"The Chen Mansion closed its doors to thank guests and will not receive anyone except the embroiderers."
A middle-aged man wearing a fifth-grade official uniform slapped the table angrily: "Humph, Madam Qianjian, without our help, how could the Chen family alone be relied upon by the prince? I don't understand the principle of both prosperity and loss.
Let’s see how the Chen family will be alone in the future!”
"That is, together we can represent the Jiangnan family. The dignity of her sons and granddaughters is only possible because of our efforts."
"Okay, what's the use of talking about this? The embroidered clothes envoy has already taken away my two useless sons. In a little while, the disaster of confiscating the house and exterminating the family will happen!"
A young boy, holding a string of silver and gold-coated loofah beads in his hand, couldn't help but said: "Then just pay the business tax. Is it possible that for people like us, we still have to pay for some small things?"
Can Guwu withstand such humiliating things as home raids?"
The head of another family waved his sleeves and said, "Do you feel bad for selling me? Are you the only one who can live without the so-called Duwu?"
"What Cheng Yan said is right. Being greedy for profit is a taboo. No matter how much money you have, it can't compare to having power. The imperial court has issued an edict and there are still hawks and dogs attacking. Let's cut your flesh to protect yourself for the time being."
"My uncle's words are reasonable. I also think that we should avoid their sharp edges and then find other ways to deal with them. For example, Zhao Yan, who uses cruel methods on officials, should be punished by the Holy Spirit."
"Then let's do it. Everyone, hurry up and make preparations. Don't waste time or hide some small profits. Now that things have reached this point, we must do it beautifully so that the court, the Holy Father, and His Highness all know how powerful we are.
Loyal and obedient!"
…………
The attitude of the Jiangnan family suddenly changed, making the already unstoppable embroidery clan become even more radical. The scope of the investigation of commercial taxes also spread from the coast to the inland. Not only did they want to check this year's tax items, but they also began to check the tax items starting from the first year of Hongwu.
This made countless local wealthy merchants cry. Some fixed markets were broken. Many small businessmen took advantage of the opportunity to gain momentum. There were also many common people who abandoned farming and went to the coast to do business after seeing the gains from the embroidery envoys who ransacked their homes. But they also
Keep in mind the tragic consequences of evading business taxes.
After the embroidery envoys traveled south, north, and west for half a year, the national treasury was enriched to an unprecedented level. Officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs walked with their backs straight. They were no longer afraid of encountering colleagues who came to beg for money and food. They could give some or not.
Yes, now I will give you whatever I like.
The Ministry of Works specially assigned a waiter and several doctors to squat at the yamen of the Ministry of Household Affairs every day, serving the gods of wealth, big and small, with all their heart.
Fortunately, Zhao Wenjing, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, was still sober. He knew that you should not rely on extravagant wealth, let alone develop the habit of lavish spending. He severely reprimanded his subordinates, and then without caring about the dignity of his own officials and important officials, he personally went to several government offices.
Part of the money was recovered.
In the Wenhua Hall, Zhu Biao smiled and comforted the few ministers who had made trouble on his side: "Heads have their own difficulties, and all the ministers should also understand Zhao Aiqing. Although the Ministry of Households has some wealth, it is still a place used by the imperial court.
If there are too many, you still have to be more careful in your life for the long term.”
Several ministers with gray beards all showed aggrieved and pitiful looks, and began to whisper about the difficulties on their side, especially the two ministers of the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of War.
The Ministry of Industry said that the number of craftsmen has almost been released. Now the only way to start work is to hire craftsmen. The Ministry of Industry cannot afford this expenditure. Now the palace must continue to be built, and dozens of local river embankments need to be dammed. Firearms
Construction Department…
The Ministry of War said that the food and salary arrears of some local guards were more than a year in arrears. The soldiers were barely able to survive by relying on self-sufficiency in farming. Now they have made up for it. There are also soldiers from Liaodong and Yungui who have moved to their homes and need to pay for their resettlement.
, otherwise it would be impossible to open up wasteland to grow food and suppress bandits...
After hearing this, Zhu Biao felt that the money and food could not be saved, so he had to look at the Minister of Household Affairs: "Zhao Aiqing..."
Zhao Wenjing bowed and saluted with a cold face: "Your Highness, not all the money and food ministers from the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of War have been recovered, and the remaining money is completely enough for them to do what they said. Now they are still refusing to give up, obviously because they want to get more money.
, I will impeach them in the morning session tomorrow!"
