【160】Fortune Plan (3)

Gu Yushan's eyes rolled and said with a smile: "This is going to the East, the waves are thousands of miles, and it is not only us honest merchants who make a living on the sea. ”

Song Youliang smiled, if he was really honest, he wouldn't know how to accumulate tens of millions of family fortunes. "At this point, please rest assured, Dengzhou Town has set up a naval camp in the area of Changsheng Island in eastern Liaodong, and intends to establish an escort fleet there to severely crack down on sea bandits and defend the waterway, as long as everyone unites, I think we can also open up a golden channel for maritime trade in the north,"

Gu Yushan and several shopkeepers looked at each other, and everyone nodded, so Gu Yushan said with a smile: "Thanks to the support of the lord, as for the cost of the navy, we are willing to bear it." ”

Song Youliang nodded: "It is also the unshirkable duty of the navy to clear the sea, but the construction and operation of the water camp does cost a lot of money, and I also hope that everyone will take southern Liaoning as a transit and actively develop overseas trade." As for the cost of establishing a naval army, you do not have to bear all of it, and the city shipping department will take a certain amount of ship fees and give priority to the development of the escort fleet to ensure that everyone has a secure trade environment. ”

"Then~ how to draw points?" Hui businessman Li Mingsheng asked.

"According to the old rules: taxes, water salaries, land salaries, and additional taxes will neither be overcharged nor undercharged!" Song Youliang said.

There are four main taxes levied by the Ming Dynasty Municipal Shipping Division.

First, tax introduction.

The Ming government stipulated that all maritime merchants who went to sea from Guangzhou to trade must first receive a "citation ticket" (pass). The name, place of origin, address, and year of the merchant shall be written on the "quotation ticket", as well as the country and region where the merchant ship plans to arrive, the date of resale, and the name of the limited equipment and goods. Then pay the introduction tax. The number of taxes introduced is: those who go to the east and the west, for each tax tael of silver, and then increase to six taels. Each time you can quote a limit of 100 sheets, it was increased to 110 sheets in the 27th year of Wanli (1599). When going to sea, the city shipping department will send personnel to board the ship to inspect and guide it to prevent the export of prohibited items and weapons, and those who are not allowed to drive will be allowed to drive.

Second, water salary.

This is also known as the pumping method, which is a ship tax levied according to the tonnage of the ship. The pumping method is based on the width of the ship, and the ship tax is levied according to the size of the ship. For example, if the ship is more than six feet wide, the tax will be five lili of silver per foot, and a total of thirty li's silver will be levied on each ship, and then the ship will be levied five dollars of silver for each foot of the ship, and the salary will be levied at a progressive tax rate, and the ship going to the East, because of its small size, will be taxed according to the tax rate of the western ship's ruler "seven-tenths", that is, a reduction of 30%.

Third, land salary.

That is, the import tax on goods. This is calculated on the basis of the quantity or value of the imported goods, and is levied on the purchasers of the imported goods. In the third year of Wanli (1575), the rules for the taxation of various ships and goods were initially established, and in the seventeenth year (1589), due to the high and low prices of the goods, the current price was uneven, and some were levied according to the quantity of goods, some were levied ad valorem tax according to the value of the goods, and some were taxed according to the upper, middle and lower levels of the goods. In the forty-third year (1615), a new tax code was enacted to reduce the tax rate. According to historical records, except for the slight increase in the import tax of the four commodities of Sumu, rhino horn, Fanteng and Cochin silk, the import tax of the remaining 79 commodities was reduced by 15%-20% compared with the 17th year of Wanli (1589).

Fourth, levy additional salaries.

This was a merchant shipping tax specifically levied on merchant ships returning from Luzon to Canton. Generally, it is paid by the shipowner. Because Chinese merchants went to Luzon to trade at that time, there were very few goods on the return trip, but a large number of Mexican silver dollars were brought back. In order to make up for this loss, the Ming government specially stipulated that all merchant ships returning from Luzon would be charged 150 taels of silver per ship, in addition to water and land wages. [199] Later, due to the strong opposition of the maritime merchants, in the eighteenth year of Wanli (1590), it was reduced to 120 taels.

Song Youliang smiled: "Including the escort agreement, once it is confirmed, then everyone must abide by it, and this official does not want to see someone conceal or create false commodity information." If the principle of good faith is violated afterwards, then it is a violation of the agreement, which is equivalent to violating the law, and the official will be severely investigated. ”

Song Youliang saw that everyone's faces were a little unpleasant. He smiled and said: "This, I think you can understand, it's like you also want me to abide by the rules, this official can guarantee that the city will only levy the agreed tax rate, and will never ask everyone for a penny, if there is such a situation, you can report to the official, and the official will definitely punish him severely." Similarly, if any businessman violates the agreement and uses any way to avoid taxes, the official will also severely punish him. ”

Gu Yushan said with a smile: "My Gu Yushan can have today, it is all the shade of the lord, the lord talks and does things, and he has always said the same, I have no objection to someone in Gu, I believe that the other shopkeepers are the same." ”

"Hmm~ I have no objection to waiting~" Several other shopkeepers also nodded after exchanging glances.

"Okay, then we'll prepare our own ~~"

On the eighth day of the third month of the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, a special money bank specializing in money and silver exchange, lending and other businesses, Xingye Bank, opened at the same time in Beijing, Suzhou, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Wenzhou, Quanzhou, Xi'an, and Jinzhou Dengzhou. At the same time, a new type of silver coin began to circulate in these banks.

