The Moon in the Qin Dynasty

Chapter 599: A Heavy Blow to the Merchants

What Ying Zheng is worried about now is the future.

After conquering the State of Zhao, appropriate immigration was carried out to the north, and only then was the land divided.

The fact that Yan State had a vast territory and a sparse population was not a big problem. In addition, a number of royal families had been severely punished, so Yan State was still a long way from reaching population saturation.

To be honest, the people in that poor place are now eager to be closer to the Central Plains. It is a bitter and cold place, and even dogs are unwilling to go there now.

What Ying Zheng was worried about was Wei and Qi. Both countries had large populations and high population densities.

After we take it, we can only distribute it appropriately between the north and the south, otherwise there won’t be enough good places to go around.

At that time, it was necessary to take over the Chu State as soon as possible, relieve the pressure on the Chu State with its vast land and sparse population, adopt policies to support and induce people to immigrate. Similarly, only with a larger population can the southeast land be better developed.

But it's not a big problem after all. After all, there is still a lot of land and a small number of people. It just needs to be distributed evenly. Ying Zheng has the ability to do this, but it's not an urgent matter after all.

Now Daqin has enough financial resources to do it.

At present, the land tax in Daqin is still a bit high, collecting three out of ten.

However, Ying Zheng did not use all of his money for his own enjoyment. It was because the empire had too many things to do and too many places that needed money and food. The people could understand this, after all, they had seen the changes in the Qin Dynasty.

This was already a significant reduction, and the people were already grateful. Before Ying Zheng ascended the throne, the land tax was sometimes as high as two to one.

Let the people suffer for a while, the development of the empire always comes at a price. Of course, there will be no infamy, it won't be recorded in history books anyway.

History must be revised. If the official government does not revise it, unofficial history will be everywhere. The official government can embellish history better by making history look pretty. This is beneficial to governance and can also create public opinion orientation and social ideological tendencies.

As for adding personal opinions, that is for sure. If not, wouldn't it be a waste of time? Compiling history is a laborious and costly matter. It is not as simple as one might imagine. If you spend so much effort and don't add personal opinions, wouldn't it be a waste of time? Of course, it will not be too fake or exaggerated. It is enough to use the style of the Spring and Autumn Annals in key places.

The most important thing is to thoroughly establish the image of a sage king who has never been seen before or since! Then focus on describing the tragic situation of the princes fighting for hegemony in the past and the suffering of the people. Only in this way can the beauty of the peaceful world be highlighted.

As long as there is official propaganda, the people will believe it. The people are always superstitious about authority. Even if they don't believe it completely, it is enough to muddy the water. Anyway, the people's memory is always not very good.

However, now that Daqin is developing rapidly, it is really expensive. There is no other way. The court needs to spend money whenever it moves. Everything needs money, and development needs money even more.

In order to improve the central finances, Ying Zheng had already started the Shaofu monopoly, and the salt, iron, tea and copper were all under the Shaofu monopoly, and any private ownership was strictly prohibited. The price was not cheap, but it was affordable for ordinary people, and the head tax was not low, plus the land tax.

In addition, the mountains, rivers, ponds and lakes all belong to the King of Qin.

Of course, it is impossible to prohibit people from fishing and hunting, as that would cost their lives. Tax collectors can be sent to collect a symbolic tax from ordinary people, but for extraordinary people, the situation is different.

Mineral resources are also monopolized by the Shaofu!
And business taxes!

Although the market economy is not well developed now, we still have to have what we need. If we don’t set good rules now, it will be difficult for our descendants to set them in the future.

Under the current land policy, a large number of aristocratic officials will inevitably be forced to turn to business. Commercial taxes are also a huge source of income, and at the same time, intervention in the market is inevitable.

Ying Zheng formulated detailed commercial tax collection laws based on the Song Dynasty's "Commercial Tax Regulations", established a new Commercial Tax Bureau, and set up tax stations in all counties to be responsible for commercial tax collection.

It clarifies the specific contents such as the objects of commercial tax collection, tax rates, and collection methods, and requires that taxation must be based on legal provisions, and that tax rates must not be increased or reduced at will, and that merchants' business activities must not be interfered with at will.

In order to prevent officials from abusing their power, businessmen are encouraged to report officials; whistleblowers who report tax evasion and tax avoidance are given generous rewards.

Currently, the commercial tax is mainly levied on municipal merchants.

People who engage in business will be included in a separate list of city merchants, and only those who are included in the city merchant list are allowed to engage in business.

The city merchant class was clearly defined as a lowly class, which was why the slave class was included in the city merchant class, in order to ruin the city merchant class in reputation.

People with city business registration were only allocated half the land that farmers had, and were prohibited from holding extra land or buying and selling land.

For people in a household, their direct bloodline will be checked three generations up and three generations down, and they are prohibited from being officials, joining the army, or obtaining titles.

Nobles and officials were forbidden to engage in business and marry women of low status. Women of low status were concubines, and their illegitimate sons had no inheritance rights.

If a city merchant wants to transfer his/her nationality, the head of the household is prohibited from doing so. If a family member wants to transfer, they must first be transferred to slave status for three years, and then open a separate account before they can be transferred to farmer status. A city merchant is only allowed to transfer his/her nationality once in his/her lifetime.

All merchants were required to declare their property to the court every year and pay property tax. Merchants were prohibited from wearing silk and brocade clothing, riding in luxurious carriages, or riding in horse-powered carriages.

There are many reasons for restricting merchants, which need not be elaborated, but the most important one is to ensure the stability of the rule and society.

Not restricting businessmen will even affect the regime.

