Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 236 Shipbuilding strategy is based on tax reform!

As soon as Zhu Houcong said this, one could hear a pin drop in the hall.

The ministers of the cabinet and nine officials all held their breath, with different expressions on their faces.

They have also seen in recent days that the newspapers have widely reported on the crimes of the Portuguese and publicized the threats posed by the Portuguese. They also know that the government and the public are now discussing the provocations of the Portuguese.

But they knew very well that the emperor had a deep meaning behind what he did.

And when the emperor proposed to build warships and establish a more powerful navy, they couldn't help but secretly think that the emperor was indeed preparing to strengthen maritime power.

They could even guess that the emperor's next step after building warships and establishing a powerful navy would be to further seize the profits from maritime trade to support the new policy.

This forced them to admit that the emperor was really good at planning!

In order to further seize the profits of maritime trade, they actually spread the threat of the Portuguese first, preparing to increase the scale of shipbuilding and strengthen the navy, making it difficult for them to oppose openly now!

After all, the government and the public have begun to form a public opinion that the Portuguese threat cannot be ignored, and they cannot guarantee that the Portuguese will not really bring serious unrest to the Ming Dynasty.

This is a conspiracy.

Therefore, even if some of them wanted to object, they were unable to do so.

"Your Majesty, Holy Might!"

"This is indeed a top priority right now. Otherwise, the Western pirates may really think that our dynasty cannot go out to sea to conquer disrespectful countries."

The Minister of Justice Zhao Huang spoke first and expressed his support for this proposal.

Grand Secretary Yang Yiqing also said: "Your Majesty, I also think that building warships and strengthening the navy is indeed a very urgent matter at the moment. There is a new threat at sea. If we do not strengthen our maritime defenses, we will suffer sooner or later!"

"I have specially checked the shipbuilding situation of all dynasties. I think the shipbuilding system of the current dynasty is too chaotic. We should set up a special shipbuilding bureau to build ships and distribute them to various government offices that need ships, or even sell them to merchants who need ships."

"After all, the cost of shipbuilding in various places is now borne by local people, either from bamboo and wood tax or converted into silver for the ship price. For example, the shipbuilding costs of the Qingjiangpu Shipyard have always been borne by local craftsmen, and the local military households have borne the cost of repairing the ship, and both have been converted into silver; while the shipbuilding costs of the Nandu Longjiang Shipyard come from the bamboo and wood tax of Taiping."

"So, it would be better to centralize all the shipyards in various places and have them managed by the Ship Administration Bureau. The shipbuilding costs of the Ship Administration Bureau would also be collected and allocated by the court, and then distributed by the court. At the same time, the Ship Administration Bureau could ask for permission to sell ships to merchants to facilitate commercial transportation."

"allow!"

Zhu Houcong nodded at this time.

The Ming Dynasty's finances had always been in chaos, and Zhu Houcong was also very troubled.

According to the regulations at the beginning of the country, construction work, that is, building palaces and warships, was done by craftsmen from all over the country in the form of service.

This is similar to the system of reviewing the Yellow Book after surveying the land every ten years stipulated by Zhu Yuanzhang, in which the students of the Imperial College were required to perform the review function by serving in the army.

However, as a large number of craftsmen fled or changed jobs, and the capital was relocated, it was too costly for a large number of craftsmen to go north to serve. If the original system of serving for official construction was enforced, it would only exacerbate the craftsmen's escape. So they simply changed it to a system of drawing lots of bamboo and wood, that is, only requiring craftsmen from all over the country to pay bamboo, wood and other physical objects, and then the court would organize the refugees to carry out construction itself.

Later, in some places, the bamboo and wood tax was changed to payment of grain and silver because local craftsmen transformed into farmers or market workers. In short, it was changed according to local conditions.

Precisely because the realities in different places are different, some craftsmen near shipyards in the south still undertake shipbuilding tasks by serving in the service.

Anyway, the shipyard is near his hometown. For ordinary craftsmen and people in the Ming Dynasty who are short of money, it is naturally more cost-effective to serve in the army.

As a result, the Ming Dynasty's maintenance and service system became particularly chaotic and complicated.

That is to say...

Some places are still adhering to the form of the early days of the country.

