Guangzhou, the last stop of Emperor Guangxu's southern tour of the Qing Dynasty.

The Second Mountain Regiment led by Liu Yongfu, the commander-in-chief of the Liangguang Army, had already entered the city of Guangzhou, and all key points in the city were heavily guarded. At 12 noon, martial law began at the station after the last civilian train left the station. As the vanguard of the emperor's southern tour, the 1st Regiment of the Central Guard Brigade led by Feng Guozhang arrived at the Guangzhou Railway Station at 2 o'clock in the afternoon and began to take over the defense of the city. At the same time, Tan Zhonglin, the governor of Liangguang, and Li Yuanhong, the governor of Guangdong, led local officials of Liangguang and Guangxi to wait at the railway station. But they waited until the next morning."

On January 16, 1897, the 14th day of the 22nd year of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty, the special train of the southern tour of the Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty entered the Guangzhou Railway Station at 8 o'clock in the morning. After the monarch and ministers saw the ceremony, Tan Zhonglin, the governor of Liangguang, held a banquet for the emperor and washed the dust for the Nanyang fathers. In the next three days, Guangxu and his fellow Nanyang elders visited various factories in Guangzhou one after another, and also visited a Nanyang Fleet exercise in Guangzhou Bay, where the Nanyang Fleet was stationed. In the past three days, the merchants and local clans in Guangzhou who have benefited from the imperial court's opening policy have also sent representatives to meet the emperor. Guangxu happily summoned them and had a good time with them. The emperor encouraged them to continue to become stronger and bigger, and at the same time, he did not forget to tell them to remember to pay taxes when they made money: "Everyone knows that the imperial court built ships in Huludao in order to cope with Japan, and Lao Tzu has paid for building ships." The imperial court is now waiting for your tax silver annual award, and it must not be short. ”

Guangxu's joking words made the original serious atmosphere softer, and took the opportunity of the banquet Guangxu to have a detailed understanding of the current purchase of commercial tax and the actual method of paying taxes. It is no secret that the imperial court wants to reform the tax system. In the middle of the year, after returning to Beijing, the emperor issued an order for local officials to report the tax system of the places under their jurisdiction to the imperial court, but what to change and how to change it was something that all merchants were looking forward to. Now that the emperor has taken the initiative to mention the issue of the tax system, this can be regarded as opening the topic. Representatives of various business clans began to complain. Many practical problems were revealed. Guangxu had people record it and send it back to the capital by telegram, so that the Prime Minister's Office could sort it out and make final amendments to the new tax system that was being drafted after the year. In the capital, the imperial historian sent to various places in the middle of the year reported from another angle that the information on the actual tax burden to be borne by the people had been sorted out, and Guangxu asked Li Hongzhang to send the full text of the new tax bill that had been drafted by the imperial court to Guangzhou, and also took out some regulations to discuss them one by one.

It turned out that the high-ranking court took many regulations for granted. Just like some merchants put it forward. The customization of tax types and tax rates tends to be a one-size-fits-all approach, and some tax rates are too low for economically developed areas such as coastal areas and rivers, but they are still very backward for some inland economies. It's still a place where agriculture is the mainstay, but it's on the high side. There are still many practical problems, and the imperial court did not consider them in detail when customizing the regulations.

Guangxu nodded and humbly accepted these suggestions: "My China is huge, the population is large, and the distance between the north and the south and the east and west is huge. The difference between the south and the north is huge. And the imperial court needs to take the whole country into account when formulating regulations. Inevitably, there will be omissions. I will ask the Prime Minister to expedite the deliberations of the six ministries mentioned today, and to improve as much as possible the tax system that has been drafted in advance. However, at this time, it is too late to revise the tax system, and it is no longer possible to change the new tax system that will be promulgated after the year. Although the new tax system may seem inappropriate to you, it doesn't matter that we can change it. The new tax system will be implemented on a trial basis for a year, during which time you can write to the Imperial Court if you have better opinions on the regulations in the tax system. You can also write directly to me. The tax system is related to everyone in the world, so let everyone brainstorm. Customize a better and more appropriate tax system. But I said the ugly things in front, the laws of the court are strict, and you can put forward your opinions, but the laws promulgated by the court must be followed, and the laws of the court are strict and cannot be violated. One year, the new tax system will be implemented for a year, and no matter how much you have dissatisfaction within this year, you must enforce it, but I will not forgive those who break the law. After a year, the Imperial Court will revise it according to the effect of the trial for a year, and everyone can participate in the discussion on how to revise it. Speaking of this, Guangxu, who had a solemn face, turned into a smiling face: "Since ancient times, it has been said that the world is not the world of one person, the world is the world of the world." I see, there is a chance to invite you to the capital. You, I, kings, ministers, and the people agree on what the kingdom is. ”

The grace is that the new tax system will fully consider everyone's opinions, and the power is that once the law is promulgated by the imperial court, it cannot be violated. Finally, I will give you the opportunity to enter Beijing to discuss the country. At this time, the representatives of the merchant clan were grateful, knelt down, and thanked the emperor in a choked voice. Since ancient times, merchants have been the end of the four people, and all dynasties have made various restrictions on merchants, and once the court needs money and grain, the first one is to start from merchants. Today, the emperor is on top, but the emperor's new tax system really respects the interests of merchants, and the emperor encourages merchants to do business and get rich. This is the first time in thousands of years that China has opened up the ban on commerce.

