I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 728: The Strong Cabinet and Prime Minister Zhang

"The four shipyards of Wusong Shipbuilding Group launched 26 1,000-ton Shizi sailing ships, 235 500-ton ships, and 417 Wusong ships last year.

Last year, Gyeonggi Shipbuilding Group launched 14 1,000-ton junks, 114 500-ton junks, and 213 Wusong junks.”

When people heard these numbers, they were surprised and delighted.

It was really a revolution. The amount of cotton, steel, machines and ships was really astonishing.

Since the first year of the Wanli reign, when Emperor Wanli took Zhang Juzheng to inspect Luanzhou, the Cabinet, the Military Government and the Censorate organized a large number of officials to visit and learn.

Even the Xuanhuiyuan organized thousands and hundreds of households from the left and right wings of the Mongolian army to visit Taiyuan or Luanzhou.

Those in the conference room today are all high-ranking officials of the Ming Dynasty. They have seen many new machines and ships that ordinary people cannot see, and have witnessed the actual use of these machines and ships with their own eyes.

Moving mountains and seas, creating the world, these literati's minds involuntarily emerged with extremely exaggerated words.

They knew its power, and now hearing that there were so many of them, they couldn't help but feel excited!
Zhang Juzheng continued speaking.

“Gyeonggi Shipbuilding Group was originally the largest shipbuilding company in our dynasty, but the number of ships built last year was much less than that in the third year of Longqing.

Because its largest shipyard, Hulugang Shipyard, is moving to Qinhuangdao. At the same time, it is also allocating some resources to build a third shipyard in Jinzhou.
After a year and a half of hard work, the Beijing-Tianjin Railway from Beijing to Tianjin and the Beijing-Qinhuangdao Railway from Beijing to Qinhuangdao have been built for 267 kilometers and are expected to be fully opened to traffic in the fifth year of Wanli.

Everyone was a little surprised when they heard this.

Why are the Emperor and Prime Minister Zhang so obsessed with building this railway?
They value him like their own son.

The carrying capacity of trams pulled by oxen and horses is indeed much larger, but that's all. There's no need to attach so much importance to it or invest so much in it!

Building railways is too expensive!
Did the Ming Dynasty, after conquering Mongolia, have countless more cattle and horses on the grasslands north and south of the desert, spend money so lavishly to create jobs for them?

The few who knew the inside story kept silent.

“The above figures are the result of the great development of industry and commerce.

But this brings up a huge problem: there is a lot of data, which is categorized and complicated. How can we organize this data and use it as an important basis for regulating taxation, revitalizing the economy, and formulating national policies?
The emperor proposed the concept of gross national product, which is to count and calculate the value created by the citizens of the Ming Dynasty both within and outside the Ming Dynasty and compile it into a total number.

After the emperor's detailed explanation of various fields including agriculture, non-agricultural industry, mining, finance, transportation, etc., we were suddenly enlightened. This statistical method is great.

This not only includes the output value of agriculture, industry and commerce, but also includes the survey of land. The emperor called it an economic census, which not only needs to find out the status of agricultural fields, but also the status of various industries such as industry and commerce.

The economic census is a survey of the family's assets, and the population census is a survey of the population. It is also necessary to count the economic conditions of each place and each enterprise. Who will do these tedious tasks? I decided at the executive meeting to set up a new statistics bureau to collect and count the data on the family assets of the Ming Dynasty. It will be directly under the cabinet and managed by the chief historian. "

No one said anything.

This organization sounds like a government office with no authority and no one is interested in it.

"Okay, after talking about tariffs and corporate taxes, I will continue to talk about the salt, sugar, tea and wine monopoly taxes. It totals 34,446,700 yuan, accounting for 30.5%.

That sounds very high.”

Everyone nodded, it was indeed a bit high.

"It's normal that it's high. During the Longqing period, the salt tax exceeded 15 million yuan a year, and the monopoly taxes on sugar, tea, and wine were also not low, adding up to more than 25 million.

