Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Qian Qianyi came up with this idea because he felt that his life as a wealthy minister was too difficult.

After the emperor collected the land tax from the Shen family, the ministers in the court, either actively or passively, began to divide the family and take the initiative to pay the land tax.

Because according to the rules set by the current emperor, officials' taxes, like family property, need to be actively declared.

If the tax office fails to collect taxes for various reasons and the officials do not take the initiative to pay taxes, they will not only need to pay the late payment fee, but also have their records recorded.

When the situation is appropriate, it becomes a crime and it is possible that the person may not be promoted after the probation period or even be dismissed from office during the probation period.

Therefore, officials in the court now began to take the initiative to divide up their property, giving more than one thousand acres of land to their children or using it as sacrificial fields.

The emperor was very considerate of them this time and did not impose a gift tax on the division of the family property.

The Ministry of Revenue even issued an order that those who completed the division of property before the end of the Yellow Book in the fifth year of Chongzhen would be exempt from inheritance tax or gift tax.

After that, you must pay it, and even be fined for transferring property to evade taxes.

This has also led to a trend among the people to divide up the family property in order to avoid gift tax.

Qian Qianyi had already divided up his property, leaving only one thousand acres. This time, he did not need to divide it up again, but only needed to pay the land tax according to regulations.

When calculating the land tax, he found that after paying the regular tax, he had to pay another 30% of the land tax, and the overall tax burden was close to 40%. Even if he collected 70% of the rent from the tenants, he could only keep a little more than 30%.

Compared to before, the income is reduced by half, and most of it is used to pay property tax.

What he also knew was that the emperor intended to limit land rent just as he limited interest, and that rents exceeding 50% would be characterized as inhumane in public opinion.

In this way, his income will be even lower, and it can even be said that most of the rent collected will be used to pay taxes.

Niu Jinxing, a Ming Dynasty scholar who passed the imperial examination, published an article in Datong Newspaper in which he calculated the profits that could be obtained from different amounts of land under the new tax system.

The final conclusion is that 750 acres is the best. If it exceeds this number, the income will decrease.

The tax rate of the Ming Dynasty was actually very low, generally less than 10%, only 1 in 20. After adding the Liao salary and other levies, the article estimated it at 10%.

In the south, crops can generally be harvested twice a year, and the average annual yield per acre of land is around 2.6 shi.

When the rent is collected at 100%, 130 mu of land can get 26 shi of rent. After paying 104 shi of regular tax, there will be shi left.

When the land is 375 mu, all lands need to pay 292.5% land tax, plus % regular tax, which is %. The remaining % rent for the landlord is koku.

When the land is 750 mu, all lands need to pay 390% land tax, plus % regular tax, which is %. The remaining % ​​rent for the landlord is koku.

When the land is 1000 mu, all lands need to pay 260% land tax, plus % regular tax, which is %. The remaining % rent for the landlord is koku -

The income is not only lower than when the area was 750 acres, it is even lower than when the area was 375 acres.

It can be said that under the new land tax system, land over 750 mu is not cost-effective at all.

After this article came out, it was met with a barrage of criticism.

Poor students scolded the wealthy for being unkind and collecting high rents and reaping the benefits.

Wealthy students thought that Niu Jinxing's estimate was too simple, as it did not take into account the cost of farming or flood and drought disasters.

Many landlords simply cannot achieve this level of income, and even have to worry about various levies from the government.

As a society completely ruled by bureaucrats, in the Ming Dynasty, as long as there was no one serving as an official in the government, all kinds of exorbitant taxes would be imposed, and no matter how much land a wealthy person had, he would not be able to maintain it for several generations.

Some landlords who didn’t have a foothold even went bankrupt a few years after buying land. The reason why land prices in most places in Jiangnan couldn’t go up was also related to this.

Only families with officials dared to purchase land on a large scale, or even accept donations.

As a high-ranking official of the third rank, Qian Qianyi did not need to worry about excessive taxes. Even if he no longer accepted donations, he only needed to pay taxes according to the law and would not be charged a penny more.

So he privately calculated the income from his own land according to Niu Jinxing's calculations, and the conclusion he came to was that 750 acres was the best, and any more would be uneconomical.

This made him decide to keep only 750 acres of land at home, and the rest would be assigned to the clan land.

This was a loophole left by the emperor. The nature of the clan land was classified as public land, and only the 10th tax needed to be paid to the emperor.

After this regulation came out, Qian Qianyi collected another 1,000 acres of clan land as clan land.

