Xu Shiming asked, "Which three?"

Kong Youde said calmly, "First, I welcome anyone who is willing to join the Tiance Army, but there are corresponding standards for joining the army. All those who want to join the army are treated equally. Only by passing the Tiance Army's enlistment assessment can they enter.

Secondly, those who are unwilling to join the army can also be ordinary people under the Tiance Army. Like others, each with three acres of land per person. As long as you abide by the laws and regulations in the future, you can still live a normal life, but you cannot continue to play with your White Lotus Sect.

Third, I don’t choose either of these and insist on continuing to engage in your so-called missionary cause. I don’t force you, but you can’t do this in Shandong. You can go to Southern Zhili, Northern Zhili, Henan, Shanxi, Huguang, etc. Except for all places under the jurisdiction of the Tiance Army, you can go."

For Xu Shiming, she could not accept these three choices. If she really wanted to do this, the White Lotus Sect would fall apart.

Their foundation is in Shandong, and Beizhili also has some foundation, but it is quite weak. Once they leave Shandong, it will probably not be so easy for them to develop it.

Moreover, there are other organizations like their associations, such as their strong dragons and no one can defeat local snakes. When they reach other people's territory, they not only have to face the encirclement of the government, but also compete from their peers.

If you stay, you either follow the people or enter the army, and you will be the people of the Tiance Army. The White Lotus Sect cannot exist at all.

Seeing Xu Shiming was very entangled, Kong Youde did not interrupt her. She had to make this choice herself, and she was relatively tolerant and gave enough freedom. It depends on how she and other White Lotus scholars chose.

At this time, a guard walked in, attached himself to Kong Youde's ear and said a few words, and then went out.

Kong Youde stood up and said, "Sir Xu Tian, ​​let go of this matter for the time being, you can think about it slowly. You are a coincidence today. There is a good show. Should you go and have a look together?"

Since Kong Youde sent an invitation, Xu Shiming had no reason not to go, and she was also very curious about what Kong Youde planned to do.

So he followed Kong Youde and arrived at the area about ten miles north of Qingzhou City. The middle-level members of the White Lotus Sect and their guards were also accompanied by them.

Bypassing the woods, the crowd appeared in front of him was a dense crowd. At a glance, there were at least tens of thousands of people, as if something particularly lively happened, and they were all surrounded by eager to try and want to see something good.

Although it seemed chaotic, it was still blocked by the soldiers of the Tiance Army outside a certain area. The crowd was too dense, and Xu Shiming couldn't tell what was falling to the ground on the other end of the crowd.

But soon, they arrived on a small hill. Xu Shiming finally saw that in front of the crowd was an open open space, and at this moment, hundreds of cannons were densely packed.

Xu Shiming counted a little bit, and there were ten rows in front and back, each row was close to thirty, which means there were almost three hundred cannons here. She couldn't help but exclaim in a low voice. She had never seen so many cannons firing together.

Next to the temporary stand, there were nearly a hundred people, most of whom were officials at all levels, and the other thirty or forty were dressed in civilian clothes, and it seemed that they were businessmen.

Not long after, a messenger came on horseback, "Sir, all the forests have been cleared, all the people in the alert area have been driven away, and the artillery division is ready."

"Yeah, let's start!"

Kong Youde said lightly, then the flag bearer next to him waved the order flag, and on the artillery position under the mountain, the flag bearer also waved the order flag to communicate.

"Boom boom boom..."

Soon, white smoke appeared on the artillery positions one after another, and a moment later, a fierce sound of cannons came.

However, what surprised them even more was that the forest of dozens of acres suddenly burst out with fire, and then the entire forest burned.

This artillery division's exercise completely shocked Xu Shiming and the middle-level members of the White Lotus Sect who came with them. They also returned to Linqu with Kong Youde's conditions and discussed what to do if they fell to the ground next.

After Xu Shiming left, Kong Youde and the merchant representatives invited this time came to the yamen of Qingzhou Prefecture.

Kong Youde joked, "Everyone, I'm still enjoying the fireworks show just now?"

