"Xiang Shuai, please go down"

When the words came out, Tang Haoran, who was bowing his head and kowtowing, closed his eyes, he didn't know if he was doing it right or wrong, but other than that, he had no other choice.

"Xiang Shuai ordered, Huguang is non-smoking!"

When the loud words sounded in the Great Signing Hall, everyone was shocked, and everyone was stunned to see Tang Haoran, who suddenly became silent in the Great Signing Hall, and Zhang Zhidong looked directly at Tang Haoran who was kneeling on the ground, but his chest was undulating, and the people around him looked at him in shock.

"Bold!"

Suddenly, this silence was broken by Wang Tingzhen's shout, and he pointed at Tang Haoran and scolded sharply.

"Not to mention that the foreign medicine tax is a heavy tax for the court, at this time Xiangshuai wants to do foreign affairs, and when he is in financial distress, you Tang Ziran actually proposed to ban smoking, so that Huguang lost this tax, not to mention, just by virtue of your intention in the name of banning smoking, trapping Xiangshuai in a difficult place, which is extremely hateful!"

Wang Tingzhen also knelt down and said loudly.

"Xiang Shuai, please kill this son next! If you don't kill this son, it will be a disaster for me! ”

Don't say it's someone else, even Tang Haoran also gasped, I just mentioned a ban on smoking, as if I had committed a big crime, and he wanted to kill me.

Shame on your mother!

Seeing that Zhang Zhidong was silent for a long time, Zhao Fengchang couldn't sit still, and even got up and bowed deeply:

"Xiang Shuai, please also remember that Ziran is too young, and has just returned from abroad, and he doesn't know about the country, so spare Ziran's life, thinking it is of great use!"

From mentioning the ban on smoking to killing the head, it was just a blink of an eye, but it was the sudden change of this moment, but Tang Haoran felt a burst of sadness in his heart, just mentioning the ban on smoking, it became a scourge, it was difficult to do it, Tang Haoran, who closed his eyes, suddenly thought of Lin Zexu, who had always been known for his ban on smoking, and later agreed to allow the mainland to plant and produce foreign medicines. What he objected to was only smoking foreign cigarettes and disliking local cigarettes. He even said in the Tongzhi period that "it is okay to plant opium poppies in the hinterland." Those who hate it, the people of the interior are addicted to foreign tobacco rather than local smoke. For them, the ban on smoking means political risks and a reduction in financial resources, and it is precisely because of this that Wang Tingzhen's "please kill" move.

Thinking of this, Tang Haoran, who had been hesitant because of his sense of morality, felt desolate in his heart, and the burden in his heart was put down.

In the face of Wang Tingzhen's request to kill, Zhang Zhidong was silent about the case, as early as the Fujin Dynasty, he had launched a ban on smoking in Shanxi, but after being transferred to Liangguang the following year, the ban on smoking in Shanxi naturally ended in vain.

stared at Tang Haoran who was kneeling on the ground, and when he was about to speak, Zhang Zhidong saw Sang Zhiping on the side looking at Tang Haoran with a smile, why is this? Confused, he suddenly thought of Tang Haoran's previous question, could it be ...... So he deliberately said sharply.

"Ziran, you get up and speak, if you don't tell the reason today, don't think that Bendu's knife can't kill!"

His cold drink, if it were replaced by someone else, he might tremble with fright, but Tang Haoran knew what Lord Zhang, who had led the smoking ban in Shanxi Province as the leader of Qingliu, would choose in the end. In the late Qing Dynasty, all the governors except Zhang Zhidong were against inhaling foreign medicine, and Zhang was against it in theory, but in practice he was not against it, because Zhang himself was taking foreign medicine. And he pained the harm of foreign medicine in the "Persuasion of Learning"; However, in his memora to the imperial court, he tried his best to describe the irreplaceable importance of foreign medicine taxes to the establishment of foreign affairs.

In fact, Zhang Zhidong is just a typical example. In fact, it has become the consensus of the late Qing Dynasty and the opposition that he did not hesitate to allow or even promote the cultivation, sales and circulation of local foreign medicines in order to improve himself in foreign affairs, and then obtain a generous "tax revenue on foreign medicines". Almost no one realizes what kind of bad impact this mindset of putting national interests above people's livelihood will have on China in the future, and what kind of historical tragedy it will cause.

At the very least, this construction of my own may be able to change a little! Maybe it can be redeemed, thinking so in his heart, Tang Haoran felt a light burden in his heart, and then stood up and said.

"Xiang Shuai, you have presided over the smoking ban with Shanxi, and Xiang Shuai and your colleagues are very clear about the harm of tobacco poison, and Hao Ran does not need to repeat it."

Clear, how can it not be clear, Zhang Zhidong is clear, among these people here, everyone clearly knows that tobacco poison is harmful to the country and the people, but no one has really considered banning smoking, not only that, but also encourages tobacco planting.

