In August, the southeast monsoon is still strong, and the huge sails are inflated like balloons, carrying ten thousand stone cargo, chopping waves and entering the port of Tianjin. Outside the cargo ships with huge bellies and clumsy bodies, there are also many extremely fast and slender warships to protect them.

All warships were led by Yu Dayou, the old general has always had the desire to build a strong naval division, when Wang Chen and Zhang Jing were in charge of the southeast, firstly, the funds were insufficient, and secondly, they did not support it, so that Yu Dayou's dream could not be realized for a long time. However, fortunately, with the full support of Tang Shunzhi, the secretary of the Southern Military Department, and the newly promoted governor of Zhejiang, Hu Zongxian, gave everything he had, and the sailor finally had an eyebrow.

It is worth mentioning that under the influence of Tang Yi, Tang Shunzhi also became interested in Western knowledge, this is a genius in itself, if he works hard, there is nothing he can't understand.

Tang Shunzhi found that the traditional sampan was too small, and the loading and transportation of the Fu ship was good, but the speed was not enough, and the flexibility was also poor, so it could only transport goods, not fight, and as for the sand boats, the handling performance was far inferior to that of Western ships.

He called in a few Western missionaries, studied them carefully, borrowed the shape of the Western Galen ship, lowered the height of the ship, changed the stern to a square, and adopted four masts, two square in the front and two triangular in the rear. The ship is built to be slender and sturdy, and more importantly, even if it is headwind, it has quite good seaworthiness.

After Yu Dayou saw the new warship, he was stunned and did not close his eyes for three days, he kept walking around the ship, letting the sailors start the ship, he knocked it down from above, from the inside to the outside, and touched the ship thoroughly.

The more he learned, the more ecstatic Yu Dayou became, the new ships were not only seaworthy, but also sturdy and compact, which could withstand the recoil of artillery.

Other words. Naval battles are no longer broadside battles and bayonet fights, but have become artillery bombardments.

Yu Dayou heard that the Westerners already had similar warships, but the Japanese did not, if his sailors could be equipped with new warships with sharp artillery. It's nothing short of a one-sided massacre.

Yu Dayou, who was dizzy with excitement, directly found Tang Shunzhi and asked the master of the ministry to configure a ship cannon for him.

Tang Shunzhi reached out very simply, "Zhifu, I want to help you, but have you counted the accounts?" The cost of a battleship is seven or eight thousand taels of silver, plus twenty artillery pieces, it is more than 10,000 taels, not to mention that it costs copper to build cannons, is it possible that you let me collect copper coins all over the world. Make you a cannon? ”

Yu Dayou was also dumbfounded for a moment, and said bitterly: "Ministry, it's not difficult for the last general, if you give the last general a hundred warships and complete the artillery, I, Yu Dayou, will dare to smash the nest on the sea and kill Wang Zhi's grandson!" If the ships are built one day earlier, the people of the southeast will suffer one less day! ”

Tang Shunzhi sighed and said, "Of course I understand Zhifu's mood. What's more, I also plan to do the same, but it's difficult for a good woman to cook without rice. I'm also a poor ghost in the military department, but ......"

Tang Shunzhi deliberately dragged out his voice very long, and Yu Dayou said anxiously: "My lord, don't play dumb riddles, hurry up!" ”

"Hehe, soon the good money boy will go to the southeast." Tang Shunzhi said with a smile: "My apprentice has already said that His Majesty will open the sea. As long as the sea trade route is opened, even if he is unwilling to pay, he can't do it, who makes him have to rely on the sailor to escort him! ”

There is no way out of the mountains and rivers, and the willows and flowers are bright and another village.

Yu Dayou rushed back to the water division's station, but he didn't wait for a few days. Tang Shunzhi's order came down, and he asked the sailors to send twenty warships to escort the merchant ships north to Tianjin.

As soon as Yu Dayou inquired, it turned out that Tang Yi had opened the sea in Tianjin first, and after thinking about it, he simply led the team himself.

Escorted by twenty of the latest warships, the huge southeast merchant fleet slowly sailed into the port of Tianjin like a dragon on the sea.

The officials and gentry of Tianjin were all looking forward to it, when the first lucky boat docked, a tall and strong man jumped down from it, and the person who came was Lei Qi, as Tang Yi's hardcore henchman, how could he not cheer!

Lei Qi's body has also been blessed in the past few years, his face is full of red light, his belly is fat, and his smile is like Maitreya Buddha. But whoever is deceived by his appearance, you are guaranteed to suffer.

Far away, Lei Qi saw Tang Yi in the crowd, he ran over quickly, saw that the ceremony was over, and couldn't wait to say: "The prince is really powerful, the six heads of Kuiyuan, Taicang and Suzhou have set up several flowing water seats, celebrating the champion of the son, the big guys are looking forward to your return to your hometown, so immortal." ”

Tang Yi smiled, "Old Lei, I don't have any immortal energy on my body now, only copper smell." Tell me, how many things have been shipped? ”

Lei Qi smiled and stretched out two rolling pin-like fingers.

"Hey, that's all for cotton alone!"

Lu Bing couldn't help but laugh and said, "20,000 horses is really not a small amount. ”

Lei Qi smiled: "This adult, you can say wrong, it's 200,000 horses!" ”

Ooh!

almost scared Lu Bing down, how many, 200,000 horses! I'm afraid I can't buy so much in a year in Beijing?

