"No levy!"

Hai Rui said at this time.

Ma Ziqiang was silent for a moment after hearing this, and then asked: "But what you recorded above, the ratio of businessmen in Nanzhi County is inverted, and many of them have hired hundreds of workers, and even some big towns, such as Nanxun, have more than 10,000 businessmen, and there are no less than 100 large workshops, which have far exceeded the northern city!" ”

"Isn't this a commercial tax?"

Hai Rui said: "Ge Lao, let's take a look at the identity of these workshop owners!" ”

"The big workshops and big trading houses are all powerful and wealthy gentry backgrounds, either their domestic slaves or their relatives, many overseas Chinese businessmen, but also the powerful people in the clan and Beijing, and although there are many businessmen, they mainly operate small businesses, and the profits are not high."

"Because although the imperial court has a low commercial tax, the local officials exploit it very heavily, so there are many kinds of miscellaneous taxes, and there are also vassal kings, wealthy families, etc., who set up cards to illegally collect centigold."

"In addition, the powerful and the right-handed, often take advantage of monopoly commerce and abundant financial resources to deliberately hoard and speculate on the price of land."

"So all year round, even if there are small traders and hawkers who earn a few taels of silver, it is only enough for the lake!"

"What's more, after a hard year, it is better to let the mulberry vegetables and vegetables you grow rot in the ground, because once you sell them, the gains outweigh the losses!"

"Don't look at the prosperity of Jiangnan, but this prosperity is just the prosperity of scholars."

"The so-called, being able to spend a lot of money on the Qinhuai River, and being able to build a garden and stack stones into a mountain in Suzhou with hundreds of thousands of dollars of silver, are not something that the people can participate in."

"In fact, in this prosperous land of smoke and willows, there are also poor households who are hungry and cold, and who are frozen to death."

"Rao is a medium family, and he is only barely living."

"A diligent weaver does not rest all year round, and the homespun cloth she sells can only meet the silver tax demanded by the officials, and after the payment, she has no savings."

"If you are sick, you can drag it out, not to mention making clothes and shoes, if you can patch it, you won't change it, the so-called 'people who are all over the body, not silkworm breeders'!"

"In addition, a strong family, even if they rely on their wives to weave cloth, can pay Ding silver, and can work and farm, but the income is only enough to support the children of the high church, and the savings obtained can be used for one son to study at most."

"But now, those who move in the south of the Yangtze River, such as the carp that crosses the river, if the children of small households want to achieve fame, the amount of silver they spend is not inferior to the fee of paying the Ding silver tax, whether it is a bundle or the premium paid for the examination, it is a lot."

In short, whether the common people have land in the countryside and are farmers and farmers, or landless in the cities, and are hired laborers who work for a year, most of the income earned by their wives is the income of the officials and gentry, and the provision of their children's education in the hope of being able to carp leap into the dragon gate. Those who really earn and use it for themselves are very little, nothing more than food and clothing. ”

"Not to mention the townships, markets, and towns."

"The people don't have much money in their hands, and the things they buy are limited, so in these places, the merchants who open small chicken feather shops or street vendors naturally can't make huge profits, and the huge profits are all earned by tooth shops or pawnshops that can go to sea and operate across provinces."

"But these tooth shops are all the property of powerful and wealthy gentry!"

After Hai Rui finished speaking, Ma Ziqiang bowed his head and did not speak.

After a while, Ma Ziqiang said: "So, if the commercial tax is increased, unless it can be levied on these powerful and wealthy gentry, it will only further oppress the small people, and even force the people to rebel?" ”

"It's not enough to levy on the powerful and gentry!"

"Once the commercial tax is raised, even if it is levied on the powerful and wealthy gentry, it will unite against the imperial court because it will take the benefits of both the powerful and the gentry and the small people."

"And this will inevitably be more ruthless for the small people, because the powerful and wealthy gentry will make up for the small people, and the small people will also make up for their own livelihood and persecute each other."

"In this way, the resentment of the small people will be heavier, and the powerful and wealthy gentry will inevitably encourage the small people to rebel against the government, and even deliberately breed a popular uprising."

"Cults will also take advantage of the opportunity to breed."

"Therefore, to increase the commercial tax and make it a good government, it can only be levied on the powerful and wealthy gentry!"

