After nightfall, one sedan chair after another stopped in front of the Yamen of the Yangzhou Guard.

The people who came out of the sedan chair were all richly dressed and full of style, greeted each other warmly, handed the invitations in their hands to the soldiers at the door while greeting each other, and then entered the yamen with a lively smile.

These people were the guests Li Yuntian wanted to entertain, and they were all big merchants with thousands of dollars in the territory of Nanzhili, led by salt merchants, grain merchants, and cloth merchants.

Zheng Boxin gave them an invitation in the name of Li Yuntian, which made everyone turn down the evening entertainment and come to the banquet.

The venue of the banquet was set up in the reception hall of the Yamen of the Yangzhou Wei Command Envoy, and six large round tables were fully arranged, enough for fifty or sixty people to be seated.

"Uncle Zhen Wu has arrived!" The guests who came to the banquet this time were all old acquaintances from the business world, sitting there chatting with great interest, and many people gathered around Zheng Boxin to inquire about the news, and when everyone was talking, a loud voice sounded outside the door.

"Meet Uncle Zhenwu." Hearing this voice, the originally noisy hall fell silent in an instant, and the guests present stood up one after another, and after Li Yuntian entered the door, they all bowed and saluted.

"Today is a private banquet, so you don't need to be polite." Li Yuntian changed into civilian clothes, smiled and pressed his hand down on everyone, motioning for them to sit down.

But how dare Li Yuntian sit down with the others? Therefore, it was not until Li Yuntian sat at the top seat at the first table in the hall that the people in the room sat back in their seats and looked at Li Yuntian in unison.

With the arrival of Li Yuntian, the people began to serve the dishes in an orderly manner, and the dishes were prepared by several famous chefs in Yangzhou City.

"Benjue's banquet this time is quite hasty, disturbing everyone's arrangements, please have a lot of Haihan." Glancing around at the businessmen present, Li Yuntian smiled and arched his hand to them.

"The earl is strict, and the little people dare not be ashamed." Seeing that Li Yuntian was so polite, everyone hurriedly returned the salute, and they were more or less surprised, no one expected that Li Yuntian, who was the earl, would be so close and easy-going.

"Benjue knows, you must want to know the reason why Benjue invited everyone, so Benjue will not say those polite words."

Then, Li Yuntian turned around and said straight to the point, "Benjue knows that you are worried about the battle situation in Jiaozhi, and you also have doubts about the commercial franchise and mining rights in Jiaozhi, so this time I invite everyone to come here to explain these two things clearly, so that everyone can understand the shape of Jiaozhi more clearly." ”

Everyone present was not surprised when they heard this, and they all looked at Li Yuntian calmly, they had been in the shopping mall for many years and had rich life experience, so as soon as they received Li Yuntian's invitation, they guessed Li Yuntian's intentions and knew that this was a Hongmen banquet set up by Li Yuntian.

"Although the Jiaozhi rebels have been fierce recently, they are in a safe corner of Jiaozhi, with a population of only a few million, and they are weak in follow-up and cannot compete with our Ming officers and troops for a long time."

Everyone's reaction at this time was within Li Yuntian's expectations, he groaned for a while, and said in an orderly manner, "As far as Ben Jue knows, the rebels are not monolithic, there are factions in it, as long as the stalemate continues, its internal chaos will be chaotic, and the Champa State south of Jiaozhi is the feud of Jiaozhi, which can help me put down the rebellion of the Ming Dynasty and make the rear of the rebels unstable." ”

"The Jiaozhi rebels seem to have the upper hand, but in fact, they are suffering from internal and external troubles, and they will definitely be pacified by my Ming Dynasty in less than two years!" After analyzing the situation of the Jiaozhi rebels, Li Yuntian came to a categorical conclusion.

Hearing this, the people present couldn't help but glance at each other, and their eyes showed a suspicious look, and some didn't believe what Li Yuntian said.

"The reason why the rebellion broke out in Cochin, in addition to the secret instigation of those rebels with ill intentions, the most important reason is the hardship of the people."

Li Yuntian naturally didn't expect everyone to be persuaded by his words, and continued quietly, "The reason why the imperial court wants to delegate the commercial franchise and mining rights of Jiaozhi to private individuals this time is that in addition to raising military funds to counter-insurgency, it also focuses on the reconstruction after the Jiaozhi war. ”

"As you all know, my Ming Dynasty has used troops one after another in recent years, which has cost a lot of money, and Jiaozhi has experienced a lot of ruins after the war, and needs a lot of funds to rebuild, but the treasury has no surplus silver to approve Jiaozhi, after all, I have only one Ming Ming, and the rest of the places also need money."

As he spoke, Li Yuntian's expression became stern, "Therefore, the imperial court hopes that the financial resources of the people can be involved in the reconstruction of Jiaozhi, and use business to promote the people's livelihood, which not only serves the country but also promotes the commercial development of Jiaozhi, which can be described as a win-win situation." ”

Hearing this, the merchants present all showed surprised expressions, they only knew that the imperial court wanted to raise military expenses by selling the commercial franchise and mining rights of Jiaozhi this time, and they never expected that it would also involve the post-war reconstruction of Jiaozhi.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is also an important reason why the imperial court has set the term of the business license at 20 years, only to ensure the interests of investors, then investors will invest money in Jiaozhi, expand the business of Jiaozhi, and then drive the development of the local economy."

Li Yuntian looked at the stunned people quietly, and said in a deep voice, "For this reason, the imperial court has also set up a special department of commerce to manage the commerce and trade of Jiaozhi, so that the interests of investors can be protected to the greatest extent. ”

"Lord Earl, the villain wants to know, can that business license be transferred to someone else?" Li Yuntian's voice lagged behind, and a businessman couldn't help but ask in a loud voice.

