On the top floor of Duobao Building, Xiao Yungui sat on the yellow silk chair and began to talk about the idea of the new policy in southern Jiangsu, "Brother, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Ningbo and other places are prosperous in commerce and trade, and they are the richest places in the world. ”

Yang Xiuqing frowned slightly: "Since ancient times, the country has been based on agriculture, and businessmen have always been born for profit, opportunistic and non-producing, what are the benefits of the country?" Chaogui is a big industry and commerce, is there a bit of putting the cart before the horse? ”

For Yang Xiuqing's statement, Xiao Yungui has long been psychologically prepared, after the king of heaven and the king of the east entered Nanjing, because they were all born in peasant families, and their thoughts are still old feudal thinking, they have always regarded agriculture as the foundation of the country, and thought that commerce is only a dispensable embellishment, so the commerce in Tianjing City was swept away, and all the goods were filled into the holy treasury, but all the needs were supported by the holy treasury, and a huge big pot rice system was created. The reason for this is that the current rulers of the Kingdom of Heaven have not jumped out of the feudal mentality of agriculture.

In fact, not only Yang Xiuqing, but also many people who see this way among the many staff members and ministers in the West Palace, and even Zuo Zongtang did not jump out of this old fixed thinking, always thinking that taxes should come from the fields, and later Shanghai collected the arrears of taxes during the war, which surprised Zuo Zongtang and others. Shanghai Customs has only collected part of the tax arrears amounting to 300,000 taels, and this is only the tax arrears of a short period of ten months during the Battle of Shanghai, and if the whole year is over, the customs duties of Shanghai Customs alone can reach more than 3 million taels. You must know that the entire tax revenue of the Qing Dynasty at that time was only more than 20 million taels a year, and there was a huge tax of 3 million taels in Shanghai alone, which shows how important commercial taxes and customs duties are to a country's economy.

Xiao Yungui discussed the problems between farmers and businessmen with Zuo Zongtang and others at that time, and now he enlightened Yang Xiuqing with the same words, "Brother, it is not bad to build a country with agriculture. But the younger brother also heard the last two sentences, the country is rich and the country is strong with the military. If we go to war today, it is important to prepare the fields and encourage the people to cultivate, but there are so many fields, and so many people have to be fed, and the rest must be paid into the holy treasury, and there are only so many fields that can be handed over, and if there is a flood or locust plague, the possible income will be reduced. Because of this, there is a business business. The merchants did not produce, but they moved the goods from the abundant land to the scarce places, so that the grain and oil department stores in various places were sufficient, and the money and profits were generated from them. If a place is prosperous, farming is prosperous. It will definitely bring prosperity to the merchants, and when the merchants are prosperous, we can start to levy business taxes. There is an agricultural tax and a commercial tax together. Why worry that our kingdom of heaven is not rich? ”

In fact, this truth is very simple. In addition to the agricultural tax is the commercial tax, Yang Xiuqing can also understand it, but he frowned and said: "But in this way, it is bound to make people have private property, and now the people are all in the Holy Treasury, and they can still support the Kingdom of Heaven, if the people don't rely on the Holy Treasury to live." How should the kingdom of heaven deal with itself? Besides, when we raise righteousness, the banner we play is to have land and plough together, have clothes to wear, and have money to work with. In this way, the new policy will mess up the foundation of our major policies. ”

Xiao Yungui shook his head and said: "Brother can see it very accurately, although the banner we played at the beginning of the uprising is the world family, but since ancient times, the hustle and bustle of the world is profitable, and this private property cannot be forbidden." Along the way, I saw that although there were two Sima Shengku in each town and village, the people were not doing very well, and most of the local defense troops along the way were eating black beans, rice bran and other miscellaneous grains. The younger brother also chatted with the local people, and found that all the income from the people's farming must be paid into the holy treasury, and there is no surplus in each family, because the people are not very interested in farming, and when the holy treasury is distributed, it can be withdrawn if necessary, regardless of diligence and laziness, it is the same as doing good and bad, anyway, the money, grain, rice and oil are still received, and the holy treasury is becoming scarce day by day, and there will always be a day when the mountain is empty. ”

