"Your Highness, the expansion of the army may have to be postponed."

On this day, when Li Ye was about to go out to Yangzhou to inspect the training of the Shenji Battalion, Pei Rong, Sun Ye, Li Yingxu and Xu Shiren came together, and they looked hurried.

"What's wrong?" Li Ye was a little puzzled and asked curiously.

"Your Highness, we have no money."

"What?" Li Ye was stunned for a moment, obviously unable to believe it, how could he have no money.

Even if there is no money on Shannan West Road, the palace should also have money, how can there be no money?

Sun Ye took out the account book and said with a slightly helpless expression, "Your Highness, there is indeed no money." At present, there are less than 200,000 guan in the treasury account of the Jiedu envoy, of which 100,000 guan need to be escorted to the imperial court, and only 100,000 guan remain.

ァ新ヤ~(8)~1~Chinese 網ωωω.χ~8.~1zщ.còм

Although there is still an autumn tax that has not been collected, according to the situation before Shannan West Road, it is only 250,000 yuan. Among them, another 100,000 guan need to be sent to the imperial court, and the remaining are only 150,000 guan.

Although this figure is not small, but now the family is big and big, and it will not last long only by relying on the income of the government treasury. ”

For the matter of money, Li Ye actually didn't care very much, and let the people below take care of it, except that he was nervous when he first arrived in Chengdu Mansion, and he didn't feel the lack of money later, and subconsciously thought that there was no shortage of money, until now Sun Ye and others came to find it.

Shannan West Road is actually not rich, and the main income comes from the two taxes and the green seedling money, which is not only the main tax of Shannan West Road at present, but also the tax of the entire Tang Dynasty. These two revenues alone accounted for two-thirds of the central fiscal revenue of the Tang Dynasty.

According to the data of the previous two years, the annual tax revenue of the entire Shannan West Road is 700,000 guan, of which the summer tax is 300,000 guan, the autumn tax is 250,000 guan, the green seedling money is 50,000 guan, and the rest is other income. Among them, 250,000 were escorted to the central government, which was a quota, and the rest was used by the localities themselves.

Because now, the financial revenue of the Tang Dynasty is becoming more and more difficult, and the feudal towns in various places have basically fixed the income of Shangjie, and the more is their own. As a result, the feudal towns in various regions will add a lot of additional taxes to expand their strength.

However, after the Huangchao Rebellion, most of the feudal towns no longer even had the basic fixed amount, which caused the central government's finances to be even more strained. At present, it can only rely on the income of several provinces, as well as salt profits and tea taxes to maintain daily expenses.

And this year, due to the war, the tax revenue of Shannan West Road has dropped a lot, and in the end, Li Ye has less than 300,000 yuan. This number seems to be a lot, but for Li Ye, who has a big family, it is obviously not enough.

The largest expenditure is military spending, and the military expenses of the defense envoys in various regions are borne by the states, and there is no need for the Jiedu Embassy to be responsible for the expenditure for the time being.

However, the Tiance Army currently has more than 25,000 people, and since the imperial court no longer bears the daily expenses of the Tiance Army, all the expenses are borne by Li Ye's palace and Shannan West Road.

It takes 50,000 yuan just to maintain the current monthly salary, grain and grass of the Tiance Army, and this is only a daily need. According to Li Ye's intentions, when the Tiance Army is expanded to nearly 40,000 people in the next few months, the monthly military expenditure will be 80,000 yuan, not counting the cost of war horses, pack horses, donkeys and weapons after the expansion.

I'm afraid that the cost of expansion will need hundreds of thousands, after all, the cost of war horses and weapons is not low.

And that's not even counting the Divine Machine Battalion.

After the expansion of the Shenji Battalion is completed, the cost of 5,000 people may be two to three times the number of the same Tiance army.

It is equivalent to that after the expansion of the army, the Tiance Army, the Shenji Battalion, and the royal palace soldiers will need 100,000 yuan per month. It is 1.2 million guan a year, and this figure is not something that Shannan West Road can afford at present, unless taxes are raised.

However, Sannan West Road is not a rich place, and even Dongchuan is in a better situation than Shannan West Road, let alone the more affluent West River.

Although Sun Ye and others said that they had no money, whether they really had no money, they had to ask Xiaoying over there, she was in charge of the money and food in the palace, and if the palace was also short of money, Li Ye would have to find a way to make money.

Soon Xiaoying took a few people and took the account book to Li Ye. Hearing Xiaoying's narration, Li Ye's heart settled down a little, and it was not yet time to open the pot.

Compared with Shannan West Road, there is no money, and the palace is very rich.

In the first few months, the monthly income of the palace was 150,000 guan, and after arriving in Xingyuan mansion, this number is still increasing, reaching 200,000 guan last month.

The source of income of the royal palace is currently divided into three main parts.

One is the income of tea, in recent months, the palace has also purchased a lot of tea in various places to make new tea, but also circled a lot of tea mountains, every month can do 100,000 yuan, last month due to the smooth flow of Shu Road, once increased to 150,000 guan.

The second is the income from books, which also has an income of 3 or 40,000 yuan per month. Because of the mastery of movable type printing, the printing workshop under the palace could print all kinds of books, and the cost was low, relying on the price, and soon opened up the market. Of course, the most sold books are still books from the Buddha and Taoism, and the daily books are a little worse, but this is also a good sign.

