Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 839 Commercial Tax
"I'm afraid Fang Fengnian will go to Nanjing Six Departments..." the slightly fat man said with some difficulty.

Before he could finish, the bearded man said, "If you go to the six ministries in Nanjing, you may still be able to return to the capital one day, and you can also avoid the vortex in the capital. If you don't go, do you think your majesty can really tolerate Fang Fengnian and others? Don't forget that the Beijing inspection is not over yet. Fang Fengnian and others are not clean. Maybe one day they will be directly investigated. By then, even if you want to go again, it will be impossible."

After a pause, the bearded man said to the slightly plump man, "Besides, now that your majesty has officially ascended the throne, the bandits that have been causing trouble in various provinces have been wiped out. The only foreign enemy facing our Ming Dynasty right now is Liaodong. With your majesty's martial arts, even if you cannot recapture Liaodong for the time being, you will have no problem stopping the Jian Nu."

The slightly plump man agreed with this. Although the Ming Dynasty failed to defeat the Jiannu in the Battle of the Great Wall and the Siege of Jinzhou that ended not long ago, it won these two battles in succession. It can be said that this was a rare victory for the Ming Dynasty since the Battle of Sarhu.

Apart from the brutal Battle of Hunhe River, it can be said that these two battles were extremely dazzling for the Ming Dynasty in terms of the number of enemies killed and the achievements. You must know that even Yuan Chonghuan's great victory in Ningyuan at that time had pitifully few actual results, with only a hundred enemies killed, and everyone knew how many of these hundred people were real Eight Banners. Moreover, the so-called great victory of Ningyuan was actually a joke, because the Juehua Island Massacre occurred in this battle. Juehua Island was captured by Nurhaci, and tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians on the island were killed or wounded. In addition, the loss of food and supplies was even greater. In comparison, the so-called great victory was just a fig leaf to gild their own face.

However, Zhu Shenzhui's two battles were fought in earnest, not only repelling the Jiannu directly, but also causing great losses to the Jiannu. In particular, when the Shandong Navy, which was formed based on the new army, crossed the sea to fight, Li You and Zheng Hongkui turned the Jiannu rear upside down, and the brilliant record even caused the Zhenghong Banner, one of the Eight Banners of the Jiannu, to revolt, forcing Huang Taiji to withdraw his troops from Jinzhou and lift the siege of Jinzhou.

Afterwards, the Ming army pursued the victory and recaptured Pi Island, which was originally Dongjiang Town, and regained control of the defense zone of Dongjiang Town. This turned the war in Liaodong from passive defense to active defense and gained a certain initiative. This change was real. At present, the Ming Dynasty has turned from pessimism to optimism about the war in Liaodong. Although everyone does not think that the Liaodong issue can be resolved in a short period of time, and that the recovery of Liaodong, which the three previous emperors had not done, can be completed immediately, the improvement of the war in Liaodong is in front of us. At least there is no need to be so afraid and worried about the Jiannu in Liaodong anymore.

The bearded man continued, "The war in Liaodong will not end in a short time, but the Jiannu will no longer be able to threaten our Ming Dynasty as they did during the Jisi Rebellion. In this case, your majesty must control Jiangnan and solve the financial problem with Jiangnan's taxes."

"In your opinion, will His Majesty take action against Jiangnan? This... shouldn't happen." The slightly plump man asked hesitantly.

"It's not should, it's definitely!" The bearded man saw it more clearly than the slightly fat man. He said sternly, "In the past few years, Your Majesty has controlled the northern provinces, and has also controlled the heartland of the Central Plains by encircling and suppressing bandits. However, Jiangnan, especially Nanzhili, has never been under Your Majesty's control. I think you know why this is without my explanation."

The slightly plump man hesitated and nodded silently. He naturally knew the reason. It was nothing more than that Zhu Shenzhui was a member of the royal family who rose to power and became regent. Although he controlled the central government and ruled for the emperor, not all localities truly obeyed the orders of the central government.

The situation in the north is relatively better, and there are no major problems in the Central Plains provinces. Through means including the encirclement and suppression of bandits mentioned by the bearded man, these provinces have gradually been controlled by Zhu Shenzhui. However, it is different for Jiangnan. Jiangnan is the richest region in the Ming Dynasty and it is also where the Donglin Party started. Most of the Donglin Party members are from the south and have a better understanding of the situation in Jiangnan.

Moreover, there are six ministries in Nanjing, and many of the officials in the six ministries are loyal to Emperor Chongzhen. Although Zhu Shenzhu has officially become the emperor and is submissive to the central government on the surface, there are still some who secretly disobey the emperor.

Let's not talk about other things for now, let's just talk about taxes. Logically speaking, Jiangnan's taxes should account for the majority of the Ming Dynasty. After all, this is the richest region of the Ming Dynasty. Whether it is agriculture, commerce or handicrafts, it is extremely prosperous. There are countless southern merchants who are rich enough to rival a country. But in fact, Jiangnan's taxes, including the taxes of the entire southeast of the Ming Dynasty, are pitifully small. In recent years, Zhu Shenzhu has not extended his hand to Jiangnan in consideration of the political stability. However, not extending his hand at the beginning does not mean that he can sit back and watch Jiangnan treat the central government as nothing and become an independent kingdom. This is something that no emperor can tolerate.

As Zhu Shenzhui is now the emperor and the internal troubles have been settled, it is inevitable that he will turn his attention to Jiangnan while continuing the war in Liaodong. Controlling Jiangnan means controlling the genius wealth. Zhu Shenzhui will not fail to see this, let alone turn a blind eye.

"Brother, do you mean that His Majesty wants to increase taxes and levies in Jiangnan?"

