Chapter 67 Establishment of the General Administration of Customs The front of the soldiers pointed to Annam

After all the kiln gang members who went to various parts of Shanxi to carry out land reform returned to the kiln gang, a summary meeting on the land reform work was held. This time, the land reform team was led by Yan Boju himself, and the old man was obviously a little dark and thin, but his spirit was exceptionally good.

The most important lesson summed up at the meeting was that it was necessary to take decisive and resolute measures to deal with those forces that oppose land reform. Because the land of many landlords has been passed down through generations, it is more uncomfortable for them to sell their land than to kill them, and there are many people who desperately resist.

As for the next step of land reform, everyone agreed that it should be done better. Those who are disgruntled already know the fate of the revolt through the radio and newspapers, and there should be much less of such a situation in the future. Therefore, everyone unanimously agreed that the land reform work will be carried out in an all-round way in Shaanxi and all the areas under our management north of the Yangtze River after the Spring Festival next year, and that the cadres who have not been assigned, as well as the political cadres in the military who need to be promoted, and the students who are in the second year and above of the College of Commerce, Law, and Law, should be incorporated into the work team and go down together to participate in the land reform work. Strive to complete the land reform work in the first half of the year.

It can be seen that these main leaders of Yaogang who participated in the land reform work already have experience in the matter of land reform, and they have not held many meetings to study it, otherwise they would not have put forward such a complete opinion. Zhang Zhimu had no other opinions, and completely agreed with them to let it go.

Since the main leaders of the kiln gang were all there, Zhang Zhimu submitted Lin Zongwei's proposal to strengthen the collection of tariffs to everyone for discussion.

Ouyang He spoke first, "Mr. Zhang, we all know now that overseas trade is a huge profit, and it is common for general commodities to increase their profits by ten or twenty times. During our Song Dynasty, a large part of the tax revenue was customs duties. Lin Zongwei's advice is that we should take it seriously. ”

Fan Chengkun also said that the tariffs on the Fujian side can only be collected by a small part. Their businessmen gave the original officials a little benefit, and they all passed with their eyes closed. The imperial court couldn't collect much. Chen Yufeng said.

"We have so many troops over there, we have to watch it!" Lu Chengxiang said distressedly.

"This tariff is very reasonable, and it is not convenient for the army to participate in these things, unless there is armed smuggling, generally do not use the army." Zhang Zhimu has thought about this matter for a long time, and this time he is giving his opinion to everyone, "In the future, we will encourage everyone to conduct overseas trade, and the matter of collecting tariffs will also be a big thing." My opinion is that we should set up a General Customs Administration and set up customs at all the customs points. They were under the direct command of the kiln gang, so that they could exercise their power independently without local influence. Customs should also set up its own anti-smuggling team to be responsible for apprehending smuggling. An anti-smuggling speedboat brigade should also be set up along the coast. At the same time, Li Yan and Li Gongzi, you must promulgate a special customs law in the form of law. Local police officers are obliged to assist Customs in enforcing the law at the request of Customs. ”

Everyone also heard that Zhang Zhimu already had an idea about this matter, and it made sense to hear what Zhang Zhimu said, and they all agreed with Zhang Zhimu's opinion.

Lu Chengxiang was more concerned about how much tariff to collect, "Everyone! With such a big profit from overseas trade, shouldn't we charge more taxes? ”

Zhang Zhimu smiled and said: "My opinion is that the main goods we export are all things that they can't get from other places overseas, and I think we will impose 20 percent tariffs on ceramics, silk, tea, etc. The same tariff is levied on imported spices, pearls, hawksbill turtles, etc. For grain, I would like to suggest that tariffs be waived for the time being. For other goods, we will slowly improve according to the regulations of the Ming Dynasty and the situation. ”

"Too little, right? If they have goods worth a hundred taels of silver, they will say ten taels, and we can't do anything about it. Lu Chengxiang quit.

