Lin Weiyuan smiled, picked up the wine glass, took a sip, and said, "Oh, this wine is cold, it's really not well received." Come on, rewarm the wine, today we are going to be with Shopkeeper Li without getting drunk and returning. ”

The servant brought Shaoxing rice wine again, Lin Weiyuan raised his head, and led everyone to push the cup and drink it for a while, which relieved the embarrassment and let Li Zhaoji continue to speak again.

Li Zhaoji asked: "I know about this trade, but I don't know about the court.

Before I say the next thing, I would like to ask you, masters, what we said is so lively, can the matter of Guangdong Provincial Customs pass in the capital? What if the court doesn't allow it? ”

"There is absolutely no such possibility." Lin Weiyuan said bluntly: "Shopkeeper Li, the situation is difficult. A few days ago, the news in the Tang newspaper that Tongguan was broken, Sun Chuanting was nowhere to be found, and he didn't know whether he was alive or dead.

Some people in the north said presumptuously that if the court died, the Ming Dynasty would die. This is a heart-wrenching statement, but it may not be a lie, Sun Chuanting's department is the only decent force in the imperial court that can fight, last year Songjin sent all the elite of the nine sides, and this year Sun Chuanting's Shaanxi army was destroyed.

Nowadays, the discussion in the gentry circle is whether to move the capital or not. ”

Huang Guanlou sighed: "Yes, no one thought that the situation would deteriorate so quickly." Nowadays, the imperial court is short of soldiers and salaries, but if you can come up with an elite army for the imperial court, long live can no longer care about some outdated rules.

Why was the customs set up, it was for military training, and what was the purpose of military training, to go north to support. Even though it has just been submitted now, we all feel that Long Live will definitely allow it. ”

Li Zhaoji nodded slightly: "What I just said is not a lie." ”

"Come, drink this cup to the fullest, and talk about it carefully." Lee Siu Kee said.

Li Zhaoji called Tang Mulai, took out a document from his bag and handed it to everyone: "After the war against thieves, I sent my friend Chen Shangchuan to Macao to investigate the maritime trade affairs of Guangdong Province.

Speaking of which, the four surnames have been making trouble since last year, and now they have been exterminated, which is about a year. Within a year, the trade of the whole province was in and out of Macao, so the records of the Francois can be used as an authority. How many ships came out, how each ship was regulated, and how many ships entered, the Francois people had a record.

On the basis of this, we included the methods of temporary discussion with Mr. Zhao and came up with this document. Let's circulate it and see the general situation.

Of course, this is not a custom, whether you agree or not, you have to discuss it with the Governor, it is just a reference. ”

Everyone spread the word and found that Li Zhaoji divided the sea trade ships into Ming ships and foreign ships, and set the Ming ships as one, two, three, and four. Foreign ships are set at first, second and third grades, and the grades are established according to the length and width of the ships and the number multiplied by them.

This is similar to the European customs tariff, it is precisely because the Europeans are like this, that the Dutch built the Flute ship, and the deck was very narrow, and the tax was much lower.

The largest first-class ship of the Ming ship is more than seven zhang five feet long and above, two zhang four feet wide and above, and the length and width are multiplied by eighteen zhang, as long as it is greater than this number, it is a first-class ship.

The second-class ship is 15 zhang 4 feet, the third class is 12 zhang, and the fourth class is 8 zhang.

According to different grades, different amounts of tax are charged, which is called ship banknotes.

1,400 taels for 1st class, 1,100 taels for 2nd class, 600 taels for 3rd class, and 400 taels for 4th class.

The foreign ships are also roughly similar, the first class ships are exactly the same, the length and width of the second class are multiplied by fifteen zhang and eight feet, and the third class is thirteen zhang and two feet. This is mainly due to the relatively large length-to-width ratio of foreign ships.

Ship money must be paid, if a first-class ship leaves the port for trade, even if there is no goods on it, it must also be collected.

