Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 669 Cabinet rejects proposals from both Houses
It stands to reason that most of Daming's railways were constructed and operated with the participation of private capital.

With the development of the commodity economy and the abolition of the road guide system, coupled with the safety and speed of railway transportation, the people of Ming Dynasty are very keen to take this kind of transportation whether they are conducting trade activities or going out.

However, most of the railways built by private capital are in the densely populated and economically developed eastern regions.

These places have high profits and relatively low construction costs, making these places pass through several railway lines and even spread into dense railway networks in just a few years.

However, for the Ming Empire, the value of railways is not only to provide people with convenience in business and life, but the construction of railways has strategic value.

In many cases, the more the railways are built in poor and backward places, the more beneficial it is for the stability of the empire's territory.

In these places, because of the small profit margins, private capital is unwilling to participate, so the imperial court, that is, national capital, can only pay for the construction and operation of railway lines.

For example, the current railway lines in the southwest and northwest regions.

The Ming court could only pay for the construction of such a railway line, but the construction of railways to the southwest and northwest not only required a lot of manpower, material and financial resources, but also required better technology.

The climate in the western region is changeable and the terrain is complex, requiring more input from the empire to complete.

The most direct manifestation of these investments is that more capital investment is required. As long as enough money is spent, technical problems and problems with relatively slow project progress can be solved.

Therefore, the cabinet not only has to raise funds to prepare for the battle against Jiaozhi, but also has to raise its own money to prepare for the construction of the railway in the western region.

This also means that Ming's business tax will still not be reduced, and will still be maintained at a relatively high level.

However, after the establishment of the Advisory Council, Yang Mingshen's first proposal was to reduce the commercial tax. The reason was that the commercial tax had been maintained at a very high level since the empire raised the commercial tax in 17 years. It was because of the expulsion of the Tartars. He had to gather wealth in the country to unify the world in order to revive the Ming Dynasty, but now that the empire has been at peace for a long time, it should rest with the people and enrich the people.

Although Yang Mingshen himself no longer cares about the amount of taxes, as a representative of the capital group, he must be considered by most capitalists.

And this tax cut proposal has indeed won the support of many capitalists.

Not only capitalists, but also low-level merchants and handicraftsmen also support it. They all hope that the empire can reduce taxes.

Although workers and farmers do not actively support it, they do not oppose it either. After all, reducing taxes does not seem to matter much to them, but they also hope that capitalists can use the cost of bearing taxes to pay them more salaries.

Therefore, this proposal was successfully passed by the Daming Central Advisory Council and the House of Representatives, and was also passed on to the cabinet.

Zhang Huangyan, Chief Assistant of the Cabinet, has just organized the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Communications to complete the parliament on the construction of Lancheng Railway and Baocheng Railway. He is listening to the report on tunneling technology and thinking about how to raise more money to complete these two railways. During the construction of the main line, such a proposal was received.

"Tax reduction? This official is thinking about whether to increase taxes, but these two courts are still thinking about letting our cabinet reduce taxes. Don't they know that although the empire has accumulated a lot of wealth in the past few years, it has also been spent? How about less, convey to them that the cabinet rejected its tax cut proposal, and if the two houses are interested in participating in government affairs, they can consider raising tax proposals."

……

"What! The cabinet rejected our proposal! Let us consider a tax increase proposal, what do we take our two houses as the executive body of his cabinet!"

Yang Mingshen found his friend Wang Jiaqin, a scholar of Dongge University, furiously:

"Why is this? Why did the cabinet veto it? What power does he have to veto it? How can the cabinet veto a proposal passed by the two houses!"

"Brother Yang, don't worry, the central court is not a place. You are a place. I forgot what I told you at the time. The central court is different from your place. The chief minister of the cabinet has the power of veto and the final decision. Yes, he can directly reject any proposal passed by your two houses, and even the decree issued by the cabinet cannot be rejected or stopped by you."

Dongge University scholar Wang Jiaqin said.

"Then what are the establishment of the two courts for? For decoration!" Yang Mingshen was furious.

"Let you express your opinion!"

Dongge University scholar Wang Jiaqin said.

"Express an opinion, but what's the use of expressing an opinion? The cabinet ignores it if it wants to. We traveled all the way to Beijing to buy a house and land. What's the point of being such a member of parliament, we can only play lip service!"

Yang Mingshen patted the table angrily and said.

"Why, if you still want to really control the cabinet, do you want to control the emperor in the end?"

At this time, Zhu Youjian appeared at the place where Wang Jiaqin was on duty in the Wenhua Palace, looked at Yang Mingshen and snorted.

Even if Yang Mingshen wanted to control Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youjian, he did not dare to have the courage to control Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youjian. He also knew that people in the world still respected Emperor Zhu Youjian very much, even including himself. Always in awe.

After all, he, Yang Mingshen and other rich merchants were bestowed upon them by Emperor Zhu Youjian today, instead of ending up like Shanxi merchants.

Therefore, when Yang Mingshen saw Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youjian appear at this time, he obediently turned off the fire: "I dare not."

"It's good to know if you don't dare! This world is not your family of merchants. The development of the Ming Empire is not balanced. The world is not just Jiangnan, but also other places outside the customs. These places need the court to use money, preferential policies and development. Stabilize the rule of these places, and the merchants are naturally unwilling to bear these expenses for the court because of their high profits;

If there is no coordination from the cabinet, do you think you can do business with peace of mind?That is the wrong idea!
Most people in Ming Dynasty are still engaged in farming. Once they have no way to survive and rebel, you merchants will not be able to escape being looted. , can you guarantee that they will not make a comeback one day?There are also Western fans and indigenous people from all over the world.

If the imperial court does not have a cabinet to balance and coordinate, and the world is in chaos, who will be responsible?

I know what you are thinking, you wish to pay less taxes and make more money, and I also want to pay less taxes and make more money, but this is impossible, you don’t want to be controlled, and I don’t want to be controlled, but there is no absolute law in the world itself. Freedom, if you can guarantee absolute peace in the world for four to five hundred years, I don't mind if you come to be the masters of Ming Dynasty! "

"But Your Majesty, you can't let the cabinet control the power of the entire Ming Dynasty. First of all, the chief minister of the cabinet is not me, the Emperor of Ming Dynasty, so he has no qualifications. Secondly, we can't resist if they want to raise taxes at will."

Yang Mingshen retorted.

(End of this chapter)