Chapter Seventy-Three: The Art of Statecraft

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When they began to argue again, Zhao Zhe began to carefully recall how he was taxed in his time. It seems that I have vaguely seen a post on the Internet, and the normal national agricultural tax is not only exempted, but also various subsidy policies.

Of course, these are extremely developed countries that collect enough taxes on business.

Business tax, right. Zhao Zhe's eyes suddenly lit up, and now there is a huge gap in commercial tax. You know, in a normal year, there are 100 million taxes a year. Yet nearly 90 million of them came from the poorest and most disadvantaged peasant households. As for the hunters, herdsmen, there are basically no taxes, and those are just fine. The most important thing is the merchants, and the tax burden on commerce is frighteningly low, far lower than the tax burden on agriculture.

For example, this time the grain merchants hoarded Juqi grain, and the income could almost reach double or even several times. But there are almost no taxes to pay. Even the business tax of the store is mostly paid according to a fixed share, regardless of how much money it can make.

Thinking of this, Zhao Zhe's eyes couldn't help but light up. Didn't this time the grain speculation make him extremely angry? The powerful landlord family is not easy to deal with, and the merchants are not easy to deal with? Originally, among the soldiers, peasants, and industrialists of the Great Zhao Empire, the status of merchants was the lowest, just by looking at the imperial examination, the merchants were not allowed to take the scientific examination. What is the status of this class?

Zhao Zhe has also learned a little bit about reading history books recently, and the status of businessmen has never risen, and in the eyes of the ruling class, businessmen are fat sheep. If you are hungry, you can slaughter and eat. And the merchants, on the other hand, would not be as numerous as the peasants and united to the danger of the imperial court.

Nowadays, for the Great Zhao Empire, food is the top priority. The summer harvest in May and June in Shandong and Henan this year is absolutely unexpected. Not only is it impossible to count on the fact that after such mob destruction, there must be at least 20 million people enough food for a year to make a smooth transition between the two places after the war, otherwise either the refugees will not return or many will starve to death. And this year is definitely a year of extreme food shortage. Even if the summer grain is collected, after this call for disaster relief, the imperial court will not have much surplus grain. Therefore, if they continue to collect grain at high prices during the summer harvest, not only will they not lower the price of grain because of the summer harvest, but I am afraid that it will increase.

After Zhao Zheluo mentioned this topic, Shen Yijun supported: "Your Majesty, if the price of grain cannot be lowered. I am afraid that it will be a great burden on the people. On the face of it, high food prices are good for farmers. But in fact, in this world, farmers do not have much surplus grain in their hands, and even if they do, they do not dare to sell it casually in case the next year's harvest is not good. Ordinary non-peasant households hate high grain prices to the core. This is a hoarding and disrupting the market. Wechen proposed that the high food prices should not be curbed by the following order. ”

"Lord Shen's intentions may be good, but what if the grain merchant is yin and yang?" Chen Zheng, the secretary of the ministry, said: "Merchants are the most cunning, even if they don't violate the yin and yang, as long as the collective lies that there is no grain to sell." And my court now has no surplus grain to suppress grain prices. As a result, if the non-peasant people cannot buy food, won't they all starve to death? ”

"It's better to implement food controls." The military department Shangshu Weimeng proposed: "This is not a peaceful era, and the grain must be included in the control of the imperial court to prevent the grain from secretly flowing into the hands of thieves or enemy soldiers. ”

"Good idea." Zhao Zhe praised Wei Meng's idea and added: "In the war years, there are naturally rules in the war years. The first order was issued, and in order to avoid collaborating with the enemy to raise grain, grain stores throughout the country, including landlord families with more than 1,000 acres of land, should take the initiative to register the amount of surplus grain with the government within 10 days after receiving the order. If the registration is not made within the time limit, or if the registration is false, it is not the case if it is not found, and once it is found, it will be dealt with as the crime of treason with the enemy. ”

When he said the last sentence, Zhao Zhe's eyes faintly revealed murderous intent. It made the few ministers present chill one by one.

"Yan Aiqing, your cabinet and I will draw up a will, and then I will approve it and send it to the provinces." Zhao Zhe looked around lazily, and everyone glanced at each other, and said with a somewhat cold expression: "I also know that you will have some connections with the merchants outside to a greater or lesser extent. But I would like to warn you, including myself, that no one is allowed to divulge a sentence to the outside world at today's meeting. Again, if it is not found out by me, then it is whose luck, once it is known by me. Hugh blames, you're welcome. ”

Now Qin Yun is busy eating the strength of the East Factory, if the East Factory and Jinyiwei can play a role together. Zhao Zhe's monitoring will reach an unprecedented height.

The ministers didn't dare to sit anymore, they all knelt down and swore: "Your Majesty, please rest assured, the ministers know the severity and will never dare to divulge half a sentence." ”

Zhao Zhe suddenly thought of Cai Guyan, she still had 900,000 loads of grain in her hands. She originally wanted to leave it to Zhao Zhe for emergency. But as soon as it came, it was Zhao Zhe's private money, where would it fill the treasury. Second, as an emperor, he owns the entire country, and there will be no shortage of 900,000 quintals of grain. Yes, let her find a suitable time to throw it away. And Zhao Zhe thought that she cared about herself, so she stayed until the morning before returning to the palace, but she didn't know when she would throw it. If it's three or five days to throw it inward, it's okay. Once this decree is issued, I am afraid that it will be difficult to ship at that price.

If you lose, you will lose, so that she can sharpen it, the money is not so easy to earn. Since he had already said it before, Zhao Zhe didn't plan to inform her. After all, as an emperor, as soon as Chrysostom is opened, where can he only be worth hundreds of thousands of taels of silver?

This is the power of imperial power, and a decree can change many things. Asking them to go to the government to register is just a policy signal. Tell them that the court is going to control the grain. If you're smart, take the initiative to reduce the price. If they are not smart enough and want to stand up to it, then the next decrees will make them want to cry without tears. Especially if he is accused of treason against the enemy, then the whole family is afraid that it will never be able to turn over.

After this incident, Zhao Zhe suddenly understood a lot. I used to think that I didn't have enough food on hand to bring down the entire food price. That's putting yourself on the same level as businessmen. However, in fact, he is the emperor, and the whole world is his own, and the businessman is not qualified to stand on the same level as himself at all. A government decree can often turn things around.

And the decree is also quite skillful. If you directly and bluntly tell the merchants, you must reduce the price of grain to as much as you want. First, it did not stand on the commanding heights of morality or righteousness. Second, the actual effect will not be very good. Now, instead of telling them to reduce grain prices, they just said that they would report their own grain stocks, but they just stood on the righteousness of preventing the enemy from betraying the country. If someone dares not to cooperate, who can afford to buckle this kind of hat? Even the landlord class did not dare to make a hard top.

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