But in the first year of the Wanli reign, it suddenly exceeded 30 million. Why is that?"

Zhang Juzheng looked around at the crowd, and Pang Shangpeng, the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue and concurrently in charge of the Salt, Sugar, Wine and Tea Monopoly Bureau, said, "The land tax is calculated based on the land area, and the one-whip system."

When everyone heard the words "tax burden per acre", their hearts trembled.

Why was the Jiangnan family headed by Lord Xu wiped out?

Although they have always opposed the new policies, they are mostly just shouting. They are also at a disadvantage in the court and can only make small moves but cannot cause any big waves.

But the emperor still resolutely launched a major case, implicating tens of thousands of people.

As soon as the three major cases in Jiangnan were concluded, the imperial court immediately began to implement more radical new policies such as allocating land tax and collecting land tax. Only then did the government and the public react.

The strongest opposition to the land tax and the levy of land tax would surely come from the Jiangnan families who owned large amounts of land.

The emperor was too lazy to argue with them, so he decided to eliminate them first, and then he could quietly implement a more radical new policy.

Too bad!
Zhang Juzheng spoke again at this time, "Yes, Pang Shaonan is right, we should distribute the tax according to the amount of land, levy the land tax silver, and implement the "One Whip" system.

The "One Whip Law" was to combine all the corvée and chores that the people had to bear before and convert them into silver for collection.

Before this, Benxiang was still a little hesitant, but after seeing the results after the development of industry and commerce, he made up his mind to carry out reforms as soon as possible and promote the equalization of land tax and the single whip system.

Do you know why?"

Wang Guoguang slowly took off his ivory glasses and said, "After the boom in industry and commerce, the demand for labor has increased dramatically.

Luanzhou coal, iron, machinery, shipbuilding and other factories and mines employed 470,000 workers; Shanghai cotton and silk factories alone employed 450,000 workers, of which 250,000 were women. Together with other factories such as shipbuilding and machinery, there were a total of 600,000 workers.

The factories and mines in Taiyuan employed 150,000 workers, the factories in Tianjin employed 40,000 workers, and the factories in Beijing employed 11,000 workers.

The twelve shipping companies owned 27,000 ships of various sizes and employed 1.67 million seafarers and sailors; there were also a large number of other construction workers. The number of workers building the Beijing-Tianjin and Beijing-Luanzhou railways alone reached 30,000.

Circulation is the key to the prosperity of industry and commerce and the economy. Circulation is not only about the circulation of goods, but also the flow of people.

The poll tax and corvée labor are two shackles around the necks of the people. If they are not completely broken, the population will not be able to flow, and industrial and commercial enterprises will not be able to obtain the labor they need. "

Yang Jinshui spoke up, "The Planning Bureau of the Ministry of Finance made a preliminary statistics at the beginning of this year. In the second year of Wanli, the labor shortage of newly opened factories, mines, commercial enterprises was about 500,000, of which about 300,000 were female workers.

Just now Zhang Xiang said that our country's cotton textile industry is growing rapidly, but the extreme shortage of female workers in textile factories can be alleviated, and our country's cotton textile industry will soon be able to double.

The obstacles that currently restrict its development are first labor, second cotton, and third machinery and technology.

After Wang Guoguang and Yang Jinshui finished speaking, Zhang Juzheng continued, "Minister Wang and Eunuch Yang have made it very clear that the land tax and the one-whip system are imperative.

The cabinet first implemented the policy of allocating land tax to each acre in Liaodong, Shanxi, Shaanxi and Gansu.

My goodness, this is a case of picking the softest persimmon.

The two Liao regions are vast with few people, landlords?
Haha, I just enclose a piece of land and it is mine according to the court regulations. I can also enjoy five years of exemption and three years of reduction. For five years, the land tax is exempted and for three years, the land tax is reduced by half. Who is not a landlord?
Needless to say, in Shanxi, during the Gengxu Rebellion, all Shanxi merchants were purged, and many Shanxi Party officials also suffered.

