Chapter 113 Taxation Strategy

Things have gone by again.

I got to the point where Jiajing was most concerned about, that is, the issue of money.

Zhou Mengchen had already written down and said, "Does Your Majesty think the gentry in Jiangnan will pay taxes honestly?"

Jiajing sneered, and he didn't bother to say that he knew very well what this group of people looked like. When Jiajing wanted to sort out the land tax, he encountered a lot of resistance. Now, he had a level of tens of millions of taels. If he wanted to collect it, it would be like cutting the flesh of the gentry in Jiangnan. It would be strange if he didn't cause any trouble.

Zhou Mengchen said: "The coastline of Jiangnan is winding and winding, and I don't know how many waterways and private ports are hidden. Even if the imperial court has opened a ban on sea and stipulates that it must go out from several ports, it cannot stop these people from acting secretly. If the imperial court surveys these private ports one by one, it will undoubtedly play hide-and-seek with the gentry of Jiangnan, which will be effective for a while, but over time, the situation will be difficult to say."

"I think taxation matters are wide at the port, but at sea it is important."

"It seems that the sea is vast, but in fact, there are waterways on the sea. Generally speaking, there are only a few routes to go to sea. As long as the navy is often patrolling and inspecting merchant ships, anyone without tax certificates can be detained and confiscated for the navy and rewarded the navy's soldiers. In this way, merchant ships in various places will definitely not dare to lose the big for the small, and the tariffs can be guaranteed."

Before Zhou Mengchen knew it, the topic was directly bypassed the sea ban. Since the opening of the sea, how to collect taxes has been mentioned.

Jiajing had no strange meaning at all. In Jiajing's view, if he could get a lot of money, the sea ban would be abolished. Historically, Jiajing was not interested in the sea ban, on the one hand, because Jiajing became increasingly political. In the late Jiajing period, he was not only not interested in the sea ban, but was not very interested in the large-scale government affairs. On the other hand, the benefits brought to the court by the sea ban were limited.

After the opening of the sea in Longqing, Yuegang became the center of overseas trade, but Yuegang paid very little taxes to the court, only tens of thousands of taels.

With the scale of the maritime trade at that time, looking at the taxes of tens of thousands of taels, it was like sending beggars.

It can be seen that Jiajing knew that some money could not be collected, so why bother with the sea ban?

But now Zhou Mengchen has already hinted to him that it was more than 10 million yuan when it was in its prime in the Song Dynasty. Therefore, after the sea ban was broken, Zhou Mengchen did not pay millions of taxes, so it was difficult to explain to Jiajing.

For this amount of money, Jiajing naturally didn't care whether it was banned by the sea or not.

What? Tell me about the ancestral system? If someone comes, send him to the imperial prison.

Among the emperors of the Ming Dynasty, Jiajing was the least concerned about the ancestral system. He changed the Ming Taizong to the Ming Chengzu, and turned the Heaven and Earth into the Heaven and Earth Temple. And so on, when you look at the history of the Ming Dynasty, you will find that there were too many changes to various rituals during the Jiajing period. Xia Yan was one of the main promoters.

In terms of ancestral system, etiquette, the title of emperor, etc., these things are much more important in politics than mere sea bans. Jiajing doesn't care about these. The sea ban includes a few onions.

In other words, Zhou Mengchen has not yet told Jiajing about the issue of sea ban, but the sea ban has been broken without breaking it.

Of course, Zhou Mengchen also has to take political risks. If Jiajing finds that Zhou Mengchen has fooled him, this matter will be difficult to deal with.

The sea is vast and seems boundless. But in fact, even in later generations, they walk along the waterway on the sea. Of course, ships in later generations have improved their various abilities, giving them more freedom. They can ignore some marine conditions. But it is not possible in this era.

Because of the sailing ship's endurance and wind direction, in fact, sailing on the sea must consider the shore points, supply points, ocean currents, etc. along the way. Therefore, most of the waterways are not too far from land or islands.

Therefore, it is possible to inspect most merchant ships by just patrolling a few specific places.

Of course, the sea is the sea after all, and it is impossible to inspect all ships. But when the problem arises, the police check the wine racks and it is impossible to conduct all the random inspections. There are not many people who dare to commit crimes against the wind. Once caught once, it means that they lose everything.

