Chapter One Thousand Four Hundred and Fifty Four What I Have to Do
Qi Tai stretched out his hand and pulled Zhang Ming to sit across from him and said, "Zhao Ji, you are opposed to Han Du's establishment of a taxation department. But I want to ask you, does this have anything to do with you?"
"What does this have to do with me? I'm not the chief of the county and chief envoy departments. However, since Han Du has been against us several times, then we can't make him happy?" Zhang Yan looked matter-of-factly.
.
Qi Tai looked at Zhang Yan with burning eyes and said hintly, "So who does Zhao Ji think will be the most opposed to Han Du's move?"
"Needless to say? Of course it's those." As he said that, Zhang Yan suddenly turned around.
Looking at Qi Tai with wide eyes, he couldn't help but ask, "What does Shangli mean? Since this matter will offend officials all over the world, let Han Du do it?"
"Hahaha, Zhao Ji is indeed very agile. He thought of it all at once." Qi Tai's face was full of smiles, his eyes suddenly looked in the direction of Han Mansion, and there was a cold wind between his teeth, and he said, "His Han Du is so bold, even like this
He dares to do whatever he wants. When he offends the officials all over the world, I would like to see how he will die! Huh!"
Zhang Ming also suddenly became happy, clapped his hands and laughed and said, "Okay, then we will wait and see."
On the other side, Han Du received Zhu Biao's order. As soon as he returned to the Ministry of Revenue, he found Wang Yuanji and Zhao Yu and asked them to prepare an official letter and send it to all provinces and counties.
Wang Yuanji took the official letter drawn up by Zhao Yu and found Han Du.
When Han Du saw that the visitor was Wang Yuanji, he asked, "Has the official letter been drafted?"
Wang Yuanji nodded and replied in a low voice, "Sir, it's ready."
Due to the special relationship between Wang Yuanji and Han Du, he always called Han Du "Master Hou" in front of outsiders, but in private he regarded himself as a student.
"Bring it over and show it to me." Han Du stretched out his hand towards Wang Yuanji.
Wang Yuanji quickly handed over the official letter with both hands.
Han Du took it, opened it and looked at it carefully, and felt that there was nothing wrong with it.
At this time, Wang Yuanji hesitantly said, "Sir, there is a saying that students don't know whether to say or not."
Han Du raised his head after hearing this, looked at him with a smile, nodded and said, "If you have anything to say, just say it. Is there anything else you shouldn't talk about between us?"
"Sir, isn't there something wrong with this unified tax collection of silver?"
Han Du put the official letter on the desk, picked up the teacup and took a sip, then looked at Wang Yuanji and asked with a smile, "Why is it inappropriate to collect cash?"
Wang Yuanji immediately said, "Sir, the student's family is a farmer, so he understands the life of farmers after all. Generally speaking,
Farmers have almost no money at home, so they barter with each other. I will exchange three buckets of rice for you a chicken, and so on. In the past, taxes were collected in kind. For example, the field tax was collected on grain.
, and other people's money is also collected according to the color. Now that they are all exchanged for silver coins and treasure banknotes, the people need to sell rice, chickens and other things first for silver coins, and then pay taxes.
Students are worried that when merchants buy things from the common people, knowing that the common people have to use money, they will try their best to keep the price down!"
Wang Yuanji not only knows the lives of the people well, after all, he has lived in it since he was a child, but he also served as the governor of Old Port and has rich experience. He knows very well what kind of thing the merchants are, and they are a completely unprofitable group.
Early stuff.
When he talked to his husband, his tone was relatively tactful. But in his heart, once the people all need to use money to pay taxes, then the situation he mentioned will inevitably occur. Originally, this move of the husband was beneficial to the people.
Yes, but he is worried that it will eventually cause harm to the people.
Han Du put down the tea cup, folded his hands in front of his stomach, and leaned back on the chair.
He looked at Wang Yuanji with a smile and said, "If you can think of this, it means that you are truly able to stand on your own. You are right, this will generally happen."
Wang Yuan Jiding looked at Mr., he knew that since Mr. had also seen this and insisted on letting the people pay taxes with money, it meant that Mr. must have a deeper reason for doing this now.
Han Du raised a finger and said, "You are not talking about one question, but three questions. Let's talk about the first one first."
"Students are all ears." Wang Yuanji immediately bowed respectfully to Han Du.
Han Du waved his hand and said, "Don't be so nervous. Come on, sit down and let's talk slowly."
Wang Yuanji sat in front of Han Du obediently.
After Han Du paused, he said, "Let's talk about the first thing first, why do I want the people to pay money? You also said that all the things I received before were in kind, and except for rice and grain, other kinds of things will be discounted.
,right?"
"Yes." Wang Yuanji nodded slightly.
