Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 315: Collection of Mining Taxes
When Zhu Houzhao heard that Zhang Cong had also passed by here, he thought that Zhang Cong might have completed his inspection tour in the south and might have a clearer understanding of the administrative approach of whether Ming Dynasty should strictly ban mining or lift the mining ban to increase mining tax revenue.

"Let Zhang Cong come to see me," Zhu Houzhao said as he got off the carriage. Looking at the endless plains of Jiangbei in front of him and the cement road that stretched across the plains like a giant white dragon, he was deeply moved. He thought that the Ming Dynasty had opened up the sea and colonized other countries in recent years. Not to mention other benefits, even the infrastructure had improved a lot. Because there was sufficient funding for infrastructure construction, even in some not-so-rich areas of Jiangbei, he could see cement roads. It could be seen that the transportation in the Ming Dynasty had indeed improved a lot.

What surprised Zhu Houzhao even more was that the large-scale infrastructure construction brought not only a cement road, but also more prosperous commercial activities. At this time, on the cement road where Zhu Houzhao was, because he was returning to Beijing secretly in plain clothes, he saw that there were gradually more and more people setting up stalls and selling things on the cement roadside, and even many market towns appeared.

It is clear that the emergence of cement roads has led people to consider whether it is convenient for farming instead of whether they live together. The emergence of cement roads has quietly changed the Chinese society, which was mainly an agricultural civilization.

"People like to build houses next to cement roads. People in the mountains are gradually moving to the areas around cement roads. There are more and more new county towns and market towns. Although the tax reform in Jiangnan has encountered challenges, it is still successful and can be promoted to other regions in the future."

Zhu Houzhao said a few words to Wang Shouren. He could imagine that the industrialization and commercialization of the Ming Dynasty would come very quickly, and the imperial court that ruled the Ming Dynasty would have to make quick administrative changes, otherwise it would not adapt to this era and would be abandoned.

Wang Shouren also nodded. He could also feel that the Ming Dynasty had changed a lot in the past few decades. Except for the elderly and children, it was difficult for ordinary people to stay in one place for a long time. Farming and reading were no longer the main ways of society. Business was gradually becoming more important than agriculture, and the countryside was gradually giving way to towns. If the court did not change its way of governing and still believed that the world was based on agriculture, it would only hurt farmers instead of benefiting them.

Da da!

There was a sound of horse hooves.

When Zhu Houzhao looked back, he saw a group of soldiers appearing and standing on both sides of the road.

It was a pity that the newly promoted corn scattered by the nearby residents on the cement road was trampled under the feet of these officers and soldiers. Zhu Houzhao could only feel helpless about this. Just like in later generations, with the cement road, farmers liked to dry things on the cement road, and this could not be stopped. The officers and soldiers who stepped on the corn were naturally not to be blamed. After all, it was their duty to ensure safety on both sides.

At this time, a large four-wheeled carriage came, with many officials and staff gathered in front and behind. Zhu Houzhao knew it was Zhang Cong at a glance. If it were anyone else, there would not be such a grand ceremony.

Because he was coming to see Emperor Zhu Houzhao, Zhang Cong did not dare to have anyone beat gongs to clear the way. He just got out of the car in a hurry, came to Zhu Houzhao, and paid his respects.

When Zhu Houzhao saw Zhang Cong coming, he asked directly: "How should we deal with the mining issue? Do you have a clear idea now?"

"Your Majesty, I have visited various mines in the interior of the country. Most of the miners are powerful people, but there are also common people who mine because the local land is barren. Therefore, I think the court should prohibit mining in the interior of the country in principle, but it should not prohibit those who have already mined, so as not to cut off their livelihood. However, large mines opened by powerful people should be heavily taxed. At the same time, those who mine outside the country and those who mine among the people can have their taxes reduced or even exempted."

After Zhang Cong's words, Zhu Houzhao nodded. He also knew that it would take time to transfer the mining industry to the outside of the Great Wall and the colonies, and it would certainly not be achieved in the short term. After all, many mountain people in areas with scarce arable land inside the Great Wall relied on mining for a living. If he directly banned mining inside the Great Wall, it would only force these people to rebel.