The rest is other income, such as shops, food, fireworks, etc., which is relatively small, because of the scale, it adds up to 20,000 or 30,000 yuan a month.

However, the business prospects of Didian are very good, and they can be derived into inns, warehouses, exchanges, etc., especially Shannan West Road guards the three Shu roads, and after all, Shuzhong or Guanzhong enters Shu from Shannan West Road, and its business prospects can be imagined.

And in terms of food, Shouwangfu has begun a new round of enclosure. Especially in the Hanzhong Plain, the land here is fertile, and the land is vast and sparsely populated, coupled with the war, many fields are barren, and if you don't take advantage of this time to enclose the land, it will be inconvenient in the future.

The income of the palace seems to be a lot, but it also needs a lot of money every day, and the daily expenses alone need tens of thousands of yuan per month, plus it also needs to subsidize the army, so the money bag of the palace is not bulging.

Throttling is certainly not a good way, and the best thing is open source.

Imposing a tax on agriculture? Now that the two taxes and the seedlings are high enough, the agriculture tax may really have an accident, so there is no need to think about it. Since the agricultural tax is not good, then there is only a commercial tax. If the commercial tax can be collected, the money and grain that you want to come to the government treasury can cover the daily expenses of the army, and there is no need for the palace to take out the money to subsidize it.

Thinking of this, Li Ye said tentatively, "Everyone, what do you think of the collection of commercial taxes?" ”

"Business tax?" Sun Ye was stunned for a moment, didn't understand what he meant for a while, and turned to guess, "What Your Highness is referring to is the tea tax?" ”

"Not only the tea tax, but also the shops in the market, not only tea, but also salt, iron, cloth, livestock, wine, restaurants and other shops that do business, but also for mining, forestry, pastures, etc. If it can be fully implemented, the government treasury will be more and more full, and it will not be like now, struggling to make ends meet. ”

Was there a commercial tax in the Tang Dynasty? Yes, the two tax laws actually include commercial tax, but for many reasons, the implementation of commercial tax in the Tang Dynasty was not thorough, and the scope was not extensive, and it was more than a little worse than the commercial tax of later generations.

However, the commercial tax of the Tang Dynasty was more perfect than that of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty did not allow it to be collected at all, and the Tang Dynasty collected it, but there were few types, and the tax system was not perfect, although there was some improvement in finance, but it was not obvious.

As soon as Li Ye finished speaking, everyone was immediately surprised.

Sun Ye hurriedly said, "Your Highness, think twice, if the commercial tax is levied comprehensively, I am afraid it will be inappropriate, this is equivalent to competing with the people for profit, and if it is not handled well, it will even lead to conflicts."

Xingyuan Mansion has recently been recovered, and His Royal Highness has maintained a stable foundation here. Most of the shops in the city are run by local big families, and if these families oppose it, they may cause unnecessary trouble and even threaten His Highness's rule in Xingyuan Mansion. Your Highness must remember not to be in a hurry, even if you want to collect commercial taxes, you should do it slowly. ”

The levy of commercial taxes is undoubtedly to let these big families spit out part of their own money, and now that Shannan West Road has been decided, if it is forcibly collected, it will be fine if it is not levied in the near place, and if it is not good in the far place, some local families will unite with some people with ulterior motives to take the opportunity to cause chaos, and even threaten Li Ye's status.

Since the commercial tax is not a new thing, if you look at it from the perspective of the rulers, it is naturally best to collect the commercial tax in a comprehensive way, and the government treasury is full, and there is no need to increase taxes on the fields. Just don't rush it so as not to get into unnecessary trouble.

This is Sun Ye's experience as an official for many years, and of course, he does not dare to take risks and seeks stability in everything.

"What Lord Sun said is not true, businessmen are not engaged in production, but they make huge profits, why not levy a part of the commercial tax to subsidize the government treasury?"

Compared with Sun Ye, Li Yingxu's reaction was more intense. Because he was born in a big family, he didn't look down on the merchants, and even had a sense of contempt, and this was not his hometown, so there was not much resistance to the collection of business taxes.

His Royal Highness is right, the collection of commercial taxes can enrich the treasury, why not.

"Whether to levy commercial taxes, I hope His Highness will think twice. What Lord Sun said has some truth, after all, His Royal Highness also needs the support of these local families in Xingyuan Mansion, and if he offends them because of the business tax, I am afraid it will not be appropriate. Pei Rong was a little worried, and this was also a rare moment when he disagreed with Li Ye's views.

Xu Shiren on the side did not speak, but listened quietly.

While Sun Ye and Pei Rong were a little worried, Li Ye thought for a while and said, "Everyone, the matter of levying commercial taxes is urgent. Merchants are not engaged in production, but they are very rich, and the commercial tax is not our first creation, what we do is to unify the commercial tax to ensure the fairness of business transactions.

At the same time, it was natural to collect the merchant tax, and make up for the shortfall of the treasury, and the matter was so decided.

Since Sun Fuyin and Pei Sima thought that it was inappropriate at this time, Li Shaoyin was in charge of this matter.

The specific affairs are in charge of the household Cao joining the army, and he is in charge of household registration, taxation, and the fang market。。。。。 ”

Li Ye's words immediately made Pei Rong and Sun Ye dumbfounded, which is equivalent to Li Ye forcibly collecting commercial taxes, and even ordered Pei Rong to let the Tiance Army cooperate at any time, which means that the other party does not hesitate to use force in order to implement commercial taxes.

(End of chapter)