Moreover, the reason for inspection at sea is that if you are in the port, it is too easy for someone to plead. And on the sea, the sky is vast, who will be looking for? After you get the news in the future, the navy has swallowed the goods into your stomach. How can you spit it out?

The entire model actually imitates the Zheng family's methods.

When Zheng Zhilong dominated the sea, he issued flags to the sea, with hundreds of taels of silver per flag, which was changed every two years. Anyway, when a ship without flags was found on the sea, they would plunder it, allowing the Zheng family to gather millions of furniture. This shows how powerful this method is.

Jiajing had just listened to this pattern and had already acquiesced in his heart.

Zhou Mengchen continued: "In addition to allocating some military expenses from the tariffs, there are also military ports set up overseas, which can also be used for merchant ships to dock, collect fees, and reclaim land overseas and distribute it to soldiers. For example, the old Heshuo system."

Jiajing was a little confused and said, "There are barren lands overseas. Can we farm and farm?"

Zhou Mengchen said: "Your Majesty, I don't know that the climate opposite to Fujian is similar to that of Fujian, which is enough to farm. As for other islands, it is in the sea, with water vapor, water and soil, but I have not heard of it."

"It's just that there is one place, where the key points are needed to write about Korea."

Jiajing said, "Where?"

Zhou Mengchen said: "Jeju Island."

Jiajing thought about it and knew this. It was originally the territory of the Yuan Dynasty. After the Ming Dynasty destroyed the Yuan Dynasty, North Korea occupied it. The court felt that this place was useless, so it gave it to North Korea, but it was nominally the land of the Celestial Empire. After all, North Korea was also a subordinate of the Ming Dynasty. It was a bit troublesome to come back from North Korea, but it was not a big problem.

In the words of later generations, what Zhou Mengchen wanted to establish was the first island chain defense circle.

The routes for overseas trade in the Ming Dynasty were nothing more than two, the East and the West, and the East and Japan were nothing more than two. One was to travel from Jiangnan to Ryukyu, along the islands along the Ryukyu, heading northeast, and finally reaching Japan. The other was to go north, either along the coastline, or along the Black Water Current, all the way north. To North Korea and then to Japan.

Zhou Mengchen prepared to occupy one or two other islands on Jeju Island, North Korea, such as Tsushima Island. It is best to occupy several Japanese ports such as Nagasaki and Seed Island, and then station troops in Ryukyu. In this way, even if the Japanese go into the sea again as pirates, they will not be able to reach Jiangnan and clean up in Japan.

And the Nanyang side is more complicated.

The trade routes in the South Ocean are divided into two. One is to go west from Guangzhou and go south along the coastline. Then to Siam, or to Malacca. The other is to go north from Malacca, through Borneo, Sulu, and Luzon to China. These two routes are to wrap the South China Sea in.

Of course, there are also ships who are brave enough to cross the South China Sea. After all, there are many islands in the middle of the South China Sea. But in this era, this course is not the mainstream.

However, although the South China Sea is a relatively closed sea area, it includes Annan, Chameng, Siam, the Portuguese in Malacca, namely Folangji, etc., and it was difficult for the Ming Dynasty to use strategic points to control the South China Sea.

But Zhou Mengchen did not think so. After all, the international relations here are much more complicated than those in the East. In the East, the only thing they deal with is Japan, and Japan is still in a split. There are more opponents in the South. Annan is not honest, Java is dead but not stiff, Portugal is just a new arrival, but the ship is strong and the cannon is powerful. By the way, counting the time, the Spaniards may be late, but they will definitely not be absent.

Zhou Mengchen didn't think of swallowing Nanyang in one bite.

But he also has his own goal, that is Luzon.

The waterway from Annan to the south is Hainan Island. Just station a fleet on the island, which is enough to blockade. There are more routes to the east. What interested Zhou Mengchen even more was that the Spaniards had not arrived in Luzon. In other words, Luzon is still blank now. Waiting for Zhou Mengchen to fill it up at any time.

Zhou Mengchen naturally would not let him go.
Chapter completed!