In the Forbidden City, in the Yuxiu Palace. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Yang Lin discussed matters with the Minister of Commerce, the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Taxation, and the Director of the General Administration of Customs, and the atmosphere was solemn and extremely quiet, only the voices of a few people were echoing, and it seemed very deserted.

Yang Lin sat on the upper seat of the round conference table, holding a teacup in one hand, and gently clicking on the documents on the table with one hand, looking at everyone one by one, and said calmly: "Everyone, most of the spring has passed, and it is about to be the season for foreigners to come to trade, and the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Taxation and the General Administration of Customs must be prepared. ”

After a pause, Yang Lin looked at the director of the General Administration of Customs and asked: "This year is different from the previous Qing court, our Daguang Dynasty not only has to open a port in Guangzhou, but also Xiamen in Fujian, Shanghai in Jiangsu and Ningbo in Zhejiang as treaty ports. As the department directly responsible, is your customs department ready? ”

Hearing this, the General Director of the Customs Department immediately tensed up, sat up straight, and immediately replied: "Your Majesty, after more than two months of deployment, the customs offices of the four treaty ports are ready to deal with the upcoming peak trade season at any time. ”

As if to increase the persuasiveness of his words, the director of the General Administration of Customs added: "Since the treaty ports in Xiamen, Shanghai and Ningbo have just opened, they have not been used for nearly decades. Therefore, in this spring and summer season, there are far fewer foreign merchant ships coming and going. Therefore, the current sub-customs office alone is sufficient to cope. ”

"The treaty port of Guangzhou has a history of more than 100 years, and all kinds of facilities there have long been perfect, as long as the officials of the imperial court are stationed there, they can do things according to the rules and regulations, and they can operate at any time."

Yang Lin nodded with satisfaction, and said, "Well, that's good." However, you must be well prepared, and those pamphlets should not only be distributed to foreigners, but also let them understand the rules of trade with our Great Guangzhou, and first report to the Customs Department and obtain approval before they can enter the Pearl River Wharf and sell their goods. Whether they still buy the goods of our Daguang Dynasty or not, they must pay customs duties and trade taxes before they can leave the dock. Otherwise, their cargo ship will be sunk by the Navy's warships! ”

The director of the General Administration of Customs nodded frequently like a chicken pecking rice, and said again and again: "Yes, Your Majesty!" If, at the time of their departure, they bought goods from the Great Canton Dynasty, such as tea, silk and porcelain, they had to pay a trade tax, hand over a list of goods, and the customs department verified the goods and confirmed that there was no problem, so that the merchant ships could leave the docks. ”

Yang Lin was very satisfied, with a slightly warning tone, and said: "I must notify the customs and tell the various branches of customs that they only have the power to inspect the goods and issue approvals, but they do not have the power to collect customs duties and trade taxes. ”

Without waiting for the director of the General Administration of Customs to reply, Yang Lin looked at the other three and continued: "Not only the Customs Department, but also your Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Commerce, and Ministry of Taxation. You all know the power of your respective departments, right? ”

Although the words were plain, there was a domineering and majestic spirit in the ears of the four people, rumbling, making them can't help but tremble, and they all expressed their positions and answered Yang Lin's question.

"Yes, Your Majesty, our Ministry of Commerce only has the power to accept the transaction bills of merchants and foreign merchants of the Great Guang Dynasty, as well as to confirm and review the transaction prices of various businesses, so as to prevent those merchants from secretly cheating and concealing the true price of the transaction, so as to pay less or omit taxes."

"Your Majesty, we know that the Ministry of Taxation only issues documents for the amount of tax due, and at the same time, checks whether the financial statements submitted by those merchants are consistent with those of the Ministry of Commerce and the Customs Department. Once a problem is found, it must be reported and handed over to the relevant departments for investigation and punishment, and the finance department only has the power and obligation to issue tax bills, but cannot directly collect money. ”

"Your Majesty, our Ministry of Finance has also delegated its responsibilities to each branch, not only to check whether the amount of tax payable is correct, but also to hand over the tax received to the imperial court, and sign the name of each person in charge, and to give the merchant who pays the tax a receipt as a voucher."

Listening to the narration of the four people who told the story, and reported the responsibilities of their respective departments, Yang Lin had a sense of satisfaction, but also a kind of enjoyment, as if seeing the white flowers of silver surging, piling up, filling the entire treasury, and using it endlessly.

Immediately, after the four of them finished talking one by one, Yang Lin looked at the director of the General Administration of Customs and said again: "Remember, you must notify that after the managers of each sub-customs department see the receipts of the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Taxation and the Ministry of Commerce, they have the corresponding seals, so that they can issue the passes for those foreigners to leave, and let them report the date of departure." ”

"Warning the foreigners that if the navy's patrol ships inspect them and find that their goods do not match the list in the navy's possession, their merchant ships will be seized until the tax has been paid. Moreover, it is not more than three things, and once the third time occurs, their goods will be directly confiscated as a punishment. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

As soon as the director of the General Administration of Customs finished speaking, at this moment, a little eunuch walked in from outside, bowed down and said: "Your Majesty, Shi Mingzhi Shi of the Navy asks to see him~"

Yang Lin was stunned for a moment, but he was not surprised, he had long known that Shi Mingzhi was back to Beiping City, but he didn't expect to come back so quickly? He recovered his mind in an instant, and said to the little eunuch, "Okay, I know, let Master Shi come in." ”

At the same time, Yang Lin looked at the four of them again and said in a harmonious voice: "Okay, the matter is over, let's stop here today." After returning home, we must conscientiously sort out the responsibilities of our respective departments, check and fill in the gaps, improve the charter, and increase education and supervision over our subordinate departments. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty!" The four ministers replied one after another, stood up, and then left, just in time to take a look at Shi Mingzhi, smiled at each other, nodded symbolically, and greeted.

Seeing Shi Mingzhi walk in, Yang Lin immediately stood up and greeted him, ignoring the shocked expressions of others, laughed and said loudly: "Ha~Ha~ Brother Shi, I haven't seen you for nearly a year, your body has become a lot fatter, it seems that your small life in Guangzhou is good~!" ”

Yang Lin said this, Shi Mingzhi didn't dare to really listen to it, really think so. Shi Mingzhi, who was deeply educated by feudal ideology, trembled and said extremely nervously: "Your Majesty, don't shout like this. Otherwise, it will become a gentleman and a minister, and it will really torment me, so let's call the name of the minister. ”

However, Yang Lin didn't care about these red tapes, and said disappreciatively: "What's so much to worry about? Whether it's from our friendship, or you are Yuxiu's uncle, my title is a bit abrupt~! Leave that alone, there's no one else now, let's sit down and talk about it! ”