Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 49
Gao Gong thought about it for a while, and asked more in-depth: "There must be a charging standard for the management fee or commercial tax, right? How to set the standard?"

Gao Wushi said: "About this issue, my nephew has two considerations, and I'm about to ask Sanbo for help: the first is to levy taxes according to the building area or business area. For example, if your shop covers an area of ​​one mu, then I will set a tax collection standard first, for example, one tael of silver a month. If it is just a small stall, the business area may be far less than one mu. In this case, I may only charge you ten pennies a month—of course This number is just a random word from my nephew, just as an example. Oh, by the way, if it occupies an area of ​​one acre, but the shop actually has two floors, then it will be counted as two acres."

Mr. Xiao Gao, you are really a great talent who can make two pennies for one penny.

Gao Gong thought for a while, and replied: "I think this idea is not bad, but one mu of land is too big, and a store with a radius of five feet is already very big. It is no problem to charge one tael of silver a month."

Uh, it seems that Mr. Gao Ge is not delicate...

Gao Wushi just smiled and nodded.In fact, he knew better than anyone else that Daming died because of lack of money. In fact, apart from military households and peasants, Daming's civilian wealth was quite amazing. These "citizens", especially the merchant class inside, did not lack money at all!If they were short of money, what would they bury so much money for?For a banquet, what do you use hundreds of sheep for a dish of mutton?
To put it bluntly, there is no place for private wealth to invest, and there is no place to consume, and life is turned into dead money or waste.Back then Chongzhen was so poor that his yellow robes were all patched up, so he took the face of the emperor and asked the princes and ministers to borrow money. How much did he borrow?As a result, after Li Chuang entered Beijing, he ate tens of millions of taels just from the big households. Later, when the Tartars entered the customs, they occupied all of North China and collected more taxes than the entire country in the Ming Dynasty. Where did the money come from?
Various scholars in later generations have written countless monographs and articles. Although they have disputes about some figures, there is almost no dispute. It is also clear: Ming Dynasty was not short of money, and it was only the imperial court that was really short of money!And the tax rate of Ming Dynasty is even more miraculous. Not to mention the low commercial tax rate that shocks future generations, even the agricultural tax rate is actually quite low.

Then why did there still be a surging peasant uprising in the end?It's not because there is a problem with the subject of tax payment!People with little or no land are paying taxes while tightening their belts, while those who really occupy a lot of land pay very little or even no tax at all.If it was during the Taiping period, they might still be able to barely survive, but it happened that the Little Ice Age happened again, and natural disasters continued throughout the north. With the financial strength of the Ming court, which was so poor that it was only pants, it naturally had no ability to rescue disasters. The sky is full?Coincidentally, the Tunguska wild boars outside the pass rebelled...

Therefore, Daming's problems belong to a series of interrelated diseases, or complications, and everything will not be fine just by solving them. There are too many things to solve.But although there are many problems, Gao Yushi, who has worked in politics in later generations, knows very well that most of the problems in the world must be solved in the final analysis on money: as long as there is money, these things can be solved; without money, Everyone is waiting for the old Fengyang ancestral grave of the old Zhu family to be dug, and the next Yangzhou Ten Days, Jiading Three Massacres, etc., probably will not have to run away.

As for letting Mr. Gao become a military god, fight in all directions, and sweep the world... What are you kidding, Mr. Gao was a law student, and he studied economics at the party school, so let him give up his specialty and go to lead soldiers to fight ?He didn't graduate from the Army Command Academy!

As far as the military is concerned, in Gao Pragmatic’s opinion, the great thing is to reform some military systems, guide the research and development of firearms, supervise the quality of military industry, and then improve the treatment of the army. The specific tasks of fighting have to be done by specialized personnel—not to mention, now "Yu Long Qi Hu" is still there, although historically, the evening scenes of these two are not very good, but since he intends to save Daming, these two great talents will naturally have to make good use of them.

At this moment, Gao Gong remembered another thing, and said: "Also, just now you only mentioned some measures to utilize the canal, you haven't mentioned the reason for building the wharf at Dagukou."

Gao Wu said honestly: There are too many aspects involved in this matter, and I don't know if Sanbo will support it?

Gao Gong saw that Gao Yushi was a little hesitant, thinking that he had received so many unexpected surprises today, although they were just some ideas, in fact there were still many problems, and he would have to be cautious if he really wanted to do it, but at least he could see that his own This nephew is really talented in governance. Maybe he can also inspire himself with the idea of ​​building a port in his heart?

He smiled immediately: "It's just a chat at home, if you have anything to say, you can speak it out."

Gao Wushi thought about it, and asked tentatively: "I heard that last July, the Yellow River burst, and the floods spread from Kaocheng, Yucheng, Caoxian, Shanxian, Fengxian, and Peixian all the way to Xuzhou. Due to the side flow of the river, the canals around Xuzhou All silted up, the water level of the river south of Xuzhou dropped, and finally more than 2000 grain ships were blocked in Pizhou and could not move forward?"

Gao Gong reacted very quickly this time: "Well...why, you also think water transport should be changed to sea transport?"

"This problem is really difficult." Gao Wushi thought for a while and said, "But in general, I do agree with replacing water transport by sea. This matter... a long-term pain is worse than a short-term pain."

"Long-term pain is worse than short-term pain?" Gao Gong raised his eyebrows and shook his head: "I'm afraid this matter is not as simple as you think. Do you know how severe the short-term pain you mentioned can be?"

Gao Wu said sincerely: All I know are some arguments of later generations, and I don't know whether it is comprehensive or not. It's better to listen to what Sanbo said, and then make plans.

So he respectfully said: "My nephew is also afraid that I don't know enough, and I don't think well, so I ask Sanbo for advice."

Seeing that his attitude was correct, Gao Gong nodded, sighed, and quietly said: "Sea transportation originally started from the Yuan Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty in the previous dynasty. The last time it was completely banned was in the 45th year of Jiajing."

Gao Wushi was surprised: it turns out that the "South-to-North Grain Transfer" in the Ming Dynasty was carried out by sea, and it was "repeatedly stopped and stopped", and it was not completely banned until a few years ago?But why?

"Actually, it is not without controversy that the comprehensive suspension of shipping this time is not without controversy. People from all over the court have different views on this. Generally speaking, whenever water transportation is blocked, the call for resumption of shipping is getting louder. Back then , The courtiers once discussed the resumption. The reason was also that the Caohe River was frequently broken, the water transportation was repeatedly blocked, and a large amount of water grain was lost, which led to the emptiness of Taicang and the panic of the officials and people in the capital. After the succession, the flood of the Yellow River has not improved. It still happens from time to time, and this time the Cao River is heavily silted up in Xiapi... Alas, my country relies on rice millet in the southeast, and the age is no less than a few million. Once it silts up, the capital will be trapped."

　Friends, remember to collect it even if you are fattening up, and then vote for a recommendation!

　　


(End of this chapter)