Chapter 287 Commercial Tax
The prosperity of maritime trade brought a generous gift to the Ming Dynasty, and several economically developed cities along the coast broke out into unprecedented prosperity because of maritime trade. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info Empress obeyed Tang Ming's request and increased the business tax by thirty percent, which in Tang Ming's opinion was still less.
But he believed that as long as the queen tasted the sweetness, she would naturally raise taxes, so he didn't pay too much attention to this matter.
Today happens to be the first quarter of the implementation of commercial tax, and the commercial tax received by various localities will be transported to Nanjing on this day. The queen hid in the house with Zhu Gaochi early in the morning to count the numbers, and was busy from morning to noon, and the mother and son did not rest for a moment.
More than 20 ledgers submitted by the local government tiring the mother and son enough. Because this was the first time, the queen wanted to check it with her own hands, but the number was far beyond her imagination, and even if she finally called Zhu Gaochi to help, it would be useless.
It took the two of them to count half of it all morning, and half of it was not counted, and after lunch, the queen was too tired to do anything, so she had to call her trusted bookkeeper, and she and Zhu Gaochi stared at it on the side.
The queen took a sip of tea, although she looked tired, but she could not hide the excitement in her heart. Let Zhu Gaochi sit beside him, and asked: "Emperor, you often walk around with Weihaihou, and you often go to the Bao Shipyard, and now those maritime trades are really so prosperous?" ”
The queen, who stayed in the palace all day and rarely went outside to see it, was still skeptical of maritime trade at this time. Just like the commercial tax collected this time, half of the amount has reached nearly 10 million silver.
The other half should have more than 10,000,000,000 taels of silver if nothing else, although this is a quarterly harvest, and there will be 20,000,000,000 taels of silver in three months. If you change it to land rent, you have to collect how many acres of land you have to collect to have this amount.
Zhu Gaochi was stunned for a moment by his mother's question, and then replied with a smile: "The queen mother really didn't pay attention to these when she didn't mention the child, but thinking about it, it has indeed changed a lot." I can't tell where the children will change."
Zhu Gaochi paused for a moment, as if thinking about something, and then continued after a long time: "The queen mother has been living in the palace, and I don't know the changes outside, just like Weihaihou said, if you want to know the world, you should go outside in person, see with your own eyes, and listen to your own ears." The child dared to invite the queen mother to walk around outside the palace to see the changes in the people in Nanjing. ”
The queen only hesitated slightly, and then readily agreed to Zhu Gaochi's request, so that Zhu Gaochi said this, and at this moment, she also wanted to go outside.
The accounts were counted, and there was indeed not much difference from what the queen had guessed, more than 20 million taels of silver. Seeing that the silver taels were safely put into the warehouse, the queen and Zhu Gaochi got into an ordinary carriage, and quietly left the palace under the escort of more than a dozen guards disguised as ordinary people.
When Zhu Di ascended the throne, Nanjing City looked very depressed, and it was a world of difference from the prosperity at the moment. In the past, in the city of Nanjing, most of the people wore patched cloth clothes, and now you can still see a common person wearing patched clothes along the way.
The cries of all kinds of vendors are endless, and every shop is busy, and the people are in a hurry even when they walk. The more developed the business, the faster the pace of life, compared with the leisure of the people in the past.
The queen went out on patrol this time, and there were not many guards with her, so Zhu Gaochi didn't dare to stay in the downtown for too long. Just let the groom walk around two streets at will and go to the Zheng Mansion, just like Tang Ming said, once the queen tasted the sweetness, she was naturally active and thinking about raising the business tax.
The queen's sudden visit surprised Tang Ming, who was bored and teasing Xiaobai, was blocked by the queen and Zhu Gaochi. Seeing Tang Ming's leisurely appearance, the queen couldn't help but rise in anger, and snorted coldly.
"Weihaihou is really leisurely, a few days ago, I thought that you were injured and didn't come to the palace to ask for peace to the mourning family. Now I see that you are moving freely and still have time to tease the dog here, but what is the reason why you don't come to say goodbye to the mourning family? ”
The queen will first get off the horse when they meet, Tang Ming seems to have been used to it for a long time, he smiled and flattered: "The queen mother has wronged Weichen, recently Weichen has been busy with his feet for the Nahou Mansion and the manor, this will have to be idle for a moment I want to ask the queen mother in the palace to say goodbye, but I never thought that the queen mother came first, and Weichen has never been far away to meet and forgive." ”
Reasoning with Tang Ming is that it is not pleasant to find it, and the queen is too lazy to compare it with him, seeing that there is a strange chair beside him, she walks over and sits on it curiously. This is a rocking chair specially created by Tang Ming, which is made of special bamboo chips, which is very comfortable to sit on.
"Weihaihou, have you come back with your maritime trade caravan, and whether the commercial tax has been set for the mourning family, more than a month has passed, and your commercial tax can't be delayed any longer!" The queen gently rocked the chair with her eyes slightly closed, and there was a look of enjoyment on her face.
If there is nothing to do, go to the Three Treasures Palace, although this Zheng Mansion is not a Three Treasures Palace, but the queen will suddenly visit, and there must be a purpose. Now hearing what he said, Tang Ming was not in a hurry, and replied with a smile: "Presumably, the queen should receive the business tax paid by various places today, I don't know if you are satisfied?" ”
The queen was indeed very satisfied, but she had a reluctant expression: "It's just more than 20 million taels of silver, which is about the same as the land tax of a big province, and it's quite satisfied." ”
The queen obviously had a different heart, Tang Ming scolded in his heart, and continued: "The queen must know that this is the first quarter that has just begun, and Weichen dares to guarantee that the next quarter will definitely reach more than 30 million taels of silver." ”
"Why are you so sure?" The queen didn't know where Tang Ming's confidence came from, when she thought that the scale of this business tax was already the sky, where there was still room for growth.
"Actually, it's very simple, now that the Ming Dynasty is peaceful, in addition to some wars on the Tatar side, the inland areas of the Ming Dynasty have begun to recover. In addition, there is plenty of food, and the people do not have to worry about famine, and commerce will be more prosperous, so won't the queen's tax revenue be more and more? ”
The current situation has long been expected by Tang Ming, as long as there is no major turmoil or war in the Ming Dynasty during this period, it will definitely usher in a prosperous era in less than two years.
The queen was silent, Tang Ming was not talking nonsense, she also knew that Da Ming was constantly becoming stronger, although the north was not very stable. But that is only temporary, the emperor is even more in person, and good news continues to come from the front, since the emperor took Huerhot, the Tatar army has begun to retreat.
It is believed that the chaos in the northern frontier will be quelled in the near future, and then the capital will be moved to Beiping to suppress the turmoil in the north, and the world will be truly peaceful. (To be continued.) )