Lu Bing was suspicious, and Wu Tiancheng next to him said with a smile: "Lu Taibao, you don't understand this, the cotton cloth in Beijing sells less, because a piece of cloth is transported from Jiangnan to the capital through the canal, and it costs six or seven taels of silver, and then after exploitation and profit, it costs more than ten taels to sell it to the common people, and a strong laborer can't earn it for two or three months, so he can only use home weaving." But Boss Lei's cloth itself is cheap, and it will only be one in the first three taels when it is shipped to Tianjin, even if it arrives in the capital, it will be less than five taels at most, which is half cheaper, who doesn't want to change into new clothes! ”

Lu Bing waved his hand, "What ten taels are expensive, five taels are cheap, this seat doesn't care, you just need to pay taxes according to the rules and regulations, and pay enough silver." Saying that, Lu Bing looked at Tang Yi teasingly, and said with a smile: "Okay, I won't show mercy to my subordinates just because Boss Lei is your person!" ”

Tang Yi looked up to the sky and laughed, "Lu Taibao, today we have set up a rule in Tianjin, there are only two things that people can't run away, one is death, and the other is to pay taxes!" ”

"Well said!" Lu Bing stroked his palms and laughed.

Tang Yi took the initiative to take Lei Qi and them through the process of paying taxes.

Unlike the rudimentary model of relying on officials or merchants in other parts of the Ming Dynasty to levy taxes, Tang Yi set up a relatively complete system in Tianjin.

After the goods arrive at the port, they must first be inspected by the port officers and soldiers to ensure that there are no prohibited items, and the certificate of entry into the port is issued.

This is Tang Yi's promise to the gentry, and in the past three months, more than a dozen chambers of commerce have been established under the leadership of the local gentry in Tianjin.

Including the Grain Chamber of Commerce, the Silk and Cloth Chamber of Commerce, the Medicinal Materials Chamber of Commerce, the Jewelry Chamber of Commerce, the Furniture Chamber of Commerce, the Porcelain Chamber of Commerce and so on......

When the goods arrive in Tianjin, they are first classified and find the corresponding chamber of commerce, and the chamber of commerce sends experienced personnel to evaluate the quantity and price of the goods, and also issue certification documents and stamp the seal of the chamber of commerce.

Don't underestimate this document, it is a great protection for businessmen. When they take the documents to the yamen to pay taxes, if the official officials levy and extort excessively, which greatly exceeds the estimated value of the chamber of commerce, the businessman can refuse to pay taxes, and ask the chamber of commerce to come forward, communicate with the yamen, or even file a lawsuit to seek justice.

The Chamber of Commerce is much more powerful than a foreign businessman with a black eye!

Of course, if the chamber of commerce underestimates, the officials in charge of taxation will also report to the higher authorities and demand that the chamber of commerce be punished, which is a two-way constraint.

After declaring taxes in the Yamen, they do not pay the taxes and silver directly in the Yamen, but take the vouchers to the newly established Tianjin Qianzhuang to pay taxes, and each new businessman will get a special account, and all future large transactions and tax transfers must be handled through the Tianjin Qianzhuang.

After going through this set of processes, the goods officially entered Tianjin and could be bought and sold freely.

In fact, observing Tang Yi's design, the core lies in the separation of powers and checks and balances, he handed over the pricing power to the Chamber of Commerce, in the part of the tax collection, the officials responsible for collecting taxes do not collect silver, and the money bank that collects money does not collect taxes.

All parties check each other, and the account books must be handed over on a regular basis, which will be reviewed by specialized personnel. At the same time, Jinyiwei and Tianjin's yamen also have the power to supervise, and if there is a false report or malpractice, they will be investigated at any time.

Just like any system, there are loopholes, and Tang Yi's model is the same, it only increases the cost of cheating, after all, it is much better to buy the Chamber of Commerce, the money bank, the tax department, the government, and the Jinyi Guard.

However, Tang Yi also set up another big killer, which brought great difficulties to those who wanted to cheat.

All foreign commodities must be traded on the trading floor, and a guide price will be announced on the trading floor every day. Then the supply and demand sides negotiate, and when the negotiation is done, the transaction needs to be paid by the buyer, which is basically about 5%.

At this time, the buyer needs the seller to take out his tax voucher, if not, sorry, he will pay the tax according to the total amount of the transaction, and if there is a tax voucher, he can first reduce the share of the tax that has been paid. In other words, this transaction tax is very similar to the popular value-added tax in later generations, which is a tax on the amount of money earned in the process of buying and selling.

If the previous seller underdeclares the tax, when it comes to the transaction, the buyer will have to pay more transaction tax.

No one is a fool, and there will automatically be constraints among merchants, and if you evade taxes in front of you, it is very likely that the goods will not be sold. Once you have been hoarding at the port for a long time, you will need to pay a late fee. In this way, it is definitely a great blow to profiteers.

Tang Yi accompanied Lei Qi and many businessmen from the southeast to walk around, Lei Qi's eyes lit up and he stretched out two thumbs!

"The prince is really a talent, according to this set of methods, I dare not say that I am impeccable, but I am also thoughtful." Lei Qi said with a smile: "What businessmen are most afraid of is that there are no rules, today is the same, tomorrow will be the same, if you don't do it, your hard-earned money will be wasted." Nowadays, Tianjin has such strict rules, I think it is a paradise for businessmen! ”

Not to mention, Lei Qiyi said that in the half month of opening the sea, more than one million taels of goods were transported in from the southeast, and according to the tax rate of one out of ten, the port received more than 100,000 taels, and the trading hall also collected nearly 30,000 taels, adding up to almost 150,000 taels!

In half a month, it is more than a year's income of a medium government! Tianjin Port has become an out-and-out hen that lays golden eggs! (To be continued.) )