It stands to reason that most of Daming's railways are built and operated with the participation of private capital.

With the development of the commodity economy and the abolition of the road introduction system, coupled with the safety and speed of railway transportation, the people of the Ming Dynasty are very keen to take this means of transportation whether they are engaged in trade activities or appear.

However, most of the railways built by these private capital are in the densely populated and economically developed eastern regions.

The high profitability and relatively low construction costs of these places have led to the establishment of several railway lines and even a dense network in just a few years.

However, for the Ming Empire, the value of the railway is not only to give the people the convenience of doing business and life, but also to build the railway is of strategic value.

In many cases, the more railways were built in poor and backward places, the more beneficial it was to the stability of the empire's territory.

In these places, because of the small profit margins, private capital is unwilling to participate, and can only be funded by the imperial court, that is, the national capital, to build and operate railway lines.

For example, the current railway lines in the southwest and northwest regions.

It can only be the Ming court itself to pay for the construction of such a railway line, but to build a railway to the southwest and northwest not only requires a lot of manpower, material and financial resources, but also needs better technology.

The climate of the western region is varied and the terrain is complex, which requires more investment from the empire to complete.

The most direct manifestation of these investments is the need for more capital investment, as long as the money is enough, the technical problems and the slow progress of the project can be solved.

Therefore, the cabinet had to raise funds not only to prepare for the war against Cochin, but also to raise its own funds to prepare for the construction of railways in the western region.

This also means that Daming's commercial tax will not be reduced, and it will still be maintained at a high level.

However, after the establishment of the House of Councils, Yang Mingshen's first proposal was to reduce the commercial tax, the reason is that the empire has been maintained at a very high level since the 17th year of Chongzhen's increase in the commercial tax.

Although Yang Mingshen himself no longer cares about the amount of taxes, as a representative of the capital group, he has to consider the majority of capitalists.

And this tax cut proposal has indeed received the support of many capitalists.

Not only the capitalists, but also the low-level merchants and craftsmen also supported it, and they all wanted the empire to reduce taxes.

The workers and peasants, though not very supportive, did not oppose it, because the reduction of taxes did not seem to matter much to them, but they also hoped that the capitalists would pay them more wages for the cost of paying taxes.

As a result, this proposal was smoothly passed by the Central Council and the House of Representatives of the Ming Dynasty, and was also passed to the cabinet.

Zhang Huangyan, the first assistant to the cabinet, had just organized the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Communications to complete the parliament on the construction of the Lancheng Railway and the Baocheng Railway, and was listening to the report on the tunneling technology and thinking about how to raise more money to complete the construction of the two main railway lines, when he received such a proposal.

"Tax cuts? The officials are all thinking about whether to raise taxes, these two houses are still thinking about making our cabinet reduce taxes, don't they know that although the empire has accumulated a lot of wealth over the years, it has also spent a lot, and conveyed it to them, the cabinet vetoed its tax reduction proposal, and if the two houses are interested in participating in government affairs, they can consider putting forward a tax increase proposal. ”

……

"What! The Cabinet rejected our proposal! Let's also consider the proposal to raise taxes, what to do with our two houses, as the executive body under his cabinet! ”

Yang Ming was furious and found his friend Wang Jiaqin, a scholar of Dongge University:

"Why is this, why does the cabinet veto, what power does he have to veto, and why does the cabinet veto the proposals passed by the two houses!"

"Brother Yang, don't worry, the central court is not a place, you have been in the place for a long time and forgot what I told you at the time, the central court is different from your place, the head of the cabinet has the right of veto and the right to make the final decision, and he can directly reject any proposal passed by your two houses, and even the decree issued by the cabinet cannot be rejected and stopped."

Wang Jiaqin, a scholar of Dongge University, said.

"Then what are the two houses for, do you want to do decorations!" Yang Mingshen was furious.

"Let you have your say!"

Wang Jiaqin, a scholar of Dongge University, said.

"Expressing opinions, but what's the use of expressing opinions, the cabinet will ignore it if it wants to, we have traveled thousands of miles to Beijing to buy a house and buy land, and as such a councilor, we can only play tricks!"

Yang Ming slapped the table indignantly and said.

"Why, do you still want to really control the cabinet, do you still have to control the emperor in the end?"

Zhu Youzhen appeared at the place where Wang Jiaqin was on duty in Wenhua Hall at this time, and snorted when he looked at Yang Mingshen.

Even if Yang Mingshen wants to manage Emperor Chongzhen Zhu Youzhen, he doesn't dare to have the courage to manage Emperor Chongzhen Zhu Youzhen, he also knows that people in the world still respect Emperor Zhu Youzhen very much, and even he himself always has a sense of awe for Zhu Youzhen.

After all, he Yang Mingshen and other wealthy businessmen were given to them by Emperor Zhu Youzhen today, not like the Jin merchants.

Therefore, at this time, Yang Mingshen obediently extinguished the fire as soon as he saw Emperor Chongzhen Zhu Youzhen appear: "Weichen doesn't dare." ”

"It's good if you don't dare! This world is not your businessmen's family, the development of the Ming Empire is uneven, the world is not only a piece of the south of the Yangtze River, but also related to other places outside the border, these places need the imperial court to use money and grain and preferential policies and development to stabilize the rule of these places, and the merchants are naturally unwilling to bear these expenses for the imperial court;

If there is no cabinet to coordinate it, do you think you can do business with peace of mind? That's the wrong idea!

Most of the people of the Ming Dynasty are still engaged in farming, once they have no way to live and rebel, you merchants will not be able to escape being plundered, even if they do not rebel, there are still the Tartars around who have not been wiped out, can you guarantee that they will not come back one day? There are also Western and local natives.

If the imperial court does not have a cabinet to balance and coordinate and cause chaos in the world, who will be responsible?

I know your thoughts, I wish I would like to pay less taxes and make more money, I also want to pay less taxes and make more money, but this is impossible, you don't want to be managed, I don't want to be managed, but the world itself has no absolute freedom, if you can ensure that the world will be absolutely peaceful in four or five hundred years, I don't mind you coming to be the master of the Ming Dynasty! ”

"But Your Majesty, you can't let the cabinet manipulate the power of the entire Ming Dynasty, first of all, the head of his cabinet is not my Emperor Ming, and he is not qualified to do so, and secondly, if they arbitrarily levy it at will, we can't resist it."

Yang Mingshen retorted.

(End of chapter)