I, the Ming Dynasty, can still save me

Chapter 415 Pirates and Smuggling

"Ship tax, cargo tax, and tax on transporting special goods?"

When Sun Yuanhua heard about these three types of taxes, he immediately showed doubts on his face, and Sun Chuanting immediately explained it to him.

"Your Majesty the Imperial Envoy, now the General Administration of Customs has stipulated that all ships leaving our Daming Port will be taxed according to the width of the ship. If the ship is less than sixteen feet wide, [-] taels of silver will be levied; if it exceeds [-] feet, an additional silver will be levied for each additional foot. Nine coins, plus double if you go to the West.

Due to the important geographical location of Shanghai County, there are many ships coming and going. There have been almost a thousand ships coming and going in the past two months. Therefore, this part of the tax amount is nearly 5000 taels of silver, which does not account for the bulk. "

Sun Yuanhua did the math and found that the money was actually not much. It seemed that the latter two taxes accounted for the majority. Sun Chuanting continued to explain.

"If we want to talk about the largest amount of tax, it is the import tax. All foreign goods are subject to ad valorem tax based on the value of the goods, and the tax rate is [-]%. This is levied based on the total value of the goods.

Now the imperial court stipulates that except for merchant ships personally chartered by His Majesty, no matter who transports goods to the port, they must collect goods tax. No one is exempt, and the same is true for official ships. "

When Sun Chuanting said this, Sun Yuanhua immediately remembered that Sun Chuanting had asked the tax collectors to board the ship just now, fearing that they were just to collect import taxes.

"Wouldn't it be very troublesome to levy taxes based on the total amount of goods? Not only do we have to calculate the price of the goods, but we also have to calculate the ship's cargo. No wonder I encountered so many tax collectors at the Shanghai port."

Sun Yuanhua's analysis made Sun Chuanting nod his head repeatedly.

"What the Imperial Envoy said is that this calculation is indeed a bit cumbersome, but the tax rate is really not high. The profit from sea trade can range from [-] to [-]%, or double it, and merchants can accept a tax of [-]%.

And now the imperial court does not impose taxes on all goods. For example, the tax imposed by other chief ministers traveling to and from the coastal areas is reduced by [-]%, and if traveling to and from Liaodong, the tax is reduced by [-]%.

At the same time, if a sea-going ship carrying grain, copper ore, etc. enters the port, it will be tax-free at about [-]% to [-]%. "

After hearing his explanation, Sun Yuanhua understood the wonderful use of this tariff. It could not only collect taxes, but also encourage merchants to voluntarily move goods for profit.

For example, if you carry grain and go to Liaodong trade fair, the tax will be reduced by up to [-]-[-]%. Isn't this just to encourage merchants to transport grain to Liaodong?

"If it is used properly, it will be a great good governance. But I don't know how much money the importer tax collection will cost."

After hearing this, Sun Chuanting took the account book and gave it to Sun Yuanhua to look through.

"Your Majesty the Imperial Envoy, the total revenue from commercial taxes in the past two months is thirty-six thousand, eight hundred and twenty taels."

Upon seeing this, Sun Yuanhua also secretly calculated. This is just Shanghai County. The tax amount in two months is nearly 5 taels. If other ports are included, it will be even more.

However, he didn't think much about it at this point. His mission was only to understand the current operations of the General Department of Customs. As for the total amount of customs duties, that was something the emperor was concerned about, and he didn't need to worry about it.

Thinking of this, he asked again.

"The rest are taxes on special goods. But what kind of goods are these special goods? Why are they taxed separately?"

"Your Majesty, the so-called special commodities are silk, porcelain, tea, spices, medicinal materials, furs, grains and other goods. Most of these commodities are in short supply.

Many of them are unique to our Ming Dynasty and have always been loved by the West, especially silk, porcelain, and tea. Every year, Western merchants buy more than 200 million taels.

The profits are also extremely high, and the profit can be as little as one or two times, or as much as four or five times, when shipped to Southeast Asia, the West and other places.

So the Ministry of Household Affairs discussed and decided that silk and other items are special commodities, and all merchant ships transporting these items will be levied additional goods tax. Each ship will have a different amount of additional tax depending on the goods, ranging from 50 taels to 120 taels. .

Due to its geographical advantages, Shanghai has a large local silk business, so many silk goods are shipped from here, so the tax on special commodities is also very high, totaling more than 5 taels.

This is only collected during the off-season in August and September. By next spring and summer, when the silk business is in peak season, there will probably be more. "

After Sun Chuanting's detailed explanation, Sun Yuanhua now understood the tariff situation in Shanghai County, and at the same time he admired Sun Chuanting.

"Such achievements have been achieved in just two months. Although it is not entirely your fault, you are in charge of the Taxation Department and have contributed a lot. I will definitely report the truth to the court and express my credit to you."

Seeing Sun Yuanhua's praise, Sun Chuanting also breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that the imperial envoy in front of him was still very satisfied with his achievements.

However, the implementation of the tariff was not smooth sailing. Now that Sun Qin was here, Sun Chuanting would not waste the opportunity. Instead, he handed it over and said:

"Your Majesty, the Imperial Envoy, is ridiculous. The General Taxation Department is still a start-up. Although it is not easy to achieve this, the problems involved are indeed complicated. Now I want to take advantage of the Imperial Envoy's presence to explain the truth to the Imperial Envoy." See. Sun Chuanting said this, and Sun Yuanhua immediately understood the meaning of Sun Chuanting's words.He just wanted to write a letter to the court on his behalf to explain the problem.