"That's what customs is going to do! Customs can estimate the price of incoming and outgoing goods based on market conditions. Of course, there must be a certain mechanism for this kind of estimation, otherwise they will give them some benefits like the officials of the Ming Dynasty, and they will say that one hundred taels of silver is ten taels of silver goods. We must have import and export ticket numbers, and the legislation stipulates that there are heavy penalties for false declarations. Not only is the money fined, but the owner of the offense must be sentenced to be sent to the border to serve hard labor. They must not be allowed to come up with a guy to take the blame. "It's good that we have set up a sound system with light levies and heavy fines. As the volume of trade increases, the people and the country benefit. Zhang Zhimu explained.

"Who will close this General Customs Office?" Lu Chengxiang asked, "This person must be able to manage strictly!" ”

"This matter, I thought about it for a while, and it is better for our Director of the State Administration of Taxation to take care of this matter!" Zhang Zhimu said, "Qiu Laodong's family is rigorous, and the State Administration of Taxation is also similar to the customs business. However, please ask Mr. Qiu to set up an independent team of the General Administration of Customs, and the General Administration of Customs will still be independent in the future. ”

"Good! I'm both. "Old Qiu's family is very happy.

"Old Qiu's family has a great responsibility!" Lu Chengxiang said, "If your finger leaks a little seam, that's a lot of silver!" ”

"Don't worry! When I'm ready, I'll go to Fujian and take a look, and see where the silver can leak from my old Qiu's hands is sacred? Qiu Lao Dongjia said confidently.

"Also, it's not just Fujian, we're about to take Guangdong, and it's also a big deal over there." Zhang Zhimu said, "We also have to manage the land ports in the east, west, north and south, and there are too many customs matters. I suggest that Old Qiu's family should organize their own set of people first. Take a look at how customs at all levels are set up and supervised. Customs officers can be paid more, but the discipline should be stricter, and if there is a crime of corruption, the punishment should be increased. ”

"Yes, yes! I'll organize people first, and then I can't do anything without competent people. Qiu Laodong accepted Zhang Zhimu's suggestion.

Since Mr. Lu Bingyi did not come back from the inspection of Lingqu, the meeting on the next development plan of the kiln gang had to be postponed.

Since the Qin Dynasty built the Ling Canal, which connected the two rivers of Hunan and Li, the water systems of the Yangtze River and the Pearl River, and connected the water transportation network of South China, the Qin army received a steady supply of grain and grass and soldiers, and the Qin army quickly unified Lingnan. Because the design and construction of the Ling Canal is very reasonable, the Ling Canal is still in use after thousands of years. Now in the Lingqu, although the mountain jungle army and the navy cooperated, when the water level was high, the empty tugboats and barges were reluctantly transported through the Lingqu, but the barges and tugboats full of goods could not cross the Lingqu at all, and the Lingqu could only pass through some small boats. Therefore, the materials transported to Li Zicheng's army had to be unloaded north of the Lingqu and transported across the Lingqu by carts and horses before they could be loaded onto barges. Moreover, there are more than 30 steep gates of the Lingqu now, and it is inconvenient for ships to travel back and forth. In particular, in the dry season, the water depth of the river channel lifted by the steep gate is less than one meter, which greatly restricts the transportation capacity of the Ling Canal. This time, Mr. Lu Bingyi went to inspect the specific situation of the Ling Canal, to see if a canal could be re-dug to connect the Xiangjiang River and the Pearl River system, and the difference in water level could be solved by the locks. In this way, larger ships will be able to travel between the Pearl River and the Yangtze River, greatly improving the water transportation conditions here.

Lu Bingyi took his disciples here to conduct a careful investigation, and decided that in order not to affect the normal operation of the original Ling Canal, it was planned to start the north canal in the south of the Ling Canal, that is, after the Xiangjiang River flows through the Ling Canal, and run parallel to the south canal of the Sanqi River to the west, and then excavate a river channel that can pass through the big boats. This stretch of river is nearly 20 kilometers long. Lu Bingyi: After repeated calculations, they thought that this was a very feasible plan. In the future, the newly excavated river will take large boats, and the original Ling Canal will continue to pass all kinds of small boats.