But the problem is how to define mining by gentry and mining by ordinary people. The best way is to define it by the size of the mineral. Those with high operating profits will be wealthy businessmen even if they are not gentry. Mining by ordinary people will naturally have low operating profits that can only meet their basic needs, otherwise they will be taken away by powerful big families.

"In the final analysis, there should be a threshold for collecting mining taxes within the borders. For example, if the annual profit is 1,000 silver dollars, there is no tax for those below 1,000 silver dollars, but they need to register and accept government safety inspections. Those above 1,000 silver dollars must be taxed, and the tax is heavy, so that the profit is very small!"

"At the same time, all mining bans outside the Great Wall can be lifted, but registration is required, and taxes must be low or even tax-free, especially in the bitter cold areas north of the desert. If you go further north, the court can even directly provide subsidies. In short, when opening mines outside the Great Wall, we must let the gentry and the people know that the court encourages and even wants them to make a fortune outside the Great Wall!"

After returning to the capital, Zhu Houzhao listened to the report of Zhang Cong and Xia Yan on their on-site survey of the Ming Dynasty's mining industry. He became more clear about how he should rectify the Ming Dynasty's mining problems and the utilization of the northern territory.

Zhang Cong, Xia Yan and others all nodded in agreement.

Only Kang Hai stood up and said, "However, Your Majesty, I have inquired with many nobles and gentry in Beijing. They can neither accept the ban on mining nor the collection of mining taxes. Under my persuasion, most of them are only willing to accept taxes from non-official commoners who open mines."

"The privileged class has its own privileges. How can it be justified if they don't even pay taxes? Although I am the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, my businesses are also actively paying taxes. The Ming Dynasty does not belong to me alone! If you don't want to pay taxes, then stop operating and stop being a member of the Ming Dynasty!"

Zhu Houzhao spoke a few words in a stern voice. He did this to make it clear that, as the emperor, he had decided not to consider the feelings of these powerful people for the long-term interests of the Ming Dynasty. Secondly, it gave Zhang Cong and Xia Yan confidence and let them know that he, the emperor, agreed with their changes.

So, after Zhu Houzhao said this, Kang Hai said nothing more.

Next.

Zhang Cong was responsible for the tax reform of mining taxes within the Great Wall, while Xia Yan was responsible for the tax reform of mining taxes outside the Great Wall.

Zhu Houzhao first established the Ministry of Mines, which was specifically responsible for the geological and mineral exploration and mineral development auditing work of the Ming Dynasty. This also marked that the mineral management of the Ming Dynasty entered a scientific management model, rather than allowing local forces and the people to open mines freely as before.

After all, according to the current constitutional outline of the Ming Dynasty, minerals belong to the emperor, but the Ming Dynasty is an empire, the emperor is the head of the empire, and the empire belongs to the emperor, so minerals are also state-owned.

Private mining by the private sector is an infringement of the emperor's interests as well as the country's interests. Now that Zhu Houzhao is willing to lift the mining ban, it is equivalent to allowing land resources to be developed by private individuals, but they must be subject to the control of the emperor and the Ming court. You can only earn as much as the Ming Emperor Zhu Houzhao and the Ming court want you to earn.

Zhu Houzhao unknowingly established another ministry. There was nothing he could do about it. The Ming Dynasty's political system was too simple, and many areas were not managed by official agencies. The affairs handled by the original six ministries were too broad, resulting in many affairs being unable to be managed more professionally and scientifically.

After the Ministry of Mines was established, the main officials of the Ministry of Mines were recommended by the court. The main officials recommended by the court were all recommended by Zhang Cong and Xia Yan. After all, these officials had followed Zhang Cong and Xia Yan on inspections of the local areas and knew how to better manage the mining industry at the moment.

Zhang Cong began to preside over the reform of mining taxes in the interior of China. He also knew that the reform he presided over would offend people and would make it impossible for miners to make any profit. However, some things always need people to do them. The fate of Ma Wensheng, Jiao Fang and others told him that Emperor Zhengde Zhu Houzhao was not an emperor who would kill the donkey after it had served its purpose. Even if a gentry group wanted to harm him in the future, the emperor would not let himself take the blame.

So Zhang Cong gritted his teeth and did it.

When Zhang Cong's first memorial was submitted and approved by the Imperial Household Department and sent to the Ministry of Mines, public opinion was immediately in an uproar.

