"Lang Lang Qiankun, brilliant and prosperous, that is, beggars can have three meals without worry, full of food all day long, why do you and other businessmen have no way to live? This is a greedy heart, where is the history of the emperor, expelled this person from the court, lest his foul words defile the palace of all people! ”

The eldest grandson Wuji was furious, and interrupted He Shao's crying with a broken drink, as the prefect of the East and West Pavilions, he had the right to order the Imperial Shi to invite the officials who had lost their imperial rites out of the Wanmin Palace.

Seeing that He Shao was about to be raised by the samurai, Li Er spoke: "Let him come back and make it clear, this is the Wanmin Palace, which is the place where the people can speak freely, and one or two sentences can't defile this pure land." ”

The emperor spoke, He Shao was naturally brought back by the samurai, this time, there were thirteen more people kneeling on the ground together, Li Er laughed and said: "This is strange, the imperial court has awarded thirteen dignitaries to the meritorious businessmen over the years, I didn't expect to appear in the court today, as for He Shao, you are famous for your long-sleeved dance, I always want to get rid of your lord, but I always can't find the right opportunity, you can always be at the right time, the right place, the right feat, no matter!" That's what you're capable of, too.

I remember that last year, Yun Ye said that you have monopolized the sale of fire oil in the fiefdom of the sixteen kings of the Western Regions, and if you don't make money for yourself, how can you go to the Wanmin Palace to complain? It's Yun Ye who should be aggrieved, right? ”

He Shao stopped kowtowing, raised his bleeding head and said: "Your Majesty, Weichen can be regarded as the biggest wealthy businessman in the Tang Dynasty, Yunhou said that only in the prosperous era will there be a businessman like Weichen who does not rely on tricks to make a fortune, and Weichen is often proud of this."

But now, the environment in which we live is getting worse and worse, and the profit margins have been compressed again and again, and in a few years, there will be no so-called rich businessmen in Datang. Ask for Majesty xià Mingjian. ”

Li Er said strangely: "Natural disaster? Or is it a man-made disaster? ”

He Shao smiled miserably and said: "Your Majesty, since ancient times, my generation of merchants has been raised fat pigs, and now we are fat and strong, and when it is time to be slaughtered, Weichen only asks His Majesty to be gracious and leave a mouthful of food for the descendants of Shangjia." Don't kill them all, even under the nine springs, we will not forget Your Majesty's great grace. ”

Li Er thought for a while and said: "There is indeed such a thing, but it was a matter before the previous dynasty. Buy low and sell high, earn all the dividends in the world, an iron mouth, a pair of copper teeth, a heron splitting fine meat on the legs, a mosquito belly fat oil, count all the organs in the world, and a huge word on the top of the head. Step on a word of money and win over officials. Corroding the court, not to mention Lu Buwei, Shi Chong and others actually sold the emperor as goods, and the court was more vigilant about you, but so far, my Datang Dynasty does not seem to have copied the property of a wealthy businessman. Even if the rich merchant himself was guilty, it was only against him, and there was no such thing as raiding his family and exterminating his family. He Shao, where does your sorrow begin? ”

"Shang Law, Majesty xià. It is the "Commercial Law", since Zhenguan five years, the tax rate of the Tang Dynasty has increased from thirty taxes to fifteen taxes, and the commercial tax has been doubled, in the early years of my Tang Dynasty wars, thirty taxes are a national policy carried out by the emperor in order to encourage commerce and trade, all dynasties and dynasties were founded when the country was founded, in order to rapidly prosper the market, so the tax rate was very beneficial to businessmen, after the country stabilized, the commercial tax was raised, which is the due meaning, and we did not dare to have any complaints.

In the eighth year of Zhenguan, after pacifying the four seas and defeating foreign enemies, His Majesty once again raised the commercial tax to 12 taxes and 1, which is already a very reasonable tax rate. However, in the sixteenth year of Zhenguan, the household department raised the commercial tax again, reaching the appalling eight taxes and one, this time for the sake of His Majesty's implementation of the eternal event of agricultural tax. Our businessmen also have industries, and agricultural tax is also a good thing for us, not to mention that agricultural tax is a great benevolent policy, and my generation of businessmen have gritted their teeth to bear it, and the consequence is that prices are soaring, small businesses have closed their doors, and large merchants have tightened their industries, and the commercial tax of my Datang has dropped from 63 million silver coins at its peak to 48 million today, a decrease of 15 million silver coins, which is already a very dangerous signal, which should have caused turmoil among the four people, and the state used it to cheat.

However, my Tang soldiers fought bravely, opened up the territory, captured the king and killed the generals, and won countless victories, these large influx of spoils injected new vitality into the already depleted treasury of the Tang Dynasty, so all the problems that would have occurred were covered up, and the Tang Dynasty still sang and danced to level up, agricultural taxes continued to decrease, and the people also had a large amount of accumulation in their hands.

No one will care about the hardships of our generation of merchants, from the production to transportation, to packaging, and sale, isn't the toil and sweat in a piece of goods labor?

