The White Emperor's farewell speech is among the colorful clouds. Thousands of miles of rivers and mountains are returned in one day.
Going down the Yangtze River is very fast, unlike when it goes upstream, which often requires trackers to pull him. In just a few days, Zhou Hexuan arrived at Zhang's house in Jiujiang, and Zhang Yuanxi and his whole family went to the pier to greet him in person.
"Brother-in-law, you've had a hard time traveling all the way!" Zhang Yuanxi was extremely enthusiastic towards Zhou Hexuan, so enthusiastic that he was so respectful that he was completely different from before. Although he became the mayor of Jiujiang, he knew the reason. Everything was
Chang Kaishen gave Zhou Hexuan face.
Zhou Hexuan smiled and said: "Second brother, you are too polite. You are busy with official duties, why did you come to pick me up in person?" Zhou Hexuan turned to greet his mother-in-law again, "Mom, how are you doing recently?"
"Okay, that's all good." Mother Zhang said with a cheerful smile.
Zhang Leyi held the child and smiled at her husband. Standing next to her were her fifth brother Zhang Yuanmo, sixth brother Zhang Yuanfan, and fifth sister Zhang Manyi. As for the other brothers and sisters, they were not in Jiujiang.
Everyone took a car to go home. On the way, Zhang Yuanxi asked: "Brother-in-law, is the business in Chongqing going well?"
"It went very smoothly. We have already caught up with Liu Xiang." Zhou Hexuan said.
"That's good," Zhang Yuanxi said with a smile, "Now that the Nanjing government has abolished the lijin, business will become easier and easier. Commander-in-chief Chiang really governs the country well!"
Lijin was a thing that existed during the Qianlong period. For example, in the "Battle of Jinchuan" and "Big Jinchuan", Lijin was levied in the two lakes areas to raise military expenses. Speaking of which, Qianlong was really the best. His father, Yongzheng, left such a rich treasury.
He was defeated, and the war still required additional levies of gold to start the war.
As for the flooding of Lijin, it started from the Tianping Heavenly Kingdom period and remained until the Republic of China, and the situation became more and more serious.
What is Lijin?
That is, the local government or the military sets up Lika within the jurisdiction to collect goods tax from passing merchants. If you order a batch of goods from Shanghai to be shipped to Sichuan, tax will be collected in Jiangsu, Anhui, Jiangxi, and Hubei.
Taxes must be collected, taxes must be collected in Sichuan, and even landing taxes must be collected after the shipment reaches the final destination.
These taxes are just a few cents and can make you doubt your life.
The most disgusting thing is that more than 60% to 70% of the money collected in various places is used to support tax collectors and corrupt officials, while only 30% to 40% goes to local governments and warlords.
Not only that, high taxes and fees are only levied on domestic Chinese businessmen, while only low taxes are levied on foreigners. This has even more serious consequences. Foreign goods only need to pay low tariffs and fees, and the transportation cost is far lower than that of domestic products, so in China
Massive dumping to seize the market.
Just on New Year's Day this year, the Nanjing National Government not only restored tariff autonomy, but also ordered the abolition of nationwide tariffs and instead levied a unified commodity tax.
This is not just talk. Lijin was quickly abolished not only in the "Kuomintang-controlled areas", but many local warlords were also forced to abolish the Lijin system.
There are two reasons why the Nanjing government’s tax reform policy has been so smoothly adopted:
First, foreigners actively urged. Although foreign goods only need to pay a low tax, it is still disgusting enough, and foreign businessmen have long hated it. Even when countries returned China's tariff autonomy, their request was to cancel the per cent system;
Second, the promotion of domestic businessmen. Whether they are big capitalists or ordinary small businessmen, they have long been looking forward to the government abolishing the likin. These businessmen unite and have great influence. In addition, with the clear decree of the central government, even local warlords
Neither dared to openly disobey.
Of course, in areas where the Nanjing government cannot take care of it, lijin still exists. But since the central government requires it to be abolished, let’s just abolish it, change the name and levy it separately, although this is illegal.
Although the "Golden Decade" of the Republic of China is a joke, it is undeniable that the national industry developed very rapidly during these ten years. A very important point among them was the abolition of the lijin system and the recovery of China's tariff autonomy.
In order to encourage exports and increase foreign exchange, the Nanjing government has gone crazy: except for flour, which can receive a half-tax refund on goods shipped from China, all other domestic products including cigarettes, cotton yarn, matches, and cement are all tax-free.
As for foreign imported goods, except for some scarce goods, the tariffs on other types of goods have been doubled. This back and forth has greatly improved the competitiveness of domestic products, which is a hundred times better than the poor Beiyang government.
So, the Kuomintang is the spokesperson of bureaucratic capital. Most domestic products have official shares. How can we not support it?
Chang Kaishen's cancellation of the Lijin system also had political considerations. That was to fundamentally cut off the financial resources of local forces, weaken the strength of local warlords, strengthen the central government's supervision of the local economy, and increase the central government's fiscal revenue.
Alas, this forced local warlords to increase fines (opium taxes) for smoking bans, and some even took the lead in growing opium themselves.
Take Liu Xiang's uncle Liu Wenhui as an example. His classic saying is: The government houses are better than schools, and the county magistrate rectifies the law on the spot!
As for the actual situation, Liu Wenhui's territory was full of opium, and his troops were supported by selling opium, which also supported tens of thousands of smokers in Sichuan.
What is a smoker? People who are responsible for growing, producing, and selling opium, and even bodyguards who specialize in protecting the opium trade, can all be called smokers. There are at least millions of practitioners across the country.
This is a smoky and bizarre world.
…
Without further ado, Zhang Yuanxi asked the driver to drive directly to Guling in Lushan Mountain.
Everyone came to a garden villa, Zhang Yuanxi smiled and asked: "Brother-in-law, are you satisfied with this place?"
"Where is this?" Zhou Hexuan asked doubtfully.
Zhang Yuanxi explained: "This is a summer villa specially built for you. When summer comes, you can bring Le Yi and Wei Lie here. The climate here is pleasant and the summer is very cool. It is a good place to relax."
"Thank you very much." Zhou Hexuan accepted it generously.
After walking into the villa and walking around, Zhou Hexuan realized that it was very large. It covered an area of at least 10,000 square meters. There were two century-old trees standing in the courtyard. They were directly enclosed when the villa was built, so it looked extremely natural and quiet.
The main body of the small foreign-style building only has three floors, with a construction area of about 1,500 square meters. It is... such a waste!
Not far in front of the villa, there is a Changchong River with clear water and beautiful scenery. When you stay here to escape the summer heat, you can go fishing on the river or go boating to explore the mountains and rivers.
Near Zhou Hexuan's villa, there is another garden villa. I heard that a foreign doctor and his wife live there. Well, in a few years, that villa will change its owner and be renamed by a certain bald man named Jiang.
"Beautiful House".
Zhou Hexuan was so satisfied with his new home that he couldn't help but stay in Lushan for another half month, enjoying fishing and boating with his wife.
Zhang Leyi seemed to be in a particularly happy mood. It was just her, her husband, and her son here, and she didn't have to worry about any troubles. She even hoped to live in Lushan like this for the rest of her life.
Fortunately, Shanghai sent the translation manuscript of "Titanic" to Jiujiang. Zhou Hexuan read the manuscript while accompanying his wife and children. It was not until he finished reviewing the manuscript that he left with the reluctant Zhang Leyi.