Yang Xiuqing gradually couldn't sit still, he stood up and paced a few steps with his hands in his hands and said: "The two Sima in these places are very derelict in their duties, and I don't know how to control it, I will issue an edict another day, let the two Sima everywhere strictly investigate the stealing and lazy people, and let each household pay the grain according to the amount of land, but there is a shortage of catties and two will be convicted!" ”

Xiao Yungui frowned and said: "Brother, this strategy is not a long-term solution, the people have worked hard for a year, and the things they finally get are empty, even if the law is strong, it is difficult to promote production." The younger brother thought that it would be better to set up a pilot project in southern Jiangsu and try out the new policy, and we would divide the land as well, but the people would no longer be supported by the holy treasury, but would be paid into the sacred treasury according to 10% of their income, and the rest would be owned by the people. In addition to the local expenses, the rest of the money and grain included in the holy treasury were paid to the general holy treasury of southern Jiangsu. In addition to agricultural taxes, southern Jiangsu should also encourage commerce and industry. Suzhou and Hangzhou tea silk is prevalent, if you do not give full play to the advantages of these products, it will inevitably hurt the harmony of the heavens, once the merchants flourish, we can collect commercial tax. There is also Shanghai Customs, which can also collect foreign commercial taxes. The younger brother estimated that if the new policy was implemented in southern Jiangsu a year later, southern Jiangsu would be able to pay 2 million taels to Tianjing every year. If the new policy in southern Jiangsu is effective, it may as well be promoted throughout the country. ”

Since arriving in Tianjing, the General Sacred Treasury has been handed over to the Wing King Shi Dakai to take care of. Although the Taiping army plundered the Qing army's treasury and the more than 20 million taels of silver obtained by the rich families along the way was a huge amount of money, but in the past few months, the princes and princes in Tianjing City have built a lot of construction and spent money like flowing water. The daily expenses of millions of soldiers and civilians in the city are a huge amount of money, Rao is Wing King Shi Dakai is shrewd and capable, after taking charge of the Holy Treasury, he has always been careful to spend it, but the Holy Treasury is still shrinking day by day.

However, the money and grain collected in various places are only enough for local support, and there are not too many that are handed over to Tianjing, such as the battlefields in Hunan and Hubei and other places, and Tianjing still needs to allocate money and grain to support. Speaking of the income of the Tianjing Sacred Treasury, the largest sum is still the more than 1.2 million taels of silver left to the Tianjing Sacred Treasury during the Western King's Eastern Expedition.

It was because Yang Xiuqing didn't care about anything else, but after hearing that Sunan implemented the new policy, he could pay two million taels of silver like Tianjing every year, which made him feel excited.

"You can pay two million taels of silver a year?" Yang Xiuqing asked with some surprise: "After the implementation of the new policy, can the three prefectures and fifteen counties in southern Jiangsu really pay so many taxes?" ”

Xiao Yungui knew that Yang Xiuqing's heart was moved, so he hit the railway while it was hot: "This is natural, the younger brother has already counted carefully, after the new deal, the merchant Jia Guanglai, plus the foreign business tax, in addition to his own local support, Sunan should be able to hand over two million taels of money and grain to Tianjing." ”

Xiao Yungui is still confident in the two million taxes paid, only after the Englishman Hurd took charge of the customs in the history of Shanghai Customs, in 1861, the customs tariffs reached 4.95 million taels, although Shanghai's commerce and trade are not so prosperous now, but after the implementation of the new customs policy in the West Palace, it should reach more than 3 million taels. There are also agricultural taxes and commercial taxes in Suzhou, Hangzhou, Ningbo and other places, and there is still a lot of potential to be tapped in southern Jiangsu. Therefore, Xiao Yungui's promise to hand over two million taels of silver to Tianjing a year is not a boast of Haikou.

