Daming Town Haiwang

Chapter 643, Tianjin collects three million taels of tax silver a month

Qianqing Palace in Beijing.

"Your Majesty~"

"They just don't want to pay taxes, why are they so angry?"

Empress Zhang came to Emperor Hongzhi with a cup of ginseng tea and said softly.

Her two younger brothers have been imprisoned by Emperor Hongzhi for several days. As a sister, she also feels very distressed, and has pleaded with Emperor Hongzhi many times.

"If I just don't want to pay taxes, I wouldn't be so angry~"

"Do you know that they ordered their subordinates to kill more than a dozen officials of the imperial court? They are so reckless and bold. This is the consequence of your always doing nothing."

Emperor Hongzhi looked at Queen Zhang and said.

"The concubine knows that they did go too far this time, but they are still young and ignorant, so they should be taught a good lesson, and they just know they were wrong."

Empress Zhang nodded and said.

"Just know it's wrong?"

"If it wasn't for your sake, they would be beheaded. I would just lock them up for a few days. This is already a very, very light punishment."

Emperor Hongzhi sighed, there was nothing he could do.

Because of this matter, the government and the opposition do not know how many officials have impeached the Zhang brothers, and they have always offended many people, and there are not many people who even say a good word to them.

"The concubine knows~"

"But the concubines have also heard that the people in the tax office have sealed up their shipyards, cement factories, etc. If this continues, there will be no way to do this business."

Empress Zhang was also helpless. She had already pleaded with Emperor Hongzhi many times, but Emperor Hongzhi still did not let go. Obviously, she would not give up unless she was punished properly.

If you think about it, who told them to kill the imperial court officials? In the past, they were ordinary people who were domineering and bullying men and women.

It's different to kill the imperial court officials, not to mention that it is Liu Jin who is leading the taxation work this time.

Liu Jin is not so easy to mess with.

Even if Queen Zhang is very partial to her own Didi, she will not say that Liu Jin is wrong.

Emperor Hongzhi is now able to use inexhaustible money, to take back military power, and to make the government and the opposition obedient, all of which depend on Liu Jin.

His Royal Highness also has a lot of silver. It can be said that his family owes Liu Jin a lot, a lot. Liu Jin takes the property they bought and divides tens of millions of taels of silver every year.

It's all real money.

She, Queen Zhang, can distinguish right from wrong and black from black, and she is also a person who knows good and bad.

"You let them pay the tax, and I will decree to unseal it."

"In the future, pay taxes honestly and be a man~"

"The two brothers earn several million taels of silver a year, and they don't even pay any taxes. The properties under the command of the Prince and I have all paid taxes."

Emperor Hongzhi thought about it and said.

"Yes, my concubine will let them pay the taxes~"

When Queen Zhang heard this, she immediately laughed happily.

It doesn't matter if you are locked up for a few days, anyway, you won't starve to death, and you won't freeze to death. In this palace, you don't have to worry about food and clothing. With her here, there is nothing wrong.

But the industry under this command can't be stopped. It's nothing if it stops for a day or two. If it stops for a long time, it's over.

Watching Queen Zhang leave, Emperor Hongzhi shook his head slightly.

It's just that the Zhang brothers have always been too arrogant, otherwise they would be so arrogant and domineering that even the imperial court officials would dare to beat them to death.

"Your Majesty, the old cabinet minister, the Duke of England and others are here."

At this time, Xiao Jing came over and said in a low voice.

"Show them in~"

Emperor Hongzhi nodded slightly.

Soon, the cabinet Liu Jian, Xie Qian, Li Dongyang, the Minister of the Household Department Zhong Zhong, the Minister of the Ministry of Officials Wang Jia, the British Duke Zhang Mao and Liu Jin also came in to participate in the small court meeting once a day.

"Sit down~"

Emperor Hongzhi nodded slightly when he saw the crowd coming in.

"Thank you, Your Majesty~"

Everyone sat down in front of Emperor Hongzhi.

"Your Majesty, there are many memorials impeaching the tax bureaus all over the country, saying that the tax police are brutal, reckless, lawless, and arrest people at will."

After chatting casually, Xie Qian also took out a memorial and said respectfully.

Upon hearing this, Liu Jin gave him a slight look.

This Xie Qian, he is now the most powerful backer of Jiangnan Shilin in the ruling and opposition parties. He has always opposed the collection of commercial taxes, because it has greatly harmed Jiangnan merchants, big families, big gentry, and big landlords. Interests.

The commerce in the Jiangnan area is very developed, and according to the new "Daming Tax Law", the business tax is more, which is much higher than the tax collected by factories and workshops.

For factories and workshops, the tax rate is [-] per [-] taxes, which can be said to be a very low tax rate. The tax rate for merchants and commercial firms is [-] per [-] taxes, which is [-] points higher than the taxes for factories and workshops.

On the Jiangnan side, everyone didn't pay taxes at first, which is almost a habit.