"Perhaps, but our majesty is a little different. Don't forget the border trade between Shanxi and Shaanxi, and the maritime trade in Shandong. Our majesty is more concerned about commercial taxes. There are many merchants in the south of the Yangtze River, and the southeast is even richer than the rest of the world. How much silver can be obtained from these fields? Naturally, it is more convenient to start with the merchants."

"How can this be done!" The slightly fat man was shocked and rejected it as soon as he opened his mouth: "My Great Ming has always implemented the policy of loving merchants and caring for the people. Increasing commercial taxes is a move to compete with the people for profits. How can this be done? Moreover, the increase in commercial taxes will inevitably add it to the goods, and the cost of food and clothing for the people will increase. How miserable are the people in the world? How can my Great Ming take food from the people? This is not a benevolent policy. Moreover, the dissatisfaction of the gentry in Jiangnan will cause local unrest. We..." "Alright, alright." Before he could finish, the bearded man interrupted him directly: "There are only you and me here, and it's not the court. Why are you saying this? These words are just enough to fool fools. You and I know each other well. Is there any need to bring them up?"

The slightly plump man was stunned, looking a little embarrassed, and chuckled twice embarrassedly.

The bearded man was right. These remarks were nothing but the same old clichés that the Donglin Party had always opposed. They seemed to be high-sounding, but in fact they were simply fallacies.

What about competing with the people for profits, what about increasing the burden on the people, what about local unrest, it's all nonsense. To put it bluntly, it affects their own interests. Most of the Donglin Party are southerners, and they themselves or the forces behind them are all local gentry including merchant groups.

The commercial tax rate of the Ming Dynasty was originally low. When the Ming Dynasty was founded, Zhu Yuanzhang set a commercial tax rate of 1:30, which was 3.3% of the transaction amount. But later, due to the collusion between the gentry group and the civil service group, this rate dropped to 1.5%. Such a low commercial tax rate was unprecedented in all dynasties, but even with such a low commercial tax rate, there were still very few people who were actually collected.

During the Tianqi period of the Ming Dynasty, commercial taxes in the southeast accounted for about 60 percent of the country's fiscal revenue. This was mainly because Wei Zhongxian, at the instruction of the Tianqi Emperor, cracked down severely on tax evasion in the southeast, resulting in a substantial increase in the proportion of commercial taxes in fiscal revenue.

But after Emperor Chongzhen ascended the throne, the proportion of commercial taxes in the southeast, especially in Jiangnan, dropped significantly. By the second year of Chongzhen, the proportion of commercial taxes in fiscal revenue dropped directly from about 60% to 12%. By the fifth year of Chongzhen, the proportion of commercial taxes dropped further, falling to less than 8%.

Such a cliff-like drop caused the Ming Dynasty's fiscal revenue to plummet, which was the fundamental reason why the Ming Dynasty's fiscal revenue was insufficient to cover its expenditure. In order to solve the fiscal problem, Emperor Chongzhen not only did not restore the commercial tax policy of the Tianqi Dynasty, but first abolished the post stations and then increased the Liao tribute. After several times, coupled with frequent natural disasters, the people finally couldn't survive, and bandits rose up everywhere, causing chaos in the world.

The Ming Dynasty had no money or silver, but the gentry and merchants of the Ming Dynasty were all very rich. In Jiangnan, which merchant and gentry group was not very wealthy? Many people spent a lot of money on the Qinhuai River, but were extremely resistant to paying taxes.

With the prosperity of Jiangnan and its commercial prosperity, it would be easy to collect millions or even tens of millions of silver coins every year without restoring the Ming Dynasty's thirty-one tax system, even if the tax rate was 1.5%. But the problem is that the commercial tax of the entire Ming Dynasty, in all the provinces in the north and south, added together, is only a little over 500,000 taels. You have to know that this is the entire Ming Dynasty! How is this possible?

At present, the annual commercial tax revenue of the border trade between Daming and Mongolia is more than one million taels. Shandong's sea trade has only been opened for about half a year. Without considering the trade profit, the commercial tax has exceeded more than 1.2 million. Could it be that the commercial tax of the whole Jiangnan and even the southeast is not as good as these two places? Of course it is impossible, so the words said by the slightly fat man can only fool those who are not clear about the situation. How can vested interests like them not know the real situation?
"Let's not discuss the issue of commercial taxes for now. The court has its own decrees, and no one knows what will happen next. But given Your Majesty's temperament, it is certain that you will make trouble for Jiangnan." The bearded man reminded solemnly.

Seeing the slightly fat man thinking about something, the bearded man continued, "Letting Fang Fengnian and others go to Nanjing is not only to let them avoid the limelight, but also to make early plans for this matter. If they are in Nanjing, they can have some maneuvers once the court takes action against Jiangnan. But there is one thing I need to remind you, that is, don't go head-on like before when you go to Nanjing. Appropriate tact is still needed. Even if the court wants to levy taxes on Jiangnan, they need to make some achievements in Jiangnan to show the court. This will also make His Majesty change their mind about them, and then they can be used again when they return to Beijing in the future. As for how to do it and to what extent, they naturally understand this, and I don't need to say more."

The slightly plump man then understood the real intention of the bearded man. After careful consideration, he applauded. This was indeed a way out. It was right for him to come to him to discuss this matter today.

Seeing the slightly fat man's excited face, the bearded man sighed inwardly. Although he had come up with an idea, it was not easy to actually implement it. He was also a little worried whether Fang Fengnian and the others would really follow his suggestion. If they were still self-righteous, it would be troublesome. However, he could not think so far ahead. Anyway, he had done what he could do and reminded what he should remind. As for how far they could achieve, it was not his business.

(End of this chapter)