The news that Cornwall was ceded to the Ming Empire by the King of England also spread throughout Cornwall in the shortest possible time. For a time, the entire Cornwall was panicked and uneasy. Many people even stayed overnight
Escape from Cornwall.
But for the ordinary people, they cannot escape here, because this is their home and everything they have here. They can only accept the rule of Ming Dynasty helplessly, and at the same time they are worried. The most important thing is taxation.
question.
Cornwall was renamed Hong Kong by the Ming Dynasty. The original county seat was also moved from Truro to Falmouth Harbor. The Ming Dynasty announced that Falmouth Harbor would be renamed Hong Kong, which is the core of the entire county.
Along with the name change, the laws promulgated by Tian Erniu also began to be announced and posted in major towns throughout Cornwall.
According to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, all people in Cornwall must be loyal to the Emperor of Ming Dynasty, become the fourth-class citizens of the Ming Dynasty, bear the taxes of the Ming Dynasty, and at the same time be able to enjoy the blessing of the Emperor of Ming Dynasty.
At the dock of Falmouth Port, Tian Erniu set up a place similar to the newspaper posting, and then asked people to translate the laws related to the Ming Dynasty and post them in English and Chinese characters at the same time. At the same time, he also hired people to post
Readings are continued here.
Well, in this era, there are more illiterates in England than there were in Ming Dynasty, and not many people can read.
"Dear people of Hong Kong~"
A Spanish Pablo, wearing Ming Dynasty clothes, with long hair and shaved beard, stood on a stone, holding an iron trumpet in his hand, and was explaining the laws of the Ming Dynasty to the people in Falmaus Port.
Well, he is the translator hired by Tian Erniu with money. He is a Spaniard who understands Daming, Spanish and English. It is said that his ancestors were from England, but now he has become Tian Erniu's personal translator. Everyone
The salary of three taels of silver per month made him very satisfied.
"According to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, you are not allowed to engage in rebellion, rebellion, evil, disrespect, unfilial piety, unrighteousness, etc. This rebellion means that you are not allowed to resist the rule of the Ming Dynasty. Rebellion means that you are not allowed to betray the emperor of Ming Dynasty. Doing evil means that you are not allowed to rebel against the Ming Dynasty.
Don't do bad things..."
Pablo very patiently explained every rule of law to everyone present, but it was obvious that everyone below was absent-minded. Everyone did not care about these contents very much. What they cared about the most was the issue of taxation.
"Can you tell us about taxes?"
Tom and Jack were also among the crowd. Listening to each piece of legal content, their heads were a little fried. After thinking about it, they emboldened themselves to ask.
"Okay, okay, let me tell you about the taxes in Ming Dynasty."
When Pablo heard this, he nodded and said, took out a piece of paper about taxation and started talking.
"According to the laws promulgated by Ming Dynasty, Hong Kong belongs to Ming Dynasty's overseas territory, and the tax laws of Ming Dynasty's overseas territories are applicable, according to the tax law."
"Every citizen in the overseas territories has the obligation to pay taxes to the Ming Dynasty."
"The taxes you need to pay are mainly agricultural tax, which accounts for 10%, followed by land tax, which accounts for 5%. Except for this, there seems to be no tax at all."
"If you are doing business, there will be more taxes levied, and there are detailed business taxes."
Pablo looked at it carefully and said in disbelief.
Because there are only two types of taxes above, one is agricultural tax and the other is land tax. There are no other taxes except commercial tax.
"What?"
"There are only two taxes, one is the agricultural tax, which is only one-tenth, and the other is the land tax, which is only one-twentieth. In addition, if you are not doing business, you do not need to pay other taxes."
"Is it really?"
"Don't we need to pay poll tax, currency tax, grass tax, firewood tax, etc.?"
When everyone below heard this, they couldn't help being dumbfounded.
They were all worried at first, worried that the taxes in Ming Dynasty would be very high, which would make life even more difficult for people like them who are already struggling to survive.
But who knew that the taxes in the Ming Dynasty were so small. There were only agricultural taxes and land taxes, and the ratios were so low. Agricultural taxes were one-tenth and land taxes were one-twentieth. This adds up to
The tax rate is only 15%, which is a very low tax rate.
"Sir, is this true?"
"Apart from these two taxes, don't we have to pay any other taxes?"
Tom asked in disbelief.
After hearing Tom's question, everyone looked at Pablo, looking very nervous.
"It seems that there is really no need to pay other taxes. The tax rate here in the Ming Dynasty is low. Especially the current Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, who is constantly reducing taxes and taxes. Currently, there are only these two types of taxes in this overseas territory.
