Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 309 Reorganization of Jiangnan State Taxation Bureau and New Tax Types
Zhu Houzhao began to admire Wu Wendi. In fact, he did not have a very deep impression of Wu Wendi. He only knew that this guy was a talented general, but also had a bad temper. He had an unpleasant argument with eunuch Zhang Zhong because Zhang Zhong wanted to deprive him of the credit for participating in the pacification of Prince Ning. He was recommended by Wang Shouren to go to Nanzhili to be the governor to replace Yan Song.

Now, because of the tax reform in Jiangnan, Wu Wendi actually directly suggested that all officials who were unwilling to reform the tax policy and ignored the interests of the people in Jiangnan should be executed. Zhu Houzhao had to admit that Wu Wendi was really a military officer who looked like a civil official but was actually a murderous and decisive military officer. It seemed that he would take people's lives directly if he disagreed with them.

But in fact, only such officials can calm down those officials with ulterior motives.

Although Wang Chengyu, Zhang Jin and others hated Wu Wendi to the core, they could not come up with any reason to blame him.

Wang Shouren felt much better. Wu Wendi was his former partner. They had fought against the rebels together. Naturally, their friendship was beyond the reach of ordinary officials. Now that Wu Wendi stood up to support him, he was naturally very happy. At least they could fight side by side again.

Wu Wendi also glanced at Wang Shouren and raised his thick eyebrows. He also didn't want his good friend, the founder of the School of Mind, to fight alone as a cabinet minister. As for the fact that doing so could make the emperor happy and make Wang Shouren regard him as a political ally and continue to support him in the future, that was just a side idea.

Cong Lan's attack on Wu Wendi at this time was not mixed with some personal feelings like Wang Shouren's, but he also admired Wu Wendi's courage to stand up and fight against the Jiangnan tycoons and his wisdom in insight into the relationship between officials and the people. At least it was better than Huang Zhong's.

Cong Lan looked at Wang Chengyu provocatively and said, "Look, even Wu Wending from Huguang wants to reform the tax policy. Can you officials from Nanzhili and Zhejiang resist the opinions of officials from other provinces?"

Zhu Houzhao saw that these officials had fallen silent, and he didn't know what they were thinking for a moment. Sometimes he also felt that it was difficult for him to guess what these officials were thinking. Although he had the East and West Factories and the Embroidered Uniform Guard, when everyone was only thinking about him and he needed to think about everyone, it was obvious that everyone knew him better than he knew everyone.

At this time, the only thing Zhu Houzhao could do was to keep thinking and have his own opinions.

To reform the tax policy in Jiangnan, to put it bluntly, is to levy additional commercial taxes, because Jiangnan is no longer an agricultural society, and collecting commercial taxes in the same way as collecting agricultural taxes would obviously be a disadvantage for the court.

After all, the productivity levels of commercial civilization and agricultural civilization are different. One has the industrial science and technology foundation to transform nature, while the other relies on the weather for its livelihood.

Of course, the imperial court could suffer losses by not increasing its share of profits in Jiangnan's commodity economic activities, allowing the people of Jiangnan to become prosperous. However, the consequence of doing so would only lead to the emergence of more chaebols in Jiangnan.

There are also chaebols in the Ming Dynasty today. Those officials who followed Zhu Houzhao to strengthen central power have all received shares from the state. For example, Wang Shouren, who is in charge of the tax reform in Jiangnan at this time, is one of them.

But like Zhu Houzhao, these tycoons’ interests are linked to national revenue. You can say that they are bureaucratic capitalists who suck the profits out of the people of the world, but at least they are unwilling to see the Ming Dynasty perish, and they even work hard to increase national revenue, because by increasing national revenue, they can share the profits.

But the chaebols that appeared later in Jiangnan were different. They had no connection with the country, and their capital was not linked to the country. If possible, they could sell out the entire country. The rise of the Qing Dynasty in history also had the shadow of secret support from the Jiangnan chaebols.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao had to worry about whether these Jiangnan tycoons would collude with external forces for their own interests.

After all, capital has no borders. If the emperor himself and the Ming Dynasty court he leads cannot provide protection for its interests, others can simply sell him out.

Moreover, if the Jiangnan chaebols are allowed to rise and more and more wealthy private businessmen emerge, another phenomenon may occur.

In that case, the central autocratic system will certainly be challenged, and Western democracy will probably emerge as a result. History has proven that capitalism appeared first in the West, followed by democratic ideas.