In case those investors encounter business difficulties and need money urgently, or Jiaozhi's business is not doing well and want to turn cash, how to go through the relevant procedures has become a key point.

"The business license can be freely resold within the validity period, but it must go to the Yamen of the Department of Commerce to go through the change procedures." Li Yuntian smiled slightly when he heard this, and answered the businessman's question in a loud voice.

"Lord Earl, will the court's attitude towards Jiaozhi change in the past twenty years?" Then, another businessman asked.

When everyone at the scene heard this, they immediately looked at Li Yuntian, as businessmen, what they are most afraid of is that the order will change, if the policy of Jiaozhi changes in a few years, then they want to cry without tears, and there is no place to shout grievances, do they want to sue the court?

"The emperor has issued a holy decree, and the matter of Jiaozhi will remain unchanged for twenty years." Li Yuntian was aware of the concerns of the businessmen, so he solemnly made a promise, "Since this matter was taken over by this official, then this official will definitely be responsible to the end!" ”

"As for what it will be like in twenty years, this official doesn't know now, and he has to make a decision based on what will happen in twenty years."

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Li Yuntian took the opportunity to answer another question that the businessmen were concerned about, "But this official can tell you that no matter what changes the imperial court will make to the policy of Jiaozhi at that time, the business licenses of those investors will be renewed, after all, they have contributed to the stability and development of Jiaozhi." ”

"Lord Earl, will the tax of Cochin change in twenty years?" Everyone nodded when they heard this, thinking that Li Yuntian was the reason for what he said, and then someone asked loudly.

On the notice of the government, the merchants already knew that the tax of Jiaozhi was different from that of the Ming Dynasty, the two capitals and the thirteen provinces, and that it was not a tax in kind, but converted into a silver tax, and the tax silver was collected according to a certain proportion.

Among them, the iron smelting of the smelting industry is 5, and the gold and silver and other precious metals are 60 in the first ten years and 70 in the last ten years, which is lower than the tax revenue of the 13 provinces in the two capitals.

Like the smelting industry, the commercial tax is divided into two parts, one is the tax on common materials, such as cloth, grain, etc., and the other part is the tax on the materials exclusively owned by the imperial court, such as salt and tea.

Li Yuntian set the commercial tax on commonly used materials at 10, while the commercial tax of the two capitals and thirteen provinces was 30 taxes and 1, which was converted into a tax rate of 3. 3。

In other words, the commercial tax of Cochin is three times that of the two capitals and thirteen provinces.

However, unlike the two capitals and thirteen provinces, Li Yuntian gave those businessmen who invested in commonly used materials a preferential policy of "two exemptions and three halves", that is, the first two years were exempted from commercial tax, half of the commercial tax was collected from the third to the fifth year, and the full amount was collected from the sixth year, so as to support the businessmen to concentrate funds to open the local market in Jiaozhi.

In fact, 10% tax is not much, and the commercial tax of 30 taxes in the Ming Dynasty is a rule set by Emperor Hongwu at the beginning of the founding of the country.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, excessive collection of commercial taxes was obviously not conducive to the development of the economy, so the policy of 30 taxes and one was in line with the situation at that time and was conducive to economic development.

However, with the passage of peace, the gradual development of the economy, the gradual opening of trade routes, and the increasing number of goods, the tax rate of 30 taxes and one is indeed a bit low.

Under such circumstances, it is logical to reformulate a reasonable tax rate and arrange appropriate tax collectors and systems, so Li Yuntian raised the tax rate and gave a five-year buffer period.

As for the state-exclusive goods such as salt and tea, because of the high profits, the tax rate was higher than the commercial tax on ordinary goods, and the tax rate was divided into two periods according to the actual situation of Jiaozhi, with a tax rate of 50% for the first five years and a 60% tax rate for the last fifteen years.

The reason for this is also to give a buffer period for merchants who have invested in salt and tea, so that they can concentrate their funds to expand the market of Jiaozhi.

Despite the fact that the tax rate on goods such as salt and tea is very high, because it is a profiteering industry, plus the cost of bribing officials at all levels is removed, the profit is higher than that of smuggling, and it is also protected by the imperial court, so there is no need to live in fear.

In addition, although silk is not a national monopoly material, it is a scarce luxury item in demand in the market, so Li Yuntian set its tax rate separately and levied 30%.

"The emperor has decreed, including the tax rate, as long as there is a notice from the government, then it will remain unchanged for twenty years." Li Yuntian knew that the businessmen were most afraid of the government's tax increase, so he said to everyone with a smile.

The businessmen at the scene nodded their heads when they heard this, they all had the experience of being troubled by the government with taxes, and those officials found some various excuses to collect taxes aggressively, and if they didn't give it, they would have to suffer lawsuits, which was miserable.

"Lord Earl, if this counterinsurgency fails, what will happen to those who have taken the commercial franchise and mining rights of Jiaozhi?"

At this time, Zheng Boxin, who was sitting next to Li Yuntian, suddenly opened his mouth and asked in a loud voice.

With Zheng Boxin's words, the room was silent for an instant, so quiet that it seemed that even the sound of a needle falling to the ground could be heard.

People looked at Li Yuntian and Zheng Boxin with astonishment, no one thought that Chen Boxin would ask such a taboo word, when the army set out on the expedition, it was forbidden to mention the word "defeat", and I don't know if it would anger Li Yuntian.!^!