1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 679 Trade Promotion and Public Finance

On September 1652, 9, Baoan (now Kupang City, Timor Island, Indonesia).

Carllau Pruitt, senior financial officer of the Dutch East India Company in Batavia, stood up with a smile, stretched out his right hand, and held the hand of Qi Yanhui, the treasurer of the Hanzhou Bank of Qi State, and said: "After more than a month of negotiation and negotiation, today is finally here. Substantial progress has been made, and here I express my heartfelt joy and gratification."

"Mr. Pruitt, we have reached an agreement on the substantive principles and directions. However, we estimate that many detailed operations and operations will take a lot of time to implement and refine one by one." Qi Yanhui also said with a smile: "Yes Therefore, we may not be able to relax too much, and further consultations and discussions are still needed to avoid operational loopholes and negligence in the future.”

"Qi, I appreciate your seriousness and meticulousness in your work, and at the same time, I pay tribute to the tireless work attitude of you Hanzhou people." Karlau Pruitt shook his head and said, "But I think this one Months of negotiations have exhausted all my energy. I think we should take a break. I have been longing for your Hanzhou food and wine for a long time. Dear Qi, you are not planning to honor your master tonight. Do you want to treat our representatives to a banquet?"

Qi Yanhui was speechless when he heard the words.These Dutch people are too unprofessional, so why can't they finish talking about the affairs of both parties in one go, and then relax and enjoy themselves?
As the pocketbook of Qi State, Hanzhou Bank undertakes almost all the functions of the central bank and commercial banks. Coin minting, precious metal reserves, government loans, commercial credit, and even small agricultural credit for ordinary people also belong to its business scope.Although in terms of management, it is under the management of the cabinet's household department, but in terms of business, it is relatively independent, and it is a special existence in the government departments of Qi State.

With the rapid development of Sino-Dutch trade in the past two years, the economic and trade exchanges between the two sides have become more frequent, and the trade volume has also increased geometrically. As of June this year, the trade volume between the two sides has reached 340 million Hanzhou silver dollars, exceeding the annual trade volume of last year. have become the largest trading partners among each other.

However, with the growth of trade volume, there is an urgent need to establish a currency acceptance and clearing system between Han and Dutch to cope with the increasingly large amount of trade.Otherwise, the trade ships and personnel between the two parties will not always carry a large amount of gold and silver currency to each other for transactions. Trade exchanges have caused certain troubles.

Although the world's first bank did not appear in the Netherlands, the establishment of the Bank of Amsterdam in the Netherlands in 1609 became the world's first modern bank.The Bank of Amsterdam took advantage of the large amount of funds that were idle in the Netherlands, taking deposits from the Dutch people and providing loans to merchants at the same time.This is the earliest credit business and the core function of modern banks.With the further development of the Dutch banking industry, from the ruling to the common people, including other European countries, all participated in the operation of the Dutch banking industry. As a result, the Netherlands has made a lot of profits and has become the earliest financial birthplace in the world. The well-developed banking and securities industries once became the financial center of Europe.

When the people of Qi State proposed to the Dutch East India Company to establish a currency acceptance and clearing center for the trade between the two sides, they were surprised but also overjoyed.It should be known that establishing banks and playing finance are the strengths of the Dutch.Now that the people of Hanzhou have proposed to establish a trade settlement system, then in the end everything will not be dominated by the East India Company, adding new tools and means for it to control the Hanzhou trade system.

Therefore, the two parties negotiated and discussed the feasibility of establishing a bilateral trade settlement and currency acceptance system in Kubang, the former colonial stronghold of the East India Company, which is now renamed Baoan by the Hanzhou people.

When Qi Yanhui, as a negotiator, submitted the operating procedures and implementation rules of the settlement system to the Dutch representative, Carlau Pruitt, a senior financial officer of the Dutch East India Company who had a contemptuous attitude, was suddenly surprised.

The definition of settlement, the system of settlement, the implementation rules of settlement, the regulations on currency acceptance, the basic method of settlement, credit settlement and collection settlement... There are all kinds of manuscripts, more than [-] manuscripts, all in duplicate, with different texts, placed on the Before entering the table of the Dutch, it is obvious that the Hanzhou people have done enough homework in advance, and also proposed settlement procedures and detailed rules that are beneficial to the trade between the two parties, and there are even many rules that even the Dutch have never imagined.