In addition to the banknote, another goods tax, the so-called goods tax, that is, the amount of tax, can be taxed according to the amount of goods, but different goods, the proportion of extraction is also different. The proportion of import and export is also different, mainly in that the proportion of export tax is relatively low, and the proportion of import tax is relatively high.

This is because the export tax directly involves the interests of the gentry, and the demand is too high, and the customs may not be able to establish it.

For example, raw silk, silk fabrics, medicines, tea, sugar and other key export products of Guangdong Province are relatively low, but the export tax on grain is very high.

On the contrary, the taxes on imported grain were very low, and the tin, lead, copper, saltpeter, and sulfur needed for the training of the imperial court were also very low. But dyes such as spices and sumacia are very high.

There are more than 100 kinds of goods in total, of which the average export tax is about 4 percent, and the average import tax is 16 percent.

Of course, the tax rate is not fixed, for example, if there is a spring famine next year, it is not certain that the grain import tax will be abolished.

The most important thing is, of course, the final aggregate figures, according to the current tax standards, plus the known ship money, converted, if the customs had been established in October last year, then the Guangdong Provincial Customs would have earned 74,240 taels.

And that's a lot of that. It has exceeded the customs taxes of Guangdong and Fujian provinces of the Wanli Dynasty.

What's more, the four surnamed pirates made a fuss, and the trade decreased, if it was collected according to this standard when the trade was prosperous in previous years, it was inevitable to collect 100,000 taels per year.

And 100,000 taels is equivalent to the first Lingnan province of Guangzhou Prefecture is worth the silver, Guangzhou Mansion is 100,000 taels a year, but this level is not enough in Jiangnan, Suzhou Prefecture is a Changzhou County, a year tax is more than 210,000 taels, Guangzhou is not as good as Jiangnan half of the county, this is the low tax treatment of Guangzhou.

"Do you have any objections to this charter?" Li Zhaoji asked.

The gentry spoke out one after another, and most of them had objections to the goods tax, and the raw silk trade was big, and the raw silk goods tax was high, and the iron smelting felt that the iron export tax was high, but they just muttered a few words, and there was not much opposition.

Li Zhaoji smiled: "Speaking of which, the customs tax has not yet been decided, so let's take it as 100,000 taels." 70,000 taels should be allocated to the trading company for the construction of a customs yamen and an anti-smuggling fleet. Therefore, by this time next year, our Governor will also be able to get 30,000 taels.

By the way, the matter of opening three or seven is not decided, even if it is opened five or five, isn't it only 50,000 taels? Dare to ask all the masters, how much can 50,000 taels train? ”

Although many people present are known for knowing soldiers, but they are all talking about soldiers on paper, and no one can say for sure, everyone looked at Zhao Wenji, Zhao Wenji smiled bitterly and said: "A regular soldier should be paid 20 taels a year." ”

Everyone laughed bitterly, that is to say, the newly organized regimental training army all relied on the customs, even if it was five or five open, even if these people only ate salaries, did not fight, and did not distribute equipment to them, they could only train 2,500 people.

However, the newly formed army must be equipped, and the armor and guns are converted into at least 20 taels, that is to say, the whole army is composed of foot soldiers, which is more than 1,000 people, in fact, it is necessary to train and consume, the soldiers also need to eat and dress, and other expenses, and 50,000 taels can be composed of 7 or 800 soldiers.

It can't be counted as cavalry, not to mention anything else, in Guangdong, a horse is often twenty or thirty taels, which is too expensive.

Li Zhaoji smiled and said, "Let's calculate more, let's be able to make a thousand soldiers." Dare to ask what these thousand soldiers can do, the war in the north, whether with the thieves or with the eastern captives, the scale is more than 50,000 at every turn. ”

Lin Weiyuan shook his head, not thinking about this confused account, but said: "Shopkeeper Li, what do you say have to do with the bank?" ”

"yes, it's far away, it's far away." Huangguanlou also began to play haha.