But can this democratic idea brought about by capitalism really represent the interests of the majority of the people?
Zhu Houzhao was not a thinker, and as a science student he was unable to distinguish between the pros and cons, but he knew that if the Ming Dynasty allowed the chaebols and factory owners to have the final say, the peasants, who made up the vast majority of the Ming Dynasty, would certainly not agree.

Don't underestimate the peasants. Although they have great endurance, once they are forced to the point where they can no longer survive, the destructive power they generate can destroy all the classes above them, and can even directly evolve into the tyranny of the majority, and can even crush the alliance formed by the great powers, landlords, warlords, etc. to the ground and rub them against the ground.

"Your Majesty, what Wu Wendi said is extremely treasonous! It is even heresy! I believe that the country should rule the world with rites and laws, because rites are laws. The position of meat eaters cannot be occupied by people who are not virtuous. Governing the country with morality can bring about benevolent governance, benefit the people, and prolong the dynasty for eternity. However, it is difficult for a country to last for three generations if it is ruled by law. For example, the Qin Dynasty perished in just two generations. The Song Dynasty respected morality and observed rites, clarified the rules and regulations, and promoted Neo-Confucianism, and they lasted for three hundred years. Today, as long as the court officials observe morality and rites, are loyal to the emperor and love the people, the politics will naturally be clear!"

Before Zhu Houzhao spoke, Feng Zhe, the head of the Ministry of Revenue, stood up and said a few words. He knew that if he wanted the Emperor to give up the tax reform, he could only defeat Wu Wendi on the issue of governing the country by virtue or by law. Therefore, he did not mention whether the tax policy should be reformed or not, but started to lead the topic to whether or not to govern the country by virtue.

Zhu Houzhao always felt that it was unscientific to expect a powerful person to handle affairs justly and even actively justly based on his moral standards. He admitted that Confucianism was good at self-cultivation and was also good at brainwashing a layman into a moral gentleman, but most people did not buy into his ideas, or even just bought into them in public but not in private.

Now Feng Zhe, the head of the Ministry of Revenue, once again emphasized governing the country with virtue and placed the stability of the empire on Confucian ethics. In Zhu Houzhao's view, this was either a stupid or a bad idea.

"Whether to govern the country by virtue or by law is a matter for scholars all over the world to discuss. This is the imperial court, not a university lecture hall or a school forum. We are only discussing the issue of tax reform in Jiangnan. Let me make an assumption. If the tax policy in Jiangnan is not reformed and Jiangnan is allowed to be the only province in the world to become rich, what will be the consequences?"

"Although the Mongolian nobles in the north and south of the desert have been exiled or migrated overseas, there are still a large number of Han and Mongolian people living together in Hetao and Liaodong. They mainly engage in agriculture and animal husbandry. In the north of Liaodong, there are also Jurchen fishermen and hunters, and in the northwest, there are Wala. Although the court now has a large army stationed on the border and has superior weapons, there is no border threat. But do you know that according to the Imperial Astronomical Observation, the temperature in the north has been dropping year after year, and disasters have occurred frequently in the villages outside the northern border. If the northern border becomes even colder in the future and the court is unable to provide enough supplies, what will they do?"

When Zhu Houzhao asked this question, Wang Shouren, who was familiar with border affairs, said: "They will march south in large numbers, and it is even possible that the Han, Mongolian and Manchu forces in the north will form an alliance and march south. In name, they will overthrow our Ming Dynasty, but in reality they will plunder the wealth of Jiangnan to solve their survival crisis!"

Zhu Houzhao glanced at Wang Shouren. He admired Wang Shouren for being able to directly foresee the future of history. Isn't that how history developed later? The northern forces such as the Manchu, Mongolian, and Han bureaucrats formed a bandit group (Eight Banners) and went straight south. They swept through the budding capitalism of Jiangnan with a devastating force. The selfish, short-sighted, and even accomplice Jiangnan gentry and financial tycoons never recovered from the blow. In front of the Manchu nobles who possessed absolute military power but lacked national sentiment, they did not even have the slightest bargaining power.

"It's not just the north. The foreign chieftains in the southwest and northwest, even the tyrants in Henan, Shandong and other places, how can they let you make Jiangnan the only rich? The man is innocent but he is guilty of possessing a treasure. Jiangnan is unwilling to give up the benefits to the world, so the world can only divide Jiangnan's benefits with swords. Back then, the Southern Song Dynasty occupied the benefits of Jiangnan and was able to enjoy a hundred years of peace, so that those who wore white did not know famine, wasn't it because of the annual tribute to the north? Now if the tax policy of Jiangnan is not changed and the benefits are not given to the court, there will likely be chaos in the world in the future, and even the foreign races will take advantage of the situation to rise up and massacre Jiangnan!"