On the first day of negotiations, East India Company representative Karl Pruitt had to temporarily suspend the negotiations, saying that he needed to study and discuss these documents carefully with several representatives of his own side, and then proceed to the next step based on them. negotiate.

The Dutch, or the Netherlands, were the most enterprising merchants in Europe in the 17th century.While they were indeed able farmers and skilled manufacturing workers, their success did not come from superiority in agricultural and industrial production.

The Dutch acted as middlemen, buying, selling and transporting the goods of others.They bought large quantities of spices, tea, porcelain and raw silk from Asia, and sugar, tobacco and leather goods from America.They also bought larger quantities of timber, grain, cattle, and copper from northern Europe, and wool, wine, and silver from southern Europe.They then used their ample fleet of merchant ships to transport all the goods to Amsterdam, and other Dutch towns, where they were sold to buyers from all over Europe who converged there.

As middlemen, as long as there is an opportunity, they will turn imported raw materials into commodities to obtain more profits, and the commercial capital of the Netherlands began to rise and develop rapidly.If this path continues, the commercial capital of the Netherlands may develop into a surging industrial capital, and then create a British-style industrial manufacturing power.

However, the Dutch who are too aggressive have innovatively developed the financial industry and the securities industry, established the world's first modern bank and stock exchange, and obtained a way to make quick money.The rapid development of the banking industry has brought rich profits to the Netherlands, and a large number of loans to foreign countries have caused a serious loss of capital in the Netherlands. The Netherlands’ lending to other countries is actually helping others to develop their economies.Not only that, since the repayment ability is in the hands of other countries, the Netherlands can only maintain good relations with them in order to recover the interest and principal of the loan.On the issue of trade and colonization, it is inevitable for various countries to have frictions. In order to ensure the interests of the banking industry, the Netherlands continued to make concessions to other countries, which eventually led to the continuous shrinking of the economic field and the loss of its foreign trade and banking activities. initiative.

The settlement system proposed by Qi State does not want to obtain any additional derivative benefits, but wants to accelerate the export of domestic industrial products and support the expansion of domestic and overseas trade through the establishment of a trade settlement and acceptance system with the Dutch East India Company.In the entire Southeast Asia region and the Indian Ocean region, the Dutch East India Company has the most extensive commercial network and has established countless business stations.If Qi's business tentacles can be attached to it through the settlement system jointly established by each other, it will inevitably expand the country's trade channels indirectly.

On September 9, Qi State established a bank named Hanzhou Import and Export Commercial Bank, which specialized in guaranteeing overseas trading companies and private merchants, issuing trade acceptance bills and import and export settlement bills, and cooperated with the Dutch East India Company The Netherlands Import and Export Settlement Bank established in Batavia reached a package agreement to mutually recognize various acceptance and settlement bills issued by both parties, and then conduct a general liquidation at the end of each year.

At the same time as the Hanzhou Import and Export Commercial Bank, there was also a trading company named Hanzhou Insurance Company, which undertook the accident insurance business for all merchant ships going to sea.It will deal with maritime accidents of merchant ships, including loss or injury accidents caused by ship damage, grounding, fire or sinking, as well as other liabilities, such as loss of ships and cargo caused by piracy, abandonment, capture, retaliation, raids, etc. After verification, discretionary compensation will be made.In this way, the risk loss of maritime trade is distributed from the individual to many people.

As for Hanzhou Export-Import Commercial Bank and Hanzhou Insurance Company, people in Qi State have not yet felt how much impact these two institutions will have on their daily lives. Maintained a high degree of vigilance.

Since ancient times, tax increases and tax increases have always been the most direct manifestation of the country's serious disturbance to the people.Leaving aside the fact that during the Wanli and Chongzhen years, the "Liao Pay", "Suppressing Pay", and "Lian Pay" were added, as well as additional tariffs, salt lessons, etc., which made more and more refugees in the Ming Dynasty, such as Like weeds, it swept across the north, and finally defeated the Huanghuang Daming, making it easy for the Qing captives to enter the pass.

