Da Tang: Father, can I resign?

Chapter 441 Luxury Goods Are the Benefactors of the Nation!

Liu Ji remembered it clearly.

The shopkeeper was trying to sell him something called a "top-of-the-line luxury Pro Max edition" jade belt buckle today.

The same products he bought a few days ago that have brought him and his subordinates endless envy and trouble.

The styles and designs are almost identical.

There are only slight differences in the details, with two extra wavy lines, which are probably meant to symbolize so-called "auspicious clouds".

It deeply captures the essence of "expressive meaning" in traditional Chinese painting, and is quite abstract.

The price is similar to the previous jade buckle, just with an extra zero.

It's quite abstract.

Liu Ji: "..."

That's so expensive! They're robbing us!
People in the North are still starving, and people in the South are still eating grass. How dare you... Old Liu was almost possessed by Fang Yize, wanting to speak out and denounce this unscrupulous merchant.

But the surrounding customers, shop assistants, and servants were all staring wide-eyed at this distinguished official.

He couldn't bring himself to say it. Surrounded by a large group of servants, he strode into the shop with great fanfare, being fawned over by the shopkeeper as "Your Excellency" and looked up to by the other customers.

The result was something like, "Can't afford it, too expensive, goodbye," and they slunk out of the store...

He simply couldn't bring himself to do such a mercenary act that would damage the prestige of the Ming Dynasty officials!

Liu Ji suddenly realized that he had been tricked by this cunning shopkeeper!

The unscrupulous merchant deliberately pulled him aside, acting all mysterious.

Actually, doing this actually aroused the curiosity of other customers and attracted their attention!

Even though he saw through the other party's tricks, Liu Ji was helpless.

He was just a third-rank official, not a businessman, and was a respectable person in public.

I simply couldn't bring myself to haggle.

Too cheap.

The shopkeeper, a seasoned old fox, immediately saw through Liu's hesitation and became even more attentive.

"My lord, this jade pendant has been officially certified by the imperial court!"
"Otherwise, I wouldn't dare to offend your eyes with a cheap item."

"Only such exquisite items are worthy of your distinguished status!"

The imperial court?

Isn't this my workplace?
Immediately in Liu Ji's mind, the image of Fang Yize, the Minister of Civil Affairs, with his youthful and dashing appearance, appeared, and he rebuked him with righteous indignation:
Northern customs, southern ways, how dare you!

In Liu Ji's memory, although the Ming Dynasty was a continuation of the Tang Dynasty, its customs were quite different.

The imperial court has always been a friend of the common people.

It's hard to imagine that someone like Fang Yize, with his thick eyebrows and big eyes, would endorse luxury goods that are suspected of being "extravagant and corrupting social morals".

But Liu, the official, merely furrowed his brow slightly, and the shopkeeper, as if sensing his presence, quickly retrieved a page of documents, a confident smile on his face.

"Your Majesty, I have been operating with integrity for many years. I settled here when this place was still under the jurisdiction of Pingzhou in Liaodong."

"Thanks to His Majesty the Emperor's great blessings, my shop has been able to stay open until now. How dare I misuse the imperial name!"

Liu Ji looked closely.

The document in the shopkeeper's hand was prominently titled with five large, golden characters: "Luxury Goods Authentication Certificate".

The content was very simple; it was just a long, repetitive monologue.

Liu Ji skipped directly to the core content of the last paragraph—

The document states, "This is to certify that the submitted 'Dragon and Phoenix Auspicious Crane Lingwu Jadeite Buckle' is of superior grade B," and is accompanied by a large red seal.

This passage made Liu Ji frown even more deeply.

The seal clearly read "Da Ming Chamber of Commerce," and the signature of the Chamber's president, Zhi Shibuzhen, was also present.

This was not a department officially registered with the imperial court, but Liu Ji knew that the shopkeeper wasn't entirely exaggerating or lying.

As everyone knows, the Ming Dynasty Chamber of Commerce is a remarkable organization.

On the surface, it's a business club, but behind the scenes... those who know, know.

He has done countless things for His Majesty.

Therefore, in a broad sense, chambers of commerce can also be considered an integral part of the imperial court.

One could even say that it was closer to His Majesty the Emperor than ordinary government offices…

"Well? Does this treasure match the Emperor's majesty and reflect your brilliance?"

The shopkeeper spared no effort in promoting the product.

Liu Ji was clearly unsure of what to do.

Paying ten times the price for the same thing is really a waste.

but……

"This is no ordinary mediocre product; it has been officially certified by the imperial court!"

The shopkeeper observed the subtle changes in the customer's expression and continued his sweet talk offensive.

These words struck Liu Ji right to the heart.

What's the point of buying luxury goods?

Is the image useful? Is the image aesthetically pleasing? Is the image cost-effective?
wrong!
It's about saving face, about getting approval from others!