Of course, Guangxu also made it very clear that the opening of the commercial ban is not an unlimited opening. At home, it is necessary to put the people first. Merchants can make profits from buying and selling, but they must not expand their profits indefinitely, and only when ordinary people have sufficient spending power can merchants obtain sufficient profits from them. For this reason, the imperial court will continue to improve the commercial tax and other laws, and only while ensuring the interests of the common people, will it leave profit margins for merchants.

The 12 taxes are the new tax rate, which is the only commercial tax that has been uniformly customized after the abolition of a large number of taxes such as road donations and gold. There were too many taxes in the Qing Dynasty, and each tax had a special tax collector to collect it, which not only led to the bloated personnel of government agencies, but also made it too cumbersome for the people to pay taxes. The unification of tax types and tax rates not only makes it convenient for the people to pay taxes, but also effectively improves the efficiency of government administration and reduces the number of government personnel.

On the surface, it seems that the imperial court gradually opened the ban on commerce, but in fact, the imperial court has more supervision of merchants. Many of the regulations that have not been made public are all written about various penalties for businessmen, and after the new tax law bill is announced, it is believed that a large number of businessmen will smack their tongues, because "Zhulian" is clearly written into the new commercial tax law.

Zhulian!

On the one hand, there is a loose tax rate, and on the other hand, there is a high-hanging terror blade. From ancient times to the present day. The impression left by businessmen is really too bad, whether it is Lü Buwei or Fan Li, the psychology of speculation is too heavy. will be vigilant by the world. Although Guan Zhong's changes made the Qi State rich and strong for a while, it was also the culprit that caused the Qi State to have no existence for two hundred years, and this situation also existed objectively, so it was tabooed by scholars and emperors.

"There will be a lot of penalties in the new business tax, and these penalties need to ensure that they do not compete with the people. Of course, these are only for domestic transactions. As for you when you go abroad, the court will not be able to control that much. However, the tax payment should not be short. "Guangxu's words are chiseled.

Guangxu understands that the good use of businessmen is also a sharp weapon of the country to the outside world. Later generations of America through the activities of merchants. How much wealth has been divided from countries around the world to return to China to subsidize his own people, and Li Ming in his previous life is the victim. Therefore, Guangxu encouraged businessmen to do business overseas and guided their attention to foreign countries in advance. Now the national strength is not enough to help overseas Chinese businessmen, according to Guangxu's temper, if the national strength is strong one day, even if the businessmen launch a coup d'état abroad for profit, maybe Guangxu can still send troops to help. So Guangxu said very vaguely. The commercial tax set by the imperial court was only for domestic merchants. As for what the merchant did when he went abroad, it didn't matter to the imperial court, as long as he paid enough taxes according to the law.

The merchants were very happy, because after the abolition of a large number of exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes, the tax rate of 12 taxes was less than the previous excesses and miscellaneous taxes combined. The merchants were excited but worried that the imperial court would not be able to use it enough. It is not a secret that the palace has never been repaired in the past two years, it is not a secret that the railway and highway projects that have started construction have stopped, and it is not a secret that the materials of the major shipyards have been pulled to Huludao. So everything that shows that the court can't come up with any more money. Therefore, the merchants were worried about the imperial court, and some merchants asked the emperor to levy a special tax. to make up for the use of the imperial court.

"No, and not again." Guangxu resolutely refused. They all thought that China at the end of the Qing Dynasty was an era of economic and military backwardness. But Guangxu, who lived in this era, understood that the Chinese at this time were more loyal to the country. The idea of putting loyalty first is still in the bone marrow of every Chinese. Guangxu nodded with satisfaction and said, "Your loyalty to the country is understood, but the special tax must not be levied for any reason. Otherwise, if there is a precedent of me, then the emperors of later generations will have a reason to impose the so-called special tax endlessly, and I cannot set this precedent. Of course, it is also a fact that the imperial court is insufficient, so I thought, since I can't raise taxes, let's change the way. I plan to borrow some money from you, in the name of the Imperial Court. After the year, the imperial court will issue treasury bonds, and I hope that you will vigorously buy them to support the imperial court. ”

That's necessary, and the merchants began to brag about it. You are millions of dollars, and he is hundreds of thousands of dollars. This time, tens of millions of yuan have been earned, and two of the three things in this southern tour have been done, and Guangxu's eyes narrowed.