The land he privately owns now is 750 acres.

This amount of land was enough for an average wealthy family. The annual rent of three or four hundred shi could allow a family of dozens of people to reap the benefits.

But for Qian Qianyi, who had a wide circle of friends, this was far from enough.

And he also needs to consider dividing the family property among his descendants——

After the death of his three sons, his concubine Zhu became pregnant this year.

Qian Qianyi attached great importance to this and hoped that his son could grow up safely, so he began to prepare an estate.

Because of this, after hearing Liu Si's explanation, he set his sights on the rickshaw business, intending to see if this was an industry that could make money.

This is also the reason why Zhu Youjian launched the rickshaw when it was not mature enough.

He needed to provide the rich people in the Ming Dynasty with an investment channel to invest their money other than land.

The rickshaw business also absorbs a lot of people. In the early years of the Republic of China, the number of rickshaw pullers in Beijing increased from 20,000 to about 60,000.

The population of the capital at that time was at most twice as much as it is now. This means that the capital now needs at least 10,000 rickshaw drivers.

When public transportation was underdeveloped, people needed this mode of transportation. As long as rickshaws were practical enough, this industry could attract a lot of people and capital.

This is how Liu Si was recruited as a rickshaw puller, and his income was far more than just five cents a day.

What he told Qu Shisi was only the income during the day. But now, rickshaw drivers mainly make money at night, especially after the curfew, when they are allowed to operate for two hours.

This forced many wealthy people who needed to travel at night to take rickshaws. Especially the prostitutes in the red-light district welcomed this most.

They had more time to have fun and didn't care about the little money they spent on the rickshaw.

The rickshaw industry, which has this privilege, also takes advantage of this. As long as you get on a rickshaw after curfew, the starting fare is three cents, regardless of the distance.

Liu Si usually picked up and dropped off four or five people during the two hours at night, which allowed him to earn 15 cents in two hours.

Adding the five cents left after deducting the car rental fee during the day, the net profit per day is twenty cents.

What can you do with 20 cents? A family of several people can eat meat and fish every day, and the cost is only 20 or 30 cents. Liu Si and his friends drink and eat meat every day, and they can still save 10 cents.

The price of a rickshaw is 30 yuan, and the price may drop in the future when production matures. As long as Liu Si pulls a rickshaw for a full year, he can at least buy a rickshaw.

A small courtyard house in the city or a townhouse outside the city costs only more than 30 yuan. Liu Si can buy a house without buying a car and settle down in Beijing.

This made him very dedicated to pulling carts, and he even wanted to buy a car with a group of younger brothers and become independent, setting up a car dealership on his own to save management fees.

Qian Qianyi, who had the same idea, naturally had a good chat with Liu Si. He felt that this rickshaw driver was very thoughtful, unlike the average person who could only pull a rickshaw.

After experiencing the feeling of sitting on the road, Qian Qianyi pointed to a small alley:

"Let's go inside and try out what it feels like!"

Liu Si looked at the bumpy alley and said with difficulty:

"Master, it's better not to go! It's very bumpy inside."

"And if the cart breaks down, you might get hurt." Those who pull carts like to drive on cement roads the most, as they are very flat and save effort.

The slab and gravel roads have more ups and downs, but they are bearable.

What I dislike most is the bumpy dirt road. Not only is it very tiring to pull the cart, but even the wheels and axles can break.

Now that he heard that Qian Qianyi was going to run into such a bumpy alley, he was of course extremely unhappy.

Qian Qianyi insisted on experiencing it, and said:

"Go!"

"I won't blame you if I get hurt."

"I want to see how this car performs on the dirt road and whether it can be used in the South."

Liu Si then understood Qian Qianyi's idea and could only pull him along for a distance on the dirt road.

As soon as Liu Si stepped onto the dirt road, Qian Qianyi immediately began to regret it in his heart.

Because the dirt road is not only very bumpy, but the vehicle also makes a clanging sound, which is far more harsh than the creaking sound.

Even with leaf spring suspension shock absorbers, Qian Qianyi felt as if his whole body was falling apart and his ears were filled with noises.

Unable to bear it any longer, he quickly called Liu Si to go back, and asked Qu Shisi and others who were planning to follow to go back as well.

After getting off the car at the intersection and walking a few steps, Qian Qianyi finally felt that his body was still his own. This made him look at the dirt road and sigh:
"Rickshaws can only be used in the capital. They are unaffordable in other places."

“Just laying cement on the dirt road is something that only the capital can do.”