These Shanxi merchants and Shanxi Party officials were big landlords themselves. After they were cleared out, only small and medium-sized landlords and a few big landlords were left in Shanxi. They said that they firmly support whatever the court says!
The land in Shaanxi and Gansu is barren, and there are big landlords, but by no means are there any fewer big landlord families than in Jiangnan, where there are as many big landlord families as turtles in the pond of merit.

More importantly, the landlord groups in these provinces produced relatively few Jinshi officials and had little say in the court.

The imperial court wanted to try out the tax-sharing system here, but those landlord families could not cause any big trouble. "The cabinet also tried out the one-whip system in Guangdong, Fujian, Jinghai and Haidong provinces, and found many problems. The biggest problem was the old problem: the people were short of cash.

After several discussions, the cabinet reported to the emperor for approval and adopted improvement measures. Instead of collecting the land tax directly, the land tax per mu was increased year by year, one step at a time, slowly increasing it to give the people a buffer.

The Single Whip Law combined all the corvée, miscellaneous labor, labor service and silver service of the people and converted them into silver, which the court then used to hire laborers to complete the work.

However, the actual collection is very troublesome and there is a high possibility of loopholes. For example, wealthy households and powerful people may collude with tax collectors to obtain tax exemptions, which will increase the burden on ordinary people.

It is not appropriate to include it in the land tax.

First, the land tax increased too much and the burden was too heavy; second, it was unfair to some farmers.

Some farmers make a living by farming and have no other income. The head tax is included in the land tax, and the silver converted into regular labor is also included in the land tax. They have a lot more burdens for no reason.

Some citizens had no land, but lived a comfortable life by working and using their craftsmanship, without having to pay the head tax or the silver equivalent of regular labor service.

After careful consideration, the cabinet included the equivalent silver in the salt tax.

As long as you are a human being, you have to eat salt, and eating salt means paying taxes. In addition to paying salt taxes, you also have to pay the silver equivalent of regular and miscellaneous labor service.

Of course, the salt tax was not added randomly. It was the professors and students from the School of Mathematics of Wanli University who helped calculate a more balanced number.

The head tax and the silver equivalent of regular labor service are levied on young and strong men between the ages of 16 and 60 and they need to pay it every year. Their wives, children and parents also pay for these young and strong men."

Zhang Juzheng explained in detail that he was very satisfied with this move.

As the emperor said, paying taxes is the obligation of everyone in the Ming Dynasty.

Businesses have to pay taxes, and individuals also have to pay taxes.

The head tax and regular labor service are personal taxes. Once you pay the taxes, you can enjoy the rights of a Ming Dynasty citizen.

What rights? From then on, roads, bridges, riverbanks and canals were all built with money from the court.

There is also compulsory education and national medical care being gradually implemented.
This two-way approach is the correct way to collect taxes.

"The first year of the Wanli reign was the first year that the salt tax included regular and miscellaneous labor service in silver, so it increased a lot.
Of course, in order to convert the miscellaneous labor into silver, the price of salt must be unified. The cabinet established the China Salt Group, with a salt company in each province, and salt factories were established in salt-producing areas such as Huaidong, Tianjin, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Guangdong, and Sichuan, directly under the provincial salt companies.

The salt produced by the Salt Company is sold at a uniform price through retail enterprises across the country, such as the Supply and Marketing Cooperative Group and the Department Store Group. The Monopoly Bureau is responsible for collecting the monopoly tax.

Now the Ming Dynasty not only has China Salt Group, but also COFCO, China Sugar, China Tea, and China Liquor Group, which are affiliated to the Taifu Temple and are the cabinet's treasure pot and money tree.

With these industries that made huge profits every day, the cabinet and Zhang Juzheng became more confident.

