Chapter 81                                                             �

The issue of the Ming Dynasty's finances was difficult to explain for three days and three nights.

Zhou Mengchen knew very well, what he was doing? He was not asking Jiajing to investigate the current situation of the Ming Dynasty. After all, Jiajing was never a fool. If Jiajing did not have a comprehensive understanding of the situation of the Ming Dynasty, this is true. But if Jiajing had no idea about the current situation of the Ming Dynasty, it would be a joke.

It should be noted that the emperor cleared the imperial village as soon as he came to power, cleared the land in many places, and some historians even believed that Zhang Juzheng's policies could be seen in the early reforms of Jiajing.

But people's hearts are changing easily. The emperor who wanted to be a saint back then has become an emperor who doesn't want to be troublesome.

What Zhou Mengchen wanted to tell Jiajing was that it could quickly increase the wealth of the court, and it was also small instability, and it was best to do things in Datong as a pilot.

This is not related to the industrial and commercial tax that Zhou Mengchen has been thinking about.

Zhou Mengchen said: "Your Majesty, my annual tax on the Ming Dynasty is only more than 26 million stones. It is not too much. But why is the court short of it? It should be because of insufficient commercial taxes."

After hearing this, Jiajing said in confusion: "The commercial tax is insufficient?"

Zhou Mengchen actually knew that the land tax of 26 million stones of the Ming Dynasty could not be said to be too much. It was just that we could not interfere. The reforms in the early years of Jiajing were also used to promote land tax. How many problems were there? Why did Jiajing not implement them in the end? Zhou Mengchen knew that there must be many difficulties and problems in them. Jiajing was the person involved, and he knew better than Zhou Mengchen.

Therefore, Zhou Mengchen directly skipped the land tax and talked about commercial tax directly.

Zhou Mengchen said: "The commercial tax I mean is not the commercial tax of the court. Now I am my own way of dividing it. Scholars, farmers, industry and commerce are the four people. Scholars serve the court, and they still have to pay taxes if they have land at home, not separate them separately. In addition to serving the court, the things they produce or the services they provide are also traded with money. Therefore, I merged the industry and commerce into one. The taxes in the world are either agriculture or commerce, or commerce or farming. Agricultural taxes are land taxes and labor, and commercial taxes are the unity of various taxes, such as salt tax, door tax, iron tax, mine tax, collapse tax, tariff, etc.."

Zhou Mengchen also knew that his own division was actually not reasonable and objective enough. For example, salt tax. Rather than saying that salt tax is commercial tax, it is more of a property that is not the count tax.

But Zhou Mengchen also wanted to make Jiajing better understand. Many details were ignored.

Jiajing nodded and said, "This division is new."

Zhou Mengchen said, "How much is the commercial tax in the Ming Dynasty? I'm afraid Your Majesty doesn't know it, right?"

Jiajing was slightly stunned when he heard this. He knew that the annual quota of 26 million stones of land tax in the Ming Dynasty. More than 4 million stones were transported to the capital, and the rest of the grain had to be exchanged for silver or kept. But how much commercial tax was? Jiajing had never paid attention to it. There were no such tax items as there were many and small. Many taxes were not managed by the Ministry of Revenue, and some were divided into local areas and some were divided into various departments.

He just remembers that the salt tax this year was about one million taels.

He really didn't know how many other taxes were. He even heard some of the taxes from Zhou Mengchen, and he had never heard them before.

Seeing Jiajing's expression like this, Zhou Mengchen continued to speak, saying, "I don't know the specific number, because it's too many and too complicated, and too few. But I have an estimate of the total number. It's about one or two million taels. At most, it's only three million taels."

Jiajing said: "That's true, there are not many."

Zhou Mengchen said: "Your Majesty knows how many commercial taxes were in the former Song Dynasty?"

Jiajing said: "How many?"

Zhou Mengchen said: "When the former Song Dynasty had the most taxes, it was about 50 to 60 million yuan, and more than half of them were not land taxes."

After hearing this, Jiajing said, "Five or Sixty-Millions of Points? Half of them?"

Zhou Mengchen said: "That's right."

Jiajing suddenly stood up and his face became gloomy. He said to himself: "They stole my money and stole my money."

A consistent copper coin is about one tael of silver.