Li Zhaoji said: "Of course it has a relationship, the fact is that even if the customs are established, it will not be enough to organize and train the new army, not to mention Kuang Fu Sheji, just when it arrives in the north, it can garrison one side and not be destroyed by the enemy, and the size of this army cannot be less than 10,000 people."

When Lord Shen went out to rectify the armaments of Guangdong, the elite and trading companies would send troops, and the number of new troops would be at least 3,000 men, preferably 5,000 people.

Then the money that the Governor will need next year will not be 35,000, but 300,000 or 500,000.

The court can't take out this money. Master Huang said that foreigners are short of money to fight in the war, so they borrow from the bank, why can't the court follow suit. Of course, Daming doesn't have a bank, so you and I, all of you here, can't you just build a bank? ”

Lin Weiyuan laughed dryly twice and said: "But this money has been lent out, how can I pay it back, I can't say that the new army won the battle, and I paid the silver from the Liukou Dongyu and came back, so return it to us." ”

Li Zhaoji laughed: "That's not possible, who knows if this army can win the battle." As Master Huang said, the foreigner king's loan is mortgaged. What do you think the court will take as collateral?

Take the right tax, Liao, and salary? None of this works, and if something happens, the money will be misappropriated. There has to be a sum of money, even if the court doesn't want to give it, it has to give it before it can be used as collateral, and the income and expenditure of this money must be held in our hands, so we can rest assured.

will be willing to lend it to him! ”

"Tariffs!" Zhao Wenji and Chen Zizhuang exclaimed almost simultaneously.

And all the gentry were also excited, indeed, the customs revenue was not in the hands of the imperial court, and its armed aid was Li Zhaoji's Oriental Trading Company, and its management was jointly handled by the League Defense Bureau and the Oriental Trading Company, and the imperial court appointed an official at most, but could not do anything.

If he dared to embezzle customs revenues and Li Zhaoji turned into a pirate on the spot, the imperial court would not only not get the money, but would have to lose money to Haiphong.

"What a strategy, what a strategy." Lin Weiyuan applauded.

Huang Guanlou also said: "Well, it seems that we underestimate this bank, this bank has a lot to offer." ”

Although the bank lends money to the imperial court, and it also charges interest, and it must be a lot, the problem is that the imperial court has really benefited, and has received a sum of money for military training, and finally what it has obtained is the elite soldiers of northern aid.

Isn't this what Li Zhaoji said about Kuang Fu Sheji, serving the country and the people, this is the great righteousness and great loyalty.

This directly guarantees the reputation of everyone present, but it is not only that.

The money in the bank came from the various families present, but it was taken out of the cellars of each family and lent to the imperial court, not to mention the interest every day, this money was to be spent in the regimental defense bureau to organize and train the new army, that is to say, this money was actually spent by the creditors themselves, so the creditors themselves could make a profit from this money, after all, there were many things needed for military training.

Moreover, if you borrow this money, you can put a big seal of loyalty on your head, and you can also meddle in the silk ticket at will in the future, what kind of exploitation of the people, and competing with the people for profit. We gentry make money, are we for ourselves, wrong, we make money to lend money to the court, so that the court can kill the thieves.

"Great goodness, great goodness." Zhao Wenji was the most excited, and Chen Zizhuang couldn't stop nodding. Although Li Zhaoji is now recognized by everyone, it is indeed beneficial to the imperial court, which the two cannot deny.

"The old man thinks that the bank's affairs can be decided today. Each family has money and shares, and first set up the bank, so that we can sing. Huang Guanlou said.

"Yes, yes, how can this kind of thing be delayed, now that the imperial court is facing such a big crisis, we should contribute to the imperial court." Someone chimed in.

Lin Weiyuan saw that everyone was moved, and hurriedly said: "Everyone, everyone still knows very little about this matter, and the old man thinks that it is better to let Shopkeeper Li take the lead and make a charter with the Governor first." Everyone still doesn't know him, when did he treat everyone badly. ”

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