“It’s unclear how long it will take for other places to build roads like this!”

The severe drought in the capital over the past two years has forced the emperor to conscript many disaster victims to work as relief.

The invention of cement as a building material made the construction of the capital city mainly focused on road construction.

In the past two years, people have been collecting wood ash. In addition to the fact that wood ash solution can be used for tanning leather, the main reason is that it can be used to burn cement.

Even though the quality of this cement is very poor, it still greatly improves the road surface in Beijing. At least when it rains, you won't get a leg full of mud when you step on it.

It was in this context that rickshaws were developed. Liu Si and others only needed to take a detour to find a cement road. Pulling a rickshaw is not only labor-saving, but also comfortable for passengers.

Although it is still not as good as taking a sedan chair, it is much better than walking and much faster.

But this is the case in the capital, but not in other places. Even in the most prosperous Suzhou, the roads are now paved with stone slabs. Rickshaws still feel a bit bumpy when driving on them, and the vehicles are also easily damaged.

So Qian Qianyi lamented that he could only invest in car dealerships in the capital, and could not do so in other places.

After this incident, Liu Si also realized that Qian Qianyi wanted to buy a car, so he asked him tentatively:

"Master, do you want to buy a car?"

"Are you going to use it yourself in the south, or are you going to build a car dealership?"

Qian Qianyi had no intention of hiding his intentions, and smiled and said to Liu Si:

"Why use a rickshaw when you can use a horse-drawn carriage?"

"Of course, we're going to build a carriage shop to make it convenient for people who can't afford a carriage."

This made Liu Si realize that the person in front of him must be very rich.

People who don’t have spare money can’t afford to buy a carriage, let alone keep a coachman and a horse.

So Liu Si showed off:

"Then you've really come at a great time!"

"Now Taipusi wants to sell cars and encourages private car dealerships."

"As long as you deposit 1,000 yuan in a bank account as registered capital, you can get a business license and license the cars in your car dealership."

"To be honest, a few of us brothers are planning to pool our money and take out some loans to open a car dealership!"

Qian Qianyi found this interesting and said:

"You have a car, why do you want to do it yourself?"

"Aren't you afraid of losing your capital and not being able to repay the loan for the rest of your life?"

Liu Si said affirmatively:

"Not afraid!"

"If I had my own car, I could get my money back in half a year."

"There are few rickshaws in the capital now, so there is no problem finding customers."

"One car can run in two shifts, without stopping all day long."

As a rickshaw puller, he knows the rickshaw drivers best and knows how to make the most money.

If he runs a car dealership, he can rent a car to two drivers, one shift from 6:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and the other from 4:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Each driver works for eight hours, all day long.

There is even a shift every four hours, with the drivers taking turns.

In this way, the driver would naturally be willing to work hard when pulling the cart, unlike now, where in order to recover strength, the actual working time is only five or six hours a day, and if it is more, he will not have the energy to pull the cart.

This made Qian Qianyi praise Liu Si even more. He felt that Liu Si had a very flexible mind, so he tested him again:

"If two people rent a car, isn't the rent still 70%?"

"And if the vehicle is used too much, won't it be damaged?"

Liu Si said confidently:

"You can rent it for four or five cents for half a day, and two shifts combined is definitely more than seven cents."

"As long as the driver works half the time, he won't have to worry about not being able to pay the rent."

"As for the damage, it's damaged. Besides the two leaf springs, there's nothing valuable about this car anyway."

"And the vehicle workshop provides after-sales service for leaf springs, which guarantees that they can be used for at least one year. As long as they are not damaged intentionally, they can be replaced directly if they break."

"I saw the leaf springs they use on the four-wheeled carts, which can bear a weight of fifty stones. Normally, it would not damage the leaf springs to pull one person."

The wheels, body, etc. of the rickshaw are all made of wood, so the material cost is not much at all.

Even if it was broken, Liu Si felt that the cost of repair was not high. The car dealership said that it would cost two cents to maintain it, which he thought was nonsense.

It’s only one cent at most, and with taxes the cost is only two cents a day.

If he owns his own car and doesn't need to register it with a car dealership and pay fees, he can earn at least 20 cents a day and can buy a new car in five months.

If he rents the vehicle to others, he can also guarantee that the daily profit of each vehicle is more than six cents, and the cost of the vehicle can be recovered in 500 days.

It can be said that the current rickshaw industry is in the explosive stage and the investment cost will be recovered soon. (End of this chapter)