Li Zicheng's men and materials were constantly transported to Lingqu, but the commander of the Yaogang Mountain Jungle Army followed Li Jing out, and he disdained these troubles. After the arrival of several gunboats of the Yaogang people, as soon as they crossed the Lingqu, they explained to the political commissar, hired two long-term envoys in Guangxi, with a barge, and several gunboats went south along the Li River, to Guilin Mansion and then into the Guijiang River, to Wuzhou Mansion and then into the Xijiang River, into the Xijiang River to the west, to Xunzhou Mansion to the south into the Yujiang River to Nanning Mansion and then into the Zuojiang River to Siming Mansion (Ningming). This is the border of the Ming Dynasty. In fact, Zuojiang can go directly into Annam. However, the commander of the Yaogang Mountain Jungle Army who led the team did not want to startle the snake, and he came this time to personally walk along the waterway. In the past, I heard from the boatmen that the waterway here was very convenient, but I just heard that a large group of people was about to come, and the commander was not at ease if he did not find out in person. They came all the way, and there were places where the officers and soldiers lived along the way, and the officers and soldiers on the shore also felt very curious when they saw that they had never seen smoking boats in the river. Those who have more knowledge know that it is the ship of the kiln people, and they have said that the world is a kiln man sooner or later, and now it seems that it is soon, and the ship of the kiln gang man has come.

The officials sent by the imperial court were also very depressed, they had lost contact with the imperial court for a long time, and they didn't know what to do. I wanted to contact the kiln people, but the kiln people came and passed by in a flash, and there was no time to pay attention to them.

The commander took the fleet all the way, and when he encountered a place where there was a danger of a reef, he stopped and blew up the reef with **, so as not to encounter danger when the army came behind. This is also a great hidden danger for local passing ships.

After exploring the waterway and returning to Xing'an County, they began to assemble troops and materials to Nanning Prefecture. Prepare to march from Nanning Province to Annam.

On the Fujian side, Fan Chengkun and his fleet were reorganized, and Li Zicheng decided that they were ready to transport 50,000 troops by ship directly to Haiphong Port. In the end, it was determined that Mu Yi would lead the fleet as the commander-in-chief, and Zheng Zhilong would be the deputy commander-in-chief. Li Zicheng took these 50,000 soldiers and horses to follow the sea ships into Haiphong Port.

With the approval of the Yaogang Command Center, Mu Yi's fleet was ready to set off. The weapons and materials of Li Zicheng's army had already been loaded onto the ship in advance, and the soldiers boarded the ship before dawn with breakfast. Li Zicheng was followed on the ship, including Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance and other civil and military officials, Liu Zhongmin, who was in charge of the land attack, had already taken people to Xing'an County.

Fan Chengkun and Lin Zongwei came to the Hongze Lake boat to see off Li Zicheng and them, the sky was bright and the wind was just right, Fan Chengkun and Lin Zongwei said goodbye to Li Zicheng and others and got off the boat and went to the dock. Li Zicheng, Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance and others all came to the side of the ship and waved to them.

"Woo!" With a few long whistles, the flagship Hongzehu slowly left the dock and headed out of the port.

The wind direction is just tailwind to the south, and this is when the advantages of the sailboat can be reflected. The sailboats were full of sails and headed south at high speed.

Two 5,000-ton steamers, five steel-hulled ships, six steamers, and four 1,000-ton steamers from Yaogang all came to participate in the operation. But as far as the eye could see, the whole sea was covered with sailboats. Because the main force of the transport army is still Zheng Zhilong's fleet. However, the flagship of the command center of this fleet is the Hongzehu.

