I started with the Shinsengumi in Bakumatsu

Chapter 220: Support me in reducing business tax

Goto Shojiro did not hesitate, he immediately went to Yamauchi Temple, which was living in seclusion in Kochi Prefecture.

Although Yamauchi-do supported the return of the great government and the restoration of the imperial government during the late shogunate period, due to the subsequent revolt by the shogunate, Yamauchi-do did not help the court. Therefore, Yagyu held him accountable and lived in seclusion in Tosa.

Although Yamauchi Do is just a civilian in terms of status, his influence is unique in Tosana.

On this day, Yamauchi Do was drinking and having fun again. This was his hobby and he liked drinking. By next year, he would die of cerebral hemorrhage due to long-term drinking.

However, Yamauchi Don doesn't care about this now. For him, what's the point of not drinking?

"Hmm...good wine..."

Yamauchi Tang carefully tasted the wine in the cup again, and his arms around the beautiful woman became stronger, making the girl squeal.

"Hahaha! Come on, come on!"

The inner hall of the mountain laughed freely and wildly.

Outside the courtyard, a retainer walked over quickly, lowered his head and said: "Hermit-sama, Gotou-sama is here."

Yamauchido had just picked up the wine glass, and when he heard the retainer's report, he stopped and looked at the retainer with slightly focused eyes: "Goto is here? Recently, he is not only busy with the patriotic public party, but also busy with his own party. Company, he actually wants to visit me? What big thing happened recently? "

The retainer immediately replied: "My lord Hermit, you have forgotten that the central government announced the election of the House of Commons some time ago."

"oh…"

Yamauchi Tang remembered that this happened before.

"I remember, this is the biggest thing recently, but why did Goto come to me? Do you want me to support his election as a member of the parliament? Tsk, trouble..."

The retainer asked: "Then I will reject him."

Yamauchi Tang put down his wine glass and said, "No, just pack it up and I'll see him."

The beauty immediately picked up the small plate and left. Yamauchi Dou immediately wrapped himself in a piece of clothing, his body became rickety, and he looked much tired.

At this time, the retainer led Goto Shojiro in.

Goto Shojiro was shocked when he saw Yamauchido's expression. He didn't expect that his old master was seriously ill.

"Why is my lord so haggard? Alas, I was negligent. Don't worry, lord. I know some people who can ask the best doctors to look at you."

"Cough cough..."

Yamauchi Do covered his mouth and coughed twice, then said: "Oh, this is an old problem. It's not a problem. Goto, I heard that you founded a political party and started your own company. You are alone. Are you busy?"

Goto Shojiro hurriedly replied: "My lord, don't you know I'm here? I'm stupid, how can I take care of so many things? I have Kataoka Kenkichi to assist me in the Patriot Party, and Iwasaki Yataro to help me in business."

Yamauchi Tang nodded and said: "Oh, among us Tosa, you are the only one who has achieved something."

"My lord, I was joking. I am here today mainly because of my lord's cultivation. I originally wanted to show my lord's presence in the cabinet, but unfortunately, Yagyu Kigeon alone has the final say in the cabinet, so I had no choice but to leave and return to Tosa."

In my opinion, only Tosa can support me. "

Goto Shojiro immediately expressed his stance and flattered him by the way.

Yamauchido smiled and said: "Goto, you are so humble, ahem..."

Goto Shojiro looked at Yamauchido's tired look and had no choice but to stop greetings and explain his purpose of coming: "My lord, I am here this time because I hope that my lord can help me like before."

Yamauchido shook his head and said: "Goto, how can I help you now that I am like this? I am no longer the feudal lord who kept his word in Tosa."

Goto Shojiro immediately said: "Why did my lord say this? The people of Tosa still remember the kindness of the Yamauchi family. As for my lord coming forward, the nobles of Tosa will definitely follow my lord!"

My Lord, now I want to run for the Tosa Council. If I can be elected, I will do my best to maintain the prestige of the Yamauchi family in Tosa. "

After hearing this, Yamauchi Tang did not speak immediately. He was also thinking about the pros and cons of this matter.

Although the Yamauchi family has obtained the position of a marquis and a seat in the House of Nobles, if we imagine that the Yamauchi family controls the local parliamentary election in Tosa, even the government of Tosa must treat the Yamauchi family with caution.

Yamauchi Do showed a little smile and said: "Goto, if you say that, I will take it seriously."

