Chapter 568 - Border Tariffs (Page 1/1)

Many small countries in the southwest of Yizhou and countries in the Western Regions have fallen into secret turmoil, but it is not only these countries that have been affected, but Liangzhou, Yizhou and even Yangzhou have undergone tremendous changes. The arrival of the families and the arrival of countless merchants made these countries that had little contact with the Han Dynasty in the past also rekindled their yearning and curiosity for Dachu. Countless people of different races who were seduced or had ideas came to Dachu one after another. Among them, the clever ones even discovered the business opportunities and brought their local specialties to Dachu to sell in exchange for precious silk, ceramics, tea and other products, and then brought them back to seek huge profits. Since Yuan Shu said that the emperor and queen had opened restrictions on border trade, merchants were eager to engage in these cross-border trades.

The profits of this cross-border trade are substantial, and it is largely unsurprising that a single round trip is enough to double its assets. Their behavior in this way can be regarded as snatching food in the hands of the merchants and families of Dachu, and many people went to the government to accuse, hoping that the government could suppress it. Especially in Yizhou, where trade is the most frequent, countless merchants and family members are blocked in front of Lu Su's Assassin Mansion, shouting that they can't let these outsiders encroach on their interests, hoping that Lu Su will punish them. Of course, it is impossible for them to do some radical behavior, otherwise according to Yuan Shu's standards, these people will definitely finish the game, so they can only protest and protest.

In this regard, Lu Su could not suppress it and could only tell Yuan Shu about it, and Yuan Shu naturally would not agree. With the current material and economic situation of Great Chu and the southwestern countries, the potential of this kind of cross-border trade is far more than that, and such a big benefit cake is that all the families and merchants under Yuan Shu's command can't eat it together, and there are naturally advantages and disadvantages to distributing some to these people. Whether it is these people from other countries, or the trade of the merchants of the family under Yuan Shu's command, Yuan Shu has provided a large amount of tax revenue, so why is Yuan Shu necessary to oppose it?

What's more, the arrival of these merchants and people from other countries is more conducive to the spread of Great Chu culture and ideas. When these people feel the strength of Da Chu, they will naturally yearn for it. If you want to trade with Da Chu, you naturally have to learn Chinese, anyway, Yuan Shu would not advise the people of Da Chu to learn those bird languages, except for those merchants and people from families with ghosts, who wants to learn these broken languages?

This is just like the rice country in later generations, if you are strong enough, you will naturally be able to make rules. For example, with English as an international language, it is essential for other countries to be able to participate in international trade. Over time, English naturally spread to the masses in various countries, followed by English books, movies, TV dramas, etc., which is a cultural invasion to some extent.

In addition, with the continuous cross-border transactions of merchants from these small countries, the currency and money of Da Chu will naturally slowly circulate among these countries. With the strength of Da Chu, the currencies of these countries will naturally be based on Da Chu. Also referring to the rice dollar of the United States, a financial crisis, the whole world bought for it. Yuan Shu only needs to keep printing money, as long as he grasps the degree, these small countries controlled by the currency of Da Chu will naturally buy for Yuan Shu.

Cultural invasion, economic invasion, political invasion, supplemented by Yuan Shu's imminent military invasion, slowly these countries will naturally be gradually assimilated and absorbed by Yuan Shu, which is also Yuan Shu's ultimate goal.

However, there is also a certain amount of truth in the demands made by these people, if the merchants of these small countries are allowed to grow like this, it is not a good thing for Yuan Shu. Yuan Shu needed them as the hub of Yuan Shu's invasion, but he didn't want them to develop too quickly and make their country strong.

After thinking about it, Yuan Shu asked Lu Su to greatly increase the taxes, that is, customs duties, of these small merchants. Of course, on the bright side, Yuan Shu naturally can't be so targeted, otherwise it will cause dissatisfaction and disgust among these people, Yuan Shu's order to Lu Su and others is: Because the profits of cross-border trade are too large, the tariffs on all merchants will be greatly increased, and the merchants of Chu are no exception. However, the officials and merchants of Great Chu and the imperial merchants were not within this scope, because the taxes they gave to Great Chu were very high.

When Yuan Shu had not opened the border trade before, only the officials and merchants under Yuan Shu's command and the imperial merchants could participate in the trade, and other ordinary merchants, whether they were from these small countries or from the Great Chu, could not participate in it. Therefore, which of these families and big businessmen is not the identity of official businessmen and imperial businessmen? After that, although Yuan Shu opened up trade, the tariffs were really not low, although cross-border trade was still profitable, but compared with several times, dozens of times the profits, it was a lot less.

Now Yuan Shu has raised tariffs sharply again, pushing down profits again. It is estimated that most of these businessmen will transform into government and businessmen, and become "state-owned enterprises".

In later generations, Yuan Shu's banditry behavior would definitely be frantically condemned and resisted by the merchants. However, in this era when the status of merchants was low, there were countless excessive taxes and miscellaneous taxes, and it was difficult for merchants to survive, although Yuan Shu's move made many merchants feel dissatisfied, but no one resisted. After all, compared to other princes, Yuan Shu's conditions here are already very tolerant, at least you have a safe and fair business environment, you will not lose your money for various reasons, and you will not be slaughtered by the princes because of the accumulation of wealth to a certain extent.

Seeing that the merchants under his command were so sensible and obedient, Yuan Shu was really amazed in his heart. This era is extremely critical of businessmen, and it is precisely because of this that businessmen in this era have been tempered by various tempering, and their quality is excellent and their reputation is extremely important. Think about those businessmen who were under the relaxed policy after the opening up in later generations, they really dared to do anything that lost their conscience for money.

It's still a feudal society! Yuan Shu sighed secretly in his heart, except for the family's uneasy control, the other people, merchants, and craftsmen are really used to it, what you say is what, as long as it is too much, they will not resist at all.

In order to maintain the good moral character of these merchants and craftsmen, Yuan Shu deliberately asked his officials to formulate a set of hierarchical systems after referring to the opinions of Cai Yi, Mi Zhu and Zheng Hun, and evaluated these merchants in terms of moral reputation, scale and money, and then comprehensively assessed the grades, as well as other professions such as craftsmen and teachers. And the most important thing is moral reputation, the simple and benevolent character of people in this era is the most precious thing in Yuan Shu's view.

These ranks are of course useful, not only when the government needs them, such as hiring people to complete the work, but also when merchants trade with each other and the people buy products. After all, everyone wants to buy the products of reputable and reputable businessmen, so that they can feel at ease. It's like the evaluation of a certain treasure.

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