"Then do you know what the color is?" Han Du looked at him with a smile.
Wang Yuanji replied without hesitation, "It should be 20 to 30%."
"Two or three percent?" Han Du burst out laughing, shook his head and said to Wang Yuanji, "Are these the old almanacs of that year?"
"Isn't it? The student remembers that before the student went to school, the various colors were indeed about 20%." As for after school, his parents were afraid of disturbing Wang Yuanji's studies, so they did not deliberately talk to him about these things.
Naturally, I don't know. And when he came to the capital, he was in the academy, then the court, and then the old port. Until now, he even took his family to the capital and never went back. Naturally, he didn't know this very well.
"If it's only 20 to 30%, why should I bother with this?" Han Du then stood up, took out a booklet from the bookshelf, handed it to Wang Yuanji, and then sat back on the chair.
"I sent people to find out this in Yingtian Mansion. Is this the case under the emperor's feet, let alone other places?"
Wang Yuanji quickly opened it and read it word by word. When he saw the final number, his face couldn't help but change, "There are more than twice as many folds. How can there be so many?"
When Han Du saw this figure, he couldn't believe it. What kind of person would it take to be so cruel as to more than double the taxes paid by the people?
"You are so greedy that you can't satisfy your desires! Are you saying that these people have just imposed such heavy taxes on the people, and then they won't skin them and eat them in the future?"
Wang Yuanji read it again and again, and finally put the booklet on the desk, and said to Handu, "What we are doing is right. If we don't unify taxes now, I'm afraid it will really be impossible to end in the future."
Han Du nodded and continued, "Let's talk now about why I want people to pay taxes with money. First of all, there is an advantage to paying taxes with money, that is, it can avoid such troubles as getting wet and kicking. The money should be as much as it should be.
No one can charge an extra penny."
Wang Yuanji nodded repeatedly after hearing this, and added, "Sir, students think that collecting taxes is not enough to collect money."
"Oh?" Han Du glanced at Wang Yuanji in surprise, "Then what do you think we should accept?"
"Collecting treasure banknotes!" Wang Yuanji said solemnly, "There will still be fire consumption when collecting treasure banknotes. There is no fire consumption when collecting treasure banknotes. No one can even think about taking a penny."
"Yes, there is progress!" Han Du gestured towards Wang Yuanji appreciatively.
But what Han Du was thinking was, Mom, why didn’t I think of collecting treasure notes? I was still thinking about cashiers, and cashiers still involved the issue of fire consumption.
> The reason why there is such a waste is because the silver in the hands of the people now is of different purity, weight, new and old, different sizes, etc. I don’t see people using silver among themselves, so they have to carry a handful with them.
Scissors, do you use scissors to cut off the silver when you need it? Use as much as you need.
This will cause the originally intact silver to be cut into small pieces.
After the government receives such silver, it needs to be smelted again and cast into silver ingots. And the smelting process will inevitably involve losses. Coupled with the charcoal and labor consumed in smelting silver, it will naturally make sense.
According to the regulations, fire consumption was collected from the people.
But if you think that the amount of heat consumption is just what you consume, then you are too naive!
The government will always exceed the quota, or even double the quota, and charge twice the quota for fire expenses. As for the extra money, it will naturally fall into the pockets of the officials.
When Wang Yuanji saw Han Du's expected expression, he immediately thought that the gentleman was testing him. After all, the treasure note was made by the gentleman, so how could the gentleman forget this?
"Let's talk about the third point." Han Du took a sip and said, "You are worried that only collecting money will make the people suffer. Your worry is justified."
Wang Yuanji listened quietly, knowing that the gentleman must have something to say.
Sure enough, Han Du smiled and continued, "But don't forget, merchants don't just want to lower the price, they can lower the price."
Wang Yuanji was stunned for a moment, then lowered his head and said, "Please sir, please clear up my doubts."
Han Du waved his hand and said, "There is no need to be so polite between you and me. If you want to know, I will tell you. If it were the early years of Hongwu, merchants could indeed easily lower the prices of the people. But since the Ming Dynasty Royal Family
After the grain industry, it is impossible for merchants to lower prices at will. The Ming Royal Grain Industry has a lowest purchase price for things such as grain, cloth, and cotton. If merchants lower the price than the Ming Royal Grain Industry,
Then who will sell things to them?”
"This" Wang Yuanji looked surprised at first, and then suddenly became discouraged. He shook his head and said with a bitter smile, "Students really didn't expect that the Ming Dynasty Royal Grain Industry would have such a huge role!"
Han Du nodded slightly and continued to explain, "People sell things to the Ming Royal Grain Industry and pay taxes with their treasure money. The Ming Royal Grain Industry can transport some of the things to the capital without even transporting them away.