In the eyes of the intellectuals of the late Qing Dynasty, the victory of domestic foreign medicine over imported foreign medicine was a great victory for nationalism. However, in the eyes of most officials within the imperial court, the purpose of supporting domestic foreign medicine was to obtain reliable and considerable financial revenue. Among intellectuals, the ban on smoking is a political correctness, and nationalism is also a political correctness, but the latter is higher than the former, so the former can be sacrificed for the sake of the latter; Within the bureaucracy, the ban on smoking is also a form of political correctness, and the country's self-improvement is also a kind of political correctness, and the latter is higher than the former, so the former can also be sacrificed for the sake of the latter. This became the "theoretical root" of the flood of foreign medicine finance from the imperial court to the local governments and counties in the late Qing Dynasty, and by the end of the Qing Dynasty, from the central government to the local government, it even reached the point where it was impossible to live without foreign medicine finance.

Since the ban on foreign medicines has been a superficial article, the central and local governments at all levels have always claimed that the taxation of foreign drugs is only a means, and the ban on smoking is the ultimate goal. But the fact is: the smoking ban is just a pretense, taxation is the goal, and the so-called "prohibition and levy" has become a joke.

"China's weakness is caused by tobacco poison! Generations of people who are as worried about the country and the people as Xiangshuai are because of the disaster they have seen to ban smoking! ”

Gu Hongming echoed on the side, not only patting Zhang Zhidong's ass, but also supporting Tang Haoran.

Indeed, everyone smokes and prohibits smoking, but it is difficult to ban it, and I am afraid it is also the most difficult thing in the world! Once a smoker is addicted, it is not easy to quit without compulsive pressure,"

Thinking of the old thing about Shanxi's smoking ban, Zhang Zhidong couldn't help but sigh.

"And quitting smoking is life-threatening, it's really inhumane......"

"But if you don't stop smoking, I'm afraid that the country will not be a country in the long run!"

In the midst of all the opinions, Tang Haoran naturally knew that what they said also had their truth, in this era when foreign medicine finances played an important role, if you want to ban smoking, you are simply looking for death, just like before, and even risking your life, so he continued.

"That's why Haoran mentioned the ban on smoking!"

"If you force a smoking ban, it will be very expensive."

Tang Haoran raised his voice, then looked at Zhang Zhidong and said.

"It is precisely because it is not easy to ban it, if it is strictly prohibited, it will definitely adopt actions such as clearing and suppressing, and it may be necessary to dispatch more than a dozen battalions of soldiers, so Haoran built yì, imitating European tobacco and alcohol, and the big tobacco in the Huguang area must be manufactured and sold by the government, and the income will be used for foreign affairs, second, to improve various facilities in the two provinces, and third, to provide for the orphans and widows!"

Whether it's a reason or an excuse, when he said this, although there was not much burden in his heart, the sadness in his heart was even stronger, is this the price?

Government monopoly!

Maybe in the eyes of everyone before, this smoking ban was just a joke, and it was absolutely impossible, and in the end, it was "suspended" to put it aside, but when Tang Haoran mentioned the monopoly, even the people who were still worried before, their eyes all lit up, but only Sang Zhiping looked at Tang Haoran with complicated eyes, and now he really can't understand this young man, although he can't understand it, but he can see that this building is actually against his original intention, perhaps, his original intention is to ban smoking, not monopoly.

"Monopoly, how monopoly?"

Zhang Zhidong, who was attracted by Tang Haoran's construction, hurriedly asked, there had been a staff member who had mentioned the rectification of the soil medicine tax to enrich the financial resources, and it had been adopted by him, but now Tang Haoran's construction has undoubtedly gone further, and compared with the rectification of the soil medicine tax, it has made more profits.

"It can imitate the policy of salt, and at the same time learn from Europe and the United States to achieve a monopoly system, but it is classified as a government monopoly, taking the meaning of prohibiting taxes, and the operation of foreign medicines and local medicines in Huguang and Guangzhou, a rate is collected by the government monopoly, and a monopoly bureau can be set up for the purchase and sale of foreign medicines, and foreign medicines can be set up in licensed pharmacies, except for medicinal foreign medicines, they are not allowed to buy and sell. For those who are addicted to foreign medicines, they are licensed by the government and purchased from pharmacies. If this policy is implemented, the revenue of the feudal treasury will increase by more than two million taels......"

Tang Haoran made everyone gasp, according to the past practice, the local medicine tax was left in the local area, not to mention, this is not the local medicine tax, but the income from the monopoly of foreign medicine.

"In licensed pharmacies, if they are sold to smokers with government concessions, the number of users will gradually decrease, and the implementation of this gradual ban policy should be effective in 30 to 50 years!"

Why does it take so long? Because people who smoke ** will die, and when they die, there will naturally be no smoke, this does not need Tang Haoran to explain, everyone can understand this, but Sang Zhiping, who has not said a word from beginning to end, asked after thinking for a while.

"What if there are new people smoking every year?"

Sang Zhiping, who is deeply disgusted with tobacco and poison, naturally knows the use of the "gradual ban", and also understands that perhaps compared with the proliferation of local medicines that are "forbidden by levy" and "forbidden by levy", he does not know a way, although his original intention is to collect money, but if he wants to get the government's support for the ban on smoking, I am afraid it can only be so.

"After the registration of smokers is completed, anyone who sells or provides foreign medicinal cigarettes and smoking utensils to people who have not obtained a license will be guilty of serious offenses and will be severely punished, and there will be no forgiveness for killing!"

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