Ming Dynasty: Domination of the World from the Imperial Examination

Chapter 201 Your Majesty should take Chen Youliang and Zhang Shicheng as examples!
Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes moved.

What Xia Zhibai said does make some sense.

But it is easier said than done.

The economy of the south is already developed, and he has been suppressing it vigorously in recent years. He is just suppressing Zhejiang East and Huaixi. They are all people who followed him to conquer the world. Even if he is ruthless, he can't ignore his birthplace.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Xia Zhibai and said vaguely: "Some things are easier said than done."

“Do you know how difficult it is to collect commercial taxes?”

"The peddlers and hawkers in the world, as well as the local merchants and wealthy people, if we hadn't taken decisive action this time and extorted a sum of money from them, otherwise this money would never have reached us, and they would have continued to evade taxes."

"Do you really think we don't know how to make huge profits in business?"

"But no matter how much profit a merchant makes, it is difficult for the imperial court to collect enough commercial taxes."

"If we were not in charge of the salt and iron industry, the commercial taxes collected by the imperial court would be even less."

"If the economy of Jiangnan is made more prosperous but the imperial court cannot collect money from it, what is the point of such development?"

Zhu Yuanzhang was very realistic.

Commercial taxes have always been difficult to collect.

It was also difficult to collect commercial taxes in the Ming Dynasty. Didn’t he do the math when formulating the commercial taxes?

If the court really wanted to collect money from those cunning merchants, it would have to invest a lot of manpower and material resources, and in this case, it would basically be outspending. It was precisely because of the calculation that he finally collected a symbolic business tax.

Because it can’t be collected.

Xia Zhibai smiled, with a hint of sharpness flashing across his face.

indeed.

The cost of collecting business taxes is high.

Moreover, there are costs in all aspects. Not only do merchants intentionally evade and avoid taxes, but the obstruction of local officials also encourages collusion between officials and businessmen.

But commercial taxes must be collected.

In today's world situation, the commodity economy has become more and more developed. If we do not collect money from commercial taxes and still hold on to the little money in the hands of the people, we will sooner or later suck the people dry. How much money will the people have left?

Xia Zhibai said: "It is precisely because commercial taxes are difficult to collect that the court wants to collect them."

"Since the Song Dynasty, the commodity economy has become increasingly prosperous. The commercial taxes collected by the Song Dynasty amounted to tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of silver taels per year. If the Ming Dynasty gave up such a huge amount of commercial taxes, it would sooner or later be crushed by the financial difficulties."

"Indeed."

“It’s difficult to collect commercial taxes, but there are solutions.”

"simplest."

"For example, the peddlers on the streets only make enough to make a living, so it is basically unacceptable to collect money from them. However, the local merchants and the gentry who run land businesses can earn a lot of money in a year."

"The commercial taxes of the imperial court mainly come from them."

"And we must catch the big ones and let go of the small ones."

"Catching those peddlers and hawkers is basically not enough to cover the expenses, but if we can collect taxes from these gentry, merchants, and wealthy people, the court can collect a large sum of money every year."

"The commercial economy of the Ming Dynasty has not yet fully recovered."

"Under today's circumstances, it is still difficult to collect business taxes."

“So we have to find another way.”

"Since it's hard to collect, let's make commercial taxes easier to collect."

"If you can't collect the small ones, then don't collect them. Collect the big ones, the ones that can't move or run away."

"Besides, the local economic situation is average now, and the scale of business is basically small. Let them grow bigger, and the court can use this to collect taxes. Just like I said before, when there are enough salt companies in Jiangnan, it will become a situation where the big fish eat the small fish, and the small fish eat the shrimp, and other salt companies will continue to be squeezed out."

“Eventually it will become just a few large salt companies.”

“It won’t be that difficult to collect taxes from these people.”

"besides."

"The court will also collect taxes for opening the sea."

"Several customs offices will be set up, and all ships carrying goods must stop at the customs. The court will then take the opportunity to impose heavy taxes. Anyone who dares to transport goods privately will be strictly investigated and punished. The court's economic reduction of vassal states is not intended to attack the commodity economy."

“It’s for tax collection.”

"To a certain extent, the imperial court will allow annexation."

"It's just an annexation beyond land, which makes local merchants very rich."

"But at the same time, strict restrictions must be imposed to prevent these companies from dominating the market. At least within a provincial government, there must be companies that can compete with them, or companies established by the court. Otherwise, these companies that are prone to becoming giants must be severely suppressed."

"Want to do this."

"A very crucial point is to reduce the number of 'Shifan'!"

Zhu Yuanzhang closed his eyes slightly.