Some people may say that Yi Guan is not just a thousand copper coins. It was not before that one or two can not be exchanged for one or two copper coins. But I didn’t know that there was a trick of saving the Mo in the Song Dynasty. That is, seven hundred or eight hundred, copper coins are calculated as Yi Guan. In short, the money style in ancient times was not less than that in modern people in finance.

It can only be roughly estimated that the Song Dynasty was generally equivalent to the Ming Dynasty.

In a moment, Jiajing restrained his emotions and said, "Please tell me in detail."

Zhou Mengchen said: "Actually, this result is not unexpected. The main reason is that our dynasty faces a different situation from the beginning of the Song Dynasty when it was established in the former Song Dynasty. The former Song Dynasty inherited the accumulated problems of the Five Dynasties. During the Five Dynasties, in order to raise soldiers, they were simply used to do everything. Just like the land tax, even if the plants and trees were taxed, even if there was a jujube and persimmon tree in the house, they had to be taxed according to the tree. As for various monopoly sale, salt, tea, iron, wine, spices, alum, etc., taxed one by one. As for commercial tax, the world's color-changing affairs, the French net was detailed, and merchants could not escape."

"Even if there is a Song Dynasty saying it is loose, its foundation has not changed."

"But this dynasty is different. This dynasty inherited Taizu's patronization of the people and wiped out the scattered fish. However, after the war, all kinds of things were in trouble. Emperor Taizu was generous and rested with the people. The land tax per mu was only a few liters, while the commercial tax was only thirty one. This is where our dynasty was far better than the previous Song Dynasty."

No matter how cruel the Ming Taizu was to the bureaucrats or how disdainful the scholars and officials, his love for the people was real. It can even be said that the Ming Dynasty could last for so many years was the legacy of Taizu. If the literati and literati said how Taizu was not popular with the people, the Ming Dynasty could last for so many years.

Later generations, the Jin merchants and Hui merchants all originated in the Ming Dynasty. But when did there be any powerful businessmen group in the Song Dynasty? The distinction between the two can be seen.

But Jiajing thought about it at this moment but it was not something Zhou Mengchen could guess. Jiajing said intimately: "Emperor Taizu is really, it makes me feel very embarrassed now. I don't know what to do." He wanted to follow the previous Song Dynasty and sell all kinds of bulk goods. Wouldn't he have money at that time?

But he also knew that the ancestral system was the first. If he really wanted to do this, it would cause a lot of trouble in the court.

Zhou Mengchen continued: "Of course, the court does not collect much commercial taxes. Although there are tax rates, there are other reasons, that is, tax collection is a very complicated matter. For example, a truck of silk from the south of the Yangtze River is transported from the south to the capital. In theory, taxes can be collected at least three or four times. But it is really possible that it will not be collected once. There is no other way. How many officials and ships on the canal transport goods is countless. Adding the minor officials below is obsessed with profit. As long as he gives him some money, he can't remember the taxes of the court. Even if the court pays the taxes of the court, there is no fixed amount. There is no strict quota at all. The court sets a tax amount, which will hurt the people, and at least it will be cheaper to the corrupt officials below. I remember that an official who collected the quota of the court after only half a year on Jiujiang Pass. As a result, he opened the market and stopped taking the money."

"There are some things that I can't say about. For example, the salt tax. Where can I eat salt in the Ming Dynasty? There are only one million taels a year. I----"

Zhou Mengchen said that a little bit of food was also considered as giving Yan Song a slight discrimination every day. Because if he remembered correctly, the people on the salt tax were Yan Song. After all, how could Yan Song let go of this big piece of fat? However, in Zhou Mengchen's opinion, it is too inappropriate to have only such a little tax on salt.

If Zhou Mengchen remembers correctly, the price of salt should be more than 20 cents per catty, and 400 million people in the Ming Dynasty, and some places also use salt, such as leather nitrate, and some places also use salt.

This is simply a joke.

Jiajing's face remained unchanged, and he seemed to have not listened to it, saying, "Zhou Mengchen, don't talk nonsense. Tell me directly what you think. You never aimlessly. Since you have said so much in a long and long way, you must have your own ideas. Tell me, I will also listen to your opinions."

Sure enough, while Zhou Mengchen understood Jiajing, Jiajing also found out about Zhou Mengchen. Knowing that Zhou Mengchen had said so many things, he must have his own solution.
Chapter completed!