Think about my Great Qi Kingdom, since its establishment, it has always cared for the people and sympathized with the power of the people. Various policies and benefits for the people have continued, so that hundreds of thousands of people believe that this period is the best time for the prosperity of the dynasty and the rising power of the country .

Why, is the government suddenly going to increase taxes and taxes on the private sector?
Officials in Hanzhou and overseas territories have been constantly preaching to the people under their jurisdiction that the increased property tax by the government is mainly collected from the wealthy class, and this part of the tax will eventually be transferred to more ordinary families through macro-control policies. .For this reason, people don't need to worry too much.

The consumption tax is only levied on some domestic commodities, and it is also levied on the means of transportation such as alcohol, tobacco, porcelain, glass, jewelry, cars, and ships consumed by the wealthy class.As for the grain, oil, salt, spices, sugar, cotton cloth, agricultural tools, and daily necessities consumed by ordinary people, no additional consumption and sales tax will be levied.In this way, the impact on ordinary people is negligible.

In fact, it is retrogressive for the government to impose a sales tax on consumer goods, because it would have a greater impact on those who need to spend most of their income on food than on taxing the rich.Although the sales tax is collected directly from retailers rather than consumers, it also indirectly raises the prices of consumer goods. For ordinary people, it means pushing up consumer prices and reducing public welfare in disguise.

But increasing taxes is something the Qi cabinet government has no choice but to do!

In modern countries, the two most critical aspects of the government's public finances - the efficiency of taxation and borrowing will directly determine the strength of the government's ability to mobilize and organize.If a country is successful in collecting taxes in a timely and efficient manner, and can maintain a high debt capacity, this will allow it to mobilize more of its own wealth than its opponents, so that the land and navy on the battlefield are full of soldiers and equipment. Excellent, and has long-term combat capability.

In addition, the reliable taxation of the country can also greatly develop the government's public credit, and bonds can be found at home and abroad to promote the development of various domestic enterprises.

At present, the Qi cabinet government's annual fiscal revenue from land tax, income tax and commercial tax is only a pitiful 40 Hanzhou silver dollars, which cannot support the various operations of the government at all.It must be known that Qi State spends as much as one million Hanzhou silver dollars on immigration transportation and resettlement every year, not to mention maintaining a large-scale land and sea army and military intervention in Daming territory.

However, in addition to taxation, the Qi cabinet government also has a huge extra-government fiscal revenue, that is, more than a dozen important factories and trading companies that the cabinet government controls and participates in, and the profits and dividends that the companies get from them are more than 100 million. huge.

In addition, the government has an additional income, but it is an abnormal income, that is, war dividends.For example, a few years ago (1648), the Qi State launched a war against the Zheng family in Annan, and fought all the way along the Red River to Shenglong City and broke it.More than 130 million taels of silver and more than 3 taels of gold were seized before and after, and later they demanded 40 taels of silver as war reparations from Annan.These funds have almost supported Qi's immigration transportation fees for more than two years and important military operations along the coast of Daming.

However, whether it is the profits and dividends turned over by enterprises, or the seizures obtained in wars, they cannot be regarded as the normal fiscal revenue of a government, and they are not sustainable.The core of fiscal revenue is taxation. The purpose of taxation is to increase the overall income of society. Taxation also shoulders the goal of maintaining social fairness. It eliminates inequality by limiting wealth.

Therefore, for the government authorities, normal taxation not only needs to increase fiscal revenue to maintain the growing official activities, provide public goods and public management, but also reduce the excessive social wealth and income gap.In addition, there is another invisible means of taxation, which is to restrict capital to prevent domestic inflation.

The collapse of the Ming Dynasty was first of all a financial collapse. Such a huge dynasty was unable to support the supply of food and materials for hundreds of thousands of troops in the country, and it was also unable to deal with the refugee problems caused by frequent disasters in various places. He suffered repeated defeats and was eventually swallowed by refugees.

However, although the population of Qi State is not large and the people's strength is still being cultivated, the government must plan ahead, plan in advance, and gradually establish an effective tax collection system in order to obtain normal fiscal revenue and strengthen the country's mobilization and organizational capabilities.

(End of this chapter)