Chongzhen did not agree rashly or object, but said in a deep voice: "Tell me about your second strategy."
Lin Jing could only sigh softly and said: "I would like to inform my father that my second plan is to collect a mining tax and use the mining tax to replenish the national treasury!"
Upon hearing the prince's suggestion, even the chief minister Zhou Yanru was a little shocked. He hurriedly came out and said: "Your Majesty, I think it is absolutely impossible to collect mining taxes. This is the evil government of Wanli and must not be revived.
In the present moment of Hajj.”
Not only Zhou Yanru, but other ministers also stood up and opposed Lin Jing's proposal to reintroduce the mining tax.
The reason is very simple. The entire Ming Dynasty has been devastated by the mining tax during the Wanli Period. It is not that the mining tax has affected the interests of these officials. In fact, the reason is very simple. The mining tax during the Wanli Period is a pure
The bad government simply enriched the pockets of Wanli and those eunuchs, but the losses caused were quite horrific.
In fact, the Ming Dynasty was not blindly opposed to the mining tax from the very beginning. Officials never had so-called unity on mining issues. The so-called two mine closures in the Ming Dynasty were mostly caused by miners' uprisings.
It is completely different from the large-scale opposition to the mine inspectors and tax envoys during the Wanli period.
From the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang had expressed his opposition to the mining tax. At that time, someone suggested to Zhu Yuanzhang that silver mines should be reopened in Shaanzhou, Henan, to replenish the national treasury, but Zhu Yuanzhang severely refuted it.
"A gentleman loves justice, while a villain loves profit. Those who love justice have the heart of benefiting the people, and those who love profit have the goal of killing the people. Anyone who talks about benefit is a thief who kills the people. I have heard that in the Yuan Dynasty, Fengcheng, Jiangxi
The people reported to the officials to mine gold, but their annual quota was enough to collect it. Over time, the people's power was depleted, and the soldiers of a state suffered from it. The property of the land was sometimes poor, and the people's annual tax was enough. There was no end to the expropriation, and there were officials
If you are greedy for your own merits and do not speak up, even if the court has a heart to care for the people, it cannot know it. This can be a warning, but it should not be followed!"
The main meaning is very simple. In Zhu Yuanzhang's view, those who suggested mining were purely people-killing thieves. He believed that officials would take this opportunity to let the people join in the mining. After the silver mines were mined, the people would
There was no way to continue to hand over the silver mines, and the officials deliberately concealed this matter for the sake of greed and continued to force the people to hand over the silver mines. Even if the court wanted to be considerate of the people, they would be kept in the dark.
In addition, officials in the Ming Dynasty believed that people who mined privately were either unemployed vagrants, or low-level officials who gathered prisoners to mine barbarously. Too many such things would lead to these people taking charge of private affairs, doing things, and being in charge of affairs for thousands of years.
With fame and color, armed with soldiers and muskets, they gathered in the mountains and forests, gradually turning into a rebellion.
In addition, there is another very important reason, that is, the Ming Dynasty is not a silver-rich country, and many silver resources are still very difficult to refine, and the output cannot be guaranteed. Therefore, the output in the Song Dynasty can be guaranteed to a certain extent, and the silver class is about 400,000
Liang (one liang in the Song Dynasty was forty grams, and the silver price in the Song Dynasty was two out of ten). However, after the Ming Dynasty, even though the silver price increased to three out of ten, the peak value only reached 300,000 taels in the Yongle period.
All in all, the benefits obtained from silver mining are very good. If it is not done well, big trouble may occur, so the mainstream voice is against mining.
However, because there are indeed benefits to be gained from this, some people agree with it.
"The silver market was not open, and the chief craftsmen organized gangs of dead gangsters to steal the goods. They even policed and killed each other, and plundered the countryside. Some of the arresters refused, and they were beaten to death. When I heard that the silver market was open, I hope that
Returning to the old service, he began to retreat with anger..."
Officials who support mining believe that mining can provide jobs for the unemployed, and the theft will benefit themselves and benefit the country, which can be said to kill two birds with one stone.
However, these are all due to the problems of mining itself. If the late Ming Dynasty could be systematic and institutionalized, it would be of great benefit to the country. However, in actual exploration, it is not the same thing at all, especially since the 24th year of Wanli.
mining tax, this
In essence, it is a kind of exploitation of the local economy, wantonly squeezing and plundering people's wealth.
At that time, Emperor Shenzong sent his eunuch Chen Zeng to Shandong to collect mining taxes. At that time, Shandong was not rich in minerals and it was difficult to set up a mining tax. In order not to go back empty-handed, Chen Zeng turned around and began to collect local commercial taxes.
, seriously disrupting local administrative and economic order, and many local officials expressed opposition.
For Shenzong, what he wanted was money, and he didn't care whether the money came from mining or businessmen. All the officials who impeached Chen Zeng were in bad luck.
At that time, Wei Guoxian, the magistrate of Shan County, and Wu Zongyao, the magistrate of Yidu County, were impeached by Chen Zeng and were arrested and sent to Beijing and jailed successively. Yin Yingyuan, the governor of Shandong, went to Shu to report Chen Zeng's twenty major crimes, but he was found guilty of false accusations and was fined. These people
It was just the beginning. In the following decades, it even led to many civil unrests. For example, Zhang Pu of Fushe caused a group incident in which five people were recorded on tombstones.
Nowadays, the mining tax was nominally abolished in the 48th year of Wanli Period, but it left a big and lingering shadow in the hearts of the court officials.
Therefore, when he heard that Lin Jing was going to reintroduce the mining tax, even Zhou Yanru, who had been silent until now, couldn't bear it. If the mining tax was relaxed today, I'm afraid that tomorrow the table would be filled with memorials from the Qingliu people impeaching them.
Although Chongzhen wanted money, he was also afraid of trouble. He immediately shook his head and said: "The mining tax is Wanli's bad government. I won't take it."
Lin Jing pondered and said: "What I am talking about is not about the mine supervisory tax, nor is it about discussing the tax, but about re-formulating the taxation method and imposing a gold tax."
"Lijin tax?"
Everyone immediately looked at each other. This was the first time they heard this term, and they couldn't help but look at Lin Jing.
Lin Jing said softly: "I think that we can set up lijin bureaus in Zhili, Shandong, Jiangnan, canals, Yangtze River and other waterways, one every hundred miles. This is a commercial tax specifically for goods, which can be divided according to the type of goods.
Different tax rates are implemented, among which for goods related to people's livelihood supplies, only one percent of one tael of silver is taxed, which is one cent of tax."
"A penny seems to be of no use... Could it be that His Highness the Crown Prince's move has other deeper meanings?"
Zhou Yanru had a slight smile on his face. He didn't necessarily want to see Lin Jing in trouble, but as the chief assistant, he had to figure out many issues.
Lin Jing said softly: "Although the minimum charge is only one cent, but ordinary business travel does not only transport goods with one tael of silver. If it reaches one hundred taels of silver, the tax collected will be one tael, and there are so many in the world.
There are more than tens of millions of goods coming and going. If it can be laid down, the tax revenue that can be collected will naturally not be small."
Speaking of which, lijin itself is also a kind of evil tax, but for Lin Jing at this time, it is the best way he can think of at the moment. Because there are examples from the Qing Dynasty, he believes that levying lijin is definitely better than charging three rates.