my wonderful zoo

Chapter 119 "Industrial and Commercial Law"

On September [-]th, Chen Xun brought the musketry battalion that had not yet completed training to Foshan Fort in Nanhai County.

Looking at the fortress wall in front of me that was taller than the city wall in Dongguan County, I smacked my lips in amazement.

No wonder this place became one of the four famous towns in later generations.

Consider the other three towns of later generations: Jingdezhen in Jiangxi, Hankou in Hubei, and Zhuxian in Henan.

Which one is not famous?

Even Foshan became a household name and everyone knew it because of Huang Feihong.

After listening to Liu Yu's report, a large number of wealthy businessmen gathered in Foshan Town and asked to renegotiate the business tax ratio with the military government. Chen Xun still didn't understand where they got the confidence to dare to compete with Lian Po with just a small town. Military government negotiations in six counties.

Now looking at this Foshan Castle, which looks like a medieval castle, I finally understand.

Emotional people are really powerful.

"According to the reports of the spies who lurked in advance, there are currently more than [-] large and small merchants in the fort, and nearly [-] craftsmen from all walks of life." Liu Yu reported: "They are all landless, full-time craftsmen."

That is, proletarian workers.

It's hard to do now.

These businessmen did not know what kind of ecstasy they had poured into them, and they tied the proletariat into their warships and hid in the fort to fight against the military government.

For those whom the military government will mainly rely on in the future, Chen Xun cannot deter the gentry through bloody killings.

The great cause of the military government was just in its infancy. If it offended this class, coupled with the naturally hostile gentry and landlord class, it was almost ready to show its cards and admit defeat.

"Didn't you notice such a large gathering of people in advance?" Chen Xun scolded angrily.

It has been less than half a year since the land of the six counties was occupied, yet such a big mess can still be made within the jurisdiction.

The military government has been flaunting the superiority of information transmission to Song Ting all day long. Now when I look at it, I feel like I was slapped in the face! pia! pia!of.

"Foshan Fort is an important commercial town. It is usually full of people. The scale of floating population is larger than that of Guangzhou City. Before the increase in floating population, we thought it was the result of the military government..." Liu Yu lowered his head, not daring to look at Chen. Xun.

How long has he been in office?It's so embarrassing to be played by these businessmen.

"The workers in the fort are too important." Chen Xun knew that now was not the time to hold people accountable. The most important thing was to open the fort door first and pull out the people inside for disposal.

Otherwise, as time goes on, it will be difficult to control the people in the fort if they are armed by wealthy businessmen.

"What are your countermeasures now?" Chen Xun asked.

"We discussed it, and the most appropriate countermeasure at the moment is to delay the war. First agree to the requests of those wealthy businessmen, and then settle the accounts with them after the workers have been transferred."

This is not a delaying tactic, it is completely a lie.

"No!" Chen Xun objected categorically: "The credibility of the military government is more important than the combined lives of all the people in the fort."

It is very difficult for a person to establish credibility, but it is too easy to destroy it. The same is true for an organization.

The people who participated in the "Gathering to Resist Tax" this time were basically merchants, that is, local powerful people. Unlike the gentry, it was not worthy for Chen Xun to exchange the credibility of the military government for victory.

The inheritance of the gentry relies on knowledge. The most important asset of their family is books. Master knowledge, become an official in the court, and finally maintain the prosperity of the family by mastering power.

The powerful relied on monopolizing the administration of prefectures and counties, that is, the positions of "subordinate officials" inherited from generation to generation, to annex land, hide the population, control tenant farmers, and thereby control the local industrial chain.

For the government in feudal society, the importance of the gentry was far greater than that of the powerful.

Because tycoons are like leeks. If you kill a group of them, another group will grow in its place.Gentlemen can control people's hearts through knowledge, killing one person is like a large group.

Both seem to be rich and have a lot of land, but they are completely different in nature.

At the end of the Han Dynasty, both Liu Bei and Cao Cao gained wealth by attacking local tyrants, but they did not arouse the hostility of the gentry class, because the two were not of the same class.

In the chain of contempt, the gentry belongs to the upper class.

But although the two classes are different, they are in circulation.

By controlling power, the gentry can acquire land and industries locally, and thus become powerful, from top to bottom.

Powerful people can control local land and industry, train their tribesmen to study and participate in imperial examinations, and eventually become gentry from the bottom up.

"Then we can only attack by force." Liu Yu also understood that achieving his goal through deception would have very bad consequences in the future.

"What are their conditions?" Chen Xun asked.

"They requested that Song Ting's commercial tax rate be continued and not increased," Liu Yu replied.

At first glance, this request does not seem to be too much.

However, if you think about it carefully, you will find that it is too much.

The Song Dynasty's low commercial taxes were able to keep the country running because its land tax was high.

If Chen Xun wanted to reduce land taxes and reduce the burden on farmers, he had to increase commercial taxes.

Moreover, to increase fiscal revenue, the increased share must be attached to industrial goods and commercial taxes must be increased.

If it complies with the merchants' requests, the military government will definitely have a day when it cannot make ends meet.

The commercial taxes levied by the Song Dynasty on merchants were mainly "pass tax" and "residence tax".

Two percent of the tax is collected from passing merchants, and two percent is charged based on the value of the goods.

The residence tax is levied on merchants who open stores, and [-]% is charged based on the merchant's purchase value.

In other words, a minimum tax of 5.00% will be levied on a product from the time it leaves the factory to the time it enters the hands of the buyer.

This is very low in Chen Xun's opinion.

There are also special policies for micro and small venues. The commercial taxes for those venues are usually contracted out to private individuals, and the tax rates are lower.

In addition to passing taxes and residence taxes, the Song Dynasty also had taxes on special industries, such as tea taxes, mining taxes, salt taxes, etc., which accounted for a small proportion and will not be analyzed one by one.

Just talking about tax and housing tax, the "Industrial and Commercial Law" just issued by the military government stipulates that instead of simply collecting the same proportion of taxes on all goods that are treated the same, they set different tax rates according to different types of goods.

For example: a very low tax rate, even as low as zero tax rate, is levied on the necessities that people need in daily life.

For less commonly used goods used to improve life, normal tax rates are levied, which are basically the same as those of the Song Dynasty.

For some luxury goods, goods used to improve the quality of life are subject to a higher tax rate, which can reach a maximum of 70.00%.

This kind of regulation is very disadvantageous for merchants.Because the production scale of daily necessities is very large, the competition is huge, and the profits are very meager, the low tax rate of the military government's profits is not very deep.

But for luxury goods, since the sales target is mainly for wealthy people, the cost is high, the competition is small, and the profits are very large, the high taxes imposed by the military government will make them feel very painful.

(End of this chapter)