Merchants are the people who deliver the most messages, and they are extremely sensitive to every message. Today's conversation here doesn't need to wait until dawn to spread to Shanghai and Tianjin. The businessmen of Liangguang have taken the initiative to buy treasury bonds, so will the businessmen of Liangjiang Zhili not buy them? Of course not. Guangxu planned to make persistent efforts and continue to encourage businessmen to buy more treasury bonds, so he had to take out the treasury bond sample notes from his pocket and continue to sell them.

But before Guangxu could put the sample treasury bond on the table, a messenger quickly walked in and handed Guangxu a telegram. Guangxu took a look, and the smile on his face instantly froze. The originally lively banquet was also quieted down because the emperor suddenly did not speak.

Guangxu also looked around, and slapped the sample ticket in his hand on the table: "That's it here today." Get started. After saying that, Guangxu left, and everyone also gave gifts to see him off.

The emperor left, the merchants looked at each other, and no one knew what had happened. It wasn't until someone saw that the emperor had left the telegram and took it over to see that he understood. There was only one sentence on the telegram: "The battleships built by the United States for Japan have returned home." ”

That's right, the warships of the Japanese 66th Fleet, built by the United States, returned home. Two battleships Asahi and Mikasa, in the 1894 version of the Iowa class, and two large armored cruisers, Izumo and Iwate, arrived off Tokyo Bay tonight. Of course, there were also two ships of the same class as the Izumo, the Jiang Kun and the Jiang Xi built by the United States for the Qing Dynasty.

When the Japanese fleet returned home, did it make Guangxu pull down his face? Of course, there was no need, the General Staff Headquarters had already planned to deal with it, and the Japanese European Fleet, which posed the greatest threat to the Qing Navy, was still on the slipway for revision. This was just a temporary thought of Guangxu, using this expression to highlight the court's nervousness about the Japanese fleet. Facts have proved that Guangxu's face-pulling has an unexpectedly good effect, and Guangxu returned to the Guangzhou Sihai Hotel, which was temporarily requisitioned as the emperor's palace, and heard the words of those businessmen who were still at the banquet. After they bought the national debt, they wanted to burn the national debt, and the money should be donated to the imperial court to fight the Oriental devils.

Guangxu knew that they would definitely do this, because this was still an era of paying attention to words and being trustworthy.

The next day was supposed to send Nanyang Father back to Pontianak, and the Guangzhou wharf was crowded with people. Li Guanshan, Li Yuchang and other Nanyang fathers shook hands with Guangzhou fathers and elders on the dock to say goodbye. Although they have only been together for a few days, the emotions in their hearts are mixed. There is another group of people at the wharf, they are the children of Nanyang who came to pick up Nanyang's father and elder home, and the leader is Li Nanke.

When everyone thought that the emperor could not come to see him off because he was dealing with the return of the Japanese fleet, the emperor arrived. On the wharf, the emperor earnestly instructed Nanyang's fathers to go home often.

When the parting was finally over, when Li Nanke came to Guangxu, he raised his eyebrows with his feet and raised his eyebrows, and said loudly: "Li Nanke, the staff officer of the Pontianak Chinese Autonomous Army, has seen His Majesty the Emperor. After the ceremony, he knelt down on one knee again. Behind him, Zhang Jie and these Nanyang disciples who had been "expelled" from the Qing Navy saluted one after another.

"It's all here, okay. You were all good in the past, and you will not be able to be a bad seed in the future. Since the disappearance of the greatest pirate in the land of the South Seas, the sand monk, the pirates who have lost control have once again swept the entire land of the South Seas. Guangxu pointed to the two destroyers docked on the dock and said: "These two were once the warships of the Qing Nanyang Fleet, which were captured by pirates and recovered by the British. The court bought them back from the British for 20,000 pounds, and now I give them to you. From now on, they are the warships of the Pontianak Chinese Autonomous Army. I hope you can drive them to protect the tranquility of the waves. ”

The Pontianak Chinese have their own warships! The Nanyang fathers and elders wept excitedly again.

"Give it to you, then the imperial court will not care about these two warships. Since then, the maintenance costs of these two warships have to be paid by you Pontianak yourself. Guangxu said to Li Guanshan: "The rice must be eaten in one bite, and the road must be walked step by step." One day, I will make it clear to the Western powers that the world needs to hear from the East. You and I will encourage you, the king, and the ministers. (To be continued......)