Xia Zhibai's words gave him some inspiration.

It is indeed difficult to collect commercial taxes from peddlers, and many of them have difficulty in supporting their families. If the court imposes more taxes, they may not even be able to make a living. However, if the court cannot collect taxes from these peddlers, and does not consider the commercial taxes that are not enough to cover expenses, the court can still start with the big merchants.

Just as Xia Zhibai said, most of the big merchants in the Ming Dynasty were related to local gentry.

If you want to collect money from these people, you must reduce the privileges of the scholars.

Zhu Yuanzhang pondered for a while and nodded secretly.

In particular, Xia Zhibai also proposed a solution, which is to set up customs in local areas to collect commercial taxes on maritime trade. At the same time, by dividing the post stations into military and civilian ones, a wave of commercial taxes on local trade can be collected. At the same time, local businesses can be allowed to expand to a certain extent and turn them into big businesses.

Once the business becomes big, it will not be easy to escape.

It would be much easier for the imperial court to inspect or collect taxes.

This is indeed much better than directly attacking business.

Seeing Zhu Yuanzhang looking thoughtful, Xia Zhibai smiled.

He continued, "From ancient times to the present, scholars have enjoyed too many privileges. Those with a little status do not have to serve in the army, and some do not have to pay taxes. The dynasties have also given these scholars enough preferential treatment, and even allowed them to own hundreds or thousands of acres of land without paying taxes."

"There are not many scholars in the Ming Dynasty now."

"But as the world stabilizes, there will surely be more scholars."

"In order to govern the country and maintain local rule, the imperial court will certainly impose more taxes on the local areas. When the people complain, I am afraid that most people will register their land in the name of these gentry to avoid high taxes."

"It will continue like this."

"The taxes collected by the court are decreasing."

"The heavy taxes and levies imposed on the people will only increase."

"finally."

"The court is completely unable to collect money."

"These funds that should have been handed over to the imperial court ended up in the hands of local gentry."

"The demise of all dynasties basically stems from the court's lack of money."

"However, the system designed by Your Majesty has blocked the Ming Dynasty's chances of saving the country from the very beginning. It has also blocked the Ming Dynasty's chances of becoming strong and rejuvenated from the very beginning, because the Ming Dynasty cannot collect the money."

Zhu Yuanzhang looked displeased.

But he didn't say anything. As long as he had the military power in his hands, why would the Ming Dynasty be afraid of not being able to collect the money?

It was precisely because of the lack of money to support the army that he adopted the "Weisuo System" and established a system of building the army that combined soldiers with farming and garrisoning. This fundamentally solved the problem that the Ming Dynasty could not afford to support the army.

As for collecting taxes.

Just like the last few times he made moves.

As long as you hold military power, all the wealthy merchants in the world are just cattle and sheep in a pen.

Anyone can harvest at any time.

Who dares to resist?

Seeing Zhu Yuanzhang's angry expression, Xia Zhibai chuckled and said calmly: "Your Majesty should know that when I was in Peking, I had some unpleasant experiences with the Prince of Yan. The main reason was the military discipline of the Ming Dynasty. The main reason for the corruption of the military discipline of the Ming Dynasty was corruption."

"The Ming army is no longer the army that Your Majesty just led."

"They decay very quickly."

"It won't be long before the Ming army loses its combat effectiveness."

"The guard system established by your majesty cannot last long. Sooner or later, it will be abandoned by the court."

"But right now the imperial court is in turmoil, so it's not appropriate to mobilize troops anytime soon."

“So the main focus is still on reducing the privileges of scholars.”

"The privileges of the scholars are too great."

"The damage caused to the world is also extremely deep."

"In the past, because there were few scholars and literati in the world, it was understandable that scholars were given certain preferential treatment. But now it is not difficult to become a scholar. If you read a little or work in the government, you will have privileges. The finances of the Ming Dynasty cannot support so many privileges."

"But if you cut it directly."

“It must have been very controversial.”

"It can't even be pushed forward. Even if it is pushed forward openly, it will definitely cause local riots. When interests are involved, many good things will turn into bad things and cause many problems in the world."

"So there's no hurry."

“We can only take it step by step.”

"As the saying goes, the route has been decided, and the next focus is on the personnel."

"The Ming Dynasty needs to cultivate a group of 'scholars' who are not 'scholars' and use them to replace the 'scholar class' that occupies the government."

“I chose workers and farmers, and some businessmen.”

"Because they are workers and farmers, the imperial court can directly levy taxes on them, and not many people will object. Instead, they will applaud. After all, this is a distinction between identities. By using this, the hostility and vigilance of scholars towards some "state-owned enterprises" can be reduced, and the government can "occupy the magpie's nest."