The vested interest groups all cursed Zhang Cong for being too ruthless in amassing wealth and seemed to want to cause chaos in the world!

However, all the dignitaries in the capital knew that the Zhengde Dynasty was different from the previous one. The emperor wanted to reform, and the ministers following the emperor were all tough. Resisting reform at this time would be tantamount to asking for trouble.

But because of this, the vested interest groups hate it even more.

Duke Dingguo Xu Guangzuo wanted to find someone to kill Zhang Cong, but he didn't dare to do so. After all, Zhang Cong was the second assistant of the cabinet, and it was not easy to kill him. If the assassination failed, it would suffer more serious consequences. "Duke, our iron mine in Fengrun was surrounded by soldiers from Fengrun County. You are required to register in person with your household registration certificate and pay more than 374 million silver dollars in mining taxes." At this time, Xu Guangzuo's housekeeper ran over and reported to Xu Guangzuo.

Although Xu Guangzuo already knew that Zhang Cong was going to impose a mining tax, he did not expect that Zhang Cong's new tax policy would be so harsh, and he became even more angry: "What is Zhang Cong trying to do! I only sell a few hundred thousand silver dollars a year from the coal mine in Fengrun, but he charges me a heavy tax of more than 30%! Should I continue to operate this coal mine? Should I continue to make a profit?"

Xu Guangzuo was so angry that he immediately went to the palace to ask to see Emperor Zhu Houzhao.

Zhu Houzhao naturally would not meet Xu Guangzuo. Now Zhu Houzhao was hiding in the deep palace, doing research with people from the Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Engineering. He had no time to take care of state affairs.

"Duke, please go back. The emperor is now doing electrical research with people from the Academy of Sciences and has no time. If you really have any important military affairs, you can directly submit a memorial to the Privy Council of the Imperial Guards," said Gu Dayong from the Imperial Household Department with a smile, just to prevent Xu Guangzuo from having the chance to meet Zhu Houzhao.

Xu Guangzuo had no choice but to go back. He was furious for a moment: "Your Majesty has been concentrating on the affairs of the sacred learning, and the government has been run by these treacherous ministers. Not only have the gentry in Jiangnan been resentful, but now they are collecting mining taxes, and even levying heavy taxes. This policy will undoubtedly make the dignitaries in the two capitals resentful. If this continues, how can the world not be in chaos! Since Your Majesty is so disregarding the safety of the world, why should my Xu family care? At most, the coal mine will not be opened. Let's see how you levy taxes and let all the miners in Fengrun go home on their own!"

……

Here, Zhang Cong came to Zhu Houzhao and said: "Your Majesty, the collection of mining taxes in the interior has indeed caused a huge backlash. All the nobles and gentry who opened mines have stopped working. This is still considered a light punishment. Some even directly encouraged the miners to resist the taxation."

"This is expected, Mr. Zhang. I know this is difficult, but we have held many court meetings. I don't want to say more. You should understand that no matter how difficult it is, it must be carried out! We cannot ignore the long-term interests of the Ming Dynasty because of concerns about small-scale incidents!"

Zhu Houzhao patted Zhang Cong on the shoulder as he spoke.

Zhang Cong nodded resolutely: "I understand! Your Majesty, please rest assured that I have decided to put my personal reputation aside and am willing to risk the world's disapproval to collect the mining taxes!"

Zhu Houzhao nodded and said nothing more, but he suddenly thought of Xia Yan. He didn't know whether the olive branch Xia Yan was about to throw out could successfully extinguish the fierce taxation and anti-tax struggle launched by Zhang Cong, but he knew that this was the only way for him to ensure that the Ming Dynasty would not give up large tracts of territory in the north while achieving economic benefits.

Zhang Cong returned to the cabinet duty room. Cabinet minister Kang Hai glanced at him and just sighed. He knew that what Zhang Cong was doing was very offensive, so much so that he, the chief minister of the cabinet, didn't know what to say.

At this time, Wang Tingxiang, who was in charge of the National Taxation Bureau, came running over and said, "Lord, more than 500 miners from a coal mine in Fengrun beat up our tax inspectors who were there to collect taxes, killing two of them. But this coal mine is the property of Duke Dingguo, what do you think?"