The 5,000-ton ship leaning on the pier looks like a huge ship, but when it comes to the sea, it is still a flat boat. Li Zicheng vomited soon after they went to sea. Putting ginger slices on the belly button didn't solve much of a problem.

Li Zicheng and the others were still riding on a 5,000-ton ship, and those officers and men who were on ordinary sailing ships were even more seasick and dizzy, and they felt that life was worse than death.

After years of resistance, Annan finally took advantage of the weakness of the Ming Dynasty to force the Ming Dynasty to officially canonize Li Li as the king of Annam.

After taking the regime and the recognition of the Ming Dynasty, Li Li knew very well that one day the Ming Dynasty would come and conquer them. The Ming Dynasty would not allow them to defect forever. Therefore, Li Li took advantage of the fact that the Ming Dynasty had no time to take care of them, renovated government affairs, developed agricultural overseas trade, and prepared an army, ready to deal with the Ming Dynasty's reconquest of them at any time.

The port of Haiphong is the largest external seaport in Annam, especially since it is located in the Red River Delta, which happens to be the gateway to their national capital, Tokyo (Hanoi), so Le Ly spent a lot of manpower and money to build the defense facilities of Haiphong Port. A large number of artillery batteries were built along the coast of Haiphong Port, and many cannons were cast by themselves, and a lot of huge cannons were purchased from the Francois at great expense.

However, in the past two years, Li Li was still very relieved, according to their spies reported that the Ming Dynasty was constantly in internal war, and the Ming Dynasty was very difficult to deal with the peasant rebellions in various places. The Manchu Qing in the north also took the opportunity to attack the territory of the Ming Dynasty several times to burn, kill and loot, but the Ming Dynasty was unable to deal with it. The Mongols in the north have also been eyeing each other. The Ming Dynasty had many years of severe drought and had to import a lot of grain from Annam every year. The Ming Dynasty, who couldn't even eat, simply didn't have the energy to deal with themselves. Therefore, the palace of Le Li is full of singing and dancing day and night, and there is a lot of fun.

However, some discordant voices also came from the mouths of some businessmen who had recently returned from the Ming Dynasty, saying that Zheng Zhilong, the southeastern overlord of the Ming Dynasty, had been exterminated by a group of people called Yaogang people. These kiln men were very powerful, good at using firearms, and there was also a steam-powered warship that could sail against the wind and was extremely powerful. They have united a lot of men and horses and are preparing to attack Annam.

When Li Li and his civil and military ministers heard it, they thought that this was a story made up by the sailors and merchants who had been bumping around the sea for a long time, and they did not take it seriously at all. They know that to be able to start a war is not just a matter of gathering a few people, it requires a lot of material preparation. Without a strong economic backing, the war could not be waged, and the Ming Dynasty finally had to recognize their independence because they could not fight economically.

Besides, it was the Ming Dynasty that came over, and now Annan is a soldier with enough food, and the Ming Dynasty can't help them. There are even some generals who hope that the Ming Dynasty can attack again, and they have to give the Ming Dynasty some colors to see. The last time the Ming Dynasty mobilized the entire Annam to participate in the war, the number of people who were mobilized to participate in the war was claimed to be two million, but in fact, there were at least seven or eight hundred thousand. Especially after the battle with the Ming Dynasty, after several battles with Cham (India) and won great victories, the morale of the officers and soldiers was high. Many generals wrote to Li Li, asking to attack north and restore the territory of the former Da Yue Kingdom.

However, Li Li is still very sober-minded, he knows that the Ming Dynasty has a vast territory, and the manpower and financial resources of the war are almost unlimited compared with Annan. Now as long as you hold your homeland and prepare for war, you don't let the Ming Dynasty dare to attack again.

They knew there that the army attacking them was already sailing on the rough sea, and Chen Bing was in Nanning, Guangxi.

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Mt. Fuji erupted, Japan was earthquaked. --Progress of "Memories of the Southern Song Dynasty".