However, in another two years, they will find that even if the above-mentioned Chinese-Chinese groups were combined, they would not be as good as the China Tobacco Group of the Shaofujian.

She would definitely be depressed and secretly complain that the emperor left the biggest treasure pot for herself.

"The most common miscellaneous item is the deed tax, also called stamp duty. It is mainly the stamp duty paid when registering the sale of houses, fields, etc. at various registration offices. It is too little, and I don't care about it, so I won't go into details."

Zhang Juzheng waved his hand proudly, everyone laughed, and the meeting room was filled with a cheerful and relaxed atmosphere.

After laughing for a while, Zhang Juzheng continued.

"Based on the figures previously mentioned by the Prime Minister, we can infer that the average tariff is 18.6%. However, in reality, imported goods are divided into 12 major categories, 63 subcategories, and 397 subcategories, and the tariff for each subcategory is different. Export taxes are high, and import taxes are low.

The value-added tax is unified and is currently 10 percent; the transaction tax is also unified and is currently 7 percent.

Business taxes are different and are divided into three major industries, A, B and C, 37 middle industries, and 112 small categories of business enterprises.

Different industries have different business taxes.”

Cai Maochun, the Minister of the Imperial Household, said with a smile: "Prime Minister Zhang, hearing what you said makes me feel overwhelmed."

Everyone laughed, and Zhang Juzheng also chuckled twice.

“It’s okay if you have a big head, as long as Master Yang doesn’t have a big head.

All tax rates, including customs duties on imported and exported goods, are set by the Tariff Regulations Bureau.

The bureau is directly under the cabinet and is managed by Mr. Yang. At the end of each year, the tax rate for the next year is announced, and the tax collection bureaus, the Maritime Bureau and the Inter-trade Bureau of the Taxation Department collect taxes according to the regulations.

The meeting lasted a whole day and ended at around 5:30 in the afternoon. It will continue tomorrow.

Zhang Juzheng returned to his duty room and explained things to the Cabinet Chief Secretary Zhang Xueyan.

"Today's meeting minutes must be compiled tonight. After the meeting is over tomorrow, they will be compiled and submitted to the Xiyuan Silijian, and then distributed to the participating ministries and temples, and a copy will be sent to the Shaofujian."

"Yes!"

"I have a meeting today, and I feel that it is more convenient to hold it in Nanyuan Changyi Pavilion."

Zhang Xueyan nodded, "Prime Minister Zhang is right. We can hold large meetings there, or we can hold small meetings in groups. After the meeting, we don't have to worry about lunch or dinner. We can go directly to the right hall to eat."

Unlike today, I still have to ask the restaurant to deliver food, and it is not convenient to eat in the conference room.

If the meeting cannot be completed in one day, we can stay there and continue the next day.”

Zhang Juzheng raised his head and laughed, "Yes, it is convenient for us, but Pan Fengwu made all the money."

Speaking of the name of Shuntian Prefecture Governor Pan Yinglong, Zhang Xueyan's heart moved and he spoke.

"Prime Minister Zhang, I recently heard some news about Prefect Pan."

"what news?"

Zhang Xueyan gave a general account of Pan Yinglong’s “Operation Wind and Thunder” to investigate tax evasion and tax avoidance.

"I heard that most of the businesses arrested by the Inspection Bureau this time are related to pawnshops, gambling houses, brothels, and brothels. Eight out of ten of them are related to the nobles in the capital."

Zhang Juzheng smiled and said, "That's normal. Civil officials and scholars don't stay in the capital for long, and even if they stay for a long time, they don't bother to deal with people from all walks of life. Only the local residents in the capital, those nobles who have been passed down for two hundred years, will set their sights on this area.

Pan Yinglong is so courageous! "

"Prime Minister Zhang, I heard that there are two leading business houses that have connections with the Zhenyuan Marquis and Chengguogong Mansion."

Zhang Juzheng's right hand, which was stroking his beard, steady itself, and a gleam of light flashed in his eyes.

(End of this chapter)