This kind of silver coin is called Dengzhou silver coin, and the denomination has one cent, two cents, and Wu cents; One money, two money, Wu money; There are nine denominations of one tael, two taels, and two wu.

This type of silver coin began to be used mainly to pay the soldiers of the Dengzhou army, and to settle accounts with merchants who had business dealings with the town of Dengzhou. Compared with silver ingots, silver dollars have a fixed ground value and are more convenient to use; Moreover, the stamping and minting machine technology in Dengzhou Town is leading, and the stamped silver dollar is very beautiful in appearance and not easy to counterfeit. There is also a guarantee from the Dengzhou Town Office, and the credit is also guaranteed.

With this silver dollar, you can buy anything you need within the jurisdiction of Dengzhou Town. Therefore, this kind of silver dollar was only issued in the early stage of 100,000 taels, but although the issuance was small and it was declared to be used for internal circulation, the advantages of the silver dollar were discovered by some businessmen who were good at business, and they were also willing to receive these silver dollars in the transaction, and then use these silver dollars, and then buy the goods they needed from various workshops under the jurisdiction of Dengzhou Town. This kind of trading still seems to allow the silver dollar to circulate internally, but with the frequent trading places, some silver coins have finally flowed out, and some such silver dollars have appeared in Shandong, Hebei, and Tianjin. Subsequently, wherever there is a bank, the dollar will spread out like a ripple.

In April of the fifteenth year of Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty, the Korean tributary mission, which had been suspended for five years, set out from Seoul again and went to the Ming Dynasty by water to pay tribute to the emperor of the Ming Dynasty. He was accompanied by several major North Korean merchant groups. Unlike the original trip to Tianjin and then overland to Beijing, this time, the Korean tributary mission turned around and went to Dengzhou halfway, exchanging ginseng, tobacco, leather, paper, cloth, seafood, medicinal herbs, and handicrafts for a large amount of Dengzhou silver dollars, and then set sail north.

It turned out that the speed of the spread of the Dengzhou silver dollar soon exceeded Song Youliang's expectations, and in less than two months, the silver dollar even circulated to neighboring North Korea. When the head of the Korean Jiang Commercial Bank, Park Changke, the first of the Song Commercial Bank, and the first Yi Yingqiang of the Beijing Commercial Bank, came to Daming to do business, and the coins they carried were all this kind of Dengzhou silver.

Due to the lack of silver in North Korea, silver is not used within the country, and silver is only used for foreign trade. When foreign trade was active, Joseon silver was often stretched thin, so the Joseon king strictly forbade tributary envoys to carry silver taels without permission, so he implemented the "law of silver searching". On the one hand, the local silver production of North Korea is very small, and the excessive outflow of silver will cause a shortage of domestic silver, and on the other hand, they are afraid that the emperor and officials of the suzerainty will have the pretext that "Korea has abundant silver and rich national strength", so as to increase the plundering and extortion of North Korea. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the North Korean delegation crossed the sea into Beijing to pay tribute, and there were still rules of "collecting money", which gradually became abandoned: "Recently, on a trip to Beijing, public and private silver goods have been used for a long time, and the purpose of collecting money is really a false set.

In 1607, the Somune clan re-established diplomatic relations with Korea for the Tokugawa shogun, and in 1609 they exchanged diplomatic documents with Korea (the Treaty of Youyou, or Keicho Treaty). As a result, both the Tokugawa shogunate and the Joseon dynasty regarded the Tsushima clan as an intermediary between the two sides. North Korea traded ginseng for silver from Japan, and the Japanese were the main consumers of Korean ginseng.

North Korea calls Japanese silver "Lai Yin", and the fineness is more than 80%. In addition, the silver circulating in Korea includes the Ming Dynasty "Heavenly Silver" with a fineness of more than 90%, the "Dingyin" with a fineness of 7 to 80%, and the locally-produced "Yuanyin" or "Mining Silver" with a fineness of only 60%. The North Korean mission generally uses "Heavenly Silver" and "Lai Silver", and when it is insufficient, it is replaced by "Ding Silver". "Yuan Yin" was once banned, and then it had to be used to fill the bag.

Although Chongzhen was in the melancholy of the defeat of Henan because of the Ming army, as the emperor of the Celestial Empire, he still received the Korean tributary mission with a very high attitude.

The head of the tributary mission handed Chongzhen a letter from the king of Joseon, in which he said that he was willing to send an army to fight alongside the Ming army and assist the Celestial army in their crusade against Jiannu, as was the case in Wanli.

"Yes~~ I really need a victory~" Chongzhen muttered: "It's not in the south, it's in the north~~" After sending off the Korean envoy, Chongzhen talked to himself in the north study.

"Wang Chengen~~ Where is Hong Chengchou's department?" Chongzhen asked.

Wang Chengen replied: "Just arrived at Shanhaiguan~"

"Spread the message~~ Let them turn around and return to Ningyuan, and in addition, let Hong Chengchou and Song Youliang join forces and give me a beautiful victory outside the pass." Chongzhen said.

"Your Majesty~" Wang Chengen was a little worried, "Will this seem to be a change of order?" ”

"What kind of order is changed every day~ This is called luring the snake out of the hole, Hong Chengchou doesn't leave, how can Jiannu be ready to move and wait for the opportunity to attack?" Chongzhen was very satisfied with his "art of war strategy", and he said triumphantly: "If you don't lead the snake out of the hole, how can you hit the snake seven inches?" ”