Yangzhou City has a long history and many scenic spots, but it is the most famous and the most beautiful. The biggest place is Slender West Lake.

This is also the reason why Zhang Lingyang chose Slender West Lake as his foothold.

On the Wangchun Tower of Slender West Lake, Zhang Lingyang tasted fine tea and listened to Zhu Yang talk about interesting things that happened in Yangzhou City.

Of course, the most important thing is that Zhang Lingyang wants to understand the development of Yangzhou in the past two years, especially the situation of salt affairs.

Zhu Yang said a lot of anecdotes, many of which can make people laugh, but Zhang Lingyang has always been interested.

Zhu Yang seemed to guess that Zhang Lingyang's mind was not on these strange things, so he made a look, asked all the officials in Yangzhou City to go out, and asked Zhang Lingyang: "Your Majesty is worried about salt affairs?" ”

"Not bad!" Zhang Lingyang nodded and said, "Since the salt merchants were investigated and punished three years ago, Yangzhou has paid more and more salt taxes every year, but you have adjusted the price of salt? ”

"No!" Zhu Yang replied, "In the past two years, the salt price in Yangzhou has not only not been raised, but it has also decreased compared with before!" ”

"Then why is Yangzhou's annual salt tax getting higher and higher?" Zhang Lingyang asked.

"Your Majesty, do you know the allusion of 'small profits but quick turnover'?" Zhu Yang explained with a smile, "In the past two years, although the price of salt has been reduced, compared with before, the sales of salt have increased day by day, so the salt tax collected has also increased year by year." ”

Zhang Lingyang was a little unconvinced, and called Han Xiao to ask.

Han Xiao naturally didn't dare to hide it, and explained the situation he investigated in detail.

In fact, the reason for the increase in salt tax year by year is obvious, in the past, when the price of salt was too high, the people did not dare to buy too much, let alone eat too much.

Now, with the decline in the price of salt, people buy and eat more, and the sales of salt have naturally increased a lot.

Because of this, the salt tax paid by Yangzhou every year is increasing day by day.

After understanding this situation, Zhang Lingyang was satisfied and said to Zhu Yang: "In the next few years, you will open a few more salt farms here in Yangzhou to further reduce the price of salt, so that the people can afford it." ”

Not only the Great Zhou, but in any feudal dynasty, salt, like iron, was the most important strategic material of the country. Otherwise, the feudal dynasties of ancient times would not have implemented the salt and iron monopoly policy.

Without salt, people don't have the strength to work.

In order for the people of Dazhou to be able to afford salt, Zhang Lingyang said so.

In fact, although the annual salt tax revenue is quite large, it is not as important to the national treasury as it used to be.

Three years ago, salt taxes accounted for half of the revenue of the state treasury.

Now, after a series of reforms by Zhang Lingyang, the proportion of salt tax in the total revenue of the state treasury has dropped to about one-fifth.

Zhang Lingyang believes that with the development of industrialization, the proportion of salt tax in the national treasury revenue will become smaller and smaller.

Even, Zhang Lingyang once thought that after the state treasury revenue increased further, he would begin to gradually reduce the agricultural tax.

But now is clearly not a good time.

Today, the annual revenue from agricultural taxes is 20 million taels, accounting for nearly two-thirds of the national treasury revenue.

Zhang Lingyang is reluctant to let such a large sum of money be gone, otherwise, he would not have spent so much effort to clean up the Jiangnan Gentry Group before, for the sake of not this silver?

At present, the bulk of the national treasury revenue is the commercial tax and the mining tax.

It's just that these two policies have just been implemented for less than half a year, and we can't see concrete results yet.

However, Zhang Lingyang believes that with the delay of time, the income from commercial tax and mining tax will far exceed that of agricultural tax and salt tax.

This is not Zhang Lingyang's own wild speculation.

Zhang Lingyang clearly remembers that in his previous life, the Yongzheng Emperor of the Qing Dynasty made great efforts to implement the policy of apportioning the land into the mu, and he was tired and tired, and after more than ten years, the annual income of the treasury was only 40 million taels of silver.

In the last years of the Qing Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty carried out tax reform, and after collecting commercial taxes and mining taxes, the annual revenue of the treasury was as high as 10,000 taels of silver.

In the last years of the Qing Dynasty, all parts of the country were in turmoil, and the Qing court could still have such a high tax, which shows how important the commercial tax and mining tax were.

Some people may say that such a result of industrialization was carried out in the last years of the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

But what about the Song Dynasty?

The Southern Song Dynasty only occupied half of the land area equivalent to the Great Zhou Dynasty, and the annual tax revenue was more than 10,000 yuan, isn't this all because of the commercial tax and mining tax?

Therefore, Zhang Lingyang thought, since the financial revenue of the Song Dynasty can exceed 10,000 taels of silver, there is no reason for it to come into his own hands, and the land area is more than twice that of the Southern Song Dynasty, and the country's financial revenue has declined.

What's more, with the development of industrialization, fiscal revenue will only increase, and there is no reason for it to be less and less.

You must know that in the past two years, the benefits obtained from several large-scale trades between the Great Zhou court and the European powers were more than one million taels of silver.

If this kind of trade can continue, the trade with the European powers alone will make tens of millions of taels of benefits every year.

This is still trade between countries, and if it is put to the people, I am afraid that the benefits will be more.

Of course, before the large-scale trade between the people and Europe, Zhang Lingyang still had to make several arrangements: prohibiting European merchants from transplanting tea, and prohibiting the export of porcelain manufacturing methods.

This is naturally done in order to avoid affecting the interests of Da Zhou after the European Society.

Not to mention porcelain, in the previous life, someone in Europe transplanted tea to Tianzhu, and in the end, the Celestial Empire lost an important income.

As for silk, Zhang Lingyang did not think about planting.

This is because the survival of the mulberry tree has extremely harsh conditions.

Throughout the world, only the Jiangnan region is suitable for planting mulberry trees, so Da Zhou can plant mulberry and silkworms on a large scale.

In other countries and regions, mulberry trees and silkworms may survive, but when it comes to large-scale mulberry cultivation and silkworm raising, I am afraid that there is no place more suitable than the Jiangnan area.

Even if they succeeded in researching through scientific and technological means, the quality of the silk they could produce was far inferior to that of Da Zhou.

Zhang Lingyang stayed in Yangzhou, mainly because of the salt business.

Now, seeing that there is basically nothing worth paying attention to here, I simply stopped paying attention to it and began to browse the places of interest in Yangzhou City.

Naturally, it is inevitable that the night will sing.

Zhang Lingyang's personality, no matter how closed the news is, people are afraid that they will know that there is no reason for the civil and military officials and gentry in Yangzhou City not to know Zhang Lingyang's preferences.

Therefore, before Zhang Lingyang arrived in Yangzhou, countless women had been selected from Yangzhou waiting to be honored by Zhang Lingyang......