Goto Shojiro had a serious look on his face, and he immediately saluted and said: "My words are from the bottom of my heart, and I have absolutely no intention of fooling my lord."

Yamauchi Tang smiled and said: "Okay, let's sort out the list."

Goto Shojiro was overjoyed and quickly thanked him.

Yamauchi Do's reputation in Tosa is very high. As soon as he took action, the Patriotic Party's momentum surged, and there was a faint tendency to occupy nearly 90% of the seats in Tosa Prefecture.

Now as powerful as the Patriotic Party is the Liberal Party of Kono Hironaka.

When news of the start of the lower house election reached Fukushima, the environment in the prefecture was like a pot of cold water hitting hot oil, boiling instantly.

Countless people rushed around to spread the news.

Kono Hironaka took the backbone to the streets and began to speak.

On this day, Kono Hironaka stood on a simple high platform that had just been built in his suit and leather shoes, holding a copper trumpet, and shouted loudly: "township parties, workers, I, Kono, want to participate in the election of members, and I am here to talk to you today. Tell me what I think.

Since ancient times, the country has not charged such high commercial taxes. Taxes are mainly targeted at farmers. But now, even workers and citizens need to pay taxes, and when we businessmen earn ten yuan, we have to pay four and a half yuan!

Such high taxes result in very little income for us, so we can only save costs, which results in workers receiving low wages and working long hours.

Folks, only by reducing taxes and increasing our income can workers get more wages and even reduce working hours! "

The other backbones immediately brainwashed the onlookers: "Everyone, what Mr. Kono said makes so much sense."

"Yes, only when the boss's income increases can he increase wages for all workers and citizens."

“Reducing business taxes can increase revenue!”

Among the onlookers who gathered here were citizens after get off work, nearby merchants and street vendors, etc.

Their income will be taxed by the tax bureau.

I feel the same way about what Hironaka Kono said.

They all said: "That's right, now I only earn 120 yuan a month, and I have to take away 12 yuan. It's really heartbreaking!"

"It's okay for you. I paid fifty yuan in taxes last month!"

"Me too, I paid taxes, which is barely enough."

For a time, everyone was complaining about taxes and wished that the government would not collect even a dime.

Seeing everyone's emotions rising, Kono Hironaka immediately shouted: "Everyone, support my election as a member. I will definitely propose to the central government to reduce taxes so that everyone can increase their income!"

In the crowd, a vendor shouted loudly: "Mr. Kono, I support you. Please tell the court to charge less tax!"

Some citizens shouted: "Mr. Kono, I also support you, give me a salary increase!"

"Mr. Kono, I support you too!"

"Mr. Kono..." On the street, people gathered in support of Kono Hironaka.

Kono Hironaka was very excited and responded: "Everyone, I will not let you down!"

……

Apart from Kyushu and Shikoku, the ones closest to Kyoto are Osaka’s Kusama Tokifuku and Furusawa Shigeru’s Constitutional Party.

They also held various speaking engagements in Osaka to solicit votes from citizens.

However, the people of Osaka are not interested in such things. Fortunately, there are smart people in the Constitutional Party. He proposed that they can print trademarks on the horse-drawn carriages and support business activities and other slogans and behaviors to win votes.

Because there is no direct money, but through the exchange of benefits, it can be said that if you exploit the bug, you may not be able to use it next time.

In addition, party activities were also very active in Edo. There were three major societies in Edo before, namely the Yingwu Society, the Uisei Society and the Owa Society. After the Edo government announced the start of the election of the lower house, the three major companies refused to give in to each other.

In order to prevent the fishermen from benefiting from the situation, the three families decided to unite and form the Constitutional Reform Party.

They advocated the emperor's personal rule, expansion of the power of the lower house, restriction of cabinet power, local autonomy and outward expansion.

After all, Edo is a metropolis. Osaka, Kobe, and Nagasaki are all municipalities with equal status to states. As a result, Edo is only the capital of Wuzhou. Therefore, many people are proposing to make Edo a municipality directly under the central government and become independent from Wuzhou. come out.

This is only the first step; the next step is to seek autonomy.

After all, Edo has been the political center for more than two hundred years. Now the political center has moved to Kyoto, which makes Edo people very disappointed.

Numama Moriichi, Yano Fumio, and Ono Azusa of the Constitutional Reform Party have the highest support rates. If nothing unexpected happens, they will definitely be elected as members of the assembly.

