Chapter 525: The Second Purpose of Promoting Business
Yang Ben withdrew, but Yunxi was still thinking about building Yokohama.
'According to Fang Mingqian's last report, Yokohama is now just a small fishing village. Although the port conditions are excellent, it still needs construction.'
Of course, the materials for building the port cannot be transported from the country. The freight for this long distance is higher than the cost, so it can only be purchased locally. But this is good, it allows the Fuso people to make some money, and saves money to become pirates.
...'
While he was thinking about it, Zhang Fu suddenly came over and said to Yunxi: "Your Majesty, since you want to rent Yokohama, you should allow His Highness King Yong to interfere in the war between the Ainu and Fuso people."
"Huh?" Yunxi asked confused: "What does the lease of Yokohama have to do with whether King Yong is allowed to interfere in the war between the Ainu and the Fuso?"
"Your Majesty, Yokohama is within the territory of Fuso, and the Ming Dynasty must be more tolerant to Fuso. It would not be appropriate to interfere in the dispute between the Ainu and Fuso people in the name of the Ming Dynasty. And using the Eternal Domain as a cover, even if Fuso was
There is no excuse for coming to protest."
Zhang Fu knew that Yunxi was unwilling to let Fuso occupy the Ainu territory, so after Yunxi decided to rent Yokohama, he immediately thought that the navy of the Ming Dynasty could intervene under the vest of Yongfan Kingdom to avoid Fuso's protest.
Yunxi also understood at this time, and first praised Zhang Fu: "You are right, but I didn't think of it." Then he ordered: "Go to the Governor's Mansion of the Fifth Army quickly to recover Yunxi's memorial."
Zhang Fu took the order and came down.
After a while, Zhang Fu came back with the memorial and said breathlessly: "Your Majesty, the Commander-in-Chief of the Fifth Army is almost going to send it out from the military post."
Yunxi smiled and said: "Thank you for your hard work, Zhang Qing." At the same time, he took the memorial from his hand, erased a few words originally written, wrote a few more words, and put them aside.
At this time, all the memorials drafted by the Fourth Auxiliary Officer had been approved. It was already late and the General Secretary would not send new memorials, so Yunxi was thinking about supporting business.
The measures taken a while ago are good or bad for business and cannot be generalized. However, the policies he will introduce next will all promote business development.
The more developed industry and commerce is, the more taxes the government can collect. And the more taxes the government can collect without forcing the people to rebel, the more storms the country can withstand. In the late Ming Dynasty, the fiscal collapse was not enough to support the army.
Is spending the last to perish?
During the Song Dynasty, the industrial and commercial taxes, tariffs, and salt and iron monopoly accounted for more than 70% of the country's total fiscal revenue. When the economy was at its most developed, the total tax revenue exceeded 100 million yuan, which was nearly ten times that of the Ming Dynasty today. Even if
Inflation was relatively serious in the Song Dynasty. Assuming that the total amount of agricultural taxes is roughly equal to or slightly less than that of the Ming Dynasty, the income from industrial and commercial taxes, tariffs, salt and iron franchises in the Song Dynasty was more than three times that of the Ming Dynasty after the opening of the sea. This is enough to prove that the Song Dynasty's
Industry and commerce were also several times more developed than those of the Ming Dynasty.
Moreover, the development of commerce can promote the growth of wealth, and it is not just about transferring wealth from one place to another. There is no fixed number of wealth in the world, and commercial activities can generate wealth. The so-called no business is not rich, whether it is for individuals or the country.
It's all like this.
Yunxi combined the policies of various countries in previous lives with Guan Zhong's thoughts and the current national conditions of the Ming Dynasty. He wrote the words "free trade", "Lijin" and other words on the paper, and ordered the Zhongshu Sheren who were on duty tonight to draft the edict.
Early the next morning, Yunxi announced two imperial edicts when he went to court:
"Emperor Chengyun has issued an edict to cancel all banknote checkpoints in the country except those in dangerous places. I hereby express my gratitude."
"The Emperor Fengtian Chengyun issued an edict that starting from the first day of the next month in the Zhili area, other provinces, prefectures and counties will cancel the system of merchants' road guides one month later from the date of the edict. From then on, merchants registered in the Ming Dynasty will not need to use roads to travel.
lead."
Chaoguan is used to collect tolls, similar to Lijin in the Manchu Dynasty. Chaoguan is not in the city and is difficult to supervise, so it cannot collect much tax at all. Most of the money is used by the guards of Chaoguan, and the national income is very small.
The impact was very bad, so Yunxi canceled most of the banknotes. The main responsibility of the few remaining ones was to prevent barbarians and bandits, not to collect taxes. This move could reduce the burden on merchants and promote commercial development.
However, the benefits of this regulation to merchants are far less than the second imperial edict. By canceling the road guide for merchants, merchants can move freely within the country and achieve free trade at the commodity level, which will promote commercial development immeasurably.
.
Of course, this also caused a lot of discussion among the ministers. No one objected to the first imperial edict, as Confucianism has always advocated light corvee and low taxes; but the second imperial edict was extremely controversial.
"Your Majesty, why did you abolish the road guide for merchants?" Zhang Lin said: "Since ancient times, all dynasties have had road guides. Why does your majesty abolish the road guide for merchants now?"
Yunxi didn't say anything, and looked at the most important scholar under his command. He did not disappoint Yunxi. He stood up and said, "Xueshi Zhang, there was no way to lead the way in the three generations. How can it be said in all dynasties?"
"During the Qin Dynasty, the first road guide appeared, named Fu Zhuan. This was the beginning of the Chinese road guide. Now, Your Majesty will comply with the rule of the Three Dynasties and cancel the merchant road guide. Why not?"
"Shilang Fang, in the third generation, there was no separation of scholars, peasants, industry, and commerce among the four peoples. If your Majesty abolished the separation of the four peoples, would you agree?" Zhang Lin roared.
He was very helpless. As the few great Confucians in the court, they should have worked together to prevent His Majesty from carrying out non-Confucian reforms, but Fang Xiaoru's head seemed to be rusty. Everything must be based on the Three Generations. His Majesty wanted to reform anything that did not exist in the Three Generations.
There will definitely be no objection. This split the Confucian forces in the DPRK.
If that was all, he alone could not have much influence. However, because Fang Xiaoru personally implemented many of Confucius' ideas, the poor and the Taoist like Yan Hui had a great reputation, which attracted many Confucian scholars to join his school and influenced
These people of the Neo-Confucian school practice their views.
Sometimes Zhang Lin thought unkindly: Fang Xiaoru should quickly retire due to his frail health and stop staying in the court.
"If Your Majesty cancels the separation of the four civil servants, I will not object." Fang Xiaoru said calmly.
The Neo-Confucianists debated with the Confucian scholars of the Ancient School for a while, but were unable to refute each other, and finally had no choice but to accept the cancellation of merchant road guides.
However, Fang Xiaoru also made some mistakes from time to time. For example, today, after the debate, he took out a paper and said to Yunxi: "Your Majesty, please restore the well-field system."
How could Yunxi re-implement the well-field system? Besides, he couldn't restore the well-field system even if he wanted to. So after browsing briefly, he said: "It's a big matter of financial resources. I'll give Fang Qing a reply after thinking about it." Then he immediately announced his withdrawal from the court without giving any advice.