In August, the southeast monsoon was still strong, and the huge sails swelled like balloons, carrying tens of stones of cargo, slashing waves and entering the Tianjin port. Outside the cargo ship with huge belly and clumsy body, there were also many extremely fast and slender warships responsible for protection.

All warships were led by Yu Dayou. This old general had always had the desire to establish a strong navy. When Wang Jun and Zhang Jing were in charge of the Southeast, they had insufficient funds and no support, which made Yu Dayou's dream unfulfilled. Fortunately, Tang Shunzhi, the Minister of the Southern War, supported him, and Hu Zongxian, the newly-Zhezhi Governor-General, gave all of them, and the navy finally had a glimpse.

It is worth mentioning that influenced by Tang Yi, Tang Shunzhi became interested in Western knowledge. This person himself is a genius. If he put in effort, he would have nothing to understand.

Tang Shunzhi found that the traditional sampan was too small, and the loading and transportation of the lucky ship was good, but the speed was not enough and the flexibility was poor. He could only transport cargo and could not fight. As for sand ships, the handling performance was far less than that of Western ships.

He found several Western missionaries, and after careful study, he learned from the shape of the Western Galen ship, lowered the height of the ship, changed the stern to square, and used four masts, the front two were square and the back two were triangles. The ship was made of slender and sturdy, and even when it was against the wind, it had quite good seaworthiness.

After seeing the new warship, Yu Dayou was so happy that he didn't close his eyes for three days. He kept walking around the ship and asked the sailors to start the ship. He shot from above, touched the ship from inside to outside.

The more you understand, the more ecstatic Yu Dayou became. The new ship not only has strong seaworthiness, but also has a strong and compact structure, and can withstand the recoil of artillery.

In other words, naval battles are no longer barracks or bayonets, but rather cannons.

Yu Dayou heard that the Westerners already had similar warships, but the Japanese pirates did not. If his navy could equip new warships and sharp artillery, it would be a one-sided massacre.

The excited and dizzy Yu Dayou directly found Tang Shunzhi and asked the Master of the Ministry to configure him with ships and cannons.

Tang Shunzhi straightforwardly reached out. "Zhifu, I want to help you, but have you calculated the account? A warship cost 7,000 or 8,000 taels of silver, plus twenty cannons, it's just over 10,000 taels. What's more, it takes copper to build cannons. Could it be that you let me pack up the copper coins all over the world and build cannons for you?"

Yu Dayou was also stunned and said in pain: "Ministry, it's not a problem for the generals. If you equip Mo Jiang with a hundred warships, I, Yu Dayou, would dare to attack the Japanese nests on the sea and kill Wang Zhi's grandsons! I, the ships one day earlier, will the people in the southeast suffer less!"

Tang Shunzhi sighed and said, "I certainly understand Zhifu's mood. What's more, I have this plan, but it's hard for a good cook to cook without rice. I, the Minister of War, are also a poor man, but..."

Tang Shunzhi deliberately dragged his voice for a long time, and Yu Dayou said anxiously: "Sir, don't play the puzzle, hurry up and talk!"

"Haha, the boy Shancai will soon be in the southeast." Tang Shunzhi said with a smile: "My apprentice has already told His Majesty to open the sea. As long as the sea trade road is opened, he will not be able to pay even if he is unwilling to pay. Who has to rely on the navy to escort him!"

There is no way out when the mountains are heavy, and there is another village when the willows are dark and the flowers are bright.

Yu Dayou rushed back to the navy's headquarters, but after a few days, Tang Shunzhi's order came down. He asked the navy to send twenty warships to escort the merchant ship north to Tianjin.

When Yu Dayou inquired, it turned out that Tang Yi had opened a sea in Tianjin first. After he thought about it, he simply led the team himself.

Escorted by twenty latest warships, the huge Southeast merchant fleet was like a giant dragon on the sea. It slowly sailed into Tianjin Port.

The officials and gentry in Tianjin were all looking forward to it. After the first lucky ship landed, a tall and strong man jumped off from it. The person who came was Lei Qi. As Tang Yi's hardcore confidant, how could he not support him?

Lei Qi has also gained weight in recent years, his face is full of redness, his belly is fat, and he is smiling like Maitreya Buddha. But whoever is deceived by his appearance will guarantee that he will suffer a loss.

Afar, Lei Qi saw Tang Yi in the crowd. He ran over quickly and finished the ceremony. He couldn't wait to say, "Young Master is really amazing. Six heads are the best. Taicang and Suzhou have set up several seats to celebrate the top scorer. Everyone is looking forward to your return home in glory and being so savored with the fairy spirit."

Tang Yi smiled, "Old Lei, I have no fairy spirit on my body now, only the smell of copper. Tell me, how many things have I transported?"

Lei Qi smiled and stretched out his two rolling pin-like fingers.

"Hehe, cotton cloth is all there is!"

Lu Bing couldn't help but smile and said, "Twenty thousand horses are indeed not a small number."

Lei Qi smiled and said, "You are wrong, this lord, it's 200,000 pieces!"

Wow!

I almost scared Lu Bing down, how many, 200,000 pieces! I’m afraid I can’t buy so many in the capital in a year?