These gentry cursed in their hearts. Is this a fireworks show?

However, they could only slander a few words, and kept complimenting and praising the mighty power of the Tiance Army.

"Since everyone is satisfied with the viewing, let's talk about the important matters now. I know that most of you are unwilling to accept the action of inspecting the land."

"Marty, we are willing to accept it."

"How could we all not accept this good governance?"

Everyone responded repeatedly.

"Stop, stop, don't rush to refute first. I'm not asking you for guilt, but talking about things. You don't have to be so nervous. It's normal for you to resist the investigation of land and acres. Cutting off people's wealth is like killing parents. You just don't have that ability."

Kong Youde's smile suddenly stopped, and then glanced at him with a sharp look before slowly speaking, "But you should be glad that I was sitting in front of you today, otherwise if someone from Xiangtan came, the grass on your grave will be ten feet tall now."

Everyone was frightened by Kong Youde and sweated coldly, because for a moment, they even felt that Kong Youde was watching a group of dead people, which made them shivering.

"You should have discovered that although this inspection of the land involves you, your main business is still in business. In comparison, the proportion of land is not large. I came here today for this business matter." After saying that, Kong Youde floated a look at Huang Guizhong, and the latter walked away after understanding it.

When everyone heard this, their scalp was numb. They were about to ask for money. And seeing Kong Youde like this, they might be bleeding a lot. The previous round of artillery must have cost a lot of money. Since the expenses were so great, it would be impossible not to make up for their money.

In fact, when Kong Youde sent the invitation, they all thought about whether to come, but when they thought that the industry was still in Shandong and the foundation was also in Shandong, they lost nothing when they ran out. As for the fact that they could not refuse, they also thought about it, but there were eight salt merchants in Dengzhou at the beginning, but now there were only six left. Why did the other two have no? They all know.

Not long after, Huang Guizhong brought people in with a box, opened it, and it was full of booklets, and then sent a book in front of each person.

Everyone dared not open it until Kong Youde said, "This is the Commercial Law that began to be implemented in April. You can take a look first. If it is truly related to you businessmen, you should have a clear idea."

The commercial tax in the Ming Dynasty actually accounted for very small proportion of fiscal revenue, and the majority was still agricultural tax. However, Kong Youde knew very well that commercial tax should not be so low and agricultural tax should not be so high. Although there is no way to cancel the agricultural tax like in later generations, it is impossible to continue the low commercial tax practice of the Ming Dynasty.

The commodity economy of the Ming Dynasty can be said to be quite developed, but the tax collected in business was pitifully small and looked extremely strange.

The main reason was that Zhu Yuanzhang looked down on merchants and did not expect to deduct money from merchants. Therefore, the business tax collected was not high in addition to suppressing merchants. However, the development of the times was not as he expected. Despite his efforts to suppress them, the commodity economy was still becoming more and more developed.

Since the Ming Dynasty's court did not receive much tax on merchants, Kong Youde could not put it [Update quickly], so this large amount of money would not be profitable, and the Ming Dynasty's commercial tax naturally could not continue to be applicable to the current situation.

Naturally, such a set of commercial tax laws must be formulated, which is the "Commercial Law" in front of everyone.

Kong Youde ordered Qin Zhiyuan to be responsible for this matter, and Qin Zhiyuan lived up to expectations. Since the end of the Battle of Changle last year, he began to study and think about it. He had discussed in detail with the six salt merchants and several managers of Liaoning Business, and deepened his understanding of this. Later, Kong Youde put forward some opinions based on his experiences in later generations.

On this basis, Qin Zhiyuan used his leisure time and spent three months to create a set of "Commercial Laws" to formulate norms for business.

It is only the first edition now, and it is not too detailed. It will definitely be modified and improved based on the specific implementation in the future.

Everyone also read it out to see what the "Commercial Act" is.

The first article made them a little excited, the content was to abolish the original business system. The people of the Ming Dynasty divided the scholars, farmers, industry and commerce. Merchants had to be business owners, but as the lowest-level merchants, they were not qualified to participate in the imperial examination. This was also Zhu Yuanzhang's resentment towards merchants.