In order to barely survive, Weichen went to the outside of the Saiwai, the smoke of the Yunhou army has not yet dissipated, Weichen will follow the road that the army has walked in the desert business, climbing ice and snow is a common thing, not only to collect goods, but also to fight with sporadic stragglers, the pain is difficult to describe.

His Majesty said that Weichen monopolized the fire oil in the fief of the Sixteen Kings, and there will be a lot of wealth pouring into the pocket, but you don't know the suffering of Wechen, the fire oil is indeed monopolized by Wechen, this is just the appearance, the oil spring is in the fief of the Sixteen Kings, so the Sixteen Kings occupy thirty percent of the shares, because the fire oil is a military material, and the military department must occupy thirty percent of the shares here, which is the reason why Yunhou was blinded by Wei Chen, but ah, sixty percent of the shares are either for the vassal king, or for the military department, these sixty percent are real profits, The sixteen kings and the military department did not need to produce a copper to share the most delicious fruits, and the micro-ministers not only had to organize production, transportation, and sales, but also had to bear the heavy tax of eight taxes and one, so that the oil springs in the desert could be made into fire oil and sold to the people for lighting lamps. The profit during the period has been pitiful.

My Datang grain is abundant, grain price as a tax rate is very accurate, silk also because of the growth of grain production in recent years, there is a large amount of surplus, Majesty, these two industries, in my Datang has been unable to bear the burden of eight taxes and one burden, these years, Chang'an almost no private grain stores and private cloth shops, the people are from the official warehouse to buy grain, buy cloth, this is because His Majesty allowed the people to use grain and cloth to reduce taxes.

This is not normal, my majesty, an industry can only have added value if it is constantly undergoing deep processing, and these deep processing and fine processing require the participation of businessmen, making grain into various pastries, and making cloth into all kinds of ready-to-wear, which can not only extend the industrial chain, but also provide opportunities for Datang's idle laborers to make money.

Your Majesty, in the final analysis, you want to feed the people of the world, but now, your army has nowhere to levy, or if you can levy, it will outweigh the losses, so at this time, I, Datang, need businessmen to make blood for this great empire, and only by continuously creating fresh blood can the giant of Datang stand tall.

My majesty, it's not that the higher the commercial tax is formulated, the more commercial tax my Datang will receive, and there is a law for everything, and breaking this law will only be counterproductive. Wechen begged His Majesty to give the businessman a little room to breathe, and if this continues, there will be no business in Datang, and Wechen will have to dissolve the shop and return to his hometown to farm. ”

"Ask for mercy!" After He Shao finished speaking, the thirteen businessmen below knocked their heads on the smooth ground in unison, and some businessmen actually howled and cried when they thought of sadness.

Li Er was stunned, He Shao's words made his heart go wild, how could there be such a thing? The higher the commercial tax was set, the lower the income of the imperial court? There is no shortage of money and food in the hands of the people, so Li Er's eyes are fixed on Chu Suiliang, the head of the household department, and he wants to hear what Chu Suiliang has to say.

Without waiting for Chu Suiliang to come out of the class, Xu Jingzong preemptively went out and said: "Qiyu Majesty, Weichen has a detailed account here, the highest commercial tax in my dynasty is the fifteenth year of Zhenguan, indeed as He Shao said, the total amount is 63 million 460,000 silver coins, and it is precisely because of this that the household department will redetermine the commercial tax in the sixteenth year of Zhenguan." There is also a reason why the commercial tax is set at eight taxes and one, mainly because I have already started a comprehensive construction in Datang at that time, and the canal, Shu Road, and Sanjing projects have been fully launched, and the household department has raised the tax rate in order to get more money and grain.

The result is not satisfactory, Zhenguan's seventeenth year of commercial tax is less than Zhenguan's fifteenth year of three million silver coins, and then it is decreasing year by year, to this year, the commercial tax has fallen to a terrible point, the first three extreme settlements, only 28 million silver coins, although, the end of the quarter is the most important, Weichen believes that the total number can no longer exceed 40 million silver coins, and most of the commercial tax comes from Guangzhou, Quanzhou, Mingzhou, Dengzhou, Hangzhou, Yongzhou, and Yuezhou, Chang'an's total tax is lower than Yuezhou for the first time, as for Yizhou, Yangzhou, is no longer ranked on the list of household tax payments.

The commercial tax of foreign trade has been higher than that of domestic trade, not because of the huge scale of foreign trade, but because of the huge profits of foreign trade. Once the commercial tax is not enough to support the state, the agricultural tax becomes a joke! I, the Tang Dynasty, will become the biggest joke in the world. ”

The hall was quiet and scary, and after a long time, the eldest grandson Wuji slowly spoke: "Nonsense, businessmen don't do anything about production, and it is also appropriate to overcharge taxes. This year, the old minister thought that the commercial law should be refined, until now, the old minister believes that agriculture is the foundation of the country. (To be continued......)

PS: Section 2