The Secretary of the Ministry of War immediately jumped up: "Well, you Zhao Wenjing, you dare to talk nonsense like this in front of His Highness. What evidence do you have to slander me like this? I have a breeze in my sleeves. Even if the embroidery tool comes to my home, you will be punished.
I am impressed by my honesty!"
The Minister of the Ministry of Industry raised his beard and said: "You said that we want to take advantage of it, but I think it seems that someone wants to commit theft."
Officials from the Zhongshu Province and other ministries did not take it too seriously to see the excitement, and they also felt that the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue was a bit too stingy, so they also started to make a fuss.
Zhu Biao knew Zhao Wenjing and naturally knew that he was not such a person, but in front of so many veterans, he couldn't be too partial.
"Does Zhao Qing have any plans?"
Zhao Wenjing initially ignored their intentions, but when faced with the Crown Prince's question, he had to respond: "Your Highness, the household department has suddenly become rich. The bulk of it is actually the proceeds from house raids, and the business taxes of several years are only part of it."
"It is impossible for the imperial court to send out embroidered soldiers to raid homes like this every year. It will definitely cause uproar in the government and the public, and it will not be conducive to trade. It is tantamount to killing the goose to retrieve the eggs. Once every few decades is okay."
"Ahem!" Zhu Biao covered his sleeves and coughed. It was not easy to say this bluntly.
"A lot of the proceeds from the house raids were from local dyeing and weaving shops, and there were also many male and female workers who had signed annual contracts. In addition to the existing Jingdezhen imperial kiln, could it be integrated into a government-run operation to reduce the price of goods purchased during ocean trade?
, to increase revenue and reduce expenditure.”
State-owned enterprises? Sure enough, there is nothing new in the world. What has happened has been repeated many times in history.
Zhu Biao is very clear about the pros and cons of state-owned enterprises. They can integrate resources to the maximum extent, but they can also easily damage the existing business ecology and form monopolies.
The official official frowned and said, "It is not the imperial court's duty to compete with the people for profit."
Zhao Wenjing immediately hit back: "The operation of the imperial court requires a huge amount of money and food. Agricultural taxes alone are not enough, and commercial taxes are also insufficient. If we don't find ways to increase revenue and reduce expenditure, how can we maintain order?"
"There are barbarian countries overseas, the Tatar War in the north, and the military disaster of Luchan in the southwest. There are disasters from heaven and disasters from man on earth. If we encounter them one after another, but the treasury is empty, how should we deal with it?"
He cupped his hands in the direction of Jinshen Hall and said, "The Holy Emperor has all his subordinates when he is here. The Holy Prince sits in the East Palace and controls all the places. But in the future, if there is no hero, the imperial court does not have an overwhelming influence on local finances."
If local forces expand and rebel, how should they be suppressed?"
Several ministers were speechless, and Zhao Wenjing said to Zhu Biao: "In the Western Han Dynasty, there were several policies in the policy of mulberry and Hongyang, such as immigrating people's land and settling land for reclamation. All the policies can be slightly changed and adapted to the present time."
, so that the people do not benefit from the gifts and the world uses the mercy."
The pseudo-common land means that the public land of the court or the royal farm, the land of criminal officials and merchants will be leased to the poor and homeless for free, so that they can support themselves. The court can also exempt the governor from paying money and increase the grain tax.
Nowadays, the people of the Ming Dynasty do not need these, because the land is currently sparsely populated, but the refugees who migrated from Yunnan, Guizhou, Liaodong and Mongolia can be resettled in this way first, and finally they can be rewarded with land through rewards, so as to better win over the people.
The meaning of "equal loss" is that the items paid by the local government to the imperial court are converted into local special products according to the local market price and handed over to the imperial court. For places such as Jingdezhen that do not engage in farming and mulberry cultivation, the taxes and labor can be offset.
The strategy of equalization complemented the strategy of equalizing losses. The imperial court used equalizing losses to collect a large amount of materials. When the price of a certain commodity increased excessively, it would be sold to the market at a par price to reduce the price; conversely, if the price of a certain commodity was too low,
, they bought in large quantities, causing prices to rise.
This is a policy that has been implemented, and the disadvantages it has caused are all clear to everyone present. They all looked at the frowning Crown Prince in unison, thinking of one thing.
At least when these two are here, these things can be controlled. If they are implemented as expected, even if it only takes fifty or sixty years, it will be enough to accumulate huge wealth, making the country rich and the people rich.