"Let the workers and peasants gradually enter the officialdom, and eventually the soldiers will completely replace them."

"The world will completely ban scholars."

Zhu Yuanzhang sneered and did not comment on these suggestions.

He put his hands behind his back and said, "It's easy for you to say that. You promoted those craftsmen and farmers, but do you expect them to do anything? What can they do? What can they do? I'm afraid they are not even as good as those roughnecks in the army."

Xia Zhibai smiled mysteriously and said, "What if these people can read?"

Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes darkened.

Xia Zhibai said: "The Ming Dynasty should carry out a certain degree of literacy throughout the country, but the current financial situation of the Ming Dynasty does not support it. However, it is still possible to carry out literacy in a small area, such as in these salt enterprises and coal mines. When these enterprises are merged, many of these people may manage thousands of people."

“This is not a small amount.”

“It’s even comparable to some small counties.”

"But one thing to be clear is that each of these people has to pay taxes."

"In order to distinguish them from officials, I suggest setting up a 'public institution system'. These workers and managers are all public institutions, that is, they all serve the factory. They are essentially workers and farmers, but the workers and farmers pay rent, while they pay taxes."

In fact, the best thing is to directly "have the gentry pay taxes together."

"It's just that Daming doesn't support it at the moment."

"First, there will be a lot of resistance. The whole court will resist. Even if Your Majesty puts pressure on it, I'm afraid the effect will not be good. Second, it's too hasty. There is no buffer time, which can easily cause unrest in the world, which will have a great impact on the Ming Dynasty."

“So we can only do it slowly.”

"We will test the waters step by step by setting up some state-owned enterprises."

"Eventually, the people in these state-owned enterprises will be assigned to work in government offices, but they will still have to pay taxes."

"besides."

"The goal is to widen the gap between the salaries of workers and peasants in government-funded institutions and those of scholars, so that the salaries of workers and peasants in government-funded institutions are higher than the salaries of scholars who become civil servants. Even after deducting taxes, the salaries of workers and peasants in government-funded institutions are still higher than those of scholars. This will lead to more and more scholars actively asking for salary increases."

"If you want something, you must lose something."

"The imperial court can take this opportunity to reform the existing salary system."

"At the same time, we will introduce a unified tax system for gentry."

"I don't recommend that Ming Dynasty act too hastily, nor do I recommend that it be too eager for quick success."

“It’s best to take it one step at a time.”

"But no matter which one, the ultimate goal is to take back the privileges of scholars, so that the gentry will not have the privilege of tax exemption, and will not help others evade taxes. Your Majesty has extorted so many gentry and merchants from the world this time, and has made a lot of money. If the Ming Dynasty can always get money from the gentry, the Ming Dynasty can do a lot of things well."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded.

He knew this better than Xia Zhibai.

The common people only have a little money, and the truly rich are the gentry.

It’s not easy to get money from these people. The only solution he can think of now is to use force to demand it.

Zhu Yuanzhang said in a deep voice: "You mean, the court should take advantage of the small population in the north and then give certain policy support to the north, implement what you said, and when the time is right, then gradually promote it to the south, and even the whole world?"

"Your Majesty is wise." Xia Zhibai said.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Xia Zhibai and remained silent for a long time.

a long time.

Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly asked: "Are you really not afraid of death?"

"The suggestions you made today may make you become like Sang Hongyang, Liu Yan and others."

Xia Zhibai smiled and said, "In fact, these things should not be done by me, but they must be done. Confucius once said, 'When three people walk together, there must be one who is my teacher.' On the road to unifying the world, your Majesty has had several 'enemies', but these people are also your Majesty's 'teachers'."

"Zhang Shicheng and Chen Youliang."

"One of them is violent, and the other has no ambition."

"In the end, they all fell into the hands of His Majesty."

"Without these two people, Your Majesty would not have made such rapid progress. However, after the Ming Dynasty unified the world, Your Majesty did not learn from these two people. Instead, you followed their path. Your Majesty emerged from great storms and waves, and the world was also seized from great storms and waves."

"What Daming needs to do now is to cross the river."

"But there is no bridge or boat ahead of Daming."

"But this river cannot be crossed?"

"If we don't fundamentally solve the problem of bridges and ships, the Ming Dynasty will always be trapped on the other side of history. No matter how much preparation Your Majesty makes, no matter how well you build the world, it will ultimately be wishful thinking. Although I am not talented, I have the heart to build a bridge."

"I aim to overthrow the mountain of scholars that weighs on the people!"

(End of this chapter)