Cong Lan also said so. Wang Chengyu remained silent for a long time before he said:

"Your Majesty and the other superiors may have some truth in what you said. I am not ignorant of the situation in the world, but the people in the south of the Yangtze River have benefited from their own diligence, and they have done nothing wrong. Moreover, even if the court did not reform the tax policy, the local government would have already increased the tax. The various miscellaneous fees collected secretly have made the merchants and the people's profits thin. If the tax policy is changed again and the public taxes are levied (public taxes on the surface), I am afraid that the people will not have any surplus profits. That is why I suggest that the court should not compete with the people for profits!"

Wang Shouren hesitated to speak. He really didn't expect Wang Chengyu and others to be so stubborn. He and Cong Lan had already spoken directly, but they still insisted on their own opinions.

"What Wang Qing said also needs to be considered. Local levies and hidden taxes abound. Government officials, gentry, clerks, and township officials benefit the most, while the court and the people benefit the least. This is the most unreasonable and needs to be curbed. The court cannot maintain stability without money, and the people will turn from merchants to bandits if they don't have enough profits!"

Zhu Houzhao said something at this time, and Wang Shouren also stepped forward and added:
"So, we are talking about reforming the tax policy rather than directly saying that we want to increase taxes. How to change the tax policy is not simply to levy taxes based on business profits. The details must be carefully considered. The first thing is to set the tax threshold;

If it is a small business, and the profit is only enough to support the family, the court can exempt it from tax, or even subsidize it, but those with huge profits need to be taxed more, and a gradient can be set, that is, the tax share for different profit levels is different, and for those who monopolize malicious competition or even operate in a way that is not beneficial to the world, not only will they be heavily taxed, but they will also be punished! "

After hearing what Wang Shouren said, Wang Chengyu had no choice but to give up the idea of ​​asking the court not to change the tax policy. He just continued: "In this case, how to determine the specific tax system is the most important thing. The tax system should be formulated by the court, not collected by local governments. In addition, the court should prohibit local governments from levying additional taxes and abolish excessive taxes."

"I don't agree with what Minister Wang said. How can local governments not have extra money to help the poor? If there is another drought or flood, how can we wait for the court to allocate funds? Wouldn't that result in the people starving to death before the food arrives?"

As the governor of Southern Zhili and a local official, Wu Wendi naturally hoped to have more financial freedom without having to rely on the Ministry of Revenue for money.

"The country has been running for more than a hundred years, and the government has allocated funds for it. There is nothing wrong with that. The local governments already have income from fire consumption, and they can also ask for taxes on their own. What does Governor Wu want to do?"

Zhang Jin, the left vice minister of the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue, asked aggressively.

As a representative of the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River, he did not agree with the tax policy change from the bottom of his heart. But even if the court wanted to change it now, it had to be changed. He did not want the tax policy to be in the hands of local officials, as this would only affect the centralization of power and would not be beneficial to the interests of him as a Beijing official.

Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but smile. He had to admit that each party in the officialdom had its own considerations. Although they all began to accept the tax reform, the power to levy taxes and set tax amounts became the focus of the debate.

In fact, this is just a question of tax sharing or tax farming. Tax sharing means that the central government collects taxes and then distributes a portion to local governments, while tax farming means that the central government outsources tax collection to local governments or private groups. Undoubtedly, the former is more conducive to centralization and unified financial management.

When Zhang Jin asked Wu Wendi this question, he was naturally questioning Wu Wendi's desire to become a military governor like the Tang Dynasty and establish his own regime by levying taxes.

Wu Wendi himself did not expect that he would set such a trap for himself, and hurriedly said to Zhu Houzhao: "Your Majesty, I have no such intention! I just think that the tax reform in Nanzhili was originally to prevent local officials from exploiting the people and to enable local officials to have more financial resources to benefit the people. Now that taxes are only collected by the court, it is inevitable that local officials will have no money to benefit the people."

"Well, the right to levy taxes and how much tax to collect can only belong to the Ministry of Revenue. The Ministry of Revenue can allocate a portion of the tax revenue to local governments for their own use, but no local official has the power to impose additional taxes. This is the bottom line that the Ming Dynasty relies on to maintain its existence. Otherwise, is the Ming Dynasty still a country?"

