Although Cheng Wende was disappointed that the Hanyang Textile Factory could not be run directly by Hanyang local government, he did not object or even block it.
On the contrary, he very much welcomed and even supported the Ministry of Industry's investment in the construction of Hanyang Textile Factory.
As long as the factory can be set up, it can solve the employment problem of a large number of refugees, and it can also obtain tax revenue and stimulate local economic development. No matter how you calculate it, it is a good thing!
According to the latest tax law, even arsenals run by the Ministry of Industry must now pay taxes...
Not to mention factories, those people in the tax department are so crazy that they don’t even spare the salaries of officials and middle- and senior-level management and technical personnel in government-run factories...
An outrageous personal income tax was introduced.
It is said that when personal income exceeds a certain amount, personal income tax must be paid.
This is nonsense. This tax was unheard of for millions of years...
It can be seen that the people in the tax department are really crazy about money. They actually thought of such a tax and took money directly from people's pockets...
If the tax law had not been implemented at the same time, there was no large-scale personal taxation on ordinary people outside the world. The starting tax amount was very high. Only those with a monthly income of 50 taels or more would need to pay personal tax. At the same time, a stepped taxation was adopted, with a monthly income of 50 taels to 100 taels. The tax rate is only a mere three points.
And the highest one is only five points!
Such a high threshold basically has nothing to do with ordinary people. At the same time, voluntary declaration is still adopted for the outside world. If you don’t file a personal tax and pay it, the tax department will not care about you...
This personal tax is temporarily only levied on middle- and high-level officials with relatively high incomes and senior employees of government-run enterprises. And if you don’t pay it, the local finance department will deduct it from you before paying your salary...
However, before the Dachu Empire levied personal tax, it first increased the salaries of officials who reached the personal tax threshold and middle- and senior-level employees of government-run enterprises.
This salary increase is very interesting. The increased salary can just offset any personal income tax.
To put it simply, despite such an individual tax policy, the salary income of mid-level and senior officials and official employees has not been reduced.
As for low-level officials and employees of government-run enterprises, they are not even qualified to pay personal income tax!
At the same time, there is no large-scale compulsory collection among the private sector.
To put it bluntly, the Da Chu Empire actually didn’t receive a dime in terms of personal income tax, but instead had more workload.
In the eyes of many people, simply taking off your pants and farting is unnecessary.
Luo Zhixue laughed at this. Now he is taking off his pants and farting. You can watch it again in a few years...
After all, the threshold will be lowered...
The scope of collection can also be expanded...
Now, let’s put a name here to let people accept the concept of personal income tax first, and we can wait until later to actually collect personal income tax.
Personal income tax is still a small matter, but the real big deal is that government-run factories and commercial firms also have to pay taxes.
There was also a gradual process of tax collection in government-run factories. After the Chu Empire was formally established, Luo Zhixue further separated military and political affairs.
In particular, there is a clear separation of military expenditures, which separates the military from the arsenal.
In the past, the military received weapons from the arsenal for free. It could get whatever the arsenal produced without paying a dime.
At the same time, there is no operational pressure on the arsenal. The raw materials are purchased and shipped by the Ministry of Commerce and Trade. The arsenal is only responsible for production. Even the wages of the workers are directly paid and distributed by the Finance Department.
However, after the establishment of the Chu Empire, a policy of financial independence was implemented for each government-run factory. Each factory purchased raw materials by itself, produced them, and then sold them to the military.
As a result, the military will also need military expenditures to purchase various military supplies.
And each factory produces and sells military supplies, which also has a turnover. Since there is a turnover, the tax department will collect taxes...
It is worth mentioning that during this reform process, the authority of the Ministry of Commerce and Trade was greatly reduced, and only some matters related to trade with the outside world and intelligence collection were retained. Later, Luo Zhixue also handed over the nominal foreign affairs of the Ministry of Ethnic Affairs to the Ministry of Education. The matter was handled by the Ministry of Commerce and Trade.
Therefore, the current Ministry of Commerce and Trade has evolved into a purely external agency, engaged in foreign trade, intelligence collection, diplomacy, vassal affairs and other affairs.
Among them, diplomacy and vassal affairs are in name only. What is really important is foreign transactions and intelligence collection based on foreign exchanges.
But the intelligence agencies of the Dachu Empire are not just the Ministry of Commerce and Trade. There are as many as five intelligence agencies in the Dachu Empire!
In addition to the Investigation Department of the Ministry of Commerce and Trade, there are also the Intelligence Department of the General Staff Department, the Intelligence Department of the Navy Department, the Internal Affairs Section of the Hanlin Academy, and the Investigation Bureau of the Inspectorate.
The Intelligence Department of the General Staff and the Investigation Department of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry are both foreign intelligence agencies, but the Intelligence Department is more focused on the collection of military intelligence.
The Investigation Department of the Ministry of Commerce and Trade focused more on collecting official information from the Ming court, local public sentiment and other intelligence.
The Investigation Bureau of the Inspectorate is responsible for the monitoring and investigation of civilian officials within the empire. Its main function is to fight corruption. It is an intelligence department rather than an anti-corruption agency.
The most special one is the Internal Affairs Section of the Hanlin Academy. Even though this organization only has the name of a department, it has a lot of staff. There are now thousands of internal affairs investigators, and it is still expanding rapidly.
Their business scope is also internal, but the internal scope is still very wide. They monitor civil and military officials, and also monitor some local gentry and dignitaries and local public opinion.
