Anton is farther and more remote, and the transportation is more inconvenient, thanks to the preferential business policy, the cost is also diluted. Basically, as long as you can successfully transport things out, you will make money.
Merchants are inherently adventurous, and those who are willing to go out to sea are more adventurous and even risk their lives. The influx of a large number of merchants and caravans also injected vigorous vitality into the Andong region, and the Anton Governor's Office also benefited a lot from it.
Farming and animal husbandry are the foundation of rule. The expenditure chosen by the Anton government is just a means to promote development for business. No matter how generous the discounts are, it is impossible for the governor's government to engage in loss-making business.
Therefore, commercial taxes have become the most important financial revenue of the Andong Dudufu in recent years, and these taxes have enabled the Dudufu to promote development normally.
If we only rely on the one million yuan of special funds allocated by the imperial court every year, we don't know how long it will take to put Anton on the normal track of development. Even if the court can persist for a long time, it will cause gossip. The Han Dynasty is so big and there are so many good places, why should it spend such a big price in such a remote Andong.
At the same time, starting from the fifteenth year of Kaibao, Anton has contributed a large amount of gold and pig iron to the court every year. With these, the dissent in the court was suppressed.
Even if precious metals like gold and silver are opened to the public, they cannot be taken away after being excavated. They must be exchanged for copper coins or silver ingots at a discount to the Andong government. Anyone who smuggles them out of the country will be severely punished once they are discovered. It’s not just a matter of losing money and avoiding disaster.
In the development of Anton, Liu Xu used great determination to withstand tremendous pressure and forge ahead with determination. It has to be said that even though some achievements have been achieved, the controversy has been even greater.
According to some bureaucrats in the DPRK, Anton's actions were completely undermining the laws of the imperial court, corrupting the imperial court's principles, being unconventional, radical and reckless, contrary to the Han's philosophy of governing the country, and were heretical and should be banned... There are too many people who are opposed or even critical of Liu Xu's "big move" in Anton.
That is to say, Emperor Liu did not acquiesce, Prince Liu Yang did not express his position, and Prime Minister Zhao Pu was silent, so the pressure of public opinion did not turn into substantive political measures. Even so, Liu Xu felt it even if he was in Anton.
Probably to show his determination, Liu Xu even sold off all the Qin Prince's properties in the two capitals, and brought all the servants and servants to Anton to invest in local development. With practical actions, he showed his determination to develop Anton. will.
In the two capitals, only two palaces and scattered maintenance personnel were left. This kind of move and attitude really strengthened the confidence of many officials who followed and implemented the "Anton Policy", and also brought confidence to business travelers and immigrants.