However, we cannot eliminate business. After all, there is no wealth without business, and the development of commercial activities in society is necessary and positive.

If farmers don’t work, they will be short of food; if merchants don’t work, the three treasures will be gone. This principle was understood hundreds of years ago.

Then we can only raise them like pigs.

Although ordinary people are not the ones who can become big businessmen, the rules have been set, and those respectable people who must be decent must also restrain themselves. The unspoken rules can only be used under the rules and cannot be brought to the table. As long as the status of merchants continues to be suppressed, the nobles who represent honor and status will not participate in it openly. As long as there is no legal involvement, it is easy to deal with.

Of course, the definition of city merchants is also relatively high, and is defined as traveling merchants and sedentary merchants.

Itinerant merchants refer to businessmen who engage in mobile operations such as long-distance trafficking, and they are required to pay taxes during the transportation of goods.

Sedentary merchants refer to merchants who open shops in the city to sell goods and are required to pay residence tax.

To put it simply, they are people who can form a caravan and people who have their own shops.

Small handicraftsmen and farmers who produce and sell their own products, such as peddlers and cart drivers, are not counted as businessmen.

Farmers are producers in all kinds of industries. It is impossible to count those who do manual labor during their spare time, or go from street to street to earn some money to supplement their family income as businessmen.

Although the status of merchants is low, one is not qualified to be classified as a merchant without certain assets.

When the nationality was first established, merchants were allowed to choose not to do business and become farmers. As long as they gave up doing business, their property and land would be retained, and the next generation would be allowed to follow the policies of the Qin Dynasty.

All noble officials must immediately eliminate all commercial activities. Once discovered, they will be dismissed from office and demoted to city merchants!

Since the reform, the Qin Dynasty has always emphasized agriculture and suppressed commerce, but this does not mean that it despises commerce. On the contrary, the Qin Dynasty has always attached great importance to commerce. It is clear that there is no wealth without commerce. Originally, it only restricted the types of goods and locations of business, and levied heavy taxes.

The status of merchants in this era was not low, especially the big merchants. They traded with various countries, accumulated huge wealth, and could even participate in political affairs.

For example: Lu Buwei.

Especially after Lu Buwei, more and more people wanted to make a profit from the rare goods. They became more interested in political affairs and were eager to serve in the court. This was something Ying Zheng could not tolerate.

Moreover, too many big businessmen are too powerful.

He is so wealthy that he can't be called a businessman, but a local warlord. After all, money can make you a god.

For example, the widow of Ba County is now an old woman, Qing Dynasty.

She had thousands of servants under her command for protection, and tens of thousands of people in charge of other matters. They were called servants, but in fact they were private soldiers.

In agricultural societies, merchants were often also large landowners, and if they were not careful they would easily upgrade themselves into local tyrants, who would become difficult to deal with.

Ba Qing was such a local tyrant.

Are there powerful people in the land of abundance of the Qin Dynasty?

This is no longer an ordinary businessman, we must strike hard!

Not only Ba Qing, but all the wealthy and powerful businessmen with some potential in the entire Qin Dynasty were dealt with.

A servant? That's easy. Should he be a slave or a peasant? Should he get a share of the land or be a slave?
Too much land? Do you deserve it without a title? Do you want to live or die? Have you occupied more land than allowed?
Have you paid your business taxes? Have you evaded or avoided taxes?
Is the household registration in place? Are there any hidden people?

Ba Qing no longer engaged in business, nor did she put up a desperate resistance. She dismissed her servants, wisely changed her citizenship, and asked her son to donate a huge amount of money to help Li Bing build the Wuchi Road. She was awarded the title of a doctor, and the whole family moved to Xianyang.

His family had been keeping the cinnabar industry for generations, but he sold it to the Shaofu at a low price.

Just as there are those who are sensible, there are also those who are not.

There was no direct confrontation, but there was definitely some lip service, and then a group of ignorant people were severely confiscated, exiled, and killed.

Merchants? What a joke. When will it be the turn of merchants to make trouble?

As for commodity taxes, except for daily necessities such as rice, grain, tea, salt, firewood and charcoal, they are exempt from commercial taxes.

The rest covers almost all commodities in circulation, including goods, currency, real estate, land, etc. As for luxury goods, such as silk, jade, porcelain, precious metals, etc., as well as entertainment venues, heavy taxes will be levied. In addition, merchants' cargo transportation and storage are also within the scope of taxation.

Of course, the commercial tax rates in different regions are also different, and different tax rates are implemented to adapt to the economic development of each region. Similarly, if natural disasters, famines, wars, etc. occur, the tax rates will be adjusted in time to reduce the burden on merchants.

The collection methods include monetary collection and collection in kind. In order to encourage development, monetary collection is the main method. When merchants have difficulty paying taxes, collection in kind is also allowed.

Everything in this world requires money. A strong country does not mean a strong court. Only when you have strong mobilization capabilities and can collect money can you concentrate on doing big things.

The most important thing for a regime is to be able to collect money, especially from the rich and powerful. Only with money can things be done; without money, nothing can be done.

Of course, we can't just rob money, because that would make the people lose their motivation to produce, and it would also affect the stability of the regime and disrupt social order, which would not be worth the cost. This requires the complicated means mentioned above. Robbing money doesn't sound good, but collecting taxes is much better.

The key reason why the Qin Dynasty was able to annex the six kingdoms was that it could squeeze out all of its national strength.

Through this systematic and meticulous cultivation and sustainable exhaustion of resources, Ying Zheng was able to collect so much money and grain in kind, which enabled him to launch a series of major developments in a grand manner.

(End of this chapter)