At the same time, this department also has a very special function. They are responsible for reviewing the Di newspapers of the Dachu Empire.
The Dachu Empire also had a Dibao, which was mainly used to convey the official internal information of the Dachu Empire to officials above a certain level, such as official promotions and transfers, policies, etc.
Naturally, these news cannot be published casually. Each issue of the Di newspaper needs to be reviewed by the Internal Affairs Section of the Hanlin Academy before it can be published.
The function of the Internal Affairs Section of the Hanlin Academy is actually very simple, that is, to detect and suppress all factors of internal unrest, with the core goal of safeguarding Luo Zhixue's personal rights.
But it is precisely the seeming simplicity of the function that accounts for the agency's specificity.
——
In a seemingly ordinary house in Wuchang City, a group of people wearing black uniforms similar to patrolmen, wearing rank badges, and holding waist knives and even muskets were welcomed.
This group of people quickly broke into the house, and screams and curses were heard from time to time.
Not long after, a middle-aged fat man wearing a black uniform and a fifth-grade badge stepped into the farm with the support of a group of subordinates.
Looking at the muscular men in short robes who had been tied up in front of him, the fat middle-aged man showed a sneer: "You are hiding quite deep, let me Zhao someone to find you!"
"Tell me, who sent you here? Yang Sichang or Hong Chengchou, or simply Dongchang? Jin Yiwei? If you tell me earlier, you will avoid a lot of pain."
The men in short robes said nothing, and one of them even spat: "You rebels will die a good death sooner or later!"
Zhao Chisong chuckled: "Okay, he seems to have some backbone. I appreciate people like this!"
"Follow me to the Internal Affairs Department, I will entertain you personally!"
"Don't worry, I don't dare to say anything else, but I still have some ability to entertain people."
After saying that, he waved his hand and asked his subordinates to escort these Ming court spies away: "Serve them well, don't hurt them, let alone let them commit suicide. I will personally interrogate them later!"
After Zhao Chisong asked his men to take the people away, he himself got into a four-wheeled carriage. As the carriage swayed forward, Zhao Chisong was thinking about how to pry open the mouths of these people and how to pull them out. The people behind these spies were dug out to completely defeat the arrogance of the Ming court spies, so that they would not dare to come to Wuchang City again.
This is already the seventh batch of Ming army spies he has captured in the past half month. The previous batches included some from Jinyiwei, some from Dongchang, and even Yang Sichang sent several spies here.
The reason why these spies from the Ming Dynasty gathered in Wuchang City was naturally because Wuchang was now the capital of the Great Chu Empire, and many institutions of the Great Chu Empire gathered here.
Your Majesty is here, as are all the ministers and ministers.
If the Ming Dynasty wanted to learn more about the situation of the Chu Empire in more detail, inquire about higher-level military intelligence, or even instigate rebellion against some unsteady-minded people, coming to Wuchang would naturally be the best choice.
Ming court spies continued to flock to Wuchang, and the people in the Internal Affairs Department were not blind... they could find some traces and uncover these spies.
After all, the flow of personnel these days is not large, let alone Wuchang Mansion, which is technically still a frontline.
There were Ming troops on both sides of the city, and Wuchang Prefecture was also a stronghold of the Baoxiang Army.
The Baoxiang Army has always implemented a very strict entry and exit system for Wuchang City. Even if local villagers outside the city want to carry fruits and vegetables into the city for sale, they need to go through investigation and obtain a city entry permit.
It is not easy for outsiders to sneak into Wuchang City to spy on intelligence.
Even if you are lucky enough to sneak in, you may be exposed during the process of spying on intelligence, and the Internal Affairs Department will catch the clues and follow the clues to find them out.
After all, the Internal Affairs Department of the Hanlin Academy is professional in counterespionage!
The Internal Affairs Department of the Hanlin Academy had been established during the Xiangyang City period, but at that time it was still called the Internal Affairs Investigation Department of the General's Mansion. Later, it was nominally placed under the jurisdiction of the Hanlin Academy, but in fact it only borrowed the name of the Hanlin Academy.
The Internal Affairs Department has always worked independently. Even the Yamen are independent and are not under the management of the Hanlin Academy. Instead, they are managed by His Majesty Luo Zhixue personally.
The staff composition of the Internal Affairs Section is also very interesting. In fact, more than half of the core members are Ming Ting's Imperial Guards and Dongchang staff...
Many of them are still eunuchs...
In the process of conquering the south and the north, the Baoxiang Army would inevitably capture or surrender some personnel such as Jinyiwei and Dongchang Fanzi.
After these people surrendered, they worked for the Chu Empire. When there were more people, Luo Zhixue simply established an internal affairs department and transferred many personnel from other intelligence agencies to enrich the internal affairs department.
In the end, a special intelligence agency such as the Internal Affairs Section of the Hanlin Academy was formed.
And Zhao Chisong is a defector from Dongchang!
Still a eunuch!
Of course, there is no such thing as eunuchs in the Great Chu Empire. There are no so-called eunuchs in the palace. Personnel at all levels working in the harem are all selected maids.
Although Zhao Chisong was disabled, he was a serious official in the Great Chu Empire. He was the director of the Third Division of the Internal Affairs Section of the Hanlin Academy, the fifth rank, and was responsible for the counter-espionage affairs of the Han Tianfu, that is, the Gyeonggi region.