In some places, the maintenance and repair service tasks have been turned into taxes, but some of these taxes are still collected in kind such as bamboo and wood, while others have changed to cash collection.

In short, the main feature is the complexity and local characteristics of each place.

of course.

Yang Yiqing suggested setting up a Shipbuilding Bureau. The real purpose of this suggestion was not only to concentrate efforts on shipbuilding, but also to strengthen the financial power of the cabinet.

Yang Yiqing then proposed: "Your Majesty, I propose that the Shipbuilding Bureau, like the Mining Bureau, be placed under the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Finance will determine the scale of shipbuilding based on demand."

Minister of Works Tong Rui understood immediately upon hearing this. He knew that the cabinet wanted to turn the income from the Ministry of Works' bamboo and wood used in shipbuilding into its own income, using a tactic of grafting.

Tong Rui said at this time: "Your Majesty, I think it is inappropriate to put the Ship Administration Bureau under the Ministry of Finance, because the Ministry of Works is responsible for the construction of the country, and only the Ministry of Works knows the cost of building warships and how to save the cost of construction."

"It will be assigned to the Ministry of Finance!"

"The Ministry of Works is only responsible for the specific construction matters. It provides the necessary funds and talents for construction according to the shipbuilding needs formulated by the Shipbuilding Bureau of the Ministry of Finance."

Zhu Houcong made the final decision.

Tong Rui didn't dare to say anything else.

After all, the emperor, who has a strong army and powerful soldiers, now has absolute power. If he opposes it again, he will anger the emperor.

Zhu Houcong then looked at the other ministers and asked, "Do you have any objections to this?"

"I have no objection!"

Except Zhang Cong, all the other cabinet ministers including Mao Ji expressed no objection.

Zhu Houcong then asked Zhang Cong, "Mr. Zhang, do you have any other objections?"

"I think we shouldn't propose building a large number of warships and strengthening the navy now!"

Zhang Cong spoke frankly at this time.

The hall became quiet again, with only the rustling sound of the wind.

It was obviously going to rain outside. The temperature inside the palace also seemed to drop sharply. The chief minister Mao Ji couldn't help but shiver and looked at Zhang Cong with a rather complaining look, thinking, "You usually like to please the emperor, why are you singing a different tune today?"

Yang Yiqing's face was gloomy, as if he had guessed what Zhang Cong was going to say.

Zhu Houcong was also surprised.

Because the person who opposed him was Zhang Cong!

Therefore, Zhu Houcong forced a smile and asked, "Why?"

"Start your Majesty!"

"I believe that tax policy is the foundation of all major policies!"

"Without tax reform, all new policies are but castles in the air."

Zhang Cong replied.

After hearing this, Zhu Houcong nodded solemnly.

"For example, as Yang Ge Lao said, we should set up a Ship Administration Bureau to unify shipbuilding, and let the Cabinet's Department of Finance be responsible for shipbuilding planning."

"According to the current system of the country, the cost of shipbuilding is mainly collected from bamboo and wood taxes and craftsman's silver. Bamboo and wood taxes and craftsman's silver have always been collected by the Ministry of Works. Of course, in fact, just like the land tax, it is actually collected by the gentry and wealthy families in various places."

"Now that the Ship Administration Bureau has been established and is to be incorporated into the Cabinet, this means that the income from the bamboo and wood tax and the craftsman's silver will be incorporated into the Cabinet. In this way, the Ministry of Works will certainly no longer actively collect the fees, and the gentry will naturally be happy to delay collecting the bamboo and wood tax and the craftsman's silver as much as possible."

"This way, it will be even more difficult to collect points for bamboo and wood and to collect the craftsman's silver!"

"I think that Lord Yang's idea should be to use the income from the gold mine directly to build ships. Since it is more difficult to collect the bamboo and wood tax and the craftsman's silver, which is estimated to be around 80,000 taels per year, it is better to exempt it directly! You can get a reputation as a benevolent person who helps the common people out of their difficulties!"

"Anyway, the gold mine can now produce more than 500,000 silver dollars worth of gold each year. It will be more than enough for Your Majesty to allocate 100,000 for shipbuilding."

Zhang Cong looked at Yang Yiqing and said, "Master Yang, do you think what I said is true or not?"

Yang Yiqing couldn't help but stand up and said, "Your Majesty! Can I not answer?"