Zhu Houzhao would naturally not delegate financial power. Allowing local officials to have certain administrative appointment powers and sharing some of your money was already the biggest concession he had made as an emperor. How could he allow your local areas to have a high degree of autonomy to the point where they could levy taxes freely? If you were to allow a higher degree of autonomy, it would be no different from an independent kingdom. In that case, how could the central court control the local areas? How could it use the wealth of wealthy areas to subsidize poor areas in order to ease conflicts and maintain stability?

Zhu Houzhao did not want the Ming Dynasty to become the European Union in the future, an organization that you could leave at any time.

"My words were inappropriate, but Your Majesty is wise!" Wu Wendi said with some shame.

At this time, Wang Shouren, Wang Chengyu, Cong Lan and others all shouted: "Your Majesty is wise!"

"In this case, what is certain now is that the court still has to change the tax policy in Jiangnan. How to change it and how to re-levy taxes will be the responsibility of the central court. I have previously established a Jiangnan National Taxation Bureau to be responsible for collecting the annual taxes in Jiangnan. Now, the Jiangnan National Taxation Bureau is still responsible for it!

However, the officials of the Jiangnan National Taxation Bureau need to be changed. I am worried that you, Zhang Jin, the Left Vice Minister of the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue, will not be able to handle it."

Zhu Houzhao said that he was worried that Zhang Jin would be too busy, but in fact he was worried that Zhang Jin cared too much about the interests of the scholars and people in Jiangnan and would continue to levy low taxes.

Zhang Jin couldn't say "Your Majesty, I am not afraid of tiredness", so he could only fold his hands and humbly said: "Thank you for your understanding, Your Majesty. I will do my best. Even if I die a thousand times, I can't repay your kindness. Moreover, I am not talented enough to take on such a big responsibility alone."

"Draft an imperial edict to set up a tax reform group, which will be headed by Cong Lan, Zhang Jin and Xiong Jia. Fang Xianfu will be transferred to take over Xiong Jia's position. Xiong Jia will be promoted to the right vice-minister of the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue, with Cong Lan as the chief and Zhang Jin and Xiong Jia as deputies."

Zhu Houzhao naturally had his reasons for doing this.

Cong Lan, the head of the Ming Audit Bureau, knew how much tax the court needed to collect from Nanzhili and Zhejiang at least, and since it was from Shandong, it would definitely collect more, not less. After all, only by collecting more would the people in Shandong and other places benefit.
Zhang Jin was from Southern Zhili and came from a bureaucratic family, so he would not allow Cong Lan to conquer too much.
Xiong Jia had worked as a local official in Nanzhili and was familiar with the actual income of the lower-class people in Nanzhili. He was also from Jiangxi and was a selected student favored by Emperor Jian. Naturally, he was more objective and could play a role in reconciling the conflict between the two.

Wang Shouren could not help but secretly admire this, thinking that His Majesty the Emperor was indeed following some rational thinking when employing people, rather than just relying on personal likes and dislikes. This was the move of a wise monarch!
Cong Lan and Zhang Jin were naturally in mixed emotions, knowing that they would inevitably have an argument with each other, and the most important thing was to see which side Xiong Jia stood on.

……

Next, of course, was the issue of tax amounts and gradient settings. Cong Lan and Zhang Jin had already started arguing before Xiong Jia arrived in Nanjing. They almost got into a fight, but their faces also blushed several times.

"Go to Nanjing Central University and find me a few top students majoring in arithmetic. I will also have to hire a few advisors who can do math. This time, the tax reform cannot allow northern officials like Cong Lan to exploit the people of Jiangnan too much!" Zhang Jin said.

Cong Lan was no exception and asked her staff, "Has Director Le from the Department of Money and Mathematics of the Imperial University arrived yet? We cannot let the officials and gentry in Jiangnan take advantage of the tax reform this time!"

……

"My dear ministers Cong Lan and Zhang Jin have been arguing over tax reform. Cong Lan hopes for a 1 in 5 rate, while Zhang Jin hopes for a 1 in 15 rate. You've come at the right time. Try to choose a suitable tax rate between them and come up with the result as soon as possible. I want your final result within a month!"

After Xiong Jia arrived in Nanjing, Zhu Houzhao summoned him and gave him instructions in person. Then he was asked to meet with Wang Shouren and finally came to the yamen of Jiangnan National Taxation Bureau.

