Chapter 65                                                             �

In Zhou Mengchen's opinion, it was not good for Emperor Wanli to collect mining tax, that is, commercial tax. The mistake was to use eunuchs to collect it.

In fact, many people also called for commercial taxation in the Ming Dynasty.

But their biggest problem is that they only appealed and did not provide a complete set of solutions. In other words, the Ming system was originally intended to deal with the agricultural society. He was not prepared to deal with the commercial society and did not know how to properly impose taxes on business?

Needless to mention the commodity tax that Zhou Mengchen envisioned, it is the kind of mass-produced commodities, such as iron, cloth, salt, and all commodities. As for how much it is collected, it is not important. The important thing must be implemented and the regulations are formed.

If the Ming Dynasty could do this, how could it be that there would be no money? Songjiang Bu, which produces hundreds of millions of horsepower every year, can provide the court with taxes of at least millions of taels, which is much faster than what kind of salary is the money. Moreover, Songjiang Bu is not the only products in various parts of the Ming Dynasty.

As for asset tax, it actually imposes taxes on fixed assets such as factories, factories, machines, etc. Zhou Mengchen does not value this tax. He was about to encourage industry and wished that everything in the world would be built into factories. It was too late to exempt taxes. But Zhou Mengchen also knew that not levying tax means no management.

Only by taxation can the officials below take these factories to heart. Therefore, Zhou Mengchen did not intend to collect too much, but it was more symbolic. However, ensuring that these factories were all under the control of the court, these industrial data themselves are much more important than the little tax he collected.

Circulation tax is very simple. In this era, most of them were taxed at the checkpoints. For example, where did the Yulin checkpoints bring considerable taxes to Zhou Mengchen.

In essence, Zhou Mengchen puts treasures on commodity tax, and asset tax represents management. If the circulation tax is collected, if the collection of commodity tax can work, Zhou Mengchen wishes to dismantle all the levels in the world, except for the external levels.

Yang Jisheng said: "Brother Zhou has a wonderful idea. But is your solution really possible?"

Zhou Mengchen said: "It's impossible. What is the fundamental stubborn disease of my Ming Dynasty? In fact, it's just one word, money."

"If you don't have money, you can't provide disaster relief, you can't fight, and you can't repair water conservancy. Therefore, the people have no place in the disaster year and become refugees. Therefore, the military is abandoned, and the Japanese in the north are rampant in the south. Therefore, a drought can't be withstood the whole north. So it would be fine if our dynasty really has no money. But Brother Yang, you have been in Beijing. Is there really no money in the world?"

"A meal on the top student's floor is a money that a farmer can't spend in his entire life."

"The salt merchant in Yangzhou fights wealth, a mere prostitute-girl, worth over 10,000 yuan. You and I work in Datong, don't you know what the concept is that ten thousand taels of silver? It's enough for thousands of soldiers to fight a war, but it's a prostitute-girl's worth, which is extremely absurd."

During the Battle of Shuozhou, the imperial court rewarded the entire army only about 500,000 taels, which was already a heavy bleeding from the court, but the salt merchants could not see it compared to ten thousand gold.

Yang Jisheng said: "I understand what Brother Zhou means. But, how should I do this?"

Yang Jisheng is not a naughty person.

He had rich experience in life at the bottom and joined forces with Zhou Mengchen to deal with civil affairs in Datong. Now he can be said to be a qualified Ming bureaucrat. He has a very good understanding of the operation of the Ming court. He really knows how difficult this matter is.

When it comes to taxation, the best tax is to set up a card to collect taxes. This is the so-called Lijin system in the Qing Dynasty. However, commodity tax means that from the moment the goods appear, taxes are required. The court cannot keep staring at the factory. This cost is too high. Moreover, taxation requires people to be sent. This is also a burden.

There are too many people, and the court cannot afford it. The taxes collected are not enough to support these people. There are too few people, and maybe the tax collectors will deal with the merchants. After all, this commodity tax is not like land tax, and there is a rated tax. In fact, the land tax itself does not have a rated tax. Later, it was gradually reformed to determine the rated amount. In fact, it is not that I don’t know that the annual harvest is actually not much the same. Isn’t it just that I am more worried about officials taking action and exploiting the people than collecting more taxes?