What recognition could be more authoritative than the official certification of the Ming Dynasty?

As long as the imperial court approves it, even a pile of dog excrement will be regarded as ambergris in the eyes of the world!
Conversely, without recognition, even the stone left over from Nuwa's patching of the sky is just a roadside stone.

"This this……"

Liu Ji was genuinely conflicted.

Spending so much money to buy such a mediocre piece of jade.

Even the head of one of the three provinces has to think about this carefully.

Although the salaries of Ming Dynasty officials were high, the avenues for "making money through shady means" were greatly reduced.

To avoid being woken up at night by knocks on the door saying, "Open the door! The Anti-Corruption Committee needs your assistance in an investigation!", officials walked on thin ice, and their actual total income was not necessarily high.

But who can resist the allure of the title "official luxury goods certified by the imperial court"?

Liu Ji no longer hesitated.

Damn it, as a surrendered official of the Tang Dynasty, he had already reached the pinnacle of his career as the Grand Secretary of the Secretariat. The possibility of him climbing any higher was extremely slim.

His lust for power could not be further satisfied, and he was already financially secure.

What else does he aspire to in life?
Besides spending money to show off, what else can Liu Ji do?
And what could be more prestigious than imperial certification?
expensive?
Expensive is justified!

If it's not expensive, if any nouveau riche could afford it, if it doesn't highlight the owner's rarity and prestige.

On the contrary, Liu Ji didn't even think much of it!
"So what if it's a bit luxurious? It makes it seem like I'm afraid of that brat from the Fang family!"

"Having money but not spending it is like wearing fine clothes at night!"

Liu Ji pondered it carefully, gritted his teeth, and made up his mind.

He nodded slightly to his attendant:

"You handle it."

Why would the Chamberlain need to do something as trivial as buying things himself?
The attendant understood immediately and took out a stack of bills from his bag.

The shopkeeper stared greedily at the thick stack of decorative paper, his face beaming with a wide smile.

"Thank you for your generous gift!"

…………

"Thank you for your generous gift, hehehe~"

The Emperor's Visit to Ezhou.

Li Ming read the report presented by his subordinates, his mouth agape so wide that drool almost dripped down his chin.

"Slurp~ Cough cough."

Realizing that his appearance was probably not very elegant, he quickly put away his mercenary smile and wiped his mouth.

Thankfully, there was no one else in the room.

His Majesty the Emperor's image of wisdom has not been shattered.

Before the beginning of September, Li Ming received a letter from Changsun Wuji.

In a lengthy official document, the Grand Regent Changsun, representing the government offices remaining in the capital, submitted a proposal to levy a "luxury tax."

The plan lists all the key points in detail, covering every aspect of the tax collection process.

It was just a seemingly insignificant surtax, yet it was able to influence the entire bureaucratic management team to come up with such a comprehensive plan in a short period of time.

The importance that the bureaucracy attaches to this new tax is evident. Given the current severe fiscal difficulties, everyone has high hopes for this luxury tax.

Hopefully, it can break the deadlock and at least partially meet the resource and funding needs of the disaster area.

Li Ming largely adopted the original plan presented by Changsun Wuji.

However, Li Ming rejected Fang Yize's suggestion to double the tax rate.

Instead, they increased it to 600% all at once, taking six times the amount to test the waters first, and if it worked well, they would continue to increase the tax.

If taxes are increased sixfold, wouldn't the price of goods skyrocket?

Will something this expensive sell?

The answer is yes.

Because purchasing luxury goods does not follow the supply and demand curve of ordinary goods.

Just like a male peacock grows beautiful tail feathers, it's not because the tail feathers help it survive.

People buy luxury goods not because these expensive decorations are useful, but precisely because they are useless.

They can spend enormous amounts of resources on things that are completely useless.

This precisely proves that the owner has successfully solved the most basic problem of survival.

Even if you add one or two useless burdens, will it not affect your life at all?

This helps the owner gain more attention from their peers; in other words, they've successfully shown off.

Just as with male peacocks, humans are the same.

Luxury goods are based on this logic.

Therefore, the more expensive and high-end the product, the greater its sales volume.

As a result, the tax revenue that Li Ming extracted also increased.

Besides causing tax rates to skyrocket and opening up new avenues of thought for the officials remaining in the capital,

Li Ming also established the tax collection hub—the originally conceived temporary governor's office—in Ezhou, a major town at the junction of Huainan Circuit and Jiangnan Circuit, and the area most severely affected by the Yangtze River floods.

He also upgraded the Governor-General's Office to a temporary capital, where he personally oversaw the collection of taxes from various regions.

The following declarations from officials across the country, especially from local officials in each state, emphasized the importance they placed on this operation and warned them against any tricks or attempts to withhold tax revenue.

However, distant water cannot quench immediate thirst. To provide rapid disaster relief, the main source of income is still the taxes that can be collected locally in the disaster area.