"Minister Xiong, you've come at the right time. I'll take you to the Shandong Guild Hall. Some of them came to Nando from Shandong to work. You can understand their current annual tax pressure, and then think about whether the five-for-one proposal I proposed is more reasonable!" Cong Lan pulled Xiong Jia and was about to walk out.

At this time, Zhang Jin also came over and stopped Xiong Jia: "Minister Xiong, I would like to invite you to go to the cement factory in Jurong, the southern capital, so that you can learn how much profit the factory owners there can make every month. If we calculate it according to the five-for-one ratio of Congbu Hall, many workshops will be unable to operate!"

Xiong Jia almost tripped and fell to the ground because of the tugging and pulling. He could only bow and said, "Don't worry, my two lords. I just arrived in Nandu and met your majesty and the elders. I also know about your argument. I have also visited many people along the way and brought the trade quotas of Ningbo, Songjiang and Suzhou in cloth, cotton, silk, silk and tea in recent years. We will discuss it in detail when the time comes."

Cong Lan and Zhang Jin then stopped pulling Xiong Jia.

Xiong Jia discussed the matter with the two men again.

Cong Lan and Zhang Jin are still arguing with each other. Cong Lan graduated from the National School of Administration and has a lot of theories, while Zhang Jin is a famous scholar in Jiangnan and has his own theories on serving the people.

Fortunately, Xiong Jia used the practical data from his many years as an official in Jiangnan to convince the two men and finally got them to agree to a compromise tax reform plan.

Wang Shouren gave the tax reform plan of the three to Zhu Houzhao, who was very satisfied after reading it. He had to admit that Cong Lan, Zhang Jin and Xiong Jia did a good job, and it was even forward-looking, such as adding content similar to personal income tax and value-added tax in later generations.

After all, in areas like Jiangnan where commodity economy is developed, many highly paid professional managers have emerged.

While enjoying high social benefits, these people have to pay some public service fees, but this also means that staff such as Shaoxing lawyers have to bear corresponding taxes.

Don't look down on these staff members. With the development of the commodity economy of the Ming Dynasty and the implementation of new policies by the court, many officials are required to understand finance, technology and control public opinion, not to mention agricultural production and data statistics. This means that these officials need to hire more and more staff members.

Many students from new-style schools thus became the favorites of officials when recruiting their staff. In fact, for some senior staff, the officials even treated them no less than some local dignitaries.

Value-added tax is naturally a new type of tax after the development of commodity economy.

Zhu Houzhao could guess that Cong Lan, Zhang Jin and Xiong Jia, the three officials, had investigated the actual situation in Jiangnan and knew that the commodity circulation in Jiangnan was no longer as simple as a transaction between buyers and sellers.

"It was Xiong Jia who suggested a low tax rate and multiple tax types. Based on his experience as a local official in Suzhou, Songning and Ningxia, he realized that rich households have more sources of income, while poor households have only one source of income. Multiple tax types and low tax rates can naturally avoid overburdening the common people. Although the number of tax types has increased, it is only about one in ten, which is not harmful to the people.

Moreover, the inheritance tax proposed by Xiong Jia is quite desirable to me. There are many wealthy families in Jiangnan. When I was coordinating, I found that many families were involved in the division of family property or became enemies due to the division of the family property. Some families even forced widows to commit suicide in order to take their property and sell their daughters. The court also needs to legislate and intervene in the inheritance of property, so naturally it needs to collect some inheritance tax to ensure the smooth inheritance of their property! "

After Wang Shouren said this, Zhu Houzhao nodded and said: "According to Confucian etiquette, splitting up a family is an ominous thing and is also taboo. It is important to have several generations living together. However, regardless of whether they are rich or poor, families are bound to have disputes and split up for profit. In order to prevent the weak from being bullied and the strong from being overly domineering, this method should be used!

Besides, it is not reasonable for a dandy to enjoy wealth and honor by eating the grace of his ancestors, but not to contribute to the peace of the country. This inheritance tax should be levied, and Xiong Jia's tax rate is more reasonable! However, this will make the rich and powerful even more disgusted! "

Thanks to book friend Desert Cripple for the reward of 200 Qidian coins. Thank you to book friend I Am Stepping on You for the reward of 100 Qidian coins. Thank you to book friend Fool Sea Dog for the reward of 1000 Qidian coins. Thank you to book friend A Cute Kitten for 100 Qidian coins. Thank you to book friend The Intouchable Wound for the reward of 999 book coins. Today is the Android guide, and there are many new book friends. Please be gentle if you have followed here. The most difficult thing about writing a book is persistence. I hope I can persist and finish it.



(End of this chapter)