After a short silence, there was a lot of discussion in the hall again, completely out of Zhu Houzhao's expectations. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

Isn't it a good thing to exchange physical objects for silver, without having to build so many warehouses, and not to worry about transportation and storage.

However, the way of thinking of ancient people is so different from the way of thinking of modern people.

What Zhu Houzhao saw was that the times were progressing and the system was developing, but in the eyes of the Manchu officials, it became a rebellious move against the laws of the ancestors.

What Zhu Houzhao saw was simple, convenient, and easy to operate, which could greatly improve work efficiency, but the hundred officials were thinking in their hearts about whose jobs would be completely shattered because of His Majesty the Emperor's reform, whose power would be weakened because of this, and whose power would be expanded because of this.

is in a different position, and the way and angle of looking at the problem are also very different, so in the final analysis, Zhu Houzhao is too young to understand this era, let alone the officialdom of this era.

But since Zhu Houzhao's words have already risen, it is equivalent to the wheel of history beginning to roll forward, he can't stop the car alone, of course, he didn't think about braking.

Zhu Houzhao stopped the discussion of hundreds of officials and continued: "I just talked about tax issues such as agriculture, fishing and forestry, and the next thing I want to talk about is commercial tax.

Since the time of Taizu, in order to promote the development of commerce, it is estimated that the merchants, Emperor Taizu has set a very low commercial tax, which has not changed since then, so I think it is time to increase the amount of commercial tax. ”

Zhu Houzhao raised this question when he was very young and the crown prince, but it was useless, and several important ministers just laughed it off at that time.

Later, after becoming the emperor, he also proposed the cabinet many times to put the commercial tax reform on the agenda as soon as possible, but he was also rejected by the cabinet, either not doing it or delaying it indefinitely.

Therefore, for a long time, Zhu Houzhao naively thought that the officials of the Ming Dynasty did not attach much importance to commerce, or that they attached too much importance to the ancestral system set by Emperor Taizu, or even simply for the purpose of protecting the small peasant economy.

However, now it seems that this is clearly not the case.

When Zhu Houzhao talked about reforming the agricultural tax and implementing the policy of paying silver in a unified manner, although the hundred officials talked about it a lot, they did not say much, and it could be decided after a little pressure.

But now when it comes to raising business taxes, it can no longer be suppressed, and the buzz explodes, and almost everyone has begun to strongly oppose this policy.

Zhu Houzhao once made a secret investigation for a period of time, and the result was that he couldn't help but do business.

Previously, Zhu Houzhao thought that his Tianzhu Shenshui chain store was tax-exempt to the point of making money every day because of his status as the prince, but now he found that it was a serious lack of taxation.

In fact, the agricultural tax in the Ming Dynasty was not as high as imagined, and most years were 10% out of 10%, and 30% was considered a heavy tax.

However, even when the agricultural tax is drawn to one-tenth, the commercial tax is still less than one-tenth of the agricultural tax.

The result of incomplete statistics is that the commercial tax is only 3 to 5 percent of the agricultural tax, and this tax rate is estimated to be laughing to death for those who do business.

Zhu Houzhao didn't understand, shouldn't such an ultra-low tax rate be raised? Didn't the officials of the Manchu Dynasty see how prosperous the commerce of the Ming Dynasty was, and how rich the merchants were?

What Zhu Houzhao thought, no one paid attention to the hundred officials at all.

During this time period, all Zhu Houzhao heard in his ears were all kinds of protests and oppositions that were so excited that they almost toppled the roof.

"Your Majesty, this move is unthinkable!" One of the heads of the household department stepped forward, and this person was in charge of the tax revenue.

"Your Majesty, raising the commercial tax will inevitably lead to a significant decrease in the number of merchants, not to mention that the decrease in the number of merchants will lead to a decrease in the amount of tax and silver collected. Even another question has to be carefully considered! The head of the household department said: "Most of the merchants are richer than the peasant households, if the commercial tax is raised, there will inevitably be merchants who turn into peasant households and buy a large amount of land, resulting in a large number of displaced people, and too many displaced people will lead to the instability of the country's foundation, which must be investigated!" ”

Zhu Houzhao was confused by this person's thinking logic.

Who said that raising the business tax would make businessmen give up business, and people who don't understand business basically have no common language to communicate.

But Zhu Houzhao still retorted patiently, because at this time, this small head of the household department represented not a five-grade petty official, but an authoritative brick family in the Ming business community.

It can be said that this person is the most knowledgeable among the hundreds of people in the court. But the idea is still so naïve.

Zhu Houzhao had a teaching mind and earnestly taught: "The commercial tax of the Ming Dynasty is too low, even if it is increased by three times or ten times, it still cannot be regarded as high. Therefore, you Aiqing do not have to worry that businessmen will invest in agriculture because of high taxes! ”

Seeing that the officials still didn't understand, Zhu Houzhao had to continue: "The master said: The gentleman is righteous, and the villain is profitable. Since you don't look down on Liu Jin, let's take Liu Jin as an analogy. ”

"Liu Jin, let me ask you, if you sell this piece of jade, you can ensure that you will enjoy all the glory and wealth, but there will be a fifty percent chance that it will lead to death, will you do it?" Zhu Houzhao took off the gorgeous dragon jade hanging from his waist and asked Liu Jindao.

Liu Jin was startled, and hurriedly knelt down and said, "Don't dare!" The minister is alive and well now."

Zhu Houzhao waved his hand and said: "There is nothing to dare or not, it's just an analogy, besides, even if you really let me take it, I am reluctant to kill you." Say what you really mean, will you do it when you have the opportunity to do it? ”

Liu Jin gritted his teeth, looked at the priceless Meiyu and said: "The minister will definitely do it, isn't there still half a chance not to be discovered, and if you can exchange it for glory and wealth, you will naturally give it a go!" ”

There was a boo in the hall, and most of them scolded Liu Jin for being a villain who forgot his righteousness.

Zhu Houzhao continued to ask: "Now I have a calligraphy and painting, I usually can't think of it, if you take it, you can exchange it for 500,000 taels of silver, and being caught is just a prison disaster, but the possibility is only one percent, will you do it?" ”

Liu Jin had already adjusted his mentality at this time, and completely substituted himself into the role, he looked at the huge landscape painting and snorted heavily: "Naturally, the possibility of being caught is so small, and there is no loss to the poor if you are really caught!" ”

Zhu Houzhao nodded, and continued to ask: "I have a folding fan, I can exchange it for 10,000 taels of silver, if I lose it, I will think about changing it, there is no risk at all, if you have the chance, will you take it?" ”

Liu Jin laughed: "Why don't you do such a profitable thing?" ”

Zhu Houzhao casually threw the folding fan in his hand to Liu Jin, stood up and said: "This is the mentality of businessmen, as long as the interests are enough, they will also do the thing of killing the head." What's more, raising a little business tax is far from hurting for them? ”

However, the hundred officials didn't accept this at all, and Zhu Houzhao believed that they had understood all the meanings, but no one agreed.

Looking at hundreds of officials with unified expressions who were not afraid of boiling water, Zhu Houzhao was furious.

What do you mean? Can't understand people? (To be continued.) )