Faced with dynamic business data, Yang Jisheng felt like a big head whenever he thought about this.

Zhou Mengchen said, "I don't know. If I knew, would I ask you? However, I know that I must find a good way to collect taxes, otherwise, if this situation in the court continues, it will not be a solution."

Yang Jisheng nodded. The various natural disasters and man-made disasters in the 32nd year of Jiajing exposed the financial crisis of the court. If the Ming Dynasty had the remaining shade of Xia Yan before, everything has been brought back to its original form this year, even if Yan Song jumped up and down, he would not be able to make up the big hole now.

Jiajing is such a person who loves face. This kind of redemption of the people of the Ming Dynasty is a time to gild Jiajing on his face. If possible, how could Jiajing not do it? But the court really had no money, and Jiajing was determined not to use the money from the palace.

This difficult situation is probably something that Jiajing rarely uses in his life. Even when Altan's troops were at the city, although Jiajing's money consumption was tight, he was not so nervous.

Even if the court is alone, the current financial situation is on the verge of declaring bankruptcy. The capital chain is completely broken.

Yan Song could only ignore the disaster relief in various places and let the people save themselves.

Yang Jisheng said: "I understand, I will think about it carefully."

"This matter is not urgent now." Zhou Mengchen said: "When I return to Datong, I will start preparing to clear these iron furnaces. Then, let's talk about these things."

After Zhou Mengchen returned to Datong, after discussing with Xu Wei, he wrote a letter to Yang Bo. This letter did not go through the channels of the court, but through the channels of the Shanxi merchants, and came to Yang Bo about a month later.

Yang Bo is now in Santun Camp in Zunhua. It is the base of the governor of Jizhou. He raised his reading glasses and looked at the letter in his hand carefully. He put it aside, without commenting, but said to the young man in front of him: "Ziwei. You have passed the Jinshi this year. You are the rising star in Puzhou. Now you are not in Beijing. Why did you come to send me a letter to me? Did I hear it wrong? Are you not the number one in Shujishi this year?"

This person is either someone else, or Zhang Siwei. He passed the Jinshi this year, and his title was not too high. He was around 100. However, when he was a Shujishi, he performed very well and used money. Any Shujishi first stood out among the Jinshi and became a Hanlin editor. Now his position is Zhang Juzheng's position at that time.

Yang Bo may not care about a Jinshi. However, if this Jinshi is the first in Shujishi, he may just look up to him. However, this Jinshi is the first in Shujishi and is from Puzhou. If he even has something to do with the Yang family, Yang Bo will naturally pay more attention.

After all, it is difficult to get a Jinshi exam, and many big families cannot be able to continue to be born in the Jinshi generation. At this time, we need to cultivate more old friends and consider the future Yang family.

Even in Yang Bo's opinion, it is much more important to see Zhang Siwei's ability than a letter from Zhou Mengchen.

Zhang Siwei immediately bowed and said, "My elders are a mistake. It's just a moment of luck. Even if I am the first in Shuji, I am also a junior of the elders. Now I have made some progress in the academic qualifications, but I know nothing in the officialdom. Today, I take this opportunity to ask the elders to give me some advice. And I am also interested in Lord Zhou's letter."

Yang Bo smiled gently and said, "Are you interested in Zhou Wuchang? Who do you think Zhou Wuchang is?"

"A great man of a generation." Zhang Siwei said with a little bitterness in his tone: "Speaking of the younger generation and Lord Zhou, they are only a few years apart. But in the court, it seems to be a difference of twenty years."

Yang Bo picked up Zhou Mengchen's letter and said, "Don't be rude. In fact, it is not a good thing for a young man to be proud. If Zhou Mengchen is at his age, there will be no problem with the Minister of War? But in the next twenty years, unless he makes unparalleled achievements, it will be difficult for him to enter the center. Twenty years later, you may not be worse than him."
Chapter completed!