"
"Of course, if you are doing business, you need to pay commercial taxes. There are many types of commercial taxes. There will be special tax yamen and personnel to collect them according to different types of goods."
"There are two main types of taxes in the Ming Dynasty. One is the agricultural tax and land tax that everyone needs to pay, which is levied by the local government. The other is the commercial tax that is levied by the tax agency directly under the imperial court."
"If you don't do business, you only need to pay agricultural tax and land tax."
Pablo looked at it again, confirmed it and then said.
"Haha~"
"Great~"
“Awesome~”
After Tom, Jack and others received the confirmation, the entire Falmouth Port suddenly fell into joy. People took off their hats and started cheering continuously.
Such a low tax was something they had never encountered before. They were used to paying more than half of the tax, and now they suddenly had to pay less than one-third of the original tax. This made them all cheer with joy.
For the first time, I felt that there seemed to be nothing wrong with being under the jurisdiction of the Ming Empire.
The cheering scene in Falmouth Harbor was also seen by Tian Erniu and Jiang Liang.
Regarding Ming's first colony in Western Europe, to be honest, the two of them had already figured out how to run it, and Liu Jin had already given the direction.
That is to build Hong Kong into an important stronghold of Ming Dynasty in Western Europe. Whether it can collect taxes is not the key. Ming Dynasty does not care how much taxes this big place can collect.
The total population of Cornwall is only tens of thousands. Even if each person pays one tael of silver a year, it is only tens of thousands of taels of tax. The Ming Dynasty really looks down upon it.
But this colony is still of great significance to the Ming Dynasty. Cornwall is located in the southwest of the British Isles, with the English Channel to the south and St. George's Strait to the north. Occupying this colony is equivalent to laying a nail in Western Europe.
, if a fleet is stationed here in the future, the entire Western Europe will be under control.
However, this place is far away from the mainland of the Ming Dynasty. The closest place is the Golden Continent. It is not easy for the Ming Dynasty to rule here. People here can rebel against the Ming Dynasty at any time.
Therefore, Tian Erniu and Jiang Liang first started from the aspect of taxation. The taxation was lower, so that the people here felt that they could live a good life under the rule of the Ming Dynasty.
The second is to take advantage of the fact that this is the overseas territory of the Ming Dynasty to develop trade here. When the time comes, the goods of the Ming Dynasty will be transported directly here for sale, attracting businessmen from Western European countries to come here to buy, and abandon the exclusive trade rights originally granted to Spain. Naturally,
Drive the development of this place.
"You are right, start with taxes first~"
Tian Erniu smiled and said to Jiang Liang beside him.
"Taxes in Europe are too heavy. Appropriately lowering taxes is the most effective way. However, it is not easy to rule here for a long time."
Jiang Liang smiled and said, "Now we don't even have a decent place to live."
"Haha, it will be there soon."
Tian Erniu laughed.
This time, Britain and Portugal both compensated a large amount of money to the Ming Dynasty. The money is now in Tian Erniu's hands, and he can naturally use part of it to build this port.
"Dang~dang~"
"We're hiring~ We're hiring~"
"The Governor of Hong Kong wants to build the Government House and recruits a large number of workers to build the Government House. Each person can get fifty copper coins and two kilograms of flour per day!"
Soon, Tian Erniu issued another recruitment order.
The Governor's Palace needs to be built, there are also forts to be built at the port, a dedicated dock for the garrison, and barracks for the garrison, etc. In short, there are a lot of things to be built.
Pablo led people to beat gongs and drums in the fishing port and kept shouting.
"I~I!"
Tom, who was unable to go fishing because of the strong wind and waves, immediately hurried out of the house when he heard this, raised his hands in a hurry and shouted.
He needed such a job so much. He didn't know exactly how much fifty copper coins a day was worth, but two kilograms of flour was important. Two kilograms of flour was enough for his family to eat several delicious meals of bread.
"I, I~"
Of course, not only Tom needs such a job, but also the people in the entire fishing port are in great need of such a job. Suddenly, the people in the entire fishing port are excited.
Everyone walked out of their homes one after another, scrambling to get such a job, building mansions for the governor, building docks, ports, military camps, forts, etc.
"Don't be anxious, everyone. There are a lot of people needed. Everyone has a share. Please line up and come to me to sign up."
"The Governor said that as long as everyone works hard, life will definitely get better and better in the future. Hong Kong will definitely become the richest place in the entire British Isles, and everyone's life will get better and better."
"There will be bread and everything. The Ming Empire is the richest country. The people of the Ming Empire can all live a prosperous life."
Pablo looked at the excited crowd in front of him and quickly said loudly.