After Wang Tingxiang said this, Zhang Cong couldn't help but raise his head and asked, "Kill the tax collector? Let's go and see! Let the National Tax Bureau send another 500 tax collectors to follow."

then.

Zhang Cong rushed to Fengrun County.

It just so happened that Duke Dingguo Xu Guangzuo also arrived in Fengrun County.

Because the imperial court wanted to levy mining taxes, Xu Guangzuo originally wanted to close the Fengrun coal mine. However, the more than 500 miners in the mine were unwilling to have the mine closed, and even continued to produce spontaneously after Xu Guangzuo announced the suspension of work. However, whether the coal was produced by the miners themselves or by Xu Guangzuo himself, the Fengrun coal mine had to pay taxes.

As a result, these 500 miners had a dispute with the tax collectors from the IRS and directly beat two of them to death.

When Zhang Cong arrived at the scene, he saw five hundred miners holding various sticks and shovels and guarding outside the mine, staring at Zhang Cong and a large group of tax collectors behind him.

Because Zhang Cong was present, Mingcheng, an official of the National Taxation Bureau of Shuntian Prefecture, could not help but shout, "Do you know that you are illegally mining the Emperor's mineral resources? Now the Emperor has granted you permission to mine, but you must register and pay taxes. What else do you want?"

"We dug the mine ourselves, so we won't hand it over if we don't want to. If you have the guts, we will beat anyone who dares to take a step forward to take the risk!" One of the miners shouted in a timid tone, and the other miners followed suit.

Mingcheng could not help but ask Zhang Cong: "Master, what do you think?"

"Tell them that they don't have to pay, but they are not allowed to mine anymore!" Zhang Cong said.

Mingcheng nodded and replied in the same way.

However, these miners still said they would not pay taxes but would continue mining.

Zhang Cong said, "In that case, we will use force to seal off the mines. Order all the tax collectors at the National Tax Bureau to load their muskets!"

"But, sir, they are all the people of our Ming Dynasty!" Mingcheng replied.

"Although Your Majesty loves the people and the court now considers the interests of the people everywhere, the people are still the people, and you cannot think that you can do whatever you want! Those who break the rules will be punished! I will suppress them directly! Let them understand that the court can give them benefits, but it can also deal with them! They have been common people ruled by the court from beginning to end! They are fish at the mercy of anyone! Don't think that the court is fish just because it loves the people!" Zhang Cong said very seriously.

then.

The soldiers from the IRS had no choice but to load their guns with live ammunition and walk towards the mine. Seeing this, several miners thought that the soldiers were afraid to shoot them like before, so they also waved their weapons and shot at them.

But as soon as these miners raised their weapons, there was a loud bang! These miners were shot and fell to the ground.

Xu Guangzuo, who rushed over after hearing the news, couldn't help but shout: "He's crazy, absolutely crazy! This Zhang Cong is absolutely crazy! What is he doing? He is killing civilians without permission!"

Thanks to my book friend beboba for 100 starting coins, Calm Enthusiasm for 500 starting coins, I Love Flying Birds for 100 starting coins, and many thanks to my book friend Joseph Brinovich Stalin for 100 starting coins. Let me explain, there is a reason why heavy taxes are levied inside the Great Wall. It is for the purpose of industrial transfer and forcing the Ming Dynasty to shift its mineral mining to the outside of the Great Wall. This is beneficial to the long-term development of the Ming Dynasty and meaningful control of the outside of the Great Wall. After all, the climate outside the Great Wall is not suitable for the development of agriculture because of the Little Ice Age, and can only develop mining. But sometimes in the short term, the long-term interests of the country and the interests of the people are contrary to each other. For the common people, mining in the warm areas inside the Great Wall is definitely cheaper than outside the Great Wall in terms of transportation and other costs. Therefore, both the upper and lower classes inside the Great Wall oppose the mining tax, but the court still has to levy it, and still has to use heavy taxes to force the people to go outside the Great Wall to mine. That's why Zhang Cong had to shoot the miners. He had to shoot. The miners were unwilling to pay taxes and unwilling to close the mines. They thought that because they had more people they could scare the court into not taking action. But in fact, the Ming court here was not a weak court. It would not be afraid of the people's non-cooperation, and it would still be tough when it needed to be.

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(End of this chapter)