Judging from Li Ming's radiant smile...

The results are very promising.

According to the reports at hand, as expected, after the luxury tax was introduced, a steady stream of tax revenue began to flow in, quickly replenishing the Ezhou government treasury and greatly alleviating the financial pressure of disaster relief.

"The fact that such a detailed plan could be made so quickly shows that the bureaucratic system of our Great Ming Dynasty is quite efficient."

"Of course, the reason we were able to achieve such remarkable results is ultimately because I controlled the overall direction so well! Muahahaha!"

Li Ming burst into a triumphant laugh.

As expected, it has to be luxury goods!

Once you establish a high-end image, no matter how outrageous the price, plenty of people will still buy it.

"Using the Chamber of Commerce's reputation to endorse the quality of luxury goods is simply a stroke of genius."

Li Ming was impressed with his own imagination.

Of course, the idea of ​​this "official certification," along with the luxury tax, was actually "borrowed" by Li Ming from the era in which he lived.

Luxury tax goes without saying.

Luxury brand certification is nothing new.

There are many shady organizations like the "China Dental Health Association" that certify various counterfeit products and package them to look high-end.

They just want consumers to think this thing is high-end so they can make more money and collect more "intelligence tax".

Li Ming was simply following the same method.

However, the "shady organization" he controlled was somewhat legitimate, called the "Ming Dynasty Chamber of Commerce".

Behind the chamber of commerce was just a makeshift organization called "the imperial court."

That was absolutely brilliant.

Firstly, the imperial court's certification is not something given lightly.

We need to charge luxury goods retailers another certification fee!

This is another source of extra income besides taxes.

With the "chamber of commerce" as a buffer, in theory, official institutions did not directly get involved.

In case any problems arise during implementation, the process can be quickly cut off.

Secondly, by issuing "certifications," the imperial court could register and file luxury goods sold on the market, monitor the circulation of luxury goods, and prevent merchants from evading taxes!

If a luxury goods retailer tries to avoid paying taxes and obtaining official certification, their goods will definitely face sluggish sales.

When you're selling your goods, everyone else has official government certification, but you don't. Who would buy from you then?

Are luxury goods buyers actually buying the goods themselves?

What you're buying is the feeling of being recognized; you could say you're buying that certificate!

This eliminates tax evasion.

Thirdly, and most importantly.

This certification is like a shot in the arm for luxury goods sales.

The wealthy flock to it, eagerly paying an "IQ tax"... no, a luxury tax.

These "high-level" talents naturally understood the delicate relationship between the Chamber of Commerce and the Emperor.

This is tantamount to His Majesty the Emperor personally endorsing: the owner of this item is a social celebrity and a successful person!
Just for this endorsement, they'd fight tooth and nail for it!

"As the ancient sages once said, showing off is the primary productive force, and that is certainly true."

Li Ming muttered to himself.

However, nothing is absolute.

The imposition of a luxury tax reflects a rather troubling problem—

"Being in a favorable position, the first batch of taxes received by Ezhou came from luxury goods merchants in the disaster area and surrounding areas."

In other words, while the people in the disaster area were suffering terribly, the local wealthy were still able to spend lavishly on luxury goods.

"hiss……"

The Ming Dynasty was not paradise; the gap between the rich and the poor still objectively existed.

Even the five fingers are of different lengths, let alone different individuals.

Under the organization of the government, the gentry in the disaster area also actively donated money.

Although the rich feasted on meat and wine, at least the tragedy of people freezing to death on the streets did not occur.

However, we can't expect the rich to sacrifice their wealth to help those in need, donating all their money to disaster-stricken compatriots while not enjoying any benefits themselves.

This is not basic and does not conform to human nature.

A well-functioning political system utilizes the various characteristics of human nature to achieve a rational allocation of social resources.

For example, by using "luxury goods" as a medium, the money that the rich squander can be returned to ordinary people through the tax mechanism.

His Majesty Li Ming does not produce wealth; he is merely a transporter of wealth.

Whether human nature is good or evil is none of my business.

"I've achieved my goal anyway. The funds have been raised, the national treasury is full, and disaster relief can continue."

Li Ming is not a philosopher.

He is a politician.

Philosophers judge good and bad, while politicians solve problems.

In the eyes of the ruthless political machine, if spendthrifts who squander money on luxury goods can solve the most pressing financial problems, then they are the benefactors of the country.

He was also the benefactor of tens of millions of disaster victims.

"With the money issue resolved, the flood relief and disaster recovery efforts can proceed step by step."

"This job is settled, so let's move on to the next one..."

Li Ming's gaze fell on the map in the corner of the desk.

A thin layer of dust settled on the paper.

Li Ming gently brushed away the floating dust, his expression gradually turning cold:
"Problem solved. Next, it's time to deal with the person who caused the problem."

(End of this chapter)