Article 1 clearly stipulates that people in Shandong can engage in any industry that does not violate the law, farm, do business, join the army, serve as officials, work, etc., and no one has the right to stop them. The people in the division of their hometowns and unify their nationality by abolishing the distinction between scholars, farmers, industry and commerce.

Not to mention anything else, just one thing is left alone, and everyone present is jealous.

In this era, although businessmen and officials were almost integrated, they still dared not wear silk and satin openly. This article directly abolished this differentiated household registration and abolished the various shackles that were tied to merchants.

But the following content made them not happy because the tax rate was too high. The commercial tax in the Ming Dynasty was thirty-one tax, and it might not be collected. The commercial tax they paid was pitifully low.

However, the Commercial Act levies are generally as high as 1.5%, and according to the specific types of goods, they are roughly divided into more than 30 categories. Each category has different tax rates, such as the tax rate for selling grain, and only half of the tax for buying ore, coal, sulfur, etc. from outside. In general, they all float between half and 30%. Compared with the previous 30 taxes, it is definitely a heavy tax.

Finally someone stood up, "Marty, but the tax rate is too high. The court's commercial tax is only 30 or one tax. This requires a maximum tax of 30%. Wouldn't we lose money when doing business?"

Kong Youde said calmly, "I'm asking you to come today, I'm just notifying you about this matter. Let you representatives know first, and after you go back, you can just say a word to other local merchants, so as not to know what's going on when the implementation is implemented.

As for whether the tax is high or not, what you said doesn’t count. You just need to implement it accordingly. Of course, you can also choose to refuse to implement it, but you will bear the consequences yourself."

Kong Youde had already said that even if everyone wanted to fight, they couldn't fight. Some of them wanted to reorganize, but they were immediately pressed down by others to avoid implicating them.

"Everyone, I am busy with work, so I won't leave you here for dinner now. You are also people who earn money every day. If you have nothing to do, please come back."

Kong Youde issued an order to expel the guests, and there was no need for everyone to stay here. After leaving the government office, they went back to their respective houses.

In Yanzhou City, Liu Xingye, the head of the Hongyun Business Company, once he returned home, summoned several senior executives in the clan and several large shopkeepers of the business company to discuss this commercial law and see if there is a way for them to reduce the losses as much as possible.

After a while, a shopkeeper in his fifties, "Master, I have studied the "Business Law" in detail. I originally thought it was to curb business, but I didn't expect it to encourage business."

Liu Xingye's eldest son was immediately dissatisfied, "Shopkeeper He, you have been in my Liu family for more than 20 years. You won't even be able to understand this, right? Why is this encouraging business? It is obvious that we have to suppress it and we can't do business anymore!"

"Young Master, look at this first point. We are businessmen. Merchants have a lower status in the Ming Dynasty than craftsmen. This point directly abolishes business ownership, which is equivalent to giving us the status."

Liu Xingye was also a little helpless, "But the tax rate is too high. Our Hongyun Business Company mainly sells medicinal materials, with a tax rate of up to 25%. If we really want to collect taxes at this tax rate, we will have 30,000 to 40,000 taels of silver per year."

"Master, you can't just look at this side of the matter. Look at this point: Paying taxes in accordance with the law is the duty of every businessman. Apart from paying taxes to the Shandong government, there is no need to pay taxes to anyone else. No one except the Shandong government has the right to collect taxes. Once you find out that you are soliciting bribes, evading taxes, anyone has the right to report and expose. Once verified, 30% of the assets of the tax evasion merchant will be rewarded to the whistleblower, and the rest will be confiscated."

"Isn't this a way to block our tax evasion?"

Of course, Liu Xingye knew that this was to block their path of tax evasion. Even if they could do it, once they were found out, they would lose everything.

The shopkeeper named He shook his head, "Master, you only see the bad side, but what about the better side?"

"You mean, let's report and expose others?" Liu Xingye was not a Ben, so he quickly figured it out.
Chapter completed!