As for giving Tianjing two million silver for nothing, although Xiao Yungui felt heartache, but this is necessary, the land has been paying money and grain to the imperial court since ancient times, you Sunan wants to exchange for Tianjing's support to carry out a new deal, these are the prices that must be spent, unless the West Palace now pulls the flag and rebels, but at present, Sunan is very much in need of a stable environment to develop, Xiao Yungui does not want to turn his face with Tianjing at this time, this is a hundred harms and no benefits. Therefore, it is very cost-effective to spend two million taels to buy a pure ear, buy a reassuring pill from Tianjing, and buy the full support of Dongwang.

After Yang Xiuqing listened to Xiao Yungui's words, he groaned, Xiao Yungui continued to fan the flames and said: "The little brother reported in Jiangbei's eyeliner that the Qing Demon in Jiangbei began to engage in a tax policy, all the past businessmen, the Qing Demon is one or two in the tax levied a cent, it is reported that after the implementation of this policy, the Qing Demon has a lot of money and food, and the little brother is only afraid that if we don't catch up, the holy treasury will run out of money and grain, and this battle will not be able to be fought." ”

Yang Xiuqing sighed, nodded and said: "What Chao Gui said is reasonable, wars have always been fought with money and grain, and now that our kingdom of heaven has set the capital to open a mansion, we can't fight one place to collect one place like before, we should always open the road and absorb money and grain into the holy treasury." Speaking of this, Yang Xiuqing slapped the table and said, "Okay! I, Yang Xiuqing, support Chaogui to carry out a new deal in southern Jiangsu, and you get a charter of the new deal when you go back, and the king of heaven and the hundred officials will go to talk to you for their brothers. ”

Xiao Yungui was overjoyed, and immediately bowed and said: "Thank you brother for your support, the younger brother will definitely live up to expectations and govern southern Jiangsu properly." ”

Yang Xiuqing patted Xiao Yungui's shoulder and said with a smile: "That's it, but you can't go to the people to loot the people in order to collect two million taels of silver and hand them over to the holy treasury." ”

Xiao Yungui also smiled: "The little brother doesn't dare to blackmail the people, I believe that after the new deal in southern Jiangsu, the people's lives will only be better than before, brother, you can rest assured, the little brother is also a person from a hard background, and he will never fish the people." ”

Yang Xiuqing snorted, raised his wine glass and took a sip, and asked again: "We have almost talked about political affairs, how about military affairs?" The next step in the West Palace is to enter the two provinces of Fujian and Jiangxi? ”

Xiao Yungui watched Yang Xiuqing drinking, and couldn't help but sigh secretly in his heart, these bigwigs in the Kingdom of Heaven told their subordinates that they wanted to ban alcohol, but they were hiding in the palace to drink, which was really unfair. But when he heard Yang Xiuqing ask about the soldiers, he hurriedly shook his head and said: "The soldiers and horses in the West Hall are new to southern Jiangsu, and there are many casualties in Suzhou, Shanghai, Hangzhou, etc., the younger brother wants to let the soldiers and horses rest for some time, recruit some new soldiers to practice, and stabilize the southern Jiangsu place." Moreover, when winter came, it was not conducive to marching into the army, so they wanted to wait until the beginning of spring before going on an expedition. ”

Yang Xiuqing said with a slight disappointment: "Now that Fujian and Jiangxi Qing Demon Jiang Zhongyuan and Li Tingyu are newly defeated, my brother is still thinking of sending the North King or the Wing King to raise troops into Fujian and Jiangxi, and you send troops to respond in the West Palace. ”

Xiao Yungui has always regarded Fujian and Jiangxi as his next target, and naturally he is reluctant to be involved by the king of the north or the king of wings, and said at the moment: "Brother Mingjian, the Qing demon of Fujian and Jiangxi is newly defeated, and he is unable to commit crimes in the north, but the Qing demon in Jiangbei is arrogant, and the Qing demon is hoarding Jiangbei, and it is not a matter of eyeing Tianjing tiger, and the younger brother thinks that sending troops to northern Jiangsu and Hubei and Anhui provinces is the main point of protecting Tianjing." After the spring of Fujian and Jiangxi, it can be captured. ”

Yang Xiuqing sighed, glanced at Xiao Yungui and said, "You mean to let Tianjing go out to fight Anhui and Northern Jiangsu, where the demons are hoarded?" (To be continued......)