In fact, the primary election is not the most lively. After all, the primary election is just to determine the qualifications. The real fierceness is the state election and the national election.

The wave of elections to the House of Commons has just begun, and will continue until the end of the year.

However, Yagyu didn't pay too much attention to this matter. With Okubo Toshimichi watching over him, he didn't have to do everything personally. This is why he made Okubo Toshimichi the deputy prime minister.

Yagyu's main concerns were economic and military matters.

In just over four months since he further reformed business, more than fifty companies have been established across Japan, and more than three hundred factories have been added.

Among the more than 50 companies, the largest ones are Hongchi, Mitsui, Sumitomo, Ono and others, and they have all met the requirements for listing.

Yagyu had already planned to open the Kyoto Stock Exchange.

We have been preparing for it before, but now the time is ripe.

He plans to only open it to the domestic market at first, and then open it to foreign countries when the situation stabilizes.

Yagyu immediately informed Shibusawa Eiichi that he was preparing to open a stock exchange.

Shibusawa Eiichi also attached great importance to this matter. He immediately summoned the officials at all levels of the Ministry of Finance to give instructions. Within three days, the stock exchange, which had already begun preparations, was ready to open.

Major consortiums such as Hongchi, Mitsui, and Sumitomo have received the news, and he has prepared materials for applying for listing.

When the market opened for the first time, all listed companies were state-owned companies, including Telegraph, Electric Power, Cigarettes, etc.

There are also government bonds that can be traded.

On July 1st, the sun was shining high and there was a hint of sultry heat in the air.

In front of the steps of the Kyoto Stock Exchange, police officers from the Kyoto Metropolitan Police Department have set up a cordon to keep the onlookers at bay.

Although the weather was hot and the crowds were covered in sweat, the citizens who came to buy national bonds still gritted their teeth and persisted. Even if some people fainted from heatstroke, they just held banknotes and murmured about national debts.

You must know that everyone who bought government bonds last year made a small profit. Now, everyone is naturally flocking to it.

At the exchange, Yagyu was reading the manuscript of his speech. Someone came in from outside and said, "Prime Minister, there are at least a thousand people outside. Do you want to..."

Yagyu raised his hand and said, "No need, it's almost an auspicious time now, let's go."

Shibusawa Eiichi stood up immediately and followed Yagyu away.

"Click..."

The door of the exchange slowly opened, and Yagyu, Shibusawa Eiichi and others walked to the stairs. When the citizens saw it was Yagyu, they waved and shouted.

"Prime Minister, let's open the business quickly!"

"Prime Minister, I'm here to buy national bonds to support the country!"

"Long live the Prime Minister!"

Yagyu looked at the bustle below, waved his hand, and then shouted: "Dear citizens, today is the first day of the opening of the Kyoto Stock Exchange. I am very happy to meet you here..."

He read for several minutes, and the people below slowly lost their energy. Yagyu ended his speech and shouted: "Everyone, from now on, the Kyoto Stock Exchange is officially open!"

Yagyu took the scissors from the hostess and cut the ribbon, and a cannon was fired on both sides.

"Clap clap clap..."

The citizens immediately became energetic and clapped vigorously.

Yagyu didn't waste any more time. He and Eiichi Shibusawa returned to the exchange. Then, the police officers gave way and the citizens rushed in. If the police officers hadn't pulled up the human wall, I'm afraid this would have happened. There will be a stampede at the door.

The appearance of this exchange is different from the current exchanges. There are no electronic instruments in it, and the data is displayed using an automatic clock.

But this time everyone is not here for stocks, they are all here to buy 300 million treasury bonds.

This amount of money is still within the budget of the government.

In the hall, Inoue was the first to run to the window.

"Buy me five thousand dollars in government bonds!"

He shouted before he even took out the money.

The employee at the counter reached for the receipt and gave Inoue a certificate.

Before coming to the exchange, they would have to exchange a receipt from the central bank, which would save counter staff the time of inspecting the banknotes.

Inoue took the certificate booklet with an excited face, grinning from ear to ear with excitement. These five thousand yuan were his entire net worth. According to his friend Xiaolin's income, he could earn two hundred and fifty a year from these five thousand yuan. 1 yuan, which is enough for him to work hard for a month and a half.

"Hahaha, I bought national bonds!"

Inoue excitedly squeezed out of the exchange and hurried home to show off the certificate in his hand to his wife.

"In just three years, I can earn a thousand yuan, and I'm going to make a fortune!"

(End of this chapter)