"Your Majesty, Ni Yuanlu, pays homage to His Highness the Crown Prince!"
Ni Yuanlu came to Lin Fan, knelt down and said.
"Ni Yuanlu, this is the prince's residence, not a royal palace with many rules. There is no need for such a grand ceremony. How did you go about inspecting the granary this time?"
Lin Fan asked.
"Back to Your Highness the Crown Prince, this time the inspection of the granary has been basically completed. There are still some remote areas left. We will send officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs to inspect them."
Ni Yuanlu said in a deep voice.
After hearing this, Lin Fan nodded and said, "Well, you have indeed worked hard on your trip this time. Just let those lowly people handle the rest."
"I just have something else to ask you. What are the taxes in our Ming Dynasty today?"
kindness!
Ni Yuanlu was shocked when she heard Lin Fan asked about this, because now it is winter, and at the same time, the Chinese New Year is coming soon, and some commercial taxes have to be collected and paid!
When His Highness the Prince asked about this, his intention was obvious. He hurriedly said: "Reporting to Your Highness the Prince, there are hundreds of various taxes in the Ming Dynasty!"
"Among them, traditional Chinese medicine has a special tax on traditional Chinese medicine, food also has a tax, and some porcelain is taxed."
Ni Yuanlu couldn't explain too comprehensively at this time. After all, there were hundreds of taxes. If he explained them all to the prince, he would die from exhaustion or lose half his life.
"Oh! Our Ming Dynasty actually had so many taxes, which is a bit beyond my expectation! What kind of taxes are there for the people?"
Lin Fan asked.
During the Qing Dynasty, there were dozens of taxes related to people's lives. For example, there was a chicken-killing tax for killing chickens, and a sheep-killing tax for killing sheep.
At the same time, you have to pay taxes when eating chickens, and you have to pay taxes when eating eggs. In short, as soon as you open your eyes, you have to take out the money. The people at that time were miserable!
"Ahem! In the past few years, Your Majesty has started from himself, saving his own food and clothing, and used it to support the army. Naturally, the taxes of the common people have also increased!"
"For example, there are special taxes for wheat farmers, and watermelons are also taxed. If watermelons and wheat are grown on the same field at the same time, the tax will be doubled!"
"People also have to pay taxes when selling the fruits and vegetables they grow. Just last year, there was a tax on chickens, ducks, geese, etc.!"
"These taxes can collect tens of thousands of taels of silver every year, which has solved a certain financial crisis. Your Highness, do you think it is necessary to retain these taxes?"
Ni Yuanlu said in a deep voice.
These taxes were brought up by Li Xiuyuan. At that time, he was just the Minister of Rites, so naturally he was unable to stop them. Later, he wanted to propose their abolition, but found that he was extremely dependent on this amount of money.
Now that the Ministry of Revenue has money, he doesn't want to continue to make the people live so hard.
Lin Fan frowned after hearing this. He didn't expect that the old man Chongzhen's temporary trouble for our people for a year would turn into this. Is it because his appearance disrupted the order of time and space?
"It seems that the tax laws must be made more stringent!"
Lin Fan said in a deep voice.
The more stringent the tax laws become, the better they will be able to restrain certain people. At the same time, unreasonable tax laws must also be severely curbed!
hiss!
Hearing what Lin Fan said, Ni Yuanlu took a breath of air. Isn't the current tax law strict enough?
His Royal Highness actually wants to make tax laws more stringent!
thump!
Ni Yuanlu, who had just stood up, knelt on the ground again and cried: "Oh! Your Royal Highness, the tax law cannot continue to be strict! The people are suffering so much!"
"In the past, when the imperial court had internal and external troubles and lacked money, it was okay to do that. Now that the imperial court is rich, how can it still collect taxes like this!"
"The common people have to pay taxes for eating chicken. This! It doesn't make sense where to put it!"
kindness?
Lin Fan frowned and stared at Ni Yuanlu, saying, "Did you not understand what I meant?"
"kindness?
Your Highness, what do you mean?"
Ni Yuanlu asked.
"It's very simple. The tax laws need to be more stringent. Those businessmen who dare to evade taxes or evade taxes will be severely punished so that they will not dare to do so next time!"
"This requires adding some punishment system on top of the tax law, and this punishment should not be life-threatening, but mainly fines!"
"Second, unreasonable tax laws must be strictly eliminated, such as the chicken tax on the common people. They must be removed. Only when the common people are rich can the court be rich!"
"Third, we must strictly eliminate local tax laws. That is to say, in addition to the tax laws of the imperial court, if anyone is found to dare to increase taxes privately, his family will be confiscated and his family will be destroyed!"
Lin Fan said coldly.
thump!
After Lin Fan said this, Ni Yuanlu immediately kowtowed to Lin Fan several times.
"On behalf of thousands of people, I would like to thank His Highness the Crown Prince!"
Ni Yuanlu said.
"I said Ni Yuanlu, is your head made of iron?
Why do you do it so often? If you get injured, who will take care of these things?"
Lin Fan said.
"Haha! Your Highness, Wei Chen is too excited. It is natural for Wei Chen to handle these things! Let's do it now!"
Ni Yuanlu said hurriedly.
"Don't leave yet. I have other things to ask you."
Lin Fan said.
"Your Highness, do you have any other instructions?"
Ni Yuanlu asked.
"I want to allocate 20 million taels of silver from the Ministry of Revenue to build warships for the navy. Don't tell anyone about this for the time being."
Lin Fan said in a deep voice.
"This... Your Highness, this sum of money has been given to the Ministry of Works. If you are transferred at this time, if the Ministry of Works comes to ask for the money..."
Ni Yuanlu looked embarrassed.
Lin Fan said: "The Ministry of Industry can start construction at a speed of 10 million taels a year. I think he is awesome. Thirty million taels is enough for him to spend three years!"
"Besides, taxes will be collected soon. As long as you collect the taxes strictly, I estimate that you can definitely collect 20 million taels of silver."
"Ahem! What His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said is absolutely true!"
Ni Yuanlu coughed twice and said.
"Also, during this time, you can work with the Ministry of Etiquette to make a set of banknotes."
Lin Fan said.
"Your Highness, what are banknotes?"
Ni Yuanlu asked.
"Paper money is treasure money."
Lin Fan said in a deep voice.
In the early days of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, treasure banknotes were issued for a period of time. However, the production process of this thing was simple and could easily be copied!
Therefore, there are a large number of fake treasure banknotes on the market, which results in the market value of treasure banknotes getting lower and lower. Coupled with some rules for tax collection, they have become a tool for officials to make profits!
In the end, the treasure banknotes had to be abolished. At this time, Lin Fan proposed to reprint the treasure banknotes. Ni Yuanlu looked complicated after hearing this!
"Your Highness, if banknotes are treasure banknotes, Wei Chen suggests that it is better not to print them. I am afraid that the common people will suffer even more if this thing is issued!"