“Must answer!”

Zhu Houcong said.

Yang Yiqing said, "Then I dare not hide it from Your Majesty. I do have this intention. I will appropriately abolish some harsh taxes to achieve the goal of reducing taxes and levies and alleviating the people's difficulties. It is also to be able to win back the hearts of the people with a benevolent policy of reducing taxes when a large number of gentry and officials are eliminated and the resentment of the people is increased, so as to achieve the goal of political stability and people's harmony."

"His Majesty!"

"Yang Ge Lao is an experienced man who is good at planning for the country, but he is just scratching the surface and not getting to the point."

"If we don't change the tax policy and just take advantage of the court's increased mining revenue to reduce taxes blindly, it won't last long, because sooner or later, Donglai's mines will be exhausted!"

"The court can use part of the current mining revenue to increase the number of warships and strengthen the navy, but what if the mines are exhausted in the future? How will the cost of maintaining and repairing the warships and the supply of newly recruited navy be paid?"

"It is impossible that your Majesty's generation can have a strong navy and strict sea defenses, but in the future, the navy will be weakened and the sea defenses will be weakened, right?"

"I think that as a cabinet minister, you should plan for the long term!"

When Zhang Cong said this, he bowed to Zhu Houcong again and said:
"So I ask Your Majesty to postpone the shipbuilding plan and rectify the taxation policy first!"

"Your Majesty, I object!"

"It is too urgent to rectify the tax policy now! Without ten or twenty years of preparation, it is not appropriate to change the tax policy. Because the tax law of our ancestors has not been completely abolished in some places, it naturally has its advantages, and the new tax law has not been widely promoted, so it naturally has its shortcomings!"

At this time, Yang Yiqing put forward his views on tax policy.

Zhu Houcong could tell from what they were saying that Yang Yiqing was more steady and Zhang Cong was more radical.

It can also be said that Yang Yiqing was more conservative than Zhang Cong. He was unwilling to make drastic changes in tax policies, but he could accept the court using the extra income to appropriately strengthen the military and reduce the burden on the people, even if it was only a temporary strengthening and reduction. It was equivalent to taking one step at a time and seeing what was ahead. As for the future, he believed in the wisdom of future generations.

But Zhu Houcong now only wanted the shipbuilding issue to be passed as soon as possible so that the bureaucrats and craftsmen below could start to implement it seriously.

Because Zhu Houcong knew that there were gold mines not only in Donglai, but also in many other places. Without ships and a strong navy, he could only watch as Westerners robbed everywhere, and even used the robbed silver to exchange for Ming Dynasty silk, porcelain, and tea to make money everywhere.

However, the Ming Dynasty had to face inflation caused by the massive influx of silver, the widening gap between the rich and the poor due to the influx of an export-oriented economy, and the increasingly fragile economic ecology due to the reduction in grain-growing areas.

Therefore, Zhu Houcong only asked Zhang Cong at this time: "If you were Yang Gelao, what would you do?"

"We will no longer collect bamboo and wood taxes and silver from artisans and common people, but this does not mean that this income will be exempted. Instead, the bamboo and wood taxes will be added to the banknote customs and commercial taxes!"

"Those who can do business, especially those who do large-scale transactions, are not ordinary people! And the business tax at the banknotes is also easy to collect, because it does not need to go through the gentry and wealthy families to collect it. We only need to send reliable officials to each banknote!"

"Let them bear the tax of 100,000 or 200,000 silver dollars per year. This will not burden the common people, and we can also build more warships."

"The remaining income from the gold mines should be kept for future use. The imperial court should also accumulate silver appropriately to reduce the situation of spending more than it earns!"

"This will both reduce the people's hardship and not hurt the country's income!"

Zhang Cong replied.

Zhu Houcong asked, "If I let you lead the Cabinet as Minister of Works and take charge of the Ship Administration, and you decide on the reform of bamboo and wood, do you still think that the proposal to build a large number of warships needs to be postponed?"

"Then I think there is no need to postpone it!"

"It would be a more appropriate strategy to first adjust the taxation policy on a small scale by building warships!"

"Mr. Yang's opinion that we should not be too hasty in rectifying the tax policy actually makes sense!"

Zhang Cong immediately changed his words.

(End of this chapter)