But when the tax police began to operate, the Jiangnan area was full of mourners. Too many people were arrested by the tax police and put in prisons. Among them were some dignitaries, scholars and so on.

"Yeah~"

Emperor Hongzhi nodded slightly, took the memorabilia and read it. The memorabilia was written very badly. He described the tax police as cruel officials, violent officials, extorting money, bullying men and women, and doing almost all kinds of evil.

However, Emperor Hongzhi still knew this in his heart.

In the past few years, the power of the factory guard has been growing. Emperor Hongzhi allocates more than two million taels of silver to the factory guard from the internal funds every year. The eyes of the emperor.

As for the tax police, he naturally ordered to keep an eye on them to see how these tax police were acting and whether they were going too far.

Judging from the reports from various places, although these tax agents are hard-core, they are principled.

They usually arrest people directly and put them in the big bosses of the tax office, starve you, make you unbearable, and take the initiative to pay taxes.

They never hit or swear at anyone. Of course, if they encounter resistance during the process of arresting you, they will let you know why the flowers are so popular.

Generally speaking, the core of the tax police is to let you pay taxes. After paying the tax money, you will have nothing to do. If you don’t get the tax money, you will be locked in prison, bitten by small animals, starving and freezing.

There is no such thing as committing all kinds of evil as Xie Qian said in the memorandum submitted.

Most of them are because the people who are taxed are people with status and status. Wherever they have been wronged like this, it is natural to impeach the tax police.

"Liu Jin, look at this memorial~"

Emperor Hongzhi looked at Xie Qian, then at Liu Jin, thought for a while and said.

"Yes~"

Liu Jin took the memorial respectfully and read it very quickly.

Then he thought for a while and said: "Your Majesty, gentlemen, I also have the latest statistics here. This is the amount of tax money received by Tianjin in January this year. As for the tax money in other parts of Daming, it is still under statistics. It is estimated that it will be reported in a few days."

Liu Jin also took out a cup of memorials. The first month passed quickly, and he was busy with the tax office. With the hard-core tax collection by the tax police, Tianjin was the first to calculate the figures.

"Why did you come out so soon?"

When Emperor Hongzhi heard it, he immediately became interested, and quickly picked up the memorial and read it.

"This first month in Tianjin received [-] million taels of tax silver?"

Soon, Emperor Hongzhi said in disbelief, looked at the numbers above again and again, and confirmed again.

"Yes, Your Majesty, Tianjin alone received more than three million taels of tax money in the first month~"

"Among them, the Tianjin Shipping Department received [-] million taels of tax silver, and the Tianjin tax office received more than [-] million taels of silver from commercial taxes~"

"At present, the tax bank has also been escorted to the capital and handed over to the treasury~"

Liu Jin nodded solemnly and said.

"how is this possible?"

"This place in Tianjin can receive three million taels of tax money a month?"

Emperor Hongzhi was a little dumbfounded. This, this, is there too much money? In his opinion, it is not bad for Tianjin to receive hundreds of thousands of taels of silver in a month.

Counting all the places in Ming Dynasty together, it is almost enough to receive tens of millions of taels of silver a year, but who knows that now only Tianjin has received more than three million taels of tax silver in a month. Come on, how much will be the tax payment for this month?
"Is it unlikely?"

Not only Emperor Hongzhi, but all the ministers present also showed expressions of disbelief. Is the tax money received too much?

"Your Majesty, gentlemen~"

"The household department did receive the tax money escorted from Tianjin yesterday, and the total amount was indeed more than three million taels."

At this time, Hubu Shangshu Zhong Zhong stood up and said.

"How can there be so much tax money?"

Emperor Hongzhi shook his head in disbelief, the tax money was too much, it was only in Tianjin, and if the entire Ming Dynasty was counted, there would be several million taels of silver this month.

"Your Majesty, gentlemen~"

"It's not really surprising."

"Tianjin is an important town in the north of my Ming Dynasty, and it is the largest port in Ming Dynasty. At the same time, there are too many factories, workshops, commercial banks, etc. in Tianjin. The tax payment of three million taels this month is not too much."

"Everyone thinks it's low, mainly because the court didn't collect tax money at all before, so they think this figure is very large, and now they are serious about collecting taxes."

"Those who evaded taxes and refused to pay taxes in the past have nothing to hide, and the tax money will naturally increase at once."

Liu Jin explained with a smile.

In the past, the imperial court could not collect taxes at all, and the local governments basically did not collect taxes, because collecting taxes is not beneficial, and it is not good for the reputation, and merchants do not pay taxes, that is not called tax evasion, that is, not paying taxes, If no one asks you to collect taxes, you will take the initiative to pay taxes?The only tax that can be collected is the salt tax.

　I checked the tax money of the later generations when they concealed it. In the early days, it was almost [-] million, and in the middle and late stages, it was almost [-] million a year. Counting the current Daming, this capitalism is in its infancy, and it is also a prosperous maritime trade. , it shouldn't be too much to charge [-] to [-] million this year, right?
　　
　
(End of this chapter)