Lu Bing was full of suspicion, and Wu Tiancheng next to him smiled and said, "Lu Taibao, you don't understand this. The small amount of cotton cloth in Beijing is sold because a piece of cloth transported from Jiangnan through the canal to the capital city, which costs six or seven taels of silver. After exploitation and sharing, it costs more than ten taels to sell it to the people. A strong laborer can't earn it for two or three months, so he can only use home weaving cloth. However, Boss Lei's cloth is cheap, and it's only one in three taels to ship to Tianjin. Even if he arrives in Beijing, it's less than five taels at most, which is half the cheaper. Who doesn't want to change into a new piece of clothing!"

Lu Bing waved his hand, "What are ten taels expensive, five taels cheap, I don't care about anything. You just need to pay taxes according to the rules and pay enough money." As he said that, Lu Bing looked at Tang Yi teasedly and said with a smile: "Okay, I won't show mercy just because Boss Lei is yours!"

Tang Yi laughed to the sky, "Lu Taibao, today we have set a rule in Tianjin. There are only two things that cannot escape, one is death and the other is paying taxes!"

"Well said!" Lu Bing smiled.

Tang Yi took the initiative to take Lei Qi and the others to go through the tax payment process.

Unlike the simple model of tax collection in other parts of the Ming Dynasty, which relied on officials or merchants, Tang Yi established a relatively complete system in Tianjin.

After the goods arrive at the port, they must first be inspected by the port officers and soldiers to ensure that there are no prohibited items, and issue a certificate of entry. With this certificate, you must first go to the corresponding chamber of commerce to evaluate the price.

This is Tang Yi’s promise to the gentry. In the past three months, local gentry in Tianjin took the lead and established more than a dozen chambers of commerce.

Including the Grain Chamber of Commerce, Silk Cloth Chamber of Commerce, Medicinal Material Chamber of Commerce, Jewelry Chamber of Commerce, Furniture Chamber of Commerce, Porcelain Chamber of Commerce, etc.

When goods arrived in Tianjin, they first classified them and found the corresponding chamber of commerce. The chamber of commerce sent experienced personnel to evaluate the quantity and price of the goods, and also issued a certificate certificate and stamped it with a seal on the chamber of commerce.

Don’t underestimate this document, it is of great protection for merchants. When they go to the yamen to pay taxes, if the official levy is levied and levy, which is much beyond the estimated value of the Chamber of Commerce, the merchants can refuse to pay taxes and ask the Chamber of Commerce to come forward, communicate with the yamen, or even sue to seek justice.

The Chamber of Commerce is much more powerful than the foreign businessman who is blinded by his eyes!

Of course, if the Chamber of Commerce has a low valuation, the officials responsible for the tax collection will also report to the higher authorities and demand punishment from the Chamber of Commerce. This is a two-way restriction.

After filing taxes in the yamen, they do not pay the tax directly in the yamen, but take the voucher to pay taxes at the newly established Tianjin Money House. Every new merchant will get a special account. In the future, all bulk transactions and tax transfers must be handled through the Tianjin Money House.

After passing this process, the goods officially entered Tianjin and were free to buy and sell.

In fact, when observing Tang Yi's design, the core lies in the decentralization of power and balance. He handed over the pricing rights to the chamber of commerce. In the field of collecting taxes, the officials responsible for collecting taxes did not collect cash, and the money house that collected cashes did not collect taxes.

All parties restrain each other, and the account book must be submitted regularly and the special personnel shall review it. At the same time, the Jinyiwei and Tianjin yamen also have the power to supervise. If there is any false reporting, it will be illegitimate and fraud, investigation will be carried out at any time.

Just like any system, there are loopholes. Tang Yi's model is the same, which only increases the cost of cheating. After all, it is much better to buy the Chamber of Commerce, Money House, Tax Division, Government, and Jinyiwei than before, it is much better to just manage officials.

However, Tang Yi also set up another big killer, which brought great difficulties to those who wanted to cheat.

All foreign commodities must be traded in the trading hall, and a guided price will be announced every day. Then the supply and demand parties negotiate. After the negotiation is done, the purchaser needs to pay a transaction tax, which is basically about 5%.

At this time, the buyer needs the seller to take out his tax certificate. If not, I'm sorry, he has to pay taxes according to the total amount of the transaction. If there is a tax certificate, he can first reduce the share of the tax paid. In other words, this transaction tax is very similar to the popular value-added tax in later generations. It is a tax on the amount earned in the transaction process.

If the seller in the previous market reported less tax, when the transaction is reached, the buyer will have to pay more tax on the transaction.

No one is a fool, and there will be a restriction between merchants. If you evade taxes before, the goods may not be sold. Once you hoard in the port for a long time, you will need to pay a late payment fee. This will definitely be a huge blow to the unscrupulous merchants.

Tang Yi accompanied Lei Qi and many merchants from the southeast. Lei Qi's eyes shone and he stretched out his two thumbs!

"Young master is indeed a talented man. After following this method, he dare not say that he is impeccable, but he is also thoughtful." Lei Qi smiled and said, "What businessmen are most afraid of is that they have no rules. Today is the same, tomorrow is the same. Maybe they will waste their hard-earned money. If the rules of Tianjin are so strict today, I think it is a paradise for merchants!"

It’s true that Lei Qiyi’s words came true. Half a month after the opening of the sea, more than one million taels of goods were transported from the southeast. At the tax rate of ten to one, the port collected more than one hundred thousand, and nearly 30,000 taels were collected on the trading hall, which totaled almost 150,000 taels!

In half a month, it was more than the year-old entrance of a middle-class mansion! Tianjin Port became a hen that lays golden eggs in an absolute way! (~^~)
Chapter completed!