In the 14th year of Tianbao before the Anshi Rebellion broke out, the total tax and tribute of the imperial court was approximately 13 million guan.
Among them, the majority of them were rented and paid taxes, and the rest were made up of government camps, tribute payments, and others.
But since Zhou Jun came to the throne, the economic structure of Datang has undergone tremendous changes.
First of all, the ownership and use rights of land are dichotomized, the amount of private land has been greatly reduced, and state-owned land dominates the market. This has resulted in the taxation of land contributions being much lower than during the Tianbao period.
Secondly, by apportioning every ding into an acre, the population tax and the land tax are unified and bound, but this also greatly reduces the ding tax generated by the population.
Finally, the abolition of low-level registration broke the hierarchy of the Tang Dynasty's population and liberated the labor force from bondage. However, it also made the forced corvee for households with low-level registration lose the legitimacy of its existence, and the court also lost a tax.
tribute income.
At the same time, wars continued within the Tang Dynasty, and the domestic market, especially in the south, was almost impossible to form.
Although Anxi, Beiting, Hexi and other places had developed commerce and rich products, their population was small and their internal digestion capacity was weak. Therefore, foreign trade became the key to Datang's commerce.
To sum up, in today's Tang Dynasty, the tax and tribute that the internal population can contribute is very limited, and the trade lines formed with the outside world are the main source of the court's income.
After roughly understanding these logics, some of the participating merchants plucked up the courage to kneel on the ground and said to the emperor: "Your Majesty, I am the owner of Tianyun Commercial Bank. I mainly make a living in celadon. Most of my customers are located in Dashi and Byzantium.
.In the past year, a total of five caravans were sent out, and three of them were attacked. One was by the Geluolu people, and the other two were by the Uighurs."
Zhou Jun: "There are patrols in Anxi and Beiting, but they failed to stop the disturbance?"
The owner of Tianyun Trading Company replied: "The Uighur tribes used to stay in the north of Shuofang. However, starting from last year, the Uighur cavalry went south in large numbers to fight with Shuofang's army in the Baiting area. There are many Uighur tribes
After being defeated or escaping from the war, they moved westward from the Shuofang area to the northwest of Beiting. The Geluolu people who were originally located in the northwest of Beiting had no choice but to be driven away by the Uighurs because their pasture was taken away, and then moved to Genggen.
Migrate to the west.”
"Suddenly, a large number of border barbarians poured in from the north. There was not much land for grazing, and there was simply not enough land to divide it between the Uighurs and the Geluolu people. Many barbarian herdsmen simply disguised themselves and started working again.
The business of bandits. Although the Anxi Army and the Beiting Army have border patrols, they each have defense areas to garrison. They can often only expel them, but cannot complete their elimination."
After hearing these words, Zhou Jun gradually understood.
The Uighur people's westward expansion is a historical trend.
Since the Anxi Army and the Beiting Army deployed a lot of troops to support the Central Plains, they mostly adopted a defensive stance when facing the Uighurs and Geluolu people.
The imperial court focused most of its attention on the battlefield of Chang'an where Tang and Tibet were confronting each other, and the battlefield of Jiangzhou on Jiangnan West Road, so this also gave the border barbarians in Mobei some opportunities to take advantage of.
The other representatives of the trading houses gradually became more courageous when they saw someone speaking.
A fat, wealthy businessman wearing silk knelt on the ground and said to the emperor: "Your Majesty, the common people are the heads of the Zhangrongfang family."
Zhou Jun asked: "What does Zhangrongfang do?"
The fat rich businessman replied: "Zhangrongfang's main business is specializing in weaving wool fabrics. Originally, when it came to wool fabrics, people respected products from Dashi, Tocharia, and Byzantium. But in recent years,
Thanks to the rapid development of weaving technology in Anxi, many weaving workshops in Anxi are able to use new techniques to produce wool fabrics with quality, patterns, and workmanship that far exceed that of other countries."
Zhou Jun nodded and said: "This is a good thing."
Fat wealthy businessman: "In the year before last, the total value of woolen fabrics sold in Qiuci Town alone reached 9.3 million yuan, which even exceeded the transaction volume of celadon and pottery."
Zhou Jun was a little surprised when he heard this.
In another history, the wool fabric trade in the Tang Dynasty had never been so strong.
It seems that this is a huge change in history.
The fat wealthy businessman smiled bitterly and said: "At the beginning of last year, there were more than 110 workshops selling woolen fabrics in the entire Qiuci Town, but this year, only 15 are left alive."
Zhou Jun: "Why did so many businesses close down? Is it because no one bought them?"
Fat wealthy businessman: "Anxi wool fabrics are cheap but not marketable. They are exported to the West and South. There is no need to worry about not being able to sell them. The biggest problem is not the customers, but the raw materials."
Zhou Jun: "Raw materials?"
Fat Rich Businessman: "Wool is divided into different types, which can be roughly divided into long wool and short wool. Among them, only long wool is suitable for weaving the best fabrics. And the wool produced by the shepherds in the Tang Dynasty is basically
It’s short-haired.”
Zhou Jun: “Where does that long wool come from?”
Fat rich businessman: "Most long wool is produced in cold areas. The first source is the Europa region in the far west, and the other is Uighur."
Zhou Jun pondered for a moment and then asked: "So, the Uighurs started a war against the Tang Dynasty, which also caused the interruption of raw materials and damaged the trade of wool fabrics?"
The fat wealthy businessman quickly said yes.
After that, many heads of trading firms and workshops came forward to talk about the difficulties in Datang's business and trade.
Among them, in addition to the invasion of trade routes by border barbarians and the interruption of raw materials from the north, there is another one, the most important maritime trade of the Tang Dynasty, which cannot be carried out now because of the war in the south of the Yangtze River.
Southeast Asia, including Luoyue, Linyi, and Poli, has a large amount of gems, dyes, and precious medicinal materials, but now they cannot be traded.
After listening to these speeches, Zhou Jun said to Kang Kejing: "Summary the key points just mentioned into a memorial and submit it to me later."
Kang Kejing bowed and said yes.
Zhou Jun said to the merchants in the hall: "Commercial taxes have now become an important source of taxes and tribute in the Tang Dynasty. Every tax you pay is a guarantee for the stability of the entire country. I promise you here that all taxes that affect the smooth flow of business will be
The ongoing problems will be solved one by one."
Hearing this, the participants in the hall cheered one after another. Everyone fell to their knees and shouted in unison that His Majesty is wise.
Zhou Jun: "Today's meeting is very meaningful and will be held regularly in the future. I am here to announce a few things."
"First, from now on, Datang Business Forum meetings will be held regularly every six months."
"Second, in order for the meeting process not to affect the daily operations of the trading houses and workshops, and also to facilitate meetings, the meeting adopted the method of selecting representatives from the region to attend and have a dialogue with the court. For example, in Kucha Town, a total of
There are one hundred commercial banks, then these commercial banks can nominate three of them to represent the others and come to the capital to participate in the meeting."
"Third, all future issues involving commercial taxation, trade, trade routes, etc. that require the assistance, management, and correction of the imperial court will be unified and supervised by the State and City Supervisors. Since trade issues sometimes involve military affairs, every meeting,
The Privy Council will also send people to attend.”