However, he didn't dare to agree to this kind of thing casually. He had to see what Sun Chuanting wanted him to do first.

"Oh, you should tell me what the problem is."

"Without him, it's just smuggling and piracy."

"Smuggling and piracy?"

After hearing this, Sun Yuanhua thought for a while and understood what Sun Chuanting meant.Although the sea ban is now open, anyone can trade at sea as long as they obtain a ship's pilot.

It's just that everything has its pros and cons. With so many merchant ships out to sea, wouldn't it be easier for pirates to rob them? The new tariffs will also be a certain burden for ships, and smuggling is probably also a big problem.

"Yes, there were many Japanese pirates in the Ming Dynasty before, and the Jiajing period was the worst among them. But as far as Wei Chen knows, although the previous Japanese pirates came from Japan, most of them were smugglers from the Ming Dynasty disguised as smugglers.

Therefore, since the Longqing switch and the war in Japan gradually subsided, the number of Japanese pirates has gradually decreased, and now they are almost extinct. However, the problem of maritime smuggling is still very serious and has been banned repeatedly.

Now that the sea ban has been lifted, many smugglers have come to the port to do business, but there are still some smugglers who have evil intentions. They either still engage in smuggling, or they start to make a living by robbing sea ships.

According to the reports received by the subordinates, more than ten ships have been robbed in the past two months.They took advantage of the fact that they had just opened the sea and the equipment of the South Zhili Navy was outdated and unable to go to sea.He was unscrupulous and robbed merchants wantonly, regardless of the court's face. "

When Sun Chuanting said this, he bowed to Sun Yuanhua and said:
"Your Majesty the Imperial Envoy, this maritime trade is directly related to the imperial court's customs revenue. If the imperial government does not deal with smuggling and combating piracy, no one in the maritime trade will dare to go to sea, and the customs revenue will be greatly reduced, so we must pay attention to it.

Therefore, I boldly affirmed that the Imperial Envoy should submit the key points to the court, suggesting that the court build a new navy in southern Zhili to combat piracy and smuggling and protect maritime trade. They should not be allowed to go unpunished. "

After hearing this, Sun Yuanhua slowly stood up and walked back and forth thinking.

"Didn't the imperial court have a navy before? Besides, when I left Beijing, I heard that Governor Yuan had a plan to build a navy before he came. His Majesty also asked the Ministry of Household Affairs to allocate funds for the construction of a navy. In this way I think this should be enough."

When Sun Yuanhua said this, Sun Chuanting shook his head.When Yuan Keli took office as the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, he indeed wanted to build a navy, but water from afar could not quench his thirst nearby.

"Imperial Envoy, you don't know something. Your Majesty did issue an edict to Governor Yuan to build a navy, but the location of the navy is in Xiamen and Fuzhou.

This place is far away from Nanzhili.It is still possible to encircle and suppress the Fujian pirates, but if you come to South Zhili, it will be beyond your reach.Otherwise, even though I am in a humble position, I will not bother you with this matter. You can just ask Yuan Keri to mobilize troops. "

After Sun Chuanting said this, Sun Yuanhua suddenly understood the reason.

He remembered clearly that the emperor did instruct Yuan Keli to build a navy when he arrived in Fujian and Zhejiang, and to place it in Xiamen, Fujian.

He also knew the reason. There was no mission to eliminate pirates, it was just to prevent Westerners from invading.

Thinking of this, Sun Yuanhua also understood Sun Chuanting's difficulties, so he nodded in agreement.

"There is indeed some truth to what you said. In that case, I will do you a favor and write this question in the question book and ask Your Majesty to make a decision. But how to do it depends on the court's plan. I don't dare to be careless. promise."

Seeing that Sun Yuanhua agreed, Sun Chuanting was immediately overjoyed, and a stone fell from his heart. He immediately bowed to Sun Yuanhua to thank him.

"It doesn't matter. You have been in charge of the Customs Department for two months and you have achieved such results, which shows that the tariffs have great potential. If you run it well, you will become a major tax source for the court in the future. Therefore, I cannot sit idly by and watch such things as piracy and smuggling." ignore."

In fact, there was another reason that Sun Yuanhua didn't mention, which was that he saw that Sun Chuanting was so capable, and he expected that his future would be limitless.Therefore, it doesn't matter if you make friends with someone in advance and make a good relationship.

Seeing that the matter was over, Sun Chuanting took Sun Yuanhua to the yamen of the General Department of Customs for a while and introduced the heads of various departments under him. They waited until Youshi (five to seven o'clock in the afternoon) to finish the conversation.

Then Sun Chuanting personally escorted Sun Yuanhua out of the yamen. Because he asked for something, Sun Chuanting had a very good attitude toward him. He sent Sun Yuanhua to the inn before leaving. Before leaving, he told Sun Yuanhua to contact him if he had anything to do.

Sun Yuanhua was not idle either. In addition to writing secret notes to the emperor, he also wanted to visit Shanghai County in the past few days to deliver letters to Xu Guangqi's family. He also purchased some books and supplies to make preparations for his mission to the West.

Soon the ten-day period came, and on this day Sun Chuanting came to see him off in person.

After a while of greetings, Sun Yuanhua did not delay, and directly boarded the ship and set sail under the watchful eyes of Sun Chuanting.

(End of this chapter)