"The small traders should also be exempted, and even the imperial court should subsidize their operations, so as not to be exploited too heavily by the usury of the Haoyou Buddhist Temple!"

Hai Rui replied.

Ma Ziqiang smiled bitterly: "I'm afraid it's difficult!" Let the officials of the world only levy taxes on the powerful and wealthy gentry, the bureaucrats are fine, after all, most of the officials who are parents are foreign officials, but letting the officials do this is undoubtedly equivalent to taking their own benefits to the court, and not making it harmful to the people, which is equivalent to the fertile soil for the government to be unfeasible! ”

Saying that, Ma Ziqiang sighed again: "The servant is a northerner, knowing that it is not easy for the people in the north, I thought that the people in the rich land in the south of the Yangtze River were better, but I didn't expect the people in the south of the Yangtze River to live a difficult life." ”

"Although Jiangnan is prosperous, it has nothing to do with the people, and the imperial court has not received much benefit, so this Jiangnan is really just the Jiangnan of scholars."

Ma Ziqiang said that he went out of the house, came to Xianxia Pass, looked at the endless stream of merchant porters on the official road outside Xianxia Pass, and said to Hai Rui:

"But the seven major banknotes of the Ming Dynasty, the total tax revenue last year was only more than 200,000 taels, which is really too little!"

"It's really embarrassing that so many businessmen can only bring such a small amount of tax to the imperial court!"

Ma Ziqiang didn't say it directly, he, a cabinet minister, took 200,000 taels of bribes alone, which was almost equivalent to the income of the Ming Dynasty in a year, and he just sighed that the income of the banknote was indeed too small, and it was not as good as a power-for-money transaction between the powerful and the gentry.

"This has increased by tens of thousands of taels from the time of Mu Temple, at least more than 200,000."

Hai Rui said: "It's all because of the politics of Qingzhang Tianmu." ”

"Although it is only a clear acre of land, it is actually forcing the wealthy people not to exploit the common people, and the common people no longer have to bear the additional land endowment that was sent by the wealthy gentry and officials, so the common people can still increase some savings."

"Although most of the common people are afraid to love buyers because they are worried about the changes in the year, the ability to buy goods is still much higher than before the implementation of the new policy."

"As a result, among the countryside, there are also a lot of bazaars, and gradually there is the image of a big town, and there are more merchants in this Xianxia Pass, and they do not hesitate to bring goods to trade across provinces, which also increases the tax revenue of banknotes."

"Good!"

"It can be seen that although the interests of the world are not in the officials, but in the people, if you can fight for the interests of the common people, so that the interests of the common people can increase, you can also increase the official benefits of the court!"

Ma Ziqiang said with a smile.

Hai Rui nodded: "Therefore, we have to implement the policy of benefiting the people in order to enrich the country and strengthen the army!" ”

"Yuan Fu seeks the country, which can be described as a good way."

Ma Ziqiang nodded, and did not forget to be politically correct.

"There are more people in Fujian who are engaged in business, so the elder may wish to ask the Fujian people again, can the situation be similar to that of Nanzhi?"

"It just so happens that my friend Wang Runlian is going to set up a road to worship in Yanping Mansion because he heard that his mother is old, and when the time comes, the elder can ask him about this Fujian."

Hai Rui suddenly proposed at this time.

Ma Ziqiang nodded: "It's okay!" If you want to carry out national policies, you should not just ask about the situation in one place. ”

"The king of the Min people has seen the elder of the pavilion with Ji!"

Wang Yongji gave a big salute when he saw Ma Ziqiang, and then was helped up by Ma Ziqiang: "Runlian doesn't have to be like this, you are not only a friend of Gangfeng, but also a friend of mine." ”

Ma Ziqiang said that after chatting with Wang Yongji and Hai Rui for a while, he asked Wang Yongji: "Are there many businessmen in Fujian?" ”

"Don't hide the old man, Fujian is mountainous, and there are six out of ten stops for businessmen, and most of them go to sea."

The king replied.

"Is it profitable?"

Ma Ziqiang asked.

Wang Yongji shook his head with a smile: "If it is Li & Fung, Yuegang will not have to pay tariffs of only tens of thousands of taels every year." ”